The coming of the Lord for His saints

… Beginning at verse 1. He likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the Bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the Bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered to say, Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you. But go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the Bridegroom came. And those that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour, wherein the Son of Man cometh. And the last sentences of the book of God, Revelation chapter 22, verse 16. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that is here say, Come. And let him that is at first, Come. And whosoever will, let him take the walk of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things that are written in this book. He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. I believe that my theme this evening is to be the coming of the Lord for his saints. And, in particular, I would like to deal with an inquiry that in many of us, with many of us, does arise, and might easily arise of all of us, perhaps we ought to consider it seriously. And that is, since the prophetic events that have been made known to us from the Holy Scripture are already so far advanced, does this show that we have been wrong in expecting the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as something which we would expect daily? I mean by that to be a little more precise at this early stage. I mean by that that I'm sure I have got the impression from reading the writings of some of those who, first of all, were given light from God, to see this truth of our daily expectation of the coming of the Lord as a prime factor in Christian living, that they would have expected that the coming of the Lord Jesus for his saints, for example, would have taken place before the reassembling of God's people and the establishment of a state of Israel. And it is possible that some of us may be disturbed about this consideration, and I'm sure that it would be a good thing for us to look more carefully at it. Now, the parable of the wise and the foolish virgins is one concerning which I feel the general trend of the meeting is quite clear. And, of course, I shall only be able to speak about the main lines, because, you see, it does clearly set before us the fact that the personal expectation of the coming of the Lord Jesus to meet his own was lost entirely over the greater part of the history of the Church. You see, in the first verse, we read about these ten virgins that they had marks, which are the marks, some of the marks, of a true Christianity. They took their lamps, and that is, they had a witness, a testimony. Secondly, they went forth, and that was separation, and they went forth to meet the Bridegroom. And from the very beginning, it should have been a prime source of inspiration and hope and courage for the people of God that they were going out on a course, the end of which could very quickly come, and that was their meeting with the Bridegroom. In the scripture days, it must have been perfectly plain that this is so. When the saints were in sorrow, they were told to comfort each other with this certainty. The Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout. The voice of the archangel and the trump of God, the dead in Christ, shall rise first. Then, we which are alive remain. He expected that the Lord Jesus Christ would come quickly. Now, of course, an unbelieving liberal theologian will say, he was mistaken. The Lord didn't come. He was wrong to expect it, did he? On the other hand, it is very plain for anyone who simply reads the scriptures that the Lord did intend that the momentary expectation of his coming again should be that which would stimulate us to a greater faithfulness in his absence. For these virgins have the marks of a true Christianity, that is, in the figurative language of the parable. I must go immediately down to verse 5. While the Bridegroom carried, they all slumbered and slept. The true and the false, those with the Holy Spirit and without the Holy Spirit, they all slumbered and slept, regarding the fact that the Bridegroom was coming. In other words, on this cardinal pact of the revelation of God and of our piety, day by day, the whole Church lost the expectation. And this, of course, was true until a period in the thirties of the last century, when, without the slightest doubt, it became apparent from the Word of God that the Lord was awakening his people to the recovery of that personal expectation. I don't suppose that any of us have not been moved in our hearts by the tremendous devotion of a Samuel Rutherford. In that long, long poem written by Mrs. Cousin, based upon the final words of Samuel Rutherford, I don't suppose that, outside Scripture, the language of true devotion to the Lord Jesus and the language of delight in his love has been ever more beautifully portrayed than in those words. And the expectation of being with the Lord. But there's not a trace in it of his expectation that this would allow the Lord to come. It is entirely filled with the thought that his expectation is that he would die. Well, it's easy for a kind of cynical disbelief to say, well, he did die. And all the saints, the majority of the saints have died. Yes, this is true. But the Lord did intend that right through the immediate hope of his coming should be a means of stimulus to us. It should be the means of comfort to those in sorrow. It should be the means of stimulus to those serving him. For it was in view of his coming again that