Excerpts from "Heart Breathings"
By Leonard Ravenhill

Strings for Your Harp

     Part V. The Conclusion

         A. The Second Coming

           Compared with the world population, only a
           few people expected Christ's first coming. So
           it is now. The Christians expecting His
           appearing are few against the millions of
           unbelievers in the world.

           The first time He came,
           He entered by a woman's womb.
           And no one saw Him enter.
           The next time He comes,
           "every eye shall see Him"!

           The first time He came as a Lamb.
           The next time He is coming
           as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

           The first time He came to redeem.
           The next time He is coming to reign.

           The first time He came to die.
           The next time He is going to raise the dead!

           The first time men asked,
           "Where is he that is born king of the Jews?"
           The next time He is coming
           as the King of kings!

           The first time He got a crown of thorns.
           The next time He will get a crown
           of glory and of gold (Rev. 14:14).

           The first time He came in poverty, to a stable.
           The next time He is coming in power.

           The first time He had an escort of angels.
           The next time "He cometh
           with ten thousands of his saints." (Jude 14)

           The first time He came in meekness.
           The next time He is coming in majesty!

           BE WISE
              BE WARNED
                 BEWARE

           Let the heathen rage
           and the people imagine a vain thing.
           Let iniquity abound
           and the love of many wax cold.
           Let the seas roar
           and the land be shattered by earthquakes.
           Let governments continue
           to dismantle the Ten Commandments.
           Let the scoffers in or outside the "church"
           continue to cry:
           "Where is the promise of His coming,
           all things continue even as they were before?"
           Let the "church" continue in her worldliness.
           Let hell enlarge her mouth
           to swallow the multitudes.
           Let Communism design more subtle devices
           to enslave the world.
           Let believers wallow in more carnality,
           pray less fervently,
           and live more worldly.
           Let fat preachers parade a thin theology.
           Let us now total this end mess and mass
           of end-time disobedience and rebellion,
           THEN REMEMBER THIS:

           "God has allowed us to know the secret of His
           plan, and it is this: He purposes in His
           sovereign will that ALL HUMAN HISTORY
           SHALL BE CONSUMMATED IN CHRIST, that
           everything that exists in Heaven or earth shall
           find its perfection and fulfillment in Him. And
           here is the staggering thing -- that in all which
           will one day belong to Him we have been
           promised a share." (Eph. 1:9-11, J. B. Phillips)

           The outlook on the world just now
           is exceedingly dark.
           But! The uplook is exceedingly glorious --
           the King IS coming!

           These are the incentives for His coming:
           To witness, "The Gospel must first be
           preached to all nations."
           To sacrifice, "My reward is with me"
           (Rev. 22:12).
           To patience, "Be patient therefore,
           brethren, unto the coming of the Lord."
           To prayer, "Watch and pray."
           To holiness of life, "He that hath this
           hope in him purifieth himself."

           Are you ready for His coming?

         B. The Judgment

           The only way to live our todays
           is in our tomorrows-
           with an eye on the Judgment Seat.

           The Judgment Seat
           will bring no honorary degrees,
           just rewards for labor.

           The Judge of all the earth will do right.
           He cannot be corrupted,
           nor can He be corrected.

           Dives and Lazarus -- two beggars;
           One begged here -- one begged hereafter.

           An anchor to Paul's soul was
           "WE MUST ALL APPEAR before the judgment
           seat of Christ" (II Cor. 5:10). Living with
           eternity's values in view took the sting out of
           this oncoming test. Living "right" here on
           earth (I do not mean just living righteously,
           but living after the pattern set in the Holy
           Word) takes care of the hereafter.

           At the Judgment Seat
           all our fig leaves will drop off.

         C. Eternity

           The mills of God grind slowly,
           but they always move on time!

           These are "the last days" --
           how long will they last?

           The preacher who hones his sermon
           on the whetstone of eternity
           will lack no hearers.

           How strange that men who seek eternal youth
           shun "eternal life"!

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