ye have
seen Him go into heaven."(458) And the apostle Paul, speaking by the
Spirit of inspiration, testified: "The Lord _Himself_ shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump
of God."(459) Says the prophet of Patmos, "Behold, He cometh with clouds;
and every eye shall see Him."(460)

About His coming cluster the glories of that "restitution of all things,
which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the
world began."(461) Then the long-continued rule of evil shall be broken;
"the kingdoms of this world" will become "the kingdoms of our Lord, and of
His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever."(462) "The glory of the
Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together." "The Lord
God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the
nations." He shall be "for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty,
unto the residue of His people."(463)

It is then that the peaceful and long-desired kingdom of the Messiah shall
be established under the whole heaven. "The Lord shall comfort Zion: He
will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like
Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord." "The glory of Lebanon
shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon." "Thou shalt
no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed
Desolate: but thou shalt be called My Delight, and thy land Beulah." "As
the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over
thee."(464)

The coming of the Lord has been in all ages the hope of His true
followers. The Saviour's parting promise upon Olivet, that He would come
again, lighted up the future for His disciples, filling their hearts with
joy and hope that sorrow could not quench nor trials dim. Amid suffering
and persecution, "the appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus
Christ" was the "blessed hope." When the Thessalonian Christians were
filled with grief as they buried their loved ones, who had hoped to live
to witness the coming of the Lord, Paul, their teacher, pointed them to
the resurrection, to take place at the Saviour's advent. Then the dead in
Christ should rise, and together with the living be caught up to meet the
Lord in the air. "And so," he said, "shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words."(465)

On rocky Patmos the beloved disciple hears the promise, "Surely I come