Be Encouraged and Warned by the Lord’s Second Coming and Love the Lord’s Appearing

If the Lord’s second coming is precious to us, we will love the Lord’s appearing; as believers in Christ, we need to live in the Lord’s appearing and have His appearing as a warning to us to regulate our living, for at His coming He will judge the living and the dead. Amen!

This week we start a new series in the morning revival, based on the 2023 International Chinese-speaking Conference with the general title of, Making Ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming.

This week in particular we come to the topic of, Making ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming by Loving His Appearing and Not Loving the Present Age.

The Lord said, I come quickly; He is coming quickly to take His bride.

We want to have a full taste of the Lord’s appearing not only to the church but also through the church.

In the light of the Lord’s appearing, we need to go on aggressively to run the race, being joyful that the Lord is coming and also being warned that, at His return, He will bring in judgment.

The day of the Lord’s coming is getting closer, and the day of the our redemption is closer day by day.

The day of the judgment of the world is also getting closer.

So we need to be in the process of being prepared and adorned to be the bride of Christ.

Our life on this earth is not for ourselves but for the Lord.

We are not here for our welfare or our blessing; we’re not here to climb up the ladder in society or in our career but rather, we’re here for the Lord and for Him to return.

Year after year, our human life becomes more hopeful, and our running the race is more aggressive, so that we may bring the Lord back as we live in the light of His appearing.

The world situation and the environment in the world today are becoming more and more difficult, and the signs of His coming are clearly seen.

All the factors in our surroundings should not frustrate us; rather, our eyes should be focused on the coming Lord so that our heart would be heavenward.

May the Lord draw us more and more and may we seek before Him how can we live in the light of His appearing and how to love His appearing day by day.

As we are expecting His coming in an earnest way, we know that His coming is an ecstasy to us, a joyful day to all His believers.

Also, his coming is a warning, for we need to be prepared for His return; we need to make ourselves ready.

May we be those who take the Lord’s appearing as an incentive and as a warning, and may we live in the light of His appearing today, even day by day.

And if we feel that our love toward Him is cold, not hot or ardent, may we come to the Lord and repent, ask for His forgiveness and ask Him to rekindle our love for Him.

We want to see His glory and preciousness, and we want to have a hot love for the Lord so that we may bring the Lord back.

May we make ourselves ready for the Lord’s coming by loving His appearing and by not loving the present age.

We need to Love the Lord’s Appearing and Live in the Light of the Appearing of the Lord and His Kingdom

As believers in Christ, we are those who have received the divine life into our spirit, and we are citizens of another kingdom.

We do not belong to this earth, our hope is not here in this world, and our real citizenship is in the heavens, in the kingdom of God.

Our living on earth is not for ourselves but for the Lord, and our desire is for the Lord to return.

If we love the Lord’s appearing, we can be rewarded with an entrance into the kingdom of the heavens.

We need to be those who love the Lord’s appearing. We all know that the Lord is coming; in our spirit, we have His presence, but we long for His full presence so that we may live in an eternal union with Him.

May we be those who treasure not only the Lord’s coming in the future but also live in the light of His appearing today.

If we don’t have the Lord’s appearing day by day, our life will be meaningless.

Our loving the Lord and our loving His appearing go together; when we love the Lord, we also love His appearing, for loving the Lord Himself and loving His appearing are inseparable (1 Cor. 2:9; 2 Tim. 4:8).

If we really love the Lord, we will also love His appearing.

If we love our spouse, we will love their appearing, their presence with us. If we really love the Lord, we will also love the Lord’s appearing.

If we love the Lord’s appearing, we will have the same desire and prayer as the apostle John at the end of Revelation, Come, Lord Jesus (Rev. 22:20).

And we will also partake of the Lord’s kingdom. May we love the Lord’s appearing and live in the light of His appearing.

This means that our daily life with all its activities needs to be lived by us as if the Lord is here with us as if the kingdom of God is here.

Whatever the kingdom will reject in the future must also be rejected in our living today.

