The Beneficiaries of the Redeemers Return.
"The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with
all His saints" (1 Thess. 3:13).
THE BENEFICIARIES OF THE REDEEMER'S RETURN
OR
THE SCOPE OF THE RAPTURE
CHAPTER SEVEN
We come now to a phase of our subject which
has given rise to much controversy. Sad it is that the "Blessed Hope" should
have been an occasion for contention. But, just as men have divided into
different camps over every fundamental doctrine of Scripture, so have sides
been taken in regard to various points which bear upon our Lord's Return.
Alas! "What is man?" Surely "an enemy hath done this." One of the points
upon which Bible teachers and students are divided is that of the scope
of the Rapture. Some have taught that at our Lord's descent into the air
all of His saints will be caught up to meet Him; while others insist
that only a small part of the Church will be removed from the earth at that
time - that part which is obedient, faithful, spiritual. Thus, translation to
heaven at the second coming of Christ is made a matter of merit and reward.
What saith the Scriptures? Do they teach
a partial or a total rapture of the Church which is Christ's body? Do they
declare that all believers will be removed from earth at the time our
Lord descends from His Father's throne, or, that only a few of them will?
Clearly, they cannot teach both, and surely a matter of such moment is not left
indeterminable. We cannot believe that a question of such importance is left
an open one. Yet, we are not unmindful of the fact that the advocates of each
position referred to above, appeal to the Word in support of their views. But
just here we would ask, Are the Scriptures pressed into service really relevant
to the point at issue, and will they actually bear the interpretation which is
given them?
What saith the Scriptures? and
particularly, What is the explicit teaching the the Church Epistles? If
we are seeking to find the inspired answer to the question, Will the whole
Church or only a part of it, escape the judgments of the Great Tribulation?
then, surely, it is to the Church Epistles we must turn for information.
We are not here arguing that there are no Scriptures which treat of the
first stage of Christ' second coming outside of the Church Epistles, for
doubtless there are - for example John 14:1-3 - yet, we repeat, If the question
before us concerns the Church, then the testimony of the Church Epistles
must decide the dispute. If this much be granted - and personally we do
not see why it should not - then the range of our inquiry is narrowed
down and the issue is simplified. It is highly significant that almost all of
the passages which are in dispute (as to interpretation) between the advocates
of the conflicting schools are outside of the Church Epistles: in other
words, the verses which are made the occasion for controversy are found, for
the most part, in the Gospels, in Hebrews, or in the Apocalypse.
To one who is a beginner in the study of
Dispensational truth and is unacquainted with human writings upon the second
coming of Christ, the teaching of the Church Epistles on this subject appears
to be simple and harmonious. Those passages which deal at greatest length with
the return of our Lord and the taking of His people to be with Himself, seem to
set forth no limitations in regard to the number of the saints which
shall be translated. Such expressions as, "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" (1 Thess. 4:16,17); "They that are
Christ's at His coming" (1 Cor. 15:23); and "We shall all be changed in
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Cor. 15:51); certainly appear
to teach the rapture of the entire Church, and, ought not we be very
slow to accept any conflicting line of teaching which would compel us to
abandon the obvious meaning of these verses, and instead, have to give
them a strained interpretation so as to harmonize them with something
which is foreign to their plain signification? Yea, is it not evident
that any system of teaching which would compel us to do this carries with it
its own condemnation?
What then saith the Scriptures and what is the
testimony of the Church Epistles? The present writer believes there can be
only one answer to this question, namely, that every member of Christ's body
will be raptured at the time our great Head comes to conduct His blood-bought
people to His Father's House. We believe this, not only because a number of
Scriptures expressly affirm it, but also because some of the great basic
principles which underlie both the Gospel, and what is known as "Church truth,"
demand this conclusion and repudiate the other alternative. We would now
humbly submit to the prayerful and careful attention of our readers some of
the grounds for our belief in a total rather than in a partial
rapture of the Church which, in faithfulness to our apprehension of God's Truth
on this subject, we must denominate the partial-rapture theory.
1. Because GRACE is that which characterizes all God's dealings with His own
during this dispensation and grace, necessarily, eliminates all distinctions of
personal merits.
The advocates of the partial-rapture theory
declare that only those who are intelligently and eagerly looking for the Lord
will be caught up at His return. They affirm that none save those who are
walking worthily and who are faithful to the end will be taken to be with the
Lord when He descends into the air, and that only such, will, subsequently,
"reign" with Him during the millennial era. They teach that all un-spiritual
believers will be left behind on earth to suffer the judgments of the Great
Tribulation. As a consequence, not a few of the Lord's people have been
harassed and distressed, fearful lest they should be among the number who are
rejected by the Lord at His coming. We are told that none but those who attain
some high standard of spirituality will be raptured, but when we ask for a
precise definition of this standard none can enlighten us; when we inquire, How
faithful and how worthy we must be in order to be among the select company who
shall be taken to the Father's House, none can give us a satisfactory reply.
Hence, instead of the Return of our Lord being a blessed hope it becomes
a source of bewilderment and anxiety.
