THE PERMANENCY OF THE SAINTS' ABODE
THE PERMANENCY OF THE SAINTS’ ABODE
Genesis 50:26; 1 Thessalonians 4:14 - 18; John 14:1 - 3
One word has been with me in view of this meeting and that is permanency — I may say, permanency of abode which opens up a wide scope for our consideration. A basic feature of what I have to say begins with Sarah. It is always happier and freer to begin with persons rather than events or things. And so Sarah comes to mind in view of death and burial, and resurrection, too; the whereabouts of the believer’s eventual and permanent abode. There can be no more important thought than this and Sarah is the first one who is spoken of as buried. She is the loved one, carried down with great distinction into the New Testament for it is said of her that she is our mother, she is a type of Jerusalem above which is our mother. She was the wife of the great patriarch Abraham who, when she died, made great preparation for her burial. Her resurrection and ascension and part in heavenly places are not within the range of the preparation of man, but of God. We rest in this, for as regards the heavenly part, we must think of God and God bringing with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. There will be much brought to earth, but those who sleep through Jesus will be brought as already well known, but brought here to be seen alive and Sarah will be amongst them. Sarah will be amongst those who sleep through Jesus, indeed, all the sleeping saints will be there.
But I am speaking for the moment of Sarah and how she is regarded by her husband and how [p. 291] Scripture carries her through as one who spoke scripture. There are few who are regarded as speakers of scripture and Sarah is amongst them. Hearken unto Sarah thy wife, Jehovah said to Abraham. It was not to hearken to what she wrote but to what she spoke. It was a vivid word: “Cast out this bond-woman and her son” Galatians 4:30, and the divine word to Abraham was, Hearken unto Sarah thy wife. And so she comes out as a speaker of scripture: “What says the scripture?” Galatians 4:30 is one of the actual phrases in the epistle to the Galatians. It was Sarah’s statement but it is regarded as scripture. Well, you may wonder why I am stressing Sarah but it is only to bring out the main thought that is in mind and that is how the sleeping saints are retained, and I might say, contained. Sarah is in the cave of Machpelah. She is there awaiting the assembling shout. She is representative of those who are contained by God, retained where they should be according to divine purpose in the provisional sense as sleeping saints. Sarah has been there for thousands of years. She is there and known to be there and others are with her, too. In fact, we may take Machpelah to be the suggestion of the place of the sleeping saints.
And so Joseph, a worthy son of Sarah, as I may say, lived to be a hundred and ten years old and died in Egypt, but he was not buried there. He was put into a coffin. The word ‘coffin’ should be ‘ark’, meaning a suitable vessel for the contents it bore, Joseph’s bones. Well, I only mention him in connection with Sarah to show how permanency may be applied to the sleeping saints, but only in a provisional way, but to remind us that they are not simply thrown into the earth as cattle might be. The purchase of the field and the cave of Machpelah is an evidence and an assurance that the saints are not treated thus when they die, nor indeed is man as such treated thus, but especially not those who are the Lord’s — the sleeping saints. And so Sarah and Joseph are brought together in what I have to say; Sarah was buried in a grave carefully bought from the sons of Heth, the money being carefully weighed, current with the merchant. And Joseph was buried in the field which Jacob had bought of the sons of Hamor in Shechem. Joseph’s bones were carried up out of Egypt into Canaan. They had been kept in an ark until we come to Exodus where we find them being taken up to Canaan with the children of Israel. How many persons there were in that great assembly we can hardly tell. We have often thought that there would be about two million. So that Joseph had a large funeral in that sense. He went up with them. It was Israel’s responsibility. They had been commanded by Joseph to take his bones up with them. They were the bones of a great saint held for a while in Egypt but later carried up into Canaan where they were buried and whence they will be raised.
It is said of the saints that they have part in that world and the resurrection; not this world with its graveyards and mausoleums but that world, to be spoken of objectively. We can well afford to speak objectively when the Custodian of the persons who have part in it is God Himself. And so Joseph’s bones were cared for in Egypt but buried in the land; that is to say, whence all of us are to be taken, for we belong to the promised land, dear brethren. I am speaking of this now to bring out that the thought of care must be attached to all matters relative to the saints, whether living or dead. We are objects of supreme care and we treasure this. So Abraham said, “… that I may bury my dead” Genesis 23:4. It was not Sarah, simply, but my dead — his property, no less than that — but his property to be held under certain suitable circumstances again to be brought out into eternal circumstances. Wonderful!
