“Forever With The Lord”

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 16, 1877,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"So shall we be forever with the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

WE know that these words are full of consolation, for the Apostle says
in the next verse, "Therefore comfort one another with these words."
The very words, it appears, were dictated by the Holy Spirit, the
Comforter, to be repeated by the saints to each other with the view of
removing sorrow from the minds of the distressed. The comfort is
intended to give us hope in reference to those who have fallen asleep.
Look over the list of those beloved in the Lord who have departed from
you, to your utmost grief, and let the words of our text be a
handkerchief for your tears.

Sorrow not as those that are without hope, for they are with the Lord
though they are not with you and, by-and-by, you shall surely meet them
where your Lord is the center of fellowship forever and ever. The
separation will be very transient–the reunion will be everlasting!
These words are, also, intended to comfort the saints with regard to
themselves. And I pray that they may be a cordial to any who are sick
with fear–a matchless medicine to charm away the heartache from all
Believers. The fact that you bear about a dying body is very evident to
some of you by your frequent and increasing infirmities and pains and
this, it may be, is a source of depression of spirits.

You know that when a few years are gone you must go the way from where
you shall not return, but be not dismayed, for you shall not go into a
strange country alone and unattended. There is a Friend that sticks
closer than a brother who will not fail you nor forsake you! And,
moreover, you are going Home–your Lord will be with you while you are
departing–and then you will be with Him forever. Therefore, though
sickness warns you of the near approach of death, be not in the least
dismayed! Though pain and weariness should make your heart and flesh
fail, yet doubt not of your triumph through the Redeemer's blood!

Though it should sometimes make your flesh tremble when you remember
your many sins and the weakness of your faith, yet be of good cheer,
for your sins and weakness of faith will soon be removed far from
you–and you shall be in His Presence where there is fullness of
joy–and at His right hand where there are pleasures forevermore!
Comfort yourselves, then, both with regard to those who have gone
before and in reference to the thought of your own departure.

Observe that the comfort which the Apostle here presents to us may be
partly derived from the fact of the Resurrection, but not chiefly, for
he does not so much refer to the words, "The dead in Christ shall
rise," as to these last–"so shall we be forever with the Lord." It is
a great Truth of God that you will rise again. It is a sweeter Truth
that you will be "forever with the Lord"! There is some consolation,
also, in the fact that we shall meet our departed Brothers and Sisters
when we shall all be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air. Blissful will be the general assembling of the redeemed,
never again to be broken up–the joy of meeting, never to part, is a
sweet remedy for the bitterness of separation.

There is great comfort in it, but the main stress of consolation does
not lie even there. It is pleasant to think of the eternal fellowship
of the godly above, but the best of all is the promised fellowship with
our Lord– "So shall we be forever with the Lord." Whatever else you
draw comfort from, neglect not this deep, clear and overflowing well of
delight! There are other sources of good cheer in connection with the
Glory to be revealed, for Heaven is a many-sided joy. But still, none
can excel the glory of communion with Jesus Christ! We comfort one
another, in the first place and most constantly with these words, "So
shall we be forever with the Lord."

I shall view our text, in order to our comfort at this time, in three
lights. I look upon it, first, as a continuance–we are with the Lord
even now and we always shall be. Secondly, as an advancement–we shall,
before long, be more fully with the Lord than we are now. And thirdly,
as a coherence–for we both are and shall be with Him in a close and
remarkable manner.

I. I regard the text as A CONTINUANCE of our present spiritual
state–"So shall we be forever with the Lord." To my mind, and I think
I am not incorrect in so expounding, the Apostle means that nothing
shall prevent our continuing to be forever with the Lord. Death shall
not separate us, nor the terrors of that tremendous day when the voice
of the archangel and the trumpet of God shall be heard. By Divine plan
and arrangement, all shall be so ordained that, "So shall we be forever
with the Lord." By being caught up into the clouds, or in one way or
another, our abiding in Christ shall remain unbroken. As we have
received Christ Jesus the Lord, so shall we walk in Him, whether in
life or in death.

