Philippians 3:20 "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ."
A better translation for "conversation" is citizenship.
It means the total way of life; it means a new life-style.
A better translation is made by Mrs. Montgomery:
"For our city home is in heaven."
Probably that is closer to what the apostle Paul is saying.
The Greek word for "conversation" is politeuoµ, meaning "to act as a citizen." The city of Philippi was a Roman colony. In Philippi the laws of Rome were enforced. The people wore the same kind of styles that were worn in Rome. They spoke Latin. Everything in Philippi was like Rome because it was a colonial city.
Today, believers, collectively called the church, should be a colony of heaven, and they ought to live like they live in heaven and speak the language of heaven.
Unfortunately, this is not always the case, but it should be our goal.
Paul is saying that we are ambassadors of Christ here on this earth; we are to represent heaven and heaven’s message here upon earth today, because "our citizenship is in heaven."
"From whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ."
The apostle Paul expresses the hope of the believer on the high plane of praise to God.
It is the joyful anticipation of His return.
The hope of the believer in the New Testament is never the Great Tribulation Period.
After he says our citizenship is in heaven, he says that from there
"we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ."
He does not say anything about going through the Great Tribulation Period, which will be a time of judgment, and the church is delivered from judgment.
Believers will not go through the Great Tribulation any more than Enoch went through the Flood.
Many folk maintain that the Lord can preserve the church through the Great Tribulation. Yes, He can; God kept Noah in a boat through the Flood, but He took Enoch out of the world.
There will be two groups of people who will be His during the Great Tribulation Period.
One will be taken out, as He says to the church in Philadelphia:
Revelation 3:10. "Because thou hast kept the Word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."
The other group will be going through the Great Tribulation.
There will be a great company of Gentiles and there will be 144,000 of Israel who will go through the Great Tribulation Period because they are to be sealed by God.
Let me digress to say that the teaching that the church is to go through the Great Tribulation is becoming increasingly absurd to me.
The advocates of this theory maintain that there is not a verse in Scripture that says the church will not go through the Great Tribulation.
While it is true that it doesn’t say it in those words, neither is there a verse in Scripture that has anything to say about the church not doing other things.
For instance, I am confident that we are all going to have a position, a job to do, throughout eternity, but Scripture does not go into detail on that sort of thing.
However, Scripture is very clear on the fact that the church has a glorious, wonderful hope for the future.
It seems to many of us, that we are so near to the Rapture.
However, Scripture does not tell us when Christ will come.
Apparently Paul felt that during his lifetime the Lord could come, and there is no record of Paul’s expecting to first go through the Great Tribulation.
He experienced a lot of trouble during his life, but he never interpreted that as the Great Tribulation.
With a note of glad expectancy Paul says,
"For our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ."
Nowhere in Scripture does it say the church is going to go through the Great Tribulation.
The apostle Paul’s joyful expectancy makes it very clear that he was looking for Christ’s return, not the Great Tribulation.
Philippians 3:21 "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself."
"Our vile body" might be better translated "body of humiliation" or "body of corruption."
It means that God shall change our earthly body.
This body that we have is an earthly body, subject to all kinds of limitations.
It is adapted to this earth.
We are not naturally equipped to go up into space. Our bodies are earthly bodies.
"That it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body."
These bodies are corruptible bodies.
We are going to leave these bodies because they are corruptible. They are going to be changed.
- I would like to change my body right now if it were possible -
"fashioned like unto his glorious body."
It will be a body like the one the Lord Jesus had after His resurrection.
It will be a glorified body.
The apostle Paul speaks of it in his letter to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump …"
It will be sudden - when the trumpet shall sound.
The Book of Revelation deals with Israel.
In the Old Testament we read that Israel was moved on the wilderness march by the blowing of two silver trumpets.
Israel is accustomed to trumpets; we are not.
Remember that the "last trump" is mentioned in connection with the Rapture in
1 Thessalonians: 4:16 "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God …"
Notice it is the trump of God.
It is the Lord who will descend with the voice of an archangel and the trump of God.
