"Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him." — Psalm 50:3
"Our God shall come… " That is the sustaining hope of believers in every dispensation . The Lord Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, said at the culmination of His ministry, "I will come again and receive you unto myself." (cf. John 14: 1-3) While some have applied this to the "welcome home" awaiting individual believers on the occasion of physical death, He clearly had a larger and universal event in view. New Testament saints have anticipated His "second coming" ever since.
Along the way the Holy Spirit informed the church of the mockery of this comforting and arresting truth which would be especially evident at the end of the age. "… there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation [II Pet. 3:4]."
Let us remember that there was a promise of divine visitation preceding this one, which was fulfilled when Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. When the time waxed long and doubts clouded the minds of the faithful and emboldened the mischief of the ungodly, the prophet Habakkuk, in an applicable passage, declared, "… the vision is yet for an appointed time, but in the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, and will not tarry (i.e., it will not be late) [Hab. 2:3]." With respect to His first coming it is written, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons [Gal. 4:4]." Similarly, when the time is right, from the divine perspective, His Son will come again in fulfillment of His promise. And, He will not be late! The promise of His coming to redeem us stood for thousands of years until the time was right; the promise of His second coming is a mere two thousand years old. He will come again, and He will come at the right time. In the meantime, we are admonished to watch and wait and be faithful until He does!
When He does come, our text declares, "He shall not keep silence." In fact, the suggestion here is that He will come with sound and fury. Indeed, scripture teaches us that there will be a great difference between the first and second coming. The subtlety of His first coming is captured in the Christmas hymn, "How silently, how silently the wondrous gift was given." But when He comes again it will be an event initiated by the sound of a great trumpet and the shout of victory of those who will form His entourage; "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God… [I Thess. 4:16a]." And again, "… the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power [II Thess. 1:7b-9]."
Indeed, the return of Christ, as comprehensively revealed in scripture, is like the proverbial two edged sword. It will be the consummation of hope for the believer, but the end of all hope for those who have rejected the Savior. While grace is poured out on the saved, judgment falls upon the wicked and the unbelieving. It is this aspect of His return the Psalmist seems to have in view in our text for today.
The first and second coming of Christ are wedded in the New Testament in this passage: "… but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation [Heb. 9:26b-28]." My friend, are you looking for His appearing? Are you 'ready if the Lord should come?' No question the human mind can entertain is more important than this one. He will come again, "even as He promised," and receive into glory those who have placed their eternal destiny in His hands by faith.
When the trumpet sounds, it will be too late to make that decision. "Behold, now is the accepted time!"
With eternity in view,
"Pastor" Frasier
"Our God shall come… " That is the sustaining hope of believers in every dispensation . The Lord Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, said at the culmination of His ministry, "I will come again and receive you unto myself." (cf. John 14: 1-3) While some have applied this to the "welcome home" awaiting individual believers on the occasion of physical death, He clearly had a larger and universal event in view. New Testament saints have anticipated His "second coming" ever since.
Along the way the Holy Spirit informed the church of the mockery of this comforting and arresting truth which would be especially evident at the end of the age. "… there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation [II Pet. 3:4]."
Let us remember that there was a promise of divine visitation preceding this one, which was fulfilled when Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. When the time waxed long and doubts clouded the minds of the faithful and emboldened the mischief of the ungodly, the prophet Habakkuk, in an applicable passage, declared, "… the vision is yet for an appointed time, but in the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, and will not tarry (i.e., it will not be late) [Hab. 2:3]." With respect to His first coming it is written, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons [Gal. 4:4]." Similarly, when the time is right, from the divine perspective, His Son will come again in fulfillment of His promise. And, He will not be late! The promise of His coming to redeem us stood for thousands of years until the time was right; the promise of His second coming is a mere two thousand years old. He will come again, and He will come at the right time. In the meantime, we are admonished to watch and wait and be faithful until He does!
When He does come, our text declares, "He shall not keep silence." In fact, the suggestion here is that He will come with sound and fury. Indeed, scripture teaches us that there will be a great difference between the first and second coming. The subtlety of His first coming is captured in the Christmas hymn, "How silently, how silently the wondrous gift was given." But when He comes again it will be an event initiated by the sound of a great trumpet and the shout of victory of those who will form His entourage; "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God… [I Thess. 4:16a]." And again, "… the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power [II Thess. 1:7b-9]."
Indeed, the return of Christ, as comprehensively revealed in scripture, is like the proverbial two edged sword. It will be the consummation of hope for the believer, but the end of all hope for those who have rejected the Savior. While grace is poured out on the saved, judgment falls upon the wicked and the unbelieving. It is this aspect of His return the Psalmist seems to have in view in our text for today.
The first and second coming of Christ are wedded in the New Testament in this passage: "… but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation [Heb. 9:26b-28]." My friend, are you looking for His appearing? Are you 'ready if the Lord should come?' No question the human mind can entertain is more important than this one. He will come again, "even as He promised," and receive into glory those who have placed their eternal destiny in His hands by faith.
When the trumpet sounds, it will be too late to make that decision. "Behold, now is the accepted time!"
With eternity in view,
"Pastor" Frasier
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