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CHAPTER XIX.

Anathema or Comfort.

There are several passages which convey a very solemn import in connection with this subject, especially two, which we mention, as follows: One occurs in the salutation of Paul, 1 Cor. 16:22. Before he pronounces the BLESSING, he excludes those who do not love Jesus, in the following words: "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be

Anathema Maran-Atha!”

Anathema means accursed, condemned, devoted to destruction.

Maran-atha means, the Lord cometh.

Let him be accursed-the Lord cometh.

It is easy now, while the long suffering of God waits1 for men to reject, despise and hate the Lord Jesus. But JESUS IS COMING, and woe be unto them who now reject Him, "when once the Master of the house is risen up and hath shut to the door."2 Paul understood this, and therefore he says, "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (1 Cor. 9:22), "from the

(1) 1 Pet. 3:19. By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

20. Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

2 Pet. 3:9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

(2) Luke 13:25.

When once

the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, say. ing, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are.

Mark 13:35. Watch ye therefore for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:

36. Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.

37. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

wrath to come." 1 Thes. 1:10. O! that men would "seek the Lord while He may be found," and "flee from the wrath to come."4

The other passage is in 2 John 7: "For many deceivers have entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come (coming) in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an Antichrist." The correct rendering of ¿pxóμevov (erkomenon) is COMING. Jesus was especially called the "Coming One.”5 But these deceivers denied the incarnation-the coming of Christ in the flesh-either past or future. See Alford, also Jamieson, Fausset and Brown. This, then, is of special significance. He that denies

Jesus Christ's Coming in the Flesh

is a deceiver and an Antichrist. That is, he is possessed of the same spirit, which will ultimately find its personification in the GREAT PERSONAL ANTICHRIST.

It is lamentable that this passage has been so improperly translated in our version. It is such a strong assertion that Jesus is coming in the flesh, that it would doubtless have prevented much of the unwarrantable "spiritualizing" of Scripture, which has prevailed so largely.

(3) Isa. 55:6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is

near.

Also 2 Cor. 6:2.

(4) Mat. 3:7. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

(5) Mat. 11:3. And said unto him, Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another?

Heb. 10:37. For yet a very little while, he that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry.

Rev. 1:7. Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds

of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

8. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Rev. 4:8. And the four living creatures, having each one of them six wings, are full of eyes round about and within: and they have no rest day and night, saying,

Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.

John 6:14. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world.

Jesus is coming HIMSELF at the Rapture, to receive us unto HIMSELF, and He is coming to this earth again, at the Revelation, the SAME JESUS, and in LIKE MANNER as He went away." *9

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Lo! He comes, with clouds descending,

Once for favored sinners slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending,
Swell the triumphs of His train;
Hallelujah!

God appears on earth to reign.

But while there is such fearful foreboding of impending judgment and just retribution to those who love not the Lord Jesus, there is, on the other hand,

The Sweetest Comfort

for those who do love our Lord's appearing.

This is apparent when we understand the true position of the Church. We have seen that it is not to be confounded with the coming Kingdom, neither does it include the Old Testament Saints, for it was founded after Christ came.10 It was begun on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) *That is corporally, in the flesh.

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8. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

9. Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

10. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

(9) Acts 1:11. Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

(10) Mat. 16:18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will

and will be complete at the Rapture. 1 Thes. 4:17. It is like a parenthesis in God's dealing with His people, Israel. While they are broken off because of unbelief, the Church is grafted in.11

And being a companion in suffering with her Lord,12 following His example,13 walking in humility (Phil. 2:2-8; 1 John 2:6), during His humiliation,14 she shall "be counted worthy"15 of the greatest blessing in her exaltation with Him.16

The Bride of Christ.

Jesus is the Bridegroom, and the Church is His Bride. John the Baptist stood as the last representative of the Mosaic dispensation. He said, "I am not the Christ.

build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

(11) Rom. 11:17. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree.

(12) Acts 5:41. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

Phil. 1:29. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.

Also Heb. 10:34.

(13) John 13:15. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

1 Pet. 2:21. For even hereunto were ye called : because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

(14) Acts 8:33. In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

(15) 2 Thes. 1:5. Which is a manifest token of the righteous

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judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer.

Rom. 8:17. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

(16) Phil. 2:5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

8. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

9. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every

name:

10. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

11. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

He that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom, but the friend of the Bridegroom which standeth and heareth Him, rejoiceth greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice; this, my joy, therefore, is fulfilled.” John 3:28-29. Here we have a clear distinction between the Old Testament Saints and the Bride of Christ.

They shall be perfected, but God has "provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Heb. 11:40. Not that the Church is more worthy, but because, that in the overflowing grace of God1? He has chosen the Church to be the heavenly Bride of Christ.*

The Church is the body of Christ,18 and her precious union with Him is most clearly set forth in the epistle to the Ephesians. She is there regarded as spiritually quickened1o and seated in the heavenlies20 with her risen Lord,21 having been "chosen in Him before the foundation of the world" to "be holy and without blame before Him in love."22 She is to be "to the praise of the glory of His grace accepted in the Beloved,"22 being "sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of

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*Israel was an earthly bride, comforted with temporal blessings, and to these she shall be restored. Though now through unbelief she is desolate, her children shall yet be as the sand of the sea. Isa. 54; Jer. 3:1-18; 31:32; Ezk. 16; Hos. 1:10, 11; 2; 3. See page 162.

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gether in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

(21) Eph. 1:20. Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.

(22) Eph. 1:4. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

5. Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.

6. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

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