I have heard a prayer by a minister, in reference to the death of our late Queen Victoria, in which he said that she is now reigning with Christ in heaven, and the highest sense of the term. I believe there is perfect harmony in Scripture, and although I have asked from a number of fellow-disciples an explanation of Luke 23:48; Philippians 1:21-23; 2 Corinthians 5:6-8, in the light that the dead are in a state of unconscious sleep, I have not as yet had it explained clearly. Can you help to remove the darkness? I shall be obliged if you can give an explanation of these passages.
This question was inserted in the article from March 7, (See article 34, "The Nature of Man.") and in that and the following number the nature of man and the state of the dead were briefly considered.
Before we proceed to the consideration of Philippians 1:23, concerning which you asked, I hope you will carefully review the two talks that we have already had, on the nature of man, and the state of man between death and the resurrection. In them we have the principles which will enable anybody to understand the whole subject, and our further talk will be but a repetition of them.
The text now before us reads thus: "I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better." (Philippians 1:23)
If one had not from a previous teaching imbibed the idea that men must die, in order to be with Christ, it would be impossible to imagine such a thing from this text, because it teaches exactly the opposite. No language could be conceived, which would make it plainer that death is not the way by which men go to be with Christ. This will appear, when we take into consideration the context.
The Apostle Paul was in Rome, in prison for the faith, but he had no complaints to make. After telling the Philippians how earnestly he prays for them, and how much he desires their welfare in everything, he refers to his bonds, but only to assure them that: "The things which happened unto me have fallen out rather to the furtherance of the Gospel." (Philippians 1:12)
The Gospel and its advancement is the burden of his thought. He said that his bondage had made others bold to preach Christ, and that while some preached Him of love, knowing that the apostle was set for the defense of the Gospel, others preached Him from envy and strife; but that in whatever way it might be, Christ was preached, and in that he rejoiced, and would continue to rejoice.
Still dwelling on the one theme, he said that his earnest expectation and desire was that Christ should be magnified in his body, whether it was by life or by death. (Philippians 1:14-20) In all this we see that Paul had no thought for himself, except as he might be a factor in carrying on the work of Christ.
Then comes the statement, so often quoted and misquoted: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21)
Can you think for a moment, in view of the words immediately preceding, that Paul was here speaking of gain to himself? His sole desire was that Christ should be magnified in his body, whether by life, or by death. What was life to him? A means of glorifying God. And what was death? It was gain. To whom? Why, to Christ, of course.
How incongruous, and opposed to all that goes before, to make Paul suddenly begin to speak about gain to himself. He was not longing for death, as a time when trouble would end; his only desire was for the advancement of the cause of Christ. If he lived, he knew that it would not be he, but Christ living in him. (See Galatians 2:20) And if he died, he knew that death would also be a gain to the cause of Christ, as it indeed was; for Paul did not die of a lingering disease, by which he was unfit for labor, but by the axe of the executioner. He died as a martyr, a witness to the truth, and that was in accordance with his expectation and his hope.
What then were the two things by which Paul was oppressed? They were life and death. He did not know which of them he should choose, if the choice were given him, because he did not know by which one of them he could better glorify the Lord; but there was a thing which he knew was, according to the Greek idiom, "very much more better" (Philippians 1:23) than either life or death.
So much is very plain from the text. How anybody can think that the Apostle Paul could pen such nonsense as to say that he did not know which to choose, whether life or death, but that he chose death, is a marvel.
What To Long For
What is the thing which Paul declared to be for a much better than life on this earth, or death? It was the departing and being with Christ. And what is that? Paul himself has told us more about this, than any other writer. Read again: "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." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
Or take the words of Christ: "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also." (John 14:3)
These words, and many more that might be quoted, show that the departing and being with Christ is only at His coming. So it was for the coming of the Lord that the Apostle Paul longed.
Do you say that Paul knew that he could not live till the coming of Christ? We do not know whether he did or not; he certainly always classed himself with those who should be alive at the coming of the Lord; but in any case, it is no more strange that Paul should express a longing for the coming of the Lord, than for John, who wrote: "He which testifies these things says, Surely I come quickly, Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." (Revelation 20:20)
The coming of the Lord has been the one blessed hope of the faithful in Christ in all ages, since the fall of man.
We see, therefore, that the words of Paul to the Philippians, instead of teaching that death takes man into the presence of the Lord, make it most emphatically that such is not the case. If it were as is popularly supposed, then we should have no ground for hope in anything, because the Scriptures would contradict themselves. But such is not the case. The words of Scripture are but one harmonious whole, and they are a sure foundation for our faith and hope.
All believers in Christ are kings and priests, and in the future life they will sit upon thrones, even though in this life they have been trodden upon. We may believe that Queen Victoria was a faithful servant of the Lord, according to all the light given to her, "ruling in the fear of God," (2 Samuel 23:3) and that therefore in the world to come she will occupy a throne infinitely higher than the throne of England; but for that honor she must wait till the coming of the Lord and the resurrection.
We may not long for death, for we cannot tell whether or not it would glorify God, and it is cowardly to long for it as a release from earthly toil; but we may long for the coming of the Lord, "[For] every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, evenas He is pure." (1 John 3:2)
Our intelligent longing for the coming of the Lord does not lead to idle dreaming, but to earnest action, that others may know the blessed hope, and rejoice in anticipation of the great salvation to be revealed at the appearing of Christ.--Present Truth, March 21, 1901.