http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Davison/Roy/Allen/1940/061-withchrist.html
Do you long to be with Christ?
We want to be with those we love.
One of the saddest things in life is to be separated from
loved ones. If we cannot be with them all the time, we want to be
with them when we can.
During holidays large sums are spent visiting those we love.
Much automobile and air traffic is generated by those who travel
great distances to spend some time with loved ones.
When I was very small, I travelled with my mother by train
half way across the United States to visit my grandmother.
The saddest separation of all is death. That was the last
time we saw her. She had a stroke and died shortly thereafter.
She was a faithful Christian, however, so we look forward to
seeing her again.
How can we have this assurance? Through the resurrection
of Christ! He is the Redeemer in whom Job believed as he longed
to be with God (Job 19:25-27).
Jesus came to restore our broken relationship with the
Father so we may have an eternal relationship with Him. Jesus
longs to be with His loved ones, and they long to be with Him.
Jesus wants His followers to be with Him forever.
He prayed: “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave
Me may be
with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory
which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation
of the world” (John 17:24).
Knowing that he would be leaving His beloved disciples
shortly, He assured them: “A little while, and you will not see Me;
and again a little while, and you will see Me” (John 16:16). “I will
see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will
take from you” (John 16:22).
“Let not your heart be troubled; you 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 to Myself;
that where I am, there you may be also”
(John 14:1-3).
How can we be with Christ forever?
We must have a good relationship with Him now to be with
Him forever.
Christ died for us that we might live with Him.
“For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we
wake or sleep, we should
live together with Him” (1
Thessalonians 5:9, 10).
We must deny ourselves and follow Christ.
Because Jesus gave His life for us, we give our life to Him.
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come
after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and
follow
Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for My sake will find it’” (Matthew 16:24, 25).
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father
will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home
with
him” (John 14:23).
If we want to be with Jesus forever, we must be willing to
suffer with Him: “and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and
joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer
with Him, that we may
also be glorified together” (Romans 8:17).
We must die with Christ to live with Him.
“This is a faithful saying: For if we died
with Him, we shall
also live
with Him” (2 Timothy 2:11). By sharing in His death, we
have His life in us as a foretaste of eternal life.
“Now if we died
with Christ, we believe that we shall also
live
with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the
dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For
the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life
that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon
yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ
Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:8-11).
“For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by
the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live
with Him by the power of God toward you” (2 Corinthians 13:4).
As Paul wrote: “I have been crucified
with Christ; it is no
longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love
with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses,
made us alive
together with Christ (by grace you have been
saved), and raised us up
together, and made us
sit together in
the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-6).
We die with Christ through baptism.
We are united with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection
through baptism.
“Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized
into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were
buried
with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we
also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been
united
together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in
the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man
was crucified
with Him, that the body of sin might be done away
with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin” (Romans 6:3-6).
At baptism our sinful man is crucified with Christ. Through
the power of the Holy Spirit and by the blood of Christ, our sins
are washed away (Acts 22:16), and we rise from baptism to
“walk in newness of life.” We have been “born again,” “born of
water and the Spirit” (John 3:3, 5).
Previously, we were outside of Christ. Now we are in Him, a
member of His body, the church: “For by one Spirit we were all
baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13).
Paul reminds Christians: You were “buried
with Him in
baptism, in which you also were raised
with Him through faith in
the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” (Colossians
2:12); “knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also
raise us up
with Jesus” (2 Corinthians 4:14).
Christians commune with the body and blood of Christ.
Jesus gives this loving invitation: “Behold, I stand at the
door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I
will come in to him and dine
with Him, and he
with Me”
(Revelation 3:20).
When we break bread on the first day of the week, we have
fellowship with His body and blood: “Is not the cup of blessing
that we bless
a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread
that we break
a sharing in the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians
10:16 NET).
In the Lord’s supper we encounter the body and blood of
Christ. We meditate on what He has done for us. In our mind we
hear the blows of the hammer and feel the pain from the spikes
that were driven into His hands and feet, knowing that He was
bearing the punishment for our sins. Yet, we also rejoice when we
think about the stone being rolled away and the triumphant
Christ emerging from the tomb. We feel extremely close to Him
and surrounded by His love. This fellowship with the body and
blood of Christ is spiritual, intimate and profound.
Christians long to be with Christ.
As long as we are still in the flesh, our fellowship with Christ
is limited, but we look forward to being with Him forever.
Although Paul wanted to serve his fellow saints, he longed to
be with the Lord: “My desire is to depart and
be with Christ, for
that is far better” (Philippians 1:23 ESV). “So we are always
confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are
absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are
confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body
and
to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8).
He who remains faithful may walk with Christ in white.
“You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled
their garments; and they shall walk
with Me in white, for they are
worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments,
and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will
confess his name before My Father and before His angels”
(Revelation 3:4, 5). “To overcome,” as used in Revelation, means
to remain faithful until death.
After Christ returns, we will be with Him forever.
When Jesus comes again, we will be like Him: “Beloved, now
we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we
shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like
Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).
We will appear with Christ at His coming.
“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
God will bring
with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say
to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain
until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who
are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of
God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive
and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be
with the
Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17).
“If then you were raised
with Christ, seek those things which
are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set
your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you
died, and your life is hidden
with Christ in God. When Christ who
is our life appears, then you also will appear
with Him in glory”
(Colossians 3:1-4).
We will reign with Christ.
“This is a faithful saying: For if we died
with Him, we shall
also live
with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign
with Him” (2
Timothy 2:11, 12).
“He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful” (Revelation 17:14).
“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit
with Me on My
throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His
throne” (Revelation 3:21).
What have we learned?
We want to be with those we love. Jesus wants His followers
to be with Him. How can we be with Christ forever? He died for
us that we might live with Him. We must deny ourselves and
follow Jesus. We must die with Him to live with Him. We die with
Christ through baptism. We commune with the body and blood of
Christ at His table. Christians long to be with Christ. He who
remains faithful may walk with Christ in white. When He returns,
we will appear with Him, we will be with Him, and we will
reign with Him forever.
We long to be with Christ! “O Lord, come!” (1 Corinthians
16:22). “The Lord
be with you all” (2 Thessalonians 3:16). Amen.
Roy Davison
The Scripture quotations in this article are from
The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982,
Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers unless indicated otherwise.
Permission for reference use has been granted.
Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)