[*Originally posted 2008]
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Matt 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
A thought provoking little sermonette on the topic of living in the expectation of the imminent return of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and the practical outworkings that this blessed hope should have in our daily lives. As the author mentions, this little 'sermonette' was written approximately fifty years after the initial sounding of the 'midnight cry' was first heard. The church had slumbered and fallen asleep through the long years of the so-called dark ages from AD 400 or so (Matt. 25:5); up to and until they finally gave way to the 'reformation period' with the call of Martin Luther who was to wrest Christendom from the iron grip of Rome and the Papacy, starting in the early 1500's. It was not until approximately the 1830's though that the Holy Ghost roused the church from her slumber as to the reality of the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ for his 'bride' (Matt. 25:1-13). This is considered historically as the point when the "midnight cry" of the Bridegroom's coming first echoed throughout the Christian church worldwide. In retrospect we understand that this period was in fact the "midnight hour" of church history. The hour had come and the cry went forth across the land "to arise" and "go ye out to meet him." (Matt. 25:6-7) There was then much excitement, and these few paragraphs below give us a wonderful feel of what that time was like, and on up to the time when fifty years afterwards the author wrote this exhortation.
121 years later now and the warning cry has been heard by all who have ears to hear. The church is no longer in the midnight hour, but the night has passed giving way to a new period of church history, which is proving to be the approaching of the dawn with the first glimpse of the morning star. The dawn will pass quickly though ushering in all the events leading up to and surrounding the millennial 'day' of Christ. Judgment upon the world must come first, followed afterward by the establishment of the thousand year rule and reign of Christ.
But before the day comes the dawn. It is in the early morning at the dawning of the new day when the bright and morning star appears, the Lord Jesus Christ (Rev. 22:16), to take his own to be where he is, to his Father's house where there are many mansions (John 14:1-3). He, the bridegroom, will come for the 'wise virgins' whose lamps have not gone out but are still burning bright in that early morning scene of the coming glory to be revealed. Matt. 25:8-10; cf. 2 Peter 1:19;
Question: Have you 'gone out'..or has your lamp?
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Waiting and Watching
H. H. Snell (1887)
"Ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord . . . . Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching." Luke 12:36-37
Our Lord would have us "watch" as well as "wait" for His coming. Both imply spiritual activity. Waiting souls are certainly not sleeping; for waiting according to our Lord's mind must be with girded loins, diligence in His service, and lights burning, thus bearing clear testimony to Him (Acts 1:8) in the power of the Holy Spirit during the darkness of the night (Gal. 5:5).
***
Matt 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
A thought provoking little sermonette on the topic of living in the expectation of the imminent return of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and the practical outworkings that this blessed hope should have in our daily lives. As the author mentions, this little 'sermonette' was written approximately fifty years after the initial sounding of the 'midnight cry' was first heard. The church had slumbered and fallen asleep through the long years of the so-called dark ages from AD 400 or so (Matt. 25:5); up to and until they finally gave way to the 'reformation period' with the call of Martin Luther who was to wrest Christendom from the iron grip of Rome and the Papacy, starting in the early 1500's. It was not until approximately the 1830's though that the Holy Ghost roused the church from her slumber as to the reality of the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ for his 'bride' (Matt. 25:1-13). This is considered historically as the point when the "midnight cry" of the Bridegroom's coming first echoed throughout the Christian church worldwide. In retrospect we understand that this period was in fact the "midnight hour" of church history. The hour had come and the cry went forth across the land "to arise" and "go ye out to meet him." (Matt. 25:6-7) There was then much excitement, and these few paragraphs below give us a wonderful feel of what that time was like, and on up to the time when fifty years afterwards the author wrote this exhortation.
121 years later now and the warning cry has been heard by all who have ears to hear. The church is no longer in the midnight hour, but the night has passed giving way to a new period of church history, which is proving to be the approaching of the dawn with the first glimpse of the morning star. The dawn will pass quickly though ushering in all the events leading up to and surrounding the millennial 'day' of Christ. Judgment upon the world must come first, followed afterward by the establishment of the thousand year rule and reign of Christ.
But before the day comes the dawn. It is in the early morning at the dawning of the new day when the bright and morning star appears, the Lord Jesus Christ (Rev. 22:16), to take his own to be where he is, to his Father's house where there are many mansions (John 14:1-3). He, the bridegroom, will come for the 'wise virgins' whose lamps have not gone out but are still burning bright in that early morning scene of the coming glory to be revealed. Matt. 25:8-10; cf. 2 Peter 1:19;
Question: Have you 'gone out'..or has your lamp?
-----------------------------
Waiting and Watching
H. H. Snell (1887)
"Ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord . . . . Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching." Luke 12:36-37
Our Lord would have us "watch" as well as "wait" for His coming. Both imply spiritual activity. Waiting souls are certainly not sleeping; for waiting according to our Lord's mind must be with girded loins, diligence in His service, and lights burning, thus bearing clear testimony to Him (Acts 1:8) in the power of the Holy Spirit during the darkness of the night (Gal. 5:5).
