What a privilege it is to go back through all the confusion of error and human opinion, and, on the one hand, hear again the pure gospel as preached by the inspired apostles, and by it to see souls brought at once into the enjoyment of the full and everlasting favor of God, as we have seen a Lydia, a jailor, and the heathen of Thessalonica; and, on the other hand, it is equally important and interesting to trace the effects of this gospel on the hearts and lives of these first converts. Let us, then, now turn again to the first inspired epistles written to these young converts.
The first thing we notice, as indeed the first fact presented in the first letter written (1 Thess. 1:1), is this: all these young converts formed the assembly of the Thessalonians in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ. This, we learn elsewhere, is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And though few understand this, yet it is as true now as it was then. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles." This was of God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Have we not sadly departed from the truth of God? The apostle then gives thanks, as we have seen, for three other effects of the gospel—"your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father." Now, though Christ had been preached to them, not works, for salvation, yet how abundant and precious to their Lord were these fruits! We have already noticed the immediate certainty of salvation in every case, in this beginning of the assembly of God in Europe. We would now especially call attention to that patience of hope, which occupies so much of both these epistles, in contrast with the day of the Lord. And as we do so, we would ask the reader to compare the effect of the gospel then with the state and thoughts of men in these last days.
In the very first days, then, of the assembly of God, these poor dark idolaters were "turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." What a power was this to turn men in three weeks from all the antiquity, fashion, and grandeur of heathen worship! It was indeed testimony to the true and living God. "And to wait for his Son from heaven." This could not be to wait for the coming of the Spirit, for the Spirit had come some twenty years before. Here, then, is a fact; the whole church of God waiting for His Son from heaven. Is it so now? If not so, men must have departed from the state and faith of the saints, as seen of God in the beginning. What a state! What a hope- waiting for the Son of God from heaven! It is further evident that a true servant of Jesus Christ then had no other hope. "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?" (Chap. ii. 19.) What a motive for service, that unclouded moment, when the bride shall be presented glorious, without spot, to her Lord!
And mark, this hope was intimately connected with the yearning of the heart for holiness. " To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints." (Chap. iii. 13.) Thus the coming of the Lord was inseparably connected with the gospel of God as first preached in Europe. And evidently, where the coming of the Lord is not taught, it is not the full gospel of the scriptures. Further, we find that as this hope constantly occupied their hearts, they located for the Son from heaven. The apostle had no other hope concerning them; as the coming of the Lord was the crowning glory of the gospel, when they should be unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father. Other, and most important instruction concerning this absorbing subject is now given to them.
As we have seen, the coming of the Lord could not possibly mean the coming of the Spirit, neither could it possibly mean death, for the apostle now puts the coming of the Lord before them, to comfort them in the sorrows and circumstances of death. "But 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. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." (Chap. iv. 13.) Now plainly the coining of the Lord cannot mean death, for it is "them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."
There are, then, two most distinct aspects of the coming of the Lord presented, both of immense moment to us in these last clays, now "the night is far spent." Nothing can exceed the joy and blessedness of the one, or the terror and sudden destruction of the other.
The first aspect of the Lord's coming, indeed the very first thing to be expected, was thus revealed to the apostle. "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." Shall not prevent, or go before, them that 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." Oh, what blessed facts are these revealed by the Lord to His servant, and to us! Yes, how deeply they concern us who are alive and remain! The Lord Himself shall come into the air. The dead in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. Could anything be more sure, more blessed, more comforting? "Wherefore comfort one another with these words." These words may not agree with the opinions of vain men, but they do agree with the precious promise of Christ: " In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." (John 14:2.) How sweet, then, with this full revelation, was the patience of hope of these first believers! What ought it to be to us, so near the coming of the Lord? How blessed thus to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come! Perfect purity, and eternal peace, will then be our happy portion; we shall be forever like and with the Lord.
But there is the other side, the other aspect, of the coming of the Lord, as clearly brought out to these young converts. And this, though so young in the faith, they understood quite well. "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them.... and they shall not escape." What a contrast this is to the coming of the Lord to take His saints. As the apostle says, "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light," (fee. This judgment and wrath on the rejecters of the truth is further described, in contrast with the saints who shall have entered their rest. "And to you who are troubled, rest with us: when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints" &c. (2 Thess. 1:7-10.)
The Lord Jesus had spoken very distinctly as to the sudden and unexpected manner of His coming in judgment on the living. He said, "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory." "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not, until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." (Matt, 24) You will notice that this entirely forbids the thought of the world's conversion by preaching the gospel. What was the state of the world when God destroyed it by the flood? Spread out before the eye of God, what did He see? "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." "And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark." "And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in." (Gen. 6; 7) They had heard the preaching of Noah, and had rejected it. They are in prison now—that is, their spirits—waiting eternal judgment. Is the world any better now, since it has killed the Lord Jesus, and to this hour rejects the grace of God? Have you found grace in His sight, as Noah found grace? Have you come to Jesus, the true and only Ark, as Noah and his house came to the ark? a Come thou and all thy house into the ark." Tomorrow may be forever too late. The Lord shut him in. Shut in, or shut out; which is it? As this year—nay, as the day of grace—fast comes to a close, where are you—in the ark, or outside? Certainly you are either with the happy, " we who are alive and remain," or with that poor deceived world, those who say, " Peace and safety." And mark, it is when they shall say so, sudden destruction cometh upon them. Sudden and as unexpected as the flood, men paying as little attention to the warning now as then. If a despiser of God's word should read this, let us remind you of one who said, u Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice?" (Exod. 5:2.) The Lord hardened the heart of that proud and haughty despiser of His word. These young converts at Thessalonica were informed it would be so again at the coming of the Lord, and for this very reason, " because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thess. 2:10-12.) Still, the door is open; still, in boundless grace, forgiveness of sins is preached to thee. But, oh, beware, today the church may be taken to meet the Lord in the air, and the day of mercy may be past forever. In righteousness, no longer mercy, God may then harden thy heart as He in righteousness hardened the defiant Pharaoh. Is it nothing that thou perish forever in everlasting fire?
How vast the difference, then, between the hope of the church, as plainly taught these young converts in the days of Lydia, and the sudden and terrible judgments that shall follow! This is a point, however, greatly overlooked in modern times, even by those who profess to believe in the coming of our blessed Lord. The coming of the Lord to receive His saints was placed first, and distinct from His coming in judgment, called "the day of the Lord." Not only is this distinction taught them, in the contrast of chapter iv. 15-18, and chapter v. 1-6, as we have seen; but when they had been troubled by someone, as though the day of the Lord was at hand, or already come, the apostle says, " Now I beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled." (2 Thess. 2:1, 2.)
Yes, through divine mercy, we who are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, may rest with divine certainty on this and every atom of truth taught thus at the beginning—that the first thing for us, our very future, is the coming of the Lord to receive us unto Himself; then, after that, the terrible judgments on this rejecting, yet professing, and despising world.
If, then, at the beginning the coming of the Lord was such a glorious part of the gospel of God, is it not so now? And if the effect of that gospel was to turn poor sinners to God, to serve the living and true God, to wean them from all below, and to wait—what a word!—to wait for His Son from heaven, ought it not to be so now? God grant that it may be so more and more -turned to God, weaned from all of Satan's world below, and waiting for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.