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Blessed God and our loving Father, we.
Give thanks this afternoon for thy love. We give thanks for reminding us.
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Once again of our heavenly character.
And surely we know it is only but a little while. We shall be with thee.
We know too, that the little while that we're left in this scene.
How much we need to be?
In full dependence on these, we are reminded.
How the world?
How Satan, the world and the flesh.
Often work against us, but we do know that he that is in you is greater than he that is in the world.
So we look to Thee for help. We pray that that would continue to give us the faith that is required to walk in this for this little while and help us.
To be ever mindful of thy soon return, we think of how thou could say surely.
I come quickly.
And may I respond, Yes, thy word is recorded.
Even so, come Lord Jesus, in the meantime, we look to the.
And we will commit this meeting into thine hand would ask for help once more.
Through Thy Spirit that will give us a portion to encourage our hearts. So we give thanks and we look to Thee now and ask for Thy help once more in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
I'm gonna ask whether Tim that you read again.
First Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13 to the end. And then when you're done that you won't get to it all, but just to round out the picture, if you would read the last part of First Corinthians 15 verse 51 to the end.
First Thessalonians chapter 4, beginning at verse 13.
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, Even so then which also sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent 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 the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
1St Corinthians 15, verse 51.
Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this incorruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So in this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, this mortal shall have put on immortality. Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written.
Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Well, we noticed this morning that the Lord Jesus, for the comfort of the disciples, spoke of His coming again and the Father's house and receiving them to Himself and so on. But He doesn't develop that it there in John 14. He just gives it simply as a fact for their comfort at that time before He left them and returned to the Father. And you really have to go to Paul's ministry to get the development of this truth.
Will never really understand the truth of the Lord's coming without going to Paul's epistles.
It's given to Paul to develop it in a very remarkable way. And so we find these Thessalonians, they had turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven. But his brother John said this morning, there really are two parts to the second coming of Christ. There's the Lord's coming for his Saints and the Lord's coming with his Saints. And when the Thessalonians were saved, this hadn't been developed yet.
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And they had turned to they had turned to God, and they were waiting for the Lord Jesus to come back from heaven.
And really, they were waiting for the Lord Jesus to come back and establish his Kingdom. But what happened was some of their number had died while they're waiting. Some of the Saints in Thessalonica had died. And now they're concerned, well, what's going to happen to these ones? We, we're waiting for the Lord to come back. And now some of our number have died. And have they missed out on things? And so the Spirit of God uses the apostle Paul to write to them.
And explain very carefully to them that know their loved ones who had died in faith had not missed out in any way. They, like the Thessalonians, were waiting too, just in a different waiting room. They were waiting as we get in Corinthians, absent from the body and present, or in Philippians, I should say, absent from the body and present with the Lord. And so those who have died in faith up until this point, they're really waiting for the same thing we are.
They are not in the, they are not in the Father's house with glorified bodies, yet they're absent from the body and present with the Lord, but they are waiting in a much happier waiting place for this event that we have read here in second in First Thessalonians 4. Now just to confirm what I said, notice on the same page here the last verse of the third chapter to the end. He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father.
At the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, notice this with all his Saints. And so how is it going to happen that he's going to come with all his Saints if some are are passed away and some are still living? Well, the event that we're going to notice in this meeting is going to reunite the Saints of God, those who died in faith, those who are alive at the rapture. It's going to reunite them and unite them with the Lord Jesus so that when he comes back with his Saints, every St. of God is going to be with them.
Important to see that asleep here refers to the body. There's only the body that sleeps, and that word is never used in relation to the unsaved. They are dead, dead in their sins.
The believer who passes through the article of death, Mr. Kelly translates it put to sleep by Jesus. But it's only in relation to the body. It's not the soul. There's no such a thing as soul sleep. The moment the breath leaves the body, the soul and the spirit are consciously in the enjoyment of the presence of the Lord without any hindrance.
What the body is in the grave and it may go back to dust, but the apostle is showing us here that when the Lord comes back, that's the second aspect of the return of the Lord. The coming of Christ is appearing, which we noted this morning is different from his, the rapture, but he's going to bring with him. So this solved the problem for the Thessalonians Saints. He's going to bring with them.
As we read here.
If we believe that.
Jesus died and rose again. Even so them also would sleep in Jesus will God bring with him that is the Lord is going to bring our departed brethren.
With him.
When he appears to this world. But how is that possible? Because many of them had passed.
Through the article of death had passed away in Thessalonica.
