THE RAPTURE AND THE APPEARING

THE RAPTURE AND THE APPEARING

I quite agree with you that the consummation for the heart is to see the Lord Himself. Nothing can surpass, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself” (John 14: 3). Before there was any revelation of the rapture, the saints were waiting for His Son from heaven. Now, there are two lines of teaching fraught with much damage to souls: one is that there is no rapture at all, that the church has to pass through the tribulation, and that the King is coming. Here many of the devoted in system are.

The other is, that the rapture is everything, which view a section of the Church of England has adopted, and they have a paper called ‘The Morning Star’. Now neither of these is correct. I do not comment on the first, it is so ^[p. 92] palpably erroneous. But, as to the latter, the rapture has been put out of its place: that is to say, a part has been taken for the whole. The morning star is before the dawn. It is the harbinger of the day — the moment of unbounded delight for every true heart. We shall see Him, but though that is the first thought, it is not all. Hence, in Revelation 22: 16 you will find that the Lord does not present Himself as simply “the bright and morning star”, but also as “the root and offspring of David” — the coming King; and sure I am, that if the bride longs to see Him for her own joy, the more she is in concert with Him the more will she long for Him to have His rights and rejoice that the Lord reigneth. I believe that to the true heart the rapture — the morning star, would not be enough, any more than to any one out at night, the natural morning star would be enough if the day were not to follow. Scripture is plain that the Lord thinks of those who wait for Him and watch for Him, who love His appearing. If we suffer with Him we shall reign with Him.