Return of Christ

1. Be Doers: Memory, Readiness and Christ’s ReturnNo. 2 · 1 January 1868 · 16 min read aloud · Read: James 1

   Observes that the breaking of bread directs thought to Christ, and that the Roman Question and the expected end of the Papacy’s 1260 years point to his return, as in Daniel 7.

2. Sons of God: Submission, Training and HopeNo. 5 · 1 April 1868 · 24 min read aloud · Read: 1 John 3

   Taking 1 John 3 as its ground, the exhortation says believers are now sons of God, whom the world does not know, and that sonship means submission to God’s will, learned by continual study of the Scriptures.

3. Love in the Truth, and Doing GoodNo. 6 · 1 May 1868 · 30 min read aloud · Read: 2 John

   Taking John’s Second Epistle as a letter to an ecclesia, the speaker contrasts the ephemeral loves of the world, which rest on instinct and shared interests, with love in the truth, which begins with the truth and grows in step with love of it.

4. Suffering Now, Doing Good, Meeting Christ UnafraidNo. 8 · 1 August 1868 · 29 min read aloud

   Beginning with the need to behold the High Priest by faith, the exhortation contrasts the disciples’ wish to call down fire (Luke 9) with Christ’s present work of saving and his coming work of destroying, illustrated by the plagues of Egypt.

5. Paul’s Seed Analogy and the Mortal ResurrectionNo. 11 · 1 December 1868 · 21 min read aloud John Butler

   The speaker takes Paul’s comparison of the resurrection to a sown grain in 1 Corinthians 15 and argues that the germ of the seed corresponds not to an immortal soul but to the truth, which dwells in believers and is kept in God’s memory until Christ quickens it.

6. Why Christ’s Brethren Abstain from Parliamentary VotingNo. 12 · 1 January 1869 · 21 min read aloud

   Speaking during a general election, the speaker argues that political reformers cannot cure human misery: greater wealth would only increase wickedness, as in Sodom, and God has chosen the poor as heirs of His kingdom.

7. Serving Christ while awaiting the good timeNo. 25 · 1 November 1870 · 23 min read aloud · Read: Revelation 6

   The exhortation contrasts the present violent, vain world with the good time coming through Abraham and his seed, and urges that those who belong to Christ be a peculiar people who do good without ostentation, obey his commandments, and sow to the spirit rather than seek worldly pleasure and riches.

8. Pilgrims awaiting the times of refreshingNo. 26 · 1 March 1871 · 21 min read aloud · Read: Acts 2

   Taking up Peter’s call in Acts 2 and 3 to repent that sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing come, the speaker says believers will not know how they stand until the Lord comes and judges.

9. Watching for God’s three great interventionsNo. 27 · 1 May 1871 · 21 min read aloud

   The speaker reviews three occasions when God intervened in human affairs while most people noticed nothing: the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, the coming of Christ, and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

10. Clod-Hoppers, Invisible Stock and Scriptural JustificationNo. 29 · 1 September 1871 · 25 min read aloud · Read: Romans 4

    Opens by saying that life and all its goods end in the grave, yet men turn from the glory to be revealed and, like an agricultural labourer who distrusts commercial “stock”, despise the spiritual things they cannot see.

11. Patient Continuance in Well-Doing Through TrialNo. 32 · 1 December 1871 · 19 min read aloud

    Takes Romans 2:7 and argues that patient continuance is needed because the believer’s way implies something to endure and hope is often deferred.

12. Subjection to Rulers and Freedom from DebtNo. 33 · 1 January 1872 · 18 min read aloud · Read: Romans 13

    Taking Romans 13, the exhortation says that, since Christ’s kingdom is not yet established, believers must be obedient subjects of the existing governments, which God appoints and overrules, and must not take part in political movements or agitation.

13. Spirit, Philosophy and the Body of ChristNo. 35 · 1 March 1872 · 24 min read aloud · Read: 1 Corinthians 12

    Reads 1 Corinthians 12 against the situation of the Corinthian believers, who had received the gifts of the Spirit yet were divided, and some of whom, influenced by Greek philosophy, called Jesus accursed while claiming the Spirit.

14. Holiness, Worship and Present Obedience Before ChristNo. 37 · 1 June 1872 · 24 min read aloud · Read: 2 Corinthians 5

    Says believers are called not merely to believe and speak of the truth but to holiness, and that the only standard of righteousness is obedience to God’s commandments.

