The Present Truth often refers to the Second Coming of Christ. Will you not tell me what relation, if any, that coming has to the first advent of Christ, and what is the real necessity of it if the saints, as we are taught, go to be with the Lord in heaven at death?
Let us consider the last part of the question first. We are not taught that the saints go to be with the Lord when they die. That is, we are not taught it in the Bible, and this is the only authority. We are taught that "the dead know not anything;" (Ecclesiastes 9:5) that "There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither you go;" (Ecclesiastes 9:10) that the dead shall "live again," coming forth from their graves at the call of Christ (John 5:28-29); and that they "wait" in the grave the "appointed time" for their "change" at the call the Lord. (Job 14:14-15) What this change is, and how and when it will be effected, is told in these words: "Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." (1 Corinthians 15:51-54) "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 we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so [by this means, and in this manner] shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
When Jesus was about to depart from this world, and go to the Father, He said to His sorrowing disciples, "Let not your heart be troubled: ... I go to prepare a place for you. And 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 14:1-3)
The word "again," means once more, and so, according to His promise, "unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." (Hebrews 9:28)
He went away to prepare a place for His disciples, which indicates that the place was not then ready for them. He said that as surely as He went to prepare the place, He would come again, to take them to himself. And, further, He said that His coming again to take them to himself would be in order that where He is, there they might be also; which proves conclusively that without Christ's second coming His disciples could never be with Him; and thus we learn the importance of the second advent. It is the "blessed hope" (Titus 2:13) of the Christian, the consummation of all his hopes.
This really explains the relation of the second advent to the first. The second is the completion of the first. Without the second coming, the first would have been in vain. The shame and suffering of the cross finds its justification in the glory of the second coming of Christ. Only then will the suffering of the cross really have an end; for Jesus still bears the world with all its sin and woe. (Hebrews 1:3) At His first advent He had not where to lay His head; but the earth belongs to Him by right, and so He will come the second time to claim it.
The first advent was only a preparation for the second, in which culminate all the promises of God, and all the hopes of all the saints of all ages; for He came to make it very plain to men how they must live in order to be ready for His coming in glory. He came to give the fullest revelation of God's love to man, and to demonstrate the possibility of the perfect manifestation of the life of God in human flesh.
The Son of Mary is her Saviour (Luke 1:47); the Seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent that seduced her (Genesis 3:15); and the formation of Christ in His disciples so completely that He is brought forth in their lives, is their salvation. (Colossians 1:23-28) When He shall have been reproduced in men of every tribe and nation, (Revelation 14:6-7) then will all the world have the complete witness of the Gospel of the kingdom, (Revelation 7:1-8) and then will the end come. (Matthew 24:14)
Thus will the first advent, which was the seed sowing, blossom into the perfect fruitage of the ingathering. (Matthew 13:37-43)--Present Truth, December 25, 1902--Original Note: All communications intended for publication, and all questions, whether an answer is desired by letter or through the paper, should he addressed to the Editor of Present Truth, and not to the International Tract Society. Correspondents are requested in all cases to give the name and address, and to take pains to write them legibly. All questions are regarded as strictly confidential, and nobody but the Editor ever has any knowledge of the questioner's identity; but the Editor wishes always to be able to communicate with his correspondents. E. J. Waggoner, Editor.