The Hope of the Church # 2

The Hope of the Church # 2

This truth seems to have gripped these Thessalonians, they revelled in it, they could think of little else. Some became so occupied with it that they were not much good for the ordinary affairs of life. There is always a danger of going too far in regard to any truth of God, and the apostle Paul was this. "Since we have been there some of them have died; they have fallen asleep in Christ, and their friends are disconsolate; they feel that they won't be here to welcome the King when He comes. They feel that they have missed so much that their hearts are really broken because of it." And Paul says, "I will just write them a Letter, and clear that up." So in the course of this Letter, he expounds the part that both those who have died before Christ's return, and those who are living at His Coming, will have in the glorious future day. "I would not have you ignorant", he says, "concerning them which are asleep." What does he mean by "those which are asleep?"  Does he mean when our dear ones in Christ close their eyes to the scenes of earth, when the body is dead, that we put them away, body, soul, and spirit, in the tomb, and that the whole man sleeps in utter unconsciousness until the glorious morning of the first resurrection? No, he certainly does not mean that, because that would contradict very definitely what he taught elsewhere. Take that wonderful passage in the third of Ephesians. He says,  "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." Where does he locate the family of God? In only two places - in heaven and on earth. If he were a soul-sleeper he would have said, in the grave and on earth. But he did not say that. He locates those who have left this scene as in heaven. There is not even a third place. I look up a paper in our country not long ago that stirred me to preach a sermon. It had an article beseeching the faithful to come through with more cash, because the poor souls in purgatory are suffering so dreadfully because of the depression that has swept all over the world. And so I preached a sermon one Sunday on the subject, "What can we do for the poor souls in purgatory?" We had over five thousand people to hear it, and when we got looking into the Book to find out about it we found out that there was not any soul in purgatory, and that the only purgatory there is in the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which purged our consciences from dead works to serve the living God. No, Paul does not locate  any of the believers in purgatory, and he does not leave them unconscious in the grave. He speaks of "the whole family in heaven and on earth." And you remember that elsewhere he says that the believer who dies is absent from the body - not asleep in the body - and is present with the Lord. And he says that he himself had a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better. How did he know that? Was it simply the word of an inspired man who had been commanded so to write? No, not that alone; he knew it by practical experience.

We say sometimes, "No one has ever been to Heaven and come back to tell us what it is like? We are wrong, for He had been there. He says; "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell; God knoweth) such an one caught up to the third heaven. How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." Now, mark you, the apostle clearly gives us to understand there that a man can be conscious and out of the body. For when he had this experience he says a it were, "If I had a body, I am not conscious of it; and if I was out of the body, I did not miss it!" That helps me in regard to my friends who have gone to Heaven. He saw and heard something; he was thoroughly conscious, and he was caught up into Paradise. Paradise is a Persian word, it is used three times in the New Testament. It means "a royal garden." Paul says, "I was caught up; and I found myself in a royal garden." I never go into one of your beautiful English gardens without saying, "This is a little, wee bit of Paradise." Paul found himself in a scene of ineffable beauty and glory. Then he says, "I heard something, I heard unspeakable things which it is not lawful for a man to utter." So he was conscious; he could see and hear. I was in a meeting down in Florida some few years ago, and on one night each week we used to have questions and answers. Among the questions sent up was this one. "Will you please tell us what the unspeakable things were which Paul heard when he was caught up into the third heaven?" I had to admit that I could not tell. Why Paul himself could not tell. In other words, it was so wonderful that he could not put it into our language. Yet he heard it at the time and understood.

~Harry A. Ironside~

(continued with # 3)