from There Is Hope
Chapter One: Something For Your Heart
by Elwood McQuaid
The cemetery was bitterly
cold that day. Several inches of snow covered the ground and was being whipped
around the open grave by aggressive gusts of wind. Because a grief-stricken
mother could not bear the thought of parting with the body of her infant
daughter, she insisted that the tiny coffin be opened one last time.
As a minister, I have officiated at
scores of funerals. Details of most of them are blurred in my memory or
completely forgotten. But this one refuses to be erased. After nearly two
decades, the heartrending picture still from time to time appears vividly
before me. Seeing devastated young parents on their knees looking into the tiny
face of one too soon gone, as a cruel winter wind ruffled the white satin dress
she wore, is not something I care to remember. Frankly, it was a scene that, to
my mind, after all of these years, is still incomprehensible. No studied
explanation of medical data or questions of unpleasant alternatives, had she
survived, will suffice. A child had died and been buried at the worst of
times—from a strictly human point of view, it defies rational explanation.
Be Not
Troubled
In some measure, we can compare the
devastated emotions of the parents described above to Jesus’ disciples when He
made the stunning announcement that He was about to leave them. “One of you
shall betray me,” Jesus told them in the upper room (John 13:21). “Little
children,” He went on to say, “yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek
me; and as I said unto the Jews, Where I go, ye cannot come; so now I say unto
you” (John 13:33). At the heart of it all was His word to them that He was
going up to Jerusalem, not to take His throne and establish the millennial
kingdom they looked and longed for, but to die.
And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve
disciples aside along the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to
Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto
the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the
Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him. And the third day he
shall rise again (Matthew 20:17–19).
He had told them this from time to
time. His death was a necessity. It would, in fact, be the direct fulfillment
of Isaiah 53.
“For I say unto you that this that
is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the
transgressors [Isaiah 53:12]; for the things concerning me have a
fulfillment” (Luke 22:37, italics added).
There is a rather intriguing verse
that helps to explain why the disciples were so dull of ear when Jesus made
statements about His impending death. “And they understood none of these
things; and this saying was hidden from them, neither knew they the things
which were spoken” (Luke 18:34).
The disciples did not hear what He
was saying for two reasons.
First, it obviously was not the
right time for them to fully comprehend what would take place in Jerusalem; that truth was
divinely hidden from them for a time.
Then, and more to the point of what
we need to learn, they were guilty of selective hearing. Rather like our
children, Jesus’ disciples were listening for what they wanted to hear.
What was that?
It was those things that Jesus was
teaching them regarding the coming kingdom. We can well imagine, as He stood
before the multitudes instructing them in those essential elements of God’s
plan for the nation, that they sketched in their minds plans for kingdom
palaces. Their comprehension focused on the fact that one day the Messiah would
come, triumph over their oppressors, and take His throne. These men we know as
Jesus’ disciples were sure that when that day came, they would reign with Him.
Can they be faulted for listening more intently to those instructions related
to the kingdom?
In a sense, yes. They could not say
that they had not been forewarned. Neither could they claim that they were not
prepared.
However, when the time came for them
to face His death, they were as unprepared as we often are when facing the
death of a loved one or some unexpected or unexplained tragedy.
His most intimate followers, men who
with but one exception loved Him dearly, were crushed when word of His death
finally got through to them. When the event actually took place, they scattered
and hid themselves like fugitives on the brink of losing their lives.
But He had prepared them, and later
His words would burn in their hearts.
Jesus had, in fact, foreseen their
devastated state and given them their answer in certain and simple
terms.
A Matter
of the Heart
Their need at that decisive moment
was not an extended lecture in the theology of the coming church age and the
delay of the kingdom. Their minds were too depressed to process such
information, as important as it may have been. They were sick at heart. He was leaving
them. They had put their unqualified trust in Him, and now they were to be left
alone.
Why?
At that moment the pressing need was
not for an explanation but rather for a declaration of intention. Jesus was
about to say something they could hang their hearts on. Although it would be
some time before they would begin to grasp, as the Spirit taught them, what
Calvary was really all about, He was delivering something that would carry them
through the fury of the storm that was about to break upon them.
His words lay bare the heart of this
book. There are times that are most certainly times of the heart—times when we
as believers need the comfort that only certainty, simply framed, can give.
Let’s examine what He said and see
the pattern for our hope unveiled.
Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God,
believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so,
I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I
am, there ye may be also. And where I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas
saith unto him, Lord, we know not where thou goest; and how can we know the
way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life;no man cometh
unto the Father, but by me (John 14:1–6).
