WHAT a scene of indescribable glory, that will be when the Lord Himself shall descend to gather His redeemed to the home He has prepared for them! What a moment of unsullied delight when at the shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, His sleeping saints, raised, and living saints, changed, “shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so they shall be ever with the Lord.” All the hosts of the redeemed shall be marshalled there in bodies of glory, instinct with divine life―the saints of old, who on the faith of a promise were worshippers, pilgrims, soldiers, those to whose faith dens and caves bore witness, “of whom the world was not worthy;” the elders and just men who “died in faith, not having received the promise,” shall be there; “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;” “Noah, Daniel, and Job;” “Moses and Elias,” shall be there; Abel, and the long line of martyrs; Aaron, and the Lord’s priests; Samuel, and the Lord’s prophets; David, and the men of faith who sat on his throne; all God’s renowned ones, the perfected just, shall stand in that scene for which they in faith waited. “The Church of the first-born,” too, as the bride prepared for her Lord, shall take her place there―all down to the last re-born soul, who shall form the completion of the mystery. She, too, will recount her worthies in that morning; the many who have stood forth in other days, and who stand forth in our own day, as the witnesses of God’s truth, and the heralds of God’s salvation―all shall ascend together, and swell the countless multitude of Christ’s own―shall take their place, too, in their respective glories, “every man in his own order”―star differing from star in glory, and each reflecting the image of Jesus. There will be seats, too, in the kingdom; thrones for rulership over the tribes of Israel; mansions in the Father’s house; thrones around the throne of God―all shall be occupied by the redeemed, each invested with the insignia sovereign love has assigned to him. All will “know even as they are known”— each known to each—all known to all.
What a season of unutterable joy, of holy intercourse, of uninterrupted communion! But the rapturous thought of each one of this innumerable company will be, they are Christ’s: “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.” To be Christ’s own will be a source of deep unmixed pleasure then (should it not be now?). The absorbing object of their heaven-inspired vision will be CHRIST; to be forever with Him; to behold Him; to cast their crowns at His feet, paying the heart’s deep homage to Him in one united utterance of “Thou art worthy, for thou west slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood.” The power of Christ’s resurrection will be applied to the bodies of His saints; they will be raised because He has been raised, by virtue of having His life, and being indwelt by His Spirit; they will be presented in the perfection of that life, in its full triumph over death, and Him who had the power of death; they are raised, not for judgment, that to them is passed―Christ bore it for them—but because they are Christ’s; Christ’s resurrection was the first-fruits, and the pledge of that abundant ingathering. He was the first sheaf presented to the Lord, the sample and earnest of the harvest that shall be then gathered into the garner of God; they will be raised up, and presented in the glory with Him. He is the expression of the glory, and they stand in Him. The reunited dust shall be reanimated and vivified with divine life; the weakness shall be transformed into power, corruption into incorruption, dishonor into glory, the natural body into a spiritual body; it will bear the impress (image) of the heavenly, even as it has borne the image of the earthy. Where is the sting of death? Gone! Where the grave’s victory? Gone! Victory full, complete, eternal, is theirs—Satan bruised under their feet forever.
The saints will stand before the tribunal of Christ to receive the rewards of the kingdom; but they will appear there as glorified saints. No stain of sin shall be there; the last trace of the curse shall have been removed; the reproach of Egypt clean and forever rolled away. The death of the slain Lamb shall be learned in the light of the glory and in the presence of God.
Earth may move on still in its course and projects, as it did when its light was set in the darkness of the cross; its religion may go on, too, quite compatible with its godless pursuits, until judgment break the spell of its delusion, and dissolve the dream, awaking men to the dread reality of “falling into the hands of the living God.” The light, God’s light, shall have been removed to its own proper sphere, there to reflect each its peculiar brightness, “shining as the brightness of the firmament,” “as the sun in the kingdom of their Father,” being with Him who is the sun and center of that heavenly system, undimmed, unobscured by the clouds of unbelief or doubt. They are with Him as He moves on in the course of the counsels of God, whether relating to the heavens above or the heavens (earth?) beneath. In the presence of His glory they shall be presented faultless, “with exceeding joy.” Will He “take his great power and reign,” swaying the scepter of righteous supremacy over a judged and renovated earth? They will be with Him there! After the course of the kingdom shall be complete, and He shall have delivered up the kingdom to the Father, will He be tabernacled in the home, the dwelling-place of righteousness, in the new heavens and new earth? They that are His will still be with Him. They are Christ’s present and eternal portion, and their place is to be “forever with the Lord” ―whether in the kingdom, or in the new heavens and new earth, they will enjoy the rest of God in its perfection, and bear witness to His glory in the exalted sphere in which grace has set them, and for which grace has adapted them. The hope for which we wait is not judgment, not the kingdom set up, not Israel’s restoration, or the deliverance of creation from its present bondage―all true in its place―but God’s Son from heaven! He is coming not to fulfill prophecy, but to fulfill promise― “I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” Judgment waits for this! the restoration of Israel, creation’s deliverance―all waits suspended until the rapture of the saints― “they that are Christ’s at his coming.”
After the Lord Jesus has gathered His own to Himself in the heavens, He will make good the prophetic word in its bearing towards the earth, and deliver creation, bringing it into the liberty of redemption.
Well may the affections of the heart be moved at the prospect! Well may the sound of that well-known scripture reverberate in the inner man, “Behold I come quickly!” Yes, He is coming to appropriate to Himself that which He has purchased at His own personal cost; to whom He can say, “I have redeemed thee; thou art mine!”—to surround Himself with the trophies of redeeming love. The Father’s will, will be fully accomplished in the resurrection and glorification of those who were the object of it. For this they were saved. Our necessities were not the first cause; God is glorified in the redemption He has wrought, and the objects of His love are prepared for the glory that awaits them. They shall stand in the clear, unclouded light of divine righteousness, and be at home there. The robe in which they are arrayed is divinely righteous, and meet for the occasion. God, resting in the complacency of omnipotent love, will welcome them to Himself. His own immediate presence will be their rest; His unclouded glory the sphere of their worship; God and the Lamb their light and their temple. He will dwell in their midst; they, His people―He, their God.
What a prospect! Even the anticipation of such a hope lifts our spirits above the clouds and mists of earth; but we need purified hearts to be prepared to allow the rays of that glory to reach within and shed its light abroad there; there should be nothing allowed discordant with that holy scene; it will darken the vision, and confuse the affections. The Holy Spirit will be leading us within to look after the house, and rid it of its corruptions and intruders, instead of opening the windows of the heart to allow the light of a new heaven to fill and irradiate it with its illuminating glory.
Oh that our constant position may be, as those who are “turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God,” “to wait for his Son from heaven,” with the heart purified and the eye single, with staff and girdle, ready to welcome the shout in the air whenever it may be uttered―ready, with nothing to leave behind that would retard our upward flight―nothing that may clash with that oft-expressed desire, “Amen I even so come, Lord Jesus!”
ANON.