100 WORLD-KNOWN WITNESSES TO THE SECOND COMING OF THE LORD

          Dean Alford, whose “Greek New Testament” is well known, author of 48 valuable works,

            “By the growth of hypocrisy, secularity and rationalism the house has become empty; that is, the Christian Church has been swept and garnished by the decencies of civilization and discoveries of secular knowledge, and he must read prophecy ill who does not see under all these seeming improvements the preparation for the full development of the Man of Sin, when idolatry and the seven other spirits shall bring the outward frame of so-called Christendom to a fearful end. . . .The Coming of Christ to take His Church to Himself in the clouds is not the same event as His Coming to judge the world.”

            Sir Robert Anderson, K.G.B., LL.D., Chief of the Detective Dept. of Scotland Yard, Author of “The Coming Prince,” “The Gospel and its Ministry,” and many other volumes.

            “The Lord’s Coming is not merely the true Hope of the Christian life, but it is of such central importance in the New Testament that ignorance or neglect of it leaves the Scriptures open to skeptical attacks.”

            “Let us not forget that Matt. 24 and 25 relate to the Coming of the Son of Man. Never once does the Lord’s title, as the Son of Man, occur in the Epistles of the New Testament; never once is it used in Scripture in relation to the Church of God or the people of God in this dispensation. Surely this fact alone might save us from the error of confounding the Coming of the Son of Man for the deliverance of His earthly people, and the judgment of the living nations on earth, with the coming of the Lord to call His heavenly people home.”

          David Anderson-Berry, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S., Author of “The Unfinished Work of Jesus.”

            “The Return of the Lord is marked by a prelude, and that prelude the disappearance of all the saints, both dead and living, from the earth. This is followed by the Judgment of Rewards, when all the saints “caught up” stand at the judgment-seat (bema) of Christ. During this time all that leads up to ‘the Tribulation, the Great One,’ and ‘the’ tribulation itself takes place on earth. The Son of Man Comes with His saints, delivers His chosen people, destroys their enemies, and sits down on His earthly throne---the throne of His father David---to judge the living nations, the Gentiles (Matt. 25:31-46).”

            Harold P. Barker, well-known Teacher in Britain, Portugal, West Indies, and elsewhere.

            “Both my father (Wm. Barker) and my grandfather were firm believers in the Coming of the Lord as the imminent Hope of the Christian. So I was accustomed to hear of it from my earliest days. But a time came when I determined to take nothing for granted, but to search for myself, to find out the truth of things. I turned to the Scriptures and was amazed to discover how full and definite is the testimony that they bear to the fact that Christ is personally to return. I found passages in the New Testament that show beyond all doubt that world-conversion is not God’s program for the present age; nor is it the object for which the Gospel is to be preached to people of all nations. On the contrary, the world will get worse and worse, till it resembles what it was in the days of Noah. Then, suddenly, the Son of Man will be seen Coming in the clouds of Heaven. But, before this happens, I found that the Lord is Coming to take those who are His, whether living or dead, to be with Him; to transform them to His own likeness and to have them with Him when He appears in power and glory to take His kingdom, and reign from the river to the ends of the earth.”

            Dr. J. A. Bengel, Theologian and Commentator, Author of “Gnomon Novi Testament.”

            “The early Church fully believed that the Second Coming of Christ would precede or usher in the thousand years of His reign with the saints. Those who watch do not need to be told when the hour will come, for they are always ready.”

            Prof. T. R. Birks, Evangelical Divine.

            “A personal Advent of Christ is the theme, the main theme, of the whole Bible. The past Advent did not accomplish the full results predicted. Since it became history, a Second Advent has been the dominant note in every prophetic strain; and in the Apocalypse it becomes more prominent than ever. From the ‘Behold! He cometh with clouds’ of the first chapter to the ‘Behold, I come quickly’ of the last, this theme pervades the Book.”

            W. E.  Blackstone, Author of the well-known book, “Jesus is Coming.”

            “Will the Coming of Christ occur before the Millennium, and may it therefore happen at any moment, as Pre-Millennialists believe? or will it occur after the Millennium, and thus be at last, a thousand years in the future? as Post-Millennialists believe.

