We pray thee that now as we turn
once again to thy holy word which is
indeed a lamp unto our feet and a
light unto our path the holy spirit himself
may take our minds and think through them
thy thoughts my lips and speak through them
thy truth our hearts and incline them in
obedience to thy word and will this we
ask for christ our savior's sake.
You'll find our text in the second epistle
of peter chapter three and a little phrase
in verse four of that chapter 2 peter
chapter 3 and verse 4 the question where
is the promise of his coming and i
would like if i may just to take
the one little phrase out of it to
give us a title rather than a question
simply the promise of his coming as i
have indicated this is the advent season and
in the calendar of the christian church we
think of christ as the one who is
a coming one a coming to this earth
that is what the word advent means the
one who came to this earth of ours
the son of god to be the savior
of the world and the church has always
maintained and believed that there are two comings
the one has been fulfilled the other has
been foretold the first coming was in humility
the second coming will be in majesty and
in glory and in our church of scotland
book of the common order the collect or
prayer for the third sunday in advent brings
us back in our thinking to that second
coming this is how the prayer appointed for
that day reads oh lord jesus christ who
at thy first coming did send thy messenger
to prepare thy way before thee grant that
the ministers and stewards of thy mysteries may
likewise so prepare and make ready thy way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to
the wisdom of the just that at thy
second coming to judge the world we may
be found an acceptable people in thy sight
who livest and reignest with the father and
the holy spirit ever one god world without
end at thy second coming to judge the
world and we have been singing hymns out
of a whole section of our church hymnary
which is titled his coming in power of
course there are those who deny the truth
of either or indeed of both these comings
and certainly many who accept the first coming
will deny the truth of the second coming
but as professor lemon pointed out in his
book christ and the world of thought this
rejection of the truth of the second coming
can be explained because of man's dislike of
the whole idea of judgment which is bound
up so clearly and closely with it now
it's impossible in the span of a short
address to deal adequately in any way with
this tremendous theme this glorious hope but i
want if i may to ask three questions
which it seems to me are legitimate to
ask and to try and answer them in
outline and in purely sketch form as far
as possible from the words of our lord
three questions about what is called in our
text the promise of his coming and i
would suggest if you can at least remember
the three questions and then try and work
out the answer of scripture to them then
some purpose will have been achieved in our
study this morning and the first question is
when will he come that is a legitimate
question to ask and to all those who
do believe that christ is coming again no
question is more important than this one we
want desperately to know when he will come
in reply to that question there would seem
to me to be two statements we can
make with the full authority of scripture behind
us and the first statement concerns the information
that has been denied to us and that
is quite clear god has not and god
will not give any answer to that question
when will he come again and again it
is stated in scripture that no one does
know no one ever will know when christ
will come again we look at the passage
we read together from matthew 24 36 i
couldn't help noticing as i was reading it
how this fact is stressed again and again
but of that day and hour knoweth no
man know not the angels of heaven but
my father only again after saying that the
coming of christ will be like the coming
of the flood in noah's day christ points
out they knew not until the flood came
verse 42 watch therefore for ye know not
what hour your lord has come verse 44
therefore be also ready for in such an
hour as ye think not the son of
man cometh verse 50 the lord of that
servant shall come in a day when he
looketh not for him it was augustine who
said the last day is hidden that every
day may be regarded the last day is
hidden that every day may be regarded one
thing is absolutely clear and that is that
no one can tell because nobody knows the
time of his appearance you recall how in
act one in the final recorded interview which
reveals the anxiety in the minds of the
disciples concerning the future we read in verse
6 when they therefore were come together they
asked of jesus saying lord will thou at
this time restore again the kingdom to israel
he said unto them it is not for
you to know the times or the seasons
which the father hath put in his own
power all we do know is that the
coming of the savior is to take place
after a long time of waiting matthew 24
48 the servant says my lord delayeth his
coming in the parable of the ten virgins
we read how the bridegroom tarry in the
parable of the talents which follow we read
after a long time the lord of those
servants cometh it is this very delay that's
referred to by peter when he reports the
un the unbelief that unbelief seizes upon this
delay and tries out where is the promise
of his coming for all things continue as
they were from the beginning of the creation
and i've never been able to understand why
devout christians who hold scripture in the highest
esteem and treat scripture as the final authority
how some of them as some of them
do go so far as to predict when
christ will come in such a time as
ye think not so the information has been
denied to us nobody knows the second statement
concerns the indications that should be discerned by
us in matthew 16 verse 3 christ rebukes
the hostile the maliciously and hostile minds of
the pharisees for wanting a special sign to
authenticate his ministry on earth the reply of
our lord suggests that there were already signs
enough and that there would be still more
and then he utters this rebuke oh ye
hypocrites ye can discern the face of the
sky but can ye not discern the signs
of the time and so it is that
when later on in the beginning of that
24th chapter of saint matthew's gospel when the
disciples came with questions and some people think
