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MAILBOX BIBLE COURSE
WELCOME PAGE
Welcome
to our Mailbox Bible Study Course. We are glad to be able to serve the
Lord
and you in this
way.
Many are being saved and helped through these simple Bible
lessons.
We suggest that you try to
do one lesson each week. This will keep your interest in
them
active. We send
all
lessons in plain text, or PDF which is much better to
print.
If you cannot receive
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in this format then write me and I will mail it to you in plain text.
We suggest that
you
print these out and put them in a binder to study and for future use.
Here's all you do:
1.. Read
the
lesson carefully.
2.. Fill
in
the answer sheet.
3.. Email
it
back to us.
Always follow
the
instruction in filling out the test. Your full name and address should
accompany your first test. To do the test page, highlight the page and
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If you have any difficult please email me We will grade your lesson and
return
it to you with you next
lesson.
These lessons have
been
scanned and may contain typing errors. We would appreciate
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May God richly bless
you
as you proceed.
Your Instructor:
Harold Smith
Phone
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may not be used to send out as Courses.
LESSON 1 THE COMING OF THE LORD
FOREWORD
OUR
Lord's
long promised Return appears to be at hand, so far as we can
ascertain
from the prophecy of the
New
Testament.
We are not warranted in giving a date, as some unwisely have done, yet
we
are told that when
we
see
certain events beginning to come to pass, we are then to lift up our
heads,
for He is near. From a careful
reading
of such portions of the New Testament which describe the state of the
world
in "the last days," we find
the
startling
truth that everything predicted is now abundantly evident.
What
a state this poor world is in! Tribulation, lawlessness, wickedness,
misery,
sorrow, distress and perplexity
abound
on every hand. And the Christian is by no means exempt from the present
trying
circumstances of our
surroundings.
To-day,
particularly, there is shining in the darkness this bright Hope of the
Lord's
Coming the Christian's
complete
deliverance from "this present evil world." For the comfort and cheer
of
the Lord's dear people we
have
written the following pages.
The author of this material is the Late Franklin Ferguson
THE LORD IS COMING
"Thou art coming! Thou art coming!
We shall meet Thee on Thy way!
Thou art coming! We shall see Thee,
And be like Thee on that day!
Thou art coming! Thou art coming!
Jesus our beloved Lord!
Oh, the joy to see Thee reigning,
Worshipped, glorified, adored !"
YES
this
very same Jesus who died for our sins; who was raised from the dead for
our
justification; who
ascended
to Heaven as our Great High Priest and our Advocate with the Father;
this
blessed One is surely
coming
again. The New Testament abounds with references to this glorious
event.
Everything points to the fact
that
it is now at hand.
Faith can almost hear His footfall
On the threshold of the door."
Our
purpose
in writing is not to give a detailed statement of all coming events,
but
rather to present the
Scriptures
concerning the Hope of the Church, which is the Coming of her Lord to
receive
her unto Himself for
ever.
Though we look for great events foretold by prophecy, yet first in
order
is our Lord's return which closes
the
present
"day of salvation" a period unmarked by dates, a break in
the
prophetic stream of time. After His
Coming
for the Church, prophecy is resumed in its relation to the Jews and the
nations
on earth. But this one
bright
Hope is held up before the people of God, with naught else
between
Christ's Return any day, any
moment!
It may he "at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the
morning"
(Mark 13:35),
"That Jesus will come in the fulness of glory,
To receive from the world His own !"
Let
us
now consider a number of passages unfolding our precious subject:
THE LORD'S PROMISE.
GO to
prepare a place for you. . I will come again, and receive you unto
Myself;
that where I am, there ye may
be
also"
(John 14: 2-3). "A little while, and ye shall not see Me: and again, a
little
while, and ye shall see Me,
because
I go to the Father" (chap. 16:16). "And ye now therefore have sorrow;
but
I will see you again, and
your
heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you" (verse
22).
TWO
events
are here stated: (1) "I go;" (2) "I will come again." More than
nineteen
hundred years have
passed
away since He went hack to the Father, and still He has not come. Truly
the
Church has waited long;
but
He
has promised to return, and will surely keep His word. It may seem long
to
us, but the time is short to
Him
in
the joy of gathering in the lost ones to make up the number of His
redeemed,
and in the joy of preparing
the
place
for them, so wonderfully perfect and glorious as it must be.
"Saviour, we are waiting, waiting,
Waiting, blessed Lord for Thee,
Waiting for the calling upward,
With our Lord to be;
Long and lone hath been the pathway, Oft our hearts have failed with
fear;
But the guiding star of morning
Heralds Thee as near."
A
little
child was sauntering along the street of a city in England, repeating
to
itself, "At ten o'clock, at ten
o'clock
!" A kind gentleman accosted the little one and sought to gently draw
forth
what was the meaning of the
oft-repeated
monotone, "At ten o clock !" Ah, it was this: Mother had gone away
early
that morning and had
promised
to be back at ten o clock. To the child she was everything, and in its
little
mind her return was the
uppermost
thought.
Shall
we not let a child teach us? Are we daily humming to ourselves, "A
little
while, and ye shall see Me!"
