2511.—Departing and Being with Christ.
By Editor
The passage reads as follows: “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: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” If we will read the twentieth verse, we will learn that whether Paul died or lived Christ would be magnified; therefore he did not know which to choose, life or death. If he lived, his life would glorify Christ; if he died, his death as a martyr would arouse others to magnify the One for whom Paul lived and died. Therefore he could not choose between these; he was in a strait betwixt the two. There was, however, a third thing which he preferred, “having a desire to depart and to be with Christ;” which was far, far better than the death, better than the life. The word rendered “depart” is from the same root as the word rendered “return” in Luke 12:36, “And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when He will return from the wedding.” The time that the apostle expected his reward was when Christ should come the second time. See 1 Thess. 4:23-28; Phil. 3:19-21. It was to the time of the second coming that Jesus ever pointed as the reward of His children. Matt. 25:31; 16:27. It was for that returning, that being with Christ, that the apostle longed. That would come about in either of two ways: by the translation of Paul, or by the second coming of Christ, when Paul would be translated with all the righteous.