15. Children of the Day: Laodicea and Daily ReadingNo. 39 · 1 August 1872 · 28 min read aloud · Read: 1 Thessalonians 5

    Says the day of the Lord will come as a thief only upon those who cry ‘peace and safety’, not upon believers who are children of light, yet an ecclesia may contain members who fall short, as the message to Laodicea shows.

16. Sonship in Christ and Longing for His ReturnNo. 40 · 1 January 1873 · 16 min read aloud

    Roberts contrasts the hopeless, mortal state of man in Adam with the sonship and fellowship with the Father offered through Christ, whom the breaking of bread sets before the brethren.

17. Seek Things Above, Beware of CovetousnessNo. 43 · 1 April 1873 · 22 min read aloud

    Expounding Colossians 3, Roberts explains that believers baptised into Christ are risen with him and must set their affections on things above, which he distinguishes from the popular idea of going to heaven, since those things are to be brought to the saints at Christ’s coming.

18. Lessons for Steadfastness from Sacred HistoryNo. 46 · 1 July 1873 · 28 min read aloud

    Roberts imagines travelling back eighteen centuries to Rome and then to Paul, a prisoner, letting Paul recount his conversion, and then traces Bible history back through the patriarchs and Noah to Eden.

19. Love Christ: His Character and Coming GloryNo. 51 · 1 February 1874 · 23 min read aloud

    Beginning from the breaking of bread, the speaker describes the love of Christ as the strongest motive among men and sets out the many sides of his character, which are all to be imitated, not only the gentle ones.

20. Steadfast at the Table Amid Trials and ApostasyNo. 52 · 1 March 1874 · 20 min read aloud

    Notes that the world regards the breaking of bread with scorn, though the saints are now free to meet since the end of the Papal power.

21. Uncarefulness: Christ’s Free Men in a Passing WorldNo. 55 · 1 June 1874 · 23 min read aloud

    Takes Paul’s counsel to the Corinthians to be without carefulness, applying it first to slave and free, master and servant: the believer in either condition belongs to Christ, and the present state is short, so its burdens may be borne patiently until the freedom and change of body that Christ will give at his coming.

22. Waiting for Christ: Delay, Patience and ComfortNo. 57 · 1 August 1874 · 17 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 10

    Argues that Christ’s allusions to his second coming presuppose a period of waiting, and that the apparent delay is no delay from the Lord’s point of view but a matter of our expectations, since the end and the time of the end are different things.

23. The Table’s Panorama: Christ Behind and BeforeNo. 58 · 1 September 1874 · 19 min read aloud

    Gathered at the table, the exhortation surveys the Bible story as a landscape coloured with Christ: behind, his birth, ministry, death, resurrection, ascension and the apostolic age, followed by the decline into apostasy and the rise of the Papacy; ahead, his reappearing, the judgment, the time of trouble among the nations and the kingdom of God filling the earth.

24. Humility, Prayer and Mercy: Principles of the KingdomNo. 61 · 1 December 1874 · 21 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 28, Daniel 2

    Noting that the events of Daniel’s image have run their course without us and that the end is near, the speaker says the question at Christ’s appearing will be whether our lives have been in harmony with the principles of the kingdom, which differ from the world’s wisdom.

25. Psalm 19: Creation’s Glory and the Coming KingdomNo. 65 · 1 May 1875 · 16 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 19 F. R. Shuttleworth

    Reads Psalm 19 as a hymn on the glory of God in creation, and holds that the unchanging order of nature points to the same power that will bring in new heavens and a new earth when the apostles’ words and the Sun of Righteousness again go forth.

26. God’s Standard Versus the World’s RespectabilityNo. 67 · 1 July 1875 · 26 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 58, Luke 10

    Contrasts the judgment of natural men, who commend whoever does well for himself, with God’s standard, which puts duty to God first; on that standard the world, though outwardly pious and respectable, is wicked, and God will punish it when his time comes.

27. Psalm 72: Christ’s Reign and Present TribulationNo. 70 · 1 October 1875 · 25 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 72, Luke 24

    Takes Psalm 72 and Luke 24 to show the double application of God’s promises, in which David’s covenant and Solomon’s reign foreshadow the greater reign of Christ, who will deliver the needy as no mortal ruler can, helped by immortal fellow kings and priests.

28. God Our Sun and Shield: Comfort in TrialNo. 73 · 1 January 1876 · 30 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 84

    Taking the Eastern Question as a sign that the Lord is near, the exhortation turns to the comfort of Psalm 84, “The Lord God is a sun and shield”, and to the kindness of God shown in reconciling the world through Christ.