It appears to the writer that there is one
Scripture which simply and satisfactorily disposes of every objection which can
be brought against the affirmation that the entire Body of Christ will be
raptured at the appearing of our great Head. We refer to 2 Thess. 2:16 -
"Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved
us, and hath given us everlasting consolation, and good hope through
grace." Here we learn that the "Hope" which has been given to God's people
in this Age, like every other blessing we enjoy, is "a good hope through
grace," hence, all questions of worthiness, merit, desert, are forever
ruled out. Let us settle it once for all that the Dispensation in which we
are living is a unique one, that it is fundamentally different from all
that have preceded it and from that which is to follow it - the Millennium.
This is the Dispensation of Grace, and grace obliterates all distinctions,
grace eliminates all questions of merits; grace makes every blessing a Divine
and free gift. But, the human heart is essentially legalistic.
Man wishes to have a hand in his own salvation and desires to contribute
something to the price of his redemption. When, by grace, the Holy
Spirit has taught a soul that the Finished Work of Christ is the sole ground
of our justification before God, when he has learnt from the Scripture of
Truth that the Blood of the Cross cannot be plussed by anything from the
creature, then it is that the Enemy comes to that heart and seeks to disturb
its peace and rob it of the liberty wherewith it has been made free, by
insisting that faith in Christ merely puts us in a salvable condition, that
believing the Gospel simply places us on an extended probation, and that only
if we obey God's commands and walk worthily before Him shall we be taken to
Heaven at the close of our earthly pilgrimage. This is Law mingled with Grace;
thus is the precious Blood supplemented by human works. Instead of realizing
that good works flow from a heart that is filled with gratitude to God and
which are constrained by the love of Christ, the believer is led to believe
that good works must be performed by him as a condition of his eternal
salvation. But, even when the believer has been delivered from this error, the
legalistic tendency of the human heart still seeks an outlet, and in our day it
is manifested in reference to the Blessed Hope of the believer. The saints are
now taught that their Rapture and Glorification are not "through grace" but
will be the result of personal effort and attainment. Thus does the leaven of
legalism work to the robbing of God of His glory and the believer of his
peace.
Again we say, let us settle it once for all that
we are living in the Dispensation of Grace (John 1:17; Eph. 3:2) and that every
blessing we enjoy is a gift of Divine clemency. We are justified by
grace (Rom. 3:24). We are saved by grace (Eph. 2:8). The Holy Scriptures are
termed "The Word of His Grace" (Acts 20:32). The Third Person of the Holy
Trinity is denominated "The Spirit of Grace" (Heb. 10:29). God is seated upon
a Throne of Grace (Heb. 4:16). And, the Good Hope which is given us is
"through grace" (2 Thess.2:16). It is all of Grace from first to last. It is
all of Grace from beginning to end. It was grace that predestinated us before
the world began (2 Tim. 1:9), and it will be grace that makes us like Christ at
the consummation of our salvation. Thank God for such a "Blessed
Hope."
2. Because the Rapture is the CONSUMMATION OF OUR SALVATION and therefore,
being an integral and essential part of our salvation it cannot, in anywise, be
determined by our personal worthiness.
Our salvation will not be complete until the
Return of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the New Testament "salvation" is threefold
in its scope - past, present, and future; and it is threefold in its character
- from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin, and from the presence of sin.
The penalty of sin is "death" (separation from God), and we are delivered from
it because our Substitute died for us on the Cross - "Who His own self bare our
sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24). But while every believer has
been completely and eternally saved from the penalty of sin - from the wrath to
come - while it is true that there is no sin ON us (all our iniquities were
"laid" on Christ - Is. 53:6), yet, sin is still IN us. The evil nature remains
even in the one who has been born again. Yet, notwithstanding this, Christ
also indwells each of His own people and from Him may be drawn grace and
strength and thus, day by day, we are being saved from the power of sin.
But we shall yet be saved from the very presence of sin - "For
our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned
like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even
to subdue all things unto Himself" (Phil. 3:20,21). At our Lord's return we
shall be completely emancipated from the dominion and pollution of sin. It was
this the apostle Paul had before him when he wrote - "And the very God of peace
sanctify you wholly - completely, i.e. in each part of our threefold being -
and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto
(at) the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess. 5:23).
We have thus shown that our salvation will not be
consummated until the Return of our blessed Saviour, that not until then shall
we be completely "conformed" to the image of God's Son (Rom. 8:29). It is not
until Christ's second advent that the purpose of our predestination will be
fully realized, for it is not until then we shall be "glorified" (Rom. 8:30).
If then salvation is by grace and if Christ is our Saviour - our
Saviour from the presence of sin as well as from its penalty and power - then
our own works (our obedience, faithfulness, service, etc.) are not the
determining factor, nor even a contributing factor. Salvation is not
partly of grace and partly of works, if it were we should have ground for
"boasting" and Christ would be robbed of at least a part of His glory. Once we
see that the time of our Lord's Return is the time when our salvation is
consummated, and once we see that salvation is by grace, through faith,
and not of works, then it will be clear that it cannot, in anywise, be
determined by our personal worthiness.
3. Because to make our Rapture dependent upon anything in us is to attack the
Finished Work of Christ.
