THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE by W.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 25, 1889

THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE.

By W.

"For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor; yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better." Phil. 1:21-23.

THE common view of the first verse of the quotation was expressed some time ago by a condemned murderer in San Francisco, who, when speaking of what he termed the "persecutions" he had suffered since the commission of his crime, said that he had made his peace with God, and was prepared to die, and that he could say with Paul, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain," meaning that if he should die he would thus escape a great deal of trouble. In so saying he but voiced the almost universal opinion that to the Christian death is always a gain, whenever or however it may come. Much of the theological teaching, nowadays, conveys the idea that death is always something to be desired. This idea is strengthened by the hymns which teach that "death is the gate to endless joy," and that "'tis but the voice that Jesus sends to call us to his arms."

Now to show that this is a mistaken view, it is only necessary to quote a few texts which show that death is not a friend, and that it does not usher a person into the realms of bliss. Paul said that Jesus died, "that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Heb. 2:14. But the devil is the adversary of the human race, and he especially hates and seeks to destroy the good (1 Pet. 5:8), so that it is utterly inconsistent to think of death as being the gate to endless joy; and one needs only to remember that the devil has the power of death, to know that it is not the voice that Jesus sends to call his people to himself. Death is plainly declared to be an enemy (1 Cor. 15:26), and we are told that they who are dead cannot see the Lord (Isa. 38:10, 11), and that in the grave they cannot praise him. Isa. 38:18, 19. We are taught also, by the Lord himself, that his people cannot be with him unless he comes again (John 14:1-3); and we learn that when he does come it will be to redeem them from the power of the grave. Hosea 13:14; 1 Cor. 15:51-55.

From these texts, and many others that might be quoted, we are forced to conclude that if there is any gain in death, it is simply the gain of exchanging toil and trouble for nothingness. It is true that in the grave the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest, yet it is doubtful if it can with strict propriety be said that a person is a gainer by being freed from trouble, when he cannot be conscious of his release. But however this may be, the fact remains that death is an enemy, and is the emblem of cruelty (Song of Solomon 8:6), and on this ground alone there is a manifest absurdity in speaking of death as a gain. If it were a gain, then it would not be an enemy, but a friend.

Suppose, however, it be allowed that to an overworked, persecuted man, death may be called a gain, even though he is unconscious of the relief that would come from laying off care, we shall see that this idea was not in the mind of the apostle. To wish for death as a release from toil is essentially a selfish wish; and selfishness was something entirely foreign to that devoted servant of Christ. His sole object in life was to advance the cause of Christ. So in this epistle to the Philippians, written when he was a prisoner in Rome, he thought not of himself and his sufferings, but of the cause. He says: "I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things that have happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; and many of the brethren of the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." Phil. 1:12-14.

Here we see that he rejoices because his bondage has resulted in the spread of the gospel in places which probably could not have been reached if he had been free. True, there were some who preached Christ of envy and strife, thinking, no doubt, that by presenting the simple truth of the gospel, which calls for the crucifying of self, and which was so opposed to the self-pleasing doctrines of paganism, they would lead the emperor to make more severe the persecution of the one who had done so much to introduce that gospel. But Paul did not care for himself. Said he, "What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." Verse 18. Then he goes on to say that his earnest expectation and hope are, that Christ should be magnified in his body, whether it be by life, or by death. Verse 20. And he adds, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Verse 21. Who cannot see that in all this Paul had no thought of personal gain? It is impossible to suppose that immediately after saying that his sole desire was that Christ should be honored by him, whether it were by life or by death, he should add that if he should live Christ would be the gainer, but that if he should die, he himself would be the gainer.

No; living and laboring for Christ is not the only way in which Christians can advance his cause. Not a martyr has fallen but that the cause of God has been advanced thereby. Paul well knew that if he should be put to death for the sake of Christ, that also would turn out to the furtherance of the gospel. Said he, "Yea, and if I be offered [margin, "poured forth"] upon the sacrifice and the service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all." Phil. 2:17. "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church;" and Paul's sole thought was that he might preach "the unsearchable riches of Christ" while he lived, and might be enabled to meet death in such a manner as to add another to the long list of testimonies to the power of faith. "For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." Rom. 14:7.

