0383. A Longing for Christ's Return

A Longing for Christ’s Return

"How ye turned to God from your idols to serve the True and the Living God, and to wait for His Son from Heaven" (1Th_1:9-10).

Here is a true token of salvation. Those who really love Christ’s appearing, may know that they are the children of God, because the unsaved have no joy in such an anticipation.

A token of perdition is recognized in the attitude of the wicked toward the "blessed hope." To them Christ’s return is a "certain fearful looking for of fiery indignation and judgment that will consume the adversary."

It is to the unsaved, that the Lord’s coming will be like a thief; they are the children of darkness. The true saint is a child of the day, not of the night; he is watching and waiting for his Lord, as one waits for the morning.

The Christian should, like John, be praying: "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Like Peter, the Christian should be preaching the coming of Christ; and like Paul, he should be loving it.

Illustration: Dr. George Dowkont, of New York city, told me how his little seven-year-old boy asked him: "Papa, when is Jesus coming?" The father answered, "I do not know, my son, He may come at any time." "Then," said the boy, "you’ve got to be on the job all the time, haven’t you?" And the true Christian will always be watching.

It is said that the old Scotch people, after the banishment of their king, used to stand by the rugged shores, and, holding their hands out toward France, they would cry: "Coom back, Charlie, coom back, Charlie." And those who believe in Christ and His return, will be holding up their hand toward the heavens and crying: "Come back, Lord Jesus, come back, come back."

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR