by Leonard Ravenhill
The Second Coming
Compared with the world population, only a few people expected Christ’s first coming. So it is now.
The Christians expecting His appearing are few against the millions of unbelievers in the world.
The first time He came, He entered by a woman’s womb. And no one saw Him enter.
The next time He comes, “every eye shall see Him”!
The first time He came as a Lamb. The next time He is coming as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
The first time He came to redeem. The next time He is coming to reign.
The first time He came to die. The next time He is going to raise the dead!
The first time men asked, “Where is he that is born king of the Jews?”
The next time He is coming as the King of kings!
The first time He got a crown of thorns.
The next time He will get a crown of glory and of gold (Rev. 14:14).
The first time He came in poverty, to a stable.
The next time He is coming in power.
The first time He had an escort of angels.
The next time “He cometh with ten thousands of his saints.” (Jude 14)
The first time He came in meekness.
The next time He is coming in majesty!
BE WISE BE WARNED BEWARE
Let the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing.
Let iniquity abound and the love of many wax cold.
Let the seas roar and the land be shattered by earthquakes.
Let governments continue to dismantle the Ten Commandments.
Let the scoffers in or outside the “church” continue to cry:
“Where is the promise of His coming, all things continue even as they were before?”
Let the “church” continue in her worldliness.
Let hell enlarge her mouth to swallow the multitudes.
Let Communism design more subtle devices to enslave the world.
Let believers wallow in more carnality, pray less fervently, and live more worldly.
Let fat preachers parade a thin theology.
Let us now total this end mess and mass of end-time disobedience and rebellion,
THEN REMEMBER THIS: “God has allowed us to know the secret of His plan, and it is this:
He purposes in His sovereign will that ALL HUMAN HISTORY SHALL BE CONSUMMATED IN CHRIST,
that everything that exists in Heaven or earth shall find its perfection and fulfillment in Him.
And here is the staggering thing —
that in all which will one day belong to Him we have been promised a share.” (Eph. 1:9-11, J. B. Phillips)
The outlook on the world just now is exceedingly dark.
But! The uplook is exceedingly glorious — the King IS coming!
These are the incentives for His coming:
To witness, “The Gospel must first be preached to all nations.”
To sacrifice, “My reward is with me” (Rev. 22:12).
To patience, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.”
To prayer, “Watch and pray.”
To holiness of life, “He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself.”
Are you ready for His coming?
B. The Judgment
The only way to live our todays is in our tomorrows- with an eye on the Judgment Seat.
The Judgment Seat will bring no honorary degrees, just rewards for labor.
The Judge of all the earth will do right.
He cannot be corrupted, nor can He be corrected.
Dives and Lazarus — two beggars;
One begged here — one begged hereafter.
An anchor to Paul’s soul was “WE MUST ALL APPEAR before the judgment seat of Christ” (II Cor. 5:10).
Living with eternity’s values in view took the sting out of this oncoming test.
Living “right” here on earth (I do not mean just living righteously, but living after the pattern set in the Holy Word)
takes care of the hereafter.
At the Judgment Seat all our fig leaves will drop off.
C. Eternity
The mills of God grind slowly, but they always move on time!
These are “the last days” — how long will they last?
The preacher who hones his sermon on the whetstone of eternity will lack no hearers.
How strange that men who seek eternal youth shun “eternal life”!
Excerpts taken from “Heart Breathings”
by Leonard Ravenhill.
Used by permission.
© Copyright 1995 by
Harvey Christian Publishers, L.L.P.
Courtesy of http://www.ravenhill.org/heartb23.htm
