According to the old Catholic principle, it was the church that made the Christian. There was no pardon of sin, no salvation for the soul, outside of her communion. No matter how genuine a man’s faith and piety might be, if he did not belong to the holy Catholic Church and enjoy the benefit of her sacraments, salvation was impossible. On the Protestant principle, Christians make the church. One result of the Reformation in the sixteenth century, and that which characterized it, was the transfer of power from the church to the individual. The idea of the church as the sole dispenser of blessing was rejected; and every man was called upon to read the Bible for himself, examine for himself, believe for himself, as he must answer for himself. This was the newborn thought of the Reformation―individual blessing first, church formation afterward.
So far, the Reformers were right. But they forgot to look into Scripture as to how the church was formed. The true idea of the church of God, as the body of Christ, livingly united to Him by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, was completely overlooked, though abundantly taught in the epistles. The Lord’s own place and work in the assembly by the Holy Ghost being thus lost sight of, men began to unite and build churches, so called, after their own minds. A great variety of churches or religious societies speedily sprang up in many parts of Christendom; but each country carried out its own notion as to how the church should be formed and governed: some thought that church power should be vested in the hands of the civil magistrate; others thought that the church should retain that power within herself; and this difference of opinion resulted in the national and innumerable dissenting bodies which we see everywhere around us. Individual faith, as the grand saving principle for the soul, was insisted upon, thank the Lord; and men’s souls were saved and God was thereby glorified; but that being secured, men might combine arid make churches to suit their own mind. Great Sardis was the result; of which church the Lord says, “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” This is the condition of that which is known as Protestantism, after the days of the first Reformers. A great name to live―a high profession and appearance of Christianity, but no vital power.
Nothing is more manifest to the student of church history with his New Testament before him than these painful facts; and nothing seems to us more plainly or more largely taught in the epistles than the doctrine of the church. For example, we read in Eph. 4, “There is one body and one Spirit;” but according to Protestantism we should read, “There are many bodies and one spirit.” There can only be one, however, of divine constitution. Again, we read, “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit.”
This plainly means the unity of the Spirit’s forming―the Holy Ghost being the formative power of the church which is Christ’s body. Christians are the units formed by the Holy Spirit into a perfect unity. This we are to endeavor to “keep,” to maintain, exhibit, carry out in practice; and not to think of some new organization, for some new company of Christians, as has been the case ever since the Reformation. “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” 1 Cor. 12:12, 1312For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:12‑13).
After what has been given from Mr. Darby’s first pamphlet on “The Nature and Unity of the Church,” it will be unnecessary to say much on the subject under this heading. Besides, this truth, with that of the Holy Spirit identifying Himself with the believer and the church since the day of Pentecost, is closely interwoven with the whole of this “brief sketch.” Still, a few passages from the Word of God may be helpful to those who wish to do His will.
And first of all we would notice the one which touches the heart most deeply. “Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Eph. 5). This revelation of a Savior’s love ought to make us all feel the unspeakable importance of that which is called the church, and of meeting the whole mind of the blessed Lord towards it in our practical ways. It is the special object of His affections, of His care. It is redeemed at the cost of His blood, of His life, of Himself. And He will ere long present it to Himself a glorious church without the least thing unbecoming His glory, or that might offend the eye or grieve the heart of the heavenly Bridegroom. What a privilege to be a part of that “glorious church” then, and what a blessing to act as a member of the “one body” now!
Christ Himself is the first to announce the commencement of the church. “Upon this rock I will build my church.” (Matt. 16). The building was not then begun. Christ recognized as the Son of the living God, was to form the foundation of this new work, and the declaration, that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” shows plainly that it was to be built on earth, not in heaven, and amidst the storms and persecutions which would assail it through the craft and power of the enemy.
The next thought that we have of the church is its unity. According to the involuntary prophecy of Caiaphas, Jesus was to die for the Jewish nation; “and not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in ONE, the children of God that were scattered abroad.” There were already children of God, but they were scattered―isolated; like stones prepared and ready for the building, but not joined together. By the death of Jesus the great work was accomplished, on which are based the future hopes of Israel, and the actual gathering of God’s scattered children into one―the church which is the body of Christ. John 11:50-5250Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. 51And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; 52And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. (John 11:50‑52).
This took place, through the power of the Holy Ghost come down from heaven on the day of Pentecost. The fact of its existence is declared in Acts 2. “All that believed were together, and had all things in common.... And the number of them was about three thousand.... And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” He thus added the saved remnant of Israel to the Christian assembly. The union and unity of the saved ones were accomplished as a fact by the presence of the Holy Ghost come down from heaven. They formed one body upon earth, a visible body, owned of God, to which all whom He called to the knowledge of Jesus were joined by the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.
We may next notice a remarkable development of this unity in connection with the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, a new instrument of the sovereign grace of God. (Acts 9). Saul never knew Christ personally after the flesh; now he sees Him for the first time in heavenly glory. This was a new revelation of the Son. Most blessed and gracious truth for the heart! Though the Lord of glory, He declares Himself to be Jesus. “And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.”
Nothing could possibly be plainer than this as to the union of the Lord in glory with the members of His body upon earth. The saints are Himself―His body. But who can speak of the innumerable blessings which flow to the believer, to the church, through this union? One with Christ! Marvelous, precious truth! One with Christ as the exalted Man in the glory; one with Him in position, in privilege, in the Father’s love, in endless glory. And what a great light is thrown by this truth on the details of salvation! What of pardon now? Faith answers, I am one with Christ; my sins are as far removed from me as from Him. What of justification? I am one with Christ; righteous as He is righteous. What of acceptance? I am accepted in the Beloved. What of eternal life? I am one with Christ; there is not a different life in the head from what there is in the hand. What of glory? One with Him in the same glory forever and forever.
But is there no danger of falling away from such a position? some will ask. There is constant danger of losing the just appreciation of it, and the enjoyment of it, but there is no danger of losing the thing itself. This union can never be broken. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. The Holy Spirit, who unites the believer on earth with Christ in heaven, can never fail. But there is much less failure with those who live in the power of this truth, than with those who are in legal bondage, and harassed with doubts and fears. The mind being at perfect rest, it enjoys Christ more, and cares less for the world and the things of time. Grace is our only power for walk, as Paul says to Timothy: “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” 2 Tim. 2:11Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 2:1).
The Practical Working of the Assembly
As the teaching of the epistles on the doctrine of the church, especially in 1 Cor. 12, and Eph. 4, has already been noticed, we may pass on to the practical operation of the assembly. In Matt. 18, the blessed Lord gives us an insight into this, attaching to it the authority of heaven itself, though but two or three should thus form the assembly. Whether for discipline or for making requests to God, the Lord lays down this great principle, that “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Thus met, it is an assembly meeting. Nothing could be more simple, more encouraging, more blessed: Christ the center, the Holy Spirit the gathering power to that center, with these words of inexpressible assurance to the heart, “There am I.” (The better translation is, “gathered together unto my name.”)
To a mere onlooker, the meeting may seem a poor one. Only a few Christians met, it may be, in a very humble room, with no appearance of marked gift amongst them; but, to faith, it has not been a poor meeting, nor ever can be. The Lord was there; and could we call that a poor meeting, where He―the blessed, adorable Lord―is?
At the same time, we admit that, to those who are accustomed to all the style and grandeur of popular meetings, it must have a poor appearance. But to those who know the happy liberty, the heavenly joy, the peculiar blessedness of simply meeting in the Lord’s name, the most perfect human arrangements would be utterly intolerable. The difference between the two meetings must be experienced to be known and appreciated; language cannot describe it.
