—so shall we ever be with the Lord.–1 Thess. 4:17
Far too many people never see their need of the Lord. But, even among those who do, not enough folks think about the believer’s benefits— benefits on earth and in eternity. Yet even a smaller number of people seem to understand that in Christ we have all. As long as we have Him we are never deprived, even in death. Going to heaven is gain not loss. To “ever be with the Lord” is what we long for, what we are promised and what we shall experience. Charles Spurgeon said it well:
“While we are here the LORD is with us, and when we are called away we are with Him. There is no dividing the saint from His Savior. They are one, and they always must be one: Jesus cannot be without His own people, for He would be a Head without a body. Whether caught up into the air, or resting in paradise, or sojourning here, we are with Jesus; and who shall separate us from Him? What a joy is this! Our supreme honor, rest, comfort, delight, is to be with the LORD. We cannot conceive of anything which can surpass or even equal this divine society. By holy fellowship we must be with Him in His humiliation, rejection, and travail, and then we shall be with Him in His glory. Before long we shall be with Him in His rest and in His royalty, in His expectation and in His manifestation. We shall fare as He fares and triumph as He triumphs. O my LORD, if I am to be forever with Thee, I have a destiny incomparable. I will not envy an archangel. To be forever with the LORD is my idea of heaven at its best. Not the harps of gold, nor the crowns unfading, nor the light unclouded is glory to me; but Jesus, Jesus Himself, and myself forever with Him in nearest and dearest fellowship.“
