THE BELIEVER’S DEPARTURE

Luke 9:28-31; John 13:1; Philippians 1:21-24; 1 Thessalonians 4:14

The two men who were with Jesus here on the mountain, Moses and Elias, both had remarkable departures from the earth and the world, and from the people among whom they had lived and served. It would be right to say that, even without such special circumstances, there is nothing commonplace about the departure, the death, of a believer. One of the distinctive things about the death of a believer is that the Lord Jesus is always present. Moses and Elias had been near to God, as our brother has known what it was to walk with the Lord Jesus and bear His yoke, and it would be right to say that He never fails to be there at the end.

But the departure that was being spoken about in this section was infinitely more wonderful than any other – the departure which Jesus was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. It has sometimes been thought of Jesus on that mountain, that He could have retired from that position to glory. I suppose we say that because what was seen in Him there seems so much more suited to heaven than to earth. But that was not what the conversation we read of here had in view, because “his departure” is identified as taking place in Jerusalem. He would come down from this mountain of transfiguration and set His face to go to Jerusalem, and accomplish His departure there. It also does not say that they spoke of His death only, so when we think of His departure, we would include not only His death but His resurrection, and His resurrection had in view that He would ascend to where He is now.

The Lord Jesus had been here, He had taken part in “blood and flesh” (Heb.2:14), and notwithstanding this transformation that we have read of here, that was the condition in which He was on earth. But in ascending as He has to His present place, He has assumed a body of glory, and it is that change that makes this departure unique. He has laid down the condition of blood and flesh that He took, He has laid it down for ever in death, but He has assumed a new condition – the first, and so far the only, person in a body of glory. What a transformation that is. And as I say, it makes this departure unique; it marks it out as distinct above any other. He must leave the world, as John writes where we have read, and all that belonged to this scene down here. What a poor world it is – and it was not left in that sense improved; its culture, its politics, even its religion went on, you might say, as they had. What the Lord Jesus left here among His own did not belong here. He was leaving the world, it says in our passage, and going to the Father. And He lives now, I believe, in the presence of the Father in that body of glory.

The way He has taken is the only way whereby that change can be effected. There is only one way in which the body of glory can be arrived at, and it is through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. That is important because it is the way by which we will come to it. The way He has taken Himself has become the way for us. Paul presents that as the hope of the believer, that the body of humiliation will shortly be left and we shall have bodies of glory conformed to His body of glory (Phil.3:21): what a thing to look forward to. Our brother is being “sown in weakness” (1 Cor.15:43), a failing physical condition, but that has been laid down; the Lord has released him from that condition. The Lord has also released him from the part he had in His testimony; He has released him from the service that he rendered; and for the moment – as the scripture says – he has something “much better”, something far better. I think that is a remarkable thing: what the Lord has in mind for our brother and for us all has yet to be fully realised, but even what he has now is “very much better”.

When he writes like that, Paul is not simply referring to the release from the troubles and burdens and travails of the testimonial path, but he is referring to what is far better even than any service. Those are the alternatives that Paul discusses – should he remain in service, or should he depart to be with Christ? Our brother has been released from his service as well, and what he has is “very much better”. It reminds me of a remark in ministry that the privilege of being in the Lord’s company is much more blessed and of far greater importance than any service¹. And that is the portion of our brother, and not just a moment in the Lord’s company, but “always with the Lord”, 1 Thess.4:17. What a wonderful thing that is: “always with the Lord”.

I read in Thessalonians for two reasons. Firstly, it brings out that the way forward for the believer into our eternal portion rests for its security on the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. That is what Paul says there. Our brother has referred to “the faith” and Paul refers here to believing in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus: a wonderful thing, and that portion is in prospect. Paul also makes clear that the Lord is not separated from those who have gone to be with Him. They come “with him”, it says; and when the trumpet sounds, “we, the living”, shall be changed. What has been foreshadowed in the accomplished departure of the Lord Jesus will become the portion of every one of His own, conformed to His body of glory.

These are wonderful things, beloved, and they will be the portion of our dear brother. We can be confident as to it because the Lord Jesus has already gone that way – that is the way and He has already taken it. It is also assured because God has given us the Holy Spirit. We read in 2 Corinthians 5 that the earnest of the Spirit is the assurance that every one of the Lord’s own will have a body of glory – “that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (v.4). It is a promise, and in a sense it is more than a promise: Paul does not say that we have the promise of it, but we have the earnest of it: the Holy Spirit would give us to know in our hearts – which is where the Spirit dwells – something of the reality of these precious and eternal things.

Well, our brother rests from his labours, and his works follow with him (Rev.14:13). Our brother has referred to that, and we have much to remember. My thought is that we might not only remember what our brother has been, but that we might also be comforted and take encouragement from what he will soon be, as conformed to the image of God’s Son.

May the Lord bless the word.

Andrew Burr