“I Will Come Again . . .” – Part 2
"… if I go and prepare a place for you, I
will come again,
and receive you unto
myself; that where I am,
there you may be
also." -- John 14:3
In
Part I of this study, we examined 1 Corinthians 15:26 and 1 Thessalonians
4:15-18, concluding that both scriptures specify a future return of Jesus, the
time when both the sleeping saints and the faithful remaining church are to
be caught up to be with our Lord:
In
1 Corinthians
1
Thessalonians 4:15-18 tells us that the sleeping saints are raised and caught up together with the faithful
living church -- at the same time: "For this we say unto you by the word
of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord
shall not precede them which are asleep.
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall
rise first: Then (after that) we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together (at the
same time) with them in the clouds, to
meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore
comfort one another with these words."
As
part of this study, we’d like to examine a closely related scripture from a
different viewpoint than that frequently studied. I was introduced to this
different viewpoint in a publication by Bro. Tom Crawford entitled, "The
Rev. 16:15,16:
"Behold, I come as a thief.
Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his
garments, lest he walk
naked, and they see his shame. And he
gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue
Armageddon." The phrase, "Behold,
I come as a thief. . " reminds us of our Glorified Lord Jesus when he
states:
"Remember therefore how you
have received and heard, and hold fast,
and repent. If therefore you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief,
and you will not know what hour I will come upon you" (Revelation
3:3).
Our
Lord himself, during His earthly ministry, exhorted His disciples: "Be therefore ready also: for the Son
of man comes at an hour when you think not" (Luke
The
words of Rev.16:15 relate to our Lord at His return -- He will be revealed to
the faithful who watch and pray, but
not to the world. Note especially that
there is no basis in the Greek text to mark this verse as parenthetical, or
relate it to the three spirits of Revelation 16:13,14. The phrase, "Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his
shame," is similar to
other passages referring to the church:
“. . . . .
be sober, and watch unto
prayer" (1 Peter 4:7).
“I
counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; and
white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness does not appear; and anoint your eyes
with eyesalve, that you may see" (Revelation
Revelation
16:15 can thus be considered to be a statement concerning the return of our
Glorified Lord to gather His waiting and watching church -- His bride -- and
take them all home together, for
their marriage to Himself -- the Lamb
(Revelation 19:7-10, 14).
Consider
again Revelation 16:16: "And He
gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue
Armageddon." There have been
innumerable public statements about, "The
“Ar” in Hebrew can be written as “ar,” “ir” or “ayar” and is translated consistently in the Old Testament as "city." Look up "city" in Strong's or
Young's concordance; there is no "H" in 'Armageddon, city, place of God
(Hebrew definition). This Hebrew word begins with an aspirant, a silent letter. Note also that this is not the word har as
usually rendered in Greek.
In
this two part study of our Lord's promise to return for His church, we see that
there are at least three significant Scriptural witnesses to the fact that the
sleeping saints are still in the sleep of death and that Jesus' return is imminent.
At that time Jesus will take home His faithful church for her marriage
to Himself -- the Lamb. Then the Church
will be with Him for all eternity. After
this, the earthly blessings will begin.
Jesus and His church will return and mankind will have the opportunity,
for all who will, to come up the Highway of Holiness (Isaiah 35::8-10) so that
ultimately -- "… God may be all in
all."
Herb Snyder
“Even so, Come quickly
Lord Jesus!”
A
The sun was sinking in the West,
A glory cloud swept o’er its crest;
Then as it passed beyond my view
It sent a
message from the blue:
‘Tis but a
little while, and then,
I will be
coming back again;
I’ll come to
drive the night away,
E’en at the
breaking of the day.
So Christ has
said, I’ll come to earth
To bring it
life and light and mirth;
Thus while the
night rules on in fear,
I know God’s
Day is drawing near;
I know its
gloom will pass away
And there will dawn His Blessed
Day;
When wars and
famines will be o’er,
We’ll reign
with Him whom we adore.
R. E.
Neighbour