“The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God.” 1 Thess. 4:16.
And here our Saviour 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.”
He will come literally, personally, the same Jesus who was here upon the earth. Not in lowly form as an offering for sin, to be set at naught, abused, and crucified, but in “all his glory” attended with “all the holy angels.” Matt. 25:31. We shall know when he comes for “every eye shall see him.” Rev. 1:7.
None of these evasions of the truth will ever be able to counterfeit the real event. The Roman army did not come to Jerusalem in this way. Death does not come in this way. The deceptive wonders of Spiritualism cannot imitate the glory of Christ's second coming. He will come in power and great glory (verse 30); he will come in the glory of his Father (chapter 16:27); and in the glory of the holy angels (Luke 9:26); all the holy angels shall come with him. Matt. 25:31. His coming will be as glorious and resplendent as the lightning. When Jesus revealed himself to Saul of Tarsus, there was a light above the brightness of the sun (Acts 26:13); of the angel who appeared at the tomb after the resurrection of Jesus it is said, “His countenance was like lightning” (Matt. 28:3); and Ezekiel says of the messengers of the Most High, they “ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.” Eze. 1:14.
When Jesus comes in the glory of his Father, with so glorious a train attendant, his coming will indeed be as the lightning coming out of the east and shining to the west, and no one will have any more occasion or opportunity to say to his fellow, “See here,” than one would have to call another to behold a gleam of lightning flashing through the heavens. The vivid lightning flashing out of the distant east, and shining even to the west, lights up the whole heavens. What, then, when the Lord comes in flaming glory, and all the holy angels with him? The presence of only one holy angel at the sepulcher where Christ lay dead, caused the Roman guard to shake, and become as dead men. The light and glory of one angel completely overpowered those strong sentinels. The Son of man is coming in his own kingly glory, and in the glory of his Father, attended by all the holy angels. Then the [pg 044] whole heavens will blaze with glory, and the whole earth will tremble before him.
The Signs Of Christ's Coming.
Verses 29-31: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And 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 he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet; and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
We have before seen that our Lord speaks in this chapter of the long period of tribulation that was to come upon his followers, and we have also seen how those days of tribulation were shortened for the elect's sake. Christ says that the sun should be darkened immediately after the tribulation of those days. Mark in his gospel, gives it as follows:—