            “For want of space, we refer the reader to ‘The Voice of the Church,’ by D. T. Taylor, to show the long line of eminent witnesses, embracing Hermas, Justin, and the martyrs, Luther, Melanchthon, Mede, Milton, Burnett, Isaac Newton, Watts, Charles Wesley, Toplady, and a host of others, illustrious in the annals of the Church, who, through the past eighteen centuries, have borne overwhelming testimony to the truth of the Pre-Millennial Coming of Christ.”

            F. C. Bland, Dublin, well-known Teacher, Author of “Twenty-One Prophetic Papers,” and other works.

            “The judgments spoken of in Revelation take place within the compass of the prophetic earth. It must be remembered that the Church of this dispensation is outside of the scene, and that the Coming of the Lord for His saints need not be delayed one day for the fulfillment of any prophecy relating to the earth.”

            Dr. Andrew Bonar, the well-known Presbyterian Minister, Glasgow.

            “The main point of Dr. Bonar’s prophetical system was the Pre-Millennial advent of the Lord. He did not presume to determine times and seasons, but he was disposed to think that the accomplishment of the ‘Blessed Hope’ was drawing near. He thought it possible that some of those who heard him might be ‘alive and remain’ at the appearing of the Bridegroom. He found in practice that a habitual outlook towards the Lord’s return fostered a spirit of preparedness to meet the Coming One, and so became a potent aid to sanctification. But perhaps it was his love to the Master more than any other consideration which made this doctrine so dear to him.”

            Hebert Brooke, a minister well known at Keswick and other large gatherings.

            “Look forward. . .just far enough for the Lord to come again. That may be very soon! We are so sick of the world’s troubles that cannot be healed ‘till He come,’ that we are longing for Him to come and set up His Kingdom, and when He does come and finds that wonderful temple of believers (Eph. 2:21, 22), He is going to be admired by the whole world! Are you a living stone in that temple? (I Pet. 2:5).”

            Dr. Jas. H. Brooks, St. Louis, American Minister, Author of “I am Coming,” “God Spake All these Words,” and works.

            “Beyond question, the doctrine of our Lord’s Second Coming is the commanding motive of the New Testament. There is no predicted event between this passing moment and His Coming into the air, but much remains to be fulfilled before He comes to the earth. It would be Scriptural to say, ‘the Lord may come today, or tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or next year.” It would be unscriptural to say, ‘the Lord will not come today, nor tomorrow, nor next week, nor next month, not next year.’ ‘Surely I come quickly (suddenly) (Rev. 22:20).”

            “There are 7959 verses in the New Testament, and of these 330, or one in 25, directly refer to His Second Coming, nor is there any subject but faith that is mentioned more frequently. In all these verses, without a single exception, His Coming means His Coming and nothing else.”

            A. H. Burton, B. A., M.D., Editor of the Advent Witness, Author of many Prophetic Books.

          “For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout’ (I Thess. 4:16). I want to tell you something very interesting about the word ‘shout.’ This is the only place in the New Testament where the Greek word here translated ‘shout’ occurs, and it means not a shout of terror, not a startling shout; it is a word of encouragement. It is the word that was used in olden times to encourage the rowers. They used to have boats with twenty, thirty, or forty rowers, and it was a difficult thing for them all to keep stroke together, so the captain would give a little sound to encourage the men, and that is the word here. It is the shout of encouragement for the people of God, the word that calls them, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. The One that loves us, who has done so much for us, will be there on the threshold of the glory, and He is going to take us in to the marriage supper. What a scene that will be! The point therefore in this passage is that those that sleep in Jesus will be raised, and then we which are alive will be changed, and then, for one brief moment or so, in ‘the twinkling of an eye,’ we shall be together, and then caught up to meet the Lord in the air. We are living in times when everything points to the nearness of the Lord’s Coming. Without fixing dates, all that is happening in the world around us, everything points to the fact that THE LORD IS COMING.”

            J. R. Caldwell, Glasgow, many years Editor of The Witness, Author of “The Charter of the Church,” and several other volumes.

            “‘Looking for the Lord.’ Not merely for deliverance from foes, or for rest from toil and warfare, or for entrance into an inheritance, but for a Living Person---for a known and trusted Friend---for Him whose love, stronger than death, was set upon us while yet we were alienated and enemies in our mind, who, having loved His own, loves them to the end, JESUS ‘the same yesterday, today, and for ever,’ ‘the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely.’ To see Him as He is, to be like Him, to be with Him, to worship Him, to walk with Him, to serve Him, to hold unbroken communion with Him, to be the friends with whom He shall take sweet counsel, the partakers of His glory, the sharers of His dominion, for ever and ever to be in the full enjoyment of what now is indeed true, but so feebly apprehended, ‘One Spirit,’ with the Lord, ‘members of the Body of Christ.’ Blessed Hope.”

            Lewis Sperry Chafer, American Bible Teacher, Author of “Personal Work in Evangelism,” “Satan,” etc.

            “If Christ is to return only after a Millennium of a saved and sanctified earth, ushered in by the present form of Christian ministry and service, the numerous injunctions to be personally ‘watching,’ ‘waiting,’ and ‘looking,’ could well be taken as wrong in the light of the fact that even a tendency toward such a man-made Millennium is not discernible after 2000 years of God’s dealings in grace with the children of men.”

            Samuel Chadwick, Methodist Minister, Head of Cliff College.

            “The faith of the New Testament is that Christ rose again, ascended into Heaven, was exalted at the right had of God, that He will come again, and that the kingdom of God shall be established upon earth. The faith of the Second Coming is everywhere in the New Testament. We go wrong when we turn to arithmetic, but of the expectation of His Coming there is no doubt whatever.”

            Dr. Thomas Chalmers, the great Scottish Scholar and Preacher, rightly called “the Great Chalmers,” was a strong believer in our Lord’s Second Coming.

            “Of this I am satisfied, that the next Coming of Christ will be a Coming, not final judgment, but a Coming to usher in the Millennium. I utterly despair of the universal prevalence of Christianity as the result of a missionary process. I look for its conclusive establishment through a widening passage of desolations and judgments, with the demolition of our civil and ecclesiastical structures. “Overturn, Overturn, Overturn,’ is the watchword of our Coming Lord.

            “I desire to cherish a more habitual and practical faith than heretofore in that Coming which even the first Christians were called to hope for with all earnestness, even though many centuries were to elapse ere the hope could be realized; and how much more we who are so much nearer this great fulfillment than at the time when we believed!”

            Dr. A. Wilbur Chapman, the well-known Evangelist.

            “I could wish for my friends no greater joy than that which is mine, in the thought that He is coming back, and may come soon. I do not think it has ever made me fanatical; I do not see how it could. This is a blessed hope to me because, ‘every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as He is pure’ (I John 3:3). It does not mean every man that hath this hope in himself, but in Jesus as the Son of God, and in His near return. The thought that He is Coming back again keeps one pure, for how could we be worldly and indifferent if, at any moment, He might appear? So, I am looking for Him and longing for Him, and as I look and long, I toil the best I know how.”

            Fannie J. Crosby, the Blind American Poetess, Authoress of some 7000 hymns. Her pieces are found in most hymn books.

“O, the King is surely Coming, and the time is drawing nigh,

            When the blessed day of promise we shall see;

Then the changing “in a moment,” in “the twinkling of an eye,”

            And for ever in His presence we shall be.”

            Dr. James Culross, a well-known minister.

            “It is not merely prophets and apostles who have told us of His Return; He has done so Himself, and that not merely by way of bare prediction, . . .but by way of promise. Were He not to Return, He would break His Word! The promise meets us again and again, and in the greatest variety of forms.”

            J. N. Darby, Author of the “Synopsis of the Bible,” “New Translation,” and numerous other works.

            “The great tribulation is either Jewish, as in Matt. 24, or over the whole earth after the Church is gone (Rev. 7); with neither of these has the Church to do.”