THE blessed office of the Bible, in which it dispenses comfort to the sorrowing souls of God's people by shedding the light of truth amid the most gloomy and depressing circumstances, is seen in a striking manner in connection with that revelation peculiar to the New Testament, viz.—the return of the Lord for the church.
This truth was first made known, in essence if not in detail, by the Lord Himself. On more than one occasion during His ministry, He spoke of the coming of the Son of Man—of the effulgence of His presence in a future day which should be the redemption of His people and the destruction of His enemies (Matt. 24 & 25.; Luke 21.)
But in John 14. the gracious Master dealt in a direct manner with the need of the hearts of His disciples both at that time and Subsequently. He had plainly announced to them His immediate departure; and, in consequence, sorrow had filled their hearts. What would be the world to them without their Lord `For His sake they had left all to become His disciples. Their “all” might not have been great, as some men count greatness. But they could leave no more. And now the One for Whom they had stripped themselves informed them that He was about to depart. They were borne down with grief at the news. But in the midst of their distress the Lord with the most touching sympathy bids them, “Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told 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 14:1-31Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2In 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. 3And 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 14:1‑3)).
The great fact, thus presented for the support of their souls during His absence is the assurance of His own personal return to conduct them to that special place He is gone to prepare. From the moment of His departure therefore they were invited to stay their hearts upon this promise of His coming to receive them to Himself (Acts 1.) As the same Blessed One, afterward said to the church in Thyatira through the evangelist who records these farewell words, as an encouragement to the faithful watcher through the dreary night, “I will give him the morning star” (Rev. 2:2828And I will give him the morning star. (Revelation 2:28)). It was not intended, neither was it needful that the disciples should know the day or the hour of His return. It was sufficient that He was coming, and, as He assured His waiting Bride, coming “quickly.”
It is not to be supposed that this coming in John 14 is a figurative reference by our Lord to the believer falling asleep. On the contrary, the decease of a Christian in the New Testament is invariably represented as a departure to be with the Lord, not as the Lord fetching such an one. As the apostle says, “I am in is strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ; which is far better” (Phil. 1:2323For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: (Philippians 1:23)). And again, “The time of my departure is at hand” (2 Tim. 4:66For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. (2 Timothy 4:6)).
We are not therefore at liberty to imagine that anything is meant but what is plainly implied, viz.—that the Lord distinctly promises to return shortly for those who are His. There could be no more effectual means of consolation than this. The Lord shows thereby that the very cause of their sorrow should in reality be a cause of joy and gladness. It was true, even as they deplored, that He would be absent from them; but they now knew that He would during His absence be occupied on their behalf, and that He would in due time return to lead them into a place of everlasting felicity with Himself.
This knowledge of the wondrous activity of His love was meant to raise their hearts and ours from occupation with the trials of a difficult pilgrim path, to read by faith even in the protracted absence of the Lord the proof of His concern in our ultimate blessing. Moreover not knowing the actual moment of His return our souls are kept on the constant stretch in joyous expectancy of seeing Him. And in the light of such a prospect of eternal gain, a moment's loss or pain appears but a trifle indeed.
And this truth that is revealed in John 14 in a most general way is further expanded and applied in the Epistles, and not seldom with a similar purpose of consolation. Let but one instance only be referred to, viz.—that of the saints at Thessalonica. They, like the disciples, were in sorrow, though for a different reason. Their sorrow, the apostle intimates, was due in a measure to lack of knowledge of what would be the effect of the Lord's coming upon the sleeping saints. One purpose of the epistle was to enlighten them upon this matter and by that means to remove the cause of their grief. “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.”
Evidently, the Thessalonian saints were imagining that those of their number who had fallen asleep would on that account miss the peculiar joys attendant upon the Lord's return. For this reason they were cast down. Their loved ones had not only been taken from them, bitter enough where the light of truth had not yet dispelled heathen darkness, but it was an added pang that the departed ones would thereby be prevented from greeting the Lord at His expected advent.
The Lord, however, does not deal with them as with the widow of Nain, the ruler of the synagogue, and the sisters of Bethany. He comforted these by restoring their dead to life. Here the apostle is specially commissioned “by the word of the Lord,” to administer consolation to their aching hearts by telling them that, so far from the sleeping saints losing their share in the bliss of the Lord's arrival, they would in point of fact be the first to participate in the manifested power and blessing of His presence.
It is plain, therefore, that their anxiety and grief rested entirely upon a misapprehension. And how much trouble of mind God's children pass through, which is similarly based!
But the scripture, in every such case as in this, disperses the mists of ignorance or distorted truth, and thus afford the truest comfort.
It remains to say a brief word of warning against those who seek to rob the saints of the consolation of the New Testament as well as of the Old. Proud men lacking faith do not hesitate to accuse the apostle of ignorance, of error, and even of worse. They scruple not to annihilate the hope of the church at a blow, and, “feeding themselves without fear,” filled with all worldliness, content enough with the pleasures around them, have no desire that the Master should return to bring them to account for their unfaithful stewardship. But let us cherish the word of His promise, which no word of man can ever invalidate. And may “our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God even our Father which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work” (2 Thess. 2:16, 1716Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, 17Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. (2 Thessalonians 2:16‑17)).
W. J. H.