29. Russia’s War on Turkey and the Coming ChristNo. 85 · 1 June 1877 · 24 min read aloud

    Taking notice of Russia’s declaration of war against Turkey, the speaker says it is the event long looked for from Daniel, Ezekiel and John, and contrasts the situation with that of 1854, when Papal power, France, Turkey and the state of the Holy Land and of believers made the time not yet ripe.

30. Death of a Sister: Mourning, Hope and WarningNo. 91 · 1 January 1878 · 24 min read aloud · Read: 1 Thessalonians 4

    Spoken after the sudden death of a sister who had broken bread the Sunday before, it says that sorrow is for ourselves, since the dead in Christ are at rest, and that death teaches the wisdom of the house of mourning over the pursuit of present cares, riches and pleasures.

31. Comfort in God’s Promises: Faith Against FeelingsNo. 93 · 1 March 1878 · 28 min read aloud · Read: Zechariah 8

    Starting from the comfort the Scriptures give, the exhortation takes God’s question in Zechariah 8:6, ‘if it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant... should it also be marvellous in mine eyes?‘, and applies it to the believer’s hope of Christ’s return, the kingdom and bodily change.

32. The Creator of the Heavens and the Gospel HopeNo. 94 · 1 April 1878 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 96

    Starting from Psalm 96:5, “the Lord made the heavens,” the speaker says the starry heavens impress on us the greatness of God, and that even scientists find things that appear “made” at the lowest depth of investigation.

33. The Day of the Lord Comes as a ThiefNo. 97 · 1 July 1878 · 24 min read aloud · Read: 1 Thessalonians 5

    From Paul’s words to the Thessalonians, the speaker explains that the day of the Lord will come as a thief and a snare upon the unwatchful world, but not upon the brethren who watch and know the signs.

34. Not Sleeping as Others: Watching and EnduringNo. 98 · 1 August 1878 · 26 min read aloud

    Taking Paul’s call not to sleep as others do but to watch and be sober in view of the day of the Lord, the speaker likens the world’s unawareness to a sleeper robbed by a burglar.

35. Zion’s Dawn: Cyprus Protectorate and WatchfulnessNo. 99 · 1 September 1878 · 21 min read aloud · Read: Jeremiah 4

    Beginning from the heavy tidings against Zion in the portion of Jeremiah read that morning, the speaker turns to the promises of her comfort and restoration, and says the time of Jerusalem’s desolation is now past.

36. Remembrance, Paul’s Testimony and the ResurrectionNo. 114 · 1 December 1879 · 16 min read aloud

    Says the breaking of bread was appointed so that believers would keep Christ in memory during his absence, and takes Paul’s words ‘I have received of the Lord’ as its starting point.

37. Election Signs, Christ’s Coming, Fruits of the SpiritNo. 119 · 1 May 1880 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Galatians 5

    Takes the 1880 general election as a sign of the times and says that the Liberal victory must serve the purpose of God, as Joseph’s sale into Egypt did, so that believers can only watch the developing latter-day situation.

38. Israel’s Destiny and the Patience Needed MeanwhileNo. 121 · 1 July 1880 · 23 min read aloud

    Begins from Israel as a nation ‘terrible from their beginning hitherto’, arguing that Israel’s conquest of Canaan and survival as a people can be explained only by God’s work with them, as part of a plan to make His name known and prepare the earth.

39. Salvation Is of the Jews: Israel RestoredNo. 125 · 1 November 1880 · 29 min read aloud · Read: Ezekiel 36

    Takes Christ’s words ‘Salvation is of the Jews’ to argue that there is no hope in natural directions, only in Christ, and that the Christ of the Bible cannot be separated from Israel’s history and land.

40. Daniel’s Prayer: God’s Greatness, Seventy WeeksNo. 126 · 1 December 1880 · 33 min read aloud · Read: Daniel 9

    Taking the Daniel 9 reading, notes that Babylon’s fall shows God’s purpose standing sure and that reading the Scriptures together relieves the feeling that present evils must last.

41. Facts, Fulfilled Prophecy and the Apostles’ WitnessNo. 127 · 1 January 1881 · 27 min read aloud

    Taking Christ’s words ‘If ye believe not me, believe the works,’ the speaker argues that God’s appeal to man has always rested on facts, and that believers today stand on a long record of fulfilled prophecy, including the prophecy that prophecy would cease for a time.

42. Waiting Patiently and Watchfully Until He ComeNo. 129 · 1 March 1881 · 27 min read aloud

    Taking the words “until he come” from Paul’s remark on the breaking of bread, the speaker contrasts the first disciples, who had known Christ personally, with believers now, and says the Lord’s return is more nearly due than ever, though the exact time has been withheld.

