Page 302 - Maranatha (1976)

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Gleams of the Golden Morning, October 7
For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the
west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Matthew 24:27
.
While all the world is plunged in darkness, there will be light in every
dwelling of the saints. They will catch the first light of His second appearing.
Soon there appears in the east a small black cloud, about half the size
of a man’s hand. It is the cloud which surrounds the Saviour and which
seems in the distance to be shrouded in darkness. The people of God know
this to be the sign of the Son of man. In solemn silence they gaze upon it
as it draws nearer the earth, becoming lighter and more glorious, until it is
a great white cloud, its base a glory like consuming fire, and above it the
rainbow of the covenant. Jesus rides forth as a mighty conqueror. Not now
a “man of sorrows,” to drink the bitter cup of shame and woe, He comes,
victor in heaven and earth, to judge the living and the dead. “Faithful and
True,” “in righteousness he doth judge and make war.” And “the armies
which were in heaven” (
Revelation 19:11, 14
) follow Him. With anthems
of celestial melody the holy angels, a vast, unnumbered throng, attend Him
on His way. The firmament seems filled with radiant forms—“ten thousand
times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.” No human pen can portray
the scene; no mortal mind is adequate to conceive its splendor. “His glory
covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And his brightness
was as the light.”
Habakkuk 3:3, 4
. As the living cloud comes still nearer,
every eye beholds the Prince of life. No crown of thorns now mars that
sacred head; but a diadem of glory rests on His holy brow. His countenance
outshines the dazzling brightness of the noonday sun. “And he hath on his
vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.”
Revelation 19:16
.
With uplifted heads, with the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness
shining upon them, with rejoicing that their redemption draweth nigh, they
[the living saints], go forth to meet the Bridegroom, saying. “Lo, this is our
God; we have waited for him, and he will save us.”
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