By Walter L. Surbrook

      Text: "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." -- Matt. 24:44.

      William Miller, who founded the Adventist faith, said that Jesus Christ was coming in 1844. When the time arrived, many of his followers gave away their personal property and their homes, made long, white, flowing robes and donned them. On the day that the Lord was to come they climbed hills, straw stacks, and high buildings to wait for Him. Tradition has it that in the afternoon the sky became overcast with clouds, and the low mutterings of an oncoming storm could be heard. Soon the thunders rolled and crashed, and the rain came in torrents. Those poor, deceived souls were drenched, and they had to get down from their high places and go back to the homes they had given away.

      Charles T. Russell, the founder of the Millennial Dawn Movement, or the "International Bible Students' Association" of Brooklyn, New York, said that Jesus Christ came in the Spirit in 1847, and that since that date He has been abiding in the Spirit. He also said that in October, 1914, the Lord would reveal Himself. That month came and went and Jesus did not reveal Himself. To set himself right with his followers, Mr. Russell said that he had missed it, chronologically, one year, and that Jesus would come in October, 1915. That month came and went and nothing happened. I do not know how Mr. Russell set himself right with his people, but we do know what God said. He said that if a man prophesies and that prophecy comes to pass, he is a true prophet; but if a man prophesies and his prophecy does not come to pass, he is a false prophet.

      A few years ago, in Los Angeles, airplanes flew over the city and dropped down pieces of paper announcing that in January, 1927, probation would end and the Lord would come. But He did not come. We are sure He has not come, because, when he comes, we will go with Him.

      Because some have gone into fanaticism on the line of the second coming, and have set the day for His return, if we are not careful, as God's people who profoundly believe in the return of Jesus, there will be a tendency for us to shun the reproach that comes with this doctrine, and cease to preach it.

      There is a class of folk who do not believe in the literal, personal return of Jesus. They say that the return that is promised in the Scriptures has reference to Jesus Christ's coming to a soul at conversion. But my text says, "In such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." When one is converted he is thinking and expecting something. There is not a hint in Scripture that Christ comes to the soul at conversion, for Paul says, in Rom. 8:16, "The Spirit itself (Himself) beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." So His coming to which my text refers is not at conversion.

      There is another class who discard the idea about conversion, and say that the second coining of Jesus is His coming for us at death -- when we are at the very door of death. If one is conscious when dying, he is expecting something, and that would not be according to our text which says, "In such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."

      Another reason we cannot believe that the second coming has reference to death is the fact that there is not the slightest evidence that Jesus ever comes for anybody at death. When Stephen was stoned to death he looked up and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Jesus stood at the right hand of the Father and received Stephen. When Lazarus died, angels carried him away to Abraham's bosom. Angels are ministering spirits. If God is no respecter of persons, and angels carried one man away, I have no doubt that they will do the same for every other man who goes to Heaven.

      Also there is a class of people who believe, not that Jesus comes at conversion or at death, but that He is coming back just as He went away. They believe in the literal, personal return of Jesus Christ, and they have much Scripture to substantiate their belief. They cite us to I Thess. 4:14-17: "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 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 prevent (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 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 shall we ever be with the Lord." He is not coming in the Spirit, as Mr. Russell said. He is not coming at conversion or at death, but His coming will be in person. Notice: "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."

      Here is a promise on which we have leaned heavily more than once while preaching the Gospel, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world (age)". Somebody said, "If He is with us only to the end of the age, what then?" We will he with Him, for He is coming, at the end of this age, for us.

      There is another Scripture that points out very clearly that Jesus is coining back personally. When He went out from Jerusalem to Mount Olivet, He told the disciples to tarry in the city of Jerusalem until they were endued with power. Those Galileans then stood with longing and loving hearts, looking up as He disappeared out of their sight. Then two men appeared and said, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." -- Acts 1:11. So He is coming back -- not at conversion, not in the spirit, not at death, but just as He went away; literally and personally. The same Christ who went away will come back.