Having thus stated his unselfish devotion to the cause of Christ, he proceeds to say, "What I shall choose, I wot not." That is, he does not know whether if the choice were given him, he would choose life or death. Having no desire but to honor Christ either by life or by death, and yet knowing which would honor Christ the more, he is unable to express any preference. He says, "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better."

There is no question that the two things between which Paul was in a strait, or, more literally, by which he was pressed, were life and death, and that he says that he does not know which of these he would choose. And yet his desire "to depart and to be with Christ" is usually considered as the expression of a desire to die. But by what process of reasoning people make the apostle express an intense desire for death, as being far preferable to life, immediately after he has said that he could not tell which he would choose, we cannot imagine. It

would be the same as saying: "It is impossible for me to tell whether I would choose life or death, but I would much rather die." Anybody can see that one statement is a contradiction of the other.

What, then, was it that Paul declared, in the emphatic Greek idiom, to be "very much more better" than anything else? It was to depart and to be with Christ. But is not this the same as death? Not by any means. Said Jesus to the Jews, "I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins; whither I go, ye cannot come." John 8:21. Here Jesus told them that though they should die, they could not be with him. "Of course not," says one, "because they were wicked." Well, then, turn to John 13:33, and read what he said to his own beloved disciples: "Little children, yet a little while I am with you; and as I said to the Jews, whither I go ye cannot come; so now I say to you." So, then, death does not take a man to Christ, even though he be a righteous man. Remember, also, what has been quoted above, that death is an enemy, and that they who die cannot praise the Lord. Death is, in fact, the very farthest thing imaginable from a condition of being with the Lord. It is the instrument by which Satan attempts to keep men forever banished from God. King Hezekiah thus recounts his feelings, when he was told that he should die, and not live: "I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave; I am deprived of the residue of my years. I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living; I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the earth." Isa. 38:10, 11.

Death is so far from being a departure to be with Christ, that the process of death must be entirely reversed before one who has died can be with him. In 1 Thess. 4:15-17, Paul himself describes the means by which people are taken to be with the Lord. We read:—

"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [that is, go before] them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so [by this means] shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. 4:15-17.

Nowhere in the Bible can we find any hint of any other means by which people can be with Christ. Either they must be alive when the Lord comes, so that they may be taken up bodily into Heaven, as was Elijah, or, if they have died, they must be raised from the dead, and then be caught up with those who never died. Now since Paul said (Phil. 1:22) that he did not know which he should choose, life or death, and yet he said that it was far better to depart and to be with Christ; and since he knew that there was no way that men could be with Christ except by the resurrection of the dead and the translation of the living, both of which take place only at the coming of Christ, there is only one conclusion open to us, and that is, that Paul longed intensely for the coming of the Lord, and for translation.

It does not militate at all against this conclusion, that Paul knew that he could not expect to live till the Lord should come. He could long for the event with just as much ardor. Neither does the fact that in 2 Tim. 4:6 the words, "The time of my departure is at hand," refer to his execution, prove that the word "depart," in Phil. 1:23, means death. The word "depart" does not in itself convey any idea as to the manner of the departure. When Paul was praying in the temple, shortly after his conversion, the Lord said to him, "Depart; for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles" (Acts 22:21); but we very well know that this was not a command for Paul to die. Paul's death was indeed a departure, and so is the death of every man,—a departure from life,—but we have ample proof from the Scriptures that no man's death is a departure to be with Christ.

It may help some to realize that Paul longed only for the return of the Lord, that he might be with him, if we state that the only other place in the Bible where the Greek word occurs which in Phil. 1:23 is rendered "depart," is in Luke 12:36, where it refers to the coming of the Lord. Thus: "Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately." And even in the place where Paul unquestionably referred to his death—not, however, as something for which he longed, but as a sacrifice for which he was ready—he looked forward to the coming of the Lord as his only hope, saying: "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day [the day of his coming, see verse 1]; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." 2 Tim. 4:8. The coming of the Lord is the blessed hope of the Christian, and besides it there is no other.