A Word in Season: Forever With the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:17)

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Our life here can be wearying, is often wearying.

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We feel our frailty of body and of soul. Sometimes that pilgrim way seems very hard and very long, and we wonder if we shall make it to the end.

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We know we have some precious promises to sustain us. We have a

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Christ to whom all authority has been given in heaven and on earth, who has said that he will be with us always, even to the very end of the age.

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We know that by his spirit he has promised that he will dwell with us. He has assured us that he will never leave us or forsake us.

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And yet, though he is with us and that is real and true, nevertheless there is also a sense in which we are not yet with him.

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It is that consummation for which he himself prayed when he asked that his father might grant that his people would be with him where he is.

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A meeting face to face between Christ and his people, the beloved and those whom he has loved.

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And it is with that in mind that the Apostle Paul speaks to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 4 when he is explaining to them, when they are concerned about what the future might hold, when they're wondering about what will happen for those who are now asleep in Christ and what will happen for those who might remain at the return of the

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Lord Jesus. He is assuring them that there will be a gathering of God's people with Christ.

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He tells them by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the

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Lord will by no means precede or go ahead of those who are asleep. In that sense, there'll be no advantage to us either in terms of time or degree.

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Why? Because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first.

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Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the

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Lord in the air. There shall be this great congregation of those who have died and sleep in Christ.

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They rise first and then we together with them, we are caught up and we go to meet the

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Lord, the great embassy of his people, the congregation of the ransomed going to see our

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Saviour and thus we shall always be with the

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Lord. In this way, we, all God's people, that language we can use to refer to any number of us, it could be one talking to another, we shall be always with the

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Lord. It could be a preacher speaking to a small or a great congregation. It could be the apostle speaking to the

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Thessalonians or it could be those same apostolic words echoing out to all of God's people in every time and in every place.

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We shall always be with the Lord and that ought to encourage and sustain us on this pilgrim way.

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This should be one of the things that delights our souls, one of those anticipations which keeps our eyes fixed on what is to come, on who is to come.

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When we are wearied, when we are downcast, when we are grieving over the loss of friends who have fallen asleep in the

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Lord Jesus, when we are confused perhaps about what the future holds, when we raise those questions about what will happen when our

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Lord returns in his glory. Here is a sweet assurance for us.

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We shall always be with the Lord, with resurrected bodies made like his resurrection body, bearing the image of the heavenly man, entering into the presence of God, enjoying the smile of Christ, not just now in terms of the sense of God's favour, but the very smile upon his face, the love in his eyes, the joy in his heart as he welcomes his beloved into his presence and we sit down at the marriage supper of the

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Lamb. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

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We shall be together with him, together as his people and together in his presence and it is that which makes heaven to be heaven for us.