We do not charge the advocates of the
partial-rapture theory with intentionally doing this, nay we are fully
satisfied that most if not all of them would shrink back in horror from
wittingly committing such a sin. Yet, we do say that this is the logical and
actual outcome of their teaching. A long drawn-out argument is not needed to
prove this after what we have said above under the first two heads. If the
Rapture is the consummation of the application of our salvation then
anything which makes that salvation, or any part thereof, dependent upon
anything in or from us, necessarily attacks the Finished Work of Christ upon
which alone our salvation rests.
As we have already said, the Rapture is the time
when Christ returns to conduct His blood-bought people to the Father's House
(John 14:1-3). What then is it that gives title and fitness for the
Father's House? Surely there can be only one answer to this question. Surely
none but those who are ignorant of the character and contents of the Gospel of
God would declare that our wretched works are needed to supplement the
Cross-Work of Christ. But, blessed be God, the point we are now considering is
not left to be determined by logical deductions, but is the express subject of
Divine revelation. In Col. 1:12 we are exhorted to give thanks unto the Father
"which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light." The "inheritance of the saints in light" is not a matter of
attainment as certain teachers are today affirming, but is an occasion of
thanksgiving to God, because it is due solely to His grace. Observe carefully
the tense of the verb here: it is not we are "being made meet," still less that
we are making ourselves meet, but "which HATH made us meet." Again we
ask, What is it that gives us title to the inheritance of the saints in light?
And we reply, Nought but the precious blood and infinite merits of our great
God and Saviour Jesus Christ. What was it that qualified the "Prodigal" for a
place at the Father's table? Did he have to submit to a lengthy probation
after he returned home and before he was permitted to feast with
the Father? No; the "best robe" - which is the portion of every believer - was
all that was needed. Was not the "Repentant Thief" made meet for the
inheritance of the saints in light the same hour in which he believed?
Unquestionably, for our Lord assured him, "Today shalt thou be with Me in
Paradise." If then the "best robe" was all that the Prodigal needed to fit
him for a place at the Father's table, and if repentance toward God and faith
in our lord Jesus Christ was sufficient to translate the Dying Thief to
Paradise, is it not clear that nothing further will be demanded of those whom
the Lord shall conduct to the Father's House at the time of His Return?
4. Because the Rapture of a part of the Church only, would leave the remainder
of it still upon the earth and that would prevent the manifestation of the Man
of Sin.
The picture that is presented in 2 Thess. 2
is an exceedingly solemn one. There we learn that the mystery of iniquity
which was at work even in the days of the apostle Paul and which has been
hindered from coming to complete fruition will yet head up in the appearing of
the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition. The coming of this Devil-Man will be
"after the working of Satan will all power and signs and lying wonders and will
all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish." Then it will be
that the Devil is allowed "free rein." Then it is that, through the
Anit-christ, Satan will deceive the whole world. There will be many on earth
at that time who in former days had listened unmoved to the preaching of the
Gospel and had treated with scorn or indifference its gracious offers. hence,
"because they loved not the truth, that they might be saved ** God shall send
them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie that they all might be
damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
We have said above that 2 Thess.2 pictures a time
when the Devil will be allowed "free rein." This will be the season when all
his diabolical scheming will attain its full development in the manifestation
of the Son of Perdition. Today it is otherwise. In this Dispensation, satan
is held in check, and his plans are not permitted to fully materialize. Today
it is impossible for the Man of Sin to appear on the stage of this world
as the above passage clearly intimates. Says the apostle, "Remember ye not,
that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know
that which restraineth, to the end that he may be revealed in his own
season. For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: only there is one
that restraineth now until He be taken out of the way" (2 Thess. 2:5-7,
R.V.).
The "mystery of lawlessness" (in contrast to "the
mystery of godliness," i.e. "God manifest in the flesh" - 1 Tim. 3:16) will
terminate in the Satanic parody of the Divine incarnation - the bringing
forth by Satan of the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition. This Man of Sin will
be revealed "in his own season." That "season has not yet arrived. The
reference is to the Great Tribulation period. There are two entities which are
now preventing the appearing of the Anti-christ. They are referred to in 2
Thess. 2 as "that which restraineth" and there is "One that restraineth now
until He be taken out of the way." The former is the Church which is the body
of Christ; the latter is the Holy Spirit Himself. The Church which is indwelt
and energized by the Holy Spirit is now hindering and preventing the full
development of the Mystery of Lawlessness and the consequent appearing of the
Lawless One. Not until the whole of the Church and the Holy Spirit leave
this earth ("until He be taken out of the way") can the Man of Sin
appear.
Here then is a simple but conclusive argument
which all should be able to grasp. Passing by the question of - How would it
be possible for the Holy Spirit to be "taken our of the way" while many of
those whom He indwells are left behind on the earth - we would point out the
obvious fact that no part of the Church can be left behind on earth at the
Return of Christ into the air, or, otherwise, there would still be a
hindrance to the consummating of the Mystery of Lawlessness.[11] Christ declared that His disciples were "the salt of the
earth." They are God's preservative. They are His instrument for preventing
everything on earth going to utter decay and rottenness. But in the
Tribulation period everything on earth will have gone to utter
corruption as is clear from the words of our Lord - "For wheresoever the
carcass is, there will be eagles be gathered together" (Matt. 24:28) - a
prophetic utterance which will receive its fulfillment at the very season of
which we are now treating. We are told that in the days which immediately
preceded the Flood "All flesh had corrupted his way upon the
earth" (Gen. 6:12) and our Lord declared, "But as the days of Noah were,
so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matt. 24:37) i.e. - His coming
back to the earth: the conditions which He will find prevailing here at that
time.
