The Second Coming of Christ

The Second Coming of Christ By Paris Reidhead* The Second Coming of Christ. Will you turn please to Revelation, the 1st Chapter. Revelation, Chapter 1. Someone has said that if you will accept the evidence of the Bible, the best proven fact in history is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. If you will accept the testimony of the Bible, the most certain fact in the future is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. There are three Scriptures we are told, (I have not counted them.)... There are three Scriptures that testify to the Second Coming of Christ for every one that tells us of the first coming of Christ. It would thus make it three times as certain. Now the great subject of the Book of Revelation is to predict the trials and the deliverances of God’s Church up to the end time. To a superficial observer, it may seem strange that God would let the enemy triumph as long and to such an awful degree as it seems that He has. However, the time is coming when all that is wrong will be righted and all who suffer will be rewarded, and all who have afflicted the Saints will receive just retribution. It is to this period of the Coming of Christ in judgment that the verse that we shall consider tonight is directed. He wants us to know that we will suffer persecution. He wants you to know that. He said, “They that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (II Tim. 3:12) And He wants you to know that the persecutor shall receive the just recompense of reward. He wants you to know that He will not spare you from that suffering. We hear a great deal today about tribulation. You hear some people ask, “Well do you believe in the pretribulation rapture, the midtribulation rapture, and so on,” dividing and splitting further and further. And it does not trouble me greatly because it all depends upon the source of the tribulation. There is nothing in Scripture that I can see that indicates that the Church, His Body the Church, will experience the wrath of God that will be poured out on wicked men. So if your definition of tribulation is God’s wrath poured out upon wicked men, then I can assure you that as far as I know the Church will not go through that tribulation. But if the tribulation is the wrath of men poured on God and His people, there is nothing in the Scripture to indicate that you will escape it. If you were to go to China tonight and find that hounded, hunted, persecuted Church behind the Bamboo Curtain and say to them, “What about the persecution?” What would their answer be? I am sure they would say, “Well if this is not it, what will the great tribulation be.” To them of course, we know it is the wrath of men poured out on the people of God. And there is absolutely no reason whatever to think that we shall ever be immune to that. We have been spared, but I was talking with our brother, Stacy Woods, when he was here, at great length. And he used the statement, made the statement, and repeated it over and over again, “The world, America, the United States, is ripe for judgment, ripe for tribulation.” I do not know from whence it will come, or if it will come. I have to agree with him, that we are ripe for judgment. But I see no reason why one nation of all nations of the earth should flaunt God, His Righteousness and His Law, and long escape the just recompense of reward. Now, I do not want it to come. Personally, I do not like to be hurt. And I am sure you do not. But He wants you to know that they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. May I remind you again, there is a personal application of this to you, for we are a minority. And the proportion of evangelical Christians becomes increasingly small year by year. The last census that fixes the population of these fifty states at nearly 175 million, would mean that less than five million are considered to be effective, evangelical Christians. Now you consider 5 million as against 170 million, and you see the degree of minority that we are. Now Protestant Churches are far more numerous today, but I am quoting those that would qualify the statement as Evangelical Christians, effective evangelical Christians, or we might use the word those that have a testimony of being born again. Perhaps some might say, “Oh it is far more than that.” All right, I sincerely trust and hope it is. Nevertheless, we are still a minority. And whenever the majority takes it in their minds that we are no longer welcome, then there are ways and means they have of expressing that displeasure. And you are certain of this, however, that whether the Land retains the same degree of religious freedom that we have enjoyed now for these 175 years or not. God’s Word still remains true, and in your environment and in your area where you are, they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Be prepared for that. Now I want you to see the Text as I have said. It is the 7th verse of the 1st Chapter of Revelation: “Behold, He (Christ) cometh with clouds: and every eye shall see Him, they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.” This is the Text. But let us see it in the context. I begin with verse 4 of the same chapter: “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come: and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne; And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen.” Let us notice first, “Behold He cometh with clouds.” I think if you were to turn to Thessalonians, you would find some little insight to the clouds that are here referred to. Let me read from I Thessalonians, Chapter 4. It is that word of comfort at the graveside, but it has its application here: I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, (and I begin verse 13. I Thessalonians 4:13) “I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 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 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” “With them in the clouds.” Perhaps the clouds that He refers to here would be the redeemed in ages past, those that have died in Him, that He brings with Him at His Coming. But behold He cometh with clouds. And I am suggesting to you that the clouds refer to that company of people, innumerable company of the Blood washed that He will bring at His coming. But I want you to see now this first phrase. “Behold He cometh.” It is this that John was emphasizing to those that should read, that Jesus Christ would certainly come again. The angels said it on the day He left. This same Jesus shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go. He will come again. And He is coming to judge the world. Behold He cometh to judge. This is the first truth that I wish you to see. The future judgment by our Lord Jesus Christ awaits for His coming. Would you turn to John the 5th Chapter? I have an extended portion here that I wish to read. I think that its relevance and pertinence is such that I ought to read it completely. I begin with the 17th verse and shall conclude with the 31st verse. The Scripture is more important than anything I shall say about it. And I want it to have its full effect in your heart. So hear it now. Listen carefully. You are involved. This is the description of the occasion when you shall meet Him: “But Jesus answered them My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth Him all things that Himself doeth: and He will shew Him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent Him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting Life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, Verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself; And hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Marvel not at this: For the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and My judgment is just; because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me. If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.” This is the Divine revelation from our Lord Jesus concerning the certain fact that He will be the Judge, and that His judgment will be inescapable. Thus it is that people think they can avoid the Son, but cannot. Will you turn to Acts, Chapter 17, verses 30 and 31? This same testimony of the Lord Jesus is reaffirmed by the Apostle Paul. Namely, that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming to judge the unsaved, to judge the wicked. Verse 30 I say of Acts 17: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now (God, understood) commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead. And just as certainly as God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, that certainly will the Lord Jesus Christ at His coming judge all men.” Now 2nd Timothy, the 4th Chapter, and the 1st verse, emphasizes this same truth. Paul repeats it to the young man concerning his ministry. Notice it: “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom; Preach the Word” and further with his instruction. “The Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing, and His Kingdom.” Now the time for His coming. The day that God hath appointed is not known by men. And this is what has brought prophecy into disrepute. Men have sought to establish the day of His coming. No man knows the time nor the season. No man knows the day nor the hour. These are hidden in the heart of God. The angels do not know. Men do not know. And any preacher that proposes to tell you when is usurping an authority that he does not possess and that has not been entrusted to him. Let it be certain that no man knows. No angel knows. The day is hidden in the heart of God. And the instant that God has appointed the Lord Jesus Christ shall come. We know something about the world at that time, for our Lord described it. He said that it will be as it was in the days of Noah. Men will be eating, and drinking, marrying, giving in marriage, buying and selling. In other words, everything will be going on as normal. There is nothing wrong with eating and drinking, nothing wrong with marrying, or buying, or selling. These are all legitimate practices. But you see, the thing that is wrong about this is that they are preoccupied with this and not with God. And God is not in all their thoughts. We find Peter referring to this day, saying that men are going to say, Where is the sign of His coming. All things continue as, they were from the Fathers. Why we have heard this coming of Christ business. It has been