43. The Genealogy of Christ and Our ComfortNo. 136 · 1 December 1881 · 27 min read aloud · Read: Luke 3

    Starting from the genealogy of Christ read that morning, the exhortation says the unbroken line from Adam to Christ helps us to realize that life is short, and shows that Christ is of Adam’s race (needed for him to abolish death by his own death and resurrection) and heir to David’s throne.

44. Appeal for Relief of Persecuted Russian JewsNo. 138 · 1 April 1882 · 24 min read aloud

    The exhortation proposes a collection that morning for the Jews suffering persecution in the Russian empire, on the ground of the general command to do good to all men and, above all, because they are Abraham’s descendants, the nation to whom the promises belong.

45. Trusting God’s Promises Against Feeling and AppearanceNo. 140 · 1 June 1882 · 28 min read aloud · Read: Galatians 1

    Taking the opening of Galatians 1 as an antidote to the suspicion that the hope of the Gospel is too good to be true, the speaker argues that it rests on God and not on man.

46. Paul at Athens: God Near, Judgment ComingNo. 145 · 1 December 1882 · 31 min read aloud · Read: Acts 17

    Standing with Paul on Mars Hill (Acts 17), the exhortation defends reasoned argument for the faith, provided it is done in love, and contrasts the restless search for novelty in speculative philosophy with the satisfaction the truth gives.

47. David’s Shortcomings and the Psalms’ ImprecationsNo. 146 · 1 May 1883 · 27 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 40

    Taking Psalm 40 as its starting point, the exhortation explains two features of the Psalms.

48. The World’s Hatred of the Sons of GodNo. 148 · 1 August 1883 · 22 min read aloud

    Taking John’s words that believers are called the sons of God, the speaker says the world knows them not because it knew not Christ.

49. Prophecy’s Delay and the Parable of the SowerNo. 150 · 1 November 1883 · 23 min read aloud · Read: Ezekiel 12

    Taking Peter’s call to desire the sincere milk of the word, the speaker turns to Ezekiel 12, where the proverb ‘the days are prolonged and every vision faileth’ was rebuked, and compares it with the scorn now met at the delay of Christ’s coming.

50. Paul’s Shipwreck and the Resurrection TestimonyNo. 151 · 1 December 1883 · 19 min read aloud · Read: Acts 27

    Reflecting on the reading of Paul’s shipwreck in Acts, the speaker argues that the narrative is plainly true history, and that the charge against Paul, as stated by Festus, was that he affirmed Jesus, who was dead, to be alive.

51. The Jews God’s Monument: Helping IsraelNo. 152 · 1 January 1884 · 26 min read aloud

    The speaker says the ecclesia has the honour of uniting that morning to do good to Israel after the flesh, and that God’s friends must not add to the affliction of a people scattered as foretold.

52. Paul’s Faith in the Storm: ‘I Believe God’No. 153 · 1 February 1884 · 21 min read aloud

    Returning to Paul’s shipwreck, the speaker notes that an angel stood by Paul in the storm, and that Paul told the ship’s company that he believed God, that it would be as it was told him.

53. Light and Darkness: God’s Plan Behind SufferingNo. 154 · 1 March 1884 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Acts 15

    Beginning with the darkness of the world, and recent revelations of the misery of the London poor, the speaker takes comfort from James’s words that all God’s works are known to him from the beginning.

54. The Nearness of Death and the Lord’s ComingNo. 176 · 1 March 1887 · 29 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 53, Psalm 54, Psalm 55, Romans 7, Romans 8

    The speaker defends the commanded meeting and urges that its order and exhortation aim at edification, then argues that the Lord’s coming is nearer than supposed, since death, as with a young brother lately dead at 27, would bring it for any of us in a moment.

55. Life Without God: Darkness Needing the LightNo. 179 · 1 June 1887 · 30 min read aloud · Read: Ecclesiastes 3

    The exhortation takes Ecclesiastes’ “a time to be born and a time to die” as a reminder of mortal birth, of the coffin, and of the sentence of death under which all are born, and urges that remembering death makes for sober, godly living.

56. Philemon’s Clues: Paul, Prisoner of Jesus ChristNo. 180 · 1 July 1887 · 27 min read aloud · Read: Philemon

    Using the picture of a scrap of paper from which a finder could infer a paper mill, a pen and a living writer, the exhortation reasons from the opening words of Philemon (“Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ”) to the facts behind them.

57. Isaiah 40: Comfort for God’s PeopleNo. 181 · 1 August 1887 · 28 min read aloud · Read: Isaiah 40

    Taking the morning’s reading of Isaiah 40, the exhortation argues that the comfort addressed to Jerusalem is for believers, who as Gentiles taken out for his name are now God’s people through believing and obeying the gospel.

