Chapter 17—Heralds of the Morning
One of the most solemn and yet most glorious truths revealed in
the Bible is that of Christ’s second coming, to complete the great work
of redemption. To God’s pilgrim people, so long left to sojourn in the
“region and shadow of death,” a precious, joy-inspiring hope is given in
the promise of His appearing, who is “the resurrection and the life,” to
“bring home again his banished.” The doctrine of the second advent is
the very key-note of the sacred Scriptures. From the day when the first
pair turned their sorrowing steps from Eden, the children of faith have
waited the coming of the Promised One to break the destroyer’s power
and bring them again to the lost Paradise. Holy men of old looked
forward to the advent of the Messiah in glory, as the consummation of
their hope. Enoch, only the seventh in descent from them that dwelt in
Eden, he who for three centuries on earth walked with his God, was
permitted to behold from afar the coming of the Deliverer. “Behold,”
he declared, “the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to
execute judgment upon all.” [
Jude 14, 15
.] The patriarch Job in the
night of his affliction exclaimed with unshaken trust: “I know that
my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the
earth; ... in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and
mine eyes shall behold, and not another.” [
Job 19:25-27
.]
The coming of Christ to usher in the reign of righteousness, has
inspired the most sublime and impassioned utterances of the sacred
writers. The poets and prophets of the Bible have dwelt upon it in
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words glowing with celestial fire. The psalmist sung of the power and
majesty of Israel’s King: “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God
hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence.... He
shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may
judge his people.” [
Psalm 50:2-4
.] “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the
earth be glad” “before the Lord; for he cometh, for he cometh to judge
the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people
with his truth.” [
Psalm 96:11, 13
.]
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