(Continued from page 69.)
The same comforting truth is taught, though I in a different way, in the following golden passage:"I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him" (i Thess. 4:13, 14). The rendering here " in Jesus " is not the exact thought of the original. The little Greek word dia, here translated "in," means through. The revised has "through" in the margin as being the Greek. Dean Alford renders the passage '' Them also which fell asleep through Jesus will God bring together with Him." Darby's version has through -"Those who have fallen asleep through Jesus." Young gives it, "Those who sleep through Jesus." The American Bible Union version has "Those who fell asleep through Jesus." That is, those who die in the faith of Jesus have a blessed hope through His death, declared in His resurrection, His rising being a sure sign of full and finished atonement by His death. So this blessed sleep through Jesus gives assurance of a blessed resurrection.
The apostle goes on to unfold the blessed hope of both those who sleep and those who are alive and remain till the Lord's return. "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:then 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."
The same hope is continued in the next chapter:"Let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him."That is, those who are of the day, when the Lord returns, whether awake-that is, alive-or asleep in death, they will be thought of, and will be changed or raised, and so live together with Him; or, as it is in the previous chapter, "be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, and so be forever with the Lord."Blessed hope! Blessed hope! We are indebted to the Lord Jesus, who died for us that all this might be ours. How our hearts should be won to Him!
The following rich passage will lead us to the thought that death is a servant to the household of faith:"All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours:and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's" (i Cor. 3:21-23). The apostle here is evidently referring to things which are blessings to those who belong to Christ; and he puts death among the "all things." In another place he says, " All things work together for good to them that love God" (Rom. 8:28). And the passage on which we are dwelling includes persons-devoted and useful persons-among the "all things,"namely, Paul, and Apollos, and Cephas. And what were they to those to whom the apostle was writing ?He tells us in his second epistle to the same assembly, '' We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake" (2 Cor. 4:5).Thus Paul and Apollos and Cephas were the servants of believers; but death is placed in company with these servants:so that death, though in a different but blessed way, is a servant to the household of faith. But is not death an enemy? Yes, the word of God calls it that. But an enemy may not be in a position to harm you. If you are in his hands he can harm you; but if he is in your hands, or in the hands of your all-powerful Friend, he cannot harm you, and may be obliged to render you service. Such is the relation of death to the household of faith-a conquered enemy, through the death of Christ, put in the place of service. It would not be well for all the children of God to remain awake during the long, dark night of the Lord's absence. So this dark servant is used to put them asleep one by one until the day dawn and the Lord come, when those who sleep will awake, and those who are alive will not sleep:yea, all, dead and living saints, will be "changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump " (i Cor. 15:52).
So the Christian nearing the departing hour may exultingly sing:
Death is but a servant
To set my spirit free
From all that now is mortal,
The Lord's blest face to see ;
And soon He'll come in beauty,
To change this body "vile ;"
Then shall I "be like Him,"
And ever know His smile.
So if the blessedness of going out of the body to be with the Lord may be compared to the passing of Jordan on dry ground, surely the redeeming of the body may also be, seeing that it will be accomplished by a most signal display of divine power. The untold millions who have died in faith will, in the moment hid in the mind of God, rise in a new and blessed life; and those who have not died when that moment arrives will be changed, sharing the same blessed life. All this will be done in a point of time, like the lightning flash, or, as we have just seen, "in the twinkling of an eye." This is what the inspired Word says, and faith desires no more. And nothing is too hard for the Lord; and, precious thought,
"His love is as great as His power,
And knows neither measure nor end."
Thus the advantage of death being but a servant to believers does not stop with their spirits being with Christ, however blessed that may be, but the body, though "dead because of sin," the sin being atoned for, can be redeemed. Indeed, it is already redeemed by price, by blood; so that the body can now be the temple of the Holy Ghost, the value of the blood being thus divinely owned. The redemption of the body by power must follow. "If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8:10, 11). Those who have the first-fruits of the Spirit are waiting for "the redemption of the body" (Rom. 8:23). So the dark servant will not abide in the house forever. "They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world . . . cannot die any more" (Luke 20:35, 36). "There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:for the former things are passed away" (Rev. 21:4). Thus death, with all the results of sin, will be dismissed, and have no further place in the family of the redeemed. Blessed hope indeed! And all through Jesus! Blessed be that peerless name!
Without further proof, which might be given, it is clear that death, coming to those who are the Lord's, must come in grace, if it come at all. It is equally clear that they will not come into judgment for their sins. They have believed in Jesus, who shed His blood for the remission of sins, and God says:" Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." True, " it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." This is the awful situation into which the devil got us through Adam's sin, and our sins. So, to take us from under the appointment to judgment as well as death, "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Heb. 9:27, 28). Thus, instead of appearing to judge His people for their sins, He appears for their salvation.
It is true, however, that the apostle is addressing believers where he says, "We must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:10, R. V.). Though believers are saved by grace without works, yet their works are to be good, and they will be rewarded according to such works; and so far as their works have been " bad " they will suffer loss. All this the word of God makes plain. Happy for those who so use the grace which has saved them as to receive a full reward.
O beloved in the Lord, let us think where grace found us, and see how fully through the Cross it has met our sad and deep need, leaving no part of our ruin unmet:-
"Death and the curse were in our cup-
O Christ, 'twas full for Thee!
But Thou hast drained the last dark drop,
'Tis empty now for me.
That bitter cup-love drank it up :
Left but the love for me."
Yes, yes, He has done it all, left naught but love; all, all, is in grace to those who believe in Jesus. God may need to chastise them, but this is in love- this is for their good-it is to free them, in their spirit and ways, from that which injures, and that their lives may be the outflow of hearts fully won to Himself, waiting for His Son from heaven. R. H.