The second coming of the Lord has been the hope of God’s people throughout the centuries. It is the hope of God’s people today. They believe in His coming because their faith is established upon the Word of God, which tells us that His second coming is as definite as was His first advent.

“One of the most solemn and yet most glorious truths revealed in the Bible is that of Christ’s second coming to complete the great work of redemption. To God’s pilgrim people, so long left to sojourn in ‘the region and shadow of death,’ a precious, joy-inspiring hope is given in the promise of His appearing, who is ‘the resurrection and the life,’ to ‘bring home again His banished.’ The doctrine of the second advent is the very keynote of the Sacred Scriptures. From the day when the first pair turned their sorrowing steps from Eden, the children of faith have waited the coming of the Promised One to break the destroyer’s power and bring them again to the lost Paradise. Holy men of old looked forward to the advent of the Messiah in glory, as the consummation of their hope. Enoch, only the seventh in descent from them that dwelt in Eden, he who for three centuries on earth walked with his God, was permitted to behold from afar the coming of the Deliverer. ‘Behold,’ he declared, ‘the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all’ (Jude 14, 15). The patriarch Job in the night of his affliction exclaimed with unshaken trust: ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: . . . in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another’ (Job 19:25-27).”1

Christ Himself taught clearly and definitely that He would come again. Before His ascension to His heavenly Father He left to His disciples and to us this most hopeful message: “I will come again” (John 14:1-3). He will not disappoint His people. He wants us to be prepared for this great and glorious event. Therefore He says, “Prepare to meet thy God.”

Our preparation for that glorious event must go deeper than mere formalism or outward display. Those who hope to live eternally with Christ must develop in this life, before probation closes, those attributes that were exhibited in the life of Christ while He was on earth. His life was a revelation of the character of God. If we hope to be like Him when He appears, we must be like Him in our character and in our daily living today.

A thorough preparation on our part will touch the daily realities of our life. Preparation involves more than to call ourselves God’s people. It means more than to have our names on the church books. To be preparing for the second coming means more than to show a pious face. It means more than to know the truth and be able to defend it.

To be prepared to meet the Lord means to have the image of God restored in the soul. It means to live out all those fundamental truths that are so vital in our salvation. To be preparing means to be gaining victory over every known sin.

God does not ask the impossible when He says “Be ye also ready.” God’s people, by His wonderful grace, can be spiritually ready - they can be without “spot, or wrinkle” and “without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27).

It is a tragic fact that many Christians profess Christ with their mouth but deny Him with their life. The message we teach has little value unless we practice it in our daily living. Our life will lack if our prayers have form without faith, if we see our faults and do not correct them, if we profess the religion of Christ and do not bridle the tongue. “For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body” (James 3:2).

Our words have an influence upon others. Few realize the importance of what they say. It is so easy to let the words pour out and then discover later how much damage has been done. Our life and our words are inseparable. Speech is one of the greatest gifts God has bestowed upon us. Solomon through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21).

“God calls upon us to awake, for the end is near. Every passing hour is one of activity in the heavenly courts to make ready a people upon the earth to act a part in the great scenes that are soon to open upon us. These passing moments, that seem of so little value to us, are weighty with eternal interests. They are molding the destiny of souls for everlasting life or eternal death. The words we utter today in the ears of the people, the works we are doing, the spirit of the message we are bearing, will be a savor of life unto life or of death unto death.”2

The Word of God describes our characters “as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). It is impossible to build a Christlike character if we are not willing to fully surrender to the working of the Holy Spirit upon our heart. Our character can be transformed only through God’s grace. It is the leaven of God’s eternal truth that works secretly, silently, and steadily to transform the soul.

A Christlike character is not inherited; we cannot attain to perfection of character by relying upon our own efforts. It is only through the merits and power of Christ that we can reach perfection of Christian character. Yet we must take hold of the strength that is offered to us. The Lord declares, “Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me” (Isaiah 27:5).

“None need fail of attaining, in his sphere, to perfection of Christian character. By the sacrifice of Christ, provision has been made for the believer to receive all things that pertain to life and godliness. God calls upon us to reach the standard of perfection and places before us the example of Christ’s character. In His humanity, perfected by a life of constant resistance of evil, the Saviour showed that through cooperation with Divinity, human beings may in this life attain to perfection of character. This is God’s assurance to us that we, too, may obtain complete victory.”3

One of the greatest battles fought within the human heart is the entire surrender of the will to the Lord. The transformation of our character begins when we can say, as did Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” Although this surrender requires a real struggle on our part, it must ever be remembered that victory comes only after we surrender. No one ever gave up more than Christ did. He did it all for us. How willing, then, should we be to surrender our all to Him. This surrender is obtained through constant and intimate fellowship with God through prayer and seeking of His will.

