THE CHRISTIAN'S PRIZE
"Do not let anyone disqualify
you for the prize" (Col. 2: 18).
But what is the Christian's Prize?
THE RAPTURE
"There are some Bible scholars, and among them names that are
held in universal esteem, who say it is only the Virgins whose lamps are
burning that are qualified to go in; that there is a just suspicion in Luke 21: 36 that those
Christians who do not watch will not escape all these things. In
view of that bare but awful possibility, there is but one position - habitual
expectation" (J. Mac Neil).
"To those of God's saints in this Age who are "counted worthy" a
complete escape is to be granted: escape from the awful period of
earth-judgements is possible, but it is conditional" (Samuel
H. Wilkinson).
"Like Enoch, those Christians with the traits of
Philadelphian grace and fidelity are taken before the judgement of the
Tribulation. Such as share the Laodicean spirit will be left
behind, to awake, repent, and witness for their Lord through that awful time of
woe; and, whether by martyrdom or translation of the Harvest, be among the
saved at last" (G. D. Hooper).
"The teaching of first-fruits translation is said to be a
legal doctrine, doing despite to grace. How can this be, when apart from
grace it is impossible to live such a life as alone can entitle to the
privilege set forth? Nothing can more show one his dependence on grace,
or more animate to believing prayer for grace, than a conviction that apart
from its constant and abundant reception, we must fail to be ready to meet our
Lord with joy" (Fuller Gooch).
"The burden on my spirit day and night is the imminent
appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray God to make you ready and to
keep you ready. May your portion be amongst this number that shall be
caught up to heaven" (Evan Roberts).
"Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to
escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before
the Son of Man". (N. I. V.) "But be ye
watchful at every time begging that ye may be able to escape these things all
being about to happen, and to stand before the Son of man."
(Greek-English Interlinear)
THE FIRST RESURRECTION
"When Paul says 'resurrection' (in Phil. 3: 11), it has the preposition 'out' before it, the 'out-resurrection' - the special resurrection, the specific resurrection, the
one that is singled out from every other: 'if by any means I might attain unto the out-resurrection, the one from
among the dead.' Paul is
looking for a resurrection 'out' from among Christians, else he would not have to strive so
strenuously: he is striving to attain something that ordinary Christians will
not attain. A 'prize' is something to win:
there is a special blessing and reward for those who will go the whole way with
God" (C. H. Pridgeon).
"Of his resurrection at the end of the world, when all
without exception will surely be raised, he could have no possible doubt.
What sense then can this passage have, if it represents him so labouring and
suffering merely in order to attain a
resurrection, and as holding this up to view as unattainable unless he should
arrive at a high degree of Christian resurrection to be appointed as a special
reward of high attainments in Christian virtue, and all seems to be plain and
easy. Of a resurrection in a
figurative sense, that is, of regeneration, Paul cannot be speaking; for he had
already attained to that on the plain of Damascus" (Dr.
Moses Stuart).
"It is more evident that Paul had some special resurrection
in view, even the first: and to share in that he was straining every nerve"
(J. Mac Neil).
"Blessed and holy are
those who have part in the first resurrection" (Rev. 20: 6): "And so,
somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead."
(Greek, - "If somehow I may attain to the
out-resurrection out from the dead".) - "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already
been made perfect, but I press on to take
hold" - (Greek, - "If
indeed I may lay hold") - "of
that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers I do not consider myself yet to have
taken hold of it. But one thing I do:
Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on
toward the goal TO WIN THE PRIZE" (Phil.
3: 11-14a).
THE KINGDOM
"To those who believe on Him, but go no further, the Lord
does, indeed, give eternal life; but the fruition of it will not begin
until the Last Day, until the thousand years of the millennial reign are ended.
Such persons will not, therefore, be permitted to enter the Kingdom of the
Heavens" (G. H. Pember).
"Into that glorious company of the First Resurrection it is
possible that only those who have been partakers of Christ's humiliation
and suffering (either personally or throughout the present aeon) shall be
received - a select portion of the redeemed, including the martyrs"
(Dr. E. R. Craven).
"In this exclusion from the Kingdom is rendered impossible [in
certain cases], but not by any means does it follow
that salvation can be thereby prevented" (Olshausen).
"There may be positive and entire forfeiture of the Kingdom, and only the lowest position in Eternal Life after
it. … This truth must speedily redeem it from all obscurity. Those
who have the single eye will perceive its amplitude of evidence, and embrace it,
in spite of the solemn awe of God which it produces, and the depth of our own
responsibility which it discloses" (Govett).
"Let us, therefore, make every effort to
enter that rest" - the sabbatismos, the seventh millennium
- (Heb. 4: 11): for "not everyone who
says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he
who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 7: 21).
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only
one gets the prize? Run in such a
way as to get the prize" (1Cor.
9: 24).
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