But we do meet, some will say, in the name of Jesus, and we have the gospel faithfully preached, and there are many earnest godly men amongst us. So far that may be the case; but good preaching and good people do not make the meeting to be the church. No community of saints, unless assembled in obedience to the Word of God, and subject to the Lord Jesus by the energy of the Holy Spirit, is really on divine ground. This is the question; are we on the foundation of God’s Word? Have we no center, no name round which we gather, but the name of our absent Lord; no uniting ruling power but the Holy Spirit, and no standard of action but the veritable Word of God? The moment we begin to gather people―though all may be true Christians―round a particular person, or unto some view or system, we are only forming a sect. But those who hold fast to Christ as the center of the Spirit’s unity are no sect, and never can become one, so long as they embrace in principle everyone belonging to Christ on the face of the whole earth.
The breaking of bread―observed upon the first day of the week (Acts 20:77And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. (Acts 20:7)) ―is the highest expression of the church’s unity. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many, are one bread and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread.” 1 Cor. 10:16, 1716The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 17For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. (1 Corinthians 10:16‑17).
Prophecy
Since the revival of prophetic truth in the early part of last century the study of Prophecy has made some progress, though with some it has not become a subject of general interest. Large sections of the professing church still reject it as speculative and unprofitable. This is deeply to be regretted, though not surprising. Various schools of prophecy have sprung up and have sought to publish their views, but most lack the one thing needful to give them consistency and make them interesting and profitable to a spiritual mind. Christ is not the, center of their systems as He always is of God’s―the center in which all things in heaven and earth are to be united. Not seeing the mind of God as to the judgment of the nations, the restoration of Israel, and the establishment of Christ’s kingdom on the earth in power and glory, they have not known what to make of the prophetic Scriptures. Many have taken refuge in the principle of interpreting prophecy by history, alleging that it can only be understood when fulfilled. Take one example of this school as judged by the word of God.
“The ten horns. What is the providential history of these horns, taken as usually applied by commentators? Scourges, which continued some one hundred and fifty years, from first to last, working the overthrow of the Roman Empire, as previously settled, and establishing themselves as conquerors in all its western territory. Take the prophetic account. A beast rises out of the sea with ten horns, all full grown, after which a little horn rises up; and the beast, horns and all, are the subjects of God’s judgments, not the executors of it. This is prophecy; that was providence.”
This mode of interpretation, it will be seen, leads the mind away from Christ, to search for persons and events in history that will in some way answer to the features of the prophecy. But if it is necessary for Christians to study Roman and other histories in order to understand prophecy, how few of them have the means of doing so! Surely this principle condemns itself as not of God. Many prophecies, we doubt not, have had a partial, but not a complete, fulfillment in the providence of God. “For,” as the apostle says, “no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation.... but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” “The meaning is, that no prophecy of scripture is of its own insulated interpretation. Limit a prophecy to the particular event that is supposed to be intended by that scripture, and you make it of private interpretation. For instance, if you regarded the prophecy of Babylon’s fall in Isa. 13, 14, as the sole meaning of this scripture, you make this prophecy of private interpretation. How? Because you make the event to cover the prophecy—you interpret the prophecy by the event. But this is precisely what scripture prophecy is made not to be; and it is to hinder the reader from this error that the apostle writes as he does here. The truth, on the contrary, is that all prophecy has for its object the establishment of the kingdom of Christ; and if you sever the lines of prophecy from the grand central point on which they all converge, you destroy the ultimate connection of these prophetic lines with the center. All prophecy runs on to the kingdom of Christ, because it comes from the Holy Ghost.”
In the same connection the apostle speaks of the bright scene on “the holy mount,” in a remarkable way as to prophecy. “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts,” (2 Peter 1:1919We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: (2 Peter 1:19)). It is a most blessed foreshadowing of the coming, and kingdom of the Lord Jesus, according to that which the prophets had given the people of God to expect―a beautiful picture of millennial glory and blessedness, confirming as with the divine seal its certainty, though the time had not yet come for its manifestation. The dead saints were represented as risen in Moses; the changed living―who had not passed through death―were seen in the person of Elias; besides, there were saints in their natural bodies represented by Peter, James and John; and there was the blessed Lord, the Head and Center of all glory, familiarly conversing about the decease which was to be accomplished at Jerusalem.
