Audio Sermon： (1 Peter - Part 7)： The Appearing of Jesus Christ

The Gospel of John, beginning with the first verse of the first chapter. I look forward to this myself. I enjoy my preaching. That is, I enjoy preaching. I confess that I don't always manage to get through to my audience. But I do, in almost every instance, enjoy what I'm preaching about. So please pray, and we should have some great communion and services. Now, in the book of 1 Peter, continuing, the rest of the verse I have been dealing with that part that says, The trial of your faith, being much more precious than the gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found under praise and honor and glory. And I have deliberately not gone beyond this. But now, the rest of the verse says, At the appearing of Jesus Christ. And I would this morning talk about the appearing of Jesus Christ. For here is a word, and it embodies an idea. An idea that is of such importance in Christian theology and Christian living that we dare not allow it to pass unregarded. Now, this word, appearing, here, occurs frequently in the King James Version of the Bible. And of course, every time, it is alike in English. Being in one of the various forms, appear, appeared, appearing, and necessarily alike in English. But the fact is, the language from which our English was translated has it in about seven different forms. So that when you read the word appearing here, not that it matters to you really, but you don't know, well, you will not know, unless you are a student of the original and bother to look it up, which of the seven deep words would be used. But for the moment, we are concerned only with the word appearing in its prophetic use. And that is unquestionably how Peter used it here. There are in the seven words of which I spoke, three particular deep words, which mean, all told, these have these meanings. Manifest, shine upon, show, become visible. It means a disclosure, a coming, a manifestation, and a revelation. Now, the word Peter used here actually means, or can mean, any of the following things. He said, at the appearing of Jesus Christ in English. Now, it is at the disclosure of Jesus Christ, or at the coming of Jesus Christ, or at the manifestation of Jesus Christ, or at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And he used exactly the same word in verse 13, when he said, Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, and be sober, and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, you will have to ask the translators, and they're all dead, why they would say, in verse 7, at the appearing of Jesus Christ, and in verse 13, at the revelation of Jesus Christ, there might have been some fine shade of meaning, which they felt must be expressed, which one word would not express, so they used the other. But we may safely conclude that the words are used interchangeably in the Bible. That is, where it says, hearing whatever Greek word is used, that the words are used interchangeably in the scriptures. Now, there has been a good deal of debate about the words, particularly among the cults. There are prophetic cults that make their whole prophetic scheme rest upon the word appearing, or revelation, or manifestation, or disclosure, and they write page after page, and book after book, but making their book rest upon the difference between one shade of meaning and another. But I have learned now that I have been around a while, that if a cult that is obviously a cult, and has no standing in the historic stream of Christianity, to confuse the figure beautifully, no standing in the stream, but if it has no standing in the long corridor of approved Christian truth, if that cult is forced to labor a word in order to make its point, you may well check it off and give it no further thought. Because the Bible is one of the easiest books in the world to understand. It is one of the hardest for the carnal mind, and the easiest for the spiritual mind. And when it becomes necessary to labor a shade of meaning, in order to prove that we're right, particularly when our position, when established, will be shown to be contrary to all the beliefs of Christians back to the days of Paul, then we can simply shrug that off, smile it away, and say, what's the use? Because you see, my brethren, it is very easy to try too hard when we come to the reading of the scriptures. It's easy to try too hard doing anything. If you try too hard, a certain ball club, for instance, forgot for the moment which one, I read the sports news sometimes when I'm sitting in a drugstore having lunch. But one of the clubs, it said that they tried desperately hard at the opening of the season. They were tense and jumpy and jittery and making errors because they were trying too hard. Then when the season rolled up and they found that they were going to end up back in the second division, they relaxed and said, what's the use? And now they're playing great baseball. The difference is, now they haven't changed the man, they've just relaxed. If you push too hard, you don't always succeed in doing what you want to do. Now, I'll continue, a young preacher, when he gets up before an audience, particularly if that audience is what he would consider an important audience, like a convention or something where he wants to be at his best, and figures they won't forgive him like his own congregation would, to see the young fellow