Surely it is the "same Jesus," and the mark of the cruel nails is the shining badge of His power to save.

"I shall know Him

By the print of the nails in His hands."

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 plan of salvation. Not till then are the children of God ushered into the eternal kingdom. Then the crowns of life are bestowed, and the saved all go together through the gates into the city -patriarch and prophet, apostle and reformer, and the child of God of this last generation. Of the ancient worthies it is written:

"These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Heb. 11:39, 40.

What a glorious day it will be when the ransomed of all the ages, march in together through the gates into the city! It is to take His children to their eternal home that Christ comes the second time. This was His promise to the disciples: And if I go and prepare

"I go to prepare a place for you.

a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14: 2, 3.

Not in detail, but in their general order, let us follow the events of that great day.

The Prelude to His Coming

as the revelator saw it and heard it in a vision of the last day:

"There came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, . . and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God." Rev. 16: 17-19.

...

"The heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." Rev. 6:14.

His Glorious Appearing

Then bursts upon the world the glory of our Saviour's coming:

"Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet." Matt. 24:30, 31.

"I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe." Rev. 14: 14, 15.

The Resurrection of the Just, and the Translation of the Living Righteous

The time to reap has come, and the wheat is gathered at last into the garner of the Lord:

"We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the

trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1 Cor. 15:51, 52.

"He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Matt. 24:31.

"This we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall

not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thess. 4: 15-18.

The righteous dead are raised to life as the trump of God sounds and the voice of the Archangel calls to His sleeping saints, and the living righteous are transformed from mortality