      There are two schools of teaching on the second coming of the Lord. The two branches of teaching are known as Premillennialism and Postmillennialism. Pre means before, and post means after. Millennium means a thousand years. Some people object to our saying "Millennium" because the Bible does not use that word. It does, however, say "a thousand years" and that is identically the same. What difference does it make whether I say a thousand years or a millennium? They are identically synonymous, except that the one is English and the other Latin. The Premillennialists believe that Jesus is coming before the thousand years, and the Postmillennialists believe that He is coming after.

      The Postmillennialists believe that the world will gradually get better and better. This will necessitate that the church take on new strength; she will get her modernistic ministers all converted, her educational institutions renovated, and will eventually convert the world. They further teach that wars, slaughter and carnage will be a thing of the past and that peace will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Then Jesus will set up His Kingdom and reign. We cannot quote any Scripture in support of this teaching.

      The Premillennialists believe that this old world will never get any better -- that sin and wickedness, murder and crime, will go right on and will not stop until the Revelation of Jesus Christ. "Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." -- II Tim. 3 :13. We need not be surprised if the Eighteenth Amendment is repealed, the saloons and booze come back, and hell is again turned loose in America, ready for the Tribulation. And conditions will get worse and worse, until, without any announcement, the Lord Jesus Christ takes His Bride out of the earth to be with him.

      There are two stages, epochs, or phases to the second coming of Jesus. One is known as the Rapture, and the other as the Revolution. The two words we find in the original are epiphaneia, which is rapture, and apocalypse which is revelation. It is hard to understand how any student of the original language can be a Postmillennialist and read his Bible at all. These two words stand out distinctly. They are never used interchangeably. They are never used to mean the same. The Rapture and the Revelation are two stages or epochs. The first is the Rapture.

      The apostle says that at the Rapture Jesus Christ comes "as a thief in the night." At the Revelation, "every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him." Have you ever been in a home when it was robbed? Did you ever hear a burglar break the door down, jump on the floor, get your gold, and then go? How does a thief come? He opens the window, or unlocks the door, and slips in with the stealth of a cat. He gets your gold, jewels, diamonds, and silver, and -- is gone. Nobody knows he has been there until the next morning. That is the way it will be when Jesus comes for His Bride at the Rapture; if you are in darkness that day will overtake you as a thief in the night. Thank God, we are the children of light. Some scholars think that a little while before He comes He will whisper to the Bride the secret that He is coming. It will be blessed if He does. He comes as a thief in the night -- unannounced, unexpected by the world.

      The apostle says in the Scripture that we shall all be "caught up to meet him in the air." It is generally conceded that at the Rapture, when he comes for His Bride, He will not come to earth, but will come down in mid-air right over Palestine. As He comes He will draw the saints -- living and dead -- to Himself. As a magnet pulls steel shavings out of sawdust, so He will pull his people out of the earth.

      While He is over Palestine, His attraction will pull the saints from the north and the south. He will then pass around the world, catching up His Bride. He will pass westward from Palestine with the speed, or rapidity, of lightning. "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." -- Matt. 24:27. It will doubtless take Him but a very brief period to encircle the globe. From Palestine He will pass westward across the Mediterranean Sea, reaching south into Africa, from whence He will get His missionaries and the men and women who have died there for the sake of the Gospel. Traveling westward He will reach north into Europe. He will take out of Rome those who died as martyrs. Up from the catacombs and subterranean passages of the scarlet city on the Tiber, the saints shall rise with joyous shouts of victory. Millions of saints who died at sea will he brought up from the depths of the briny deep.

