"I will come again" - John 14:3 (Part 2)

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R.M. Goatley

He gave us no sign by which we could calculate the date of His coming for us, in fact, when He next mentioned it in John 21:21-23, He introduced the possibility of John remaining alive till He returns. This was quickly misconstrued, and the report went abroad among the brethren that John would not die. However Jesus did not say, "He shall not die"; but, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee"?

The apostle Paul received this same promise later by direct revelation from the Lord, so that he could teach it among the Gentile believers, and the same tenor of present expectation is evident as he writes to the Thessalonians. He speaks of "we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord", and he is obviously including himself (I Thess.4:15). In 2 Cor.5:1-4 he expresses his deep desire to be among those who are alive when the Lord returns, so that instead of passing through death, ‘mortality might be swallowed up of life’. See also I Cor.15:51-58 and Phil.3:21,22. The lives of countless saints have been cheered by this glad prospect since then, as H.L. Turner wrote:

"0 joy! 0 delight! should we go without dying;
No sickness, no sadness, no dread, and no crying;
Caught up through the clouds with our Lord into glory
When Jesus receives His own."

However, some years later, as he lay a prisoner in Rome and the day of his execution was near, he realised that ‘the time of his departure was at hand’ and he had ‘finished his course’. It had now become obvious that it was not the Lord’s will that he should "tarry till He come". But he was ready to "depart and be with Christ" (Phil.l:23), confident that for the believer, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor.5:8). The Lord evidently intended the promise of His coming to be a present expectation that would be both an incentive and a comfort to His people. Let us therefore consider the following:

"Occupy till I come" - Luke 19:13. This quote comes from a parable which the Lord used to indicate that He would go away, and return after a period, and that He expected His servants to be active in His affairs during His absence. To ‘occupy’ is simply to ‘trade’. When we apply this to ourselves we learn that as believers, we are all equally responsible to accept what He has given us as a trust - our abilities, our time, our understanding of His will - to be used in His interests. He has left us His own example, for at twelve years of age he said, "Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business"? When He comes, He will require each one of us to give account of our trading, and reward us accordingly. (To be continued)

"I will come again" - John 14:3 (Part 1)

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R.M. Goatley

On the night in which the Lord Jesus was betrayed, the eve of His crucifixion, He gathered His disciples around Himself in the upper room to prepare them for the events of the morrow and the days that would follow. The agony of Gethsemane and the shame and death of the Cross were looming before Him. He knew that Judas Iscariot had already left to complete the treacherous bargain of betrayal. But, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end, and His heart was full of tender sympathy for them as He was about to be taken from them. They would be left to be His witnesses during His absence in the very world that rejected Him and crucified Him.

It was in this atmosphere of privacy and intimacy that the Lord opened His heart to them, and from John 17:20 we know that he had in mind all who would believe on Him through their word, until He comes again. He told them of the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, whom the Father would send to be in them, and with them forever, and we know from the New Testament epistles that this is still true of every believer today. He told them of the Father, of the Father’s love and of the Father’s House, and the place He would go to prepare for them there.

Then He gave them this wonderful promise, "If I go...I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also". Nowhere in Scripture had such a promise been disclosed before. The Old Testament prophets had foretold His coming to subdue His enemies and set up a kingdom that would fill the whole earth and stand forever. The Lord Jesus had expounded this to them only days before. He had spoken of the coming of the Son of Man predicted by the prophet Daniel (Dan.7:13,14; Matt.24:30), and He had given them a sign from Daniel by which those who would be alive at the time of the end would be able to gauge the proximity of that coming. (Dan.12:11,12; Matt.24:15). God had revealed this to His prophets long ago, and the disciples believed what God had said.

But now, as the Lord Jesus gives His new and special promise to His own, in this day of Grace, He says, "Ye believe in God, believe also in Me’. The glad news of the Father’s House above, and a place prepared for us there, and that He Himself will come personally to take us there to be with Him forever, was revealed in the New Testament by the Lord Jesus Himself. (To be continued)

How do you know you are a truly born-again?

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By C.H. Spurgeon

If you have been truly born again:

• You have a new and holy nature, and you are no longer moved towards sinful objects as you were before.
• The things that you once loved you now hate, and therefore you will not run after them.
  You can hardly understand it but so it is, that your thoughts and tastes are radically changed.
• You long for that very holiness which once it was irksome to hear of; and you loathe those vain pursuits which were once your delights.
• The man who puts his trust in the Lord sees the pleasures of sin in a new light; for he sees the evil which follows them by noting the agonies which they brought upon our Lord when He bore our sins in His own body on the tree.
• Without faith a man says to himself, "This sin is a very pleasant thing, why should I not enjoy it? Surely I may eat this fruit, which looks so charming and is so much to be desired."
• The flesh sees honey in the drink, but faith at once perceives that there is poison in the cup. Faith spies the snake in the grass and gives warning of it.
• Faith remembers death, judgment, the great reward, the just punishment and that dread word, eternity.

Good Confessions

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"I am Thine" - Psa 119:94

This is a statement more precious than all that earth can give, and far sweeter than honey or the honeycomb. The Christian is the purchase of Christ's precious blood, and as dear to Him as His own life. We may feel our unworthiness of such a blessing as this, and a sight of ourselves may reveal the ugliness of our deformities, but this glorious fact remains just the same - "I am Thine". It is not "I shall be Thine". No, I am His already. What a cheering thought it is for weary ways and trying days just to look up to Heaven from our depressing surroundings and say unto the Lord who loves us so greatly, "I am Thine". Those nail marks in His hands and feet are the evidences that I am His; for when He was crucified, it was for sinners, therefore, Lord, for me

"I am Thy servant" - Psa 119:125

His service is perfect freedom. To serve the Lord Christ is not an Egyptian servitude. The children of God are not "galley slaves", though we would work like any slave for love of God's dear Son. No labour is mean when performed with a single eye to God's dear Son. From the greatest to the least there is work for all - "to every man his work". Faithful and steady toil will bring its sure reward. At the close of the day each man will receive his "penny", and with a cheery word of approval will the Master address his labourers. Toil on, fellow-servant, at whatever thou art doing for Christ, and throw thy heart into it, for nothing done unto Him will be overlooked.