I understand the Apostle to mean that we are with the Lord now and that
nothing shall separate us from Him. Even now, like Enoch, we walk with
God and we shall not be deprived of Divine communion. Our fear might be
that in the future state something might happen which would become a
dividing gulf between us and Christ, but the Apostle assures us that it
will not be so–there shall be such plans and methods used that, "so
shall we be forever with the Lord." At any rate, I know that if this is
not the Truth of God, here intended, it is a Truth worthy to be
expounded and, therefore, I do not hesitate to enlarge upon it.

We are with the Lord in this life in a high spiritual sense. Read you
not, in the Epistle to the Colossians, "for you are dead and your life
is hid with Christ in God"? Were you not "buried with Him in Baptism
wherein, also, you are risen with Him through the faith of the
operation of God, who has raised Him from the dead"? Do you not know
what it is to be dead to the world in Him and to be living a secret
life with Him? Are you not risen with Christ? Yes, and do you not
understand, in some measure, what it is to be raised up together and
made to sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus? If you are not
with Him, Brothers and Sisters, you are not Christians at all, for this
is the mark of the Christian– that he follows with Christ.

It is essential to salvation to be a sheep of Christ's fold–no,
more–a partaker of Christ's life, a member of His mystical body, a
branch of the spiritual vine! Separated from Him we are spiritually
dead. He Himself has said, "If a man abides not in Me, he is cast forth
as a branch and is withered. And men gather them and cast them into the
fire and they are burned." Jesus is not far from any of His people–no,
it is our privilege to follow Him wherever He goes–and His loving
words to us are, "Abide in Me, and I in you." May He enable us sweetly
to realize this! We are, dear Brothers and Sisters, constantly with
Christ in the sense of abiding union with Him, for we are joined unto
the Lord and are one spirit.

Sometimes this union is very sweetly apparent to ourselves." We know
that we are in Him that is true," and in consequence we feel an intense
joy, even Christ's own joy fulfilled in us! For the same reason we are
at times bowed down with intense sorrow, for being in and with Christ,
we have fellowship with Him in His sufferings, being made conformable
with His death. This is such sweet sorrow that the more we experience
it, the better–

"Live or die, or work or suffer,

Let my weary soul abide,

In all changes whatever,

Sure and steadfast by Your side.

Nothing can delay my progress,

Nothing can disturb my rest,

If I shall, wherever I wander,

Lean my spirit on Your breast."

This companionship is, we trust, made manifest to others by its fruits.
It ought always to be so –the life of the Christian should be
manifestly a life with Christ. Men should take knowledge of us, that we
have been with Jesus and have learned of Him.

They should see that there is something in us which could not have been
there if it were not for the Son of God–a temper, a spirit, a course
of life which could not have come by Nature–but must have been worked
in us through Grace which has been received from Him in whom dwells a
fullness of Grace, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers and Sisters, if
we are what we ought to be, our life is spent in conscious communion
growing out of continued union with the Lord Jesus Christ! And if it is
so, we have that rich assurance which is written by the Beloved John,
"If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you,
you, also, shall continue in the Son and in the Father."

We are with Him, dear Friends, in this sense, too, that His unchanging
love is always set upon us, and our love, feeble though it sometimes
may be, never quite dies out. In both senses that challenge of the
Apostle is true, "Who shall separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord?" We can say, "I am my Beloved's and His
desire is

towards me." And, on the other hand, we, also testify, "My Beloved is
mine, and I am His." He claims us and we claim Him! He loves us and we
love Him! There is a union of heart between us. We are with Him, not
against Him! We are in league with Him, enlisted beneath His banner,
obedient to His Spirit. For us to live is Christ–we have no other aim!

He is with us by the continued indwelling of the Holy Spirit who is
with us and shall be in us forever. His anointing abides on us and
because of it we abide in Christ Jesus! He has sent us the Comforter to
represent Himself and through that Divine Paraclete He continues to be
with us–and so, even now we are forever with the Lord. Our Lord has,
also, promised to be with us whenever we are engaged in His work. That
is a grand word of encouragement, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto
the end of the world." Think not, therefore, that it will be the first
time of our being with Christ when we shall see Him in Glory, for even
now He manifests Himself unto us as He does not unto the world.

