p. 8 | THE GREAT SALVATION by Geo. W. Reaser

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Feb 20, 1907

THE GREAT SALVATION

By Geo. W. Reaser

By GEO. W. REASER.

THE WORLD TO COME.

Hope of a Permanent Gain.

"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him."

ONE of the chief inspiring motives to mankind to endure hardships, deprive themselves of comforts, luxuries, and congenial companionship for a period of time, is the hope of permanent gain in the end, both to themselves and to those who are dear to them. Many have imperiled their lives and toiled unceasingly, denying themselves all comforts, and even the essentials to healthful living; have exiled themselves from friends and fondest companions, in eager quest of golden treasure, that they might return and join their loved ones and enjoy the comforts and luxuries which wealth is able to secure.

"Gold many hunted—sweat and bled for gold; Waked all the night, and labored all the day."

Multitudes have boldly challenged death upon the battle-field, for the protection of their homes, the preservation of freedom and of happiness. Admitting the universal principle of present endurance of hardship for future weal, we find that this incentive enters into the experience of even the children of God. While it is true, and freely conceded, that the highest inspiring motive to live to the glory of God is love (prompted by the deepest sense of gratitude which it is possible for the human heart to experience), and from the desire to be right and do right for the pure love of that which is right; to be loyal to God because it is the essence of all right being and doing to be loyal to Him; to live by principle, because it is the only true ideal of living, and because anything short of this is injustice to our fellow mortals as well as to ourselves; yet the very fact of living in a world made imperfect by sin, where pain, death, destruction, sad partings, and tearful eyes are everywhere distressingly present, causes the human heart to reach out after, and to joyfully grasp

The Hope of a Better Condition.

a perfect world, a sinless, woless, painless, tearless, and, best of all, a deathless state. The natural desire of every heart is for a permanent home, a place of undisturbed peace, of alarmless safety, of unalloyed happiness, of unbroken friendships.

How forcefully is this thought expressed by the sacred writer, when he says: "We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed [die], but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit." "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travailith in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope."

It is not death, the condition of being "unclothed," that the members of the human family long for, but, as long as we possess mortal flesh, subject to pain, sickness, sorrow, and death, there will be a natural longing to be "clothed upon with our house which is from heaven," to possess immortality.

The Blessed Hope.

It is probable that not a single member of the human family would endure the fierce struggle against the world, the flesh, and the devil, which, successfully fought, will insure to the victor eternal life, were it not for that "blessed hope," which is "an anchor to the soul, both sure and steadfast," and which also constitutes "the helmet of salvation." To this hope God has given all possible strength, being "willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, [He] confirmed it with an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us."

To further assure us of the stability and eternal reality of this hope, which is made to us in and thru Christ, He has given us "the first-fruits of the Spirit," the earnest, pledge, or partial payment in advance, of the full possession. By this means we have a sweet foretaste of the things which "eye hath not seen," and of which "ear hath not heard," but which are reserved in heaven for us, who are kept by His power "thru faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." This hope will not vanish or fade away at the moment when we are ready to possess it,—as the entrancing lake continually recedes from the approach of the weary and thirsty desert traveler,—for it is incorruptible, a living reality.

Abraham and His Seed.

Many centuries ago, God made promise of all this to Abraham, who knew full well that its glorious fulfilment was not contemplated by the Giver in this present life, but nevertheless he received the promise, saw it afar off, embraced it, "looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God," and "confessed that he was a stranger and a pilgrim in the earth." All who wholly accept Christ are partakers with Abraham in this promise, for, says the Saviour, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Again it is written, "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." If God should bring "the father of the faithful" forth from the tomb, and not have this home, with its grand capital city, in readiness

for him and his "seed,"—thru Christ, —He would be ashamed to be called the God of Abraham; but no blush of shame will come to the face of the loving Father, "for He hath prepared for them a city."

This promise to Abraham embraced the whole earth, purified, cleansed from all sin, and redeemed from every effect of the curse, for it is written that "the promise" was "that he should be heir of the world." Instead of disappointing him and the redeemed who are heirs with him of the same promise, in any particular, in all respects, the actual possession of that which God has in store for His children will far transcend in beauty and glory our most vivid imaginations, and will exceed the utmost longings of the soul as the glory of the rising sun surpasses the shining of the silver moon. With all this in prospect, and fully assured to us by Him who "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will," we can, with the apostle, safely "reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

His Coming and the Resurrection.

But this hope can not be realized by God’s people who are resting in their graves, awaiting the life-giving voice of the Son, without a general resurrection of the righteous; nor by the living saints who are to be translated without tasting death at the "revelation of Jesus Christ," without a reunion with their loved ones who are "sleeping in Jesus." Hence the hope of all the true Israel of God has always been centered in this glorious event,—the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the righteous dead—when that creative power will be exercised which formed man in the beginning, and by which both the resurrected and translated are immortalized. Concerning this living hope, I quote the following

Words of Inspiration:

"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept."

"If a man die, shall he live again?"

"Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead."

"But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen 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 that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

"This is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

"Jesus said unto her [Martha], I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in Me, tho he were dead, yet shall he live."

"For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living."

"I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, amen, and have the keys of hell and of death."

"I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction."

"For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

With the joyful estate of the redeemed in the "world to come" realized, the numerous words expressive of the ills, woes, and sorrows of humanity in this present life, will have no place in the vocabulary of heaven. They will have become forever obsolete with the passing of this vale of tears, for there sorrow will be turned into rejoicing, weeping into innocent mirth, anguish to gladness of heart, grief to fulness of joy, distress to happiness, tears to smiles. Loneliness here will be lost in blissful companionship there; weariness will be forgotten in sweet repose; broken hearts will be healed, no more to be pierced thru with many sorrows; the thirsty will slake their thirst at the river of life, flowing full, free, and refreshing from the throne; the hungry will partake of the tree of life and be satisfied.