“God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake (watch) or sleep, we should live together with him.”―1 Thess. 5:9, 109For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. (1 Thessalonians 5:9‑10).
THESE two verses in Thessalonians make plain and clear the place which the grace of God gives to a believing soul now. It is quite impossible that we can quietly or calmly think of things to come, which the Word of God plentifully brings before us, if we are not, in our own souls, clear before God as to present salvation.
The Spirit of God here brings out God’s appointment for the believer in Jesus The Gospel has brought salvation to men ruined and undone in their sins; and when the apostle says here, “God hath not appointed us to wrath,” he is speaking of the coming day of tribulation. The Lord coming like “a thief in the night,” will be the nature, and character of His apparition, by and by, to the world; but he comforts the believer by saying, “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Now mark how simple it is, “God hath not appointed us to wrath,”―whom does he mean by the “us”? Every believer, everyone who through grace believes in the Lord Jesus Christ―God has appointed us “to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us.” He died for me, is what faith says. Yes, He “died for us, that whether we wake or sleep,”―when He comes back in the air to gather up His own people, “we should live together with him.”
Now, before going further, let me ask, Are you ready for the Lord’s coming? and if He came today, would you “live together with him”? Would you live with Him? You say, “I am trying to live for Him.” That won’t do; I don’t get eternal life by trying to live for Christ; I get salvation as a poor lost sinner by simply accepting that which the grace of God presents. Jesus has become man, and then having displayed perfect goodness, love, grace, and holiness all through His life, He was cast out of the world―that is, He was sent back to the spot whence He came, by the way of the cross. He wrought thereon the work that gives you and me title to go where He has gone. Thank God, I know that I am going. When will you say, “I know that I am going?” If you do not know, I say, in the language of the hymn―
“Haste, traveler, haste.”
It is time you knew, because, beloved reader, the coming of the Lord will settle everything. His return―and it may be tonight―will settle everything for your precious soul. If you do not “live with Him,” you will know in eternity what it is to die without Him. Oh, what a solemn thing! What a blessed thing to live with Him, the One who died for us, gave Himself for us, went down to death for us, bore our sins in His own person on the tree, agonized for them, atoned for them, blotted them out with His own precious blood, met all the claims of God in respect of them, and then going into death, and into the grave, He takes the sting out of death, and breaks the bars of the tomb; He rises and goes into glory, and He says to us, who know Him, I am coming back for you, that “where I am, there ye may be also.”
Thank God, we have not been appointed to death, and to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us. Blessed be His name, praise His name! Believe on Him, and get hold of the benefit of His death, ―and what is that? Salvation, pardon, peace, righteousness, before God. Get hold of all the benefits that accrue from the wonderful death He has died, and the atonement He has made, and then you can say, “He died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.”
I would just like to add, dear reader, that if you are not ready to keep this blessed appointment, you will certainly have to keep two other sad appointments which God has made for man. One is recorded in Hebrews 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27). It reads thus: “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” The other is found in Acts 17:3131Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31). “He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness.”
Here, then, unsaved sinner, you may see appointed by God―first, the day of your death; and second, the day of your judgment, and that will mean the second death, which is the lake of fire. You know not the day of either of these appointments. God does. They may be very near. Neither do we know the day of our appointment, but it could not come too soon. It is to live with Jesus; to be ever with the One who has saved us. Your appointments are to die once, yea, twice. In the first death you pass out of man’s sight. In the second death you pass out of God’s sight forever. Awful thought! Forever sundered from God, who is love, and in whose presence is “fullness of joy”! Do be persuaded to come to the Saviour now. He is waiting, and willing to bless you. Linger not in the hope of getting better, or making yourself fit for Him. All your fitness is to know your need of Him. Your sins are no barrier. But for the death of Jesus they would be an insuperable barrier for “without the shedding of blood is no remission.” But, thank God; Christ has died. His blood atones for, and cleanses from every sin. All you have to do is to simply come to Jesus, just as you are. You trust Him. He will save you. “Look unto me, and be ye saved,” is His own blessed word. Look then to Him and live. Yea, be saved, and know it too. If you are wise, you will believe the Gospel now, and securing the first appointment, will quite possibly escape the second, and may rest assured you can never undergo the third (see John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)). W. T. P. W.