Has He not often fulfilled His promise, "Where two or three are
gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them"? We have
heard the sound of our Master's feet behind us when we have been going
on His errands. We have felt the touch of His hands when we have come
to the forefront of the battle for His sake. And we have known that He
dwells in us by His Spirit and is with us by the power with which He
has attended our work, and the deeds which He has worked by the Gospel
which we have proclaimed. The Lord Jesus is with His Church in her
tribulation for His name's sake and He will forever be so, for He
forsakes not His saints. "Fear not, I am with you," is as much a word
of the Lord under the Gospel as in Old Testament times. By the power of
His blessed Spirit Jesus abides with us and through this present
dispensation He enables us to be "forever with the Lord."

But, my Brethren, the time is coming when we shall die unless the Lord
shall descend from Heaven with a shout in the meanwhile. Assuredly in
the article of death we shall still be with the Lord–

"Death may my soul divide From this abode of clay But love shall keep
me near Your side Through all the gloomy way."

"Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort
me." This makes dying such wonderful work to the people of God, for
then, especially, is Jesus seen to be near! By death they escape from
death–and from now on it is no more death for them to die! When Jesus
meets His saints, there seems no iron gate to pass through, but in a
moment they close their eyes on earth and open them in Glory!

Beloved, there should be no more bondage through fear of death since
Christ attends His people even in their descent into the tomb and
strengthens them upon the bed of languishing. This has been a great joy
to many departing saints. A dying Believer who was attended by an
apothecary who was, also, a child of God, was observed to be whispering
to himself while dying. His good attendant, wishing to know what were
his last words, placed his ear against the dying man's lips and heard
him repeating to himself, again and again, the words, "Forever with the
Lord. Forever with the Lord." When heart and flesh were failing, the
departing one knew that God was the strength of his life and his
portion forever–and so he chose for his soft, low-whispered, dying
song, "Forever with the Lord."

After death we shall abide, awhile, in the separate, disembodied state
and we shall know as to our soul what it is to be still with the Lord,
for what does the Apostle say? "Knowing that when we are absent from
the body we are present with the Lord." The dying thief was to be, that
day, with Christ in Paradise, and such shall be our lot as soon as our
souls shall have passed out of this tenement of clay into that wondrous
state of which we know so little. Our pure spirits shall "come unto
Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general
assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in Heaven, and
to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel."

Who is dismayed when such a prospect opens up before him? Yes, and this
body which shall fall asleep, though apparently it shall be destroyed,
yet shall not be so, but shall only slumber awhile and then awake again
and say, "When I awake I am still with You." Constantly death is
described as sleeping in Jesus–that is the state of the saint's mortal
frame through the interval between death and resurrection. The angels
shall guard our bodies–all that is essential to complete the identity
of our body shall be securely preserved so that the very seed which was
put into the earth shall rise,

again, in the beauty of efflorescence which becomes it. All, I say,
that is essential, shall be preserved intact, because it is still with
Christ.

It is a glorious doctrine which is stated by the Apostle in the first
Epistle to the Thessalonians, the 5th chapter, at the 9th and 10th
verses, "For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or
sleep, we should live together with Him." In due time the last trumpet
shall sound and Christ shall come and the saints shall be with Him. The
infinite Providence has so arranged that Christ shall not come without
His people, for, "Them, also, that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with
Him." The saints shall be with Him in the Advent as they are now. Our
souls shall hear the shout of victory and join in it! The voice of the
archangel shall be actually heard by all His redeemed and the trumpet
of God shall be sounded in the hearing of every one of His beloved, for
we shall be with Jesus all through that glorious transaction.

Whatever the glory and splendor of the Second Advent, we shall be with
Jesus in it! I am not going to give you glimpses of the revealed
future, or offer any suggestion as to the sublime history which is yet
to be written, but most certainly there is to be a last general
Judgment and then we shall be with Christ, assessors with Him at that
day. Being ourselves, first acquitted, we shall take our seat upon the
Judgment Bench with Him. What does the Holy Spirit say by the
Apostle–"Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? Know
you not that we shall judge angels?" The fallen angels, to their shame,
shall, in part, receive the verdict of their condemnation from the lips
of men–and thus vengeance shall be taken upon them for all the
mischief they have done to the sons of men.

