Perhaps your ears, my elderly friend, have become dull, and you no longer hear distinctly the sweet sound of the voice of your fellow-saints. Your communications with them are so rare and so difficult. But comfort yourselves. Soon, in the Paradise of God, you shall hear the sweet songs of the saints and of the angels; you shall then hear those unspeakable things which the tongue of Paul himself could not repeat, and which the ears of his brethren could not hear on earth. Meanwhile, be diligent to commune so much the more with the Lord Jesus, as you are able to do so less with men.
Perhaps your eyes, having become dim like those of the patriarchs, no longer distinctly discern the features of your relations or of your friends. You cannot any longer read in their eyes that mirror of the soul. The beauties of this earthly creation, in the midst of which God has placed you, are seen by you only as through the mists of an autumn day. But take comfort. Soon you shall see with the eyes of your glorified body, the splendors of a heavenly creation, the glory of which no eye of flesh could endure, were it as keen as that of the eagle. You shall see the saints and the glorious inhabitants of that new world, the cherubim, the seraphim, and the angels. Above all, you shall see the Lord Jesus Himself. He who by His obedience unto the death of the Cross, has purchased this happiness for you, and who remains forever the Center and the eternally flowing Source of all bliss. You shall be able to gaze on His blessed face, for it is written, “We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” And that sight will fill your heart with more joy and happiness than all the splendors of heaven itself.
Thus the thought of the near return of the Lord is eminently calculated to sanctify, by raising the heart above the earth, its cares, and its desires. And as it sanctifies while consoling, so it comforts while sanctifying. If this were a truth known experimentally, it would be sufficient to convince oneself of it by the words with which the Apostle Paul concludes the most complete picture he has given us of the coming of the Lord: “Comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:15).
The Thessalonians were very different in this respect from the majority of Christians in our day. They believed with a faith so simple, and so childlike in the near return of the Lord, that they did not doubt they would see Him without passing through death. But in their simple faith–and in some respects ignorance–they anxiously asked themselves what would become of those who from among them had “fallen asleep” in the Lord. It is on this point that Paul wishes definitely to instruct them: “I would not have you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.”
For that purpose, he first fixes their eyes on Christ, the first of the resurrected ones, the Firstborn from among the dead, the Cause and the Chief of all resurrection: “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also those who sleep in Jesus, will God bring with Him.” God will bring them back with Jesus, when He shall come to take possession of His own.
But this can give rise to the question: How can God bring these saints back with Jesus, if they are still on the earth? The apostle anticipates the objection, and answers the question by a special revelation of the Rapture of the Church into the presence of her Lord: “For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord (by a special revelation), that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise go before them which are asleep. For 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.”
How far this is from the dead in Christ being left in their tombs, and so losing their part in this glorious day of the coming of the Lord. They shall be the first to share in it, for we shall in no wise go before them–we who are alive and remain until that hour. On the contrary, they shall rise first. “Then we who are alive and remain,” shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
Here, then, is the appointed place of meeting given for the whole family of God, at which not a single one of its members shall be absent. For He who is responsible to present them there is the Lord Himself, the Faithful and True Witness, the Conqueror of death and the grave.
Comfort yourselves, then, by this hope, you who weep for beloved ones fallen asleep in the Lord. You shall find them again at that meeting place. Assuredly even today they are not dead. The God in whom they have believed, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, is not the God of the dead, but of the living, and all live unto Him. These, then, also live unto Him–in spirit–as said the dying Stephen: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). They, in a holy and happy rest, await–as we do here, in the wilderness–the redemption of their bodies, and the gathering together of the whole family of God. Then you shall find them again, no more with infirmities of all sorts, which made them groan. But then, transformed as regards this weak body of humiliation, into the likeness of the Lord, they shall be like Him. You shall find them, never again to leave you, as it happens in this world, where everything finishes with farewells. But then, all of us filled with the life of the Lord Jesus, shall be like Him, and with Him forever.
Comfort yourselves also by these words, ye who groan under the weight of the conflict against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Soon Satan shall be bruised under the feet of the saints, and they shall no more have to walk through the defilements of this world, where it is necessary to wash the feet every day. Clothed in white garments, they shall walk on the street of pure gold of the holy city. Such is the portion of him who shall have overcome. Be strong, then, in the grace which is in Christ Jesus, reminding yourselves that there is never a victory without a conflict, and that it is necessary that the laborer toil before receiving the fruits of his labors (Jas. 5:7).
Do you suffer from the infirmities of this body of sin? Paul also groaned under it; but he comforted himself in the hope of the redemption of the body at the coming of the Lord. “We who are in this tabernacle groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up in life” (2 Cor. 5:4). After having shown that the whole creation groans and is in pain until now, “we also” (he adds), “who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:23). Your weak body, worn out by infirmities, is not just an opportunity for suffering and humiliation for you, but also of support and of patience for others. Well then, like Paul, comfort yourself with the assurance that when the Lord shall come, He will ” transform this body of our humiliation, and will fashion it like to His body of glory.”
Then, as an instrument endued with power and blessing, it will move without any more trouble than our thoughts today, to wherever the service of the Lord shall call it. While waiting for this, call to mind these three great words–“Joyful in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer” (Rom. 12:12).