Good heed is to be given to the prophetic word, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn; but the Christian has something better than the lamp of prophecy. He belongs to Christ, who is to dwell in his heart by faith, as the bright and morning star―the proper object of all his hopes until He come.
The Three Spheres of Christ’s Glory
In 1 Cor. 10:3232Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: (1 Corinthians 10:32) the apostle furnishes us with a classification of mankind which greatly helps not only to the understanding of prophecy but of the whole Word of God. “Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God.” Here we have the three great spheres in which the glory of Christ is displayed. As it respects man’s condition before God in reference to eternity, there are but two classes, the saved and unsaved―those who have been really born again, and those who are still in nature’s darkness and unbelief. But with regard to God’s government of the world there are three classes―Jews, Gentiles and the church; and no one can rightly divide the Word of God who overlooks this division. To trace through Scripture God’s purpose concerning these three classes is the surest way to ascertain the order of God’s dispensations, and the harmony of all portions of the Holy Scriptures with each other. At present we can only refer to a few passages of Scripture by way of introducing the reader to this threefold purpose of God.
1. “The Jews.” In Gen. 12:2, 32And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:2‑3), “The Lord said unto Abram.... I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” We have a further development of this purpose, in chapter 13. “And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever.” In chapter 15, the boundaries of the land are defined. In Deut. 283Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. (Deuteronomy 28:3), we have the blessings promised them in case of obedience, and the curses denounced against them in case of disobedience. But, alas! the highly favored people proved themselves a disobedient and stiff-necked race. “God exercised great forbearance towards them; but after they had rejected and stoned the prophets, His servants, whom He sent unto them, He sent His Son, the heir of all things. Him they crucified and slew, and thus filled up the measure of their iniquities, and sealed their doom. On this account wrath came upon them to the uttermost; their city and temple were destroyed: their country pillaged, its population put to the sword, or else carried away captive; for nearly two thousand years they have been monuments of God’s displeasure against sin, suffering the aggravated and complicated woes denounced against sin.”
2. “The Gentiles.” From the time that Abraham was called to be the father of God’s peculiar people, God did not deal directly with any nation upon the earth, save the Jews. Until Nebuchadnezzar’s time God’s throne and presence were in the midst of Israel. From the time that the Jews were carried away captive into Babylon, “the sovereign power in the earth ceased to be immediately exercised by God, and was confided to man, among those who were not His people, in the person of Nebuchadnezzar. This was a change of immense importance, in respect of both the government of the world, and God’s judgment of His people. Both led the way to the great objects of prophecy developed at the close―the restoration, through tribulation, of a rebellious people, and the judgment of an unfaithful and apostate Gentile head of power.”
We have an account of this great change, in the prophet Daniel (chapter 2), “Thou, O King, art a king of kings; for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the heaven, hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.” The times of the Gentiles begin here. The power which was thus bestowed on the Babylonian king, descended to the Medes and Persians; from thence it passed into the hands of the Greeks, and then to the Romans, the last kingdom represented by the image. The Roman empire, though after a while it was broken up into a number of separate kingdoms, continued its name in these kingdoms, and will continue it till the coming of the Lord. It is by this power that the Jews have been so fearfully wasted and oppressed. At the end of their seventy years’ captivity a portion of the Jews returned to Jerusalem, but they were mere tributaries to the Persian king, they never afterward had any independent government of their own. They were under the Roman yoke when Christ appeared amongst them, and they could not put their Messiah to death without the consent of the Roman governor, and the assistance of Roman soldiers. A second time their city and temple were destroyed by the Gentiles, and the Savior Himself declared that Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, Luke 21:2424And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (Luke 21:24).
But these times will not last forever. God hath not cast off His people whom He foreknew. He will fulfill in due time the covenant of grace that He made with Abraham their father. They will yet be a great nation, and the head of all other nations―the center from which blessing shall flow out to all the nations of the earth.
