Biblical Essays
THE LORD'S COMING
Introduction
The attentive student of the New Testament will find in its pages three solemn and weighty facts presented, the Son of God has come into this world and gone away; the Holy Spirit has come down to this earth, and is here still; and, the Lord Jesus is coming again.
These are the three great subjects unfolded in the New Testament Scriptures; and we shall find that each of them has a double bearing: it has a bearing on the world and the church of our Lord; on the world as a whole and each unconverted man, woman, and child in particular; on the church of our Lord as a whole and on each individual member in particular. It is impossible for anyone to avoid the bearing of these three grand facts on his own personal condition and future destiny.
And it should be noted that we are not speaking of doctrines (though, no doubt, there are doctrines) but of facts – facts presented in the simplest possible manner by the various inspired writers employed to set them forth. There is no attempt at garnishing or setting off. The facts speak for themselves; they are recorded and left to produce their own powerful effect on the soul.
The Son of God Has Come Into This World and Gone Away
First, we look at the fact that the Son of God has been in this world. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” “The Son of God has come.” He came in perfect love – an expression of the heart, mind, nature and character of God. He was the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His Person – yet a lowly, humble, gracious, social man; one who from day to day was to be seen about the streets; going from house to house; kind and affable to all; easily approached by the poorest; taking up little children in His arms, in the most tender, gentle, winning way; drying the widow’s tears; soothing the stricken and sorrowing heart; feeding the hungry; healing the sick; cleansing the leper; meeting every form of human need and misery; at the bidding of all who stood in need of succor and sympathy. “He went about doing good.” He was the unwearied servant of man’s necessities. He never thought of Himself, or sought His own interest. He lived for others. It was His meat and drink to do the will of God, and gladden the sad and weary hearts of the sons and daughters of men. His loving heart was always flowing out in streams of blessing to all who felt the pressure of this sin-stricken, sorrowful world.
Here we have a marvelous fact. This world has been visited; this world has been trodden by the Son of God, that blessed One of whom we have spoken; the Creator and Sustainer of the universe; Jesus of Nazareth, the lowly, self-emptied, loving, and gracious Son of Man – God over all blessed forever, and yet a spotless, holy, absolutely perfect man. He came in love to men; came into this world as the expression of perfect love to those who had sinned against God, and deserved nothing but eternal perdition because of their sins. He came not to crush, but to heal – not to judge, but to save and bless.
What has become of this blessed One? How has the world treated Him? It has cast Him out. It would not have Him. It preferred a robber and a murderer to this holy, gracious, perfect Man. The world got its choice. Jesus and a robber were placed before the world, and the question was put, “Which will you have?” What was the answer? “Not this man, but Barabbas.” “The chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas” (Matt. 27:20-21).
The religious leaders and guides of the people – the men who should have led them in the right way – persuaded the poor ignorant multitude to reject the Son of God, and accept a robber and a murderer instead.
We must always remember that we are in a world that has been guilty of this terrible act. And not only so, but, unless we have truly repented and truly believed in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are part and parcel of that world, and we lie under the full guilt of that act. This is most solemn. The whole world stands charged with the deliberate rejection and murder of the Son of God. We have the testimony of no less than four inspired witnesses to this fact. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all bear record that the whole world – Jew and Gentile – kings, governors, priests, and people; all classes, sects, and parties, agreed to crucify the Son of God; all agreed to murder the only perfect Man that ever appeared on this earth – the perfect expression of God – God over all blessed forever. We must either pronounce the four evangelists to be false witnesses, or admit that the world as a whole and each constituent part thereof is stained with the awful crime of crucifying the Lord of glory.
This is the true standard for measuring the world, as well as the condition of every unconverted man, woman, and child. If we want to know what the world is we have only to reflect that the world is that which stands charged before God with the deliberate murder of His Son. What a tremendous fact – a fact that stamps the world in the most solemn manner and places it before us in characters of appalling blackness. God has a controversy with this world. He has a question to settle with it – an awful question – the mere mention of which should make men’s ears tingle and their hearts quake. A righteous God has to avenge the death of His Son. It is not merely that the world accepted a vile robber and murdered an innocent man; this, in itself, would have been a dreadful act. But no; that innocent Man was none other than the Son of God, the beloved of the Father’s heart.