If we live in the light of the Lord’s appearing, we will not quarrel with our spouse, for we don’t want to be found arguing when the Lord appearing.

The apostles lived in such a way; they had the Lord’s appearing in view.

May the Lord’s appearing be a warning and an incentive to us today so that we may live one spirit with the Lord day by day and moment by moment.

May the Lord’s appearing regulate our daily living.

May there be an impact in our daily life, as we do this and that; may we take seriously the matters of the Lord’s appearing and His kingdom, and may we let the Lord’s appearing regulate our daily living.

We all know that in this universe there is a God, and this God has an eternal economy in which Christ is the centrality and universality.

God’s economy is toward us, yet the centrality and universality of this economy is Christ.

This Christ as the centrality and universality of God’s economy is the entire history of God’s economy, which has two high peaks: the first and second coming of Christ.

Thank the Lord, He came already the first time and accomplished redemption (John 1:1, 14; 2:19).

In His first coming, the Lord Jesus passed through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, and He became a life-giving Spirit to breathe and dispense Himself into thousands of believers in Christ to produce the church as the Body of Christ.

Now we as the many members of the Body of Christ, the many believers in Christ, live in the light of the Lord’s appearing, loving His appearing, for we love Him and we want Him to return.

The Lord did not solve all the problems in the universe at His first coming, but all the problems will be solved by His second coming.

As we live on earth today, encountering problems, frustrations, and trials everywhere, we realize that no politician, leader, or inventor can solve these problems.

It is only the Lord’s second coming that will solve all the problems.

So today we live in the light of the appearing of the Lord and of His kingdom, and we love His appearing.

At His second coming, the Lord will deal with all the problems in society, all the injustice, all the inequality, and He will terminate all hatred between nations, he will save the nation of Israel, and He will also revive the nations!

We are those who are betrothed to Christ, and we yearn for His return. We love to say to Him,

Lord Jesus, we love You! We love You because You loved us first. You gave Yourself up for us to gain us as Your bride. Oh Lord, we love You more this year than last year. We love You today more than we loved You yesterday. You are our best love. We give You the first place in our heart. We desire to be fully joined to You! Lord, we are nothing, but You are everything to us. We love You and we love Your appearing. We earnestly expect Your coming to deal with all the problems in this world and to satisfy the longing in our hearts. Lord, appear to us today. Appear to us again and again. We want to live in Your appearing. Your presence is everything to us. We don’t want to miss Your coming. Come, dear Lord Jesus! Keep us going on in You. Keep us loving You. Lord Jesus, we love You and we love Your appearing!

Being Encouraged and Warned by the Lord’s Second Coming, for He will come to Judge the Living and the Dead

2 Tim. 4:1 is clear concerning the Lord’s second coming: He will appear in His kingdom, and He will judge the living and the dead.

As Paul was nearing the end of his life on earth, he had the assurance that the Lord will reward him with the crown of righteousness, with which the Lord will recompense not only him but also all those who love His appearing (v. 8).

This crown is a symbol of glory, and it is given as a prize to the overcoming believers of the Lord, in addition to the Lord’s salvation.

We need to love the Lord, love the Lord’s appearing, and triumphantly run the race so that we may receive the crown at His return (1 Cor. 9:25).

Yes, all genuine believers in Christ are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:5, 8-9), but there is a special reward for those who run the race with endurance and love the Lord’s appearing (Matt. 16:27; Rev. 22:12; 2 Cor. 5:10).

The Lord will recompense us not only according to His grace but even more, according to His righteousness.

He is the righteous Judge, and on the day of His coming, He will judge both the living and the dead.

We need to be both encouraged and warned by the Lord’s second coming, for when He returns, He will come to judge both the living and the dead.

All believers in Christ will be judged at the Lord’s coming, and some will be rewarded with the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens, while others will be cast in the outer darkness to be in the process of transformation and maturation for one thousand years.

We need to realize that, at the Lord’s coming back, He will not come as the merciful God or as the gracious Savior that we know and love today, but He will come as the righteous Judge.

All Christians should be warned and encouraged to prepare themselves to stand before the Lord as the Judge at His second coming.

