Part 1 - Christian Resource Centre (Bermuda)

The Lord is coming. He is coming with power and great glory. And "our God is a consuming fire." Of the times and seasons, you have no need that I should speak; for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape. And though it is true that of the times and seasons you need not that I should speak, there is that connected with his coming, of which it is altogether essential to speak, and to think upon, all the time; and that is, the effect of his coming; for he comes "in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And all these will be "punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." 2 Thessalonians 1:8,9.

Again, it is written: "And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." 2 Thessalonians 2:8. So when he comes in his glory, it is a consuming glory, burning up all the wicked, and all that have any wickedness about them.

Yet again it is written: "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, today the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. . . . And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity." Isaiah. 13:9, 11. And "who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?" Malachi 3:2. That is the question. As he is a consuming fire: and as, when he comes, we shall see him as he is, we shall have to meet him as that consuming fire that he is, and there is no escaping it.

When he comes, he is no more of a respecter of persons than before he comes. "There is no respect of persons with God." Just as certainly as he is as he is; as certainly as he comes as he will; and as certainly as we shall see him as he is, so certainly will we all—each one of us—be dealt with as we are. There is no change of character, there is no room for change in us in that day.