the Lord said, occupy till I come. They all slumbered and slept. But we read in verse 6 that at midnight there was a cry made, behold the bridegroom. Now, the word cometh is not strictly speaking justified by the manuscripts, although it's plausible enough and there's no real harm done by it. But the midnight cry was, behold the bridegroom. It drew attention not so much to an event as a person, and that person was coming. Now, we know, it's a matter of very straightforward and simple history, that in the 30s of the last century, the truth, not only that Jesus is coming again, because, of course, the Nicene Creed had said, and people repeated it every week in church, and they said, from whence he went to sit in heaven, from whence he will come to judge the quick and the dead. But the personal immediacy of the Lord Jesus Christ coming, not to be seen by all, not first of all to reign over all the world, but first of all coming in person for his own. It was recovered as the hope of the saints, and it was put in the very center of the picture of the piety of the believers and the church. Oh, how precious this moment shows itself to be for the Saviour himself. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. You might think of a householder, and regard, what seems to me at least, one of the most disturbing things that can happen to him, and that is moving house. You can think of a householder who puts the whole job into the hands of a contractor, and says, you pack it all, and you bring it to this place, and you unload it, and you put it in. But you can imagine a person who felt wealthy enough to do this, and going down to his old house just as the work was beginning, and he dialed in upon something that was very specially purchased to him. And he would say now, don't touch that, I will come for it myself. Now that's precisely what the Lord Jesus Christ says. It was a manifestation of the preciousness of the church in the sight of our beloved Saviour that he said the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. And how precious it is to us in our measure, our measure as people, in our measure we can say it is precious to us. The expectation of our meeting the Lord Jesus, that we desire that it might be made more precious to us, and the stimulus intended by the Lord in sending this hope before us might be more vigorously operative in our lives. It was for our comfort, as I've said, it was for a stimulus that we should serve him until he comes again, and also it was to purify us. He that hath this hope in him, 1 John chapter 3, him that hath this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. It was intended, this revelation, this hope, it was intended not to make us serene persons able to chart beforehand the history of the future, but it was intended to make us disciples filled with that ardor that comes from a personal response to the Lord Jesus Christ who is coming again. Well, what I was suggesting a little earlier, and the thing that I have specially before me this evening as far as time will permit, is since now, it is 150 years since the Midnight Cry, and events have moved forward in a way that I would have no hesitation at all in calling staggering, you see, the way prophetic truth was seen at that period, and the way events have developed in the Middle East. There is such a close connection between the two that there is no question at all that we are seeing before our eyes the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. You see, it's a very important thing in my eyes, very important thing, that all this was seen and written down 150 years ago. It would have been so easy to say, yes, it's easy to say after the event that Britain will be the power that will restore Palestine, but it was written down from the Bible 150 years ago. It's very easy to say after the event that there would not only be a restoration of the people to Palestine, but there will be a state of Israel. Oh yes, but it was seen and written down 150 years ago, and that is a very remarkable evidence that those who did so knew how to read their Bibles. But they undoubtedly, as I have indicated, would have been surprised that things have developed quite so far without the Lord Jesus Christ coming to the air. And how I'm hearing that quickening shout, and how I'm being taken up to be with him, and going into the Father's house so that where he is, there we should forever be. Well, is there really something in this to cause disturbance to us if it comes to our attention? Now, I would like to go over the principal prophetic events, and as my memory, as I longer cope with being quite certain that I get things in the right order, I've written down the headings so that I would be quite sure that I would not miss out anything in this important matter. What I have in mind, you see, is to deal briefly with the prophetic events that we were to expect to happen, and then to see if we can see from Scripture at what stage in these prophetic events the rapture of the saints and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ would take place. And then we can easily return, you see, to the Scripture we read at the very end of the Bible, which makes no question at all that right to the very end his people are to expect his coming as a matter that's to be taking place quickly. And there still is the last response of the Holy Book to say, even so, come, Lord Jesus. Now, I would say that the first event in the prophetic history of the end of the age in which we live would have been the assembly of the Jews to their own land and