CHRIST's GLORIOUS RETURN? Report of an Address Delivered by Evangelist R
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7j2 WORLD EVENTS IN \THE LI,OHT 'OF :PRC)FHEsCY Vol. 47, No. 17 WARBURTON, • VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA, APRIL 23, 1932 Price Sport & General Photo An impressive service for the victims of the recent submarine disaster being held on board H.M.S. Adamant over the spot where the M2 was located. It is a blessed thought that Christ's glorious return will put an end to death and all sorrow. eAre YOU Preparink, for CHRIST'S GLORIOUS RETURN? Report of an address delivered by Evangelist R. Allan Anderson, in Holloway Hall, London. E are standing upon the This is a fascinating thought, but pare. And yet how little do we hear threshold of eternity. The it is weighty with solemn majesty and from the pulpits of the land about W day of God's vengeance is impressive influence. The shortness the coming of the King! Someone hastening on apace. Soon amid the of life, the solemnity of death, the asks why this is so. Let D. L. rocking earth and the convulsions of fear of hell, or the hope of glory, Moody, the great evangelist of the nature the King of kings will appear sometimes stagger feeble mentality. last century, reply. in all His glory. Are you preparing But greater than all these stands the for His glorious return? fact of the matchless Christ, the MR. MOODY SAID: Nothing can equal the fact that glorious Christ, the Holy One of Is- "I WAS in the church fifteen years Christ is coming back again. "This rael, the Eternal Son of God. before I heard a sermon on the sec- same Jesus, which is taken up from He who is greater than all the ond advent of Christ. There is you into heaven, shall so come in like great ones of earth, stands forth on hardly any church that does not manner as ye have seen Him go into a pinnacle of eternal glory in the make a great deal of baptism; but in heaven." Acts 1: II. Turning to heavens, the rightful heir to the all of Paul's epistles I believe bap- His accusers in that ugly mock throne of the universe. He is coming tism is only spoken of thirteen times, trial, Jesus said, "Ye shall see the again to set up the kingdom of God. while he speaks of the return of our Son of man sitting on the right hand Therefore, "Prepare to meet thy Lord fifty times, and yet the church of power, and coming in the clouds of God." It is more particularly to the has very little to say about it. Now heaven." Matt. 26: 64. church that the call comes to pre- I can see the reason for this. The [Registered at the G.P.O., Melbourne, for transmission, by post as a newspaper.] 2 SIGNS OF THE TIMES April 25, 1932 devil does not want us to see this ing to Timothy, Paul says that the truth; for nothing would wake up the Lord Jesus Christ "shall judge the church so much. The moment a man quick and the dead at His appearing takes hold of the truth that Jesus and His kingdom." 2 Tim. 4: 1. Christ is coming back again to re- Now He does not say the "dead" ceive His followers to Himself, this only, but also the "quick" or living. world loses its hold upon him." These are dealt with "at His appear- There is only one message through- ing," which the apostle says is out the whole of the Bible. From synonymous with "His kingdom." Genesis to Revelation it is God's That "appearing" will not be in any plan to bring men back home to way secret, nor does it come at death, Paradise. "Come unto Me," He gas gootsteps for in Titus 2: 13, Paul says that we must be "looking for that blessed pleads, "and I will give you rest." R. HARE Again, He makes the statement, "I hope, and the glorious appearing of will come again, and receive you unto I AM listening for the footsteps the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Myself, that where I am, there ye That once echoed by the sea, Christ." This is still future, for O'er the hills of old Judea, John says, "Every eye shall see Him." may be also." This was His whole And the sands of Galilee, purpose in coming to this earth on Down the templed aisle of splendour, Rev. 1: 7. the first occasion. Belief in His first Helpful, sweet, and free. UNTIL THE HARVEST advent and the eternal salvation Sorrow heard those footsteps gladly, You will remember about that brought to mankind by the death of And grief dried its many tears; certain man who sowed good seed in Jesus Christ must ever