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The Daily Word of Righteousness
One in Christ in God, #36
And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (Matthew 25:20,21)
The parable of the talents shows us that the Christian who has attended diligently to the gifts of God that have been given to him will take part in the joy of Christ at His appearing. The joy of Christ is the inheriting of the nations and the possessing of the farthest reaches of the earth. Included also is the surpassing joy of the fullness of life in the Holy Spirit of God.
But the slothful Christian will not find the Day of the Lord to be such a pleasant experience. A wrathful Lord Jesus will say to him:
. . . Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:26-30)
The gifts and ministries that God has given to us as an individual may seem small to us now; but Jesus knows that if we are not faithful in the use of them, we would not be faithful with greater responsibilities. However, if we faithfully use the gifts He has given us, seeking His will in all that we say and do, we can be trusted with the riches of the Kingdom when Jesus returns.
We know the coming Day of days will bring redemption to the Body of Christ. Our physical bodies will come from the grave and we shall live and rule with Christ forever. Eternal life is the hope of the Gospel of Christ. If we follow Jesus with all our strength, and the Glory of God rests on our life, then the sting of death has been removed from us and victory of the grave has been turned into defeat (I Corinthians 15:55).
Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Elijah (II Kings 2:11) are forerunners of those who will be taken up to God at the appearing of Christ. Whether or not Christians are physically alive at His coming is of little consequence (I Thessalonians 4:15). The important factor is that the Glory of God must rest on us if we are to attain the first resurrection from the dead.
Many of the saints arose immediately after Christ's resurrection and joined with Him in His triumphal procession (Matthew 27:52,53) as a sheaf of the firstfruits of the earth (Leviticus 23:10).
When Jesus returns, the multitude of those who have died in Him will rise to meet Him in the air. It is the bodies of the disciples that will be rising from their place of burial, because the reborn spiritual nature of each believer will be returning from Heaven along with the Lord Jesus (I Thessalonians 4:14; Colossians 3:1-4). These are God's saints who have suffered with Christ, who have been faithful to death, and who now are receiving the crown of righteousness, glory, and eternal life.
To be continued.