The church of God is moving on to a grand goal, to the glorious time when our Lord shall present His church to Himself, as we read, " Christ also 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. 5:25-2725Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27That 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. (Ephesians 5:25‑27).) Here we get the grand hope of the church, the consummation of all her desires, even to be presented to her Lord as His spotless bride with exceeding joy, -to be like Him, to be with Him forever. This will be better even than Pentecost. The end is more glorious than the beginning. What a tribute to the power and patience of our Lord that in spite of all the evil that has corrupted the church of God, our Lord will have a bride suitable to Himself. Sure it is that the enemy has done his best all down the centuries to destroy the testimony to the Lord, but Christ's building on the confession of His name shall never be destroyed, the gates of Hades shall never prevail against His church.
The great moment of the church's triumph will he when the Lord shouts the assembling shout at His second coming, when in response every sleeping saint will arise, and every living saint changed, and ALL together caught up to be with the Lord forever. (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); 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).)
Some would-be expositors of the word teach that the church in its entirety will not be caught up at the second coming of Christ, that unfaithful Christians will be left behind to go through the great tribulation, and only the faithful Christians will be caught up.
It can be easily proved from Scripture that this teaching is quite unscriptural. The Corinthian assembly was far from perfect. There were in it factions and parties. They had in their midst a shocking case of immorality, and did not mourn over it. Saint was going to law with his fellow saint to their great discredit. Some were guilty of evil teaching, viz.: denying the resurrection of the body. Some forgot the sacred character of the Lord's supper, so far as to make it an occasion for carousals and getting intoxicated. So great was the scandal that many of their number were weak and sickly, and many were removed by the hand of death in the government of God, as not fit to render testimony to the Lord on earth. If ever there was a moment to say that only the faithful would be raptured to glory at our Lord's second coming, here surely was the occasion to do it.
Imagine for a moment that you were present when the Apostle Paul's inspired letter was read for the first time to the gathered saints. With what shame they would listen to the enumeration of their shortcomings and sinful practices. If they knew that the coming of the Lord would be alluded to in this epistle, how intense would be their listening, and how great would be their wonderment whether some of their number had forfeited their hope of being caught up by our Lord at His coming.
But not a word do they hear of a partial rapture, of an incomplete church being caught up. On the contrary, to their surprise and relief they hear these words: “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 (lead shall be raised incorruptible, and WE shall be changed." (1 Cor. 51, 52.) One would think that this passage is plain beyond words. ALL means ALL. There are no qualifications whatsoever. No hint of any distinction between saint and saint. It might be urged by those who teach the partial rapture theory, that " a moment " might mean a lengthened period of time, just as " the accepted time " has lasted for nearly two thousand years. The Scripture, however, defines how brief this moment is, even " the twinkling of an eye," which takes less than a second to accomplish. It would be senseless to think of discrimination in such a short space of time. Further the Apostle Paul joined himself with these Corinthian believers, saying, " WE. shall ALL be changed."
Moreover, if saints on earth are to be discriminated against as being unfaithful, to be consistent the same process must be carried out with the dead in Christ. One has never yet heard of a partial rapture teacher advocating this latter, and yet it is obvious that if the one were true, the other would be.
Rom. 8, alluding to the second coming of Christ, speaks of " the redemption of our body " (verse 23). The fact of the word " redemption " being used in this connection takes the subject out of the region of responsibility, and places it on the ground of the sovereignty of God, and of the efficacy of the atoning work of Christ. ALL believers, thank God, stand on common ground here.
At the very end of the Book of Revelation we read, " And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come." (Rev. 22: 17) "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." (Rev. 22:2020He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. (Revelation 22:20).) What a moment of surpassing Soy it will be when our Lord calls His bride to His side. What a joy when we shall behold Him, when we are like Him, and with Him forever, when the church shall be presented to Him without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, when every trace of sin's sad story shall give place to the glorious perfection of new creation.