1Th 1:10 KJV - And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, [even] Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
If you had asked a Thessalonian Christian what he was waiting for, what would have been his reply? Would he have said, “I am waiting for the world to improve by means of the gospel which I myself have received? or, I am waiting for the moment of my death when I shall go to be with Jesus?” No. His reply would have been simply this, “I am waiting for the Son of God from heaven.” This, and nothing else, is the proper hope of the Christian, the proper hope of the Church. To wait for the improvement of the world is not Christian hope at all. You might as well wait for the improvement of the flesh, for there is just as much hope of the one as the other.
This, and naught else, is the true and proper hope of the Church of God. “I will give him the morning star” (Rev. 2: 23). “Behold the bridegroom cometh” (Matt. 25). When, we may ask, does the morning star appear in the natural world? Just before the dawning of the day. Who sees it? The one who has been watching during the dark and dreary hours of the night. How plain, how practical, how telling the application. The Church is supposed to be watching — to be lovingly wakeful — to be looking out. Alas! the Church has failed in this. But that is no reason why the individual believer should not be in the full present power of the blessed hope. “Let him that heareth say, Come.” This is deeply personal. Oh! that the writer and the reader of these lines may realize habitually the purifying, sanctifying, elevating power of this heavenly hope! May we understand and exhibit the practical power of those words of the Apostle John, “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.”
[C.H.Mackintosh, The Lord's Coming]
YOUR HEARTBROKEN CRY
6 years ago
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ReplyDeleteThis is a good word. However, in this day and age I think we need to be careful about separating the individual from the church. I do not believe that this was the author's intent at all when he wrote this over one hundred years ago. But the popular notion of the lone ranger Christian who does not need a church seems so prevalent in our time, that it seems to warrant at least a word of caution. If, as Mr. Mackintosh (I believe rightly) points out, the church has failed to be watching and lovingly wakeful, these individual believers should still be present in the body and stirring up one another. God sent His one and only begotten Son to die for a people -- a chosen race, a royal priesthood -- not just an individual. A strand of hair or a fingernail that has been cut off from the body no longer gives and receives nourishment to the body. And as the author of the epistle to the Hebrews writes:
"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (Hebrews 10:19-25)
Grace and peace to you through Christ our King!
Simple Mann