EVANGELICAL CHURCH

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 124, 29 April 1925, Page 10

EVANGELICAL CHURCH

ADDRESS BY REV. A. A. MURRAY “I believe Jesus Christ is coming again personally, corporally' and visibly,” said the Rev. A. A. Murray at the Empire Hall on Sunday night. “There is not an orthodox Christian in this town or any other town who does not believe that Jesus Christ is coming again to this earth. “This truth is the very warp and woof of holy writ, and finds a place in every evangelical creed in Christendom. To deny that lie is coming again personally and visibly is to ignore and deny the plain utterances of Scripture. That Christ is coining soon is the belief of thousands of earnest Christians of the present time. Christ came as a teacher and Saviour; Ho is coming again as bridegroom, judge and Icing. Eastern people are looking for the reincarnation of Mohammed or Buddha, but they will look in vain. But the Christian expectation is based on the sure word of prophecy and just as Christ came the first time in fulfilment of prophecy so is He coming again in fulfilment of prophecy. As there were signs indicating His first coming, so there are signs indicating the approach of His second advent. We are not among those who fix dates for His return, nor are we among those who sit in idleness waiting for that event. But we belong to a great and growing company who take the Word of God at its face value and who believe thut our Lord's return is at hand. “To the Pharisees and Saddueees Christ snid, ‘Ye can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs of the time?’ Had they not been so hypocritical and unspiritual they would have lecognised Christ as their Messiah—they would have known that Ho was in their midst. God tells us that, thero are unmistakable sign 9 of our Lord’s near approaoh. Let us look at some of them.

“(I) The first sign is the Jew. Keep your eye on the Jew and his movements; for ho id God’s time-piece. ‘When the fig tree putteOi forth her leaves,’ said Christ, ‘ye know that summer is nigh; so likewise when yo shall see all these things know that lie is near, even at the doors.’ ’The present movement among the Jews is a sure sign that the Lord is at hand. For nineteen hundred years the Jew has been a wanderer on the earth. He lias been without a king, without a priest, without a sacrifice and without, a home. But since General Allenby marched into Jerusalem a conqueror, the Jew has entered upon a new phase or epoch of his national history, and he is going back to Palestine, the home of his fathers. So long as the Turk held Palestine so long was the Jew debarred from entering it. But now under (he British mandats the J.-w L returnin'/ to his land and marvellous changes are taking place. The waste lands are becoming well-matured gardens. Towns with all modern conveniences are springing up like mushrooms. Tel Aviv, only a few miles from Jaffa, lias a population of nearly twenty thousand Jews. Jerusalem has its Jewish university, mid the Hebrew id becoming tlio prevailing language. In the sixteenth century the Jewish worldpopulation was one million; now it is fifteen million. The day is not far distant when the Jews will build their temple in Jerusalem. It is almost certain they will negotinto successfully for Mount Moriah and will either remodel the Mosque of Omar or demolish it and rebuild. Just as God removed the Turk to allow the Jews to come in so will He remove in His own time every barrier standing in the way of Jewish progress. The Jew is to bo in his own land in goodly numbers when our Lord returns. What may we not see in the course of three or four years ? Many of lie may live to see the Jewish temple built.

“(II). The second sign of our Lord’s near return is the growth of spiritism. In 1 Timothy 4:1, we read, ‘Mow tho spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to sconcing spirits and doctrines of demons?’ I believe we are in tho latter times. Many think spiritism is a good thing and honestly believe that communication with the dead is possible, lint spiritism is condemned in the Word of God and absolutely forbidden. It is not their departed dead that spiritists talk witii, but lying anti deceiving spirits who personate tho dead. I think if your saintly mother, who has departed, wanted to communicate with yon she would not choose some questionable medium to convey her messuge. 'The reality and power of demons in the world to-day is beyond question, and thousands are going over to spiritism which is demonism. “(III). The third sign of the near approach of Christ is the growth of revolutionary Democracy. In the book of Daniel you huve a divine forecast of the governments of the world from the days of Nebuchadnezzar to tho coming of Christ to set up His millennial kingdom. What form of government will be in existence 'when (Jurist comes ? Clay and iron. Clay stands for democracy and iron for monarchy. And we have more clay governments than iron to-day. The United States of America is a Republic, South America has twenty-two Republics, Russia is a Republic and France is a Republic, China and Germany are Republics. A wave of revolution threatens to sweep away all thrones. Monarchy has failed to keep the peace of the world; capitalism has failed; democracy will fail and it will be the biggest failure of all, because it is an attempt to govern without Christ. It will land this world in a welter of blood and death unparalleled in the history of mankind unless its progress is arrested. The world is living on the edge of u. volcano. Men’s hearts are failing them for fear of the things that are coming to pass upon the world. Lawlessness is rampant everywhere. All this points to the collapse of our boasted civilisation, and the near approach of Christ to take the reins of government. The government shall be upon , His shoulders. The stone cut out of the mountain without hands will soon be here to smile (he feet of the image, and to bring to nought man’s pride, man’s rebellion, man’s iulidelity, and man’s blasphemy. The League of Nations may hold in check for a time the spirit of war, but. what, are covenants to-day when a nation makes up its mind to go (o war? The best way to help the League of Nations, and to make the world sale for democracy is for the churches to renounce their hyprocrisy and unbelief and worldlineas and to come out strongly for the whole Bible and a whole Christ. England was on the eve of a blody revolution when the Wesleys and Whitefield rose in the power of God, and preached Christ and Him crucified as the only hope of a sinful world. It was this that saved England from a welter of blood, and it is Christ and llis gospel preached in all its simplicity, fulness and power that will save thus world from continual waits. God help us to do our part and to do it nobly.’’