push till his throat gets dry. I always sort of start, because I've been there myself, pushing like everything, but you never get anywhere in the kingdom of God when you push. Because the kingdom of God is not taken that way. You relax yourself into the kingdom. You trust the Lord and watch him do it. Now, it's the same in interpreting the Bible. If we insist upon too fine definitions, chances are we're going to end up wrong because we're trying too hard. If I could concoct a grotesque illustration here, it would be like this. Suppose that the man in Chicago, living now, visits his family in Des Moines. And then, after he's had a few days with his family in Des Moines, he drives back home and at his leisure sits down to write about it to his friends, or at least casually to mention it in his letters. And to one he says, I went to Des Moines last week. To another he writes, and a few minutes later, I visited Des Moines last week. To another he says, I drove to Des Moines last week. To another, without noticing that he's doing it, just following the thread of his own thought, he says, I motored to Des Moines last week. And to a fifth one he said, I said to my brother John in Des Moines last week. And that's all. He seals the letters, yawns, goes to bed. That's all there is to it. But now let us turn loose on those five letters. Some interpreters, particularly the interpreters that push like everything and insist upon there being no synonyms in the Bible at all, that the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are never used synonymously. There is a law of the Medes and Persians distinction between them. And between appearing and coming and revelation and manifestation, there's always a precise machine-like definition. Now, let us notice. They say, now here is that one one letter. He said, I went to Des Moines. In the English that is so-and-so. Let's suppose that's been translated into some other language two thousand years from now. And these scholars are busy with it. And he said, now this man said, I went to Des Moines. In the English that is thus-and-thus. But notice over in this other chapter he said, I motored to Des Moines. Therefore there must have been two different times. And in this other chapter he said, I drove to Des Moines. Now, he must have had some reason for these three words. He wouldn't use them carelessly. And then he also said that I went to Des Moines or that I saw my brother in Des Moines. And then in another place he said, I visited Des Moines. He must have been a soldier and stayed longer that time. They'd have had him there five different times. When actually he was only there once and he only said he was there once. But he just happened to know the English language well enough to be able to say it five different ways. Now, I'm perfectly convinced that a great deal of our pushing and trying too hard in theological interpretation, we make the same error that a hypothetical scholar, as we talk about 2,000 years from now, would make. The Lord says it one way in verse 7 and he says it another way in verse 10. And then you skip a book and take up another book. And the same thing is said there in a still different way. It simply shows that the Holy Ghost isn't in rut, even if interpreters are. It just shows that God never uses cliches, even though preachers sometimes specialize in them. So that's when you come to the word appearing here. You can just relax. That's what it means. It means appearing. It may mean a manifestation. It may mean a shining port. It may mean a showing. It may mean a suddenly coming into the focus of your eyes. It may mean a disclosure. It may mean a coming. It may mean a revelation. Well, all of those things mean about the same thing. And to all intents and purposes, there would be no reason to get excited about them or to write books to prove that they don't mean the same thing. Now, my friends, here are the facts. I think they are the facts. I do not mean to read anything into them. You see whether I am not giving you the facts as they are found here. One is, Peter speaks of an appearing of Jesus Christ. And he wrote to men on earth. And this can't possibly be spiritualized. The scene can't be transferred to heaven, for he was writing to the church on earth with the saints scattered about. And he wrote to them saying, live a certain way and endure afflictions and trust God in the middle of your sufferings in order that your faith here on the earth now may be tried so that at the appearing of Jesus Christ it may be found better than gold to you. Now, appearing of Jesus Christ where? Common sense can tell us that it only could mean here on the earth. He was writing to people on the earth. He was not writing to angels. He didn't say to Gabriel, when Jesus Christ appears, if he had said it to Gabriel, we'd have known he meant in heaven where Gabriel is. But he said it to people on the earth. And he said there was to be an appearing. And the word he used here, I repeat again, means a coming. At the coming of Jesus Christ, at the disclosure of Jesus Christ, at the shining upon, sudden shining upon like the rising of the sun. A manifestation or a revelation. Now, he said all those things. And he said that this was to take place sometime in the future. Now, we get the meaning, that is, in Peter, the future from the time Peter wrote. Now, we get the meaning in Mark 9, verse 4. It says that there