If the Bridegroom is rising, it is evident that the Bride must do the
same. He is rising to come to His Bride, she must rise to go to Him.
How? By meditating on His Advents; by thanking Him once more for them;
by asking herself what use she has made of them hitherto, what use she
intends to make during this New Year that is beginning; by preparing
herself for them; by remembering that as His Bride she has a very real
share in each.
1. The _past_ Coming, "in the flesh and in weakness." We shall think
about this coming more especially at Christmas, for which the season of
Advent is a preparation. "The bright and morning star" (Apoc. XXII. 16)
will by then have risen in all its fulness. The Word will be made Flesh
and once more we shall _rise_ in the "quiet silence" of the night to
worship our God "in the flesh and in weakness."
2. The _present_ Coming, "in the spirit and in power"--His Coming in
grace to the soul, to dwell with it by His Spirit. "In _power_"--because
only He Who is omnipotent could work such a stupendous miracle as the
miracle of grace. This miracle could never have been worked, had it not
been for the first Coming. "The Word was made Flesh" that He might by
His death redeem His people and restore to them the kingdom of grace
which they had lost in Adam. This second Coming is to prepare us for the
third.
3. The _future_ Coming, in "glory and in majesty" when He shall "come
again with glory to judge both the living and the dead," and when all
will be forced to _rise_ and go to meet Him whether they will or not. It
is those, who have _risen_ voluntarily to meet their God in His second
Coming, who will have no fear of the third. The second Coming, then, the
Coming in grace, is the most practical one for us as we begin our
Advent, and upon it we will meditate in our third point.