What a thought. The world will have to account to God for the death of His Son – for having nailed Him to a cross between two thieves. What a reckoning it will be. How red will be the day of vengeance. How awfully crushing will be the moment God will draw the sword of judgment to avenge the death of His Son. How utterly vain is the notion that the world is improving! Improving – though stained with the blood of Jesus; improving – though under the judgment of God for that act. Improving – though having to account to a righteous God for its treatment of the beloved of His soul sent in love to bless and save. What blind fatuity. What wild folly. No; there can be no improvement till the besom of destruction and the sword of judgment have done their terrible work in avenging the murder – the deliberately planned and determinedly executed murder of the blessed Son of God. We cannot conceive any delusion more fatally false than to imagine that the world can ever be improved while it lies beneath the awful curse of the death of Jesus. That world which preferred Barabbas to Christ can know no improvement. There is nothing before it save the overwhelming judgment of God.
The weighty fact of the absence of Jesus in its bearing on the present condition and future destiny of the world has another bearing. It bears on the religious world as a whole, and on the individual professing believer. If the world has cast Christ out, the heavens have received Him. If man has rejected Him, God has exalted Him. If man has crucified Him, God has crowned Him. We must carefully distinguish these two things. The death of Christ, viewed as the act of the world – the act of man – involves nothing but unmitigated wrath and judgment. On the other hand, the death of Christ, viewed as the act of God, involves nothing but full and everlasting blessedness to all who truly repent and believe. A passage or two from the divine Word will prove this.
We briefly turn to Psalm 69, which we believe vividly presents our blessed and adorable Lord suffering from the hand of man, and appealing to God for vengeance. “Hear Me, O Lord; for Thy loving kindness is good: turn unto Me according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies. And hide not Thy face from Thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear Me speedily: draw nigh unto My soul, and redeem it: deliver Me, because of Mine enemies. Thou hast known My reproach, and My shame, and My dishonour: Mine adversaries are all before Thee. Reproach hath broken My heart, and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave Me also gall for My meat, and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink. Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake. Pour out Thine indignation upon them, and let Thy wrathful anger take hold of them” (vv. 16-28).
All this is deeply and impressively solemn. Every word of this appeal will have its answer – not a syllable shall fall to the ground. God will assuredly avenge the death of His Son. He will reckon with the world – with men for the treatment His only begotten Son received at their hands. We deem it right to press this home on the heart and conscience. How awful the thought of Christ making intercession against people. How appalling to hear Him calling on God for vengeance on His enemies. How terrible will be the divine response to the cry of the injured Son.
But let us look at the other side of the picture. Turn to Psalm 22, which presents the blessed One suffering under the hand of God. Here the result is completely different. Instead of judgment and vengeance, it is universal and everlasting blessedness and glory. “I will declare Thy name unto My brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise Him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify Him; and fear Him, all ye the seed of Israel...My praise shall be of Thee in the great congregation; I will pay My vows before them that fear Him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise the Lord that seek Him; your heart shall live for ever. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the Lord’s; and He is the governor among the nations...A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He hath done this” (vv. 22-31).
With great distinctness, these two quotations present the two aspects of the death of Christ. As a martyr, under the hand of man, He died for righteousness. For this, man will have to account to God. But, under the hand of God, He died as a victim for sin. This is the foundation of all blessing to those that truly believe in His name. His martyr-sufferings bring down wrath and judgment on a godless world: His atoning sufferings open up the everlasting wellsprings of life and salvation to His church, to Israel, and the whole creation. The death of Jesus consummates the world’s guilt; but secures the church’s acceptance. The world is stained, and His church purged by the blood of the cross.
Such is the double bearing of the first of our three great New Testament facts. Jesus has come and gone – come, because God loved the world – gone, because the world hated God. If God were to ask the question – and He will ask it – “What have you done with My Son?” What is the answer? “We hated Him, cast Him out, and crucified Him. We preferred a robber to Him.”