Looking
Toward a New Age
The disciples were standing with
Jesus on the verge of a completely new age (dispensation). They had been taught
things pertaining to the kingdom age. But with His announcement that He was
going away, that promised literal and historical kingdom would be postponed.
This is verified in Acts 1:6–7.
After His death and resurrection, and on the verge of His ascension into
heaven, the disciples posed a question to Him: “Lord, wilt thou at this time
restore again the kingdom to Israel?
And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons,
which the Father hath put in his own power.”
Those people who today are
attempting to date the Lord’s return would be well advised to hear what He told
His followers two millennia ago: “It is not for you to know the times or the
seasons.…”
Case closed! The kingdom had not been done away with. It would
most assuredly come. But in the interim, they and we are committed to another
commission in, if you will, a completely new age—the age of grace.
Believers were to be wonderfully
equipped for the time when Christ would be physically absent from His
earthbound church. In John 14 through 16, He described the dimensions of the
provision He would leave at their disposal.
• He will be listening and prepared to take every request to the Father. “If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14).
• He would send them another Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to take up residence within the very believers He would soon be parted from. “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever” (John 14:16).
• He revealed the Comforter’s ministry to and through believers:
* “He shall teach you all things” (John 14:26).
* “And bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said unto you” (John 14:26).
* “He shall testify of me” (John 15:26).
* “And ye [through the Spirit’s enabling] also shall bear witness” (John 15:27).
* “He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8).
* “He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).
* “He will show you things to come” (John 16:13).
* “He shall glorify me” (John 16:14).
* “He shall take of mine [the things of Christ], and shall show it unto you” (John 16:15).
• Finally, He assured them that through His provision they could be counted among the overcomers. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”(John 16:33).
Meeting
the “Now” Need
His preface to the
soon-to-be-realized fruits of the new age was to address the need that was
stunning their minds and numbing their hearts at that crucial moment. They
needed a “right now” source of comfort and assurance.
His first word to them was, “Let
not your heart be troubled.” It was coupled with an indispensable
proposition: “Ye believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1).
Believe was to be the watchword of the new age of grace that was to come.
Soon He would make the last sacrifice ever necessary to redeem humanity. In a
very real sense, the fire was dying on Israel’s grand sacrificial altar.
No longer would annual pilgrimages to the Temple Mount
be an integral part of the divine program. The old was passing away. A new
order was upon them.
The thrust of what was dawning is
set forth magnificently in the Book of Acts. Paul and Silas, deep in the bowels
of the jail at Philippi, sang praise to God as
a prelude to a nerve-shattering earthquake. The jailer, first thinking that the
prisoners had escaped, was ready to fall upon his own sword rather than face
the wrath of his superiors. “Do thyself no harm,” Paul cried, “for we are all
here.” And then the trembling jailer, with a question on his lips, brought them
out. “Sirs,” he said, “what must I do to be saved?”
The apostle’s response was simple: “Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts
16:25–34).
Here is profound certainty in
simplicity. Believe! Believe! Believe! Jesus has indeed paid it all. Believe
and be saved.
The
Father’s House
“In my Father’s house are many
mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you” (John 14:2).
The security of being assured of a
dwelling place in “the city of God”
causes the darkest clouds to flee away. The mansions in glory are rightly the
stuff of the songs of the redeemed. What better way to celebrate our future
destiny? Our faces are set toward home, and one day—whether we collectively flee
away to Him or slip out of this world through death’s door one by one—“we have
a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2
Corinthians 5:1).
Some rather tongue-in-cheek disputes
go on between students of Scripture regarding our heavenly home. Some sing of
their readiness to settle for “a little cabin in the corner of glory land,” a
prospect held in ridicule by many of their peers. Then there are those who
relish the thought of mansions like sprawling Roman villas covering vast
expanses of heavenly real estate. Somewhere in between are those people—ever
cautious of encouraging a thirst for the opulent or, on the other hand, a
miserly view of what the Lord plans for His children—who seem fond of referring
to our mansions as rooms. They seem to be saying, “Don’t get too excited; a
room will do.” Well, yes, I suppose a room will do—if that is what He plans.
But it really doesn’t make a bit of difference whether it is a mansion, a room,
or a cabin. You see, we know the architect. If Jesus is preparing us a house,
as He promised, we need not worry about its dimensions or decorations. All will
be well prepared by the time we take up occupancy.