going on and on and on. It’s old hat. It is old story. It does not mean anything to us. I know that is exactly what Peter said. Occasionally you hear someone that talks like that. And when I do, I simply say, Remember that Peter said, They will say, Where is the sign of His corning? But it is such a time. It is such a time. When men are engaged with the normal pursuits and occupations. When they have said, Well he tarries till the morning, that the Lord will come. No man knows the time. But we do have reason to believe that when these things come to pass, lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh. And we are nearer to His coming tonight than any other generation in the past has been. There is no prophecy that is not fulfilled. The pattern is nearer to full completion. There is less that needs to be dealt with than at any other previous time. Our Lord, I firmly could believe, with all my heart I believe, that before I finish preaching, or before the next sentence is completely uttered, our Lord Jesus could come just as was promised. I see nothing that needs to be fulfilled. One might say, Well what about preaching the Gospel to the ends of the earth? The only thing I know is, we do not know what has been done, how much has been done. I dwelt on this some weeks ago, and shall not take time to develop it now. But I remind you that we, our statistics are grossly inadequate, and it could be that while Missionary Boards are debating about lives that they should enter, the Spirit of God is taking some humble national Christian, leading him down some jungle path, bringing him into that last village, that last hut, to that last heart that says yes to Jesus Christ. And that number known in the mind of God is complete, the Body is complete, then He says, Now, Son. And He shall come again even as He went away. And I believe it could happen now. You say, Well I do not. Let us be friends, nonetheless, but this is exactly where I stand and shall continue to stand. I am looking for Him to return. But I know this. That whether I am right, or you are right, if there is a difference between us. You feel that something remains to be done, and I feel that He could come before the morning breaks, let us remember this: That when He comes every eye shall see Him. Every eye shall see Him. You know someone was saying it was going to be very quiet. Well I was just reading from Thessalonians. You know it does not sound very quiet to me. It sounds like it was sort of an exciting time. Let me read it to you again. “For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout. (I have never heard a quiet shout in my life.) And with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” (I Thess. 4:16) Going to be a bit of excitement when He comes. Folks are going to know about it. And then he says, “And every eye shall see Him.” (Rev. 1:7) Someone says, “That is going to be hard to do when people live on a globe such as ours.” Well, I will leave that up to the Lord. He can take care of it. It has been pretty fast now. He may speed it up a little. But it is up to Him. He said, “Every eye shall see Him,” (Rev. 1:7) and as far as I am concerned I am delighted if He leave it that way. And I do not know how fast He will travel, but as far as I am concerned it presents no problems. Ever since they told me that they could send a telegraph message from New York to San Francisco in a fraction of a second, I decided the Lord would not have any problem in arranging for every eye to see Him as quickly as He wished. “Every eye shall see Him.” Now what does this imply? This means that all who have ever lived shall be raised. All who have died in all the ages past. I am a literalist when it comes to this Scripture. I believe that every eye shall see Him, that there will be in that day by the sovereign fiat of God, and that spoken word, that restoration. While in Egypt, my wife and I went to the old tombs and I remember there that the excavators had just opened up a section. And as I walked along with a group of us that were missionaries, we saw skulls come rolling out down the sand. There were bones. A group of slaves had worked on the Tombs centuries ago, had been killed, and their bodies had been placed there in this crypt and sealed. There was a tremendous number. And so as we walked by, we just pushed the skulls aside with our feet or with our hands. And you know, as I walked by and left my footprints in the sand, and thought of these. They were men. They had all the hopes and fears, and yearnings and longings, all the dreads, and all the aspirations that I had, and there this little brown skull, four or five thousand years old, representing a human being that had walked in that same sand and left his footprints there. And my Lord said, One day, every eye should see Him. I did not particularly think that that skull would be used again, but the person that had inhabited it would be there to look on the Son of God and to see Him. All who are alive at the time will see Him. For He has said that the dead, small and great, will behold Him. Every eye shall look on Him. Now they will be involved in this, not as a spectator. The people that come will not be there just to witness some splendid event. The Scripture does not teach that. But it teaches that they will be there as participants, as criminals, arraigned before the Bar of Justice, whose case is to be tried. And the records will be opened; the records of their sin will be presented. Do you want to get insight into what will take place? Would you turn to Revelation, Chapter 20 and allow me to read verses 11 to 15, for God in His great love and tenderness has given to us a picture of that day, and He has given us insight into the response of those that will be there. Now I read, beginning with the 11th verse: “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead who were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fife. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” This is the Divine preview of the Great White Throne. Now I would like to have you see the effect of this Judgment upon the lost, as we have it in our Text. “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.” (Rev. 1:7) This Text is more especially directed to the ungodly. You will see this in the words, They - those who pierced our Lord in the days of His Flesh. I am sure that the Sanhedrin, having said, Crucify Him, and having arranged for His condemnation and His execution felt that they were through with Him. I am certain they did. This is the best way to get rid of Him. This is the way to handle a difficult problem. Crucify Him, and we won’t bother with Him. But of course we know that our Lord returned again to trouble them, we know that He was raised from the dead, and the Church was raised as the testimony to the fact that He had conquered death. The Sanhedrin will be there. I am sure they did not see Him. Personally, I believe our Lord revealed Himself after His resurrection only to the Redeemed, only to the Believers. I do not think that in those days after the resurrection, the 40 days, that the Lord showed Himself to the unsaved. Now I may be wrong but I do not think so. And they are going to see Him. They said He had not been raised from the dead. They said this was a concocted story. They paid the soldiers to testify that someone stole away His body. They will be there to look on Him whom they had pierced. Pilate will be there, and the soldiers that he sent, the centurion band, they will be there to look on the One whom they pierced. And Pilate will discover that washing his hands in a basin of water did not absolve him from the responsibility of dealing with Jesus Christ. Herod will be there. Herod will be there as well. This one that represented the power of Caesar, by whose authority Pilate would send the soldiers. He will be there to give his account to the One against whom he stood. And all the wicked of all the ages, all the Caesars of Rome that instigated persecution against the Church, they will be there. And down across the centuries, those that have hated the name of Jesus Christ will be there. And I would say also that those who live today that have heard the Gospel, and have spurned it -- they will be there. All of these will recognize in His Glory, His Person, the Man they hated, and the Man they treated with such indescribable cruelty. However, this. No longer will these people that see Him be in a position to oppress Him. They have had their day. They have done all they can do. Finished. And no longer will He be in a position to take their assaults, for He is exalted - as a Lamb He humbled Himself, brought before the shearers, brought to the slaughter, silent. But now He is the Lamb on the Throne. No longer will they be able to oppress, and no longer will He be in a place to suffer. No longer will He allow the malefactors to touch Him, because He is the Judge. Then I want to tell you something else. Not all the piercing of Christ was done in the first Century. There are people that are piercing Him today. There are those, and I say this with great grief --- Mr. Negris has seen a gentleman. We had information come to our office concerning a relative of a Christian in one of our hospitals. The other day Mr. Negris went to see him, wanted to read the Scripture. He said, “No, I do not want the Scripture.” Asked to pray, he said, “No I do not want prayer.” We had a call from this man’s brother, asking us to minister to him. He spurned it. He rejected it. And the day after this visit, the man went out into a dark hopeless, Christ-less eternity. The last word he said was, “I don’t want prayer or Bible reading. I just want rest.” But there is no rest to the wicked. And one day this man who died, spurning the entreaty of grace, will look on Him whom he pierced by his rejection of the Son of God. Infinitely greater light was that man’s than Pilates’, for he has the accumulated testimony of all of the centuries. And if you are here tonight and you have not been born of God, and you have not been washed in the Blood, every occasion that you pass, every day that you allow to pass without surrendering to Jesus Christ is but a deeper piercing of the Son of God. And should you perish in your sins, be sure of this, you will look on Him who by your rejection you have pierced. Those who reject the truth or those who having consented to the truth depart from it, how much