Behold the Bridegroom!

Ten lectures on the second coming and kingdom of the Lord Jesus.
by W. T. P. Wolston, M.D.

Lecture   1 — The Morning Star
Lecture   2 — The Apostasy and Antichrist
Lecture   3 — The Times of the Gentiles
Lecture   4 — The Great Tribulation
Lecture   5 — The Sun of Righteousness
Lecture   6 — The Stone Cut Out Without Hands
Lecture   7 — Israel and the Assyrian
Lecture   8 — A King shall Reign in Righteousness
Lecture   9 — The New Jerusalem
Lecture 10 — The Eternal State

Third Edition. Ninth Thousand. 1895.

Preface to Third Edition.

The rapid sale of two large editions, rendering a third so quickly necessary, is happy evidence of the wide-spread interest in the glorious truths connected with the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In no respect does this edition differ from the first, but I take this opportunity of endeavouring to clear up a point briefly touched on in Lecture 6, concerning which inquiry has been made, viz., Who are the guests at the marriage supper of the Lamb? Of them it is written, "Blessed are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." These clearly are not the Bride, but are "the friends of the Bridegroom." I judge them to be all the heavenly saints — all the risen and glorified saints — other than the Church, which, as being the body — the Bride of Christ — is composed only of believers from the day of Pentecost to the rapture of the saints. Old Testament saints — who are specifically alluded to in Heb. 12: 23 as "the spirits of just men made perfect," will, I apprehend, greatly rejoice in the day of the Lamb's joy, though they be not in the peculiar place of intimacy, which, as the Bride, grace now gives to those who know the Lord, and are, by the Holy Ghost, united to Him in this, the day of His rejection. John the Baptist already anticipated this unselfish joy when he said, "He that has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, which stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice; this my joy therefore is fulfilled" (John 3:29). So, again, will it be when the heavenly guests sit at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Well may we sing:
"Oh day of wondrous promise,
  The Bridegroom and the Bride
Are seen in glory ever:
  O God! how satisfied."
May the gracious Lord yet further deign to use this little volume to awaken interest in His own near return.
W. T. P. W.
Edinburgh, Feb. 15, 1895.

Preface to First Edition.

The origin of the following little volume is this. A year ago a short course of Lectures, on the Lord's Second Coming, was given. Great interest in the subject was evinced, and, by many, a desire expressed, that the truths ministered, might appear in a permanent form, for quiet perusal. As, however, no notes either pre-existed, or were taken, this was then impossible. This spring the Author again felt led of the Lord, to take up the subject of His return, going more into detail, and the shorthand notes, then taken, are now in the reader's hands. They have been revised, and emended, as well as the leisure of a Physician's busy life afforded — subject as it is to constant calls, and interruptions, which do not lend themselves to literary work. To erudition, or scholarship, the book has no claim, and makes no pretensions. That the truth is in it, the Author has no doubt, and the only thought before his mind, in publication, is the profit of souls, if unsaved, and the helping of some of the Lord's dear children, to a better understanding of His prophetic Word, and, a more simple daily waiting, for Him, who says, "Behold, I come quickly."

Delivered, as these Lectures were, to large, and mixed audiences, of believers, and unbelievers, the felt, and often, expressed need of the latter, made the introduction of the simple Gospel, a necessity, as well as a joy to the speaker. These statements, and appeals, have not been eliminated, for the book may fall into similar hands, and the Lord may be graciously pleased to use the printer's mark, as He did the living voice, to thereby awaken the careless, and bring rest to the troubled. May He do so for His name's sake!

None can be more conscious than the Author, of' the many imperfections that exist in his treatment of his subject, so immense is it. But he trusts his attempt, to give a somewhat connected view, of yet future events, will lead the reader to imitate the Bereans, who, when they heard the same testimony as the Thessalonians — the near coming of the Lord — "searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11).

The Lord grant to reader, and writer, to be "like to men that wait for their Lord" (Luke 12:36).
W. T. P. W.
46 Charlotte Square,
Edinburgh, June 4, 1891.

Contents.

Lecture 1 — THE MORNING STAR.

Christ's Three Positions — Presentation of His Return in the New Testament Books — Exceptions thereto — The Morning Star — The Christian Hope and its Basis — The Two Resurrections — The Lord, not Death, our Expectation — The Manner of the Lord's Return — The Ten Virgins, and the Bridegroom

Lecture 2 — THE APOSTASY AND ANTICHRIST.

Christians a Delivered People — The Midnight Cry — The Evil Servant — The Post-raptural Condition of Christendom — The Day of Christ — The Apostasy — Its Features — Antichrist — His Names — The Man of Sin — The Man of the Earth — The King — The False Prophet — His judgment

Lecture 3 — THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES.