There is a marvelous account of
God’s care for His people in Ezekiel 11:16. At that time Israel was
scattered and suffering, bearing the inevitable consequences of wandering from
the will of God. In spite of all of this, God assured them, “Although I have
cast them far off among the nations, and although I have scattered them among
the countries, yet will I be to them a little sanctuary in the countries where
they shall come.”
Sanctuary—here it is likened to a
place of asylum, a God-given hiding place for a people He calls “chosen.” In
spite of themselves, the Lord of glory pledges Himself to their protection.
They will, as a nation, survive.
How much more wonderful it is to
contemplate that this same God, ever faithful to His Word, is preparing,
through His Son, our eternal home.
I Will
Come Again
Whatever the disciples may have
thought at the moment, their Lord was not deserting them. Nor was He being so
victimized by His enemies that He was more concerned about His own suffering
than about their future welfare. The cross was not going to be a terminal
event. It was simply one stage of a program that would secure the promise of a
permanent relationship.
“And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there
ye may be also” (John 14:3).
With these transcending words, we
are introduced to the concept of the Rapture of the church. The Rapture is a
clear departure from the Lord’s teaching about the second advent coming of
Christ, in which He will set up His kingdom and rule over reconciled Israel
for a full thousand years. As we shall see, that coming will bring Him back to
the city of Jerusalem,
where He will take His seat of regal authority upon the throne of David.
The coming promised to believers in
John 14 is a distinct departure from the Second Coming concept. Most noteworthy
is that in this coming He promised that there will be a day when He will come
in the clouds to call believers up to heaven. The Rapture scenario is described
in intricate detail in the Book of First Thessalonians (a passage we will
explore fully later). Now however it is important to understand that what Jesus
told His followers here is not what He had been teaching them concerning the
kingdom.
Proof of this is found in the
statement, “where I am, there ye may be also.” Jesus is preparing a wonderful
place in the heavens, and when the time is right He will come for His church
and take His people home. This is the grand event that is properly known as the
“blessed hope.” It is the certainty that at any moment we may be called away
and be found with Him.
A logical question was raised by
Thomas, otherwise known as “the doubter”: “Lord, we know not where thou
goest; and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5) His was a question we
might well expect from one who had just been told that his beloved Master was
leaving to move toward some obscure place in the heavens. Jesus’ response was
sublime.
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
Let’s reconstruct what the Lord told
His stricken disciples who desperately needed something for their hearts.
• He
told them to believe, to trust Him as personal Savior and Lord. In so
doing, they would indeed find the way home.
• Although
He was to be separated from them physically for a time, they need not worry. He
was preparing a place for them in heaven.
• He
promised that one day He would come again and call them home.
• They
would thereafter never be parted from Him again. Here is a wonder of simplicity
that only a sovereign and caring Lord could bring together. I think we can
properly say that God brought Him (Jesus), heaven, and home
together in a way that would provide every generation of future believers a
hope to hang their hearts on.
Maranatha
At precisely this juncture in
Scripture, God chose to implant the pulsing Maranatha hope into the
anatomy of His church. From the moment of Jesus’ departure from the Mount of
Olives in Jerusalem,
Maranatha (Our Lord, come!) became the watchword of the church.
It was their greeting and parting word of hope. Perhaps He would come for them
today.
I was speaking at a church in the Midwest some time ago. My topic was the Rapture and the
imminent return of Christ. As I stood in the foyer greeting worshipers
following the service, a woman walked up to me, extended her hand, said “Maranatha,”
and without another word left the building.
What a thrilling way, I thought, to
close a service on the Rapture. Two thousand years and thousands of miles
removed from the place where the word was coined, believers are still greeting
one another with this singular word of hope and expectation.
Where is
the Promise of His Coming?
In spite of His clear promise and
the obvious response of the early church, we can anticipate a chorus of voices
saying that there is no word of hope coming from the Scriptures declaring an
imminent return of Christ for His saints. In spite of the fact that we have
just considered one such word, and the fact that the early church believed they
would experience the Rapture in their lifetimes, some believers still
strenuously object to this hope.
Such objections are anticipated in
the Word of God.
“Knowing this first, that there
shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And
saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Peter 3:3–4).
The attack being directed at the
prospect of the Second Coming that Peter promised for the last days is not a
casual theological difference of opinion. Actually, it calls into question the
very truthfulness and integrity of the one who made the promise—Jesus Christ.
The phrase “Where is the promise of
His coming?” is also properly rendered, as it is in the New International
Version, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?” Jesus is the one who promised to
return. In John 14 it relates directly to His coming to Rapture His church.
