Three Hundred Times

In reading the New Testament we meet three all-important and precious truths. First, God's Son has been here in this very scene; second, God the Holy Spirit is here now; third, that same blessed One who was here more than nineteen hundred years ago, is corning again. If I believe one, I must believe the other. If I accept one, I must accept the other, for all rest upon precisely the same basis, namely, the Word of God. Here in the New Testament the Lord's second coming is mentioned some three hundred times, and surely if the Spirit has given prominence and importance to it here. He will also give prominence and importance to it in our hearts, if not hindered.
One cardinal difficulty to our apprehending and entering into the Lord's coming has been in our failing to distinguish between His coming for His saints and His coming with them. His coming for His saints in blessing is found in John 14:1-3; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Thess. 4:13-15. His coming with them in judgment is found in Col. 3:4; Jude 14, 15; Rev. 19:7-14. As there were different stages in His first advent, so there are different stages in His second. In His first advent we have His birth, then His baptism, then His cross. In His second advent, His descent into the air for His saints is in 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. His coming to the earth with them is found in Zech. 14:1-9. Then we read of the eternal state in Rev. 21.
Let us look a little at some of these Scriptures. He gave this word to His own just before His departure
to heaven, where He now lives for us as believers, our Priest and Advocate.