and persecution , the " appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ " was the " blessed hope ." When the Thessalonian Christians were filled with grief as they buried their loved ones , who had hoped to live to witness the coming of the Lord , Paul , their teacher , pointed them to the resurrection , to take place at the Saviour ' s advent . Then the dead in Christ should rise , and together with the living be caught up to meet the Lord in the air . " And so ," he said , " shall we ever be with the Lord . Wherefore comfort one another with these words ." 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 .
On rocky Patmos the beloved disciple hears the promise , " Surely I come quickly ," and his longing response voices the prayer of the church in all her pilgrimage , " Even so , come , Lord Jesus ." Revelation 22:20 . From the dungeon , the stake , the scaffold , where saints and martyrs witnessed for the truth , comes down the centuries the utterance of their faith and hope . Being " assured of His personal resurrection , and consequently of their own at His coming , for this cause ," says one of these Christians , " they despised death , and were found to be above it ." --Daniel T . Taylor , The Reign of Christ on Earth : or , The Voice of the Church in All Ages , page 33 . They were willing to go down to the grave , that they might " rise free ." -- Ibid ., page 54 . They looked for the " Lord to come from heaven in the clouds with the glory of His Father ," " bringing to the just the times of the kingdom ." The Waldenses cherished the same faith . -- Ibid ., pages 129-132 . Wycliffe looked forward to the Redeemer ' s appearing as the hope of the church . -- Ibid ., pages 132-134 .
Luther declared : " I persuade myself verily , that the day of judgment will not be absent full three hundred years . God will not , cannot , suffer this wicked world much longer ." " The great day is drawing near in which the kingdom of abominations shall be overthrown ." -- Ibid ., pages 158 , 134 . " This aged world is not far from its end ," said Melanchthon . Calvin bids Christians " not to hesitate , ardently desiring the day of Christ ' s coming as of all events most auspicious ;" and declares that " the whole family of the faithful will keep in view that day ." " We must hunger after Christ , we must seek , contemplate ," he says , " till the dawning of that great day , when our Lord will fully manifest the glory of His kingdom ." -- Ibid ., pages 158 , 134 .
" Has not the Lord Jesus carried up our flesh into heaven ?" said Knox , the Scotch Reformer , " and shall He not return ? We know that He shall return , and that with expedition ." Ridley and Latimer , who laid down their lives for the truth , looked in faith for the Lord ' s coming . Ridley wrote : " The world without doubt--this I do believe , and therefore I say it--draws to an end . Let us with John , the servant of God , cry in our hearts unto our Saviour Christ , Come , Lord Jesus , come ." -- Ibid ., pages 151 , 145 .
" The thoughts of the coming of the Lord ," said Baxter , " are most sweet and joyful to me ." -- Richard Baxter , Works , vol . 17 , p . 555 . " It is the work of faith and the character of His saints to love His appearing and to look for that blessed hope ." " If death be the last enemy to be destroyed at the resurrection , we may learn how earnestly believers should long and pray for the second coming
186