(The following message was given by Watchman Nee in Kuling on September 23, 1948, as part of the “New Believers” series. It was later excluded from the published version of the series. This abbreviated record is compiled from notes taken by Brother K. H. Weigh.)
The Bible contains a wonderful promise of the Lord’s return. From the Old Testament through the New Testament, every book touches on the subject of the Lord’s return. Bible students have counted the number of times that the New Testament speaks of this subject and have told us that one out of every twenty verses in the New Testament speaks of the Lord’s return. This is an important subject. Do not think that everything was finished when God’s Son came and accomplished the work of redemption. The Lord will come back to this earth. From Genesis to Malachi, the Old Testament repeatedly speaks of Christ’s second coming. The same is true in the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation. We can say that this subject is the greatest subject in the Bible. The biblical record of the Lord’s first coming is considerably smaller than that of His second coming. We should pay much attention to the subject of His second coming. We should memorize at least a few passages of the Scripture concerning this subject. Please carefully read these references: John 14:1-3, Acts 1:10-11, and Hebrews 9:28. A fourth reference appears in the last book, the book of Revelation. This book was written over sixty years after the Lord’s ascension. Jerusalem already had been destroyed, and the first generation of apostles was almost all gone. Even then, however, the Holy Spirit spoke in Revelation 22:20 of the coming again of the Lord Jesus.
Today we not only look back at the work of the cross; we also look forward to the second coming of Christ. We are not only here serving the Lord, but we are here waiting for His coming back. It is not our only intention to serve Him here on earth. In the past we have spoken several times concerning the subject of the breaking of bread. Our breaking of bread is a remembrance of the Lord; this remembrance will last until He returns. Every Christian’s eye should be set on Christ’s second coming. While it is true that we preach obedience, praise, service, and many other subjects, it is not our only intention to be serving in this way forever. Our hope is that the church will become the bride of Christ one day. Everything we do is with the view of the second coming of Christ. Although we emphasize the local church and our work, we are not building anything on earth today. We are waiting for the Lord’s coming back. We are not preaching the doctrine of the Lord’s second coming; we are truly waiting for His coming again. Our calling is a heavenly one; it is not earthly. Our ministry and service are heavenly. We are not looking for a great building on earth. Everything on earth will pass away one day. Five great signs in the Bible indicate to us that the Lord’s coming is very near.
The Christian life on earth is a life of waiting for the Lord’s return. What does it mean to wait for His return? To wait for His return means that while we live as others do, we have an expectation of His return always within us. Miss M. E. Barber was a person in whom I found no trace of thought of remaining on earth for a long time. She was genuinely waiting for the Lord’s return. Once I was walking with her on a street, and she said, “Perhaps, I will meet the Lord when we turn this corner.” She asked me to walk at a distance from her on the other side of the sidewalk, and repeated, “I do not know whether this will be the corner for me.” Those who wait for the Lord’s return are like a man walking down a precipitous hill; he does not know for sure when he will turn a corner and meet someone walking up the same path. Our sister genuinely expected the Lord’s return daily and hourly. Notice that we are speaking of our expectation of His return, not our belief in His return. Many people can speak about the Lord’s return. They study the Lord’s return and believe in His return, but this does not mean that they are expecting His return. Many people pay much attention to such subjects as the rapture, the judgment seat of Christ, the millennium, the New Jerusalem, and the new heaven and new earth. Many people are very familiar with the prophecies concerning the Lord’s return, but they are not necessarily waiting for His return. We have to remember that we are heavenly citizens. We should be taught by grace to expect the Lord’s return. We put no hope in this earth. We know that this earth will never change for the better. While we serve, work, and labor with God here on earth, we are calling and gathering a group of people to come under the Lord’s name for His satisfaction. We serve and work for the sake of His second coming.