August 3

John 21:22
TILL I come.” This expression refers clearly to our Lord’s promised, personal return from heaven. The same words are used in Luke 19:13,13And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. (Luke 19:13) where the nobleman, going into a far country, commits treasure to his servants, saying, “Occupy till I come”; and again in Revelation 2:25,25But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. (Revelation 2:25) where the risen and glorified Lord says to the faithful remnant in the corrupt Thyatiran church, “That which ye have already hold fast till I come.” In 1 Corinthians 11:26,26For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. (1 Corinthians 11:26) after giving instruction concerning the Communion service, or the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Spirit says, “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till He come.” This is the blessed hope set before the Christian. Some generation of believers (who can say it may not be ours?) will be living on the earth when this glorious event takes place (1 Thess. 4:16, 1716For 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: 17Then 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. (1 Thessalonians 4:16‑17)). Meantime, generation after generation have been called to pass through death, thus going to be with Christ. But this is a very different thing to His coming for us. At death the spirit and body are separated, the one going to heaven and the other to the grave. At the Lord’s return death will be swallowed up in victory and the body raised and reunited to the spirit, to be forever with the Lord (1 Cor. 15:51-5451Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In 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. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (1 Corinthians 15:51‑54)).
“‘Till He come!’ Oh, let the words
Linger on the trembling chords.
Let the ‘little while’ between
In their golden light be seen;
Let us think how heaven and home
Lie beyond that ‘Till He come!’”
―Bickiersteth.