WITH ME, WITH THE LORD, AND WITH CHRIST

Luke 23:40-43; 2 Corinthians 5:6-8; Philippians 1:23

The scripture in Corinthians speaks of being “present in the body”. That is ourselves, here, this afternoon. We are “present in the body” and “absent from the Lord”. For our dear brother whom the Lord has taken to Himself, we have to say that he is absent from the body. But this scripture gives us the assurance that he is “with the Lord”.

These three passages are well known, and the truth of them is well known to most here. I speak of them again now for our comfort and encouragement so that we ourselves might become committed in the same way that our brother was to the One whom he came to know in his life here as his Saviour and his Lord. Our brother who has just spoken has fully gone over that vital matter. There is a common expression that someone ‘has died and gone to heaven’. But when you read the words of Scripture, how specific and comforting they are. We have “with me” in Luke, that is, with Jesus. Then “with the Lord” where we read in Corinthians, in the context of the vessel, the human body, referred to as “our earthly tabernacle house” (v.1), coming into dissolution. Then the apostle Paul speaks of “with Christ … is very much better” in Philippians.

I want to speak about these three references to the same Person – because the One who is Jesus, the Lord, Christ, is the Lord Jesus Christ. That is how our brother came to know Him, as have many who are in this room. We desire today that you too, if you have not done so already, might come to acknowledge this glorious Person as the Lord Jesus Christ. These words “with me”: what a comfort they must have been to this dying thief. The Lord says, “with me in paradise”; it is with a Person. That should lay hold of us, that our brother whose body we will bury is in the company of a Person, a Person who loved him and who went to the cross and suffered and died for him. Our brother knew that.

Dear hearer, have you accepted, as this poor malefactor in Luke 23 did, that the Man hanging on the cross beside him, who had done nothing amiss, a perfect holy Man, was suffering and dying for you? The malefactor put his trust in Him – he said, “when thou comest in thy kingdom”. He put all his trust and hope and faith in that One. Our brother who has spoken to us said that he has put his faith in Christ. I have done so too, and many here have done that. Therefore, our great desire for you is that while present in the body, you will come to know the love and grace of that glorious Saviour.

When we last visited our dear brother, he spoke in this way about the Lord. He could not say much, but he said, ‘I have a glorious Saviour’. Who is that Saviour? Jesus, it is Jesus, the One who was here as the vessel of grace, who came to make the heart of God known. He presents Himself in this gospel of Luke as the Shepherd going after the sheep, and as the good Samaritan pouring in oil and wine to the wounded man. But ultimately He is the One who would give His life a sacrifice so that salvation might come to us.

Jesus is our Saviour, and our brother who has died now enjoys the company of that One who saved him and, therefore, all the blessedness of the love of Jesus is his portion. But it was also his portion while he was present in the body, and I encourage everyone here today that the love of Jesus can be your portion too. When you put your faith in Jesus you will know the blessedness of the knowledge of the Person who has loved you enough to die for you. Our brother is no longer in the body, but he is with the Lord, the One who has supreme rights in the universe. Our brother is with Him of whom it is said that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow … and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to God the Father’s glory”, Phil.2:10,11.

Christ went into the realm of death. I said that He suffered and died, and He did. In doing so, He broke the power of death; He came out of it. He is the great Conqueror, dear hearer. That is Jesus, the Lord, the Conqueror. Psalm 24 speaks about the gates being lifted up, and who is it that is coming in? “Jehovah of hosts” (v.10), "mighty in battle” (v.8). That is the Lord, and the Saviour whom our brother came to know, the One who protected him and kept him in his pathway here. The Lord does that for all His own, which is another wonderful thing about that title “the Lord”. It means that He has lordship over me and over all those who believe in Him. We come into divine ownership. Have you ever thought of that? A believer who puts their faith and trust in Jesus comes into the divine ownership and they know what it is to own Jesus as Lord. They understand that the One in whom they have put their trust is also the One to whom God has committed everything, and who will ultimately exercise supreme rule and authority in the universe.

He is also “the Christ”. What does that convey? Scripture tells us that we are “blessed … with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ”, Eph.1:3. Our brother came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as the One in whom and through whom every blessing came to him. Why is that? Because “the Christ” is God’s anointed Man, the Man that God has accepted, having accomplished everything for the will and pleasure of God, and who has brought into effect everything that God looked for in man. What a glorious Person! He is the Christ. Our brother knew Him in that way, and that brought out worship in his heart. We can truly say that about our dear brother: in the service of God, worshipping divine Persons, his heart was full. He loved to sing hymns full of praise to Christ, and he enjoyed the fact that in Him he was accepted before God. Not only did our dear brother know that all his blessing was through Christ and in Christ, but he is now with Christ. And the apostle, in the depth of his knowledge of the truth and of divine Persons, his knowledge of the Lord Jesus, says it is “very much better” to be with Him.

I should say one other thing, and that is that the Holy Spirit that our dear brother was endowed with, that gift that he received from God the Father, was the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of that Man, the Spirit of the glorified Man. The opportunity is yours today to come into the gain of the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Well, I say these words for our comfort. Our brother is not in a place exactly, but his spirit is with Jesus, as has been said. The spirit of our brother has been received there, it is in the domain of power and no longer in weakness. Our brother’s body was here in weakness, but his spirit now is in the domain of power, with his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

May we be encouraged, for His name’s sake.

Walter Patterson