According to this teaching the Apostle, who had received apostleship
not of men but from the Lord, whom he saw in glory, the Apostle to whom
was committed the Gospel of the Glory of the blessed God and to whom
was made known the mystery of the Church, and that _all_ believers are
members of that body, this great Apostle and instrument through whom
God gave the greatest revelation, did not know himself that he belonged
to the body. He did not know it in spite of his sufferings and labors;
he had to suffer some more, and only when he wrote Second Timothy had
he a special revelation that he had labored and suffered enough. How
ridiculous and more than that, insulting to the work and the Word of
our Lord Jesus Christ! And if it were true what this book teaches, how
dreadful it would be for almost every believer, for but few, if any,
labor and suffer as Paul did, and we could have, even if we did, no
assurance concerning our membership in the body and our share in the
first resurrection, except by _special_ revelation. But such a special
revelation is nowhere promised in the Word.
We shall return after a while to the argument of Philippians.
But let us give the answer to the question, "_Who will be caught up
when the Lord comes?_"
Every person who fell asleep in Jesus belongs to the company which is
mentioned in first Thessalonians, "the dead in Christ shall be raised
first," and every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, who lives
when the assembling shout comes from the air, will be caught up in
clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And if believers, as it is the
case, were ignorant of the coming of the Lord, had absolutely no
knowledge of the fact and therefore did not wait for Him, they will
nevertheless be caught up. Let us make the statement as strong as we
possibly can. Supposing the Lord came tonight to take His own out of
the earth. Let us suppose a person who lived a very wicked life, but
an hour before the Lord comes believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and is
saved and accepted in the Beloved, made a partaker of the heavenly
calling. This one saved by grace, though ignorant of the truth of God,
would be caught up like the oldest, most matured Saint who loved His
appearing for many years. Think of the dying thief. He pleaded
"Remember me when thou dost come into thy kingdom." The assurance
comes back to him, who could do no works to gain a prize, who was so
ignorant in all spiritual matters, "To-day thou shalt be with me in
Paradise." When the Lord comes with the assembling shout the body of
the thief, saved by grace, as well as the body of Stephen, whose is a
martyr's crown, and Paul's and every other one who was saved by grace
will be raised up and we, meaning every saved one together with them,
will be caught up.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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