The one way to be ready for his coming, to have boldness and not to be
ashamed, is to abide in him. “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not”
(1 John 3:6); to be cleansed from sin and to abide in that cleansing
makes us ready for his coming. If we are not enjoying the Victorious
Life, which is just another way of saying “abiding life,” we are not
ready for his coming. And if we are not ready for his personal coming,
we are not ready for his presence in our midst now. That which gives
us boldness _then_ is what gives us boldness before his throne _now_
when we come to pray. “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have
boldness toward God: and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because
we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his
sight ... and he that keepeth his commandments abideth in him, and
he in him” (1 John 3:21, 22, 24).
If the coming of the Lord is in God’s Word linked so vitally with a
life of personal holiness, it is essential that Christians should
understand what the Spirit has revealed to us concerning the truth of
his coming. It is only at our peril that we neglect it. It is not an
accident that most of those who are rejoicing in the Victorious Life
are or become deeply interested in the truths of the Word concerning
Christ’s coming.
But how shall we know whether our view of his Second Coming is the
Scriptural view?