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Promises of Christ’s Return
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all the nations of the saved shall one day sing: “Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
Luke 2:14
.
What a lesson is this wonderful story of Bethlehem! How it
rebukes our unbelief, our pride and self-sufficiency. How it warns
us to beware, lest we also fail to discern the signs of the times and
therefore know not the day of our visitation.
It was not alone among lowly shepherds that angels found watch-
ers for Messiah’s coming. In the land of the heathen also were those
that looked for Him—rich, noble wise men—the philosophers of
the East. From the Hebrew Scriptures they had learned of the Star
to arise out of Jacob. With eager desire they awaited His coming
who should be not only the “Consolation of Israel,” but a “Light to
lighten the Gentiles,” and “for salvation unto the ends of the earth.”
Luke 2:25, 32
;
Acts 13:47
. The Heaven-sent star guided Gentile
strangers to the birthplace of the newborn King.
It is “unto them that look for him” that Christ is to “appear the
second time without sin unto salvation.”
Hebrews 9:28
. Like the
tidings of the Saviour’s birth, the message of the second advent
was not committed to the religious leaders of the people. They had
refused light from heaven; therefore they were not of the number
described by the apostle Paul: “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness,
that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children
of light and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of
darkness.”
1 Thessalonians 5:4, 5
.
The watchmen upon the walls of Zion should have been the first
to catch the tidings of the Saviour’s advent, the first to proclaim
Him near. But they were at ease, while the people were asleep in
their sins. Jesus saw His church, like the barren fig tree, covered
with pretentious leaves, yet destitute of precious fruit. The spirit of
true humility, penitence, and faith was lacking. There were pride,
formalism, selfishness, oppression. A backsliding church closed
their eyes to the signs of the times. They departed from God and
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separated themselves from His love. As they refused to comply with
the conditions, His promises were not fulfilled to them.
Many of the professed followers of Christ refused to receive the
light from heaven. Like the Jews of old, they knew not the time of
their visitation. The Lord passed them by and revealed His truth to