Oh, think of it! Amidst the terror of the tremendous Day you shall be
at ease, resting in the love of God and beholding the Glory of Christ
and, "so shall you forever be with the Lord." There is, moreover, to be
a reign of Christ. I cannot read the Scriptures without perceiving that
there is to be a millennial reign, as I believe, upon the earth and
that there shall be new heavens and new earth wherein dwells
righteousness. Well, whatever that reign is to be, we shall reign also!
"And he that overcomes and keeps My words unto the end, to him will I
give power over the nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron;
as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I
received of My Father." "And have made us unto our God kings and
priests and we shall reign on the earth."

He shall reign, but it will be "before His ancients gloriously." We
shall be partakers in the splendors of the latter days, whatever they
may be, and, "So shall we be forever with the Lord." The particular
incident of the text does not exhaust the words, but you may apply them
to the whole story of God's own children. From the first day of the
spiritual birth of the Lord's immortals until they are received up into
the seventh Heaven to dwell with God, their history may be summed up in
these words, "So shall we be forever with the Lord." Whether caught up
into the clouds or here below on this poor afflicted earth–whether in
Paradise or in the renovated earth, in the grave or in Glory–we shall
always be with the Lord!

And when comes the end and God alone shall reign and the mediatorial
kingdom shall cease, ages, ages and ages shall revolve, but "so shall
we be forever with the Lord." The saints immortal shall be with their
Covenant Head, free from sorrow. All tendency to sin, all fear of
change or death shall be gone! And their intimate communion will last
on forever–

"Blessed state! Beyond conception! Who its vast delights can tell? May
it be my blissful portion, With my Savior there to dwell."

I think the text looks like a continuation of what is already begun,
only rising to something higher and better. To be with Christ is life
eternal–this we have already and shall continue to have and–"so shall
we be forever with the Lord."

II. Secondly, most assuredly, Brethren, the text is A GREAT
ADVANCEMENT–"So shall we be forever with the Lord." It is an
advancement upon this present state, for however spiritual-minded we
may be and however in consequence, thereof, we may be very near unto
our Lord Jesus, yet still we know that while we are present in the body
we are absent from the Lord. This life, at its very best, is still
comparatively an absence from the Lord, but in the world to come we
shall be more perfectly at home. Now, we cannot, in the highest sense,
be with Christ, for we must, according to the Apostle's phraseology,
"depart, and be with Christ; which is far better." But there we shall
be forever beholding His face unveiled. Earth is not Heaven, though the
Believer begins the heavenly life while he is upon it. We are not with
Christ as to place, nor as to actual sight–but in Glory we shall be!

And it is an advancement, in the next place, upon the present state of
the departed, for though their souls are with the Lord, yet their
bodies are subject to corruption. Still does the sepulcher contain the
blessed dust of the fathers of our Israel. Though scattered to the four
winds of Heaven, the martyr's ashes are still with us. The glorified
saints are not as yet consciously "with the Lord" as to their complete
manhood, but when the grand event shall occur of which Paul speaks, the
body shall be reanimated. This is our glorious hope! We can say with
the Patriarch Job–"For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He
shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin,
worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall
see for myself and my eyes shall behold, and not another; though my
reins be consumed within me."

Know you not, Brothers and Sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God? That is, as they are. But this corruptible must put
on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality–and then shall
the entire manhood, the perfected manhood, the fully developed manhood,
of which this manhood is, as it were, but a shriveled seed–be in the
fullest and most Divine sense, forever with the Lord! This is an
advancement, even, upon the present state of departed saints in
Paradise!

And now let us consider this glorious condition to which we shall be
advanced. We shall be with the Lord in the strongest possible meaning
of that language. So with Him that we shall never mind earthly things
again, shall have no more to go into city business, or into the
workshop, or into the field. We shall have nothing to do but to be
engaged forever with Him in such occupations as shall have no tendency
to take us off from communion with Him. We shall be so with Him as to
have no sin to becloud our view of Him! Our understanding will be
delivered from all the injury which sin has worked in it and we shall
know Him even as we are known. We shall see Him as a familiar Friend
and sit with Him at His marriage feast. We shall be with Him so as to
have no fear of His ever being grieved and hiding His face from us
again.

