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Lord Jesus Christ in Person. We have it in the chapter which has been read: "The Son of Man is as a man taking a long journey." And so in Matt. xxiv.: "As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Surely that must be a personal appearing. And again, we observe in the following chapter that "while they went to buy, the Bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with Him to the marriage, and the door was shut." And we have the sad picture of those who stand without, saying, "Lord, Lord, open to us." So it is a person we look for; and besides we are expected to be ready waiting for Him at His appearing. In another place our Lord exhorts His disciples, and exhorts us, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me . . . . I go and prepare a place for you . . I will come again, and receive you unto Myself." His coming again is declared by His own lips three times in that chapter alone. And in Acts we find the disciples standing gazing into heaven, when two angels stood by them 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." These two shining ones declare that Jesus will personally return.

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Thus we have the testimony of Jesus and the testimony of angels to His personal advent. But we have also in innumerable passages the testimony of the apostles. Paul, for example, writes in Phil. iii. 20: "Our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body." What a thrill of joy passes through our souls at the very thought that our bodies shall be so changed into His likeness! And then further, all through the Epistles we have the same testimony, and we notice that the early Christians really were watching for the personal return. True, many are inclined to ridicule it now; but of this we have been forewarned by the Holy Ghost, in 2 Peter iii. 3: "There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming?" Nevertheless we are told, "The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night;" and we, "according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." When? At the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and not till then. So also writes James :

"Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." Then we have it so beautifully in that familiar passage in 1 John iii.: "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God . . . . We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." That is, the very instantaneous appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ transforms us into His likeness.

I remember a lady once saying to me after we had been talking about the Lord's second coming, "Why, that would be terrible; I should be so frightened I should not know what to do." "Well," I said, "first of all, are you a Christian?" "Yes," she replied, "I do love my Saviour; but I feel so unfit." "Well, in the twinkling of an eye you shall be changed. How long will that take, the twinkling of an eye? You won't have time to be frightened." In one moment we shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air: so shall we be for ever with the Lord.

Thus we have the testimony of the Lord Himself, the testimony of the angels, the testimony of the three apostles who were with our Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, and the testimony of Paul, and all of these testify to the personal appearing of the Lord Jesus in glory.

Just one thought more. In that thirteenth chapter of Mark we have a solemn word in reference to our position as believers at the present moment. We are taught to watch and pray, and also to work. "To every man his work." When we consider the imminence of the Lord's return, the preciousness of souls, the uncertainty of life, the eternity which lies before us and before all, and the suddenness of the judgment, how it should stir us up to respond to the blessed Master's call to "work while it is called to-day," so that when He comes, He may be able to say to each of us, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"

Now our subject is divided into three parts, and our brethren will speak to us on these three heads, therefore I will not detain you further. I do trust what we have been permitted to hear in these three days of Conference will send each one of us forth knowing who we are, whose we are, and whom we serve, seeking by His grace to reflect more than ever we have done His glory, glorifying Him in our bodies and spirits which are His. To do this we want the power and unction of the Holy Ghost. May we get into living communion and abiding with the Lord

Jesus in the power and testimony of the truth He has given us through His Holy Spirit !

BY THE REV. JOHN BENNETT, M.A.

Mr. Chairman and Christian friends,-I will try to be as short as I can in my remarks, for two other friends are to follow me, one an intimate friend of many years, and I know he has very much to say on the important branch of the subject with which he is entrusted.

My subject is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to save the Church. It may seem strange to many to speak of salvation as coming. We have been so accustomed to speak of salvation as having to do solely with the past, that we have forgotten it has also to do with something that has yet to be revealed. We hold that salvation has to do with past and present sins-these are put away; and "no condemnation" is the privilege of all those who are in Christ Jesus. We are saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. That is past, yet there is a salvation to be accomplished. We have got into the habit of using the word "salvation" so exclusively to represent deliverance from sin, that we forget it has any other meaning. We talk of the Salvation Army, the work of salvation- and it is blessed to know of the salvation of souls-but do not therefore forget the salvation we now receive is not the perfected, full and glorious salvation to be brought to us at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know salvation from the penalty and condemnation and dominion of sin; but by-and-by we shall have what we have not now-whatever man may say about it-salvation from the presence of sin.

