SIGNS OF CHRIST'S COMING. And he to judgment come? He thus replies- OUR LORD proceeded with his disciples to the Mount of Olives, where the temple was full in view; and as he sat on the mount the disciples asked him, "saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew xxiv. 3.) When shall these things be? Christ gives them no answer to that question, for it is not for us to know the times; but they had asked, What shall be the sign? This question he answers fully, for we are concerned to understand the signs of the times. The prophecy primarily respects the events near at hand-the destruction of Jerusalem, the H period of the Jewish church and state, the calling of the Gentiles, and the setting up of Christ's kingdom in the world; but it also points to the general judgment. It is observable, that what Christ here saith to his disciples, tends more to engage their caution than to satisfy their curiosity; more to prepare them for the events that should happen, than to give them a distinct idea of the events themselves. Christ's warnings are designed to engage our watchfulness; and though the elect shall be preserved from delusion, yet they will be preserved by the use of appointed means, and regard to the cautions of the word. We are kept through faith in Christ's word, which he has told us before. Our Lord fortells wars and great com motions among nations. among nations. When Christ was born, there was universal peace in the em pire. From the time that the Jews rejected Christ, and he left their house desolate, the sword never departed from them, because he had given it a charge against a hypocritical nation and the people of his wrath. Concerning Christ's second coming, it is foretold that there shall be a great change, in order to the making all things new. Then shall be the restitution of all things. It shall be a visible change. It shall be a universal change. The glorious appearance of our Lord Jesus, who will then show himself as the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person, will darken the sun and moon; they will have no glory, because of the glory that excelleth. (2 Corinthians iii. 10.) There is a certain day and hour fixed for the judgment to come; it is called the day of the Lord, because so unalterably fixed. No man knows it; not the wisest, not the best, by any Divine discovery. We all know that there shall be a day, but no one knows when it shall be; no, not even the angels. This is one of those secret things which belong to the Lord. The uncertainty of the time of Christ's coming is, to those who are watchful, a savour of life unto life, and makes them more watchful; but to those who are careless, it is a savour of death unto death, and makes them more careless. O Lord Jesus Christ, we thy children earnestly desire to be found in the number of thy faithful and adoring servants at thy second coming to judge the world; and hope, through thy mercy, to be admitted into thine everlasting kingdom in heaven. |