2 JULY (1876)
The believer in the body and out of the body
‘We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.’ 2 Corinthians 5:8
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Philippians 1:21–26
The spirits of those saints who have left their bodies in the grave are not annihilated; they live on. Paul could not have counted it better to be annihilated than to lead a life of holy confidence. The saints are not dead; our Lord gave a conclusive answer to that error when he said, ‘Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.’ Those who have departed this life are still alive: we are sure of that, or else Paul would not have preferred that state. Neither are they unconscious, as some say, for who would prefer torpor to active confidence? Whatever trials there may be in the Christian life here below, the man of faith does really enjoy life and could not prefer unconsciousness. Neither are the saints in purgatorial fires, for nobody would desire to be tormented, and we may be sure that the apostle Paul would not have been willing to be in purgatory rather than to live here and serve his Lord.
The saints live in consciousness and happiness. Moses came and talked with Christ on the mount of Transfiguration, though he had no body, just as readily as Elijah, though that mighty prophet carried his body with him when he ascended in a chariot of fire. The body is not necessary to consciousness or to happiness. The best of all is that the spirits of the departed are with Christ; ‘to be with Christ; which is far better’, said the apostle. For ‘ever with the Lord’, their portion is allotted them. It is the Lord’s own prayer: ‘I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory,’ and the prayer is fulfilled in them.
FOR MEDITATION: (Our Own Hymn Book no.865 v.1—Samuel Crossman, 1664)
‘Jerusalem on high my song and city is,
My home whene’er I die, the centre of my bliss.
O happy place! When shall I be,
My God, with Thee, and see Thy face?’
C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 4), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2007), 194.
The believer in the body and out of the body
‘We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.’ 2 Corinthians 5:8
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Philippians 1:21–26
The spirits of those saints who have left their bodies in the grave are not annihilated; they live on. Paul could not have counted it better to be annihilated than to lead a life of holy confidence. The saints are not dead; our Lord gave a conclusive answer to that error when he said, ‘Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.’ Those who have departed this life are still alive: we are sure of that, or else Paul would not have preferred that state. Neither are they unconscious, as some say, for who would prefer torpor to active confidence? Whatever trials there may be in the Christian life here below, the man of faith does really enjoy life and could not prefer unconsciousness. Neither are the saints in purgatorial fires, for nobody would desire to be tormented, and we may be sure that the apostle Paul would not have been willing to be in purgatory rather than to live here and serve his Lord.
The saints live in consciousness and happiness. Moses came and talked with Christ on the mount of Transfiguration, though he had no body, just as readily as Elijah, though that mighty prophet carried his body with him when he ascended in a chariot of fire. The body is not necessary to consciousness or to happiness. The best of all is that the spirits of the departed are with Christ; ‘to be with Christ; which is far better’, said the apostle. For ‘ever with the Lord’, their portion is allotted them. It is the Lord’s own prayer: ‘I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory,’ and the prayer is fulfilled in them.
FOR MEDITATION: (Our Own Hymn Book no.865 v.1—Samuel Crossman, 1664)
‘Jerusalem on high my song and city is,
My home whene’er I die, the centre of my bliss.
O happy place! When shall I be,
My God, with Thee, and see Thy face?’
C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 4), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2007), 194.
2 JULY (1876)
The believer in the body and out of the body
‘We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.’ 2 Corinthians 5:8
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Philippians 1:21–26
The spirits of those saints who have left their bodies in the grave are not annihilated; they live on. Paul could not have counted it better to be annihilated than to lead a life of holy confidence. The saints are not dead; our Lord gave a conclusive answer to that error when he said, ‘Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.’ Those who have departed this life are still alive: we are sure of that, or else Paul would not have preferred that state. Neither are they unconscious, as some say, for who would prefer torpor to active confidence? Whatever trials there may be in the Christian life here below, the man of faith does really enjoy life and could not prefer unconsciousness. Neither are the saints in purgatorial fires, for nobody would desire to be tormented, and we may be sure that the apostle Paul would not have been willing to be in purgatory rather than to live here and serve his Lord.
The saints live in consciousness and happiness. Moses came and talked with Christ on the mount of Transfiguration, though he had no body, just as readily as Elijah, though that mighty prophet carried his body with him when he ascended in a chariot of fire. The body is not necessary to consciousness or to happiness. The best of all is that the spirits of the departed are with Christ; ‘to be with Christ; which is far better’, said the apostle. For ‘ever with the Lord’, their portion is allotted them. It is the Lord’s own prayer: ‘I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory,’ and the prayer is fulfilled in them.
FOR MEDITATION: (Our Own Hymn Book no.865 v.1—Samuel Crossman, 1664)
‘Jerusalem on high my song and city is,
My home whene’er I die, the centre of my bliss.
O happy place! When shall I be,
My God, with Thee, and see Thy face?’
C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 4), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2007), 194.
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