The Lord is coming! Yes! That is true; it is The Lord. But because I am a son of God I wait for Him to conk from heaven. The very inward life of the believer is formed in connection with the coming of the Lord. The night was dark when these epistles were written, but, as in a dark night, there was a bright shining of the Star in heaven. However dark the night, and however many difficulties there are, we should be able to see that bright Star.
The Thessalonians were not fully instructed as to the coming. Their minds were not at ease about those taken to be with the Lord. But Paul does not write only because they were puzzled and perplexed, but brings out the mind of the Spirit quite simply.
The first epistle to the Thessalonians was probably the first of all the epistles to be written and when the Lord thinks of us, what are His first thoughts about us? Of the deep sands of the wilderness? No. He knows there is a certain responsiveness of heart in us to the thought of His coming, and His thought is that we are waiting for Himself from heaven.
If He let them come to their wit's end. it was that He might show them that He could meet all their need and, at the same lime, demonstrate His love. He always takes occasion from any difficulty to show forth Himself.
If I get near the Lord Jesus Christ I find there is in His heart a specialty of things and affections for a people down here, who are waiting for Him. They are not waiting for the glory; that is another thing. It is a craving in His heart that cannot be satisfied until He comes to take us home to Himself. And can I think of this and not want to see Him? Formed for Christ's own individual presence, the heart cannot be satisfied till it gets there.
It is an immense help to remember that our Lord Jesus never forgets His coming—there is a fixedness of heart in Him to come and take the bride home to the Father's house, and I can have sympathy with Him in that.
The tomorrow of the believer is formed on the yesterday of the believer and is connected with His today. For where does a soul get peace but by going right inside the veil where Christ sits? You must see the connection between what Christ did on the cross with the throne of God in heaven if you are to have a hope "that maketh not ashamed.”
The anchor of your soul is settled in Christ within the veil, the accepted sacrifice. Many cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ where God hid His face from Him on the cross. That is the yesterday of faith—therein I have brought out the knowledge of my faith and of my acceptance before God.
Have you brought nothing else from the presence of God? Not the love He bears you? Was all the love of Christ spent in proving to you your access to God? Oh, no. I cannot have been intelligently in the presence of the Lord without knowing not only that I want Him, but that He wants me. G.V. Wigram