there may be three questions in that third
verse you read there as he sat upon
the mount of olives the disciples came unto
him privately saying tell us when shall these
things be that is the distraction of the
temple and what shall be the sign of
thy coming and of the end of the
age there may be three questions there are
at least two our lord does refer them
to signs of his coming and he gives
a long discourse in which some of the
signs must surely be taken as referring to
his second coming as others would also refer
to the destruction of jerusalem dr graham struggy
in his book the lord's return and it's
passing it's worth noting that he was awarded
his dd by edinburgh university because of his
massive contribution to the religious life of edinburgh
in a remarkable ministry in charlotte chapel and
i don't think edinburgh university gives dds lightly
to baptist ministers they may to presbyterians but
not likely to baptist ministers they gave it
to him and a great biblical scholar and
like dr struggy has stated that there are
at least five signs spoken of here and
elsewhere in scripture signs that would mark the
nearness not the time but the nearness of
the return of christ and here they are
we've only time to mention them widespread apostasy
in luke 18 verse 8 when the son
of man cometh shall he find faith on
earth and in matthew 24 the love of
many shall wax cold this is a point
taken up by paul in the second epistle
to the thessalonians chapter 2 verse 3 that
day shall not come except there come a
falling away first widespread apostasy within the church
a falling away from the truth a falling
away from christ and then secondly widespread hostility
towards the people of god matthew 24 verses
9 and 10 ye shall be hated of
all nations for my name's sake again in
that same 24th chapter the rebirth of the
jewish nation in verse 32 when our lord
speaks of that nation under the emblem and
symbol of the fig tree which shows signs
of new life indicating the nearness of the
return a line of prophecy found almost everywhere
in the words of the old testament prophets
that there would come a day when israel
would be restored universal strife both between nations
and within nations war and lawlessness and anarchy
verse 7 nations shall rise against nation and
kingdom against kingdom and the fifth sign worldwide
evangelism in verse 14 this gospel of the
kingdom shall be preached in all the world
for a witness unto all nations and then
shall the end come the indications that should
be discerned by us the information that has
been denied the answer to the question when
will he come is simply this nobody knows
but our lord has indicated that there are
certain things that we must anticipate before that
coming and prior to it and i remember
being very much impressed by the fact when
the bishop of edinburgh who was in churchmanship
a high churchman and he didn't stand where
i stood in many things when i was
rector of saint thomas's church there and god
gave us some very wonderful times of blessing
in the seven years that we were there
and the bishop came to take a service
i think it must have been a confirmation
service and when we were talking in the
vestry he turned to me and said i
think the stage is getting set for the
second coming of our lord and we believe
as we say in the creeds the great
creeds of the christian church that he shall
come when will he come the exact information
has been denied to us but various explicit
indications should be discerned by us the second
question which is another legitimate question is how
will he come the first when will he
come the second how will he come here
again there are two statements that we can
make on the authority of what our lord
himself has said that have the support of
scripture the first thing is that he will
come suddenly and in a moment in the
passage we read in that 24th chapter of
matthew prior to the passage we actually read
in verse 27 christ says as the lightning
cometh out of the east and shineth unto
the west so shall also the coming of
the son of man be this thought is
taken up by simpho who in one corinthian
1552 writes of what is going to happen
and he describes it as happening in a
moment in the twinkling of an eye at
the last trump suddenly and unexpectedly the lord
will come verse 44 in such an hour
as ye think not the son of man
cometh verse 50 in a day when he
looketh not for him and when our lord
likens the situation at his second coming to
the situation in the time of noah we
find him describing in that 38 verse the
picture of life going on normally and wickedly
and then suddenly judgment for as in the
days that were before the flood they were
eating and drinking and marrying and giving in
marriage until the day life will go on
normally i've never forgotten how many years ago
i heard brother edward the most christ-like
man i think i've ever met point out
how when our lord came first to this
earth only a comparative handful were expecting him
and least of all in their expectancy was
the orthodox establishment of the church just a
few deeply taught by the spirit simeon anna
mary and joseph maybe elizabeth and zachariah the
parents of john but apart from them the
world lived on the church worshipped on its
machinery grinding on utterly unconscious utterly indifferent to
the tremendous happiness that christ had come and
i remember brother edward saying it would not
be a matter of surprise if history repeats
itself for when he comes again will he
find faith on earth unexpectedly suddenly in a
moment the god almighty will say to human
history curtains and down the curtain goes he
will come suddenly in a moment he will
come visibly as a person unmistakably you see
there are those who try to water down
to explain away the truth of the second
coming by pointing out that christ is always
coming to this earth but he is always
breaking into human history at the personal level
at a national level or even a universal
level and that is true but professor james
denny who again is no fool and who
knew his new testament and bible in all
probability better than any of us here he
has said all these admissions do not enable
us to call in question what stands so
plainly in the pages of the new testament
what fills so exclusively the minds of the
first christian the idea of a personal return
of christ at the end of the age
and professor denny ends if we are to
retain any relation to the new testament at
