^ " And every eye shall see him " — All impelled in one direction, all looking in one direction. Even a very small crowd doing the same thing at the same instant has a thrilling, awful power ; as once when I saw the chorus of a numerous orchestra turn over their music-sheets at the same moment, it brought before me the Day of Judgment.^
TI Earth must fade away from our eyes, and we must anticipate
1 B. Wilberforce, New (?) Theology, 243.
' Christina G. Rossetti, The Face of the Deep^ 20.
24 THE SECOND ADVENT
that great and solemn truth, which we shall not fully understand till we stand before God in judgment, that to us there are but two beings in the whole world, God and ourselves. The sympathy of others, the pleasant voice, the glad eye, the smiling countenance, the thrilling heart, which at present are our very life, all will be away from us, when Christ comes in judgment. Every one will have to think of himself. Every eye shall see Him ; every heart will be full of Him. He will speak to every one ; and every one will be rendering to Him his own account.^
2. There is consolation in the thought — " Every eye shall see him." It is a glorious promise, for, whether in this life or in the life to come, the law is eternal, that only the sanctified can see the Holy One, only " the pure in heart shall see God," — yet " every eye shall see him." It is the infinite thirst of every awakened soul, the supreme consummation awaiting the noblest spirits who have passed through earth's education. Every inarticulate upward straining of the spirit that we have been unable to interpret has been the inner eye feeling for Him. Some can interpret it. Faraday, when asked by Acland his conception of after-death con- sciousness, cried out, " I shall see Him, and that will be enough for me." Augustine cried out, " 0 let me see Thee ; and if to see Thee is to die, let me die that I may see Thee."
\ I remember a man born blind who loved our Lord most intensely, and he was wont to glory in this, that his eyes had been reserved for his Lord. Said he, " The first whom I shall ever see will be the Son of man in His glory." ^
•[I " Every eye shall see him." Every eye ; the eye of every living man, whoever he is. None will be able to prevent it. The voice of the trumpet, the brightness of the flame, shall direct all eyes to Him, shall fix all eyes upon Him. Be it ever so busy an eye, or ever so vain an eye, whatever employment, whatever amusement it had the moment before, will then no longer be able to employ it, or to amuse it. The eye will be lifted up to Christ, and will no more look down upon money, upon books, upon land, upon houses, upon gardens. Alas ! these things will then all pass away in a moment ; and not the eyes of the living alone, but also all the eyes that have ever beheld the sun, though but for a moment: the eyes of all the sleeping dead will be awakened and opened. The eyes of saints and sinners of former generations. Your eyes and mine. 0 awful thought! Blessed
^ J. H. Newman. 2 q^ jj^ Spurgeon.
REVELATION i. 7 25
Jesus ! May we not see Thee as through tears ; may we not then tremble at the sight ! ^
III.
'* And they which pierced him ; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him."
1. With what different feelings shall men see Christ on the last great day ! Some rejoicing, others mourning : some with hallelujahs, others with cries of despair. " All tribes of the earth shall mourn over him." Some of every generation and every tribe ; so many, that it is said " all!' Yet not every individual. Of every generation and tribe, some will see Him with joy. This was the hope with which He cheered His disciples, sorrowing at His going : " I will come again, and receive you unto myself ; that where I am, there ye may be also " (John xiv. 3) ; "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you " (John xvi. 22). And this was the comfort the angels gave to those who saw Him ascend out of their sight: " This same Jesus . . . shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." To them, as to all His disciples, the Lord's return was and is an object, not of dread, but of joyful hope.
This same great coming, then, which " every eye shall see," is an object of dread to some, of joy unspeakable to others. When they see the Lord appear, some will wail in terror and despair, others will rejoice " with joy unspeakable, and full of glory " ; and even now, while some "love his appearing," others are terrified at the thought. Whence arises this vast difference ? From the vast difference in their present state with regard to Him who will come. As men (those at least to whom the gospel has come) feel towards Christ Himself, so do they feel with regard to His coming, and so will they feel when they see Him appear. They who love Him love to think of His appearing, and will rejoice to see Him ; they who love Him not, and have no saving faith in Him, now fear to think of His coming, and will then call on the rocks to cover them.