greater will their sin be than the sin of these that have died even with the Blood of the Son of God on the spear they held in their hand. For He said, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) But these that have had the accumulated testimony of the centuries have known what they did. What is the picture of these that shall look on Him whom they have pierced? Will you turn to Revelation, Chapter 6, verses 15 to 17? I would not know just what words to describe it, but allow me to say that it is one of the most startling, most dramatic, and the most moving portions of the entire word of God is this that I am about to read to you. I begin with verse 12: “And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And. the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Calling for the rocks and the mountains to shield them from the wrath of the Lamb. A Lamb, meek, quiet, docile, but when that Lamb becomes enraged at men for their rebellion, the wrath of the Lamb is great that men call to be hidden from His Face. This transpires at the coming of Christ. But notice what it says, “All kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.” All people everywhere, and then John adds these words in verse 7, “Even so, Amen.” Even so. So be it. John confirms the truth as being the revelation he receives. He also consents that it is right, that those who pierced Him will wail, and those who reject Him must feel the weight of His wrath. And for God to do less than to produce this effect in them, would be unfair to His Son. I think the Apostle Paul puts the matter beyond all doubt when he says, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. Let him be anathema.” (I Cor. 16:22) But the preparation for this Judgment is made clear. First to the unsaved that would come before the Great White Throne. You say like the man who died this past week, I am determined to be lost, I have no part in Christ and no interest in His death, and no desire ever to repent, I will abandon all hope in Christ and have no interest whatever in salvation through Him. What must I do to make certain that I appear before the Great White Throne in the Judgment that is just described? I will embrace it. But my friend, you do not need to do anything. Just go on and live day by day the way you are living. We say, “I am not such a bad sort. Surely when God gets there, gets me there, He will put my good deeds and my bad deeds on the scale. And if my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds, then perhaps I will come to something like that.” But I am not so bad. There is no scale, any longer. You have already been weighed. You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting. The Judgment is already past. It is not something that is going to happen. You say, “Well I am all right. I am in neutral territory while I am alive. There is no danger until I come to death.” Oh no. No. That is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible says, “He that hath the Son hath Life. And he that hath not the Son shall not see Life.” (I John 5:12) It is not that someday you will be lost, if you are sitting here tonight without having repented of your sins and thrown yourself at the feet of Jesus Christ and received Him as your all sufficient Savior, you do not need to lie once more, sin once more, reject Christ once more; you are lost now. Just as lost as you will ever be. And should life leave your body, you would be forever lost. This we must understand. This we must see. What must you do to be saved? Well first, there is another manner in which you can look on Him whom you have pierced. You can realize that it was for you He died. You can realize that it was your sins that sent Him to the Cross, that He died in your place and in your stead. He was there as your representative, as your substitute. He was under the sentence of your death. Oh that tonight you will understand that Jesus Christ loved you and washed you from your own sins in His Own Blood. If this truth can lay hold upon you that He loved you; the Lamb died; the Lamb shed His Blood; the Lamb poured out His Life to redeem you. He did not come to judge the world. Your world was already under the sentence of death. He will come again to judge the world, but He did not come the first time to judge it. He came to save the world, not to judge it. It was under the sentence of death. My friend, people tell me -- and how erroneous I view it -- that the sin that sends a man to hell is the rejection of Christ as Savior. I cannot believe it. I do not believe it. If Christ had never come, the world would have perished. Do you see? He did not come into the world to condemn the world. He came to save the world. Men do not go to hell because they reject Christ. They go to hell because they are sinners, because they are rebels, because they are monsters of iniquity. And rejecting Christ is just the proof of their insanity. It does not change anything except the possibility of being saved. The reason people are lost is because they are sinners. And the reason people are saved is because they see they are sinners that deserve to be lost, and come to Jesus Christ, and see a Fountain of Cleansing, and the Fountain of His Blood, and sinners plunged beneath that Blood lose all their guilty stains. And you have one of two alternatives. Acknowledge your crimes, acknowledge your sins, throw yourself at the nail pierced feet of the Son of God, know the cleansing of His Blood, know the washing away of the stains that destroy, and live. Or, do nothing, and die. God has ordained that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He only gives you an option as to when. You do it tonight. Do it now. Come to Christ. Bow before Him. Bend before Him. Acknowledge your sin. Acknowledge the justice of His judgment. Be forgiven. Be cleansed. What is the invitation that He gives. Listen to it so sweet. And the Spirit and the Bride (the Church) say come. Come. Come to the Savior. Make no delay. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst, Come. And whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely. Fourfold invitation. The Spirit, the Holy Spirit, God says come. The Bride, the Church, says come. The one that hears, even though he doesn’t himself come says come. And the one that is athirst is invited to come. And whosoever will, let him come and take of the Water of Life freely. You must meet Christ. He is coming again. You are going to see Him. You are either going to stand before the Great White Throne and have the books opened and found your works condemn you, and your name not written in the Book of Life. Or, you are going to come, repent, believe, be saved, and have your Name written in His Life. Lord, I care not for riches, neither silver nor gold. I would make sure of heaven. I would enter the fold. In the Book of Thy Kingdom with its pages so fair. Tell me, Jesus My Savior, is my name written there. He is coming, you know. Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen. This is God’s Word. The Second Coming of Christ as He comes for Judgment of the wicked dead. There is only one course. First, if you are here unsaved, come now. In just a moment our Brother is going to lead us in singing three stanzas of “Just As I Am Without One Plea But That Thy Blood Was Shed For Me, And that Thou bidst me come to Thee. Oh, Lamb of God, I come, I come.”1 You either come to the Lamb and live, or you come to the Lamb who in wrath shall judge you and die. But you must meet the Lamb. Meet Him now and live. Meet Him then and perish. But you will meet the Lamb. Behold He cometh. Will you not come now? While “the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. While him that heareth says. Come. Let him that is athirst. Come. And whosoever will, let him come. And take of the Water of Life freely.” (Rev. 22:17) Let us bow in prayer. Father of our Lord Jesus, the inevitable meeting with Thine inescapable Son is as certain is as Thou art God. For Thou hast said, This same Jesus Shall so come. Thou hast appointed a day in which Thou wilt judge the world by that Man whom Thou hast appointed, in that Thou hast given certainty by raising Him from the dead. Father, we who name the Name of Christ how our hearts ought to grieve and yearn and break when we realize we have unsaved loved ones and neighbors and friends whose blood may be upon our hand because we have failed to warn them to flee from the wrath to come, who in that day may look at us and say, No man, this man did not care for my soul. But tonight, our God, our hearts go out to Thee for those among us to whom Thou hast been speaking, who have said, Someday I am going to come to Christ, but have not come. They are no nearer now than they were years ago when they first said it. May this be the night when they come. I wonder if, while our heads are bowed, and eyes are closed, if there are those who by upraised hands would say, Pray for me. God has been speaking to my heart. I know I need Christ. And tonight I do want to come. I am finding it hard, I want prayer. Pray for me. Would you put your hand up? Anyone? Anywhere? I see it. God bless you. Yes. Yes. Another anywhere. Yes I see it. God bless you. Another? Still another? Anyone? Just as I am without one plea, but Thou hast shed Thy Blood for me. Oh Lamb of God, I come to Thee. I come. One more. Father, these hands are raised, and Thou knowest the hearts that they represent. Oh, might this be the night of coming, the night of turning to Thee, the night of committing their whole lives, body, soul, and spirit to the sovereignty of Thy Son, and knowing the cleansing of His Blood, forgiveness and pardon through faith in Him. So guide us in these last closing moments and make it easy for these to obey Thee and trust Thee, and take their stand wholly and completely for Thee. Make this the night of decision, the night when they will put themselves wholly on the side of the Lord. In Jesus Name and for His sake we pray. Amen. * Reference such as: Delivered at The Gospel Tabernacle Church, New York City on Sunday Evening, November 20, 1960 by Paris W. Reidhead, Pastor. ©PRBTMI 1960 1 Just As I Am, Without One Plea (Words: Charlotte Elliott, 1789-1871; Music William B. Bradbury, 1816-1868 )

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The Second Coming of Christ

Paris Reidhead

Paris Reidhead (1919 - 1992)

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