But the Christian, the true believer, can look up to Heaven and say, “My absent Lord is there and there for me. He is gone from this wretched world, and His absence makes the entire scene around me a moral wilderness – a desolate waste.”
He is not here. This stamps the world with a character unmistakable in the judgment of every loyal heart. The world would not have Jesus. This is enough. We need not marvel at any tale of horror now. Police reports, grand jury calendars, the statistics of our cities and towns need not surprise us. The world that could reject the divine personification of all human goodness, and accept a robber and murderer instead, has proved its moral turpitude to a degree not to be exceeded. Do we wonder when we discover the hollowness and heartlessness of the world? Are we surprised when we find out that it is not to be trusted? If so, it is plain we have not correctly interpreted the absence of our beloved Lord. What does the cross of Christ prove? That God is love? No doubt. That Christ gave His precious life to save us from the flames of an everlasting hell? Blessedly true, all praise to His peerless name. But what does the cross prove regarding the world? That its guilt is consummated, and its judgment sealed. In nailing to the cross the One who was perfectly good, proved in the most unanswerable manner that the world was perfectly bad. “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth Me hateth My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin; but now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated Me without a cause” (John 15:22-26).
The Holy Spirit Has Come Down To This Earth and Is Still Here
But we now briefly glance at our second weighty fact. God the Holy Spirit has come down to this earth. Many long centuries have passed since the blessed Spirit descended from Heaven; and He has been here ever since. This is a stupendous fact. There is a divine Person on this earth; and His presence – like the absence of Jesus – has a double bearing: it has a bearing on the world, and a bearing on the Lord’s church – on the world as a whole, and on every man, woman and child; on the church of our Lord as a whole, and on every individual member in particular. Regarding the world, this august witness descended from Heaven to convict it of the terrible crime of rejecting and crucifying the Son of God. Regarding the Lord’s church, He came as the blessed Comforter, to take the place of the absent Jesus, and by His presence and ministry comfort the hearts of His people. Thus, to the world, the Holy Spirit is a powerful Convicter; to the church He is a precious Comforter.
A passage or two of Holy Scripture will establish these points in the heart and mind of the serious student who bows in lowly reverence to the authority of the divine Word. Turn to chapter 16 of John’s Gospel. “But now I go My way to Him that sent Me; and none of you asketh Me, Whither goest Thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will convict [elegxei] the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe not on Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged” (vv. 5-11; emphasis added).
Again in John 14 we read, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (vv. 15-19).
These quotations prove the double bearing of the presence of the Holy Spirit. We cannot attempt to dwell on this subject in this brief introduction; but we trust the serious student may be led to study it more deeply for himself, in the light of Holy Scripture. We are persuaded that the more one studies it, the more deeply he will feel its interest and immense practical importance. How terrible today that it should be so little understood; that Christians should so little see what is involved in the personal presence of the eternal Spirit, God the Holy Spirit, on this earth – its solemn consequences regarding the world, and its precious results regarding the assembly as a whole, and each individual member in particular.
Oh that God’s people everywhere may be led into a deeper understanding of these things; that they may consider what is due to that divine Person who dwells in them and with them; that they may have a jealous care not to “grieve” Him in their private walk, or “quench” Him in their public assemblies.
The Lord Jesus Is Coming Again
In approaching this glorious subject, we feel we cannot do better than to lay out the distinct testimony of Holy Scripture to the broad fact itself, that our Lord Jesus Christ will come again – that He will leave the place He now occupies on His Father’s throne, and come in the clouds of heaven to receive His people to Himself; to execute judgment on the wicked; and set up His own everlasting and universal kingdom.
This fact is as clearly and fully set forth in the New Testament as either of the other two facts to which we have already referred. It is as true that the Son of God is coming from Heaven, as that He is gone to Heaven, or that the Holy Spirit is still on this earth. If we admit one fact, we must admit all: and if we deny one, we must deny all; because all rest on the same authority. They stand or fall together. Is it true that the Son of God was refused, cast out, crucified? Is it true that He has gone away into Heaven? Is it true that He is now seated at the right hand of God, crowned with glory and honor? Is it true that God the Holy Spirit came down to this earth, fifty days after the resurrection of our Lord; and that He is still here?
