THE SILENCE OF GOD HOW IT SHALL BE
BROKEN
" God, even God, the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth
from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof.
" Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined forth.
" Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence : a fire shall
devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about
Him.
" He shall call to the heavens above, and to the eajlh, that He
may judge His people.
" Gather My saints unto Me ; those that have made a covenant
with Me by sacrifice.
" And the heavens shall declare His righteousness ; for God is
Judge Himself. Selah.
" Hear, O My people, and I will speak ; O Israel, and I will
testify unto thee : I am God, even thy God.
" I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices ; and thy burnt
offerings are continually before Me.
" I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats out of
thy folds.
" For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a
thousand hills.
" I know all the fowls of the mountains : and the wild beasts
of the field are Mine.
" If I were hungry, I would not tell thee : for the world is
I. IN RELATION TO THE CHURCH.
To the redeemed the central point in "that blessed
hope " of Christ's return is " our gathering together unto
Him" (2 Thess. ii. i). Oh, it is Himself we long to
see ; to behold that brow once crowned with thorns, and
that face once marred by sorrow and suffering more
than that of any other man ! It is for the fulfilment of
His sweetest and most precious of promises, " I will
come again and receive you unto Myself," that our
hearts yearn. And this blessed consummation is
brought before us in the fifth verse, where the inspired
Psalmist, lifted by the Spirit of God, like the Apostle
78 THE SILENCE OF GOD
John, into the very midst of the apocalyptic events
hears the very words of command to the angelic hosts
as they fall from the lips of the descending Lord, "Gather My saints together unto Me."
Yes, the hour is come when in His progress to the
earth, attended by the hosts of heaven, there shall be a
pause, and He shall send His angels with a great sound
of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect
from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the
other (Matt. xxiv. 31); for this Divine proclamation
for the gathering of His saints, is not their gathering
unto Him in death, as some have misinterpreted it, but
is the same as announced by the apostle, when " 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 " (i Thess. iv. 13-18).
" The first experience which is before the redeemed is
resurrection" (i Cor. xv. 51-55), but along with the
resurrection of the sleeping saints comes the transfor-
mation of the living. The earth being still the place of
imperfection and sin the scene of death and judgment
the Church is to be taken out of it. We shall meet
Him in the air. When Christ descends the Church
ascends. The earth's atmosphere is about two hundred
miles in height room enough for the Church to meet
Christ in it. I suppose the rapture of the Church will
resemble somewhat the ascension of Jesus after His
resurrection.
And after the transformation comes the meeting. Oh, most inexpressible and indescribable glory ! We are to see Jesus face to face the glorious Son of God, the brightness of the Father's glory.
