The Joyful Reunion

Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

1 Thessalonians 4:14

Will it add nothing to the glory of that event, and to the happiness of that moment, when the Son of God descends, and, dissolving the soft  slumbers of the holy dead, will reanimate each with its former occupant, that then we shall perfectly recognize those we once knew and loved, and renew the sweet intercourse, before imperfect and limited, but now complete and eternal?

Dry then your tears, and cease to mourn, ye saints of God.  They are "not lost, but gone before."  Their spirits live with Jesus.  And when He comes, He will bring them with Him, and you shall see and know them with a cloudless sight and a perfect knowledge.  The very eyes which once smiled upon you so kindly, the very tongue which spoke to you so comfortingly, the very hands which administered to you so skillfully, the very feet which traveled by your side so faithfully, the very bosom which pillowed you so tenderly, you shall meet again.  "For the coming of the Lord draweth nigh" (James 5:8), and those who "sleep in Jesus will God bring with him" (1 Thess. 4:14).  Let us "comfort one another with these words" (1 Thess. 4:18).

And will it be no additional joy to meet and to know those eminent servants of the Lord whose histories are recorded to stimulate and instruct us, which cheered us, which shed light and gladness on our way:  Abraham, whose faith had animated us;  David, whose experimental psalms had comforted us;  Isaiah whose visions of Jesus gladdened us;  Paul, whose doctrinal epistles instructed us;  John, whose letters of love subdued us;  to gaze upon the Magdalene sitting at Jesus' feet, upon the "beggar" reposing in Abraham's bosom, and upon the "thief" with Christ in Paradise--Oh, will not this add to the happiness of heaven?  Will this be no joy, no bliss, no glory?  Assuredly, it will!  At Christ's coming, will not His ministers, too, and those to whom their labors had been useful, meet, know, and rejoice in each other?  The pastor and the flock, will there be no certain and permanent reunion--no sweet, and fond, and holy recognition?  Shall their union in the church below exceed, in its beauty and sweetness, their reunion in the church above?  Here it is necessarily mingled with much that is imperfect.

Much concealment is connected with their united labors in the vineyard of Christ.  They go forth weeping, bearing precious seed, and often are called to their rest before the fruit of their prayers, tears, and toil appears.  Here, too, seasons of sickness and of separation frequently transpire, shadowing the spirit with gloom, and wringing the heart with anguish.  And then, at last, death itself rudely breaks the tender bond, lays the standard-bearer low, leaving the affectionate flock to gaze with tears upon the lessening spirit of their loved one as it ascends and towers away to glory.  But the coming of Jesus, with all His saints, will restore this happy union, invest it with new and richer glory, and place it upon a permanent, yea, everlasting basis.  "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing?  Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?  For ye are our glory and joy" (1 Thess. 2:19-20).  Yes, beloved, we shall know each other again, altered and glorified though we may be.

~Octavius Winslow