0969. An Implication

An Implication

"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

"For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (1Co_15:51-53)

We have before Us a passage of Scripture greatly beloved. It brings to us the mystery of the rapture of saints. This rapture is intimately connected with the resurrection of the body. A study of this Scripture will give added light to our present considerations.

1. It implies the fact of Christ's return in the words, "For the trumpet shall sound." The sounding of this trumpet is more fully set forth in 1Th_4:16-18. There we read: "The Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air."

Thus, we assure our heart, first, of the fact that the Lord will come again, secondly, that the trumpet shall sound, and thirdly, that the dead in Christ shall be raised.

2. It implies the suddenness of the resurrection and of the rapture. It says: "Behold, I show you a mystery; * * we shall all be changed, in a moment." Stop and bat your eye, and then figure how long the operation took, and you will know how long the resurrection and the rapture will take. Certainly, it will not be long.

3. It implies that the dead will be changed at the resurrection. "We shall all be changed." What a glorious change that will be!

"Soon will our Saviour from Heaven appear,

Sweet is the hope, and its powers to cheer;

All will be changed by a glimpse of His face,

This is the goal at the end of our race,

"Loneliness changed to reunion complete,

Absence exchanged for a place at His feet,

Sleeping ones changed in a moment of time,

Living ones changed to His image, sublime,

O what a change!"

4. It implies that the living in Christ will be caught up with the dead. The passage distinctly says, "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed."

This passage satisfies. In Thessalonians we read that the living shall not precede the dead. The dead shall first come forth from their graves, then the living shall be caught up together with them. For our part we feel like singing,

"O joy! O delight! should I go without dying,

No sickness, no sadness, no death, and no crying;

Caught up through the clouds with the Lord into Glory,

When Jesus shall claim His own."

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR