The Hope of the Church # 5

The Hope of the Church # 5

People ask me sometimes, "Do you think we shall know our loved ones in that day when we are caught up together? Where would be the object of our being caught up together if we did not? Here on earth we have been heirs together of the grace and love of Christ. We have had fellowship together. We have been laborers together. There should be no question about heavenly recognition. Why, there is recognition even on the part of lost souls. Jesus told of the rich man in hell who looked across the great gulf and saw Lazarus who had begged at his gate on earth, and he recognized him. And he saw Abraham, tool; and though he had never seen him before, yet he recognized Abraham, and called him by name. And you remember on the Mount of Transfiguration the disciples saw that with the Saviour there were two others, and they recognized them. Nobody had said beforehand to Peter and the others, "Let me present to you our old friends, Moses and Elijah." No, the moment they looked at Moses and Elijah they recognized them. And Peter was so thrilled that he wanted to build three churches right away - a St. Moses Church and a St. Elijah Church, and the Holy Saviour Church. "Let us build three tabernacles," said Peter, but he did not know what he was talking about. But there was recognition of the two who were with Christ on the Mount. You know the Scripture says, "Then we shall know even as we ourselves have been known." Yes, we are to be caught up together, and "so shall we ever be with the Lord." We shall be like the Lord; we shall have glorified bodies just as He has. And so the dead raised, and the living changed, will be caught up together. That is how the Word is going to be fulfilled. Notice it says that we are going to be "caught up to meet the Lord in the air." This word "meet" implies going out to meet one in order to return with him. When I was in Aberdeen recently I sent a telegram to a cousin of mine telling him that we would arrive at such and such a time, and he promised that he would meet us. And there he was with a car waiting for us. He came to meet us in order to take us back to the house with him. We are going to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and then we are coming back with Him when He comes to reign in glory for a thousand wonderful years. The same word is used in the last chapter of the Acts where Paul and his company landed in Italy, and, says Paul, "when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us" and "so we came to Rome." We are going to meet the Saviour, and we are coming back with Him. You say, "Do you mean that we are going to live on earth in houses just as we do now?" No, our real home will be in the heavenly Jerusalem, and our relationship to this earth will be very much like that of the angels in the past dispensation, when angels appeared as God's messengers to His servants. "For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak." We shall be His representatives, and He shall rule the world through His saints in that day, and will appear visibly before the eyes of all people. And the Apostle concludes with this word "And so shall we ever be with the Lord." No matter what comes afterwards, we shall be with Him. And that is the great thing. We are to be with the Lord wherever He goes, and whatever He does we are going to be associated with Him; we are going to serve Him, and we are to have a part in His everlasting Kingdom. Some people have an idea that Heaven is a place of absolute do-nothingness. When Hawthorne was over here from America he was very much interested in some of your old churchyards. And one day he unearthed this epitaph:

"Here is a poor woman who always was tired,
Who lived in a house where help was not hired.
Her last words on earth were, "Dear friends, I am going
Where washing ain't done, nor sweeping nor sewing.
But everything there is exact to my wishes,
For where they don't eat there'll be no washing dishes.
I'll be where loud anthems forever are ringing,
But having no voice I'll get clear of the singing.
Don't weep for me now, don't weep for me ever,
I'm going to do nothing forever and ever."

Poor thing. How tired she was! You know, dear friends, that is not the Biblical conception of the ages to come. It is not that we are to do nothing for ever and ever, but "His servants shall serve Him, and His name shall be on their foreheads." We shall reign with Him. We shall bear rule with Him over a redeemed universe. What a delight it will be to run His errands!

When I am caught up to meet the Lord in the air, I will look about for you, and if your faith has been, not in the Church, not in its sacraments, not in your good works, but in the precious atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, I shall see you there, and we will have a good time together for all eternity. We shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. And at the end of a thousand years, John says, "I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the Book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." I will be there. I shall not be in front of the throne for judgment, for my judgment was dealt with when those two arms were out-stretched on Calvary's Cross, and when the weight of my sins fell upon Jesus, my Substitute, and by trusting in Him I have been saved from judgment. And wherever He is His saints are going to be with Him. 

In what do you trust for salvation? With tear-filled eyes, "Christ. He is the Rock. I dare not trust in anyone but Him." If that confession comes from your heart, then I shall see you in the air when Jesus comes.

Are you trusting the Lord Jesus? Are you ready to meet Him when He comes? If you have never availed yourself of what He did the first time when He was here you will never be ready to meet Him when He comes the second time. He died to put away sin, and if you trust Him tonight you will be saved for eternity, and ready to meet Him when He returns.

~Harry A. Ironside~

(The End)