We need to encourage one another and help one another be prepared to stand before the Lord at His judgment seat.

Yes, we have received the Lord Jesus as our life and everything, and we can enjoy Him day by day.

But when the Lord returns, He will bring judgment with Himself, and some will enter into the Lord’s joy while others will be set aside for a period of time.

Matthew 25 is clear concerning this; according to the Lord’s word in this chapter, all of the Lord’s servants will have to give an account to Him.

At His second coming, all the believers in Christ – the Lord’s servants – will give an account to the Lord, and He will either say, “Well done, good and faithful slave” (v. 21) or “Evil and slothful slave” (v. 26). Oh Lord!

The Lord will decide in His righteousness whether or not we receive a reward.

Therefore, the Lord’s coming is both an incentive and a warning to us, and we should live in the light of the Lord’s return, loving the Lord’s appearing today.

We want to be those who receive the crown of righteousness when the Lord comes back.

We aspire to be rewarded with the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens.

Therefore, today we want to live in the light of the Lord’s second coming, and we want to love the Lord’s appearing.

Our living and work today need to be with the Lord’s coming in view, and we need to realize that, when He returns, we will either receive a reward or punishment, for He will return as a Judge.

Today we live in the age of grace, and we have the free will to choose Him, live before Him, love His appearing, and serve one with Him in the Body.

But when He returns, He will bring in His kingdom, and first there will be the judgment.

May we be before the Lord concerning all these matters, telling Him from the depths of our being,

Dear Lord Jesus, we want to live in Your appearing today, loving You and loving Your appearing, so that we may be rewarded by You when You return. Oh Lord, we love You. We open to You. We want to live one spirit with You. Grant us to realize that Your second coming will bring You in as a Judge of the living and the dead. May we hear Your voice saying, Well done, good and faithful slave. May we live in such a way today that, when You return, we will receive a reward and not a punishment from You. Oh Lord, may there be the crown of righteousness laid up for us when You return as the righteous Judge. May we love You and love Your appearing today, and may we live in the light of the appearing of the Lord day by day! Amen, Lord, we take Your coming as an encouragement and as a warning. We want to receive this charge before God and before the Lord Jesus, the One who will judge the living and the dead. Lord, have mercy on us today that we may live in the light of Your appearing today!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament (msg. 366) by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Making Ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming (2023 ICSC), week 1, entitled, Making ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming by Loving His Appearing and Not Loving the Present Age.
• Further reading on this topic:
  – Session 5 Loving the Lord’s Appearing, a sharing in the 2022 spring university conference, watch via youtube.
  – Jesus Christ Manifested through Us Now, at His Return, and in New Jerusalem, article via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – A Story of Consecration: Loving Jesus with Our Best, article via, Bibles for America blog.
  – Testimonies Regarding the Lord’s Move to Europe #8, article at, Living to Him.
  – Loving the Lord’s appearing and earnestly awaiting His return, a portion via, The Vision of the Divine Dispensing and Guidelines for the Practice of the New Way, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – The love of Christ constraineth, / Then let us work and pray, / And watch the glad appearing / Of that triumphant day, / When Father, Son, and Spirit, / By every tongue confessed, / All earth His broad dominion / In His dear love shall rest. (Hymns #898 stanza 4)
  – Living out His resurrection, / Dying to the flesh and soul-life. / Living by the mingled spirit, / Natural man we will deny. / Now we’re living in the Body, / Every day we’re overcoming, / Striving for the peak of Zion, / Watching for our Lord’s appearing. (Song on, God has called us for His purpose, stanza 3)
  – Lord, Thou wilt soon appear, / Thy day is almost here. / Oh, how we love Thy coming soon! / We have no other / Lord, life, or lover / Than Thou, Lord Jesus, our Bridegroom! / The hour is drawing nigh, / Soon we shall hear Thy cry / And with Thee on the clouds descend. / Oh what an hour sweet / When Bride and Bridegroom meet / And love surpassing comprehend. (Hymns #1314 stanzas 1-2)