03.05. The Catching up of the Church
The Catching up of the Church
"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord . . . the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and 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 Thessalonians 4:15-17. The Lord’s Last Words. — Satan’s Complete Defeat — The Law of Gravitation. — That Blessed Hope.
"They that are Christ’s at His coming." The presentation of the church to Christ will take place in heaven, and of course it must be caught up into heaven for that great event, and further, that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He must come for it Himself. Moreover, it must be there in its completeness or it would not be a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. This fact alone is enough to show how false is the doctrine which some hold of the "partial rapture" of the church. We may be sure that when the marriage of the Lamb takes place His wife will not be a partial or mutilated wife. Again we speak of the fact that the last words ever spoken by the Lord to His church are, "Surely I come quickly." They show what a place His coming for His blood-bought church has in His thoughts. When He had communicated the whole revelation that God had given Him to His servant John, He added this last personal word of tender, yearning love, "I come quickly." And surely that word goes directly to the heart, and calls for this response, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus"?
One of the strangest things in the church’s history is that this great hope seems to have been entirely forgotten for centuries. These words which should have lived in the hearts of the church, seem to have been little treasured or understood. It is strange that even now they should affect so little those who know and understand them. Yet we have not to go far to find the solution of this strange thing. It is revealed in the Lord’s words to the assembly at Ephesus, "I have against thee that thou hast left thy first love." The church has backslidden and has ceased to watch, and though the cry, "Behold the Bridegroom cometh" has gone forth with the greatest clearness, the mass of believers continue to be indifferent, as though they understood not the meaning of that midnight cry, nor wished to. Yet the moment is drawing on when the Lord will fulfil His word, and will "descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God." That shout will be a shout of pent-up joy, that will burst from His heart and lips, because the time of waiting is over at last. It will be a shout of triumph and power, an assembling shout, that shall ring through heaven and earth and down into the grave; and in response to it, "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." What an hour of triumph that will be! The air is the seat of Satan’s power now, he is the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2). But there in the very seat of his power the Lord will meet His church. The powers of darkness will not prevent the meeting. How they will cower and tremble in complete defeat, as the triumphant Lord meets His triumphant church in the very region where they thought themselves supreme!
Unless we are prepared to argue that words do not mean what they stand for, or that the Lord uttered vain words when He gave this revelation to His servant Paul, we must believe that the moment is coming when the dead in Christ will be raised up, and with them millions of people, the whole of the blood-bought church, gathered out of every nation, tribe, and tongue, will be caught up from the earth to meet the Lord in the air, to be for ever with Him. They will disappear suddenly and completely from every place, condition and pursuit, in which they have lived, to be seen no more by the world until they return with Him to reign over the earth. That this appears an impossible thing to the human mind unenlightened by the truth, we admit; it is incredible to everything but faith; and we are quite prepared to hear the scoffer contend that the law of gravitation would prevent such a thing. But by the Word of the Lord it is revealed to us, and faith lays hold of that and says, "With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible." And what says the Word? "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout," and the shout of the Lord is mightier than the law of gravitation, for in that shout will be the power by which He is able to subdue all things to Himself. The law of gravitation is a natural law, and controls natural bodies, and the scoffers overlook the fact that we are to be changed in that hour of the Lord’s triumph. Our natural bodies are to be transformed by His mighty power into bodies of glory, like unto His own glorious body, and what law will control them? Not any natural law, but the law of the glory. Natural laws for natural bodies, but the law of the glory for bodies of glory; and the law of the glory is that Christ is supreme, and that He will draw up to Himself everyone that is of Himself and like Himself. This is that "blessed hope." It is not the improvement of the world, as men dream, for "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived" (2 Timothy 3:13). It is not the conversion of the world by the gospel, for the Lord Himself asked the question, "When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8). And when He does come back to the earth with His glorified saints He will not be welcomed by glad and rapturous multitudes, but "all tribes of the earth shall mourn" (Matthew 24:30). "And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him." It is not the universal revival of divine life and energy in Christendom, for "the love of many shall wax cold," and "the time shall come when they will not endure sound doctrine" (2 Timothy 4:3), "when they shall have the form of godliness but deny the power" (2 Timothy 3:5). This blessed hope is not centred in the world, or in Christendom, but in Christ; it is the hope of His coming, it is centred in Himself — in "THE LORD JESUS CHRIST OUR HOPE" (1 Timothy 1:1). "And everyone that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (1 John 3:3).
"Oh! bright and blessed hope!
When shall it be
That we His face, long loved,
Revealed shall see?
"Oh! when — without a cloud —
His features trace,
Whose faithful love so long
We’ve known in grace?"