(John
16:19), as we look for our beloved Lord, longing, oh so much, for Him
to
come? What a picture of
delight
would be that child's face when mother was seen coming in fulfilment of
her
promise! What joy would
be in
the mother's heart to clasp in her arms her little waiting one!
"Oh, the blessed joy of meeting All the desert past!
Oh, the wondrous words of greeting
He shall speak at last!
He and I in that bright glory
One deep joy shall share;
Mine, to be forever with Him;
His that I am there !"
HIS FAITHFULNESS.
"THE
Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness;
but
is longsuffering to usward,
not
willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet.
3
: 9). "Let us hold fast the
confession
of our Hope, that it waver not; for He is faithful that promised" (Heb.
10:23,
R.V.). "For yet a little
while,
and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry" (verse 37). "He
which
testifieth these things saith,
Surely
I come quickly" (Rev. 22:20).
OUR
Lord
Jesus is called "The Faithful Witness" (Rev. 1 :5), and He declares
Himself
"The Truth" (John 14:6).
How
could
it be possible that He should not keep His word? If He did not keep His
word,
He would lose His
character!
How it strengthens the heart's confidence as we are told it is
"impossible
for God to lie" (Heb. 6:18).
Firstly,
let us notice the explanation the Spirit of God gives the
Lord's
"long-suffering to usward, not willing
that
any should perish" (2 Pet. 3 :9). Secondly, let us remember how time in
the
light of eternity, even nineteen
hundred
years, seems a mere moment. So instead of thinking the time is long,
very
long, let us stir up ourselves
and
confess
the Hope of His Coming, and waver not. We read, "Behold, the husbandman
waiteth
for the
precious
fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it . . . Be ye also
patient,
stablish your hearts, for the
Coming
of the Lord draweth nigh" (Jas. 5:7,8)
"Keep us, blessed Saviour, waiting,
Clinging to Thy precious word;
Every footstep of the journey,
Waiting for our Lord;
Waiting till within the mansions
We behold Thy glorious face,
Singing all the wondrous story
Of Thy matchless grace !"
THE HOPE OF THE CHURCH.
"UNTO
them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin
(apart
from sin, R.V.) unto
salvation"
(Heb. 9:28). "For our conversation (citizenship, R.V.) is in Heaven;
from
whence also we look for
the
Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil. 3:20). "Waiting for the adoption, to wit,
the
redemption of our body"
(Rom.
8:23). "Waiting for the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 1:7).
"Looking
for that blessed Hope,
and
the
glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ"
(Titus
2:13). "To wait for His Son
from
Heaven" (1 Thess. 1:10).
THESE
scriptures show what is the real Hope of the Church, that is, what we
are
looking for. We look for a
PERSON
to come from Heaven. All that concerns our future is linked up with
this
Coming One. The Hope is
not
that
when we die we shall go to Heaven. If we die, we shall certainly go
there.
Neither is the Hope the
glorious
Millennium. This will come in its due time, and we shall then reign
with
Christ. What then, precisely, is
our
hope?
Just this: the personal Return of the very same Jesus who came into the
world
in lowly form to suffer
and
to
die for our sins, "the Just for the unjust, that He might bring
us
to God" (1 Pet. 3:18). It is indeed the
Lord
Himself who is coming; not Michael the Archangel on His behalf. The
Heavenly
Bridegroom comes for
His
Bride
and to conduct her home to be evermore with Him. The Thessalonian
believers
had "turned to God
from
idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from
Heaven"
that heartening,
delightsome,
and sanctifying prospect with nothing between! We look and wait for
Him.
After we are gone, the
ungodly
world will await the appearing of the Man of Sin, the Antichrist; and
such
fearsome things as the Great
Tribulation
will follow on. What a striking contrast between the Christian's Hope
and
that of the un believers left
behind!
"Have I a hope, however dear,
Which would defer Thy coming, Lord,
Which would detain my spirit here,
Where naught can lasting joy afford?
From it, my Saviour, set me free,
To look, and long, and wait for Thee.
Be Thou the Object, bright and
fair,
To fill and satisfy my heart;
My hope to meet Thee in the air,
And nevermore from Thee to part;
That I may undistracted be
To follow, serve, and wait for Thee !"
TEST 1 THE LORD IS
COMING
Place
a T (True) or F (False) for your answer at the beginning or end of the
question;
1.
There
are not too many references in the New testament about the Coming of
Christ.
2.
The close of the day of salvation will be the Coming of Christ.
3.
The Lord's promise is in the Gospel of Mark.
4.
The Lord delays His coming until He has prepare a place for His own
5.
Our Lord is called "the Last Witness"
Fill
in the blanks with the correct word.
6.
The Lord is not _____________concerning His promise to come again.
7.
James says, "The _______ of the Lord draweth ______
8.
Believers are ___________ for the adoption, the redemption of their
bodies.
9.
We are looking for a __________ from heaven.
10
After
the church is gone the ____________will appear.
Name:
Questions
& Comments:
If I
have made corrections that you do not understand, please write me for
an
explanation
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you
do not hear from this test in two days please email us
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Mail
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Smith
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Undated
Jan. 3rd 2005 by Harold
Smith