We shall never again be made to cry out in bitterness of spirit, "Oh,
that I knew where I might find Him." We shall always know His love,
always return it and always swim in the full stream of it, enjoying it
to the fullest! There will be no lukewarmness to mar our fellowship. He
shall never have to say to us, "I would you were either cold or hot."
There shall be no weariness to suspend our ceaseless bliss–we shall
never have to cease from fellowship with Him because our physical frame
is exhausted through the excessive joy of our heart–the vessel will be
strengthened to hold the new wine. No doubts shall intrude into our
rest, neither doctrinal doubts nor doubts about our interest in Him,
for we shall be so consciously with Him as to have risen 10,000 leagues
above that gloomy state.

We shall know that He is ours, for His left hand shall be under our
head and His right hand shall embrace us and we shall be with Him
beyond all hazard of ever losing Him. The chief blessedness seems, to
me, to lie in this, that we will always are with Him and with Him
always. Now we are with the Lord in conscious enjoyment, sometimes, but
then we are away from Him. But there it will be constant, unwavering
fellowship! No break shall ever occur in the intimate communion of the
saints with Christ. Here we know that our high days and bright Sabbaths
with their sweetest joys, must have their eventides and then come the
work-days with the burden of the week upon them. But there the Sabbath
is eternal, the worship endless, the praise unceasing, the bliss
unbounded. "Forever with the Lord."

Speak of a thousand years of reigning? What is that compared with,
"forever with the Lord"? The millennium is little compared with
"forever"–a millennium of millenniums would be nothing to it! There
can come no end to us and no end to our bliss, since there can be no
end to Him–"because I live, you shall live also." "Forever with the
Lord." What will it mean? I remember a sermon upon this text by a
notable preacher, of which the heads were as follows– "Forever life,
forever light, forever love, forever peace, forever rest, forever joy."
What a chain of delights! What more can heart imagine or hope desire?
Carry those things in your mind and you will get, if you can drink into
them, some idea of the blessedness which is contained in being forever
with the Lord!

But remember these are only the fruits–not the root of the joy. Jesus
is better than all these! His company is more than the joy which comes
out of it. I do not care so much for, "life forever," nor for, "light
forever," as I do for, "forever with the Lord." Oh, to be with Him! I
ask no other bliss and cannot imagine anything more heavenly. Why, the
touch of the hem of His garment healed the sick woman! The sight of Him
was enough to give life to us when we were dead! What, then, must it be
to be with Him actually, consciously and always? To be with Him no more
by faith, but in very deed with

Him forever? My soul is ready to swoon away with too much joy as she
drinks in even her shallow measure into the meaning of this
thought–and I dare not venture further.

I must leave you to muse your souls into it, for it needs quiet thought
and room for free indulgence of holy imagination till you make your
soul dream of this excess of joy. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has
prepared for them that love Him. But God has revealed them unto us by

His Spirit."–

"O glorious hour! O blessed abode!

I shall be near and like my God.

And flesh and sin no more control

The sacred pleasures of my soul." We love to think of being with Jesus
under the aspect which the text specially suggests to us. We are to be
forever with the Redeemer, not only as Jesus the Savior, but as the
Lord. Here we have seen Him on the Cross and lived thereby. We are with
Him now in His Cross-bearing and shame and it is well–but our eternal
companionship with Him will enable us to rejoice in Him as the Lord.
What did our Master say in His blessed prayer? "I will that they, also,
whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My
Glory."

It will be Heaven for us to be forever with Him as the Lord! Oh, how we
shall delight to obey Him as our Lord! How we shall triumph as we see
what a Lord He is over all the universe! And what a conqueror He is
over all His enemies! He will be more and more the Lord to us as we see
all things put under Him. We shall forever hail Him as King of kings
and Lord of lords. How we will adore Him, there, when we see Him in His
Glory! We worship Him, now, and are not ashamed to believe that the Man
of Nazareth is, "very God of very God." But oh, how His Deity will
shine upon us with infinite brightness when we come to be near Him!
Thanks be to His name, we shall be strengthened to endure the sight and
we shall rejoice to see ourselves in the full blaze of His glory!

Then shall we see what our poet endeavored to describe when he said–

"Adoringsaints around Him stand,

And thrones and powers before Him fall!

