0924. The Lord's Coming, a Practical Hope. Critics of His Coming
The Lord's Coming, a Practical Hope.
Critics of His Coming
That the Lord's Return is a theme frequently set forth by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, need occasion no surprise. His coming again was to Him a message of great delight, not alone because it would bring to Him the realization of the fullness of His joy in His saints, but also because it would bring to His saints their fullness of joy.
That the Lord's Return is just as much despised by the men of this age, as it is admired by the redeemed needs but little comment. Christ's Return brings to the world at large, a certain fearful looking for of the fiery judgments and indignation which will consume the adversary. Christ's Return brings the utter collapse of man's day, with all his boasted progress and achievements.
No wonder, then, that the Second Coming is maligned, discounted, scoffed, and utterly contemned.
To-day the men who accept the more sure Word of Prophecy are wide-awake to the sweep of the darkest apostasy that has ever swayed the church–they are ready to contend for the faith, and if need be to die for it.
On the other hand, the men who deny the Blessed Hope, and who with it, deny many other great foundation truths are quite as fully awake. They are banding together to take from the orthodox all the splendid gifts and achievements of the fathers, who in fullness of the faith committed to those who should follow them splendid equipments in college and in mission enterprise.
The lines are taut. The battle is on. Paine and Hume and Ingersol and Spencer and Huxley and Darwin proclaimed their skepticisms outside the church; now the same base denials are being made from within. Under the guise of science and philosophy and higher learning, certain men have crept in unawares. These men deny the only Lord God, and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; these men defame the Prophets, deny the Apostles and even decry the Lord Himself.
The butt of the attack of these certain men centers first of all upon the Virgin Birth of Christ, His being God manifest in flesh; then it shifts to the Scriptural message of Christ's Return in flesh.
When the orthodox come forward in a stand for the faith, the opponents of the faith at once call out "persecuted."
Boston's editors, act as sponsor for the liberalists, in a lengthy editorial, from which we clip the following:
"With millions of wealth to back them up a group of ministers, chiefly Baptists, are leading a monstrous inquisition against the colleges. Without regard to their status as private, sectarian or state institutions, throughout the land the faculties of both Baptist and Presbyterian institutions have been intimidated and put under espionage, until now they live in terror."
"A group of ministers, chiefly Baptists, with vast amounts of money at their command, call themselves Fundamentalists, and they demand adherence to what they call the "fundamentals," the chief of which is the Second Coming of Christ, and they picture that coming in terms of terror, that surpass the awful pictures in the Book of Revelation.
"The fundamentalists find the justification for their foursquare creed, in a literalistic interpretation of the Bible. They make one text worth as much as another, and base their campaign on the absolute inerrancy of the Scriptures."
Certainly God's message which foretells and describes these men who deny the Lord, is a needed one for our study, and we pray God's blessing as we pass along.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR