THE LORD COMING

Robert Gardiner

John 14: 15-18; 1-3; 1 Thessalonians 3: 12,13

I have a simple impression to speak of the coming of the Lord. I do not suppose there is anything that so buoys the spirit of the Christian as thinking of the Lord's coming, the One who has died for us, been buried, been raised again, the ascended glorious Man who still lives for us, coming for us. What a prospect! How it uplifts the soul! How it takes you out of the circumstances in which you are into other circumstances where He is! And so I want to speak about the Lord coming 'to' us; the Lord coming 'for' us; and the Lord coming 'with' us. These are three great comings of the Lord and they have an exhilarating effect on the soul every time we think of any one of them. There are responsibilities, of course, attaching to them, and, around these verses that we have read the responsible side comes in; but that only works within us in joy because of the anticipation of seeing that glorious face. We have not seen that face yet. For nearly two thousand years there have been saints who have died and they have not yet seen that face. If the Lord tarry another week or two, there will be more who will not see that face until He comes, and then when He comes with glory, with radiancy, what responsiveness from all our hearts!

The first scripture says, "I will not leave you orphans, I am coming to you". The Lord in this section of the gospel is anticipating leaving them and He is speaking to them about that, and He is feeling for them in the midst of a scene of contrariety and known opposition to Him, knowing that there would be equal opposition for them. It would be a "desert dry" for them without Him. "I will not leave you orphans ..." An orphan, as we know, is a person, usually a younger person, who has no support. They have been bereft of support, bereft of a father's wisdom and guidance and of a mother's love and care. That is what an orphan is. And the Lord looked upon His disciples and He felt tor them. Then He said, "I will not leave you orphans, I am coming to you".

Just previously to this He is speaking about the Spirit and He is saying, He will send another Comforter, the Spirit of truth. What divine care by the Lord Jesus that He should consider at that moment for them in such wise that He would say to them, another divine Person, equal in the Godhead, will come and be your Comforter, the Spirit of truth. And the Spirit is here with us, is He not? Abiding with us and in us, as He says, day by day, comforting, giving us the care, guidance, help that we need. But then He is also the Spirit of truth and that reminds us that He brings us to the true God. It is not the Spirit of the truth - that is contained within it; it is the Spirit of truth and immediately we are related to the Godhead: "God is a spirit; and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth", John 4: 24.

But alongside of the Spirit being with us all the time - and how thankful we are for that - the Lord then says, "I am corning to you". And that is our privilege each Lord's Day morning that the Lord comes to us. The Spirit cares for us throughout the week, right up until that moment He is caring for us. He is with us, He is helping us into the truth, helping us to understand the true God and all that relates to the true God and His realm, but then at a specific moment the Lord comes to us. How wonderful! How precious! As he came to us on Lord's Day morning, did we see Him; not physically, but by the Spirit in reality - not actually, but in reality - understand the presence of the Lord Jesus, know something of love imparted to us as He alone can give it and then responsiveness on our side? What a privilege we have, dear brethren. The world knows nothing of it. "The world ... does not see him nor know him; but ye know him". We know the Spirit, we know the Lord, as the Lord comes to us.

In the second scripture I read in the first part of the chapter the Lord is coming for us: "Let not your heart be troubled". See how the Lord again is considering for His own! He considers for us all the time. Do we not know it? Have we not experienced that, the Lord coming alongside and touching us on the shoulder, as it were, and saying, "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe on God, believe also on me"? Then immediately He translated their vision to another sphere, outside the area of trouble, anxiety, care and woe: "In my Father's house there are many abodes". You think of the Lord thinking about that at that particular time. He was about to go to the Father. "In my Father's house there are many abodes". It is like the chambers round the temple in Solomon's building, if you remember. There were chambers all round, and there they are, the many abodes, for the many families - but "I go to prepare you a place; and if I go and shall prepare you a place I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be". The Lord is currently preparing that place.

Think of the Lord Jesus at the moment engaged in thinking about the day when His bride will appear before His actual vision. As a Man, He will see His bride! What glory, what wonder, and the Lord is preparing a place for her. You think about how a man prepares a house for his bride-to-be. You think of the Lord preparing this place. How wonderful! What furnishings! But, far better than the furnishing, what an atmosphere, the atmosphere of love: "I go to prepare you a place ... that where I am ye also may be." The Lord is coming for us, He is going to come very soon for us. What a wonderful time it will be when the Lord will see the assembly for Himself for the first time in its entirety, in its totality! The Lord has waited, and the only thing that tempers your prayer every morning when you ask the Lord to come before night, when you ask the Father to give Him the word that He might come before the day is through, the only thing that tempers that prayer is that "The Lord does not delay his promise, as some account of delay, but is long-suffering towards you, not will that any should perish" 2 Peter 3: 9. That is the only tempering thing in your mind, is it not? That God is not delaying "as some account of delay, but is long-suffering towards you, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance". So that the day of grace continues and will continue until that moment, and so I say your prayer is somewhat tempered because of that, but, nevertheless, you ardently pray that the Lord will come before the day is finished, not just to get you out of your circumstances and me out of my circumstances - although that is quite legitimate too - but that the Lord might have for Himself that glorious vessel, that pearl of great price that He has given His all to secure. Oh, dear brethren, how it buoys the spirit to think of the Lord having an answer, that He will Himself be able to hold that bride that vessel, that perfect answer to His heart of love He will be able to hold her Himself for all eternity, and we will be part of that wondrous vessel.

Then in the last scripture He is coming with the saints. Paul is speaking to the Thessalonians as we were saying the other day, a young company. There are young, and then there are not so young, but all young in one sense - I trust so - all bright, all with the fervour and strength and outlook as the very day when you came to Christ the first time. So that from this point of view, we are all Thessalonians, and Paul is speaking to them and us saying, "But you, may the Lord make to exceed and abound in love toward one another, and toward all". He is talking now about coming with the saints, but He says before I come with the saints, I want to make sure that everything is all right with you and that you have the same outlook as I have so that we come together. The Lord loved us, did He not? What love towards one another and towards all! Think of the Lord loving His disciples and then that love extending out to all! It has been extending for two thousand years, and He is saying to the saints at Thessalonica, now that same love is to be seen in you, "toward one another" in your locality "and toward all" in every other locality. What a privilege we have but what a responsibility! Loving the saints, dear brethren, is I believe the greatest thing, we are asked to do down here because if you love all the saints, then there can be no discrepancy, no disturbance because love is the answer to everything.

And so "love toward one another, and toward all ... in order to the confirming of your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father". You see, the saints at this point in the apostle's mind have been taken to be with Christ and are now before His God and Father and it is from that point they come with the Lord. For us, the only thing that stands between the Lord's coming at the rapture and His coming in the appearing is the judgment seat of Christ. Some of us have been speaking about that. It is interesting how your thoughts get off-key sometimes. I used to wonder about that verse:

With Him look back on all the way;

To learn the meaning, at His hand,

Of every deed in every day! (Hymn 299)

It used to make me feel uneasy, but I have learned since then. When we come before the Lord at the judgment seat, we will be like Him. We will have a body of glory in "conformity to his body of glory", Phil 3: 21. He will have come for us Himself. No angel sent, no other person sent, no emissary. He will come Himself for us because He loves us and when He comes for us, we will go before the judgment seat with Paul and all the others who have fallen asleep over nearly two thousand years, and who have all been engaged with Him while waiting. Do you think the Lord would come for them, take them, make them like Himself and then say, Now we have some matters to sort out here? That is not the way the Lord does things. The Lord will have a body of glory and so will we all and there we will stand. If He goes back over the way, it will only be to demonstrate His perfect love, how that every movement that He made towards us was only to exemplify His perfect love which on occasions kept us from falling further than we did fall and when we did fall, raised us up from where we fell and put us beside Himself . What love! And that is what He will go over so that our hearts will swell the more in the appreciation of the glory of that blessed Man.

Well, as that has been accomplished, He takes us in to His God and Father - "my Father's house", remember! He takes us in there, holy and unblamable before Him in love and that is what He is working to with the Thessalonians, "to the confirming of your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father". Oh, dear brethren, may we be set, each one, so that we can lift our heads and say, "unblamable in holiness" because of the action, activity, love of the Lord Jesus toward us each day of our time!

Then it says, "at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints". Remember when John at the end of Revelation was taken up on to that high mountain and saw the Holy City, it says, "coming down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God" (chap 21: 10). That is the equivalent to this verse "with all the saints", "coming down ... from God, having the glory of God". Dear brethren, it is the greatest coming of all, the appearing. Men in Christendom have it all telescoped so that the rapture and the appearing is one thing. It is not the case. The Lord comes for us and then, praise His Name, He comes with us to wondering worlds. Think of the Lord's satisfaction! It will be the greatest thing for Him to come out from the presence of God, seeing that vessel having the glory of God to demonstrate to wondering worlds what He has in His bride, in His counterpart, in the vessel that will satisfy Him for all eternity.

Oh, beloved brethren, the coming of the Lord Jesus - may we be ready for it: if He tarries until Lora's Day, coming to us! May we be ready at any moment for His coming for us! May we joy in the prospect, dear brethren, of His coming with us to wondering worlds! For His Name's sake.

 

KIRKCALDY

13 October 1998