all we must assert the personal return of
christ as judge visibly as a person suddenly
in a moment visibly as a person he
will come listen to what he himself says
about this the son of man shall come
in the glory of his father with the
angels again then shall appear the sign of
the son of man in heaven and then
shall all the tribes of the earth mourn
and they shall see the son of man
coming in the clouds of heaven with power
and great glory and again hereafter you shall
see the son of man sitting on the
right hand of power and coming in the
clouds of heaven a final word of confirmation
from that scene of christ's ascension when we
read that the two men the angels may
be said this same jesus which is taken
up from you into heaven shall so come
in like manner as ye have seen him
go he went visibly as a person he
will come in like manner visibly as a
person how will he come suddenly in a
moment it'll be curtains visibly as a person
when will he come i want the answer
to that how will he come i want
the answer to that why will he come
we've only the very briefest of time simply
to indicate the reasons for his return and
i want to select two that are expressed
very wonderfully in the last verse of the
great advent hymn in our hymn book with
which we will close our service this morning
and the last verse of this great hymn
by francis ridley have a girl goes like
this oh the joy to see thee reigning
thee my own beloved lord every tongue thy
name confessing worship honor glory blessing brought to
thee with glad thee my master and my
friend vindicated and infirmed unto earth's remotest end
glorified adored and owned two tremendous words why
will he come so that he may be
vindicated and so that he may be infirmed
these are two aspects alone that i want
to select there are many other reasons why
but let's think of the vindication of christ
when he came in humility and in grace
men spat on him men scourged him men
mocked him men crucified him for the purpose
of redemption and reconciliation through his death on
the cross all this was endured the revelation
of the mercy of god was essential but
it was only partial it was adequate for
faith and salvation but it was not complete
the revelation of the mercy of god must
be followed by the revelation of the majesty
of god which is equally essential in the
interest of truth and the truth of the
matter is simply this that god is not
someone that man can kick around man's been
doing that ever since the fall he has
just been kicking god around and the picture
of man as a picture of god as
he really is is essential and the revelation
of the nature of god is to be
filled out and completed with frightening effects in
revelation 1 verse 7 we read behold he
cometh with clouds and every eye shall see
him and they also which pierced him and
all the kindreds of the earth shall wail
because of him we read of men running
to hide themselves in the rocks and the
caves and god is seen by man as
he really is jb phillips wrote that book
your god is too small and even in
jesus christ the picture is too small there
we see the revelation of god's grace and
truth as far as man's sin is concerned
but we need the revelation in majesty to
complete the picture when the glory and the
splendor and the majesty of god as he
is breaks in upon man's mind that's going
to be a frightening day for a lot
of folks the one they've kicked around the
one whose will they have disregarded the one
whose grace they have spurned they will see
him as he is the vindication of
christ is part of the purpose and the
other the coronation of christ when he takes
the throne the purpose is to judge and
then to reign the judgment will be twofold
a judgment for those who are not christians
and the issue will be what have you
done with christ and this will hold for
them the condemnation of their sin for those
who are christian the issue will be what
have you done for christ and this will
have to do with the evaluation of our
service parable of the tares when the time
for the harvest is come at the end
of the age our lord said the son
of man shall send forth his angels and
they shall gather out of his kingdom all
things that offend and them which do iniquity
the rejecters of christ will be rejected by
him don't let's be under any illusion we're
not all traveling the same road and we
won't all spend eternity in the same place
for those in the service of christ for
the servants will come the reckoning time for
the lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth
with them and the issue will be what
have we done for christ then come at
the end when he shall have delivered up
the kingdom to god even the father that
god may be all in all a
promise what a wonderful promise what a
wonderful promise he shall come so as we
move into christmas and our minds are filled
with the thoughts of the first advent and
he came in humility let our minds rise
beyond that see beyond it why it may
not even come got a letter from my
old rector dazzle mold his wife great
man of god man who loved the book
sent their love and greetings to us i
don't know how old he is he must
be getting on now and then at the
end came a cryptic sentence that we wondered
about in his slightly shaky handwriting still recognizable
very much as his he wrote this sentence
as a p.s this will be the
last christmas card we sent wonder whether daryl
dazzle mold was hoping and praying that it'd
be the last christmas on earth before christ
comes well we know the answer to that
nobody knows but it could be the last
could be might not even come such an
hour as he thinks not the lord will
come are you ready for his coming would
you welcome him would you be thrilled would
you the most fantastic thing that would ever
happen to know that he's there in one
moment oh god
our loving father how we bless thee that
all that thou hath purpose for man is
adequate for man's need not simply for the
regeneration of the self the reconciliation of the
sinner but a bigger plan still to take
in the whole of human history we praise
thee for this and as we see things
going from bad to worse help us to
lift up our eyes and know that the
coming of the lord draweth nigh above all
help us to be ready for that coming
so that should he come today we'd have
nothing to worry about nothing to alter nothing
to change nothing to fuss about except just
to be glad that his coming help us
to live that way for thy mercy's sake
amen