were on the mountain the transfigurations, we call it now. And suddenly there appeared unto them Elias and Moses. Now, neither Elijah nor Moses lived on that mountain. They had appeared there. They had come from somewhere else that they were to this new place where they now are. And in coming they had made themselves known to the eye. They appeared there in public manifestation, the same as you appeared here at church this morning, or I will appear at Rochester, God willing, 11th, 8th, to the Tuesday morning. So, it was an appearing. That's very easy to understand. And when he said that he was looking forward in the people of that day to an appearing of Jesus Christ, he meant that they could look forward to a sudden disclosure of Christ, a sudden coming and becoming visible. But there's nothing mysterious about that, nothing queer, nothing that you have to be highly educated to understand. Everybody appears, becomes visible. Let's imagine, please, this young fellow, Sergeant Jones, who had just been released from a prison over in Korea. And he hadn't yet appeared. But his wife saw that, and she scrubs the kids every morning and fixes the house meticulously and has on tap for quick cooking the things she remembers that he loved and greatly enjoyed. She's expecting him to appear. And then one day there's an excited voice on the phone she almost thinks. It's her husband. It's the sergeant. But to her, he's just my husband and the father of my two kids. And no sergeant to her. He's her husband. Well, he appears. He'll say, now, I'm taking a taxi out. I should be there in 15 minutes. I should appear in 15 minutes. I should be revealed to you within 15 minutes. I should manifest to you within 15 minutes. You don't have to sit down with a lead pencil with a Greek point on it to figure that out. He's talking about, I'll be there, honey. And that's all the Lord said to him. Peter talked about the Lord. He said that at the appearing of Jesus Christ, well, of course he's going to appear. And when he appears, he'll be disclosed. When he's disclosed, he'll be manifested. And when he's manifested, he'll be revealed. And when he's revealed, he'll shine upon the people that see him revealed. So, again, I gave you one. Now, two. That Peter wrote in the year 65 A.D. And therefore, by the process of elimination, we can know that when Peter wrote of the appearing of Jesus, what he didn't mean. We don't know quite yet what he didn't mean by elimination. But by elimination, we can learn what he didn't mean. Since he wrote in the year 65 A.D. And since he placed that appearing in the future, relating to 65 A.D., he didn't mean his appearing at the Jordan. For Jesus had appeared at the Jordan, and John had baptized him there at the Jordan. He had appeared unto John the Baptist and been made manifest to him when the dove descended upon him, and John knew who he was. So he didn't mean that appearing, because that appearing had already taken place more than 30 years before. And now Peter, writing more than 30 years after that appearing at the Jordan, said, we're looking forward to the appearing of Jesus Christ. We eliminate the Jordan. Then he appeared in Jerusalem. He actually appeared there in Jerusalem, walked around among them, talked to Pharisees and elders and rabbis and common people. And he didn't mean that appearing, because that had taken place more than 30 years before. He had appeared one day suddenly and embarrassingly in the temple, just when times were going good and there was a boom on. And people were coming from everywhere with their cattle, or with their money and buying cattle, to exchange their money to make gifts. Suddenly there appeared a man, and that man rolled a rope up and started driving the cattle out of the temple. That was a sudden appearance at the temple. He didn't mean that, because that had taken place more than 30 years before. And he said, now there will be an appearance. And then our Lord appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration, as we have mentioned about. And then he appeared after his resurrection to the disciples. Paul said he appeared to about 500 brethren. He appeared to him. He appeared to the apostles. We know he appeared to Peter. And he appeared to the women. So that the Lord did appear again after he had first appeared there, when the star had produced him and the angels sang his coming. And he had many appearances. He was there in bodily manifestation. They saw him, they looked upon him. He did things that could be identified. He was at places that could be pinpointed on the map. He was there as a man among men. But he didn't mean any of those, because they were all in the past at least 30 years in the past. And he didn't mean the Paul on Damascus Road, because that had already taken place something like 25 years before. Now, when has this appearing occurred? Peter said that I want you to get ready. In order that your trial, your faith, your afflictions, all this faith and obedience and cross-bearing may mean honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. But you put it in the future. So, if he has appeared, where has he appeared? And if he has appeared, when did he appear? Now, I know that the Seventh-day Adventist, he appeared in the year 1884, somewhere back there. And I believe that the so-called blasphemously called Jehovah's Witnesses also make something out of this appearing