The God shines gracious through the Mian,

And sheds sweet glories on them all." We shall be forever with the Lord
and His Lordship shall be most upon our minds! He has been raised into
Glory and honor and is no more able to suffer shame!–

"No more the bloody spear,

The Cross and nails no more! For Hell itself shakes at His word, And
all the heavens adore."

III. Now we come to our third point and shall consider what, for lack
of a better word, I entitle A COHERENCE. Those who are acquainted with
the Greek language know that the, "with," here, is not meta, which
signifies being in the same place with a person, but one which goes
much further and implies a coherence–the two who are with each other
are intimately connected. Let me show you what I mean.

We are to be forever with the Lord. Now, the Christian's life is like
the life of His Lord and so it is a life with Christ. He was in all
things with His Brethren and Grace makes us to be with Him. Just
hurriedly look at your spiritual experience and your Lord's life and
see the parallel. When you were newly born as a Christian, you were
born as Jesus Christ was, for you were born of the Holy Spirit. What
happened after that? The devil tried to destroy the new life in you,
just as Herod tried to kill your Lord–you were with Christ in danger,
early and imminent. You grew in stature and in Grace and, while Grace
was yet young, you staggered those who were about you with the things
you said, did and felt, for they could not understand you! Even thus,
when He went up to the Temple, our Lord amazed the doctors who gathered
around Him.

The Spirit of God rested upon you, not in the same measure, but still,
as a matter of fact, He did descend upon you as He did upon your Lord.
You have been with Him in Jordan's stream and have received the Divine
acknowledgment that you are, indeed, the child of God. Your Lord was
led into the wilderness to be tempted–and you, too, have been tempted
by the devil. You have been with the Lord all along, from the first day
until now. If you have been, by Grace,

enabled to live as you should, you have trod the separated path with
Jesus! You have been in the world, but not of it, holy, harmless,
undefiled and separate from sinners. Therefore you have been
despised–you have had to take your share of being unknown and
misrepresented because you are even as He was in the world. "Therefore
the world knows us not, because it knew Him not."

As He was here to serve, you have been with Him as a servant. You have
carried His yoke and counted it an easy load. You have been crucified
to the world with Him. You know the meaning of His Cross and delight to
bear it after Him. You are dead to the world with Him and wish to be as
one buried to it. You have already, in your measure, partaken of His
Resurrection and are living in newness of life. Your life story is
still to be like the life story of your Lord, only painted in
miniature. The more you watch the life of Christ the more clearly you
will see the life of a spiritual man depicted in it–and the more
clearly will you see what the saints' future will be.

You have been with Christ in life and you will be with Him when you
come to die. You will not die the expiatory death which fell to His
lot, but you will die feeling that "it is finished" and you will
breathe out your soul, saying, "Father, into Your hands I commend my
spirit." Then our Lord went to Paradise and you will go there, too. You
shall enjoy a sojourn where He spent His interval in the disembodied
state. You shall be with Him and like He is and then like He, you shall
rise when your third morning comes. "After two days will He revive us.
On the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight."
"Your dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they
arise."

You shall also ascend as Christ did. Do you catch the thought? How did
He ascend? In clouds. "A cloud received Him out of their sight" and a
cloud shall receive you. You shall be caught up into the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air and so shall you be always with the Lord, in the
sense of being like He, walking with Him in experience and passing
through the same events. That likeness shall continue forever and
forever. Our lives shall run parallel with that of our Lord! Think,
then, Beloved–we are to be like Christ as to our character! We are to
be with the Lord by sharing His moral and spiritual likeness! Conformed
to His image, we shall be adorned with His beauty!

When the mother of Darius saw two persons entering her pavilion, she,
being a prisoner, bowed to the one whom she supposed to be Alexander.
It turned out to be Hyphestion, the King's favorite. Upon discovering
that it was Hyphestion the lady humbly begged Alexander's pardon for
paying obeisance to the wrong person, but Alexander answered, "You have
not mistaken, Madam, for he, also, is Alexander," meaning that he loved
him so much that he regarded him as his other self. Our Lord looks on
His Beloved as one with Himself and makes them like Himself. You
remember, Brothers and Sisters, how John bowed down before one of his
fellow servants, the prophets in Heaven? It was a great blunder to
make, but I dare say you and I will be likely to make the same, for the
saints are so like their Lord!

