the Redeemer, the hope of His redeemed; taunting the faithful living with the disappointment of the faithful dead of their looked-for reward: and, therefore, it contains the double assurance,-that the day of their judgment would also vindicate the faith and hope of those whom they despised, by the manifestation of Christ, and with Him "of the sons of God" in His glory," the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints" as saith another Apostle in the very words of the Patriarch-Prophet, (1 Thess. iii. 13); when, as He saith again, "He shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: "Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power; "When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day."-(2 Thess. i. 8-10.) And thus, in conclusion,-we have in this second most ancient of the prophetic oracles, another proof that the faith not only of the first Christians, but of the first believers, was directed in common with ours to the consummation of the Redemption, or the SECOND COMING of the Redeemer; and thus again is the saying of the Apostle verified: "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have [or rather "might hold fast"] hope;"* and might hold fast this hope, es *Rom. xv. 4 (Gr.), so rendered rightly in the Collect for the Second Sunday in Advent: see also the Epistle for the Day. pecially in the prospect of such times as Enoch's and of the crisis which his prophecy contemplates.. For, if at such a time we would "walk" as Enoch walked, we must have Enoch's "faith :"-faith, not in "the sufferings of Christ" alone as the atonement for sin, but in "the glory to follow," with the revelation of which is connected the reward of faithful service, which in His wondrous and abounding grace God has superadded to the salvation already bestowed on us; and to which, now as of old, they must "have respect" who would endure to the end under trial and persecution for the truth's sake. As the same Apostle teaches in his exhortation to the Hebrew Christians (ch. x. 36, 37), immediately preceding the catalogue of ancient worthies who set the example of endurance in suffering, among which Enoch is so conspicuous: "Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath GREAT RECOMPENSE OF REWARD. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive THE PROMISE." The "reward" and " promise," when to be received? He answers the question"FOR [he adds] YET A LITTLE WHILE, AND HE THAT SHALL COME WILL COME, AND WILL NOT TARRY." When also, to complete the analogy between that event and the times of Enoch, the faithful who shall be alive will experience a like deliverance to his from the coming judgment, and a like testimony of the Divine approbation in the sight of the unbelieving. His translation is often adduced as a revelation at that early period of a future life, and a state of retribution after death. And this it was. But it was more: it was a type of an event more closely analogous, revealed in an Epistle but just quoted, where the Apostle, having first stated the hope of the saints who shall have died-" If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him,"-proceeds thus to state the hope of the living : "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [anticipate or precede] them which are asleep. "For 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 [to meet Him coming, and come with Him]: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."-(1 Thess. iv. 14-17.) 66 66 Caught up," as was Enoch, or "translated," and changed" (1 Cor. xv. 51), that is, transfigured into the image of His glory, that they may "sit down with Him on His throne," and "reign with Him." Well might the Apostle add, "Wherefore comfort one another with these words," especially in view of the great tribulation of that day! against which God has provided this "strong consolation;" His word of promise, exemplified by a type, and more,-confirmed by the evidence of fact.-[Appendix D.] |