ands."

As the redeemed see Him who was crucified for them coming in glory, they
will cry, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save
us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and
rejoice in His salvation." Isa. 25:9.

But that day will be a day of darkness as well as of light. The unready,
the unrepentant, will realize too late that in rejecting Christ's pardon
and love and sacrifice, they have rejected the only means by which they
might have been prepared to meet the coming King, before whose face no
sin can endure. "Every eye shall see Him," the apostle says, and he
describes the terror of that day to the unprepared:

"The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the
chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free
man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and
said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face
of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for
the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"
Rev. 6:15-17.

The scenes of that great day are so beyond human comprehension that it
is difficult to realize that such a time is actually before us.

"Then, O my Lord, prepare
My soul for that great day."

The Purpose of His Coming

The Scriptures make very clear the purpose of Christ's second coming and
the events of that great day. It has been the hope of the children of
God through all the ages. The apostle Paul calls it the "blessed hope."

"The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that
blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our
Saviour Jesus Christ." Titus 2:11-13.

The saints of God have fallen asleep in death with their faith reaching
forward to Christ's glorious appearing. So the veteran apostle fell,
with eyes upon "that day."

"I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the
faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not
to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." 2 Tim.
4:6-8.

Christ's second coming is the grand climax of the pl