TILL HE COME

Lake County Mail, Issue 31, 24 December 1947, Page 6

TILL HE COME

Sunday by Sunday the Church bells ring out the old refrain, “Till He Come,” and what an invitation that is to us to join in the worship of G-od here on earth, till He come. That one word “ Till ” warns us that if we would live the Christian life, we need the character of perseverance — but not only that —it gives us hope — it points forward to the coming of Christ here on earth again. The Christian belief can be summarised thus: “He is coming, He is come, He is coming again.” Life is leading to a goal and life has purpose. The present anticipates the future, the future explains the present. Christmas The Church throughout the ages keeps these four weeks before Christinas as a season of preparation for the great feast. We call it Advent, which means the coming. But you say Christmas has come and gone; we commemorate only the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem many hundreds of years ago. If that is all we think about Christmas, how dull, how lifeless and how purposeless it all is. Constantly looking back, we must also look forward to the Second Coming of Christ. The things of Christ are, however, eternal, but eternal does not mean for ever and ever. It is not a monotonous repetition of days on end. It is timelessness. Christ and eternity are ever present things, there is neither past tense nor future tense with Christ. Till He come then means in the earthly life, not only the second coming, but also the daily, constant, ever coming of our Lord into our lives. Till He, come.-—lt is faith’s anticipation. He will come; present experience confirms the testimony of the prophets, and it is no future event, still less a mere ending of the present. It is He himself whom, striving to know, and following in His steps go on to know. He who unfolds Himself within me, as He interprets Himself through life to me. Till he come —yes, when that time comes, then are we really Christian, for we are then made one in Christ, and He and we are one. ’till He come, which is what we pray when we say those wonderful words taught to ns by our Lord Himself. “Thy Kingdom Come in earth as it is in Heaven. Christians and Non-Christians How will Christians he differentiated from non-Christians in this world? It is a question asked by one of the disciples of our Lord when the other Judas, not Judas Iscariot, asked, “ How is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” Jesus answered and said unto him, “ If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” The prophets looked forward to the day of the coming of our Lord. He came and the Jews rejected him, though some followed Him. He promised to come again, and He does constantly as we try to follow Him here and now. Not only that, however, He will come again to judge both the quick (i.e. the living) and the dead. Yes, He comes in love, hut He also comes in judgment, both here and now, and also in the future. As we look forward to this Christmas, let us remember that the coming of Christ is an eternal and ever present process. He comes to us constantly in • love, and because He loves us; He comes also in judgment. Judgment is here and now. Some people think it is sufficient if they live any sort of a life so long as they repent before they die —I hope they do repent before they die, and I hope they have an opportunity of doing so; hut as Christians we must not put off things to the future, for in eternity there is no future, and with Christ there is no future. Christmas commemorates the ever-present and ever-coming Christ; let us keej) it as such.