[p. 293] And now I pass on to the well-known passage in 1 Thessalonians 4. But I might say in passing that Thessalonica was reserved of God for an assembly, and the assembly there has a peculiar title. It is called the assembly of Thessalonians in God the Father. I want the dear brethren to treasure these things that I am saying, particularly the things said about the Thessalonians in the opening passages of both epistles. We read: “Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus to the assembly of Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” 1 Thessalonians 1:1. The exact translation from the original gives us the word ‘assembly’ rather than ‘church’. The word ‘church’ usually refers to a building made of stones or brick and mortar, whereas the word ‘assembly’ refers to persons and persons only. So that there is good reason for stressing the word ‘assembly’, and thus it is the assembly of Thessalonians in God the Father. No other assembly is addressed in just this way and we can see that Thessalonica was reserved in the mind of God for something special and hence the reference to the sleeping saints and the resurrection and ascension. I use the word ‘ascension’ for we are to ascend, dear brethren. And so, in chapter 4, we have the Lord referred to as coming out of heaven with an assembling shout. The apostle says: “For if we believe that Jesus has died and has risen again, so also God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus” 1 Thessalonians 4:14. And then there is a parenthesis: “For this we say to you in the word of the Lord, that we, the living, who remain to the coming of the Lord, are in no way to anticipate those who have fallen asleep; for the Lord himself, with an assembling shout, with archangel’s voice and with trump of God, shall descend from heaven and the dead in Christ shall rise first” 1 Thessalonians 4:15,16. I have not read it all but it is one of the most striking passages in the Scriptures and it refers to an act of the Lord [p. 294] Jesus dealing with the resurrection and ascension of the saints. I use the word ‘ascension’ for it must be taken into the matter for the saints go to heaven. Some may say that they go to heaven when they die. I am not saying that, but I say that they go to heaven, nevertheless, they go to heaven when they are raised, not when they die. Those who have died are to be raised from the dead and they go to heaven after they are raised from among the dead. And that is what I wish to enlarge upon now, that our loved ones, although many of them are sleeping and quite a few of them have gone lately, are well looked after and they shall be raised. They have not just been put into any place. Abraham did not do that with Sarah. He carefully bought a place for her and he used the possession as a burying place, which would mean that as having died, Sarah was carefully looked after. And the money was carefully weighed out and it was current money with the merchant, meaning that it could be presented to the bank and it would be honoured. All that stresses what I have been saying as to how real care is taken of the dead, of those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. How much they are thought of! Even the trees in the burying place are spoken of. They are all secured, carefully secured, showing what attention is paid to the details of care as to the sleeping saints initially.
I am not referring to the beginning of the matter now, but to the end. I am now referring to the sleeping saints in this wonderful parenthesis in 1 Thessalonians 4 and how the Lord Jesus comes out of heaven for them. He comes out! It does not say that the heavens are opened for Him to come out. It does say, in other connections, that they are opened, but not here. The Lord Jesus descends! It is as if that is expressed purposely for it is a question of descending first and then ascending — what a transaction! God Himself is spoken of as [p. 295] coming, for it is said that He brings the saints with Jesus. How wonderful for us to cherish and think that God is going to bring us with Him; our dead too, those who sleep through Jesus. The idea of permanency will finally pertain to the saints then in the fullest sense. In the meantime it is just an ark in Egypt, however long — it may be four hundred years or much longer — but the length of time is as God wishes it to be and the saints are cared for during all that period. But then, Joseph is to come out again and Sarah is to be seen again. The Lord Himself has come out of death. We read of the handkerchief that was about His head. Some hand had placed it there but He was not raised in it. It was folded in a distinct place by itself. The Lord was raised without it and without the linen cloths. He raised Himself! It is true, indeed, that God raised Him, but it is also true that He raised Himself. He had told the Jews: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” John 2:19, and He did! He raised Himself! He is God; we must never forget that!
But I now speak of what the Lord Himself does in regard to the sleeping saints and how, in a certain sense, the idea of permanency applies initially; maybe for four hundred years, maybe for four thousand years, during which time divine care is exercised until the final act takes place which is what I now wish to speak about. Our passage brings in what God will do and what the Lord Himself will do. What preparation, we might say! The Father and the Son and the Spirit undoubtedly will have part in it all. The Father is said to raise the dead, and the Son is said to raise the dead and quicken them, and the Spirit is said to quicken, but the One specially mentioned as raising us is the Son, the Son of God. It is, in a way, regarded as His province, not that it is so absolutely, but in a general sense.
[p. 296] So it is said here that the Lord Jesus descends from heaven with an assembling shout, with archangel’s voice and with trump of God. It is His matter. It is as if the Lord considers it as a matter that is special to Him. Not that He would exclude the Father and the Spirit, because He does not, but at the same time I think that the Lord regards it as His special matter to say to the sleeping saints over whom He watches. We here are not yet asleep; we are among those who are alive and remain and the Lord is watching over us here tonight. He regards us as of the assembly in its present provisional condition here on earth where the service of God and the gospel are carried on. Those who have fallen asleep have passed out of this for the moment but we are all to be united presently at the moment of the assembling shout. And so the word here is “the word of the Lord” and it is that “the living, who remain to the coming of the Lord, are in no way to anticipate those who have fallen asleep” 1 Thessalonians 4:15. It is the word of the Lord, a special word of His.
