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Bible Readings for the Home Circle - Contents
Departing and Being with Christ
WHEN writing to the Philippians, in what condition did the apostle find himself?
"For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better."
2. What were the "two" between which Paul was pressed?
"For to 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."
It is plainly set forth that Paul had life before him on the one hand, and death on the other. It was hard for him to choose which he preferred. If he chose the first, that would be Christ to him; but if death, that would be gain to him, because he would be free from temptation, sorrow, and strife. Could he go down in death, he felt this would he gain, because his hope was then firm (verse 20); and if he rested, he was sure of life when the Master should come.
3. What did he desire that was far better?
"Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better." (Philippians 1:23)
4. How may one go to be with Christ?
"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 shall we ever be with the Lord."
See also 1 Corinthians 15:51-54; 2 Timothy 4:7, 8.
NOTES.—The dead are not aware of the lapse of time, from the instant they close their eyes in death, as they know "not anything." Ecclesiastes 9:5; Psalms 146:4. Then even though one should remain in the grave two thousand years, till the coming of Christ, he would not measure time, and it would be the same to him as though he had gone directly to the courts of glory. John Crellius says: "Because the time between death and the resurrection is not to be reckoned, therefore the apostle might speak thus, though the soul has no sense of anything after death."
Dr. Priestly says, "The apostle, considering his own situation, would naturally connect the end of this life with the commencement of another and better, as he would have no perception of any interval between them. That the apostle had no view short of the coming of Christ to judgment, is evident from the phrase he makes use of, namely, being with Christ, which can only take place at his second coming. For Christ himself has said that he would come again, and that he would take his disciples to himself, which clearly implies that they were not to be with him before that time.”