the formation of a state of Israel. Now, there are many, many scriptures that promise the restoration of the people of Israel. Perhaps the most direct is in Isaiah chapter 11, where it says, the Lord will set his hand to recover a second time his people from the lands of their captivity. Well, the first time, of course, is when he recovered a remnant of the Jews from Babylon. And the second time when God will reassemble his people is at the end of the age. Now, how was it known that there would be a state of Israel? You understand what I mean by a state? I don't mean condition. I mean politically it would be a state and not simply a settlement. Well, we know because in Daniel chapter 9 we are told that it's capable of making a treaty. Now, a settlement of people could not make a treaty, an international treaty. We are told that the head of the revived Roman Empire would make a treaty with Israel. And that's as much as to say that in some way or other we are dealing with a state and not simply with a collection of persons. The next event would be the emergence of a remnant of Judah. Now, this is a matter which has been in my mind and in my heart so important a matter that I would like to spend just a little bit more time on it. We'll read in Matthew chapter 24, which is one of the most important and the clearest outlines with which you could start an understanding of these things. In Matthew 24 we read that the Lord Jesus Christ is warning his disciples as to what would come at the end of the age. The Lord, they had asked this question of the Lord. What shall be the sign when these things shall come to pass? What shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the age? And the Lord Jesus was speaking to his disciples about the end of the age. And the first thing that strikes you is that although the Lord Jesus is talking to his disciples when he was here upon earth, nevertheless he speaks to them as though those same persons would be here when he comes again with the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. In other words, he's speaking to these men as, in a very important sense, the exact representatives of people who would be upon earth at the end of the age. Now what was the kind of ecclesiastical standing, if you will forgive the term, what was the standing of these people? It was twofold. There were believers in the Lord Jesus. And there were Jews. And they hadn't a single thought of the church. And the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to them about the events immediately preceding his coming. He speaks to them of their worship in the temple. And he speaks to them of their keeping with great devotion the Sabbath day. In other words, they were just like the very first disciples were, Jews. But not members of the church. The first disciples were Jews because the church had not yet been started by the descent of the Holy Ghost from heaven. And we can only conclude that the last disciples, the last Jewish disciples, would be so because the church must have been taken away from heaven. No one can believe in the Lord Jesus Christ at the present time and remain a Jew. He's a Jew by birth, but he's not a Jew in any other sense of the term. He's a member of the church. And in that church, the barrier of distinction is absolutely gone. The Lord Jesus Christ, by his birth, has blotted out the wall of distinction and made a true one. And that is the church. The Jew lost his identity and his faith and his religion as a Jew, and he became a member of the church. But these, having believed on the Lord Jesus, are still continuing the Jewish faith. Therefore, we are reading about something which takes place after the rapture of the church. Now, in a certain sense, I've already given the answer to the question, but we'll come back to it a little later. So the second event would be the emergence of a remnant of Jews. I say a remnant because they're obviously persecuted, mercilessly persecuted, by the rest of their fellow countrymen. Therefore, they're only a few. They're only a part. And the mass of the people, just as when the Lord was here, were unbelieving and Christ-rejecting. And only a few were his people, and so it will be in the end, because they're addressed as the same persons. The third thing that we would expect is the emergence of the beast and the false prophet. Now, by way of explanation, I'm using the exact words of the Revelation. In chapter 13, we read about a beast who emerges. It's not known before, but he emerges. We read about a second beast who also emerges afterwards, who is afterwards called the false prophet. So it's a useful distinction to talk about the beast and the false prophet. Now, we read of this in Revelation chapter 13, but we read of it especially in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 is the special place. And the apostle says there, I beseech you, by the coming of the Lord, and our gathering together to him, you see, that's the rapture, that he be not soon shaken in mind by the idea that the day of the Lord is now present. For that day will not come, except there be an apostasy for us, and that man of sin be revealed. Now, I've used the expression the emergence of the beast and the false prophet to represent the words of the Revelation, he shall come up out of the sea and the land, and the words of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, the man of sin will be revealed once again. He must be revealed before the birth, the reign of the Lord Jesus. It would be desirable to take just a note of the fact that simultaneous, very