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CHAPTER II.

CHRIST'S SECOND ADVENT.

Augustine: City of God, XX. Aquinas: Summa, III. (Supplement), xc. Ursinus Christian Religion, Q. 52. Pearson: Creed, Art. VII. Browne: On the Second Advent. Cunningham: Second Advent of Christ. Alford: Commentary on Rev. 19 and 20. Wordsworth Commentary on Rev. 19 and 20. Craven: Lange's Commentary on Rev. 19 and 20. Duffield: Second Coming of Christ : Millenarianism Defended. Crosby: The Second Advent. Merrill: The Second Coming of Christ. Lee: Scripture Doctrine of the Coming of our Lord. Strong: Theology, 566–574.

THE teaching of Scripture is explicit, that Jesus Christ shall come again from heaven to earth, in a visible bodily form. "While the apostles looked steadfastly towards heaven as he went up, behold two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up unto heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven," Acts 1:10, 11. Christ himself, being solemnly adjured by the high priest to say whether he was "the Christ the Son of God," replies "Thou hast said. Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven," Matt. 26: 63, 64. St. John, seeing the event in ecstatic vision, says, "Behold he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him," Rev. 1:7.

The passages of Scripture which must chiefly be relied upon, in constructing the doctrine of the Second Advent,

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are Matt. 25; Matt. 26:64; 1 Cor. 15; 2 Thess. 2; Rev. 20 and 21.

The doctrine which the Church very early derived from the Scriptures respecting Christ's second coming, is found in the statement of the Apostles' creed: "The third day Christ rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven; and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." According to this statement, there is no corporeal advent of Christ upon earth after his resurrection, until he leaves his session with the Father and comes directly "from thence" to the last judgment.

The doctrinal statement in the Apostles' creed, consequently, precludes a premillennial advent of Christ. According to this theory, there are two corporeal resurrections; the first, of the righteous alone, supposed to be taught in Rev. 20:4, 5; the second, that of both the righteous and the wicked at the end of the world, taught in Matt. 25: 31-46. There is an interval of a thousand years between the two, and during this period Christ reigns in corporeal presence upon the renovated earth.

Premillenarianism was the revival of the pseudo-Jewish doctrine of the Messianic kingdom, as this had been formed in the later periods of Jewish history by a materializing exegesis of the Old Testament. See Neander: History, I. 650 sq. Its most flourishing period was between 150 and 250. Its prevalence in the church at that time has been much exaggerated. That it could not have been the catholic and received doctrine, is proved by the fact that it forms no part of the Apostles' creed, which belongs to this period, and hence by implication is rejected by it. Chiliasm," says Neander (I. 651), "never formed a part of the general creed of the church. It was diffused from one country [Phrygia], and from a single fountain-head." In the preceding period of the Apostolic fathers, 100 to 150, it had scarcely any currency. There are no traces of

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it in Clement of Rome, Ignatius, and Polycarp. In Barnabas, Hermas, and Papias it is found; but these are much less influential names than the former. The early Apologists, Tatian, Athenagoras, and Theophilus do not advocate it. Alford (On Rev. 20: 4, 5) is greatly in error, in saying that "the whole church for three hundred years from the apostles understood the two resurrections in the literal premillenarian sense."

Rev. 20: 4-6, is the chief and nearly the sole support of the doctrine of two corporeal resurrections. In explaining it, reference must be had to other passages of Scripture, especially Matt. 25. Christ himself here gives an account of his own final advent, and he speaks of only one corporeal resurrection.

In order to harmonize Matt. 25, with Rev. 20: 4-6, the term "resurrection," in the latter passage must have a tropical signification. And this is supported by the phraseology employed by St. John. "I saw the souls (úxas) of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and they lived (enoav) and reigned with Christ a thousand years. This is the first resurrection." The "living and reigning" is the "resurrection." Had St. John intended a literal resurrection, he would have said, "I saw the bodies of them that were beheaded:" and would have employed the verb avionu, as is the case in the New Testament generally, and not the verb Cŵ, or avata. The Revelator, in vision, sees the martyrs and other witnesses for Christ as disembodied spirits dwelling in paradise, and describes them not as rising, but as "living and reigning" with Christ for a thousand years. This "living and reigning," he calls "the first resurrection." They lived with Christ by their faith in him, and this spiritual life was a spiritual resurrection from "death in trespasses and sins," Eph. 2:1. Having thus "risen with Christ" (Coloss. 3:1), they sought "those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God," and as the reward of their eminent

spirituality and devotion, even to martyrdom, reign in the heavenly paradise with Christ in his spiritual reign, during that remarkable period of the triumph of the gospel upon earth which is denominated the millennium. Special honor in heaven, granted to particular persons for extraordinary service and suffering in Christ's cause upon earth, is spoken of elsewhere. To the apostles our Lord says, "When the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel," Matt. 19:28. This certainly is to be interpreted metaphorically, not literally.

The tropical use of "resurrection" to denote regeneration is a characteristic of St. John, as well as of St. Paul. In John 5:25-29, our Lord speaks of two resurrections, the first of which is spiritual, and the second is corporeal. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live." The reference, here, is to the regeneration of the human soul, which is often called a resurrection, as the following passages show: John 5:24, "He that believeth on me is passed from death unto life." John 11: 25, 26, "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." Rom. 6:4, "As Christ was raised from the dead, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Eph. 5: 14, "Arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee life." Col. 3: 1, "If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things that are above." Eph. 2:6, "When we were dead in sins, God quickened us, and raised us up, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Col. 2:12," Entombed with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God."

After speaking of regeneration as a spiritual resurrection, our Lord proceeds to speak of another resurrection which he describes as corporeal. "Marvel not at this for the

hour is coming [he does not say, "and now is"], in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." This is the literal resurrection of the body; and this is the "second resurrection," in relation to the first tropical resurrection. The regeneration of the soul, according to St. Paul, results in the resurrection of the body. "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead. shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you," Rom. 8:11. It should be noticed, that while Christ, in John 5: 25-29, mentions directly both resurrections, St. John, in Rev. 20: 5, 6, directly mentions only one, namely, the "first resurrection." He leaves the "second resurrection," namely, that of the body, to be inferred. That the "first resurrection," in Rev. 20: 6, is spiritual, is proved still further by the fact that those who have part in it are "blessed and holy," and not "under the power of the second death," and are "priests of God." The literal resurrection is not necessarily connected with such characteristics, but the tropical is.

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In Rev. 20:5, it is said that "the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." The remainder of the believing dead do not "live [and reign with Christ]" until the final consummation at the end of the world. The martyrs are honored above the mass of believers, by a co-reign with the Redeemer during the millennium. The church generally does not participate in the triumph of its Head until after the millennium and final judgment.

Augustine (City of God, xx. 6-10) gives this explanation of the two resurrections. The binding of Satan, he says,

tus.

1 Tischendorf, Hort, A B, Vulg., read (noav, instead of åveŜnσav, in Recep The Revised version omits "again."

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