Six Precious Revelations Which He Received From Christ in Glory
1. the Believer Justified
From All Things
The first time we hear the inspired voice of Paul preaching is in Acts 13. In verse 39 Paul reached beyond that which had heretofore been preached and communicated the precious truth that “in Him [JND] all that believe are justified from all things.” Paul alone teaches that the believer is “in Christ” (Rom. 8:1). Peter tells us of forgiveness of sins and coming glory, but Paul tells us that Christ is our life (Col. 3:4), that Christ is our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30), that we are “risen with Christ” (Col. 3:1), and that even now we are made to “sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6). In a future day, we shall also be “glorified together” with Him (Rom. 8:17).
2. the Truth of the One Body
There was no revelation of the church as the body of Christ in the Old Testament. The church as the body of Christ was formed at Pentecost, when by one Spirit all believers were baptized into one body (see 1 Cor. 12:12-13). The word “church” simply means “called-out ones,” and in that sense all believers in every dispensation were “called-out ones” (Acts 7:38), but when the church is viewed as the body of Christ, we must always remember that it was formed as such at Pentecost. Paul received this wondrous revelation from Christ in glory (see Eph. 3:1-6). The other apostles doubtless learned it from Paul.
3. the Special Significance of the Lord’s Supper
Previous to Paul’s revelation, they were breaking bread, thus commemorating the Lord’s death (Acts 2:42). Now Paul gives them the added blessedness of the truth that the one loaf is a precious symbol of our oneness with Christ. He received it “of the Lord” — that is, by revelation (see 1 Cor. 10:15-17 and 1 Cor. 11:23-26). The first day of the week (the Lord’s day) is the Christian’s day, for it is the sign of new creation, and we are part of that new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).
All believers are now members of the body of Christ, and before the loaf is broken it symbolizes this precious glorious truth, so that we (if intelligent) do not break bread just as forgiven sinners, or even as saints, but as members of the body of Christ. After the loaf is broken, it speaks to our hearts of His death. Oh, how it touches our hearts as we think of the Lord of glory in death for us!
4. the Coming of Christ
for His Bride
The coming of Christ for His bride, in its proper Christian character, is given us only in Paul’s revelation. Every time the Lord’s coming is spoken of in the Old Testament, it is His coming in judgment and for the setting up of the kingdom on earth.
The first intimation of His coming in its proper Christian character (the rapture) is in John 14:1-3. Now note there is nothing said there about war, pestilence or famine, for these things precede the Lord’s coming to earth to set up the kingdom, but they are not mentioned as preceding His coming for His heavenly saints.
Now Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 that he had received this precious truth from the Lord. These verses give us the Christian’s present hope. We wait for God’s Son from heaven and seek, by spreading the gospel, to save sinners from the judgment that will follow His coming for His heavenly saints and from the everlasting punishment that awaits all who have not believed the gospel.
5. Absent From the Body ...
Present With the Lord
Previous to this precious revelation given by Paul, there was no scriptural light as to the interval between death and the resurrection of the body (see 2 Tim. 1:9-10 JND). Here Paul tells us that life and incorruptibility have come to light by the gospel.
The dying thief was the first believer to have the revelation of this precious truth, that to depart from this life is to be “with Christ.” This was an individual revelation for himself alone, but now Paul has given us this glorious truth in Philippians 1:23 and 2 Corinthians 5:8 for all saints. In Luke 16 the curtain is brushed aside a little, but “Abraham’s bosom” is the figure used, and we are not told where Abraham was.
6. the Resurrection Body
of Glory
Paul alone gives us the precious revelation that in resurrection we shall have bodies of glory, like Christ (see Phil. 3:21 and 1 Cor. 15:51-54). Those departed to be with Christ wait, in a brighter waiting room than we here on earth, for the glorious resurrection morning, when “the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess. 4:16-17). Then we shall be escorted by the Lord Himself to the Father’s house and introduced there with these words: “Behold I and the children which God hath given Me” (Heb. 2:13).
H. E. Hayhoe (adapted)