The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1917-07-14

with his own coming. And we know
that long after the advent Of the Holy
Spirit, John the evangelist on the is
land Of Patmos heard again from our
Lord the promise of his return. The
word Of the Lord to him was surely.
I come quickly" and the heart of the
apostle responded "Amen. Even so
come Lord Jesus" (Rev. :20).
Waiting for Jesus.
In the Church at Thessalonica we
read of Christians who turned to God
from idols to serve the living and true
God; and to wait for his son from
heaven" q Thess. l :9-10) Evidently
from this, as well as from other Scrip
lures, it was not the Holy Spirit for
whom they waited, for he had come
rs.foA- anyone else. 1t was for the
Lord Jesus Christ himself, and they
waited for him to come from heaven.
With this agrees the promise of the
two men in white spoken to the dis
ciples of our Lord at the time Of his
ascension: eye men of Galilee, why
stand We gazing up into heaven? This
same Jesus, which is taken up from
you into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as We have seen him go into
heaven" (Acts 1:11.) 1t is then from
heaven, into which our Lord assembled
that he Is to come, and it is he him
self for whom we are to look, and not
for another.
Neither did our Lord mean the
death of the believer, when he spoke
of his coming again. At death, the
believer departs to be with the Lord.
It was Paul, who having had word con-
corning his decease, said: "The time
of my departure is at hand" At the
coming of Christ, the Lord himself re-
turns to the earth and the believers
shall be caught up to meet the Lord
in the air. Then, after ansinterval OF
time they shall come with the Lord
when he comes in all the glory Of the
father and his holy angels. There are
thus two parts to the second coming
of Christ; his coming for the believ-
ers, and his coming with the believers.
First Thessalonians refers to the first
part, while the Second Thessalonians
tells of the second part Of his coming.
What the Coming of Jesus Means.
One has only to read the word of
our Lord to Peter after his resurrec-
ton to know that by the coming Of
Christ is not meant the death of the
believer. In response to Peters ques-
ton concerning John, "What shall this
man do?" the risen Lord said, "If
will that he tarry till I come, what Is
that to thee?" "Then," adds the evan
gelist, s'went this saying abroad among
the brethren that that disciple should
not die: Yet Jesus said not unto him,
HE shall not die;' but, if I will
that he tarry till / come, what is that
to theeY" Ono. 81 :21-23.) Here you
see is a clear distinction made between
death and the coming Of Christ.
In that once famous, but now almost
forgotten book "The Life of Jesus"
the author, David Friedrich Strauss,
refers to the frequency with which
our Lord speaks of his second coming.
He uses this as an argument against
the credibility of the Gospel narrative
because he says a dead man cannot
come back to earth. This argument
little child who knows anything of the
truth can easily controvert, for it is
not whether a dead man can come
back to earth, but whether the Son
of God, who rose from the dead, can
fulfill his oft-repeated promise: II am
coming"
Yes, he is coming back again and
the Lords Supper is token of this
fact. Already there are foregleams Of
that day. The evening red is upon
the western horizon. "For yet little
while an0 he that shall come will
come. and will not tarry." (Heb. 10:
37.) Are you ready?