And so the apostle says they're going to be raised with a glorified body, We will have a changed body, and we will meet together in the clouds and wherever, be with the Lord and then return with him. So it's important to note that.
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Sleep here.
That part of our beings that.
That is still connected with the old creation. We are still connected with this world by means of our bodies. And it's a body of humiliation is a correct translation because it is a body that is continually humbling us. Sicknesses, weaknesses, infirmities, pain, suffering. As you get older, not only your heart cries out for the Lord, but your flesh too, because.
You feel the limitations of the body of the apostle says you're going to have a glorified body like Christ and those that have passed through death, they're going to be joined with you. You're going to meet them again and together come with the Lord at his appearing.
So sleep is a temporary state of things, and that's why those who who died in faith, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, are referred to in that way. When we lay a loved one in the grave who knows Christ, who knew Christ, it's only a temporary separation.
Tonight, in the normal course of things, we're all going to lie down and go to sleep. But in the normal course of things, we expect it only to be temporary. It's only going to be a few hours. And tomorrow morning, at some point, we're going to rise up from our beds and come back to this place if things workout the way we anticipate. And so that's why the body is referred to as sleeping. But I think before we pass on, we want to notice too, that when a loved one dies, it's not that we don't sorrow, brother.
But we saw it doesn't say we sorrow not, but we sorrow not as others who have no hope. You talked this morning, Brother Steve, about having hope. There's nothing worse than hopelessness, Probably one of the most disparaging words in the English language, hopelessness. You go to the doctor and he tells you your case is hopeless. You get into a financial situation and the consultant says it's pretty hopeless situation. That's, that's an awful thing to, for, for a person to hear.
But we don't we. It's not that we don't sorrow. In fact, I believe that the Christian sorrows deeper than the unbeliever, because our affections have already been awakened in a very real way. And so when we when a loved one dies, we sorrow. And we may sorrow even deeper than the unbeliever who builds up a callus to things and grits their teeth and grins and bears it. But while we sorrow deeper, we don't sorrow with despair.
And so the Thessalonian brethren, they didn't understand what was going to happen. And so, lest they sorrow with hopelessness, he explains very clearly what is going to take place. I say that because I think, and I have met Christians who feel it's wrong to shed a tear or to show emotion when a loved one dies. It's not. We do show emotion, and rightly so. We feel it and we feel it keenly, but we remember that the sleep of the body is only a temporary state of things.
The things mentioned here that we're talking about are being very quickly.
Let loose by Christendom as we know it. So it's a pretty.
Pertinent subject.
I'm not sure of all the reasons why it's happening that way.
But I'm going to relate a comment that I overheard. It was in another room. It wasn't a private company, but a person said, yeah, I believe in in the rapture, but I don't hold it dogmatically. Well, that's quite a compromise.
Well, he did. He said that, I suppose, because he didn't want to offend others in the room who probably either had no clue about the rapture or just flat out didn't believe it.
But it's it's.
Very important issue in understanding what Christianity is, we, we really are not people that belong this world. We are going to be related and associated with Christ in the Kingdom time, but we're not going to usher in the Kingdom in that way because that is one of the thoughts. It's a drop of dispensationalism. It's a drop in considering our heavenly calling. It's it's dropping the specialness of what the church is.
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It is bringing Christianity down to this world. And if Christianity does not have a role in bringing in the Kingdom, then what the world are we doing here? And that's some of the concept. And so a lot of Christian organizations, be they churches and schools and, and the various Christian colleges and whatever these things are being just flat out dropped and in some cases actually ridiculed. So be aware.
It's out there, but it is a pretty fundamental thought in keeping our our eyes upward, considering that we really do not belong to this world, that Christ has called us out from this world, and that we are a heavenly people associated with a risen Christ. And those things are all tied in together. And you drop the rapture, you have to drop those other teachings as well.
That's very helpful. And you find a little comment that Paul makes in the 15th verse of this chapter that shows that the hope of the Lord's coming for his Saints has always been the proper hope of the believer and it has always been the present hope of the believer. Because the apostle Paul says here we which are alive and remain. Who was he referring to? He was referring to himself and the Thessalonian believers. Now I realize that Paul later on in his ministry.
Realized that he was going to, as a special vessel, lay down his life for the Lord. But when he wrote this early epistle to the Thessalonians, he was looking for the Lord Jesus to come at any moment. And so he says, we which are alive and remain. And if, brethren, if Paul could say to the Thessalonians, we which are alive and remain, how much more we which are alive and remain today? Because one thing is for sure and certain.
The Lord Jesus hasn't come yet, but we're closer to the Lord's coming than we've ever been before.
If Paul could feel the imminence of it, how much more you and me. There's never been anything in the history of the church to hinder the Lord from coming for us or to keep it back as a present hope of the of the believer. Now, certainly as we get near the end of the age, we see things develop that are setting the stage for after the Lord comes.
For what we John has referred to as the appearing in the Kingdom and so on, but there has never been a sign connected with the Lord's coming for us. The signs are always in connection with the Lord's coming with us, with the with the appearing. And so that's why the Thessalonians could have it as a present hope. That's why the early brethren had it as a present hope. That's why my father had it as a present hope.
But certainly, brethren, as I say, as we get down close to the end, can't we see that we're almost there? We've got to be right on the eve of this momentous event, and that ought to thrill our hearts.
I believe that.
The Apostle Paul.
Speaks of the coming of Christ.
In everyone of his epistles except perhaps 3.
Doesn't speak of it. I don't believe writing to the Galatians. You know, the Galatians had gotten so far from the truth of the gospel they're mixing up grace with the law.
And so it's through a law that we can be justified before God. Well, that was making.
Christ of none effect and so it was such serious error he has to recall them to the basic truth of the gospel that one is justified by faith alone, so it didn't seem appropriate to.
Bring in the thought of the coming of Christ. And of course in Ephesians we're already seated as seen as seated in the heavenly places. We're all we're up there already so.
But every other epistle except the three, I believe that he does bring out some with regard to the community here in First Thessalonians he refers to it in every chapter.
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And I believe also in the second epistle he speaks of it.
References made to every chapter so we see the importance of.
The coming of Christ, the second Coming.
And I think it's instructive that.
Need to be aware that is being given up.
I picked up hymn books.
And I've looked through the hymn books.
And these are Christian hymn books, and there's hardly any hymns about the rapture.
But in our hymn book instead of one that we sing out of the little flock. Many, many hymns with respect to his coming and we've been singing them in this conference. It's very wonderful. Actors of Grace hymn book, the same thing. So many hymns that have as their theme the coming of the Lord Jesus for his own. I think it's important to note that it's only in the ministry of the apostle.
Appalled that we have this truth revealed and developed, no other apostle brings before us this revelation. This was a revelation to the Apostle Paul. The Lord, reverently speaking, did not develop the the manner of His coming. He referred to it in John 14, but it's all that had a special revelation among others.
Such as the.
The Church is the body of Christ, our heavenly calling. The Lord suffered to continue. These are all peculiar to Pauls ministry and not developed in other Apostolic writings. Perhaps they learned it from the Apostle Paul, but it's not part of revelation in the Old Testament. There's no reference in the Old Testament scriptures. This event that we are Speaking of, rapture. There's many references.
Numerous to the Lord establishing his Kingdom, returning for the blessing of the nation of Israel and the blessing of the Gentiles through them, but nothing of this mystery. This is a mystery in the New Testament is not something mysterious, but it's something that was not revealed at that time, not revealed formally, but we need to regard.
Realize that Paul's ministry is for the church today.
And it has largely been given up by evangelicalism. We can thank God that by his grace we have some, we have knowledge of this wonderful, these wonderful truths that were revealed to the apostle and embodied in his epistles to us in the New Testament.
We spoke a great deal this morning about the Father's house and the time when we're going to be with the Lord Jesus and his desire to have us there. But when we are ushered into the Father's house, we're going to be ushered in altogether as a heavenly company. And that's what the apostle Paul is encouraging the Thessalonians with here. So he says that those of us who are alive aren't going to get there first. Those who have died in faith, they're not going to get there first.
And then he gives us very clearly the series of events that's going to take place.
The Lord Jesus is going to come, and He's not going to come back to earth to call to get us. He's going to come on the cloud. He's going to give a shout, and the dead in Christ are going to rise 1St. And then we, which are alive and remain, are going to be caught up together with them. That is, they're not going to get there first. We're not going to get there first. We're going to be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.
And when we meet together, the Lord in the air, then he's going to usher the completed redeemed company, heavenly company into the Father's house. And isn't that beautiful to think of, brethren? No ones going to have a special place in that, in that way and at that time. Such is his favor to all his children, that when God's family enters the Father's house, they're not going to order or enter in any pecking order or any special order.
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We're all going to enter together and sit down in his presence with Christ in the mids.
It was a true loss to the Church for many hundreds of years.
Given up quite quickly after the apostles passed off the scene, and John 14 that we read earlier was often applied to a believer on his deathbed that the Lord was coming for him.
