True Christianity # 764
764. After This Night Comes the Morning, Which Is the Lord's Coming
Since the successive stages of the church on both a large and a small scale are described in the Word as the four seasons of the year (spring, summer, fall, and winter) and as the four times of day (morning, afternoon, evening, and night), and since the modern-day church, which is Christianity, is the night, it follows that now the morning is at hand. The morning is the beginning of a new church.
The following passages make it clear that the Word describes the successive stages of the church as the four parts of the day, which are determined by light.
Through the evening and the morning, for two thousand three hundred [days], what is holy will be made just. The vision of the evening and the morning is the truth. (Daniel 8:14, 26)
Someone was crying out to me from Seir, "Watchman, watchman, what of the night?" The watchman replied, "Morning is coming, but so is the night. " (Isaiah 21:11-12)
The end has come. The morning is upon you, O you who dwell in the land. Behold, the day has come; the morning is over. (Ezekiel 7:6-7, 10)
In the morning, in the morning Jehovah will bring his judgment to light; it will not be lacking. (Zephaniah 3:5)
God is in her midst. God will help her when she looks for the morning. (Psalms 46:5)
I have been waiting for Jehovah. My soul waits for the Lord like those who watch for the morning. They watch for the morning because with him there is the most redemption. He will redeem Israel. (Psalms 130:5-8)
[2] In the passages just quoted evening and night mean the time when the church is at an end; morning means the time when the church is just beginning.
The Lord himself is also called the Morning, as we see in the following passages:
The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me, "He was like the morning light, a morning without clouds. " (2 Samuel 23:3-4)
I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the shining morning star. (Revelation 22:16)
From the womb of your dawn comes the dew of your youth. (Psalms 110:3)
These quotations are about the Lord. Since the Lord is the Morning, he rose from the tomb first thing in the morning, in order to begin a new church (Mark 16:2, 9).
[3] What the Lord says about his Coming makes it obvious that we are to await it:
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him and said, "Tell us what the sign of your Coming and of the close of the age will be. " (Matthew 24:3)
Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Humankind will appear, and they will see the Son of Humankind coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory. (Matthew 24:29-30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27)
Like the days of Noah, so will the Coming of the Son of Humankind be. Therefore be prepared, because you do not know at what hour the Son of Humankind will come. (Matthew 24:37, 39, 44)
In Luke:
When the Son of Humankind comes, will he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8)
In John:
Jesus said of John, "If I want him to remain until I come . . . " (John 21:22-23)
[4] In the Acts of the Apostles:
When they saw Jesus taken up into heaven, two men were standing near them in white clothes. They said, "Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way you saw him go up to heaven. " (Acts of the Apostles 1:9-11)
In the Book of Revelation:
The Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show his servants what must happen. "Behold, I am coming. Blessed are those who keep the commandments of this book. Behold, I am coming, and my reward is with me, to give to all according to their works. " (Revelation 22:6-7, 12)
And from the same chapter:
I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, a shining morning star. The spirit and the bride say, "Come. " And those who hear, say, "Come. " And those who are thirsty, come. Those who wish to, take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:16-17)
And again in the same chapter:
He who testifies to these things says, "I am indeed coming. " Amen. Do indeed come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. (Revelation 22:20-21)
Matthew 23
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Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
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Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:
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All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
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For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
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But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
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And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
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And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
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But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
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And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
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Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
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But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
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And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
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But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
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Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
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Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
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Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
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Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
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And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
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Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
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Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
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And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
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And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
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Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
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Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
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Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
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Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
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Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
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Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
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Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
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And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
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Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
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Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
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Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
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Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
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That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
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Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
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O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
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Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
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For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