We repeat, at the Rapture and during the
Tribulation period everything on earth will be morally and spiritually
rotten. Even God's judgments at that time will have no other effect than to
cause earth's-dwellers to "blaspheme God" (Rev. 16:11 etc.). Hence, is it not
evident that the whole of the salt (except that which has "lost its
savor," i.e., formal professors) must have first been removed: that the church
and the Holy Spirit which now make impossible this total
corruption must first be "taken out of the way"!
5. Because for the believer there is "no
judgment" and all upon earth during the Tribulation period are unquestionably
the subjects of God's judgments. One of the most blessed, most remarkable
and most far reaching utterances which fell from our Lord's lips while He
tabernacled among men is that recorded in John 5:24 "Verily, verily, I say unto
you, He that heareth My word, and believeth Him that sent Me, hath eternal
life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into
life." Nothing could be simpler than this. The one who has received Christ as
his or her Saviour is for ever beyond the reach of Divine "judgment." We quote
this verse from the Gospels because the same assurance is given to us in the
Church Epistles. There, also, we read, "There is therefore now no
judgment to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1).
In the above verses an unequivocal assertion is
made which requires no great learning to understand. Every believer has been
justified by God Himself, justified eternally, justified "from all things"
(Acts 13:39). The result of this decision in the High Court of Heaven for
those who have been pronounced righteous is that there is for them "no
judgment." Hence it ought to be clear that no believing sinner who has been
"accepted in the Beloved" can possibly be left on earth during the Great
Tribulation, for at that time God's sore "judgments will be on the earth. That
then will be the time when God's Judgments are let loose needs no arguing - the
last book in the Bible makes that abundantly clear. The "seven golden vials"
in which are stored up the concentrated and long suppressed "wrath of God"
(Rev. 15) will then be poured forth upon the world which crucified the Lord of
Glory. To teach then, that any of the members of Christ's Body will be left
behind on earth to suffer these judgments is to repudiate the express testimony
of our Lord to the contrary, is to undetermine the glorious doctrine of
Justification, and is to make God's children the subjects of His "wrath"
instead of the objects of His love and grace.
6. Because nothing can separate believers from the Love of Christ.
To those that believe perhaps the most
precious and amazing truth in all God's Word is Christ' Love for His
own. Unlike human love, His love knows no change. Unlike human love,
nothing can separate us from His love - "Who (or "what") shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Thy sake we
are killed all the day long: we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay,
in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved
us" (Rom. 8:35-37).
The time when our Lord's Love will be fully
exhibited and publicly displayed (before all Heaven's inhabitants) is that time
when He shall rise up from the Father's Throne where He is now seated. Then it
will be that he shall descend from heaven with a "shout." What will occasion
this "shout"? What is it that He is descending for? Is it that He may return
to the earth and take its government upon His shoulder? Is it that He may be
coronated the King of kings? Is it that He may vanquish His blatant enemies?
Is it that He may bind that old Serpent the Devil? No; important as these may
be, there is something else which must take the precedence; there is something
else which lies much nearer to His blessed heart. He descend to receive to
Himself His blood-bought people. Why? Because He loves them. He comes
for that Church which He loved and for which He gave Himself in order "that He
might present it (not a part of it) to Himself a glorious church, not having
spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing: but that it should be holy and without
blemish" (Eph. 5:27). Ah! this will be the time when "He shall see of the
travail of His soul and be satisfied," and think you He would be "satisfied" by
seeing an incomplete Church? To teach then that a part of the Church
will be left behind when our Lord comes back again to receive His people unto
Himself is to declare that something (unfaithfulness or unworthiness) will
separate some of the saints from their Redeemer's Love and thus Rom. 8:35
is repudiated. Moreover, it is to deny the comforting declaration of John 13:1
- "Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them to the
end." Therefore, we say, Because nothing shall or can separate any
believer from the Love of Christ, not one shall be left behind when He returns
to take unto Himself His blood-washed people. As it was declared of Israel of
old in connection with their leaving Egypt (type of the world) - "There
shall not a hoof be left behind" (Ex. 10:26).
7. Because the inevitable tendency of the partial-rapture theory is to get
believers occupied with themselves instead of with Christ.
We shall not now attempt to argue at length
what is a matter of common observation. One of the favorite devices of the
Enemy is to get the believer occupied with something other than Christ who is
"Our Hope." And, let us say it with emphasis, Satan cares not what that
"something" may be, providing it shuts out our blessed Lord. This is his
favorite device for the sinner. While ever the sinner is taken up with his
own works of righteousness, the Finished Work of Christ is excluded from his
vision. So it is with the believer. We are bidden to "Seek those things which
are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" (Col. 3:1). But to
hinder him from doing this Satan is ever seeking to get the believer concerned
with something else. With some it is "the mammon of unrighteousness;" with
others it is "the care of this world." With some it is politics and civic
affairs; with others it is Temperance reform work and Social-uplift activities.