Are these things true? Yes; as true as Scripture can make them; and it is just as true that our blessed Lord will come again – that He will literally, actually, and personally come from Heaven.
Perhaps to some it may seem strange that we deem it needful to undertake the proof of such a plain truth as this; but remember that we are writing on this subject as though it were new to our Internet audience; as if they had never heard of such a thing as the Lord’s second coming; or as if, having heard of it, some still call it in question. This must be our apology for handling this precious theme in so elementary a manner.
Now For Our Proofs
When our Lord was about to take leave of His disciples, in His infinite grace He sought to comfort their sorrowing hearts by tender words. “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).
Here we may have something most definite – as definite as it is cheering and consolatory. “I will come again.” He does not say, “I will send for you.” Still less does He say, “You will come to me when you die.” He says nothing of the kind. To send an angel, or a legion of angels, would not be the same thing as coming Himself. No doubt it would be gracious of Him and glorious for us if a multitude of the heavenly host with horses and chariots of fire were sent to convey us triumphantly to Heaven. But it would not be the fulfillment of His promise. And He always does what He promises. He will not say one thing and do another. He cannot lie or alter His Word. And not only this, but it would not satisfy the love of His heart to send an angel or a host of angels to fetch us. He will come Himself.
What touching grace shines in all this. If we are expecting a dear and valued friend by plane, we shall not be satisfied with sending an empty cab to meet him; we go ourselves. This is precisely what our loving Lord means to do. He is gone to Heaven; and His entrance there prepares and defines His people’s place. Amid the many mansions of the Father’s house, there would be no place for us if our Jesus had not gone before; and then, lest there should be in the heart any feeling of strangeness at the thought of entering into that place, He says, with such sweetness, “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there ye may be also.” Nothing short of this can fulfill the gracious promise of our Lord, or satisfy the love of His heart.
And be it carefully noted that this promise has no reference whatsoever to the death of the individual true believer. Who can imagine that when our Lord said, “I will come again,” He really meant that we would go to Him through death? How can we presume to take such liberties with the plain and precious words of our Lord? Surely if He meant to speak of our going to Him through death, He could and would have said so. But He has not said so, because He did not mean so; nor is it possible that He could say one thing and mean another. His coming for us, and our going to Him, are totally different things; and being different ideas, they would have been clothed in different language.
Thus, for example, in the case of the penitent thief on the cross, our Lord does not speak of coming to fetch him; but He says, “Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” We really must remember that Scripture is as divinely definite as it is divinely inspired, and hence it never could and it never does confound two things so totally different as the Lord’s coming and the Christian’s falling asleep.
At this point, it may be well to the four passages in the New Testament in which allusion is made to the subject of the Christian passing through death. The first is that passage in Luke 23 already referred to: “Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” The second occurs in Acts 7, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” The third is that familiar and lovely utterance in 2 Corinthians 5, “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.” The fourth occurs in that charming first of Philippians, “Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.”
The above passages of Scripture refer to the interesting question of the disembodied state. There is also a passage in Revelation often applied to this subject: “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them” (14:13).
We now resume our subject and proceed with proofs. In so doing we turn to the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. The blessed Lord had just gone up from this earth, in the presence of His apostles. “And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by Him in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven” (vv. 10, 11)
This is intensely interesting, and furnishes a most striking proof of our present thesis. It is impossible to avoid its force; and we desire not to do so. From the manner in which the angelic witnesses speak to the men of Galilee it would seem like tautology; but, as we well know, there is – there can be – no such thing in the Volume of God. Therefore, we see lovely fullness and divine completeness in this testimony. We learn from it that the same Jesus who left this earth, and ascended into Heaven in the presence of a number of witnesses, shall so come in like manner as they had seen Him go into Heaven. How did He go? He went up personally, literally, actually, the same person who had just been conversing familiarly with them – whom they had seen with their eyes, heard with their ears, handled with their hands – who had eaten in their presence, and “showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs.” Well then, “He shall so come in like manner.”