be followed Pain and sicknesses all departed, And the heart forgot its fears, his field, expecting to reap an abun- by a preparation to meet Him at His dant and good harvest. But with second coming. To be with Him When those hallowed footsteps echoed Down the passing years. venomous hate there came another, where He is, in that "better coun- an enemy, who maliciously sowed the try," where there is neither sin, nor Not arrayed in robes of splendour, field with tares, and then disap- suffering, nor sorrow, is the real hope Fashioned in life's grand design, Not adorned with gold or jewels, peared. Finally the harvest began to of the Christian. Gathered from earth's deepest mine— ripen, and to the surprise of both WILL IT BE A SECRET COMING? Just a simple, lowly Stranger, farmer and servants, there appeared But—the Man divine. TURNING to our Lord's own words the tares also. Anxious to rid the on this subject we read: "Wherefore Still those hallowed footsteps echo field of the pest, the latter sought to In the story of life's day, root them out. But the wise farmer, if they shall say unto you, Behold, And the holy whisper lingers He is in the desert; go not forth: Be- Ever, always—"Watch and pray"— foreseeing the possible destruction of hold, He is in the secret chambers; Falling sweet as dews of evening the wheat also, bade them "let both believe it not." Surely no words are From the far away. grow together until the harvest." stronger than these, and yet there are I am listening, Holy Spirit, Matt. 13: 24-30, 36-42. In the time some Christians who are looking for Love divinest let me see, of the harvest the reapers received return of our Lord. Follow- I would hear the hallowed whispers, further instruction, viz., "Gather ye a secret From the slopes of Calvary. ing the verse just quoted, Jesus fur- first the tares, and bind them in bun- Here again those sandal-echoes, dles to burn them: but gather the thur declares, "For as the lightning By the shore of Galilee. cometh out of the east and shineth wheat into my barn." even unto the west; so shall also the +..++1+++++++++++++++44.14•1••••14+++ Here was a familiar illustration by coming of the Son of man be." No, which our Lord sought to teach the there is nothing secret about light- disciples the lesson of the great har- tion! The fault does not lie with vest at the end of the world. Press- ning and its power. Leaping from God. For ever He is pleading, cloud to earth with terrific force, it ing close, after the multitude had "Come unto Me . and I will give departed, they said, "Declare unto is a fit emblem of the unlimited might you rest." Oh, the wonder of that of the coming King. Just as light- us the parable of the sower." An- redeeming love! His soul was swering their request, He told them ning seems to discriminate in the ob- poured out in death on man's behalf, jects it strikes, so the majestic King He was the Sower; that "the field is and He loves every sinner with an un- the world; the good seed are the chil- of kings will separate class from class dying love, a love that made Him as an Eastern shepherd divides the dren of the kingdom; but the tares give up His own life not only for His are the children of the wicked one; sheep from the goats. It will be too friends, but for His enemies. Base late then to decide. Opportunities the enemy that sowed them is the ingratitude, wilful disobedience, and devil; the harvest is the end of the for redemption and translation into sin blind the eyes of mankind to the that kingdom of the redeemed world; and the reapers are the an- Saviour's love. Speaking of His an- gels." Matt. 13: 37-39. abound today, and men are spurning cient people He says, "The ox know- them. One day those very men will eth his owner, and the ass his mas- There is nothing mysterious in this be pleading for entrance to the mar- ter's crib: but Israel doth not know, parable. There is no feature left riage supper of the Lamb, but the My people doth not consider." Isa. unexplained by our Lord Himself. door will be shut, and the last soul 1: 3. Sad, sad picture of man's base We need not start to conjecture why gathered home. But someone asks, ingratitude. Remember, procrastina- He chose the term "harvest" to mean Will there not be tion is truly the thief of time, but it the end of the world, nor whether the tares were not mixed with the good A SECOND CHANCE? is also the thief of eternity.