Now, I wish to make the Word of God speak to you on this matter, and I pray God that His Holy Spirit, of whom we heard this morning, may write the message on the heart of every believer now before Him. There are eight passages I wish to read and leave with you on the point. The first is that in Rom. xiii. 11: "Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." That comes after the works of darkness the apostle has been speaking of. These are to be cast off, the armour of light is to be put on, and we are to stretch forward to something yet before us, and that something is the salvation which is nearer than it was on the day when we passed from darkness into light. Saved we have been from

the penalty of sin, delivered we have not been from the presence of sin, and much that sin involves in the body-sickness, suffering and death. But we shall be delivered from the body of sin when we shall be changed into the likeness of His glorious body, and then only is our salvation completed.

The second passage is in 1 Thess. v. It occurs in the description of the armour of God. "And for an helmet, the hope of salvation." Now that surely is not the hope of forgiveness of sins; that God has given me now that is past. The word "hope" in regard to salvation is used in a very definite sense: for example, in Rom. viii., we read, "We are saved by hope." But in what sense? Our salvation is a matter not of hope, but of practical experience, so far as the forgiveness of sins is concerned. We know we have passed from death unto life. But the salvation hoped for is that of the body to be accomplished when the deliverance of groaning creation comes. So in regard to this we have the expression in Heb. vi., "full assurance of hope," full assurance of the hope as it literally is,—and that is the blessed hope of the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. The redemption of the body is a matter of hope, the forgiveness of sins is a matter of faith, not of hope. Hope has to do with the Lord's coming in glory, faith has to do with the work He accomplished on the cross. Thus, "the full assurance of the hope" is the full comprehension of the blessing for which we wait. So again in Rom. xv. we have the expression, "The God of hope;" and again it is incomplete, for in the original there is the definite article "the hope." What hope? Analyse the quotations from Isaiah and the Psalms given in the preceding verses, and you find they all concentrate round one thought, round one centre, the glorious unfolding of the great truth, the glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Having shown the bearing of Scripture on the coming of the Lord, the apostle adds this passage, "Now the God of the hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in the hope [not hope of the forgiveness of sins] through the power of the Holy Ghost." That is my second passage; hope in that sense.

Now we will turn to Hebrews i. 14: "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" If you look at the original you will find it reads thus: "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth for the purpose of ministering to those who

are heirs of the coming salvation ?" That is, the angels minister to the Lord in the person of His people, and they receive their ministry from Him, not from man. Just as you receive your work from Him, and exercise your gift to the glory of His name, so they are exercising their great ministry on behalf of those who are said to occupy this blessed position"heirs of salvation," "heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ." Heirs of salvation—that is, about to inherit salvation, and not having it yet; heirs of something yet to be revealed; partakers of that which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart of man conceived salvation in its full and complete sense, so often coupled with the second coming of the Lord.

My next passage is also in Hebrews: "Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Heb. ix. 28). Why a second time? Did He not come the first time to save? He did, and by His death He did save from condemnation and guilt; but He comes again to save the body, and transform it into His likeness; to deliver us from the very presence of the sin within, of which all of us are so bitterly conscious.

Another passage is in 1 Pet. 1, 5: "Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time.' That salvation is evidently future, and plainly stated to be "ready to be revealed," therefore it is not yet enjoyed.

Then there are three passages in connection with the subject in that wonderful prophetic book, the Revelation. The word salvation only occurs three times in that book, and it is used in the sense we speak of.

First, the anthem, "Salvation to our God which sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb." Here it is that salvation in which we now stand and shall stand for ever; that salvation all agree in ascribing not to ourselves, but to the sovereign grace and eternal purposes of God and His Son Jesus Christ. Then follows the sevenfold doxology. "Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen." The song of salvation is the first song that bursts from the lips of the redeemed in that presence. As they enter that land, the first words that burst from their full hearts is this salvation eternal, inconceivable ; so burst they into praise, the praise expanding into honour and glory, which is ascribed to God and the Lamb.

Then the next passage is in Rev. xii.-the chapter of conflict:

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