Even in our day we may see the beginning of God’s restoring grace to His people, in giving them back much of their land, and part of their ancient city: and this makes us look forward the more eagerly to a complete fulfillment of all the promises made to the fathers.
3. “The church of God.” The church, it will be seen, is something altogether distinct from both Jews and Gentiles. Christ came to the Jews―His own people, but they received Him not. He was despised and rejected of men. Jews and Gentiles united in accomplishing His death. By this act of crowning wickedness the condemnation of both was sealed. But God overruled all in richest sovereign grace. The blessed Jesus, rejected by men, having accomplished the great work of redemption, was raised from the dead, and placed at the right hand of power where He now waits till His enemies be made His footstool. So long as He is seated at God’s right hand, repentance and remission of sins are to be preached through His name in all nations. Whosoever of all these nations receives this message―believes the gospel―is pardoned, saved, and becomes associated with the rejected One of earth and the glorified One in heaven. In God’s sight, the moment the Jew receives this message of mercy, he ceases to be reckoned a Jew; and the moment the Gentile receives it, he ceases to be reckoned a Gentile. This is a point of immense importance in the dispensational ways and dealings of God. The Jew, when he believes in Christ, dies to all his liabilities or privileges as a Jew, and to all his fondly cherished hopes of an inheritance in the land. The Gentile dies to all share in the earthly power which, for a while, is lodged in Gentile hands.
What then, it may be asked, are they? They form a part of the true church, and the world has no place for it. They are but strangers and pilgrims now in this world. Their home is on high. They are called to share their Lord’s humiliation on earth during His absence; they will share His glory when He returns.
Another truth of great practical importance now appears very plain; namely, that the church of God, the body of Christ, had no existence in fact till after the death, resurrection, and glory of Christ in heaven, and the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. It is not true, as many suppose, that “the church of God consists of all saved persons from the beginning to the end of time.”
The saints who compose the church, we readily admit, have many things in common with the Old Testament saints; such as, being quickened by the same Holy Spirit, justified through the same precious blood, preserved by the same almighty grace, and destined in resurrection to be conformed to the image of God’s dear Son. But the wondrous distinction of being Christ’s body, His bride, baptized by the Holy Ghost, and thus one with Him as the exalted Man in the glory, are blessings peculiar to the church. In place of the church consisting of all believers from the beginning to the end of time, it is limited in scripture to the assembly of true believers from the day of Pentecost―when it was formed by the Holy Ghost come down from heaven―to the descent of the Lord Jesus into the air, to receive it to Himself in the Father’s house of many mansions.
It was by the cross that the middle wall of partition was broken down, that Jews and Gentiles might be formed into one body. “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain (Jews and Gentiles) one new man (not a continuation of the old, nor an improvement of the old, but ONE NEW MAN), so making peace.” Eph. 2:14, 1514For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; (Ephesians 2:14‑15).
The Coming of the Lord and the Rapture of the Saints
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 many pamphlets issued 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. 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.
There is no instance in the New Testament in which death is spoken of as the coming of the Lord. The two events are spoken of rather as contrasts than as identical. When we die, our spirits, separated from the body, go to Jesus—absent from the body, present with the Lord. By death, the believer is separated from his fellow Christians on earth: when the Lord comes all believers will be gathered together to Him in heaven. The dead will be raised in glory and the living changed into His likeness, and all caught up to meet the Lord in the air, 1 Thess. 4:13-1813But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For 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. 16For 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. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13‑18).
We will now turn to Paul’s first Epistle to the Thessalonians as most convenient for our present purpose. In chapter 4 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 the fact 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.” (Chapter 1:9, 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 at any moment. Indeed, so full were they of the Savior’s coming that they had 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. (Chapter 1:8-10). 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 importance. Modern theologians say of those who have this hope today, 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 he 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 the Apostle 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!
O Lord, the bright and blessed hope,
That cheered us through the past,
Of full eternal rest in Thee
Is all fulfilled at last.”
(Sir Edward Denny)