business. But I want to ask you, when, to whom did Jesus Christ appear since the day that he appeared to Paul on Damascus Road, or since the day he appeared on earth, his first time, putting it broadly? I can't find anybody that says that he appeared to them, except some fanatic who usually later died being in the same asylum. But there is no reputable testimony any place that Jesus Christ has ever appeared since the day he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. There have been many cults risen. There have been men who walked around on the streets saying, I am Christ. There are case histories that the psychiatrists can tell you about, the lie, the lie, the lie, the lie that they've written up, of men who thought they were Jesus Christ. But we'll write that off. For it is neither here nor there, nor go ye into the desert, for, lo, he is not there, nor your secret chamber, for he is not there. He simply has not appeared. Because if he appeared, to be in line with the meaning of the word, as used simply and commonly in the New Testament, he would have to appear as he appeared in the temple, as he appeared by the Jordan, as he appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration, as he appeared to his disciples after his resurrection. He would have to appear in visible human manifestation, taking up room, and having size, and having dimension, and having appearance, and having color, so that he could be identified by the human eye, and ear, and human touch. And the shadow would be upon him when he stood in the sun, and you could see that shadow. And when he walked close to you, you'd feel the air off his clothing. If that word is going to mean what it universally means, then it'll mean that the appearing of Jesus Christ has to be very much the same as he's appearing the first time, and as anybody's appearing. Eisenhower appeared in Chicago yesterday, all unexpected, they said. And Eisenhower, I imagine, the man, judging, I've not seen him in person, but I would judge maybe 5 foot 10, and so he took up 5 foot 10 vertically, and I don't know how wide, but certain horizontal room he took up, he had a certain suit on, a certain tie, and his rather sparsely populated head shone, and his big friendly smile, he was there, he appeared! But Conrad Hogan, now when did the Lord Jesus Christ appear, anything like that, since the day he appeared to put away sin for the sacrifice of himself? When Peter put his appearance in the future, then he might have appeared any time between the time Peter wrote and now. But did he appear? And if he did, where, and if he did, when? Nobody can answer that question, except some who are not prepared to support their contention. When he appeared the first time, he appeared with healing in his wings. He appeared, not in exact fulfillment of the Old Testament passage, but he had healing in his fingertips, and he walked among men, he put babies in his arms, he blessed people, he ate, he drank by the people, he walked among them. And the scripture tells us when he appears, he'll appear like that again, he'll be a man again, or a glorified man, a man that can be identified, can be known, be the same Jesus that went away. Now when did that happen? He certainly appeared to the saints all down the years, and there is a sense in which everybody who has a pure heart looks upon God. And I may be speaking to Christians now who wouldn't for the life of you, too modest and retiring and humble, you wouldn't for the life of you argue against this sermon, you wouldn't come to me and say I don't quite accept your sermon, Mr. Joseph. I've seen Jesus. Well all you mean, and you do mean it, and I thank God you do mean it, is that God has illuminated the eyes of your heart, and you see him with your heart's eyes. And I believe it's entirely possible for the eyes of our faith to be illuminated, the eyes of our spirits, so that we can gaze upon God, perhaps veiled, perhaps not as clearly as in that day, but the eyes of our hearts can see him. And so Christ appears to people like that. He appears when we pray, and we can see him. But that's not what Peter meant, because Peter was using word language here, which meant a shining forth, a revelation, a coming, a becoming present suddenly, a disclosure, a taking off of the invisibility. He meant the same as the newspapers meant when they said Eisenhower had appeared to Conrad Hilton and had rescued the Republican women. He meant the same as the newspapers say when they tell us that young Sergeant so-and-so appeared suddenly to the delight of his family, half a few years away. There has been an appearance like that since the day he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Now, that's gone. I think this is number four, isn't it? I've lost count myself. My numbers never get very accurate. But somewhere here I've said, and want now to say, that since there was to be an appearance, according to Peter, an appearing in person on earth to living persons later than Peter's time, and since that appearing has not yet occurred, and Peter's words are still valid, and we may therefore expect Jesus Christ again to appear on earth in person to living persons as he appeared in other days. My brethren, I believe that that is the gist of the Bible teaching on the Second Coming. We may therefore expect an appearing. When our Lord had not yet come into place, they were expecting him. They said