closely at the same time, there must be the emergence of another power, which we call in Scripture the King of the North. Now, of course, it will take a long, long time to explain this, but briefly, it amounts to the fact that whereas the beast is the head of a revived Roman Empire, and therefore is a Western power, a Western power formed by the union of ten kings in the West, the King of the North is an Eastern power, and about the same time as these evil personalities emerge in the West, so the King of the North will emerge in the East. The next point, the next event, is clearly described in Daniel chapter 9, the Prophecy of Weeks, and I would recommend if you do wish to pursue this matter still further that you look at it there. But the great point about that is it says that the Roman prince who shall come shall make a covenant, which of course is the Bible language for a treaty, he shall make a treaty for seven years with the mass of the Jews, not that remnant that I have spoken of, and in the middle he shall break it by destroying their worship. Now, that moment, therefore, when the end clearly comes into view, when the countdown begins, not in seconds as in the case of Kennedy, but in years according to the Scripture, the countdown begins by a treaty made by the new Roman ruler and the mass of the Jews, the people there now, you see, the Bagans, and the others who form the government of Israel. They are actually talked about in Holy Scripture, the scornful men who rule my people in Jerusalem, there is going to be a treaty between a head of the Western world who is yet to emerge, and also the Jewish state which has already emerged. And that treaty is the countdown. That's the moment when all those who are on earth, who have read their Bibles, know that the moment has come when the countdown begins and the coming of Christ in power and glory will be seven years distant. Now, the next event is, and we read about it in Daniel 9 and Revelation 17, I've already made some reference to it, and that is the absolute destruction of both the false Christian worship that remains upon earth, that is the scarlet woman, and also the false Jewish worship that remains upon earth, that is those who are worshipping the Temple in Jerusalem, that the religion of the Jews and the religion of the Christians and therefore there will be the apostasy. All that professes to stand for the honor of God will be swept out of the way and there will be an absolute denial of God. This is the moment described in Psalm 2 when the people's rage and the nations say let us cast his bonds asunder. It's not merely disbelief, it's not merely carelessness that we find now about God, but the nations of the world and the nations try to say against God. Then there comes Matthew 24, immediately after that, the great tribulation. Such trials fall upon man that unless God shortens the human race will be exterminated. That's my phrase to stand for the Bible says if these days are not shortened no flesh should be saved. If there was God for them that human race would be exterminated so great is that tribulation. And immediately after that will be the coming and the clouds of heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ and the absolute destruction of the Jews and the false prophets. A rather obscure element in these events is the restoration of the ten signs of Israel and disbelief from the Jews. But somewhere after this destruction we read about the restoration of the ten signs. We read also about the later destruction of the eastern enemies as well. For as the destruction of the western enemies is like lightning by the Lord Jesus coming like lightning from heaven, the destruction of the eastern enemies over certainly led by Russia will be by the Messiah with a lot of his strength going forth out of Zion where he already used to live. Remember Psalm 110 Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy foes until the time when I say send a lot of my strength out of Zion. That's the way the last ten will be destroyed. Now in that period of events you see, it is a question of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think the great thing for us to do is to see in those passages exactly what are the points which speak about the position of the rapture in this place. And I will try to answer those questions in this way. And I will turn to the passage that I have several times referred to and that is 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. It says at the beginning Now we speak to you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our coming together unto him. But there can be no question that it refers to the event described in the first epistle. And I have already quoted the first epistle, chapter 4. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a chariot not to reign but to take his own people to himself and he has given them for our comfort. Now this is another case of comforting him and also the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our going together unto him that he be not too shaken in mind or troubled as that the day of Christ is present as it does say he should be. Let no man deceive you by enemies for that day shall not come except they come a falling away first and the revelation of the man of sin the revelation of the head of the western world the revelation of the power to be destroyed by the coming by lightning in the tower of the heaven of the Lord Jesus Christ the revelation of that person will not take until the Lord Jesus Christ has come and the saints as the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ has come it cannot come until the man of sin lives it is not revealed it cannot be denied he might be alive it cannot be denied that the person might be alive upon earth at this time but it has not been revealed it has not been unmasked and pointed out in the way that it should be said he will and at the last event then we are to expect that the rapture will take place before it however since he has not yet been revealed then there is nothing at all inconsistent with the hope which we have learned from the Holy Scripture and it has been said in that plain statement that it's also the other the other matter that I have already tried to explain and that is it's an influence but to me an irresistible influence the influence it is so powerful an influence that it couldn't possibly be interpreted in any other way and that is if it's been true that in the end of the age there will be before that great tribulation and before the coming of Christ in the chalice of heaven with power and great glory if before that we find upon earth Jewish disciples believing in the Lord Jesus it's been the truth that he's gone it's an influence and not a precise statement but I repeat it's an influence so strong that we must certainly be intended to draw it if at first these people they will believe in the Lord Jesus but they will not cease to believe therefore the church is gone it's an influence which I believe to be absolutely unanswerable it's strong so we have a plain statement on any front that indicates that the rapture of the saints should not be expected as the reader of the bible it should not be expected until so long I mean we cannot have missed it if the man of sin has not been revealed and we haven't seen the emergence of Jewish disciples who are not members of the church this leaves our thoughts absolutely wide open for us at the present time we have seen the emergence the restoration of the Jews in the emergence of a state of Israel but this is something from which there is a slightest indication that it should indicate that it is something which follows the rapture of the saints now I've several times spoken about the extraordinary way in which these events seem written down 140 160 years ago have already been fulfilled as first of all the state of Israel that it exists then there was absolutely nothing to call this to be expected 160 years ago or 100 years ago to be something to be expected the Zionist movement which aimed the establishment of a national home for the Jews in Palestine because of their terrible suffering in northern Europe was formed at the end of the century and it was formed in Europe which was headed in various parts of the continent of Europe and it only became established in England in the first world war when Shane he was of such assistance to the British government that they promised him the vow of declaration that the British government would sponsor the establishment of a national home for the Jews in Palestine therefore when these things were seen in the scripture there was not quite a cloud in the sky to indicate that those persecuted were not Jews but the people are Jews and that was the very poignant thing about it and I was bound to admit that if it had been left to me to interpret these scriptures I would have not been able to interpret them in the proper way and I would not have interpreted them in the proper way and I would not have interpreted them in the proper way and I would not have interpreted them in the proper way because I should never speak these words ever again and I should never interpret them in a proper way because I should never speak these words ever again and I should never interpret these words ever again and I should never interpret these words ever again If you read these verses you will see that we read that when the time of the end comes Israel will be deleted from the south by Egypt and the north by Palestine and the earth by Syria and that is exactly the situation that we see today and when I was in Germany a couple of years ago there were some Egyptian brethren there and one of the Egyptian brethren said all of a sudden that I'm quite sure according to January 11th that Egypt will have to be separated from Syria and I suppose that we would have to take account of the fact that this is also another event which is clearly aligned with the relationship between Aleppo, Syria and Israel as set out in Scripture Now Nothing at all can make any difference to the fact that the Lord desires that the true condition for us today is just the same as it always was and that is that we should be daily and monthly expecting the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ Let us look at these verses in Revelation chapter 22 What we will be doing is carrying out an extremely brief and thorough review of prophetic truth but when this rough book of Scripture as whole as it is of prophetic truth has enrolled itself entirely then the Lord Jesus can give this rough witness a personal witness to the churches I believe it It appears in many forms it appears as a lamb and it hath been slain Whenever he is seen within receiving the praise of faith and angels will read of him as a lamb and it hath been slain He appears as a solemn man and a reaper of the harvest that is yet to come but here all the features of the person of the Lord Jesus are dropped and the personal name is the name under which he now speaks to us After these prophetic disclosures which we will be summarizing I Jesus have said my name to you to which the truth will