There are other special words, but this one is specially given with respect to the sleeping saints and so it says, “For this we say to you in the word of the Lord, that we, the living, who remain to the coming of the Lord, are in no way to anticipate those who have fallen asleep; for the Lord himself, with an assembling shout, with archangel’s voice and with trump of God, shall descend from heaven” 1 Thessalonians 4:15,16. Notice how much care is used in wording the details of this wonderful event! I am speaking of it not only because of its bearing on the sleeping saints but because of those of us who are living. We are thinking of those who sleep and are to be assured and comforted by the facts in this chapter. So the Lord is referred to as coming out of heaven to transact this great matter, and it is “the Lord himself”. He will descend with an assembling shout,
with archangel’s voice and with trump of God. These are the words that describe this wonderful act of the Son of God. This is the final thing, this descent of the Lord. It is said of Him earlier that He who ascended is the same who also descended into the lower parts of the earth. But the Lord does not go into the lower parts of the earth to raise the dead. It is an act of power, it is His own power, His own act, it is within the range of His power to raise the sleeping saints. In descending He raises them and the living are caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.
According to 2 Corinthians 5 we have an additional thought, that of our house in heaven. It says, “If our earthly tabernacle house be destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” 2 Corinthians 5:1. I want you to note that that is in the second epistle — not in the first. We are carried into what is heavenly in finality in the service of God, and the second epistle treats of the heavenly side of the service of God and the permanency of our position in eternity. I am using strong words and sentences which I wish to be received deeply into our hearts. I am dealing now with the sleeping saints and how they are raised and come into a building not made with hands but eternal in the heavens. That is how the saints come into permanency as having fallen asleep through Jesus, we come into this heavenly matter, a building of God eternal in the heavens.
And so I pass on to the verse in John 14 to extend the thought of care. I have spoken of the purchase of a burying ground for the sleeping saints and of the coffin or ark that was made for Joseph and of the services for the saints and their burials. And I have been speaking of the assembling shout, how the Lord is coming with that mighty powerful shout of His and of how He has the assembly in His mind,
[p. 298] for it is an assembling shout. These are all wonderful thoughts, but now I come to the final thought in John 14:1,2: “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe on God, believe also on me. In my Father’s house there are many abodes; were it not so, I had told you: for I go to prepare you a place”. Now we see how the idea of preparation comes in and what is in view. The Lord Jesus is assuring His own before He died, before He left for heaven, that He is coming again for them and that in the meantime He is going to prepare a place for them. It is not a grave, not a house, not a meeting room, nothing of the kind. I go to prepare a place for you — those whom He cherishes most — the saints of the assembly. He is thinking of them. He is going up there but He is coming back again, not to earth, not exactly for that purpose, but, “I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be” John 14:3. That is permanency — the matter is fixed. The Lord would have us to understand and to follow what He is saying and what He is doing, and how everyone of us is in His heart at this moment — every one of us. And those who have fallen asleep are also in His heart, He is thinking of them as Sarah was thought of, as Joseph was thought of, and as many a saint is still thought of. The Lord is thinking of the saints all the time. He is God; He is infinite! He is not as a mere man, He can think of us all at once and prepare for us all at once and love us all at the same time. We are set in the realm of true greatness.
And so the final matter is that the Lord is coming, not to stay, but that He might take us up that we might be with Him for ever where He is, not anywhere, but where He is. What better could He assign than His own place for us? But He does assign it; it is the permanent position into which the saints are brought. The Lord is assuring us this very night of these wonderful things so that [p. 299] we might not have troubled hearts. The world is full of troubles and the devil tries to extend these into these meetings, but God protects us here as He protects us in our graves. He protects our service, our ministry, our teaching, whatever it might be. He is watching over us all with a view to finality and permanency in eternity, permanency of place, of abode, not simply a place, but abode. “In my Father’s house there are many abodes” John 14:2, He says. That is the word — many abiding places. But “I go to prepare you a place” John 14:2. That is to say, the saints of the assembly are special. I do not want to enlarge on that unduly, but we are all loved of the Lord.
There are different families, of course, many families. “In my Father’s house there are many abodes”, but “I go to prepare you a place” John 14:2. That is the permanent abode of the saints and it is a comforting and assuring thought. It is a love thought! The Lord would leave us with the thought of having a place prepared for us by Himself, and it is the very best place in heaven. But it is not simply that, it is “that where I am ye also may be” John 14:3. It is enough for us that the Lord is there. We shall be there, dear brethren. Of course, we love to think of the many families, but we might tend to segregate them and make a mistake in doing so. I would prefer to think of the one family that the Lord has in His mind at this very moment, the assembly of the living God. It is that down here, the pillar and base of the truth. What it will be up there is what the Lord will constitute us, and we shall be in living accommodations, the surroundings shall be fully furnished, so to speak. But the great matter is “that where I am ye also may be”. John 14:3.
May God grant His blessing upon these words!