The Fundamentals - Torrey - LXXXVI - Chapter 21 (The hope of the church)

Required reading
The Fundamentals edited by R. A. Torrey (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapter 21 (The hope of the church).

My summary
This week McNicol teaches us about the hope of the church.

After telling us what it is not, McNicol explains that the hope of the church is the personal return of her Lord.  We know this because:
(i) Christ taught his disciples to expect his return;
(ii) the apostles taught their converts to wait for the coming of the Lord;
(iii) the whole life and work of the New Testament Church has the coming of the Lord in view;
(iv) the New Testament grace of hope rests upon the coming of the Lord;
(v) redemption is not complete until the second coming of the Lord.

Then McNicol tells us that the second coming of our Lord has an important bearing upon Christian life and doctrine because it:
(i) is bound up with belief in the supreme and infallible authority of the Holy Scriptures;
(ii) bears testimony to the presence of God in human history;
(iii) exalts the divine person and work of the incarnate son of God;
(iv) takes due account of the fallen human race;
(v) presents a sublime view of God's great purpose in his creation;
(vi) provides the most inspiring motive for Christian life and service.

What grabbed me
I enjoyed this description of Christ's return: 'And what will it mean for the redeemed? There, will be, of course, the happy reunion of all the saints when the dead are raised and the living are changed, for, when the Lord descends from heaven with a shout, "the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we that are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." But glorious as these things are, they are only preliminary steps to a higher and holier bliss. The climax of redemption will be the manifested union of the Church with her Lord in the marriage of the Lamb. For then the Bridegroom shall come to claim His Bride, and take her to share His glory and His throne. Then the Church that Christ loved and purchased shall be presented to Him a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Then the astonished world, beholding her transformation, shall cry, "Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning on her Beloved?" Think of what it will mean when, after sharing His humiliation in the midst of a scoffing and unbelieving world, the redeemed Church is exalted to His side, and, as the consort of the King of kings and Lord of lords, stands "all rapture through and through in God's most holy sight." Nothing less than this is the destiny that awaits the Church of Jesus Christ. '

Come quickly Lord Jesus.

Next week's reading
Read Chapter 22 (The coming of Christ).

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.