Or one close to death might say, the Lord's coming for me and applying John 14 in that way. And you know, it's striking when you think about it, because where does that put the believers hope then?
His hope is in death.
Not in life. My hope is to die and go to be with the Lord.
But our hope isn't in death. Our hope is in the Lord's coming for us.
And our hope is not to be, as is just commonly thought among men and women in this world, that we're going to be spirits kind of flitting from cloud to cloud in heaven with little Halos over our heads and so on. And men perhaps get that thought from the Lord, saying they're neither marrying or given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven or some of those expressions.
And so they draw thoughts from that. But you know, the Lord was raised as the apostle says here.
He was raised.
Spirit, soul, and body from that grave. And God has made you and I spirit, soul, and body. And we would not be satisfied until, as our brother read in the meeting before, I shall be satisfied when I awaken Thy likeness. What is his likeness? He's a man and a glory. Spirit, soul and body. We would not be satisfied having been created from the hand of God.
A whole being that consists of spirit, soul and body to be there and eternity just as a spirit and soul.
We won't be satisfied until we're there, complete, so to speak.
Spirit, soul and body just as He is, and that's how He's made us. We would not be comfortable, so to speak, at at rest unless we were as He's created us, but glorified.
Let's read that in the end of Philippians 3 because I think it helps to see this very clearly. We'll notice it in first Corinthians 15 two, but just to get it again in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 20. Our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, our body of humiliation, that it may be fashioned like under his glorious body or body of glory according to the working whereby.
He is able even to subdue all things unto himself. You know, when Paul was caught up temporarily to the eternal dwelling place of God, referred to in 2nd Corinthians 12 as the 3rd heaven, he really wasn't comfortable there. In fact, he had to say in relating it, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. God knoweth, because for the apostle Paul it was a temporary state of things.
He was caught up to see Christ in glory and he came back to earth. It was temporary, but when you and I are caught up at the rapture, it's going to be a permanent state of things. That's why it says at the end of our chapter. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.
And we're going to be Steve, as you say, perfectly comfortable in his presence because we're going to have bodies that are changed and suitable to that sphere of things. And when you and I sit down in heaven, it's going to be, as we said this morning, the Father's house. It's going to be home because we're going to be perfectly comfortable in traveling a great deal. I find I'm very comfortable in many of the homes of the people of God. And they come out and they do everything they can to try to make you comfortable.
But you're never as comfortable as in your own home. I saw a little motto in a bedroom, a guest room I was using in a brother's home. One day it said, it's not home sweet home. Adjust. And that's what we do down here, don't we? We adjust. But brother, it's going to be no adjustments When we get to the Father's house. We're going to have bodies of glory like unto his body of glory. We're going to never have anything again to annoy us, nothing from within.
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Nothing about our surroundings. I don't care how many houses you build, how many times you move the furniture, how many new things you buy for your home. There's always something you wish was just a little bit different, something that isn't quite as comfortable or conducive to your lifestyle as you'd like, but rather nothing like that in the Father's house. And so we're going to undergo that, that change. John does mention it in his epistle, just very briefly.
And I think it's beautiful to see because in John's gospel he records, I will come again and receive you to myself. No development. John says that not only are we going to be with him, but we're going to be like him. We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And this really then bridges us to the portion we read in First Corinthians 15, because in First Thessalonians 4 he doesn't take up so much the change.
Just the series of events that are going to take place to bring us to meet the Lord in the air. In fact, in First Corinthian air, in First Thessalonians 4, he doesn't even really take us into the Father's house. We meet the Lord in the air. And wherever with the Lord, when he's in heaven, we're with Him. When he comes back to reign, we're with him. We never leave his sight again.
But then Paul, in the epistle to the Corinthians, he developed this change, this mystery, which as John said, is not something that's hard to be delved into or looked, looked into, but it's something that wasn't known previously, now revealed.
Just to add to your thought to from First Corinthians 15 and.
Looking at.
Verse 43, the end of the verse. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power.
So not only comfortable, but a body, a body change to be able to contain and to to to walk in that sphere of things. When the angelic being appeared to to Daniel, he had to reach down and and pick him up and stand him on his feet and kind of hold him up there. John saw the Lord he fell at his feet is dead. And these bodies that we have of weakness, we could never be in that place.
And bear it not for a minute. And so it was only by a power outside of them that they were sustained, for the visions even that they saw. We could never in these bodies of weakness be in that place. They have to be raised in power.
All the Old Testament believers will be raised at the same the same juncture. Juncture. The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shelter voice of triumph and power. Suppose it has a military connotation, a shout of victory, and the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God. Time to March, marching orders.
We're waiting for those and the dead in Christ shall rise first. What a tremendous power will be put forth many of the Saints of God.
Have been burnt at the stake.
Their ashes have been scattered.
Far and wide God is going to bring that the remnants of that body together. Just think of of the power that will be put forth. We have it in Ephesians, the end of Ephesians one, do we not a reference to it.
Verse 19. What is the exceeding greatness of His power to us? Words who believe.
According to the working of His mighty power, which He brought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, and so on, that power was put forth in the resurrection of Christ. First fruits we follow. The same power is going to raise us.
Often change us into.
Conformity to Christ and where it speaks in first John three with our brother Jim referred to it. It's really morally there. It's now we will be physically like the Lord, of course, but first John three, I think there's more the moral sense.
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We love it. We are now. Are we, the sons of God? It does not yet appear that what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like him. We shall see Him as he is.
That's wonderful to contemplate that we're going to be like Christ sometimes we're unlike him in our.
Behavior down here, but up there we're going to be morally like Christ as well as having bodies of glory. I don't like to use the term brethren. I don't know if I'm going too far here, but I don't like to use the term new body. I know that is used sometimes. It's not really a different body. It's the same body transformed into a body of glory. That same body that we have. We're going to recognize one another in the glory.
I'm going to recognize Wally Dear and and others they'll be.
A resemblance. The apostle Paul is going to recognize the Thessalonians Saints. They were his glory and joy. Well, if he couldn't see them, how could he be? How could they be His glory and joy? So there's going to be recognition in the glory.
But the relationships of life, such as marriage, will no longer.
Apply in the in the glory.
To suggest that.
There will be no bodies.
In other words, we're going to have replacements.
Deny the truth of the resurrection, would it not?
But we know that the bodies are going to be resurrected.
Not replaced, but resurrected and changed. And this is the power of God and resurrection.
It's awesome to think about.
So the Lord and resurrection had the same body that He had as a man when He walked here in this world. It was the same body that was laid in the tomb. But when He came forth from the dead, He showed them that He had a body and resurrection that wasn't subject to physical hindrances. He could come and stand in the midst with the door shut and so on. And the Lord Jesus now at the right hand of God, has a glorified body, but it's the same body as you say that He had.
When he came in incarnation, and I think it's helpful, what Wally said is that if we're going to tenaciously hold to the truth of resurrection, we cannot say that it's a new body. And so it it's, he says in First Corinthians 15 where we read, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Now we talk about the rapture taking place quickly, and it will that the very word itself in the original denotes that.
But it is interesting that it's the change of the body that is specifically mentioned as being in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Because first of all, those of our loved ones and all those who've died in faith, they're buried somewhere, at least for the most part. And so there are those whose graves are long forgotten and maybe cities built over those, those graveyards, freeways or whatever. There's many who are buried at sea and so on.
And there's many in graveyards that are buried 6 feet below the the earth, but when the Lord Jesus gives the shout, they are going to be raised with a body that is not subject to physical hindrances. You know, it's interesting that you never read of the graves being opened at the rapture.
Why? Because they won't have to be now. When Lazarus was raised from the dead they had to rule away the stone. He was raised with the same body that he went into the grave with. When there were those at at the Lords death that were raised the great it says the graves were open and many of the bodies of the Saints which slept arose. Why did they had to be opened? Because they were raised with those same physical bodies that were subject to physical hindrances.
And subsequent to their resurrection, at some point they re entered the tomb. But when the Lord gives the shout, those bodies are whatever. If it's six, six feet of earth, if it's sixty fathoms of water, if it's a freeway or a city or whatever, it's not going to be a physical hindrance. Now what about those of us who are alive and remain? Suppose the Lord came before this meeting was over this afternoon. There's something between US and the cloud that is hindering these bodies in the state they are in now.
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From rising to meet the Lord in the air, there's a ceiling and a roof and metal and so on. But we're going to get an instantaneous change in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, so that that roof above us is not going to be a physical hindrance. We're going to, we can rise right through that roof or wherever we are, if we're on the 6th floor or in the basement, we can rise immediately to meet the Lord.
In the air, and I think this is important to understand because many have questioned, well, how is it going to take place? How can people in the tomb are buried underwater at sea or how can people in buildings? What's going to happen? Remember, we're going to have bodies of glory like unto his body of glory. That same body that the Lord Jesus came and stood in the midst with closed doors and four walls is the same body that we are going to receive chained. These bodies change.
To be like His body of glory so that we can rise no matter where we are.