      Still traveling westward, He will cross the Atlantic and pass over the United States. When He does I want to be ready! I do not want anything to stand in my way. I want a clear sky! He will reach north into Canada, and south into Mexico, Central America and South America. Our missionaries and saints, living and dead, from these climes will be caught up to meet Him. He will cross the Pacific and will take from the Islands of the Sea all who are ready. He will then take the saints out of Russia, whose wicked government has put so many Christians to death. He will take His people not only out of Russia, Japan, Korea, and India, as He travels westward across Asia, but from New Zealand, Australia, and all the countries of the Orient. He may take two or three minutes in going around the world, and He may take only two or three seconds, for He will travel like "lightning." He is going around the globe to take every saint, living or dead. When He gets back over Palestine, He will have His Bride complete. We will then go up, and stay with Him for seven years. His coming for His Bride is called the Rapture. Immediately follows the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

      The apostle said, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." There are two judgments: the "Judgment Seat of Christ" and the "White Throne Judgment." They are a thousand years apart. The Judgment Seat of Christ comes when the bride is caught up to meet Him in the air.

      There will not be any backsliders or sinners there. There will not be a soul there with any sin on his garments -- nobody but the Blood-washed. We will not be there to meet our sins. We met them at the mourners' bench. We confessed them here. For whom is this judgment? It is for the saints. All who have suffered for him and labored faithfully will, in that day, be paid in full. That will be pay day, a lay of settlements, a day of rewards. There will be nothing to worry about then, for all suffering will be over. The saints will be rewarded "according to their works." He will call them around and will give some one city to rule over, some two cities, some five cities, and others ten. You will be rewarded according to the way you lived, acted, suffered, kept sweet, sacrificed, and gave to the Lord's cause. The rewards will be given according to our faithfulness down here. If you are half-hearted, careless, indifferent, and half-asleep in your religious life here, do not hope to get a good reward. If you live just for what there is in it, do not hope to get paid well; but if you are living an intensely spiritual life, pouring out your best for Him, and suffering for His sake, you can expect to be well paid. This is the "Judgment Seat of Christ." This is the day of rewards. While up there, Jesus will get His Bride ready to come back to reign on the earth during the Millennium.

      Eliezer, who was a type of the Holy Spirit, went into a far country to get a bride for Isaac. Isaac was a type of Christ. Eliezer secured the woman for him, left the country, and brought her to Isaac. The Holy Spirit has come into this world to get a Bride for Jesus Christ. He is here hovering over us, wooing and lifting us, trying to get us to Christ. One of these days He is going to leave this country and take the Bride up to Isaac -- up to Jesus.

      While the saints are up at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, the awful Tribulation will take place on the earth. During the first three and one half years of this period, the Jewish worship will again he set up. In the middle of the Tribulation, the Antichrist will overthrow their worship, "pollute the sanctuary and shall take away the daily sacrifice." -- Dan. 11:31. Desolation will come to the Jewish religion, and the abominable worship of the Antichrist will be set up. He will set himself up "in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God," and the whole world will follow after him. The Jewish forms of worship will then be completely destroyed.

      Religious wars have always been the most bloodcurdling and the most dastardly of all that the world has ever seen. For the next forty-two months the world will be drenched in blood through religious conflicts. Hell will be turned loose on the earth for three and one half years, and the great Tribulation will culminate in the battle of Rev. 19:19-21. At this time Christ becomes the "Smiting Stone" of Dan. 2:34, and breaks world governments all to pieces and sets up His Millennial Kingdom. The Bride will be up with Jesus while the Tribulation goes on on the earth. Slaughter and carnage will be so gory that blood will flow "even unto the horses' bridles." Who can paraphrase, or picture, the awfulness of the Tribulation? Words are too weak to portray its gruesomeness!

      Mark you, nobody goes up at the Rapture to miss this time of trouble but the sanctified, the spiritual, the godly. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection" -- the resurrection of the just -- "on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." -- Rev. 20:6. Those who are translated at the first resurrection will reign with Him during the Millennium.