With some it is an intellectual study of doctrine or prophecy divorced
from heart-occupatin with Christ; with others it is their own experiences and
attainments.
The life-task of the believer - blessed privilege
- was defined by the Lord Himself in that word to Martha, "But one thing is
needful" (Luke 10:42) - i.e., to sit at His feet and find our delight in Him.
O that we might come to the place where we can say actually and experimentally,
"Thou O Christ art all I want, more than all in Thee I find." But, as we have
said, this is exactly what Satan seeks to prevent, and one of his "wiles' for
preventing it (so it appears to the writer) is the partial-rapture theory which
today is unsettling so many of the Lord's dear people. Teach that
participation in the Rapture is a reward for faithfulness, and at once,
the eyes are turned from Christ to self. Necessarily so; for immediately, I
shall be occupied with my faithfulness, my obedience, my
diligence, my service, the effect of which will be the drawing of
invidious distinctions and the cultivating of an I-am-holier-than-thou spirit.
But teach that the Rapture is "a good hope through grace" and I shall be
occupied with my returning Lord. The Holy Spirit is here to glorify Christ and
not to magnify personal attainments, and whether or not a line or system of
teaching proceeds from Him may be judged by its logical and actual
tendency to glorify Christ by getting His people occupied with their Lord.
8. Because the partial-rapture theory introduces a situation that is full of
Confusion.
The leading advocates of the partial-rapture
theory teach that all believers who fail to come to the standard necessary for
participation in the Rapture will not only be left behind on earth to suffer
the judgments of the Great Tribulation but that such will have no part or place
in the Millennial kingdom, and therefore that they will not be raised from the
dead until after the thousand years.[12] Now apart from the fact that there is no
Scripture which teaches a resurrection of saints at the close
of the Millennium, we affirm that such a theory as the above involves confusion
of the worst kind. We are told that certain saints (many of them) because of
their unfaithfulness or failure to "look" for their returning Saviour will not
be raptured at the time our Lord descends to the air, in fact will not be
"glorified" until the close of the thousand years. Unquestionably there have
been many saints all through this Dispensation who failed to measure up to the
standard fixed by partial-rapturists and yet, dying hundreds of years ago, they
have during all the intervening centuries been "present with the Lord" (2 Cor.
5:8). What absuridy is it then which teaches that these saints who have been
with the Lord all these centuries, will nevertheless, be separated from
Him during the Millennium!
Again. During the Tribulation period there will
be on earth a Jewish remnant who will cry unto God in the language of
the Imprecatory Psalms. These Jews, harassed by the Anti-christ and persecuted
by his followers, will cry - "Consume them in wrath, consume them, that
they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of
the earth" (Ps. 59:13). They will exclaim: - "Keep not Thou silence, O God:
hold not Thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, Thine enemies make a
tumult: and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head. They have taken
crafty counsel against Thy people, and consulted against Thy hidden ones. They
have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of
Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with
one consent: they are confederate against Thee. ** Let them be confounded
and troubled forever; yea let them be put to shame and perish" (Ps. 83:1-5,
13-15, 17). Now could such prayers as these ascend from the lips of the
members of the body of Christ who have been saved by grace! The above
are inspired prayers which the Jews will appropriate to themselves in
the time of "Jacob's Trouble," but who can imagine Christians praying
such prayers? We have been instructed to be "king one to another, forgiving
one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (Eph. 4:32). The
saints of this Dispensation are told "Bless them which persecute you:
bless, and curse not" (Rom. 12:14). The requirement of the Church Epistles
is, "See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that
which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men" (1 Thess. 5:15). If then
a part of the Church were on earth during the Tribulation period we should have
the following strange anomaly - The Jews praying to God to take vengeance
upon their enemies and Christians praying to God to "forgive" these same foes!
Surely a theory which involves such confusion as this cannot be according
to the Scriptures.
The truth is that partial-rapturist's confound
entrance into the Kingdom with position of honor in it. All
believers who belong to this Dispensation will partake of the blessedness of
the Millennial era and will reign with Christ throughout it, but all will not
be on the same level. Special positions of honor will be allotted to those who
have qualified themselves for such (Luke 19:17, etc.). Special "prizes" await
those who shall win these marks of distinction. But this is quite another
thing from entrance into the Millennial Kingdom itself. Entrance into
that Kingdom is solely a matter of Divine grace, but an "abundant entrance"
into it is conditional upon our present fidelity to the Lord. New birth admits
us into the Kingdom of God (John 3:5), but diligent service, faithfulness unto
death, and loving the appearing of Christ are the several conditions for the
"crowns."
9. Because the Church Epistles plainly teach that ALL believers will be
raptured at the time of our Lord's Return.
In Rom. 8:30 we read, "Whom He justified,
them He also glorified." Glorification is co-extensive with justification.