58. Why the Prophets Condemn and Judgment ApproachesNo. 184 · 1 November 1887 · 24 min read aloud · Read: Ezekiel 20, Luke 18

    The exhortation asks why the prophets, unlike other national writers, are full of condemnation of Israel, and answers that they spoke by divine impulse because Israel had set God aside, and that it is reasonable for God’s will to be law since all things are of Him.

59. Daniel 8, Rome and the Coming ChristNo. 185 · 1 December 1887 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Acts 8, Daniel 8

    Beginning from Philip preaching Jesus to the eunuch out of Isaiah, the exhortation takes the eighth chapter of Daniel and shows its connection with Christ: the ram, the he-goat and the little horn are explained as Persia, Greece and Rome, and Rome is said to complete the prophecy by standing up against the Prince of Princes at Christ’s coming.

60. Obadiah’s Vision and God’s Judgment of NationsNo. 249 · 1 January 1894 · 25 min read aloud · Read: Obadiah

    Taking the short prophecy of Obadiah against Edom, the exhortation says it is the vision that matters rather than the prophet, and explains why Esau was hated and Jacob loved and why the world hates those who love God.

61. The Return of Christ Rooted in ScriptureNo. 251 · 1 March 1894 · 25 min read aloud

    Beginning from the command to break bread “until he come”, the speaker imagines a stranger reading Revelation’s “Surely I come quickly” and tracing who Jesus is back through the New Testament to the Old: the promises to Abraham, Israel and the law, and the prophets’ foretelling of a son of David.

62. Looking Up: Signs of Christ’s ReturnNo. 253 · 1 May 1894 · 22 min read aloud

    Answering the charge that believers live in the past or future, the speaker says the table of the Lord links the first century to the present, and urges reading the New Testament as true eye-witness record.

63. Pentecost as Demonstration of Christ’s ResurrectionNo. 254 · 1 June 1894 · 19 min read aloud · Read: Acts 2

    Taking Acts 2, the speaker explains why the apostles were told to wait for Pentecost: their personal testimony to the resurrection needed the confirmation of miracles, and speaking in known languages before the crowd at Jerusalem supplied it.

64. Isaiah 17 and Britain’s Place in ProphecyNo. 255 · 1 July 1894 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Isaiah 17

    Taking Isaiah 17, the speaker says forgetfulness of God is the ultimate cause of human ruin, and that the desolation foretold of Damascus, Aroer and Ephraim is seen in Israel’s present state.

65. The Word’s Permanence and Jeremiah’s Faithful TestimonyNo. 257 · 1 September 1894 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Jeremiah 26

    The speaker marvels that the truth can be talked of week after week without loss of interest, while worldly pursuits fade like the flower of the field, because the Word of the Lord meets man’s real needs.

66. Isaiah’s Song of the Redeemed Righteous NationNo. 304 · 1 January 1899 · 23 min read aloud · Read: Isaiah 26, Hebrews 10 Printed after his death

    Beginning from the fact that the Scriptures are God’s word and not man’s, the speaker takes the song of Isaiah 26 and shows from Isaiah 25 and 1 Corinthians 15 that it is to be sung in the day of Christ’s return and the resurrection.

67. Comfort for the Troubled; Rest at Christ’s ComingNo. 306 · 1 March 1899 · 21 min read aloud Printed after his death

    Taking Paul’s words of comfort to the Thessalonians, the exhortation distinguishes those who trouble, those who are troubled, and those who know not God.

68. Remembering the Living Christ PersonallyNo. 307 · 1 June 1899 · 18 min read aloud · Read: Revelation 13, Revelation 14 F. W. P.

    The exhortation contrasts the world’s gatherings with the remembrance of Christ at the table and urges each believer to dwell on Christ as a living person with whom he will deal individually.

69. Readiness for Christ’s Summons Through Bible ReadingNo. 308 · 1 July 1899 · 13 min read aloud · Read: James 1 Printed after his death

    The exhortation considers Jesus as shown in the emblems and expects the aspect in which the world sees him to change soon, judging from the state of Europe and the coming end of Papal supremacy.

70. Obedience, Isaiah’s Servant and the Rainbowed AngelNo. 309 · 1 August 1899 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Isaiah 50, Revelation 10, Revelation 11 C. C. Walker

    Meeting at the emblems in obedience to Christ’s command, the speaker says the obedience asked of believers is that of intelligent friends rather than mere servants, and turns to the day’s readings.

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