he will appear. But God had told the woman, had told the serpent, had told, I presume, Cain and Abel, and certainly Adam and Eve, and Abraham, who saw his day, and all the rest, and the prophets, and all the prophets since the world began, both at the appearing of Jesus Christ to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And then one day he appeared. It was not an apparition. It was not a ghost. It was not a spook. It was not a materialization. Get away with it. Materialization. The old madams with their spooky costumes on, squeezing gullibles out of the gullible public with their materialization. You materialize. The ghost is a ghost until the old lady works on him, and then you materialize. I don't mean materialization. That is a weird word stolen and raped by the spiritists and the devil cults. And you can throw it out. Well, nobody ever said Jesus Christ was going to materialize. He was going to appear. That's quite different. To become material when you're not material, that's to materialize. If you're a spook today, and tomorrow you put on fleshly garments and walk among us, that's materialization. The Bible never talked about materialization. Eisenhower didn't materialize when he came to the Conrad Hilton. He appeared. He had already been matter. He didn't materialize, but he appeared. So Jesus Christ is not going to materialize. He's going to appear, which is another matter all the same. Now, in closing, Paul said, in 2 Timothy 4, 1 and 8, I think it's one of the sweetest passages in the entire Bible. It's about a graciousness, a wonder. He said, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his season. Preach the word. The instant in season, hour of season, recruit, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure, shall not endure. He said that in his appearing he would judge the quick and the dead. And then he'll link that appearing up with an earnest exhortation that he might preach the word and the instant in season and hour of season. And I cannot think now of one lonely passage in the New Testament that talks about Christ's revelation, manifestation, appearing or coming that is not organically linked with moral conduct and faith in spiritual holiness. The Bible knows nothing about the modern curiosity that plays with the scriptures and impresses credulous and gullible audiences with the amazing amount of prophetic knowledge the brother must have. The Bible knows nothing about that. The appearing of Jesus Christ is not an event that we may curiously speculate upon when we do we sin. And the prophetic teacher that speculates curiously without moral application is sinning on his feet while he's preaching to the people. Paul said, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ that he shall judge the sick and the dead and his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word. Pardon to a pastor here. Not necessarily he exhorted him to fulfillment of his holy ministry. But in the 8th chapter, 8th verse, he tells us more about what will happen when he appears. He said, I have fought a good fight and I have finished my course and I have kept the faith. And henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. And not to me only but unto all them that love his appearing. Those that love the appearing of Jesus Christ are those who shall also receive the crown. But you say, doesn't that take in too much territory? Doesn't that mean that just anybody that believes in the premillennial position will receive the crown of righteousness? No, it certainly does not. It means that those that are loving the appearing of Jesus will receive the crown of righteousness. And that does not include all who merely believe in the premillennial position. You've gone to seed on that whole thing. You've gone to seed on it so drastically and so far that you hardly hear a sermon on the Second Coming anymore. There are still a few that are going about the country with their charts and their object lessons and curiously interpreting prophecies. I repeat, I believe there is sinning against God and ought to repent lest some worse thing comes upon us. And that's what Paul said about the appearing of the law and he did say that. And then John said in 1 John 3, that we shall delight in him because we shall see him as he is. Beloved, says he, beloved. We are the sons of God now. And the sons of God, Jesus Christ, has appeared to our faith and we have grasped him and seen him and believed in him and we rest upon him. And it does not yet appear, that is it hasn't been disclosed, what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, he's disclosed, we shall delight in him for we shall see him as he is. Then verse 3 says bluntly, every man that has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. Everybody, everyone he even says, it's singularized, that has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. Those who expect the Lord Jesus Christ to come and who wait for that coming and who love to anticipate that coming will be busy purifying themselves. Not curiously speculating, but purifying themselves. Oh, I suppose that when we get to heaven maybe we'll be what we ought to be. In the meantime we have to take ourselves as we find ourselves. And I find that curiosity that once killed the famous cat has hurt a lot of Christians. A lot of Christians. There is a certain eeriness about some people. Not spirituality, just