Don't you know that "we shall be like He when we shall see Him as He
is"? Christ will rejoice to see them all covered with the Glory which
His Father has given Him! He will not be ashamed to call them Brethren.
Those poor people of His who were so full of infirmity and mourned over
it so much–they shall be so like He that they shall be at once seen to
be His Brothers and Sisters! Where shall such favored ones be found? We
shall be with Him in the sense that we shall be partakers of all the
blessedness and Glory which our adorable Lord now enjoys. We shall be
accepted together with Him. Is He the Beloved of the Lord? Does His
Father's heart delight in Him, as well it may?

Behold you, also, shall be called Hephzibah, for His delight shall be
in you! You shall be beloved of the Father's soul. Is He enriched with
all manner of blessings beyond conception? So shall you be, for He has
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, according as
He has chosen us in Him! Is Christ exalted? Oh, how loftily is He
lifted up to sit upon a glorious high Throne forever! But you shall sit
upon His Throne with Him and share His exaltation as you have shared
His humiliation! Oh, the delight of thus being joint-heirs with Christ
and with Him in the possession of all that He possesses!

What is Heaven? It is the place which His love suggested, which His
genius invented, which His bounty provided, which His royalty has
adorned, which His wisdom has prepared, which He, Himself, glorifies!
In that Heaven you are to be with Him forever! You shall dwell in the
King's own palace! Its gates of pearl and streets of gold shall not be
too good for you. You who love Him are to abide with Him forever–not
near Him in a secondary place, as a servant lives at the lodge gate of
His master's mansion–but with Him in the same palace in the metropolis
of the universe! In a word, Believers are to be identified with Christ
forever!

That seems, to me, to be the very life and essence of the text–with
Him forever–that is, identified with Him forever. Do they ask for the
Shepherd? They cannot behold Him to perfection except as surrounded by
His sheep! Will the King be illustrious? How can that be if His
subjects are lost? Do they ask for the Bridegroom? They cannot imagine
Him in the fullness of joy without His bride! Will the Head be blessed?
It could not be if it were separated from the members. Will Christ be
forever glorified? How can He be if He shall lose His jewels? He is the
Foundation and what would He be if all His people were not built upon
Him into the similitude of a palace?

O Brothers and Sisters, there shall be no Christ without Christians!
There shall be no Savior without the saved ones! There shall be no
Elder Brother without the younger brethren! There shall be no Redeemer
without His redeemed! We are His fullness and He must have us with Him.
We are identified with Him forever! Nothing can ever divide us from
Him. Oh, joy, joy forever! Hallelujah!–

"Since Christ and we are one, Why should we doubt or fear? If He in
Heaven has fixed His Throne, He'll fix His members there."

Two or three practical sentences. One word is this–this, "with the
Lord" must begin now. Do you wish to be forever with the Lord? You must
be with Him by becoming His disciple in this life. None come to be with
the Lord hereafter who are not with the Lord here in time. See to it,
dear Hearers, see to it, lest this unspeakable privilege should never
be yours. Next, every Christian should seek to be more and more with
Christ, for the growth and glory of your life lies there. Do you want
to have Heaven below? Be with Christ below! Do you want to know, at
once, what eternal bliss is? Know it by living with the Lord now.

The next word is, how plainly, then, the way of life is to be with the
Lord. If you want to be saved, Sinner, you must be "with the Lord."
There is no other way! Come near to Him and lay hold upon Him by faith.
Life lies there. Come to Him by a humble, tearful faith. Come at once!
And, lastly, what must it be to be without the Lord? What must it be to
be against the Lord? For it comes to that, "He that is not with Me," He
says, "is against Me"–to be forever without the Lord, banished from
His love, light, life, peace, rest and joy! What a loss this will be!

What must it be to be forever against the Lord! Think of it–forever
hating Jesus, forever plotting against Him, forever gnashing your teeth
against Him–this is Hell, this is time infinite of misery, to be
against the Lord of Love and Life and Light. Turn from this fatal
course! Believe on Him–"Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish
from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all
they that put their trust in Him." Amen.
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