This is admitted by all: the point at issue is- Will all be glorified at the
same time? We answer, as surely they will. Do we not read "We shall all
be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Cor. 15:51,52)? "We
shall all be changed" at the same moment, for the passage continues
"At the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be
raised incorruptible, and we (all living believers) shall be changed."
In 1 Cor. 15:22,23 we read, "For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own
order: Christ the firstfruits: afterward they that are Christ's at His coming."
Note particularly the words, "They that are Christ's at His coming."
How simple! how all-inclusive! how blessed! It is not "They that are faithful
or worthy." It is not "they that have attained some high standard of moral
excellence." It is not "they that have been unusually diligent and successful
in service." But "They that are Christ's." That is all. It is simply a
question of belonging to Christ, being one of His people.
In 2 Cor. 5:10 we are told "For we must all
appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; they every one may receive
the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good
or bad." That un-faithful believers are not excluded from this
appearing before the Bema of Christ is clear from 1 Cor.3 - "Every man's
work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall
be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's word of what
sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall
receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but
he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire" (1 Cor. 3:13-15). There
will be some in that day who will "suffer loss," nevertheless, they will be
present at the Bema with their fellow-believers and furthermore, they will
be "saved." How remarkable it is that these comprehensive assurances are found
in the Corinthian Epistles - addressed to a church whose moral condition
was the worst of all the churches addressed by the apostle Paul, as if
to anticipate this modern heresy of limiting the Rapture to spiritual
believers!
In 1 Thess. 4:16 we read, "And to you who are
troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with
His mighty angels ** when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to
be admired in all them that believe." Observe once more the
universality of such a promise, and note, too, its simplicity and
how it turns back to first principles. Our Lord is to be admired in all them
that believe. All is traced back to simple faith. It is not at
all a question of worthiness or attainments. The same simple heart trust in
Christ which delivered us from the wrath to come, shall most certainly secure
for every saint a participation in the Rapture and a place in the
Millennial Kingdom, for this last quoted passage carries us forward to the
Millennium itself.
10. Because there is not a single Scripture in the Church Epistles which,
rightly interpreted, teaches a partial rapture.
How could there be? Scripture cannot
contradict itself. If the Pauline Epistles explicitly teach and expressly
affirm that "all shall be changed in a moment," that "they that are Christ's
at His coming shall be raised from the dead, that "we must all appear
before the judgment-seat of Christ" and that when our lord returns to the earth
to be glorified in His saints He shall be "admired in all them that believe"
then these same Church Epistles can not teach that a part of the Church
only shall be taken to be with the Lord, that merely a favored selection
from among His people shall be conducted by Him to the Father's House, and that
the remainder shall be left behind on the earth to suffer the judgments of the
Great Tribulation or be left in their graves until the close of the Millennium.
Even though there should be certain passages which seem to teach or
imply a partial rapture we know that it cannot be so, and that is is we who
fail to expound these passages in harmony with those which positively
teach a total rapture of the Church.
It is a fundamental principle of Scriptural
interpretation that whenever God's Word speaks plainly and emphatically on any
subject that obscure passages which treat of the same theme must be
explained in accord with those passages about which there is no dubiety. For
example, when we hear our Lord saying "My sheep shall never perish" etc. then
we know that in such passages as those of Hebrews 6 and 10, which treat of the
irrecoverable doom of apostates, the apostle must have had before him
professors and not persons who had been born again. In like manner when
we find a passage which appears to bear upon the Rapture and which is in
anywise ambiguous then we must not make it teach that which would conflict with
other passages which deal with the Blessed Hope and which are plain and
positive.
"That I may know Him, and the power of His
resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto
His death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead"
(Phil. 3:10,11). These words, "If by any means I might attain unto the
out-resurrection from among the dead" (Greek) are understood by
partial-rapturists to refer to a select resurrection from among the dead at the
time of our Lord's Return, and hence, they conclude that as the resurrection
here referred to is spoken of as a matter of attainment, then, only a
select company of believers will participate therein. But let us ask the
question, Does the apostle here refer to a physical resurrection? In
the New Testament the terms "death" and "resurrection" have a fourfold
scope, viz: - physical death and resurrection, spiritual
death and resurrection, judicial death and resurrection, and
experimental death and resurrection. We need not submit proof texts for
the first, but we will do so with reference to the last three.
In John 5:24-26 we read, "Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, 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. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and
now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they
that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in Himself; so
hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself." Now the words
"death" and "life" in this passage can only refer to spiritual death,
spiritual life, and spiritual resurrection - "passed from death
unto life." By nature we are spiritually dead - "dead in trespasses and sins"
(Eph. 2:1), but by the new birth we pass from death unto life. Regeneration is
therefore a spiritual resurrection.
Further. In Rom. 6:2 we read, "How shall we that
died to sin (Greek), live any longer therein? and in Col. 3:1 - "If then
ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above." These two
verses refer to the believer's judicial death and resurrection. This
side of the truth is little known or understood, but we cannot now dwell upon
it at any length. One word sums it all up - identification. On the
Cross there was a double identification - all believers understand the
first side of it, but few are clear upon the second. In the reckoning of God
and in the eye of the Law Christ was identified with us as lost sinners.