He who with hands uplifted,
Went from this earth below,
Shall come again all gifted,
His blessing to bestow.
And here we may ask, “Who saw the blessed Lord as He went up?” Did the world? No; not one unconverted, unbelieving person ever laid his eyes on our precious Lord from the moment that He was laid in the tomb. The last sight the world got of Jesus was as He hung on the cross, a spectacle to angels, men, and devils. The next sight they will get of Him will be when, like the lightning flash, He shall come forth to execute judgment, and tread in terrible vengeance the winepress of the wrath of Almighty God. Tremendous thought.
Therefore, none but His own saw the ascending Savior, as none but they had seen Him from the moment of His resurrection. He showed Himself to those who were dear to His heart. He assured and comforted, strengthened and encouraged their souls by these “many infallible proofs” of which the inspired narrator speaks to us. He led them to the confines of the unseen world, just so far as men could go while still in the body; and there He allowed them to see Him ascending into Heaven; and while they gazed on this glorious sight He sent the testimony home to their very hearts. “This same Jesus” – no other, no stranger, but the same loving, sympathizing, gracious, unchanging friend – “whom ye have seen go into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.”
Is it possible for testimony to be more distinct or satisfactory? Could proof be more clear or conclusive? How can any counter argument stand or any objection be raised? Either those two men in white apparel were false witnesses, or our Jesus shall come again in the exact manner in which He went away. There is no middle ground between those two conclusions. We read in Scripture that, “in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established;” and therefore in the mouth of two heavenly messengers – two heralds from the region of light and truth, we have the Word established that our Lord Jesus Christ shall come again in actual bodily form, to be seen first by His own, apart from all others, in the holy intimacy and profound retirement which characterized His departure from this world. All this is wrapped up in the two little words, “as” and “so.”
In this essay, we cannot attempt to adduce all the proofs that are to be found in the pages of the New Testament. We have given one from the Gospels and one from the Acts, and we now turn to the Epistles – the First Epistle to the Thessalonians. We select this Epistle because it is acknowledged to have been the earliest of Paul’s writings; and further, because it was written to a company of young converts. This latter point is valuable, because we sometimes hear it stated that the truth of the Lord’s coming is not suitable to bring before the minds of young believers. That the Apostle Paul did not think it unsuitable is evident from the fact that of all the Epistles he wrote, not one contains as much about the Lord’s coming as that which he penned for the newly converted Thessalonians. The fact is, when a soul is converted and brought into the full light and liberty of the Gospel of Christ, it becomes divinely natural for such a one to look for the Lord’s coming. That truth is an integral part of the Gospel. The first coming and the second coming are bound up together by the divine link of the personal presence of the Holy Spirit in the Lord’s church.
On the other hand, where the soul is not established in grace; where peace and liberty are not enjoyed; where a defective Gospel has been received, there it will be found that the hope of the Lord’s coming will not be cherished. And why? For the simple reason that the soul is occupied with the question of its own state and prospects. If we are not certain of our salvation; if we do not know that we have eternal life; that we are a child of God, we cannot be looking out for the Lord’s return. It is only when we know what Jesus has done for us at His first coming that with bright and holy intelligence we can look out for His second coming.
Take the following sentences from the first chapter of our Epistle: “For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance...So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (vv. 5-10).
