on.[218] They are now urged to look as
steadfastly at one another as fellow-confessors of the same Apostle and
High-priest, and to sharpen one another's love and activity even to the
point of jealousy.[219] In the earlier exhortation no mention was made
of the Church assemblies. Here prominence is given them. Importance is
attached to the words of encouragement addressed at these gatherings of
believers. Christian habits were at this time forming and consolidating
into customs of the Church. Occasional and eccentric manifestations of
the religious life and temperament were yielding to the slow, normal
growth of true vitality. As faithfulness in frequenting the Church
assemblies began to rank among the foremost virtues, unfaithfulness
would, by force of contrast, harden into habitual neglect of the house
of prayer: "As the custom of some is."[220]

The chief of all reasons for exhorting the readers to habitual
attendance on the Church assemblies the writer of the Epistle finds in
the expectation of the Lord's speedy return. They could see for
themselves that the day was at hand. The signs of the Son of man's
coming were multiplying and thrusting themselves on the notice of the
Church. Perhaps the voice of Joshua, the son of Hanan, had already been
heard in the streets, exclaiming, "Woe to Jerusalem!" The holy city was
plainly doomed. But Christ will come to His Church, not to individuals.
He will not be found in the wilderness, nor in the inner chambers. "As
the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the
west, so shall be the coming of the Son of man."[221]

The day of Christ is a day of judgment. The two meanings of the word
"day,"--day in contrast to night, and day as a fixed time for the
transaction of public business,--coalesce in the New Testament usage.
The second idea seems to have gradually superseded the former.

The author proceeds to unfold the dreadful character of this day of
judgment. Here, again, the precise force of his declarations will best
appear by comparison with the warnings of the first part of the Epistle
in reference to the sin and to the punishment.

_First_, the sin referred to here has a wider range than the
transgression spoken of in the second chapter. For there he mentions the
special sin of neglecting so great salvation. But in the present passage
his words seem to imply that rejection of Christ has given birth to a
progeny of evil through the self-abandonment of th