He took our place and bore our sins. He endured the full penalty of the broken
law in our stead. But further, (and it is deeply important that we should
apprehend this) in the reckoning of God and in the eye of the Law all
believers were identified with Christ. Hence, every believer can say "I
was crucified (Greek) with Christ" (Gal. 2:20). In the sight of God I died
on the Cross because Christ hung there as my substitute and what a
substitute does or suffers is imputed to the account of the one on whose
behalf he is acting. Hence, we repeat, in God's sight, when Christ died I
died, "died to sin," died to the law, died to the world, died to everything
that had to do with my old standing in Adam.
But further still. Death did not retain Christ.
He rose again, and in the reckoning of God I rose too, for all believers
were identified (reckoned one with) with Christ in His resurrection, so
that it is written, "But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love
wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins (spiritually, and
therefore, judicially), hath quickened (made alive) us together with
Christ" (Eph. 2:4,9). It is not our individual spiritual quickening (the
new birth) that is here in view, but our judicial identification with Christ -
"together with Christ." The next verse goes farther still and informs
us that, in the reckoning of God, all believers were identified with Christ
in His ascension - "And hath raised us up together (Christ and His
people), and made us sit together in the Heavenlies (Greek) in Christ
Jesus." Observe that this is "in Christ Jesus" which refers to our
position before God (compare "in Christ Jesus" Rom. 8:1) and is not at all
a question of experience or attainment. We are now prepared to consider the
fourth aspect of "death" and "resurrection."
Every believer in Christ has "died to sin," died
judicially not experimentally, died in the sight of God because he was
"crucified with Christ." Here then is where faith comes in. God
says I am "dead to sin" (Rom. 6:2), but "I don't feed dead to sin: my
experience shows me otherwise" says one. Beloved, it is not a question of
"feelings" or "experience" but of believing the testimony of God. Hear
Him: "Reckon ye also yourselves to have died indeed unto sin (Greek) and
to be alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:11). Here then is
the experimental death and resurrection. By faith I am to translate
into my practical life what is true of me judicially. Believing God's Word
which tells me I have died unto sin and that I am alive unto God
through (or rather "IN") Jesus Christ our Lord, I am now to live in the
realization and power of that truth. This is what the apostle had
reference to when he said, "Mortify (put to death) therefore your
members which are upon the earth" (Col. 3:5): the "therefore" looking back to
the previous verses where he had been discussing the believer's judicial
death and resurrection. It was as though he said, See to it that your
practical state corresponds with the standing which you have before God
"in Christ."
Returning now to Philippians 3. Here Paul is
speaking of "resurrection" but, as we have seen, the New Testament treats of
four different orders of resurrection, to which of them then is the
apostle here referring? Is he here speaking of physical resurrection,
spiritual resurrection, judicial resurrection, or experimental resurrection?
The context must decide. A close reading of the entire passage will
make it evident that it is experimental resurrection which the apostle
had before him. The whole passage refers to his practical experience
and is a biographical amplification of Romans 6:11. Beginning at the seventh
verse he says - "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for
Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things (how evident it is that the
apostle is here recounting a practical experience!), and do count them
but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in Him, not having mine own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know Him (the
Greek word here is "ginosko" and means know intimately), and the power
of His resurrection" (verses 3 to 10). The apostle yearned to live as one who
had been raised from the dead. He longed to walk in "newness of life." He
desired that he should no longer "serve sin." And the fellowship of His
sufferings, being made conformable unto His death." The apostle longed to
tread the same path his Lord had trod, to be baptized with the baptism He had
been baptized with, and to drink of the cup which He drank (Mark. 10:38,39).
"If by any means I might attain unto the
out-resurrection from among the dead" (Phil. 3:11), that is, if, by any means I
might experience the full and blessed effects of complying
completely with the terms of Rom. 6:11 - reckon myself indeed to have died unto
sin and be alive unto God. The apostle longed to apprehend or lay hold of that
for which he had been apprehended, namely, to be "conformed to the image
of God's Son." What he desired above every thing else for himself, was that he
might realize practically in his daily life, that which was true of him
judicially in regard to his standing before God. But had the
apostle fully achieved his ambition? Had he arrived at the place where he was
now beyond the reach of the lusts of the "old man"? Did he never yield to
temptation? Was he delivered from the very presence of sin? Nay, verily. The
language of the next verse is very emphatic - "Not as though I had already
attained, either were already perfect" (vs. 12). Here is proof positive
that in the previous verse the apostle was not writing about a future
resurrection of the body, for if participation in the first resurrection (or of
an eclectic resurrection at the return of Christ) is the reward for a life of
exceptional spirituality, the apostle here acknowledges that he himself did not
measure up to the required standard - and if he did not, who has? No,
this passage proves too much for the partial-rapturist, for in making
the resurrection of believers a matter of spiritual attainment he excludes
the Apostle Paul himself! It should be evident that the apostle is here
referring to an experimental resurrection, something which had to do
with his practical everyday life. Someone once said to an Irish brother, "Pat,
you are dead to sin: Your old man was crucified with Christ." "Yes," was the
reply "but, I'm frequently troubled with my ghost." Says the apostle,
"I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind (his successes and his failures; his attainments
and his sins), and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press
toward the mark (goal) for the prize of the high calling (or "vocation") of God
in Christ" (vss. 13,14). A further word on this last verse.
