The Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:6) with a summons designed only for the ears and hearts of His own. Not one uncircumcised ear shall hear—not one un-renewed heart be moved. The dead in Christ, including, as we believe, the Old Testament saints, as well as those of the New, who shall have departed in the faith of Christ—all those shall hear that blessed sound, and come forth from their sleeping places. All the living saints shall hear it and be changed in a moment. And oh! What a change! The poor crumbling tabernacle of clay exchanged for a glorified body, like unto the body of Jesus.
Look at yonder bent and withered frame—that body racked with pain, and worn out with years of acute suffering. It is the body of a saint. How humiliating to see it like that! Yes, but wait a little. Let but the trumpet sound, and in one moment that poor crushed and withered frame shall be changed, and made like to the glorified body of the descending Lord.
And there, in yonder mental hospital is a poor patient. He has been there for years. He is a saint of God. How mysterious! True; we cannot fathom the mystery; it lies beyond our present narrow range. But so it is; that poor patient is a saint of God, an heir of glory. He too shall hear the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and leave his illness behind him forever, while he mounts into the heavens, in his glorified body, to meet his descending Lord.
Oh! What a brilliant moment! How many sick beds will be vacant then! What marvellous changes shall then take place! How the heart bounds at the thought, and longs to sing, in full chorus, that lovely hymn,
Christ, the Lord, will come again,
None shall wait for Him in vain:
I shall then His glory see:
Christ will come and call for me.
Amen and Amen!
Stem Publishing – Hymns and Spiritual Songs No 266
Golden Nugget Number 281
(C H Mackintosh, The Lord’s Coming, pp40-41. Suggested by an English subscriber)
Golden Nuggets are published by Saville Street Distribution, Venture, Princes Esplanade, Walton-on-the-Naze, CO14 8QD UK
