The Coming of the Lord and the Rapture of the Saints

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It is a matter of unfeigned thankfulness that the truth of God respecting the coming of the Lord and the rapture of the saints has been very generally received of late years. The innumerable pamphlets issued by Brethren on this subject, and the overwhelming amount of scripture produced, has wrought, with God's blessing, a considerable change in the minds of many Christians. The old and common objection to this truth, that, "the death of each individual is virtually the Lord's coming to him," has been relinquished by many students of scripture. Twenty-five years ago it was almost universal. But as there are numbers by whom it is still urged we will notice a few plain scriptures on the point. Selection, with limited space, is the difficulty. Every book in the New Testament but two- Galatians and Ephesians-specifically and distinctly present the coming of the Lord as the known and constant hope of the Christian. The Galatians had fallen from grace, and the apostle had to travail again with them in birth as to justification by faith. In Ephesians the church is seen already seated together in heavenly places in Christ. All the other books either teach the coming of Christ for His saints, or His appearing in glory with them to judge the world. What characterizes the Christian is the hope of Christ's coming, the waiting for God's Son from heaven. It enters into every state, thought, feeling, and motive of christian life, and is also the great moving power in evangelization.
But to return to our argument.
We will now turn to Paul's first Epistle to the Thessalonians as most convenient for our present purpose. In chapter iv. we have a special revelation, not only as to the Lord's coming and the rapture of the saints, but also as to the order in which these events will take place. Nothing can be more manifest than that the coming of Christ is the central doctrine in both epistles. It was an important part of the truth to which they had been converted. The Person of Christ as the proper object of their hope was constantly before their minds, and waiting for His return the effect of their conversion. " 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." (Chap. i. 9, 10.) Their one hope was Christ's coming; they had not been told of some event that must take place before His return, and so they were waiting for it as though it might be any moment. Indeed, so full were they of the Savior's coming that they bad never thought of any of them dying before He came, so that they were in great trouble when some of their brethren had been removed from their midst by death. They had not been instructed as to how the dead saints could be with the Lord when He comes and share His glory. This was their great trouble. They were very young in the faith, we must remember, had only been converted a few months, the New Testament was not then written, and the apostle was not allowed to remain with them because of persecution. But their testimony was remarkable. The very world talked of the great change which had taken place in these Gentiles, and gave its unconscious testimony to the power of grace in their conversion to God. (Chap. i. 8-10.) Still, they needed further instruction as to those who had fallen asleep in Jesus, and it is on this point that the apostle now gives them the mind of the Lord.
It is a revelation of great practical importance. Modern theologians say of those in the present day, whom they term Millenarians, that they are too much occupied with this peculiar view; that a number of events must necessarily occur before the Lord comes. But we find not a single word from the apostle's pen to moderate or cool down the too-ardent expectations of these warm-hearted young believers; or that they were to look for a train of intervening events. He rejoices over his beloved Thessalonians, and nourishes their zeal by a remarkable glimpse of the consummation of all their hopes and his own. " 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." They were still to look for the Lord in their lifetime. He places no circumstance, no event, between their hearts and the object of their hope. And be assures them that all who had fallen asleep in Jesus will equally have their part in the glory with those who are alive at His coming.
The first thing that the apostle does is to fix the eye of the sorrowing Thessalonians on Jesus-on Him who died and rose again. " For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." In Jesus we see victory over death and the grave-we see the One who died, was buried, rose again, and is now in glory. Mark the words "even so." He is the believer's life. We triumph in like manner—" Even so." What heavenly comfort for a bereaved and sorrowing heart! All who have fallen asleep in Jesus will be raised and leave the earth precisely as He did. "There is this difference," says one, " He went up in his own full right; He ascended. As to us, His voice calls the dead, and they come forth from the grave, and, the living being changed, all are caught up together. It is a solemn act of God's power, which seals the Christian's
life and the work of God, and brings the former into the glory of Christ as His heavenly companion. Glorious privilege! Precious grace! To lose sight of it destroys the proper character of our joy and of our hope."
From verse 15 to 18 is a parenthesis, which accounts for what is said in verse 14. " Even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." When the Lord returns in glory, all the saints will be with Him; but previously He has awakened the sleepers, changed the living, and translated both to heaven. Verses 15-17 explain to us how this is done. The Lord Jesus rises from His throne, He descends from heaven, He gives the word Himself, the voice of the archangel passes it on, and the trumpet gives a well-known sound. The imagery is military. As well-trained troops know the orders of their commander by the sound of the trumpet, so will the army of the Lord answer instantly to His call. All the dead in Christ shall rise, and all the living shall be changed; and they shall all enter into the cloud, and be caught up together, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall they ever be with the Lord. This is the first resurrection, the rapture of the saints. Before a seal of judgment is broken, a trumpet blown, or a vial poured out, the saints are gone, all gone, gone to glory, gone to be with the Lord forever! What a thought! what an event! Not a particle of the redeemed dust of God's children left in the grave; and not a believer left on the face of the whole earth. All caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and be conducted by Him to the Father's house of many mansions. But who can think, who can speak, of the happy reunions on that morning of cloudless joy? Doubtless the Person of the Lord will fix every eye, and ravish every heart; still there will be the distinct recognition of those who, though long parted from us here, have never lost their place in our hearts. And as all will perfectly bear the image of the Lord, we can never lose sight of Him. Though everyone will have his own identity, and his own special joy, yet all will be like the Lord, and the joy of each will be the common joy of all. But chiefest of all our joys that morning, and from which all our other joys shall flow, will be to see His face, hear His voice, and behold His glory; or, as St. John says, and sums up all blessedness in two expressions: " We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." 1 John 3:22Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2).
" Hark to the trump! behold it breaks
The sleep of ages now;
And lo! the light of glory shines
On many an aching brow.

Changed in a moment-raised to life,
The quick, the dead arise,
Responsive to th' archangel's voice,
That calls us to the skies.

Undazzled by the glorious light
Of that beloved brow,
We see, without a single cloud,
We see the Savior now!

0 Lord, the bright and blessed hope,
That cheered us through the past,
Of full eternal rest in Thee
Is all fulfilled at last."