The Last Week of the Lord's, Life — His Testimony as to the Times of the Gentiles — Explanation of the Term in Daniel - Resumé of that Book — Nebuchadnezzar's Visions — His Great Image — Its Interpretation — General View of Gentile Empire — The Roman Empire — The Little Horn — The Two Beasts of Rev, 13.

Lecture 4 — THE GREAT TRIBULATION.

The Jews in Relation to the Lord's Return — Are they Cast off? — The Christian's Place — Daniel's Seventy Weeks — Their Interpretation — The Prince that shall Come — The Abomination that makes Desolate — The Desolator, and the Desolate — The Time of Jacob's Trouble — The Resurrection of Israel — The Lord's Instructions in Matt. 24 — The Hundred and Forty-Four Thousand of Israel, and the Gentile Multitude of Rev. 7, who come out of the Great Tribulation — The Church of Christ not to go through it

Lecture 5 — THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Contrast between the Morning Star, and the Sun of Righteousness — Meaning of the Term — To whom does He Arise? — The Remnant — Their Origin, and Exercises — A Little Book of Psalms — Prayer of the Remnant — Their Double Testimony — Their Call to Israel — Their Summons of the Gentiles — The Gospel of the Kingdom — The Everlasting Gospel — The Appearing of the First-begotten — The Deliverance of Israel — The Lord great in Zion — The Hundredth Psalm — When will it be Sung in the Spirit?

Lecture 6 — THE STONE CUT OUT WITHOUT HAND

Nebuchadnezzar's Great Image once more — The Stone that Smites it to Powder — The Kingdom of the Son of Afar — Glance at the Book of Revelation — The Worship Meeting of Chapter 5 — The Prayer Meeting of Chapter 6 — The Marriage of the Lamb — The Apparel of His Bride — The Lord's Appearing as KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS — The Harvest and the Vintage — Christ's Warrior Judgment — Doom of the Beast, and the False Prophet — Christ's Sessional Judgment — The Four Judgments — The Sheep, the Goats, and the Brethren of Matt. 25.

Lecture 7 — ISRAEL AND THE ASSYRIAN.

The Captivity — Israel's Fall — Salvation come to the Gentiles — God's Faithfulness to Promise — Judah, and Ephraim — The Great Trumpet — Israel's Restoration — Difference between the Two Tribes and the Ten — God's Address to the Land — His Promise to Re-gather Israel — Meaning of Clean Water — The Valley of Dry Bones — National Resurrection — The Two Sticks — David the King — Ammi, and the Assyrian, Israel's Ancient Foe — Lo-Ammi, and Rome — Gog, Prince of Rosh (Russia) — His Invasion and Downfall — God's Use of the Assyrian — The King of the North — Jerusalem a Burdensome Stone — The Lord on the Mount of Olives

Lecture 8 — A KING SHALL REIGN IN RIGHTEOUSNESS

A Morning without Clouds — The Lord Jesus as King — The Christian's Relation to Him — The King's First Act — Satan Bound for One Thousand Years — Why — Creation and the Seventh Day — Features of the Millennium — Death a Rare Thing — The Curse Removed — The Animal Creation Changed — Jerusalem the World's Metropolis — The Temple Rebuilt — Jerusalem the Centre of Worship — The Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles

Lecture 9 — THE NEW JERUSALEM.

The Heavenly Side of the Millennial Reign — Review of Revelation 19, 20, 21:1-8 — The Curtain Dropped, to Lift Again — The New Jerusalem, and Babylon — Analogy of Description — The Bride, the Lamb's Wife — The Holy City Descending — Her Place in the Millennium — John 17 — The Glory of God her Foundation, Protection, and Light — The Place of Angels — The Cube, Finite Perfection — The Precious Stones — The Merchantman and the Pearl — No Temple — The Church the Light of the Earth — The Dispensation of the Fulness of Times — The River, and Tree of Life — Eden, and its Trees and Rivers

Lecture 10 — THE ETERNAL STATE.

The Two Resurrections — Reasons why the Revelation is so little Read — Satan Loosed — Man's Last Test — Gog and Magog — Their judgment — Satan's Final Condemnation — The Great White Throne — Who is the judge — The Two Hours — God's Way of Purifying the Earth — The Resurrection to Judgment — The Two-fold Ground of judgment — Death and Hades Annulled — A New Heaven, and a New Earth — A Bride Adorned for her Husband — The Tabernacle of God — God All in All — No more Death — The Fountain of the Water of Life — A Sad Category — The Grandest Thing under the Sun