Here we have a fine illustration of the effect of a full clear Gospel, received in simple earnest faith. They turned from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son. They were actually converted to the blessed hope of the Lord’s coming. It was an integral part of the Gospel Paul preached; and an integral part of their faith. Was it a reality to turn from idols? Doubtless. Was it a reality to serve the living God? Unquestionably. Well then, their waiting for God’s Son from Heaven was just as real, just as positive, just as simple. If we question the reality of one, we must question the reality of all, because all are bound up together and form a beauteous cluster of practical Christian truth. If we had asked a Thessalonian Christian what he was waiting for, what would have been his reply? Would he have said, “I am waiting for the world to improve by means of the gospel which I myself have received? Or, I am waiting for the moment of my death when I shall go to be with Jesus?” No. His reply would have been simply this, “I am waiting for the Son of God from heaven.” This, and nothing else, is the proper hope of the Christian, the proper hope of the true church. To wait for the improvement of the world is not Christian hope. We might as well wait for the improvement of the flesh, for there is just as much hope of one as the other. And, regarding the article of death – though no doubt it may intervene – it is never presented as the true and proper hope of the Christian. With the fullest confidence, it may be asserted that there is not as much as a single passage in the entire New Testament in which death is spoken of as the hope of the true believer; whereas, on the other hand, the hope of the Lord’s coming is bound up in the most intimate manner with all the concerns, associations and relationships of life, as we see in the Epistle before us. Thus, referring to his own personal connection with the beloved saints at Thessalonica, the apostle says, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For ye are our glory and joy.”
Again, thinking of their progress in holiness and love, he adds, “And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you; to the end He may stablish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints” (1 Thess. 3:12-13).
Finally, seeking to comfort the hearts of his brethren in reference to those who had fallen asleep, does the apostle tells them that they should soon follow them? No; this would have been in full keeping with Old Testament times, as David says of his departed child, “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me” (2 Sam. 12:23). But it is not thus that the Holy Spirit instructs us in 1 Thessalonians – quite the reverse. He says, “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that [not they which shall be, but] we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [come before or take precedence of] them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:13-18; emphasis added).
It is impossible for any proof to be more simple, direct, and conclusive than this. As we have already remarked, the Thessalonian Christians were converted to the hope of the Lord’s return. They were taught to look out for it daily. It was as much a part of their Christianity to believe that He would come, as to believe that He had come and gone. Hence it came to pass that when some of their number were called to pass through death, they were taken back; they had not anticipated this; and they feared lest the departed should miss the joy of that blissful and longed for moment of the Lord’s return. Therefore, the apostle writes to correct their mistake; and, in so doing, he pours a fresh flood of light on the whole subject, assuring them that the dead in Christ – which includes all who had or shall have fallen asleep; in short, those of Old Testament times as well as those of the New – should rise first, that is, before the living are changed, and all shall ascend together to meet their descending Lord.
We shall have occasion to refer to this remarkable passage again, when handling other branches of this subject. We merely quote it here as one of the almost innumerable proofs of the fact that our Lord will personally, really, and actually come again – that His personal coming is the true and proper hope of the church of our Lord collectively, and of the true believer individually.
We can never sit down to the table of our Lord without being reminded of this glorious hope, so long as those words shine on the page of inspiration, “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till [when? Till you die? No; but] till He come” (1 Cor. 11:26; emphasis added). How precious. The table of the Lord stands between those two marvelous epochs, the cross and the advent – the death and the glory. The believer can look up from the table and see the beams of the glory gilding the horizon. As we gather around the Lord’s Table each Lord’s Day, it is our privilege to show forth the Lord’s death, to be able to say, “This may be the last occasion of celebrating this precious feast; before another Lord’s Day dawn on us, He Himself may come.” Again we say, “How precious.”
But hardly do we dwell on the dark and awful picture of our precious Lord on the cruel cross, until the unutterable glories of the new heavens and the new earth burst upon the vision of the soul; the holy city is seen descending from Heaven, and these seraphic sounds fall on the ear, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the throne, said, Behold I make all things new.”
What scenes are presented before us; what grand realities; what brilliant moral glories. May we live in the light and power of these things; May we cherish that blessed hope of seeing the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. Our Lord would not enjoy His glory alone, but endured the wrath of God in order that He might link us with Himself, and forever share with us all His love and glory. Oh to live for Christ and wait for His appearing.
High in the Father’s house above
My mansion is prepared;
There is the home, the rest I love,
And there my bright reward.
With Him I love, in spotless white,
In glory I shall shine;
His blissful presence my delight,
His love and glory mine.
All taint of sin shall be removed,
All evil done away;
And I shall dwell with God’s Beloved,
Through God’s eternal day.
