Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_400.lzh/D_446.TXT

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OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.                                                       Book VII

446
cond coming of Christ.

The parable of the wise and pear manifestly insrated in it, and possessed of it;

foolish virgins, describes the state of the church under
the gospel-dispensation, as consisting of true believers,
and formal professors, and their different behaviour,
until the coming of Christ; when the door will be
shut, the door of the word and ordinances; for after
tlie spiritual reign, and in the millennium-state, they
will be no more administered, and Christ, and his gos-
pel, will be no more preached; and so no more a
door of faith and hope for sinners. Before the perso-
nal coming of Christ, all the virgins, both wise and
foolish, will-be asleep, unconcerned about his coming,
off of their watch and guard, and in no expectation of
it; and, having little faith about it, When the Son of
man conteth, shall he find faith on the earth ? To this
state answers the Laodicean church-state, lukewarm,
indifferent, and regardless of divine things; which
will bring on, and issue in the last judgment of the
people, as its name signifies. Christ, in this parable,
is all along represented as a bridegroom, and as such
he shall come, v 1, 5, 6, 10. when the church, his
bride, will be made ready, and come down from God
out of heaven, as a bride adorned for her husband;
when she, the bride, the Lamb's wife, having the
glory of God upon her, shall dwell with him in the
new Jerusalem-state; which is the marriage-chamber
they that are ready shall enter into with him.
The parable of the talents, in the same chapter, re-
spects the same time, and describes our Lord's giving
gifts to men, upon his ascension to heaven, and since;
to some more, and others less, of which they make a
different improvement: and also his coming again, af-
ter a long' time, and reckoning with them; which will
be done when he personally appears; and who will,
in the resurrection-stat% distribute honours and re-
wards to his servants, according as they have made
use of the talents committed to them.
The chapter is closed with an account of the Son of
man coming in his glory, and all the holy angels with
him, and sitting on the throne of his glory, summon-
ing all nations before him, arid separating the good
from the bad, and passing the definitive sentence on
each, and executing it.
3dly, The parable of the nobleman, in Luke xix.
12, &c. is similar to that of the talents, in Matt. xxv.
By the nobleman is meant Christ, who is of noble
extract indeed; as the Son of God, he is the only be-
gotten of the Father; as man, he sprung from the
Jewish ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and
from a race of kings of the line of David. By the
far country he went into, heaven is designed; which
is the better country, a land afar off, from whence
Christ came at his incarnation, and whither he went
after his ascension, and where he will remain till his
second coming. His end in going thither, was to re-
ceive for himself a kingdom; to take open possession
of a kingdom that was appointed for him; and which
he did, in some sort, at his ascension, when he was
made, or declared, Lord and Christ; and more fully
will, in the spiritual reign, when the kingdoms of this
world shall become his; but most openly, clearly, and
plainly, at his personal appearing and kingdom;
which will be the time of Iris return, when he will ap-

and then will he call Iris servants to an, account for the
monies he committed to them, to make use of in his
absence; and according to the use it shall appear they
have made of them, they will be rewarded in the mil-
lennium-state, signified by giving them authority over
more or fewer cities.
4thly, The words of Christ in John xiv. 2, 3. can-
not well be neglected; In my Father's house are many
mansions; I go to prepare a place for you, and I will
come again, and receive you unto myself. By Christ's
Father's house, is meant heaven, the house not made
wkh hands, eternal in the heavens; in which there are
many mansions, dwelling, resting-places for the many
sons he, the great Captain of their salvation, must,
and will bring to glory; and hither Christ is gone, as
the forerunner, both to take possession of heaven for
them, and to prepare it for their reception of it; for
though it is a kingdom prepared from the foundation
of the world, in the purpose, conncil, and covenant of
God; vet Christ is .further preparing and fitting it for
them, by his personal presence, and powerful media-
tion, whilst they are preparing and working up for the
self-same thing, by his Spirit within them; and when
they are all gathered in, and made ready, he will come
again in person, and raise their bodies, and re-unite
their souls to them, and take them, soul and body, to
himself, to be with him where he is, first iu the mil-
lennium-state, and then in the ultimate glory.
Fourthly, That Christ will come personally on earth
a second time, may be most certainly concluded from
the words of the angels, in Acts i. 11. at the ascen-
sion of Christ to heaven; This same Jesus wMch is
taken up from .you into ]zcaven, shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. The angels
reproved the apostles, that they stood gazing at Jesus,
as he went up to heaven, being desirous of seeing the
last of him, as if they were never to see him any more;
whereas he would come again from heaven, in like
manner as they saw him go thither: as he ascendeel

in person, in his human nature, united to his divine
person, as the Son of God; so he should descend in
person, in the same human nature thus united; The
Lord himself shall descend from heaven: and as his as-
cension to heaven was visible, he was seen of angels,
and by the apostles; so his descent from thence will
be visible; Every] eye shall see him; not a few only,
as then, but all: and as a cloud received him out of
their sight, when he went to hearer; so when he comes
again, he will come in the clouds of heaven: and as
he was artended by angels, who escorted him through
the regions of the air; so he will be revealed from
heaven, with his mighty angels: and though no men-
tion is made in this narrative, of his ascension with a
shout, and the sound of a trumpet attending it; yet,
as it was foretold in prophecy and type, no doubt is
to be made of it; God is gone up with a shout, the Lord
with the sound of a trumpet / Psalm xlvii. 5. and cer-
tain it is, tie will descend in such manner; The Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of the arch-angel, and with the trump of God !
I Thess. iv. 16. and as his ascent was from the mount
of Olives, v 12. it is very probable iris descent will be