72 Jesus sympathizes w ith us in th a t sor row (cf. John 11:31, 33, 35), b u t even th a t sorrow will be largely swallowed Up in th e clear prospect of eternal reunion in a world where th ere is no pain, nor sickness, nor death, nor. sor row, nor crying (cf. Rev. 2 1 :4 ).
THE KINCh' S B U S I N E S S pu t himself in the class th a t had fallen asleep, so he classes him self w ith those who were still alive, as he certainly was a t th e tim e of w riting. I t is not a t all unlikely th a t P aul hoped a t th is tim e to rem ain alive un til Jesus came, bu t he does not say he would, he nowhere teaches th at. However, he was not looking for death b u t for the com ing of his Lord, and th a t is what, we all Ought to be looking for. Looking for death is no t the Christian attitud e, n eith er is looking for “ the trib u la tio n ” th e Christian attitud e. The Christian a ttitu d e is looking for Jesus (cf. Luke 12:35,38; Matt. 24:42-44; Tit. 2:14; 2 Pet. 3:12, R.V.; 1 Cor. 15 :15 ). THURSDAY, Ja n u ary 16. 1 Thess. 4: 16-18. Verses 16, 17 tell why “we th a t are alive, th a t are left unto th e coming of the Lord,” shall in no wise precede them which are fallen asleep, th e Lord is now in heaven (cf. Acts 1 :9 ; Eph. 1 :2 0 ), b u t “ the Lord H imself shall descend from heaven.” He will not merely send His Spirit or a g reat revival, or an arm y of angels; He shall descend H im self (cf. Acts 1 :11 ; John 1 4 :3 ; Heb. 9:28; Phil. 3:20, 21). He shall descend “w ith a shou t.” The ^word tran slated “ shou t” is a m ilitary word, th e shout of command. The though t is, He will come as a m ighty conqueror, giving the word of command to the hosts of heaven as He g athers them to victory over Satan and his hosts (cf. 2 Thess. 1:7, 8; Rev. 19:11-21), and also th e word of command to those in the graves to come fo rth (cf. Jojin 5:28, 29). He will come, too, w ith “ th e (or, a) voice of th e (or, an ) archangel (Michael-M” Jud e 9; Rev. 12:7— or some o ther arch angel), and w ith th e trum p of God,” assembling the people (cf. Num. 1 0 :2 ). Then w hat happens? F irst, “ th e dead in Christ shall rise.” The re st of the dead arise no t for a thousand years (Rev. 2 0 :5 ). Second, those believers who are still living on the earth “shall tog eth er w ith th em (i. e., togeth er w ith the dead in Christ ju s t raised ) be caught up in clouds (cf. Acts 1 :9 ; Rev. 1 :7 ), to meet th e Lord in th e a ir.” We om itted the “ th e ” before clouds because th e re is no “ th e ” in the Greek text. However, th is does not w arra n t th e though t th a t some find in th is verse th a t-th e “ clouds” refer to “ clouds” of believers who are to be caught up;
WEDNESDAY, Ja n u ary 15. 1 Thess. 4: 14, 15.
In vs. 14-17 P aul declares the tru th th a t should forever banish hopeless sorrow. (1) “Them also th a t are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring w ith Him (i. e„ w ith Je su s).” The words tran slated “ fallen asleep in - Jesu s” more literally tran slated would read “ laid to sleep by (or, th rough ) Jesu s.” It is Jesus who lays our loved ones down to sleep when we say, “ they are dead.” And God will bring them w ith Him who laid them to sleep. " If we believe th a t Jesus died and rose again ,” we know th a t th is is so. This very tru th th a t “ Jesus died and rose ag ain” upon which P aul now bases his message of com fort is th e same message he emphasized when he first preached to th e people in Thessa'lonica (cf. Acts 17: 1 -3 ).. This is also th e message we ought to emphasize. W ith th a t g reat tru th th a t JesuS rose again, which is a solid fact of history and not a mere speculation of th e philosopher, as a basis, we can go on to every glorious tru th of th e C h ristian faith. (2) The second tru th th a t will forever banish hopeless sorrow is th a t about th e man ner of our Lord’s coming and what follows upon it. The revelations on this subject th a t follow are not merely P au l’s opinions: P au l solemnly declares th a t he says these things “ by (ra th er, in) th e word of th e Lord,” i. e., by direct Divine revelation (cf. 1 K ings 2 0 :35 ). “We th a t are alive th a t are le ft unto the coming of th e Lord, shall in no wise precede them th a t are fallen asleep.” We shall n eith er see Jesus nor en ter glory before them . Some have contended th a t P au l ta u g h t in th is verse th a t he would live unto the coming of Jesu s and th a t in th is he was m istaken: b u t if we look exactly a t w hat he says we find th a t he ta u g h t nothing of th e kind. It is tru e he divides believers in Jesus into two classes, those who rem ain alive to th e coming of Jesus and those who are already fallen asleep. As he had not as yet fallen asleep he could no t very well
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