Though a lamb, He is yet the lion!
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"Who can endure the day of His coming? And who will be able to stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner's fire!" Malachi 3:2
Christ's first coming was without external pomp or show of power. Herod and all Jerusalem with him, were stirred at the news of the wondrous birth. Those who supposed themselves to be waiting for Him—showed the fallacy of their professions, by rejecting Him when He came. His life on earth was a winnowing fan, which tried the great heap of religious profession—and few could abide the sifting process.
But what will His second coming be? What sinner can endure to think of it? "He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked!" When in His humiliation He did but say to the soldiers, "I am He!"—and immediately they fell backward! What will be the terror of His enemies—when He shall more fully reveal Himself in judgment!
His death shook the earth and darkened the Heavens—what shall be the dreadful splendour of that day in which as the living Saviour, He shall summon the living and dead before Him? O that the terrors of the Lord would persuade men to forsake their sins and "kiss the Son—or He will be angry, and you will perish in your rebellion, for His anger may ignite at any moment!"
Though a lamb, He is yet the lion of the tribe of Judah, rending the prey in pieces! Though He does not break thebruised reed—yet will He crush His enemies with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. None of His foes shall bear up before the tempest of His wrath, or hide themselves from the sweeping hail of His indignation!
But His beloved blood-washed people look for His appearing with joy! To them He sits as a refiner even now—and when He has tried them, they shall come forth as gold.
Let us search ourselves—and make our calling and election sure, so that the coming of the Lord may cause no dark forebodings in our mind. O for grace to cast away all hypocrisy, and to be found by Him, "blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation" in the day of His appearing!
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