The Return of Christ (1)

‘When Christ who is your life appears.' There are two appearings. His first appearing was to work our salvation; his second will be to accomplish and finish what he has begun to work. His first appearing was to redeem our souls from death, and his second will redeem our bodies from the corruption of the grave. His second appearing will be to accomplish all the good that he came to do and to work by his first. As verily as Christ has come in his first appearing, so verily and certainly he will appear the second time. As it was the description of holy men before his first coming to wait for him, ‘to wait for the consolation of Israel' (Luke 2:25), so should Christians now wait. Those blessed souls that have the hope and confidence in his second appearing, they wait for the coming of Christ.
There were all kinds of witnesses of his first coming: angels, men, women, shepherds, the devils themselves. The Trinity from heaven witnessed of him. For his second coming there will be witnesses. Christ himself said he will come. The angels said, 'This Jesus that you see go up will come again' (Acts 1:11). It is an article of our faith that he will come. The Spirit of God in every Christian says 'Come,’ and that is not in vain. The desires of the Spirit of God must be fulfilled. Therefore, Jesus will come. And the Spirit of God stirs up our spirits to say 'Come.'
Christ will appear, and 'you also will appear with him in glory.' We will appear, and appear with him, and appear in glory with him. Christ's glory is in some way hid now. For though he be king of the church, yet we see what enemies are in the church; and Satan disrupts the church a great while, and the nearer he is to his end the more he rages, so that Christ's glory seems to be hid. But Christ will then appear, and his church will appear with him in glory.

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Richard Sibbes 'Refreshment for the Soul.'
The Hidden Life, Works, vol. 5, pp. 211-12
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