He was crucified in weakness and so the cross wasn't a display of power, but the resurrection is the greatest power that this world will ever see is displayed in in the power of God and resurrection. And as you say, some might who question it might raise hindrances, but you know, no matter how broken down the body of a believer becomes left in the ground or wherever it is.
And spread around, that power is able to gather.
It back up and Balaam says in this prophecy, and I've enjoyed it, who can count the dust of Jacob? Well, though these bodies go to dust and be scattered the world around, there's one who can count the dust of Jacob and gather it back up. And that power is beyond any other display of power. I believe that even in the creation and the formation of the world's far beyond that.
Is the resurrection.
Enjoyed to that little word together their brother brought out the order of things.
That the dead raised first, you know, even if it be just for a twinkling of an eye, they're going to enjoy the same thing the Lord did. He stood triumphant.
On this earth.
Victor over death.
On this earth, and they're going to stand, even if it is but for a moment that we can't even measure. They who have gone through what the Lord went through in the sense that they've died and been buried, are going to have the privilege of enjoying and knowing and feel the power of resurrection. And they're going to stand triumphant on this earth. And then we're going to be caught up together. And I remember.
Brother little when he took when we would read this portion, just love that word together and I'm sure he often thought of his dear row it when he would bring it out. He says it's together. You know, he was a very even by nature social brother, so to speak, and that thought of being together.
With the Saints is a precious thought, never to be alone again. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. And so we know, no matter how alone we might be from others, the Lord is always with us. But that word together is a precious word.
It's really nice how the apostle Paulie comforts the hearts of the Thessalonians with respect to those that had died. You know, that was their concern that they're going to miss out on something. But.
When you think about it.
I don't know that she.
Make a big point about this, but really it's the dead in Christ that are going to be impacted first.
That's what it tells us here, when the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, while it's the dead in Christ. Isn't it that here's that first?
But of course, as you point out, we which are alive and remain, we're going to be caught up together with them and arrive at the same time in the presence of the Lord. What a comfort this must have been to the Thessalonians.
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And it's for our comfort.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Can't think of a greater comfort?
President kind present distress realize that to coming the Lord.
It could take place today.
First in second Timothy one verse 10 brings the same thought I believe first second Timothy 110 just to get the connection.
Christ Jesus before the world began but is now made. Maybe you should read the ninth verse. Who has saved us and called us with an holy calling?
Not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death.
An old death and has brought life, and that should be incorruptibility.
Life for the soul, incorruptibility for the body to light through the gospel. As we mentioned, it was through the apostles.
Teaching and.
Doctrine that this was brought out, that we would have a body incorruptible. We have now a corruptible body. If you pass through the article of death and your body will go back to God, it'll be it'll see corruption. The Lord never could see corruption because there was no sin in his body.
But now this is a much deeper revelation than the Old Testament Saints would understand anything about. They knew there would be a resurrection, but they had no idea what kind of a body they would be in.
They do. It did believe in their resurrection. But here Paul tells us we're going to have a body that will partake of incorruptibility. And this has been all brought to light through the gospel, through the revelation that Paul LED received from the Lord in glory.
So there will never be a breakdown again. No, some of us are starting to feel a little bit the breakdown of the body here and what we like to refer to as the aging process. But it, it's encouraging, isn't it, brethren, to realize that there's a change coming. And I said to somebody the other day, the change is looking better all the time as we get a little older and but there's a change coming that is going to transport us into a state of things that will never change again.
You know, we might reverse certain processes here in this life and you know, they advertise certain soaps and that will reverse the aging process of the skin and certain vitamins and nutrients that will reverse their slow the aging process here. But we won't need any of that when we get to the Father's house because this change is going to be something that will be permanent. And I know it's a little different thought, but you know when you go to Revelation.
The end of Revelation and you find the bride, about 1000 years after she's been with Christ, she still referred to as a bride in all her freshness and loveliness. There's no breakdown, there's no deterioration there. I suppose any of us who've been married for any length of time, if we were to bring our wedding albums here and pass them around, everybody would have to admit that a change comes in.
26 years in our life together has brought a change in that's very note, very noticeable. I enjoyed Brother John Kaiser last Lords Day morning. He had the Sunday school at the Kentucky Conference and he was talking about change versus things that last for eternity and so on.
And he had a photograph and the children were all sitting on the front row. And he passed this photograph up and down the front row. And he asked the children if they knew who this person was was. And all the children shook their head no, they, they had no idea who this person was. Well, it was a picture of John himself when he was a boy. And the point he was making is that time now brings its changes. But the bride 1000 years after she's been with Christ, 10,000 years.
An eternity, if you can measure such a thing. No, there'll be no, she'll still be all there in her freshness and loveliness as the bride and all the heavenly company too. But I think it's beautiful to realize, and I know there are brethren here this afternoon who are feeling the weight of years far more than some of us are, but, and some of us are considered young by them. But just think there's a change coming at any moment where you're going to leave all that behind. And all the spare parts, the replacements, the knees and the hips and the other replacements, they're all going to be left behind.
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And a change is going to take place that will never change again.
Brethren, we consider first John chapter 3 and verse 2.
Now are we the sons of God, and does 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, and every man that half this holding him purify himself even as he is pure. So we can encounter the purifying effect by having the Lord's coming before us now.
That should hasten or step towards that goal.
Living from the Lord while we're here.
Dale in that regard, I'd like to read a portion in Second Thessalonians because I think it really brings out what you say. And I think it's an important that time is getting going along. And I think it's important to realize that, you know, it's not enough just to come to meetings like this and talk about the Lord's coming and enumerated as one of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity.
As Bruce said, it is one of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. And brethren, we wanted tenaciously hold on to this precious truth and the order in which it's given in in the New Testament. But it's more than that. The reality of this in our souls, as Dale has pointed out, is going to have a practical purifying effect on our lives. In fact, in the measure in which I'm looking, or you're looking for the Lord to come this afternoon in that measure.
It will separate us from the world and give us to live in the proper way as strangers and pilgrims here. And Paul points this out to the Thessalonians in his second epistle. Just going to read the last two verses of chapter 2. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation, there's that comfort we spoke of and Good Hope through grace. And brethren, it is a Good Hope.
And it's only on the basis of grace. But then notice this. Comfort your hearts.
But He doesn't stop there and establish you in every good word and work. Now again, I want to say this very circumspectly, but I suggest that in the measure in which we understand the truth of the Lord's coming and we appreciate it and enjoy it in our souls as a living reality, it is what gives us ballast and stability in our walk and our work for the Lord. And you talk to Christians who through miss teaching.
Do not understand the truth of the Lord's coming. They are confused as to the rapture and the appearing and our present position and ushering in the Kingdom and all those kinds of things. Talk to them. And yes, many of them are put me to shame as far as personal piety and so on. But talk to them a while and you find there's often instability in many aspects of their Christian life. What is it that's going to give us real stability?
And what is it that's going to establish our proper work for the Lord in the context of eternity? It's understanding these, this truth that we've been Speaking of in these two reading meetings today. And that's why it's important. And it's interesting that we won't take time to turn to it. But when he refers to it as a sure and steadfast hope in the end of Hebrews 6, he says which hope we have as an anchor of the soul.
You know, the only other time you have an anchor mentioned in Scripture is in connection with the shipwreck in Pauls day in Acts 27 and 28. And there we find that when they got rid of the anchor out of the ship, there was disaster. Brethren, when we get rid of the anchor, it's the truth of the Lord's coming that anchors us. It's the truth of the Lord's coming. When we're anchored to that, then we we work around. That is the pivotal point.
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In our lives and everything we do and all our service for Christ is going to be with the Lord's coming as the pivotal point. It's going to anchor us in the proper way. And the Lords coming in, in the New Testament is the pivotal point of everything. Everything in Christianity is in view or in respect to the Lord's coming. But if we Cut the Rope and lose that anchor, we're going to be like a ship without a rudder. We're going to turn into the wind and drip.
That's what is brought before us, Jim at the end of the chapter that he suggested there First Corinthians 15, the apostle has been Speaking of these marvelous truths of.
Glorified body that we would have death being overcome, grave conquered, and so on. He takes us up into the glory, but He brings us back down to earth at the end of the chapter. And we need to, we need to be reminded.
We're not in the glory yet, brethren. We are here in a scene of conflict and we have the privilege of holding forth the word of life and preaching the gospel. We can't do that in the glory. And so he says.
Always abounding in the work of the Lord, whether it be among the Saints or in reaching the lost. Remember, when we give out the gospel, it's in view of the Lord's coming, because when he comes.
The door for the unsaved will be forever shut. They'll never have another opportunity in these favored Christian lands in which we live to hear the glad tidings. So when we preach the gospel, it should always be in view. The Lord is coming. At any moment the door of grace will be closed on the Sinner. And we thank God that He waited until we had believed. So. It's always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain, in the Lord steadfast.