Thus, the reliability of Christ Himself is being called into question.
We need not be surprised when some
people boldly deny the coming of the Lord or others offer sometimes bizarre
alternatives.
Among the novel and, yes, even
bizarre teachings being floated today are those claiming to have discovered the
day of the Lord’s return. For the last decade there has been a substantial
increase in the number of theories claiming to have uncovered the secret key to
determining the exact time of the Lord’s return. And we can be assured that as
we approach the year 2000, the phenomenon will not diminish. There will be an
increase in the number of prophetic “experts” claiming to know “the day and the
hour” of His appearing.
Some people act as though this is a
kind of Bible trivia guessing game in which no harm is done, and perhaps we
even garner some good by causing people to think of the Lord’s coming. This is
not true. Several rather serious problems attach themselves to the folly of
date setting.
First, it is something that the Lord
has warned us not to do.
“But of that day and that hour
knoweth no man, no, not the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
Take heed, watch and pray; for ye know not when the time is” (Mark 13:32–33).
Then there is the matter of
distracting people from carrying out their commission. Often people get so
caught up in some self-proclaimed “insider’s” teaching on the Rapture or Second
Coming that they neglect the responsibility to evangelize. Many become more
concerned about converting believers to their particular view than reaching the
lost with the gospel.
Inevitably, when the date set for
the Rapture or Second Coming passes—and for nearly two thousand years it always
has—those espousing the view are humiliated, often ridiculed, and their
confidence in the Bible is shaken.
A number of such examples can be
mentioned. Of particular notoriety was the book setting forth 88 reasons why
the Rapture would take place in September of 1988. September (which seems to be
a favorite month of date setters) came and went—nothing happened. The
resourceful author was not stymied; he claimed to have been one year off in his
calculations and went back to the drawing board. Then he found 89 reasons why
the event would assuredly occur in 1989. Although the book caused quite a stir
for a time—until October of ’89 as I recall—and reportedly sold some 4 million
copies, the whole theory toppled with the passing of the date.
While the credulous waited for the
next person with special revelation from God to appear on the scene, many more
thoughtful brethren began to wonder whether talking about the Lord’s coming was
more of a hindrance than a help to the cause of Christ.
But the worst of these encounters is
seen in the reaction of unbelievers toward the apparent failure of God to take
heed when He is commanded to meet a particular date set by someone fancying
himself an expert in such things. In their minds, these failures confirm the
reason for their continued unbelief and give rise to suspicions about anyone’s
ability, or sincerity for that matter, to rightly divide the Word of God.
Are all such people charlatans
looking for financial gain or personal aggrandizement? Some, perhaps many, are.
But not all. There are among them a host of sincere people who are victims and
therefore victimize others because they have never learned how to rightly
divide the Word of God. Given the slippage in sound Bible teaching that we are
witnessing today, we cannot be overly optimistic that matters will improve.
Nevertheless, it is incumbent on all
believers to learn how to study the Scriptures as they were meant to be
interpreted. Once again, such study and subsequent knowledge are not beyond the
reach of the average Christian.
It is of utmost importance to
realize that within the confines of the Bible, God has told us all that we need
to know. Second Peter 1 makes this clear.
According as his divine power hath given unto us all
things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him
that hath called us to glory and virtue; By which are given unto us exceedingly
great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (vv.
3–4).
The “knowledge” spoken of here is
the understanding that comes to us through the written Word of God and implies
“the full knowledge” of God. All of the available knowledge that He has
provided in matters pertaining to life and godliness has been transmitted to us
through His Word. Therefore, the best defense against error is to become an
able student of the Scriptures.
So many believers are confused and
consequently confusing others about the Rapture and Second Coming of Christ
because of a basic inadequacy in respecting the central divisions of the
Scriptures established by God and identified for our instruction and
edification.
The Scripture has left the whole matter, as far as I
can see, with an intentional indistinctness, that we may be always expecting
Christ to come, and that we may be watching for His coming at any hour and
every hour.…He will come in His own time, and we are always to be looking for
His appearing.
—Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Elwood McQuaid served as the executive director of The Friends of
Israel for 12 years. He currently serves as executive editor of Israel
My Glory magazine, which has a circulation of 200,000 with subscribers
in 151 countries. He also hosts Friends of Israel's daily and weekly
radio programs, "This Week with Friends of Israel," and "Eye on the
Middle East," which air on more than 700 outlets in the United States. |