And do not forget that there is another possible application of these
words lying in the future, to the conquering Christ who shall come
again. The whole history of the past points onwards to yet a last time
when 'the Lord shall suddenly come to His temple,' and predicts that
Christ shall so come in like manner as He went up to heaven. Again will
the summons ring out. Again will He come arrayed in flashing brightness,
and the visible robes of His imperial majesty. Again will He appear,
mighty in battle, when 'in righteousness He shall judge and make war.'
For a Christian, one great memory fills the past--Christ has come; and
one great hope brightens the else waste future--Christ will come. That
hope has been far too much left to be cherished only by those who hold a
particular opinion as to the chronology of unfulfilled prophecy. But it
should be to every Christian heart 'the blessed hope,' even the
appearing of the glory of Him who has come in the past. He is with and
in us, in the present. He will come in the future 'in His glory, and
shall sit upon the throne of His glory.' All our pardon and hope of
God's love depend upon that great fact in the past, that 'the Lord was
made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.' Our purity
which will fit us to dwell with God, our present blessedness, all our
power for daily strife, and our companionship in daily loneliness,
depend on the present fact that He dwells in our hearts by faith, the
seed of all good, and the conquering Antagonist of every evil. And the
one light which fills the future with hope, peaceful because assured,
streams from that most sure promise that He will come again, sweeping
from the highest heavens, on His head the many crowns of universal
monarchy, in His hand the weapons of all-conquering power, and none
shall need to ask, 'Who is this King of Glory?' for every eye shall know
Him, the Judge upon His throne, to be the Christ of the Cross. Open the
doors of your hearts to Him, as He sues for entrance now in the meekness