Reader, which would you rather, die and go to Jesus, or that He should come and fetch you? Perhaps you will reply in the words of a christian servant to whom the same question was once put by a friend. “Please, sir,” said she, “whichever comes first.” This was a most excellent answer; and we may say we have great sympathy with it. But, at the same time, it may not be out of place to offer a suggestion or two as to the blessedness of those who depart in the faith of Christ, previous to His advent in glory.
1. In the first place, they enjoy the privilege of fellowship with Jesus in the special article of the separation of soul and body. Of course, we do not here speak of His death in its atoning aspect. In that He stood absolutely alone, and passed through that in which none could have fellowship. For us to have been with Him in His atoning death would have involved infinite and everlasting wrath. But we refer to the mere fact of the departure of the spirit from the body. In this, all, who depart from his world previous to the Lord’s coming, are privileged to have fellowship with Jesus.
2. In the second place, the saint who falls asleep in Jesus is permitted to taste the exquisite joy of being absolutely alone with Him previous to the great public festivities of the kingdom. The departed spirit, though waiting for the resurrection body, enjoys uninterrupted communion, with the Lord. We hear a great deal about the condition and occupation of the disembodied spirit which has not the smallest foundation in the New Testament, and with which we are not going to occupy the reader. We shall merely dismiss it as mere superstition or pious sentimentality. Scripture teaches us that the spirit of the saint is with the Lord. It is neither asleep, on the one hand, nor engaged in a manner demanding bodily power on the other. It is with the Lord, in deep unbroken fellowship, and ineffable repose. See Luke 23:4343And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43); Acts 7:5959And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. (Acts 7:59) Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:2323For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: (Philippians 1:23).
3. In the third place, the saint who is called to pass through death is permitted to prove what the Lord can be and do, at such a moment. He has an opportunity of proving what the Prince of Life can be to one passing the valley of the shadow of death. He would have occasion to commit Iris spirit into the hands of his Lord in a way he could not know were he to be caught up without passing through death.
These considerations are not without interest; and they may prove helpful to some who have a great dread of death, and who, because of this dread, would vastly prefer being changed in a moment and caught up to meet the Lord in the air. It is well for such to bear in mind that whereas, in the old creation, man belongs to death; in the new creation, death belongs to man. (1 Cor. 3:2222Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; (1 Corinthians 3:22).) In the former, death takes everything from us; in the latter, death gives everything to us. In that, death is oar master; in this, death is our servant. In that, it is the officer to drag us to judgment; in this, it is a messenger sent to carry us to the bosom of our Lord.
All this makes a serious difference, and is eminently calculated to remove that fear of death with which so many of the Lord’s saints are tried. It is well to be established in the great truth that death has lost its sting, and that to die is gain to the believer. To depart and be with Christ is far better.
We would merely add, in conclusion, that the foregoing remarks leave wholly untouched the fact that the Lord’s coming is the proper hope of the believer and of the Church of God. May that blessed hope shine more brightly in the vision of our souls!