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w ill be a g reat “spread,” when th e F a th e r welcomes us to “ th e m arriage sup per of th e Lamb.” And all th e redeemed shall be th ere, whose names He has w ritten in th e Lamb’s book of life, and then th e “ callers” may come in, for we shall be “ a t home” w ith - Him. And then, “Blessed are they which are CALLED to th e m arriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev. 19 :9 ). The coming of th e Lord FOR the saints, is righ tly called, “ th e ra p tu re ,” because we shall be “ caught up” sud denly “ to meet the Lord in th e a ir.” 1 Thes. 4:15-18, describe th is g reat event, and these verses form a break or parenthesis in th e chapter, for v. 14 anticipates th e bringing of th e saints back WITH Jesus when He appears in glory. The coming of Christ for His church, prior to His revelation from heaven, is quite clearly butlined in th e minds of those saints who are looking for the Lord Jesus Christ, as Saviour, from heaven, according to P h il. 3:20, 21. But th ere still rem ain many dear, earnest children of God, who, because of deficient and defective teaching, are more o r ' less confused on th e subject. But th e Word makes these connected events Very clear, if we confine our selves to th e Word and accept its sim ple declarations. (5) “And th e Lord My God shall come, and all the saints WITH THEE” (Zech. 14 :5 ). We quote an Old T estam ent passage in order to show th a t the coming of the Lord to set up His kingdom on the earth , or His appearing in glory WITH His saints, was a well known prophecy from th e beginning. F o r even Enoch in his day spoke of this g reat event, as th e little ’ epistle of Jude inform s us ,(vs. 14, 15). But th e coming of the Lord FOR His saints, taken out from among Jews and Gentiles in th is age and formed by the Holy Ghost into “ one body,” was not* revealed in th e Old T estam ent because it was a p a rt of
coming into th e ir m idst, as a guiding and governing Center. (3) “ I will come UNTO thee quickly, • and will remove thy candlestick out of h is place, except thou rep en t” (Rev. 2 :5 ). This is Christ’s coming to an as sembly in JUDGMENT, th reaten ing to tak e away th e lamp-stand, which HE had placed in Ephesus as a testimony 'for Himself, except they retu rn ed to a form er state of hot-heartedness, termed “ firsir love.” Ephesus was a wonderful church putwardly, bu t it was a “ fallen” church inwardly, for it already had fallen prey to a deadly HEART disease. This churph was not judged by Christ and th reatened because of any lack of ACTIVITY in good works and diligence FOR H im : b u t it was because of a de fective h ea rt ATTITUDE TOWARDS Him. And w hat a solemn, searching word th is is for all th e professing churches of Christ from th a t day to this. 13ow many- assemblies are burning up w ith love for Christ? How many are etill standing as His lamp-stands where He has placed them , th a t have not been removed by H is hand in judgm ent? And m ark you, churches may go on “ru n ning” for years in full swing, strongly organized and strongly supported, and yet stand ignored and disowned by Christ as H is lamp-stand. (4) "T will come AGAIN, and receive you UNTO Myself*’ (John 14 :3 ). H ere is th e promise th a t fell from H is own lips, and who shall deny us th e com fort and joy- of such a HOPE, cf His PERSONAL coming AGAIN FOR us? Jesus is coming in PERSON, not to reign over us as His church and bride, bu t to tak e us away to “ th e F a th e r’s house,” His Home and ours. The tru e church of Christ, God’s unknown church, is not “ a t home” to receive “ callers” from th e world now. But .there will soon be a g reat “reception” given in heaven, afte r Jesus comes to “ receive us unto H imself;” And th ere
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