“The Christian life is a battle and a march. But the victory to be gained is not won by human power. The field of conflict is the domain of the heart. The battle which we have to fight - the greatest battle that was ever fought by man - is the surrender of self to the will of God, the yielding of the heart to the sovereignty of love. The old nature, born of blood and of the will of the flesh, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The hereditary tendencies, the former habits, must be given up.

“He who determines to enter the spiritual kingdom will find that all the powers and passions of an unregenerate nature, backed by the forces of the kingdom of darkness, are arrayed against him. Selfishness and pride will make a stand against anything that would show them to be sinful. We cannot, of ourselves, conquer the evil desires and habits that strive for the mastery. We cannot overcome the mighty foe who holds us in his thrall. God alone can give us the victory. He desires us to have the mastery over ourselves, our own will and ways. But He cannot work in us without our consent and cooperation. The divine Spirit works through the faculties and powers given to man. Our energies are required to cooperate with God.

“The victory is not won without much earnest prayer, without the humbling of self at every step. Our will is not to be forced into cooperation with divine agencies, but it must be voluntarily submitted. Were it possible to force upon you with a hundredfold greater intensity the influence of the Spirit of God, it would not make you a Christian, a fit subject for heaven. The stronghold of Satan would not be broken. The will must be placed on the side of God’s will. You are not able, of yourself, to bring your purposes and desires and inclinations into submission to the will of God; but if you are ‘willing to be made willing,’ God will accomplish the work for you, even ‘casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ’ (2 Corinthians 10:5). Then you will ‘work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure’ (Philippians 2:12, 13).

“But many are attracted by the beauty of Christ and the glory of heaven, who yet shrink from the conditions by which alone these can become their own. There are many in the broad way who are not fully satisfied with the path in which they walk. They long to break from the slavery of sin, and in their own strength they seek to make a stand against their sinful practices. They look toward the narrow way and the strait gate; but selfish pleasure, love of the world, pride, unsanctified ambition, place a barrier between them and the Saviour. To renounce their own will, their chosen objects of affection or pursuit, requires a sacrifice at which they hesitate and falter and turn back. Many ‘will seek to enter in, and shall not be able’ (Luke 13:24). They desire the good, they make some effort to obtain it; but they do not choose it; they have not a settled purpose to secure it at the cost of all things.

“The only hope for us if we would overcome is to unite our will to God’s will and work in cooperation with Him, hour by hour and day by day. We cannot retain self and yet enter the kingdom of God. If we ever attain unto holiness, it will be through the renunciation of self and the reception of the mind of Christ. Pride and self-sufficiency must be crucified. Are we willing to pay the price required of us? Are we willing to have our will brought into perfect conformity to the will of God? Until we are willing, the transforming grace of God cannot be manifest upon us.

“The warfare which we are to wage is the ‘good fight of faith’ (1 Timothy 6:12). ‘I also labor,’ said the apostle Paul, ‘striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily’ (Colossians 1:29).”4

“To have the religion of Christ means that you have absolutely surrendered your all to God, and consented to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit moral power will be given you, and not only will you have your former entrusted talents for the service of God, but their efficiency will be greatly multiplied. The surrender of all our powers to God greatly simplifies the problem of life. It weakens and cuts short a thousand struggles with the passions of the natural heart. Religion is as a golden cord that binds the souls of both youth and aged to Christ. Through it the willing and obedient are brought safely through dark and intricate paths to the city of God.”5

“Be not discouraged because your heart seems hard. Every obstacle, every internal foe, only increases your need of Christ. He came to take away the heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh. Look to Him for special grace to overcome your peculiar faults. When assailed by temptation, steadfastly resist the evil promptings; say to your soul, ‘How can I dishonor my Redeemer? I have given myself to Christ; I cannot do the works of Satan.’ Cry to the dear Saviour for help to sacrifice every idol and to put away every darling sin. Let the eye of faith see Jesus standing before the Father’s throne, presenting His wounded hands as He pleads for you. Believe that strength comes to you through your precious Saviour.”6

True obedience is the result of a fully surrendered life. Before we can hope to develop a Christian character we must know by experience that obedience is not just an outward compliance to God’s requirements; it is the work of love in our souls. Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Love gladly obeys. The nearer we come to Christ, the more we love Him and the more obedient we will want to be. Our love for Him and our fellowship with Him bring our life into conformity to His will.