Note the apostle speaks of "the prize of the high
calling" which is quite distinct from the "high-calling" itself. The
"high-calling of God in Christ Jesus" is the judicial position which is
occupied by every believer. It is to this the apostle referred when he said,
"I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of
the vocation (the "high-calling") wherewith ye are called" (Eph.
4:1), and for those who do "walk worthy" there is a "prize." Did the
apostle succeed in winning it? We certainly believe so. 2 Tim. 4 is the
SEQUEL to Phil. 3! Listen to the beloved apostle as he has arrived at the
close of his earthly pilgrimage - "I am now ready to be offered, and the time
of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my
course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness (the "prize" he so earnestly coveted), which the Lord, the
righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all
them also that love His appearing" (2 Tim 4:6-8). May grace be given both
reader and writer to fight the good fight of faith, to finish our course with
joy, and to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered unto the
saints.
THE CHURCHWARD RESULTS OF THE REDEEMER'S RETURN
CHAPTER EIGHT
What will take place when our Lord comes
back again to receive His blood-bought people unto Himself? What will be
His portion and what will be their portion in that happy day?
What will be the results of Christ's second advent insofar as they
affect the Church? We say "the Church," though it would be more accurate to
speak of the saints, for Old Testament believers equally with the New
Testament believers, will share in the wondrous blessings and glories of that
glad occasion. How then will the Redeemer's return affect the redeemed? We
leave for consideration in our next chapter the question of the
worldward results of Christ's second advent. For the present, we
confine ourselves to the results, Chruchward, of the Saviour's appearing. What
will these be? What will be the order of events? Surely these questions are
of entrancing interest and profound importance. And blessed be God, they are
not left unanswered. It is true that the Holy Scriptures were not written to
gratify an idle curiosity, and that many questions which engage our minds are
passed over in silence; nevertheless, upon everything that concerns our vital
interests sufficient has been revealed to satisfy every trusting
heart.
Were we to attempt an exhaustive reply to
the questions asked above, we should be carried far beyond the limits of a
comparatively brief chapter. All we shall now essay will be to present to our
readers an outline which sets forth the most prominent features of this phase
of our subject as they are unfolded in the Word of God. Seven items will
engage our attention, namely: - The descent from Heaven of the Lord Himself,
The Resurrection of the sleeping saints, the Translation of living believers,
the Transformation of every saint into the image of our glorified Saviour, the
Examination and Rewarding of our works, the Presentation of the Church by
Christ unto Himself, and the Manifestation of the Church with Christ in glory.
May the One who has been given to take of the things of Christ and shew them
unto us, illumine our understandings and draw out our hearts in adoring
worship.
The one Scripture which sets forth more fully
than any other the order of events which shall occur at the Redeemer's return
for His saints, is found in 1 Thess. 4. In the course of these pages we have
had occasion to refer to this passage a number of times in various connections,
but we would ask our readers to bear with us while we quote it once more. "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" (1
Thess. 4:16,17). In this passage three things claim special notice: first, the
descent of the Lord Himself; second, the resurrection of the sleeping saints;
third, the translation to heaven of those believers which shall be alive on the
earth at that time. Before we enlarge upon these, we would first call
attention to the close relation the above passage bears to our Lord's words as
recorded in the opening verses of John 14 - "Let not your heart be troubled: ye
believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions: if
it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto
Myself; that were I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:1-3). There is a
fourfold correspondence between these two passages: the Saviour said, "I will
come again;" the apostle wrote, "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven."
The Saviour avowed, "I will receive you unto Myself;" the apostle declared that
the saints shall be "caught up together to meet the Lord in the air." The
Saviour promised, "Where I am, there ye may be also;" the apostle assures us,
"So shall we ever be with the Lord." The Saviour prefaced His gracious
promises by saying, "Let not your heart be troubled;" the apostle concludes by
saying "Wherefore comfort one another with these words." To borrow the language
of T.B.Baines, "There can surely be no question that these passages, running so
closely parallel, relate to the same event." How wonderful is the verbal
agreement of Holy Writ! How the comparison of one passage with another, brings
out the unmistakable unity of the Scriptures! And how this demonstrates
for fact that behind all the human amanuenses there was One superintending and
controlling Mind! Verily our faith rests upon an impregnable rock! But to
return to 1 Thess. 4. Let us view
[11]It is true that during the Tribulation
period there will be a godly "Jewish remnant" upon earth, but they will not
hinder the final development of "the mystery of lawlessness" and the appearing
of the Man of Sin and that for two reasons. First, this "remnant" will not
come to the fore with their testimony until some time after the "Son of
Perdition" is revealed (quite a number of Scriptures would have to be quoted to
prove our assertion, but note the exact point at which the "two
witnesses" of Rev. 11 are manifested), and second, the Jewish "remnant" will
not be indwelt or empowered by the Holy Spirit for He will have been
previously "taken out of the way."
[12]The present argument will not apply
against those who hold to a modified view, of a resurrection of the left-behind
believers at the close of the Tribulation period.