“As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth, unto the
west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
He will come literally, personally, the same Jesus who was here upon the
earth. Not in lowly form as an offering for sin, to be set at naught,
abused, and crucified, but in “all his glory” attended with “all the holy
angels.” Matt. 25:31. We shall know when he comes for “every eye shall see
him.” Rev. 1:7.
None of these evasions of the truth will ever be able to counterfeit the
real event. The Roman army did not come to Jerusalem in this way. Death
does not come in this way. The deceptive wonders of Spiritualism cannot
imitate the glory of Christ’s second coming. He will come in power and
great glory (verse 30); he will come in the glory of his Father (chapter
16:27); and in the glory of the holy angels (Luke 9:26); all the holy
angels shall come with him. Matt. 25:31. His coming will be as glorious
and resplendent as the lightning. When Jesus revealed himself to Saul of
Tarsus, there was a light above the brightness of the sun (Acts 26:13); of
the angel who appeared at the tomb after the resurrection of Jesus it is
said, “His countenance was like lightning” (Matt. 28:3); and Ezekiel says
of the messengers of the Most High, they “ran and returned as the
appearance of a flash of lightning.” Eze. 1:14.
When Jesus comes in the glory of his Father, with so glorious a train
attendant, his coming will indeed be as the lightning coming out of the
east and shining to the west, and no one will have any more occasion or
opportunity to say to his fellow, “See here,” than one would have to call
another to behold a gleam of lightning flashing through the heavens. The
vivid lightning flashing out of the distant east, and shining even to the
west, lights up the whole heavens. What, then, when the Lord comes in
flaming glory, and all the holy angels with him? The presence of only one
holy angel at the sepulcher where Christ lay dead, caused the Roman guard
to shake, and become as dead men. The light and glory of one angel
completely overpowered those strong sentinels. The Son of man is coming in
his own kingly glory, and in the glory of his Father, attended by all the
holy angels. Then the whole heavens will blaze with glory, and the whole
earth will tremble before him.
The Signs Of Christ’s Coming.
VERSES 29‐31: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days
shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the
heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son
of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth
mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of
heaven, with power and great glory. 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.”
We have before seen that our Lord speaks in this chapter of the long
period of tribulation that was to come upon his followers, and we have
also seen how those days of tribulation were shortened for the elect’s
sake. Christ says that the sun should be darkened immediately after the
tribulation of those days. Mark in his gospel, gives it as follows:—
“In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened,
and the moon shall not give her light.” Mark 13:24.
This makes the time in which the sun was to be darkened more distinct and
definite. The days of tribulation were the 1260 years of papal supremacy,
beginning in 538 A. D. and ending with the capture of Rome and the pope by
the French in 1798. But we have already seen that the “tribulation” or
persecution of those days was “shortened” for the elect’s sake. That is,
the active persecution of the church by papal power ceased in 1773. Then,
according to Mark’s statement, the sun should be darkened between that
date and 1798. It was fulfilled. May 19, 1780, has passed into history as
“the dark day.”
This is a fact of so general knowledge that we need not consume space in
elucidating it. A few references to undoubted authorities will suffice.
Noah Webster’s dictionary, in the edition for 1869, under the head of
Explanatory and Pronouncing Vocabulary of Noted Names, says:—
“_The dark day_, May 19, 1780—so called on account of a remarkable
darkness on that day extending over all New England. In some
places, persons could not see to read common print in the open air
for several hours together. Birds sang their evening songs,
disappeared, and became silent; fowls went to roost; cattle sought
the barn‐yard; and candles were lighted in the houses. The
obscuration began about ten o’clock in the morning, and continued
till the middle of the next night, but with differences of degree
and duration in different places. For several days previous, the
wind had been variable, but chiefly from the south‐west and the
north‐east. The true cause of this remarkable phenomenon is not
known.”