“All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service. When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience. Through an appreciation of the character of Christ, through communion with God, sin will become hateful to us.”7

“God stands toward His people in the relation of a father, and He has a father’s claim to our faithful service. Consider the life of Christ. Standing at the head of humanity, serving His Father, He is an example of what every son should and may be. The obedience that Christ rendered God requires from human beings today. He served His Father with love, in willingness and freedom. ‘I delight to do Thy will, O My God,’ He declared; ‘yea, Thy law is within My heart’ (Psalm 40:8). Christ counted no sacrifice too great, no toil too hard, in order to accomplish the work which He came to do. At the age of twelve He said, ‘Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business?’ (Luke 2:49). He had heard the call, and had taken up the work. ‘My meat,’ He said, ‘is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work’ (John 4:34). . . .

“He only serves who acts up to the highest standard of obedience. All who would be sons and daughters of God must prove themselves coworkers with God and Christ and the heavenly angels. This is the test for every soul. Of those who faithfully serve Him the Lord says, ‘They shall be Mine . . . in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him’ (Malachi 3:17).”8

The importance of reaching goals or objectives is clearly taught in the Word of God. Christ was a man of supreme objectives. He came to die as our substitute, to break the power of Satan, to bring us eternal life. He did not fail in reaching these objectives. One of the greatest of His objectives will be realized at His second coming, when He will take His people to His heavenly home.

We as a people must also have our objectives. The most challenging one is to be prepared to meet our God. We are to be “the light of the world.” By the Lord’s grace we can reach our goal - the perfection of character, thus being prepared. In order to reach our goal we must grow in Christ, we must walk with Christ, we must talk with Christ, we must know Christ, we must live like Christ, we must do the work of Christ.

Our objectives are reached when we acknowledge that all glory belongs to God, when our glory is laid in the dust. Our objectives are reached fully when we accept the counsel of the True Witness. When we have true love and faith. When we have spiritual discernment. When we are clothed in the white garments of Christ’s righteousness.

We also have to experience the Gethsemane objective. Here is where we learn whether we hate the sins of the world and love humanity. In Gethsemane we face the objective of drinking the bitter cup alone, of wrestling, agonizing, until victory is won.

“The way to heaven is a selfdenying way. But when you think the way is too strait, and there is too much self-denial in the narrow path; when you say, How hard to give up all, ask yourselves the question, What did Christ give up for me? This question puts anything that we might call self-denial in the shade. Behold Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Look upon the great drops of blood that are forcing themselves from His pores while He is bearing the inexpressible agony of soul. Look upon Him in the judgment hall while He is derided, mocked, and insulted by the infuriated mob. Behold Him clothed in that old purple robe, and hear the coarse jest and cruel mocking. See them place the crown of thorns on that noble brow, and smite Him with a reed, causing the thorns to penetrate His holy temples, so that the blooddrops trickle down His face and fall upon the ground. Hear the murderous throng eagerly crying for the blood of the Son of God. He is delivered into their hands, and pale, and weak, and fainting, He is led away to the hill of crucifixion. They stretch His form upon the cross, and drive the nails through His tender hands and feet. Behold Him hanging upon the cross through dreadful hours of agony until angels vail their faces from the scene, and the sun hides its light, refusing to shine upon the dreadful sight. Think of these things, and then ask, is the way too strait?

“Oh that every one might realize that Jesus has something in store for him vastly better than that which he would choose for himself! Would that all might come to understand the exceeding sinfulness of sin and the blessedness of righteousness! Would that all might see how powerless is all effort to contend with Omnipotence! Man is doing the greatest injury to his own soul when he thinks and acts contrary to the mind and will of God. He is sowing to his flesh, and of the flesh he will reap corruption. No real joy can be found in the path forbidden by God, who knows what is best, and who plans for the good of His creatures. In order to be happy ourselves, we must live to make others happy. We must yield our possessions, our talents, and our affections, in grateful devotion to Christ, and in this way we may find happiness here and immortality hereafter.

“The most trying experiences in the Christian life may be the most blessed. The special providences of the dark hours may encourage the soul in the future attacks of Satan, and equip the servant of God to stand in fiery trials.”9

The time to attain consistent victory, the time to be a preparing - even a prepared - people is now, today, before life ends, before probation closes. We can reach all these objectives if we, by the grace of the Lord, so choose. The greatest and the most glorious of all our objectives is to gain the victory over every sin and to win heaven.

The real goal of Christ’s second coming is not the destruction of the earth but the creation of the glorious “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13).

How wonderful will it be to hear the words of our loving Saviour and Redeemer: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).

My dear brethren and sisters, let us be ready, let us be prepared. The Lord is coming to take us to the kingdom that Jesus has prepared for us. May we all be there.