Both speak of the dignity and the majesty of that shout of His.
His voice will be penetrating and awe-inspiring.
Listen to the way John describes the voice of the glorified Christ:
Revelation 1:10 "I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet."
And when he turned to see who was speaking,
he saw the glorified Christ.
It was His voice that John heard -
and it is His voice that those who are His own will hear when He calls them to Himself to meet Him in the air at the rapture.
There are no trumpets connected with the church.
Today Christ’s word to us is this:
Revelation 3:20 "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."
This is His invitation to the evening meal - the last call for dinner.
It is an invitation to come to Him before the night of the Great Tribulation falls.
When the door is opened,
there will go from this earth a group of people who have been put on the launching pad of faith
- and they will not go through the Great Tribulation Period.
Those who expect the church to go through the Tribulation have the flimsiest theory, yet there are many people who hold this view.
However, these people spend more time with philosophy and psychology and history and related subjects than they do with the study of the Word of God.
The Lord Jesus will not come as a thief for those who are His own.
WHY?
BECAUSE HIS OWN CALLED OUT BODY OF GENUINE BELIEVERS ARE WATCHING OUT FOR HIM TO COME FOR THEM.
1 Thessalonians 5:4-5 "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness."
The Rapture of the church actually does two things:
1) It ends this day of grace in which we are today, this calling out a people for His name and bringing many sons home to glory. This is what God is doing in our day.
The Rapture not only ends that, but
2) it begins the Day of the Lord. The Great Tribulation will get under way when the church leaves the earth. The one event of the Rapture will end the day of grace and begin the Day of the Lord.
It closes one day and opens another.
"But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief."
Why won’t it?
Well, because we won’t be here.
We found in chapter 4 that "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout" and take His church out of the world.
"Ye are all the children of light."
In other words, we do not belong to that dispensation which is coming in the future.
We belong to the dispensation of grace in which we are today.
If we do not learn these distinctions which are made in the Scripture, we will be hopelessly confused.
When the Day of the Lord comes, we are going to be with the Lord.
We are not in darkness.
That day will not overtake us as a thief in the night.
the Lord Jesus does not come as a thief to take His church.
The church is
"looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior."
Now Paul gives the admonition to the believers -
1 Thessalonians 5:6 "Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober."
The rapture of the church, that blessed hope, could take place at any time. Because of this, we should not be sleeping Christians.
The apostle Paul says to us,
in view of the fact that the Lord Jesus is going to take His church out of the world, before that awful period of tribulation,
"let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober."
The word sober has several meanings.
It can mean "to stay sober" in the sense of not using an alcoholic stimulant, but there are also other kinds of drunkenness besides that caused by alcohol or drugs.
Many people get drunk on power or on the making of money or on the pleasures of this world.
The child of God is to stay sober and is to watch.
Why?
Because these tremendous events are to take place in the future.
1 Thessalonians 5:7-8 "For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."
Romans 13:11 "And that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed."
Let us understand that we have a duty to perform.
"Putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."
This speaks of a soldier’s duty and is a call to that kind of duty.
The breastplate of faith and love is to cover the heart, the vital part of the body.
The helmet is the hope of salvation.
It should be the style for every Christian to wear the helmet of the hope of salvation.
"Faith … love … hope" - this is now the third time these key words have appeared in this epistle:
the labor of love,
the work of faith,
the patience of hope.
Faith is a saving faith, and a saving faith produces works.
"Faith" looks to the past when we accepted the Lord Jesus Christ.
"Love" is for the present, which is the relationship the believer should have with those around him.
The "hope of salvation" is that blessed hope of the future.
We are not looking for the Great Tribulation Period.
I don’t see how there could be any rejoicing in that!
We are looking for that blessed hope, which is the consummation of our salvation.
Let us be found of Him Standing on the promises
Standing on the
promises of Christ my Lord,
Thru eternal ages let His praises ring;
Glory in the highest I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.
Chorus.
Standing standing
standing
On the promises of God my Savior
Standing standing standing
I'm standing on the promises of God.
