GLORIFIED TOGETHER WITH CHRIST.
By H. A. St. John
1. Jesus Put on Immortality.—Jesus laid down His life for the cause He came to this world to represent. It was by this sacrifice of Himself that the ultimate success of the plan of salvation was assured. By His triumphant death He rendered sure the downfall of Satan’s dominion, and the final redemption of the earth from the thraldom of sin and the curse. On the third day from the crucifixion of Christ, His exaltation and glorification began. On the morning of the first day of the week a mighty angel descended from heaven in great power; the earth trembled, and was illuminated by His presence. He rolled back the stone from the door of the sepulcher, and the sleeping Son of God awoke at the call of His Father. It was impossible that death should longer hold in its cold embrace the spotless Lamb of God. He had triumphed over sin and Satan when He died, and now in His resurrection He triumphs over death and the grave. Said He: “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” Rev. 1:18. With this victory over death, the Son of God began a career of triumph and exaltation, the blazing heights of which no mortal can conceive. He was raised to an immortal life; death shall have no more dominion over Him. Now we purpose to show that the Son of God, in all the distinctive uplifts of His exaltation, is still the great Exemplar of His children, the sons of God; that every persevering disciple of Jesus will continue to follow on in the way his Redeemer has trod, not simply in the lowly pathway of earth, but on and on, through the tomb and death, and still on, until he shall be with Him where He is. The gate of hell, or the power of the grave, can not prevail against the church of Christ. Jesus Himself will descend, with the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ will rise. They had before triumphed over sin and Satan, and now they get the victory over their last enemy, death. They rise to die no more. Like their great Exemplar, they are now alive forevermore. This, to them, is the beginning of a succession of triumphs and exaltations, the blazing glory of which is not within the sphere of mortal conception. 2. Angels Came for Him.—We have seen247that the angels were present at the resurrection of Christ. And now when we come to His departure from earth, His ascension to heaven from the Mount of Olives, we find that a great cloud of angels received Him, and shut Him from the view of the gazing disciples. Two of the number tarried behind for a moment to instruct and comfort the believers with respect to their ascending Lord. These angels told them that this same Jesus would Himself return, and that His returning would be after the same manner as His departure which they had just witnessed. These instructive and comforting words spoken, the angels left them, presumably to join the grand and joyful angelic escort that accompanied Jesus on His way upward to His Father’s throne, His former home of love. Here was a scene of surpassing glory, never to be forgotten by the humble beholders. Now there will a time come when the sons of God shall be, not witnesses simply, but participants in an event like that of Mount Olivet. They themselves will be drawn heavenward by a power and attraction far stronger than any power or attraction of earth. Jesus Himself, in all His glory and majesty, will be the divine magnet in the heavens above, that will draw, literally and personally, all the saints unto himself. They have just been raised from the dead, and in glowing language are singing their first triumphant songs of victory over death and the grave. Hear their glad anthems of experience and praise. “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 15:54-56. And all the holy angels participate in this scene. They have a part to act under the direction of their great Commander, who is seated upon the dazzling throne of His glory in the heavens above. He shall send forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet to gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. These angels have many times before ministered to the same souls when they were making their dangerous pilgrimage through an enemy’s land. Hidden from view, they had guided them, delivered them, comforted them, ministered unto them; and hence were lovingly acquainted with all of them. And now that these precious souls are more than conquerors, and ready to join their conquering Head, how joyfully must these holy angels obey the command of the Lord of the harvest, to go, as the reapers, and gather unto Him the precious sheaves of the ripe and golden grain. This time the sons of God are not to see their Lord depart from them into heaven, but to join Him in glory, and so to be ever with the Lord. It is the second step in their triumphal march to the exaltation long promised. In this they are still following in the pathway of the Son of God. But it is not the humble, thorny pathway, now; that is ended, and their immortal feet have entered upon the bright and shining course that will soon bring them to where Jesus has prepared a place for them, and where they may behold, and share, the glory that the Father has given His well-beloved Son. 3. Personally Ascended.—The body of Christ was not left in the grave. His flesh was not allowed to see corruption. It was the real personal Jesus that went into the sepulcher; and the same Jesus had a resurrection on the third day, and, forty days later, bodily and personally ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives, in the sight of His disciples. This is no illusion, but a veritable reality. Whether we can comprehend it or not, it is a truth we should accept, on the authority of God’s Word. It ought to be an encouraging thought to the believer in Christ, that he has a personal Saviour on the throne of grace. One who possesses a nature like His own, in that it is human as well as divine, and who can still be touched with the feeling of his infirmities. We thank God for a personal Saviour, with an experience and a nature exactly fitting to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by Him; who has gone into heaven, there to appear in the highest court of justice in the universe in man’s behalf. And in His personal ascension to heaven, He is again but treading the path in which His children will follow at a later day. Said He, “Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now; but thou shalt follow Me afterwards.” John 13:36. The saints will be raised to immortality. They will have actual spiritual bodies in the resurrection, and will personally follow Christ to the mansions He has prepared for them. Thus will all the saints go to heaven. They will have had their former vile bodies changed, and fashioned like unto Christ’s glorious body; and they will follow Christ. They will be led on their heavenly way by Jesus Himself, and an innumerable company of angels will attend them to the gates of the Paradise of God. Thus the glorified Son of God will bring many sons unto glory.