The Coming Of The Son Of Man

by J.L. Ferguson, Barrhead | Category: The Finger Of Prophecy | Oct 1970

The elect in the dark days of the great tribulation will have an unshakeable confidence that the Lord will come for their deliverance. They will rest their weary spirits on the absolute certainty of the word of prophecy, as, for example, "His going forth is sure as the morning: and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth" (Hosea 6.3). We can depend upon it that the witnesses will give powerful testimony to the many inspiring references throughout the Scriptures to the return of the Son of Man to the earth in power and great glory, to smite the nations in His wrath and to comfort the mourners in Zion, then to reign with His saints in glory. We may be helped in our consideration of the manner of His coming if we look at it from four different points in the Word. First,

As Israel's prophets foresaw it

Israel must have had many seers who spoke of the coming glories of Messiah and His reigning days in association with the nation, but none went on record in such choice detail as Isaiah. Of all the major prophets he has by far the most to say of the future glory of his people. He wrote in a day much more remote to the captivity than, for example, Jeremiah, and it may be as a consequence he was less burdened with the days of coming gloom and better able to speak of the days of glory.

Nevertheless, he foresaw Israel trodden down by their adversaries, like a people over whom God had never ruled, as those who had never been called by His Name, and on their behalf he cried, "Oh that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come down ... to make Thy Name known to Thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Thy presence (Isaiah 64.1,2). And in the sure confidence of the day when the Dweller in the heavens would come down, he affirmed, "Therefore His own arm brought salvation unto Him ... and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing... fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies... He shall come as a rushing stream, which the breath of the LORD driveth. And a Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn away from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD" (Isaiah 59.16-20). It was truly "the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness ..." (Isaiah 61.1-3). It would be the day of divine vengeance of the nations but it would also usher in "the day of My redeemed". The prophet thought of his God as One who "looked and there was none to help". No one to help Israel in the dark hour of Armageddon - so "Mine own arm brought salvation unto Me; and My fury, it upheld Me. And I trod down the peoples in Mine anger..." (Isaiah 63.4-6). And as he peered into the future, Isaiah saw Israel's Deliverer come, marching in the greatness of His strength from the battlefield of Edom and Bozrah, a section of the great campaign of Armageddon. Vigorous, inspiring visions indeed for the strengthening of the hands of the faithful in the furnace of affliction.

Daniel, too, had visions of the coming glory of the Ancient of days and of the Stone cut out without hands. Others doubtless rejoiced the hearts of the people of their day with what was revealed to them of the vista of faith. But probably Zechariah in his chapters 12 to 14 gives the most graphic and detailed unfolding of all the prophets concerning the coming of the Lord for the deliverance of Israel and Jerusalem at the close of Daniel's 70th week. He prefaces his account of the seeming impossible, with one of Deity's profound claims to omnipotence "Thus saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him: Behold ... I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples ... and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it. In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse ... save the tents of Judah ... defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem ... destroy all the nations" (Zechariah 12.1-9). And in that day, "I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle.... Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations... and His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives ... the LORD my God shall come, and all the holy ones with Thee" (14.1-5). Then "they shall look unto Me whom they have pierced" (12.10). And here for us, all these centuries later, is the clue to the Speaker. It is the Man of Calvary, at the head of the heavenly host, who will come forth for the destruction of the ungodly nations and the relief of besieged Jerusalem and distraught Israel. And as His feet touch Olivet, the mountain will cleave in the midst from east to west, and in this pass the cut-off remnant will be safe.