Standing
on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing
on the promises of Christ the Lord,
Bound to Him eternally by love's strong cord,
Overcoming daily with the Spirit's sword,
Standing on the promises of God.
AMEN.
There are many people today who like to sing ‘Standing on the Promises,’ but they are just sitting on the premises!"
Some of them are actually sleeping pillars in the church today.
I know that the Lord Jesus will not come as a thief for me because I am constantly expecting Him at any moment.
I am listening for His trump - His majestic voice to call me home.
I am constantly calling out to Him to come for me.
How then can He come as a thief for me?
Nobody waits for a thief, looks out for him and leaves a note on the back door saying - "I left the back door open for you, Mr. Thief, and you’ll find the family silver in the third drawer to the right in the dining room."
We dont leave such notes on our doors.
The chances are that we check everything before we leave the house, making sure that our homes are doubly locked.
We want to keep the thief out.
The Lord Jesus does not come as a thief to the church.
However, the Lord Jesus does come like a thief to the world after the church has been raptured.
The Day of the Lord will come suddenly to the earth, and it will begin with the night of the Great Tribulation Period; then finally Christ will come personally to this earth.
I am groaning in this body longing and looking for my new glorious body.
Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body."
This is exactly the same thought that John had:
1 John 3:2 "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as he is."
Christ hasn’t appeared yet, but when He appears, we shall be like Him.
Notice the high hope,
the expectancy and excitement, the great anticipation of Christ’s return.
(There is not the slightest suggestion that either Paul or John expected to first go through the Great Tribulation Period.)
The apostle Paul had a hope for the future.
What is your hope for the future?
The Great Tribulation Period?
Dear reader, if that is your prospect, you are about as hopeless as the man who has no hope!
The Lord says to the church,
"We’re going to miss the storm, the Great Tribulation."
Dear reader, we cannot twist it around to suit our own theory, but that is what He says.
"For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ."
That was the apostle Paul’s hope for the future, and it is our hope.
PRAYERFULLY MEDITATE ON:
1 Thessalonians 5:9 "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ."
Today we have "the hope of salvation," which is that He will consummate that which He has begun in us.
Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
"God hath not appointed us to wrath" - that ought to be clear even to amillennialists, but for some reason they miss the point.
God hasn’t appointed us to the day of wrath, the Great Tribulation.
It is a time of judgment, and the church is not going through it because Christ bore our judgment.
God saved me by His grace, and when He comes to take His church out of the world, I’m going along with all the saints because of the grace of God.
God has not destined us for wrath, for the Great Tribulation, but for salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:10 "Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him."
Whether we die first or whether we live until His coming, we shall live together with Him.
Most of the church has already gone through the doorway of death.
What a parade that will be someday - beginning with Stephen and the apostles, the martyrs, all those who have fallen asleep in Jesus down through the years, and then those who are still alive at His coming, and if you and I are still alive, we will bring up the rear.
Thank God, we shall be there by the grace of God!
These truths ought to be the greatest comfort to us in this world today.
Verse 1.
The market place is empty,
No more traffic in the street,
All the builders tools are silent,
No more time to harvest wheat;
Busy housewives cease their labour,
In the courtroom no debate,
Work on earth has been suspended,
As the King comes through the gate.
Verse 2.
Happy faces line the hall-way,
Those whose lives have been redeemed,
Broken homes that He has mended,
Those from prison He has freed.
Little children and the aged,
Hand in hand stand all aglow;
Who were crippled, broken, ruined,
Glad in garments white as snow.
Chorus.
The King is coming, The King is coming
I just heard the trumpet sounding, -
And soon His face I'll see
The King is coming, The King is coming,
Praise God, He's coming for me.
Verse 3.
I can hear the chariots rumble,
I can see the marching throng,
And the flurry of Gods trumpet,
Spells the end of sin and wrong,
Regal robes are now unfolded,
Heaven's grand-stands all in place,
Heavn's choir is now assembled,
Start to sing "Amazing Grace"
AMEN.
Reply to Caryl@cherith.co.za.
THIS PAGE UPDATED: 14-6-2007.