lead you in the churches and first of all there is a great emphasis upon this person I am Baruch and the offspring of David Now a person in Jewish terms can only be both Baruch and the offspring of David if he was both God and man The Lord Jesus posed this problem to the Pharisees when he said Who son is he? What say ye of Christ, who son is he? It's a good thing to use that as a gospel question but it didn't stand as a gospel question in the scripture He said to them, if he was David's son how can he be David's Lord? And there were people who would not accept the fact that this was God manifesting the fact and we are reminded of that great, great glory of our Saviour that he is both Baruch and the offspring of David He is both God and man and it's one of the many terse ways of witnessing in the churches what we must ever hold most dear and that is the truth of the perfect deity and the perfect manhood of the Lord Jesus It's also a wonderfully prophetic statement the one who is the root of David is also the offspring of David the king to whom it was promised that his hospitality should sit upon the throne of Israel and then the throne of a much wider Israel than that which has ever been known before which is the Virgin the one who said, I Jesus is the root and the offspring of David, a central figure in Bible prophecy and secondly is the bright and morning star well there are several references to the morning star and I would like to ask it would be a good thing to turn to one of them in the second epistle of Peter that speaks about Peter speaking about the morning star talking about the transfiguration which is a preview of the kingdom of the one who is the root and the offspring of David end of verse 17 this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and this voice will hail from heaven we heard from the Virgin and the Holy Man we have also a more sure word of prophecy whereunto we do well, he said he will light the planets and the dark place until the day dawns and the day stars arise in other words the first expectation of the dawning day for the Christians is the morning star who is, who and what is the morning star the first glimpse of the dawning day after the Christians night the first glimpse of the dawning day of the Lord Jesus at his coming he said I am the bright and the morning star and then we have in verse 17 a very wonderful collection of sentences because the response that the Lord Jesus Christ desired, the response that set out in this verse first of all there is the spirit operating in the bride it isn't only saying it is the spirit operating in the church but it says it is the spirit operating in that body concerning which it says that Christ has set his love upon and Christ can't satisfy women and he is going to present himself to himself a glorious church it is the spirit in the bride, the spirit and the bride, the spirit in the church in the sense that his heart is awakened to the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, those who whose hearts are awakened will say the sentiment and the love of the bride are the ones who so want her and the response to the Lord Jesus is the spirit and the bride say come, since your heart and the spirit of God are operating in the church it will produce the ministry of the word it will produce the help and the ministry that we need it will strengthen us it will give us the victory in our pathway that one of the great things that the spirit acting in the church will do is to make us say to the Lord Jesus, come he meant to show us, come dear Jesus and the next sentence says let him that hear us say come well there has been a good hearing spoken about in the spirit he that hath hear us let hear us, let him hear it says at the beginning, and all the ones from the group, anybody who thinks that they are coming, you see, of the prophecies that are given in this group is also invited, as much as they will understand that he is speaking as the spirit moves in the church, I will not let anyone who hears the prophecy of this group hear let them say also, come let him that hear us say come and then we have another come, it's a very frightening thing for me there is this very moment where the purest and holiest responsibility of the church in a lot of crimes I have said before the spirit and the bride say come, then equally the result of our apprehension and responsibility will be outgrowing in the gospel and the next verse says, let him that is at first come and put to the will let him take the water of life freely, alongside immediately parallel with the immediacy of his personal hope of the beauty and the glory of the saviour who will love us and there are many people who will not, alongside is what to the very end therefore a cause that we should be doing in the gospel that whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely I haven't time to dwell upon that, but I do hope that we can get the point, that at the very end there is no question there being any promise of some tremendous revival, there is no suggestion of there being any promise like that but there is an indication that the Lord can see if at the same time as we are looking for him to come we are also holding up the word of life and the water of life to those who will be there and so the Lord Jesus says to us this evening he says that with whole account taken of the course of prophetic events and how wonderfully they are being advanced in the lifestyle of most of us, he says surely I come quickly and we are united come Lord Jesus the Lord Jesus Christ with you all, Amen …