 
Illustration. The Transfiguration. "Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me." Rev. 22:12. 1. For what purpose did Christ say He would come again? “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 ye may be also.” John 14:2, 3. 2. What part will the angels have in this event? “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.” Matt. 24:31. 3. What takes place at the sounding of the trumpet? “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.” 1 Thess. 4:16. 4. What will be done with the righteous living? “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.” Verse 17. 5. What change will then take place in both the living and the sleeping saints? “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a [pg 341] 6. When are the saints to be like Jesus? “But we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” 1 John 3:2. 7. How many will receive a reward when Christ comes? “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to his works.” Matt. 16:27. 8. What does He say He will bring with Him when He comes? “Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his works shall be.” Rev. 22:12. 9. What promise is made to those who look for Him? “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Heb. 9:28. 10. When did Christ say the good would be recompensed? “For thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14:14. 11. Have the worthies of old gone to their reward? “And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” Heb. 11:39, 40. 12. When did Paul expect to receive his crown? “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.” 2 Tim. 4:8. 13. Will this be a time of judgment? “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all.” Jude 14, 15. [pg 342]14. How did David express himself on this point? “For He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth: He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth.” Ps. 96:13. 15. When did Paul say Christ would judge the living and the dead? “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.” 2 Tim. 4:1. 16. What great separation will then take place? “When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.” Matt. 25:31, 32. 17. What will He say to those on His right hand? “Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Verse 34. 18. What will He say to those on the left? “Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Verse 41. At the sounding of the trumpet, when the saints are gathered home, We shall greet each other by the crystal sea; When the Lord Himself from heaven to His glory bids them come, What a gathering of the faithful that will be! When the angel of the Lord proclaims that time shall be no more, We shall gather, and the saved and ransomed see; Then to meet again together, on the bright, celestial shore, What a gathering of the faithful that will be! At the great and final judgment, when the hidden comes to light, When the Lord in all His glory we shall see; At the bidding of our Saviour, “Come, ye blessed, to My right,” What a gathering of the faithful that will be! When the golden harps are sounding, and the angel bands proclaim In triumphant strains the glorious jubilee; Then to meet and join to sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, What a gathering of the faithful that will be! J. H. Kurzenknabe. |
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