Caught Up
Every Christian lives in the hope of one day being with Christ his Savior, of seeing the blessed One who died for him, and of dwelling with Him in heaven forever; but the thoughts of thousands are full of confusion as to the manner in which this will be accomplished. I desire in these papers to show firstly from the word of God that the Christian hope is the coming of the Lord; what should be the attitude and conduct of those who look for Him, and how that hope will be realized. But also to speak of varied circumstances which God has revealed, as both attending and following upon its accomplishment. Leaving details for a moment, I think we may broadly divide, the thoughts of Christians on this subject as follows; namely, those who believe Christ has come spiritually; those who believe He comes for them at death; and those who look for His personal return. In conversing with the first, you will find that they treat the scriptures which refer to the coming of Christ in a spiritual way, saying that He has already come into their hearts.
Surely no Christian would dispute the fact for a moment that Christ dwells in him; he would not be a Christian without it. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His” (Rom. 8:9). But the Spirit of God dwelling in the believer does not bring about any physical change as to his body; whereas, when Christ comes, there is abundant proof from Scripture that mortality will be swallowed up of life (1 Cor. 15:50-53; 2 Cor. 5:4).
The second class suppose, that when a believer dies, it is then that the Lord comes for him, and so apply all the scriptures relating to this truth. Now surely, again, no Christian will deny for a moment, that should he die, or fall asleep (which is a scriptural term for the death of a believer, 1 Cor. 15:51), that in departing this life he goes to be with Christ. The word of God is equally plain as to this: “Willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8); “To depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better” (Phil. 1:23). But here also the same record of events that will transpire at the coming of Christ, most clearly disproves that it has reference to our death or falling asleep. For whenever this event takes place, we know that the spirit and soul are separated from the body, and the latter goes to the grave and corruption (1 Cor. 15:42-57); whereas we are expressly taught, in Philippians 3:20, 21, that “we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body,” etc.
And again, says the apostle, “We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life” (2 Cor. 5:1-4).
Suffice that which I have said, to show the fallacy of the above interpretations of the scriptures treating of the Christian’s hope of the coming of the Lord Jesus, and let us now turn to the third class, who look for this. Here too we find, in speaking with those who own this precious truth, the greatest divergence of thought as to the details of the manner of its accomplishment, though all may agree as to the fact that it will be a personal return. We rejoice that we are in Christ, and He in us (2 Cor. 5:17; Col. 1:27); we are thankful to know that if it please the Lord to put us to sleep, we should be absent from the body, and present with Himself; but we cannot let any rob us of the third glorious truth, that Christ is coming to change us into His own likeness, to perfect us forever, and to display us with Himself in glory. This is the immediate Christian hope. Our only resource, in the midst of the confusion of thought surrounding us, is to come with a childlike spirit to the Word itself, and in humble dependence on the guidance and teaching of the Holy Spirit, seek to gather the Lord’s mind there revealed. “For,” saith He, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8, 9).
But before we trace from this unfailing source the teaching of God as to the coming of His beloved Son, the hope of the Christian, let us pause just for a moment and consider what a Christian is. For unless my reader can apply this title rightly to himself, how can this hope be any source of comfort or joy to him? It must rather fill the heart with dread and fear. What then is a Christian? One who has bowed to God’s testimony as to his guilty and lost condition as a sinner (Rom. 3:19-23) but who has been led through grace to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God (Rom. 3:26), who came into this world to save such. One who in believing has received the forgiveness of sins, and is justified from all things; already in the enjoyment of peace with God, a possessor of God’s priceless gift, “eternal life” (John 3:36). Not one who hopes to he saved; for God describes us in our natural state, as “without Christ... having no hope, and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12); but one who is saved “by (in) hope” (Rom. 8:24) of the glory of God. Cleansed by the precious blood of Christ, his sins are gone; the penalty of sin – death – has been borne by his blessed Substitute; judgment passed on Him in his stead. and now, united to Him who sits at God’s right hand, one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17), he looks with joy to see his Savior face to face, and to dwell and reign with Him.
(To be continued.)