Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/314

 His disciples, and it was for the assumption of this title that He was rejected by the Jews. But He has nowhere said that that should be the name under which He would come again. Whenever that subject is treated of, He invariably says that it is the Son of man who is to come.

It is exceedingly interesting to observe that all the chief manifestations of the Divine Being have been effected under some distinctive title. Thus, to Adam He appeared as "Jehovah God," to Noah as "God," to Abraham as "God Almighty," to Moses as "I Am," to the seventy elders as the "God of Israel," to Joshua as "the Captain of the host of Jehovah," and to Gideon as "the Angel of Jehovah." When He became "manifest in the flesh," it was as "the Son of God," but it was as the Son of man that He promised to come again. Now, as all the Divine manifestations, preceding that which is called the second coming, differed from each other in their character, as each was suited to the peculiar circumstances of the people to whom it was made, and was indicated by a distinctive name, it is reasonable to infer that the second coming, which is to be effected under a name different from all the rest, will also differ from the rest in its nature.

Moreover, the Lord, when He was in the world, glorified His humanity. The apostle spoke of this as His glorious body. It was, in some measure, revealed to three of the disciples on the mount of transfiguration, but the nature of it was such that it could not be seen with the natural eyes. Hence, "as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead." And why were they told not to speak of it till then? Plainly because the resurrection body of the Lord would then be a