ACCOUNTED
WORTHY TO ESCAPE
By
G. H. PEMBER
Upon
the vexed question of the translation of the Church there has been much
controversy. One large party has pronounced that all her
living members
will be removed from earth before the Tribulation: another, that the
whole
number of them will have to remain here until the end of the same dread
season:
a third, that those of the living saints who, through their walk and
behaviour
after conversion, are found worthy, will escape the Tribulation; while
such as
the Lord finds living in ease and carnal security will have to be
cleansed from
worldly lusts by passing through the trial. This last
mentioned view
seems to us to be the true solution of the problem; while, at the same
time, it
suggests a probable origin for the others.
But
we would pray for power to remember that over-confidence and
dogmatism are
altogether out of place in the discussion of subjects so profound and
solemn. With chastened and humble hearts must we
enter the Holiest,
sprinkled with the Blood of our slain Lord, and leaning, not upon our
own
wisdom, but upon the aid of that [Holy]
Spirit Who Alone knows the mind of God and
Alone can reveal it. And if these be our conditions, there
will be found
in us none of that vain self-reliance, at times bordering upon
arrogance, which
is so often conspicuous in discussions even of the most solemn themes.
A
vital passage is Luke
21: 36, which runs
as follows:-
Watch
ye, therefore, and pray
always, that ye may be
accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass,
and to
stand before the son of
Now
in the ten verses immediately preceding these words, the Lord has been
describing the Great Tribulation, which shall come as a snare upon all them that dwell upon the face
of the whole earth.
Evidently, then, there is but one way of
escaping a trouble so universal - namely, by a previous translation
from the
earth. And the last clause of the verse reveals
that those who are thus
translated will find themselves in the presence of the
Son of man Which is in
Heaven. We
have, then, to discover who those favoured ones are, and, with that
purpose in
view, must carefully mark what the text tells us respecting them.
First,
then, (1) they must be sought only among those who will be alive at the
time of
the end.* (2)
They must belong to the same class
as the disciples whom the Lord was addressing. (3) They must
be persons
who know and believe that the Tribulation is impending, and who pray
without
ceasing for deliverance from it. (4) They will have
to win this great
favour by being accounted worthy of it. Bare
faith in God, or
Christ, will not procure it for them; it is not a gift,
but a prize to be
won, in the strength of the
Lord, by the fruits of faith, by conduct and works after conversion.
And (5) they are to be translated from earth to Heaven where the Lord
Jesus is,
and to remain with Him while their brethren are being harassed and
slain by
Harlot and Beast in succession. **
[*
Not at the end of
the Great Tribulation, but sometime before it commences: Because
thou didst keep
the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of trial,
that
hour which is to come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon
the
earth:
(Rev.
3: 10).]
[** The old idea, that the title, Son of man, indicates a
Jewish connection is untrue. The title is one of deep
humility, and,
therefore, with a single exception was used only by the Lord
Himself. The
one other mouth that uttered it was that of Stephen, a Christian
believer. And how could we ever forget its intimate
association with
ourselves? For was it not as Son of man that our Lord died,
and redeemed
us from all iniquities?]
In
the fourth chapter
of the Revelation
a change of Dispensation becomes
manifest. The very word church
is never
again found, until the prophecy has ended in chap.
22: 5. The sanctuary of the Lampstands
has disappeared, and its place is taken by the Throne, before which
stands
those heavenly things which were the patterns of the
Tabernacle-furniture. [Rev. 4: 2, 5, 6; 6: 9; 8: 3; 6: 19.]
Presently
the Lord appears as a Jew, the
Lion of the tribe of
Judah, the Root of David. [Rev. 5: 5]
Then again, we have the martyrs [in Hades, the
underworld (Matt. 16: 18)]
crying for vengeance,
[Rev. 6:
9-11] the
sealing of the twelve
thousand from each of twelve tribes of
Thus
the great controversy as to whether the then living members of the
Church will
be removed before or after the [Great] Tribulation appears
to have been founded upon a
mistake that all of them would be removed at the same moment:
whereas the
Scriptures plainly intimate, that, while
a comparatively small number of saints will be accounted worthy to
escape the
Tribulation, the rest will have need of
its burning trials, to wean them from the world, and to complete their
sanctification.
But
it must not be forgotten, that the only reason assigned for the earlier
rapture
is, that those who have part in it may escape the evil that will then
be
impending over the earth. They will be conveyed to a
temporary place of
safety, where they will wait, with their Lord, until they are joined by
their
brethren, the living and the dead. It will also be seen, that
the
previous removal of the Firstfruits
does not divide
the Body of Christ, as some have foolishly supposed. For that
Body can
never even be formed, much less manifested, until every one of its
members is
gathered to the Lord. Therefore, as we have already
said, the Firstfruits
will simply be snatched from peril upon the
earth, and kept in a secret place of the Most High, until the [Great] Tribulation
is past, and the reaping of the Harvest has accomplished the number of
the
elect.
The
fact that those who really love the Lord more than all else will be
suddenly
delivered from the appalling woes of the end, seems to be a secret, as
it were,
between Himself and those of His people who live in the last
times. For,
so far as we are aware, none but Himself
has divulged
it. He reveals it with His own mouth in Luke
21: 36, and in
Rev. 3: 10; while the
more detailed notice of it in Rev.
14. occurs
in the Book which was peculiarly His Own. His
Evangelists and Apostles, who were to pass away long before His return,
seem to
have made no distinct mention of the secret. His Church upon
earth lived
through the weary centuries without discovering it; and it is only in
recent
times that the light of the [Holy] Spirit has been thrown
upon it. Have we not
here a solemn warning, that
the time for its
fulfilment is at hand?
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"Blessed
partakers in this consummation!
Throughout
lifes race
they
did eager contend,
Aye
pressing on in the
hope
of salvation,
On toward the Mark for the
Prize
at
the end
Lord!
Grant us grace, through Thy [Holy] Spirit
of Power,
Constant to dwell in Thee
through lifes short day,
With
fear
and trembling,
until its last hour,
Steadfastly watching
in prayer, that we may
Truly
prevail
to escape
the dread sadness
Taking the dwellers in earth
as a thief,
And,
in that time of redemption and gladness,
Stand in Thy Presence with
joy . . . not with grief."
-
John A. Mac Millan.
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