      At the close of the Rapture, or the Marriage Supper, Jesus is coming back to earth with His Bride. Jude says He is coming "with ten thousand of his saints;" but the Revelator says there are "ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." They are coming, riding "upon white horses," right down over the Mount of Olives. "Every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him." "They also which pierced him" refers to the Jews. This time His feet will touch the mountain; and, as they do, it will burst asunder and fill the valley. (Zech. 14:4.) Then the Holy City will come down from Heaven into plain view of the earth. That City is the home of the Bride. You will not get into it unless you are a bridehood saint.

      The earth will not yet be purified, but the curse will be lifted. Did you ever ask yourself this question: Why will the earth produce so abundantly from the opening of the Millennium? It will not be purified until the close, when God will purify it with fire. The earth is now out of her proper realm. She is out of her proper relation to the other planets and elements of time. The axis of the earth is tipped at an inclination of twenty-three and one half degrees north. She has never had her proper climate since the flood. This is why we now have whirlwinds, tornadoes, cyclones, sudden changes of heat, cold, etc. Paul tells us, in Heb. 12:26, 27, that God is again going to "shake the earth." At the opening of the Millennium God will shake the earth back into her proper sphere, and at once our storms will be over and we shall enjoy a perpetual spring. The earth will then blossom as the rose. She will produce abundantly all through the Millennium.

      At the close of the Millennium comes the "Great White Throne" Judgment and the second, or final, resurrection. The righteous dead are all resurrected at the opening of the Millennium, but the sinners are not until its close. "But the rest of the dead (the unconverted, those who died in their sins) lived not again until the thousand year were finished." -- Rev. 20:5. No one will have a second chance. The body, soul, and spirit of every unregenerate person will again be reunited and brought into the very presence of God Almighty to be judged. Do not use the expression, "General Judgment," which is Postmillennial and unscriptural. There is no such thing. There is a "Judgment Seat of Christ" for rewarding the saints, and a "Great White Throne" Judgment for the wicked and the lost. At the close of this final Judgment, the lost of earth will all be cast into the lake of fire -body, soul, and spirit -- forever. We will never be ready for Christ's coming unless our souls have been thoroughly washed in the blood of the Lamb.

      Let us notice one condition which portrays that His coming is at the door. The apostle tells us "that in the last days" people will be "without natural affection." This is not Divine love, it is human love. Never before were there so many divorces and so much domestic trouble. In a recent report from Los Angeles County there were as many divorces as marriages. Why? Natural affection, or human love, is gone. There never was a time when the sin of infanticide was running so rampant and babies were so unwelcome. I am informed that there are places where you can buy babies on the market for $2.00 apiece, while women are paying from $100.00 up for lap dogs.

      I heard of a man who had a vision concerning a church in the West. The church did not keep a good, spiritual pastor, and it was not ready for Jesus' return. This man dreamed that the Lord came and the saints from all around went up, but not a soul in that church was taken. Those who had talked about the Lord's return were all gone, but here was a church unvisited. The church called a meeting of its official board and then called the pastor. The people said, "We hired you to preach us the truth. We hired you and paid you our good money to have us ready when Jesus should come. You have not warned us; Jesus came, and His people are all gone, and we are left behind?" They gnashed on him with their teeth as their eyes flashed fire.

      The man of God awoke, and for two or three days he felt troubled over his vision, or dream. He prayed over it a great deal and finally said, "Dear Lord, if you want me to tell this pastor my dream, let me meet him in front of the post office when I go down town." He walked down town and met the pastor at the appointed place. The man of God looked at the pastor and told him his vision. This unfaithful shepherd turned pale and his lips quivered. He trembled from head to foot as the man of God said, "I saw your whole flock. Not one of them was taken when the Lord came!" This pastor was troubled for a few days, but after a while threw it off and forgot it.

      This condition is going to be duplicated, no doubt, in many churches, homes, and lives all over the country when Jesus comes. I beg of you today, if you ever did your best to keep spiritual, do it now! I tell you, brethren; there is no time to waste. It is time to fire up, to get more glory down! It is time to get more of God in our lives. "For yet a little while and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry." -- Heb. 10:37.