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Lord’s Day 21, 2011

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Yesterday, according to Harold Camping, was to be the day of Christ’s return.

429 When Jesus Comes in Glory

When Jesus comes in glory,
As Lord and King of kings,
O what a wondrous story
The blessèd Bible brings;
His face will shine like sunlight,
His head be white as snow,
His eyes like flaming firelight,
His feet like brass aglow.

His voice like rushing waters
Will reach with mighty sound
Into the deepest quarters
Of all creation round;
And at this wondrous greeting
The dead in Christ shall rise,
Their Lord and Savior meeting
In glory to the skies.

And we who are believing,
And His appearing love,
Shall know we are receiving
His glory from above;
His resurrection power
Will raise us to the place
Where we that wondrous hour
Shall see Him face to face.

O hasten Thine appearing,
Thou Bright and Morning Star!
Lord, may we soon be hearing
The trumpet sound afar;
Thy people are all yearning
To be Thy raptured bride,
And at Thine own returning
Be caught up at Thy side.

—The Concordia Hymnal (Augsburg Publishing House), 1960.

Mark 13:26–27, 32–33

Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven. . . . But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come.

We learn from these verses, that the exact time of our Lord Jesus Christ’s second advent is purposely withheld from His church. The event is certain. The precise day and hour are not revealed. “Of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven.”
There is deep wisdom and mercy in this intentional silence. We have reason to thank God that the thing has been hidden from us. Uncertainty about the date of the Lord’s return is calculated to keep believers in an attitude of constant expectation, and to preserve them from despondency. What a dreary prospect the early church would have had before it, if it had known for certain that Christ would not return to earth for at least fifteen hundred years! The hearts of men like Athanasius, Chrysostom, and Augustine, might well have sunk within them, if they had been aware of the centuries of darkness through which the world would pass, before their Master came back to take the kingdom.—What a quickening motive, on the other hand, true Christians have perpetually had, for a close walk with God! They have never known, in any age, that their Master might not come suddenly to take account of his servants. This very uncertainty has supplied them with a reason for living always ready to meet Him.
There is one caution connected with the subject, which must not be overlooked. We must not allow the uncertainty of the time of our Lord’s second advent to prevent our giving attention to the unfulfilled prophecies of Scripture. This is a great delusion, but one into which, unhappily, many Christians fall. There is a wide distinction to be drawn between dogmatical and positive assertions about dates, and a humble, prayerful searching into the good things yet to come. Against dogmatism about times and seasons, our Lord’s words in this place are a standing caution. But as to the general profitableness of studying prophecy, we can have no plainer authority than the apostle Peter’s words: “Ye do well that ye take heed to prophecy;" and the apostle John’s words in Revelation: “Blessed is he that readeth.” (2 Peter i. 19. Rev. i. 3.)
—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)].