0677. 662. Pre-Millennial Coming of Christ

662. Pre-Millennial Coming of Christ

Christ unmistakably taught there could be no Millennium until He returned.

There is no more pathetic scene in the life of Christ than when He wept over the city of Jerusalem, and complained that the Jews had not received Him; the consequence was, their house was left unto them “desolate,” and He told them that they should not see Him again till they should say, “Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord.” And then Christ, in response to the threefold question which the disciples put to Him, which was, “When shall these things be?” “What shall be the sign of Thy Coming, and of the end of the age?” replies by telling them the conditions that will be found before He returns. If Matthew 24 is carefully read, those conditions may be summarised as follows:

1. Spiritual declension, unfaithfulness will abound, hence Christ warns us against false christs, false prophets, and deceivers—Mat_24:4-5, Mat_24:11, Mat_24:24.

2. Spiritual deception and deceivers and apostasy will precede His Coming, hence iniquity shall abound, the love of the many shall wax cold, the character of the pre-antediluvian days will exist, the evil servant will presume upon the Lord’s seeming delay, there will be those who will not be ready as represented in the virgins, the unfaithful servant who did not use his Master’s talent, and also those who did not minister to the Lord’s brethren in their need—Mat_24:12, Mat_24:37-39, Mat_24:48-51; Mat_25:1-13, Mat_25:24-30, Mat_25:41, Mat_25:46.

3. Instead of finding a condition of peace and tranquillity when He returns, He says there will be wars and rumours of wars, and nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom—Mat_24:6, Mat_24:7.

4. Following in the steps of war, there will be famine and pestilence, and so terrible will these things be, that unless the days are shortened no flesh will be saved from their awful consequences—Mat_24:7, Mat_24:22.

5. Terrible sufferings will also be characteristic of the time of the end, hence we read of sorrows, affliction, woes, unparalleled tribulation, hatred, killing, and loss—Mat_24:8-9, Mat_24:19, Mat_24:21.

6. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, there will be wonderful phenomena seen in the heavens and in the earth, in the darkened sun, in the light less moon, in the falling stars, in the shaking heavens, and in the quaking earth—Mat_24:7; Mat_24:29.

7. The budding fig tree of Israel’s restoration is yet another sign of the time of the end, and that the summer of blessing for God’s covenanted people is near—Mat_24:32.

8. The time when all these things shall be, is not left in the uncertainty of doubt, for it is when these things shall come to pass that He is nigh even at the doors, and as Christ Himself says, “The Son of Man shall be seen coming with power and great glory” (Mat_24:30, Mat_24:33). And following this affirmation of Christ’s, He tells us “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Word shall not pass away” (Mat_24:35).

Surely such a state of things goes to prove beyond all question that no Millennium is in existence when the Lord returns, but just the opposite.

By: DR. F. E. MARSH