Unmovable as to the truth of God, but always abounding. I sometimes say it's like a compass. Every boy and girl knows what a compass is. There's one there's one arm of the compass which must be firm and solid, and the other arm goes out as far as you want in in drawing the circle so well, maybe the thought is a little bit different, but we need to be steadfast and firm and yet all we abounding.
We should have our foot in the assembly.
But we have the world as our pirate.
That steadfast and unmovable is very important.
As you go into school, into the job, and you start to speak with other Christians, you're going to find that they don't believe.
Many of them don't believe of the OR look forward to the imminent coming of Christ for us today. And they have a lot of scriptures. There's a whole system of teaching that denies the fact that Jesus Christ is coming back at any time.
And they're preparing the world for Christ and they think it's their job, their job and their duty to vote, get in the political system and vote to change this world and to join the army or the the armed forces and to set this world right and to get the world ready for Christ to return and be. That's because their hope is in the Kingdom, but yet our hope isn't in the Kingdom. Our hope is to be with Christ.
And if you look over in Revelation.
You'll find that the Lord has a special blessing, a special place, a special position for the church. And in Revelation chapter 21, we we have in this chapter we have both the eternal state and we have the millennial scene. The 1St 8 verses are the millennial state, but you'll find here.
Read verse one and I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
For the 1St heaven and the first earth were passed away. There was number more sea. And I, John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven. This is the bride of Christ. This is the assembly.
Of the New Jerusalem, coming down from God, out of heaven, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and so the Tabernacle of God comes down.
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To the earth, the new earth, and he's and 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.
But we see here that the Church, New Jerusalem, God is in.
The Tabernacle of God, he's in the New Jerusalem and he's down on earth, in the new earth, but he's in has a distinct place. There's not going to be a ruling party. There's not going to be a government like there was in the Millennium with with Israel ruling over the world.
But there's going to be a distinct place for the church. We're all be together, but there's going to be a distinct place for the church in the heart of God. Just like you have your wife sitting next to you in all this group of people, she is distinct to you. And in the eternal state, the church will be distinct to God. And so if we think we're going to be part of that millennial blessings and be part of God's earthly people, it takes away that eternal state.
That we're looking forward to.
So in the meantime, there is a work to be done about always abounding in the work of the Lord. We've taken up many things in these readings concerning what is future, but as long as we're left here and the Spirit is here, there's a work still to do. In fact, the very fact that we're still here shows that there is that work to do. Because it says in the end of Revelation and the Spirit and the Bride say, come, He doesn't go until we do. And He's working through his own, through the Lord's own. He delights to use us.
In those these days, he used Paul, the Corinthians, the Thessalonians, but today the Spirit is still working through you and through me. He has a work for each one of us. This isn't for a select company here. This was for every one of the Corinthians, always abounding in the work of the Lord. This is for every one of us here this afternoon. If we know the Lord Jesus and we're looking for the Lord Jesus to come, what are we to be doing in the meantime?
Well, you know, they talk about WWW. And I know what it stands for in connection with the computer world. But I like to think of it this way. Waiting, watching and working. That is the proper attitude of a believer. Now we need to be waiting for the Lords coming.
We need to be watching for the Lord's coming, and as we are doing that, we need to be working. But I'd like to, before we close, turn over again to revelation, to the last couple of verses of the book, because I think, brethren, it really caps what we've had and it shows what our proper attitude and spirit ought to be in view of the Lord's return. I know this is familiar, but notice how the Word of God closes.
He which testifieth these things sayeth, Surely I come quickly. Now brethren, do you realize these are the last recorded words of the Lord Jesus in Scripture? The last recorded words, and you have it three times on the last page of Scripture. But the last recorded words of the Lord Jesus in the Bible are Surely I come quickly. Just in case we missed it, He confirms it again. Surely I come quickly.
Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus, those are the last recorded words of the Saints of God.
And he closes the book. Well, not quite. There's something else Now I'm going to sum it up in a little different way.
Surely I come quickly. That's the last promise of Scripture.
Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus, that's the last prayer of Scripture. But there's something else.
There's the last provision of Scripture, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. In other words, brethren, if we're left here a little bit longer waiting for the Lord Jesus, His grace is sufficient. It's able to meet every need as we wait for the Lord's coming. The 84th Psalm says the Lord will give grace that meets us in our present need and glory. That's what comes at the end of the pathway. And brethren, we have those two things.
Grace and glory. So the last prayer, surely I cut the last promise, surely I come quickly. The last prayer, Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus, and the last, the last provision, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
01:10:12
183.
Say your can't I say?
Honest for me.
Seeing also 18 in the back.
So.
God said.