CHAPTER ONE
Is there any real need for Christ to return? So
far as God's children are concerned only one answer is possible to this
question. There is. Christians of every shade of religious belief are agreed
that there is an imperative need for our Lord to come back again. As to the
precise character of that need, as to the particular urgency of that need,
opinions may vary, but concerning the need itself this is universally admitted.
Even post-millennarians teach that Christ must come back at the end of
time to judge the wicked and reward the righteous. But we hope to show that
the need for His return is much deeper and much wider than the reason put forth
by the post-millennarians.
Suppose Christ never returns - then what? Has
this alternative been weighed as it deserves? The present order of things
cannot continue indefinitely; such a supposition is unthinkable. No one is
satisfied with present conditions. Even those who despise the teachings of
God's Word, hope for a better day, a Golden Age, an era of blessedness, such as
this earth has never yet witnessed. And pre-millennarians believe that
this Golden Age can be ushered in by nothing short of the personal return of
Christ Himself. Here then, in general, is the reason why we believe the
Redeemer must come back again. We say "in general," for in the
remainder of this chapter we shall seek to show there is at least a tenfold
necessity for our Lord's Second Advent.