Then, we consider the matter

As the Son of Man Himself described it

Matthew 16 is truly a remarkable chapter of "first reference". Here the Lord Jesus gave His initial disclosure of three separate things; the building of His Church, the outcome of His final journey to Jerusalem, and the manner of His coming again as Son of Man in judgement. As to the last of these in particular, "For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels" (verse 27). That will not be simply in the moral glories of the Father, which it was not possible to conceal from the anointed eyes of His followers in the lowly, lonely days of His first coming. Nor will it be simply the majesty of the mount when in His transfiguration He received such unique honour from the excellent glory. But He will come in great power and visible glory, at the head of the vast concourse of the holy ones and the saints of the Most High. According to Matthew 24 it will be immediately on the conclusion of the great tribulation (verse 29), preceded by fearful disturbance in the skies (verse 29), and by the sign of His coming (verse 3~be it lightning flash of world-wide brilliance, the day will declare). Then shall all the tribes of the earth simultaneously see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory (verse 30). Not only so, but all the millions of the angels (Revelation 5.11) will be with Him (Matthew 25.31). So said the One who is coming.

And next,

As Paul was privileged to see it

His comments are illuminating as expressed in 2 Thessalonians 1. He refers to the coming of the Son of Man as "the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of His power, in flaming fire" (verses 7,8). What an unveiling l The last time Israel or the nations saw Him was when "By oppression and judgement He was taken away ... cut off out of the land of the living" (Isaiah 53.8). And to the nation's high priest He had prophesied that day, "Nevertheless I say unto you, Henceforth ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven". That day will have come. In the glory of His might He descends, glorified in His attendant saints, "to be marvelled at in all them that believed". (2 Thessalonians 1.10). The vast concourse not only includes the innumerable hosts of angels. It is also "the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints" (1 Thessalonians 3.13). And wherever the Church the Body may be in the millennium, on earth, or in heaven, with only those on earth found worthy to reign with Him, certainly all will come with Him in His descent. It will be the manifestation of "Christ our life", and we shall be manifested with Him.

And finally,

As John depicted it

The vision is outlined in Revelation 19. When the marriage of the Lamb is over (verse 7), the Lord goes down to earth with His bride, to make preparation for the great marriage feast for the righteous (a faint illustration of this distinction is seen in Esther 2, where verses 16 and 17 depict the marriage and

verse 18 the feast which followed), and the great supper of God for the birds which fly in mid heaven.

And so the heavens will open and the Rider on the white horse come down. His descriptive names are Faithful and True, the Word of God, King of kings, and Lord of lords, together with another name written which no one knows but He Himself. He comes forth in righteousness to judge and make war, with eyes a flame of fire and a sharp sword proceeding from His mouth. He only needs His eyes and mouth with which to smite and to rule the nations of the world. He has many kingly crowns upon His head, whereas by contrast the dragon and the first Beast (the only other royal diadem wearers in Scripture) have only seven and ten respectively. And He wears a blood-dipped robe, for He is on His way to tread the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. And as though the picture is not sufficiently graphic in its detail, we read, "And the armies which are in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure". Some may say, but this is symbolic language. We reply, should that prove to be so, how much more fearful will the real thing be.

Then in a moment when the nations expect it not (Matthew 24.39), when the darkened sun has plunged the universe into sudden gloom, like lightning flash the Son of Man will come down with the myriads of angels and ransomed saints. The Beast and the kings of the earth and their armies are gathered together to do battle with the Rider on the white horse and His hosts. They are spread down sixteen hundred furlongs of the length of Israel (Revelation 14.20) and are in process of completing the siege of Jerusalem. Then the Beast and the false prophet are as by unseen hands removed from the head of the attacking hordes and cast alive into the lake of fire and the sword from the Son of Man's mouth slays their vast, malevolent hosts. And in terse, macabre words the Holy Spirit gives the issue of the onslaught of the glittering military might of the world against God the Almighty - "and all the birds were filled with their flesh" (Revelation 19.21).

But in that day, "I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto Me whom they have pierced: and they shall mourn for Him (Zechariah 12.10). And the LORD will take out of the trembling hand of deeply afflicted Israel the cup of His fury and she shall no more drink it again, for the days of her mourning shall be ended. It will have come to pass as one great lover of Israel said it would, "And so all Israel shall be saved" (Romans 11.26).

J.L. Ferguson, Barrhead | Oct 1970
The Finger Of Prophecy