eeriness. They're ghost hunters. And they can move right into the middle of a supernatural thing and feel right at home. They're the mediums, or media, which is it. And they're the funny wizards and telepathists and all the rest. I don't feel at home there at all. I don't feel at home in the realm of the eerie and the uncanny. The queer squeaking in the Bible called it peeping and muttering. I don't like peepers and mutters. And I don't feel at home among them. But there's a certain type of mentality that does. And when they get converted, if they don't ask God to sanctify their brains, they carry that goofy thing right into the church wisdom. And so their theology consists of a lot of theological peeping and muttering. My old German grandmother, God rest her memory, she wasn't a Christian and she didn't know much about the Bible, although she taught me all I ever knew until I was 15 about it. But she had a dream book. And it was badly dog-eared in some marks, but Grandma wouldn't drink her coffee in the morning till she consulted her dream book. She really dreamed. Some people don't dream much, but Grandma was a dreamer. And she had one or two every night, as a rule. And she'd always consult her dream book when she got up in the morning. I wish I had kept her, gotten a hold of it and kept it, just for curiosity's sake. It had a glossary. That is, we'll start at A, apple. You dream about apples, and it told you what that signified. B, beets. Dream about beets. Then C, your country. Well, you dreamed about your country or some other country. So on down the line, Z, an amaranth. Clear down to the end. And she had a glossary that told her just what she might expect. Wouldn't that be an awful way to live? No wonder Grandma was a hard-liver. No really. No wonder, because she must have been miserable all the time, figuring that her dream meant something to us. Now there are mentalities like that, and Grandma was a sharp little woman. Don't think she wasn't. And she had a razor tongue that was equal to her razor like mine, but she was just off there. She also believed in dog barking and tapping. If a dog barked under your window, somebody would die, sure enough. And I've had more dogs. If I died every time a dog barked under my window, I'd have been the best customer the undertakers of this country's ever seen. Because dogs delight to bark under my window, and mosquitos delight to come into my room. And if there's a fly on the record that comes to me, I have a magnetic attraction for such things. And if any of them meant anything, how long ago I would have been in a straitjacket and have had a cell. But I don't mean a thing. Thank God for a simple skeptical mind that goes through the world not worrying about anything like that. So when a fellow unrolls a chart and starts for me, I look for the exit. I want to get out of there as fast as I can get, because he's trying too hard. He's pushing too hard. He's like the man that's trying to understand the Sistine Madonna by getting a microscope and examining the toes of the Virgin. You can't understand the beauty of the Sistine Madonna by examining a little tiny bit of it. But you've got to get back and give it geography. So when we come to the scriptures, we have been fooled and bedeviled by people who are simply Jews, to a point where very few people give the second coming of Christ any thought these days. But I want to tell you, Peter said there would be an appearing. That appearing has not yet taken place. Therefore, that appearing must yet take place. John said those that were expecting it and looking forward with hope to it should purify themselves even as Jesus is pure. I might use an illustration that almost invariably embarrasses somebody. But if you take the weddings that go on, the bride, it's four or five lieutenants and sub-lieutenants and helpers and workers who get her dressed just right. Why? Because she knows she's going to meet the man up there and she wants to appear right. She's hoping, and I don't mean that in a funny way, she's hoping, she expects to be married, and so she has that, whatever they call it, and if she puts that on, they all fix that up and every little thread must be exactly in place, even washed cautiously, lest something become, get out of place. And she's expecting to meet the man and be united in marriage there at the altar. And says the Holy Ghost, he that hath this hope in him, purifies himself, how? Even as he is pure. The bride wants to be dressed worthy of the husband and as well as the son. And the Church of Christ should be dressed worthy of her bridegroom even as he is dressed, pure even as he is pure. So the appealing of Jesus may take place. It'll take place in his time. There are those of us who believe that it can take place soon. I do not believe there's anything yet has to be done to make possible his appearance. I believe that it is all, all go being done. And what hasn't been done will be done after he appears. So the greatest revenge in the history of the world barring his first coming and death and resurrection, the next greatest event in the history of the world will be the appearing of Jesus Christ and having not seen his light. Though now we see him not, yet we rejoice with joy and speak of him full of joy. And the world will not know it, but he that hath this hope in him, he will know it, for he hath purified himself for even as Christ is pure.