After fellowshipping concerning the ministry of Christ in His ascension in messages six and seven, we now come to the rapture of the saints. The study of the rapture of the saints has a history. The Brethren, who were raised up in England in the early part of the nineteenth century, and G. H. Pember, Robert Govett, and D. M. Panton all rendered us much help concerning the Lord’s second coming and the rapture of the saints. In this matter we are on their shoulders to have some further studies, and the Lord has continuously shown us something more. This is what I am going to present to you tonight. But I must make one thing clear to all of us—all the teachers who paid much attention to the second coming and the rapture of the saints did not stress the matter of life. Actually, the rapture of the saints is wrapped up with life, but even the excellent books written on the second coming and the rapture do not pay much attention to life.
M. E. Barber, who lived in China at the time of Brother Nee and rendered him much help, paid much attention to the Lord’s second coming and the rapture. But she paid more attention to life than others. She was waiting for the Lord’s coming. Brother Nee told us that she and he went for a walk one time, and as they rounded the corner of a building, she said to him, “Maybe as we turn the corner, He will be there and we will meet Him.” She was waiting for the Lord’s coming and expecting her rapture to such an extent.
The apostles’ teaching is concerning God’s New Testament economy from the incarnation of God to the consummation of the New Jerusalem. One of the major items of this teaching is the rapture of the saints. The rapture of the saints is the consummating step of God’s full salvation in life. God’s salvation is in two aspects—in redemption and in life. Romans 5:10 says that through Christ’s death we were reconciled to God; we were justified. This is the objective aspect of God’s salvation in redemption. Then Romans 5:10 says that since we have been reconciled to God through the death of Christ, much more we shall be saved in the life of Christ. This is the subjective aspect of God’s salvation in His divine life. The first step in this salvation in life is that God regenerated us. Following this, He is now transforming us. The consummating step of His salvation in life is the transfiguration of our body. Our bodies are not yet redeemed, but they are on the way to being redeemed. The redemption of our body will be a change in its nature and condition. Our physical nature is one that is always weak, sick, and dying. To redeem our body changes its nature to one that is strong, healthy, and living.
The redemption of our body is through the saturation of the divine element by the sealing of the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 4:30; 1 Cor. 1:30; Luke 21:28). We believers are being saturated with the divine element. Outwardly, we may look the same as the unbelievers. But inwardly, something hidden is going on within us. Inwardly, we are being saturated with the divine element of God’s life. This saturating is by the sealing of the Spirit of God. When a piece of paper is sealed with a seal, the ink on the image of the seal saturates the paper. Within us the sealing of the Spirit of God is going on.
Ephesians 1:13-14 and 4:30 speak of this sealing. The Holy Spirit is the sealing ink, and God has sealed us with the Spirit as the sealing ink. This sealing is going on unto the redemption of our body. The word “unto” is the Greek word eis, which means resulting in, or issuing in. The sealing of the Holy Spirit within us is issuing in the redemption of our body. We are like a cotton ball which is being saturated with ink. The Holy Spirit is the sealing ink. As long as the sealing is going on in us, the divine ink is saturating us. Then the sealing will saturate our entire body, until our entire being will be permeated and saturated with the divine element as the sealing ink. Someone who has been recently saved has a small amount of the divine ink within him. As he grows in the divine life, the divine ink permeates and saturates him. Eventually, this saturation will reach his body. That will be the time of his rapture, which is the redemption of his body. We need to be permeated and saturated with the Spirit until the redemption of our body.
The redemption of our body is the transfiguration of our body of humiliation (Phil. 3:21). Our body has been humiliated by the fall. By the fall, sin invaded our body. Therefore, today in the members of our body, according to Romans 7, there is an evil thing called sin. Sin dwells in us (v. 20) and has become a law of sin dwelling in the members of our body (v. 23). This sin brings in death, and death implies weakness and sickness. Our body has been humiliated by sin, by weakness, by sickness, and eventually by death. Our body is not something glorious. It is something humiliated with mainly these four things—sin, weakness, sickness, and death.
Actually, we human beings are not living. Everybody is dying. Eventually, all of us will die. We are dying persons. This is a kind of humiliation. But the redemption of our body will change the nature and the condition of our body. That change will be a transfiguration. Philippians 3:21 says that Christ “will transfigure the body of our humiliation, conforming it to the body of His glory, according to the operation of Him who is able even to subject all things to Himself.”
The redemption of our body to transfigure the nature and the condition of our body of humiliation is also the full sonship of God. We are sons of God today because we have the very reality of the sonship of God in our spirit. But today we do not have the sonship of God in our body. Our body has not yet entered into divinity. But one day our body will enter into divinity. Divinity is now saturating our being. One day this saturation will reach a consummation, and our entire body will be consummated in divinity. By that time we will enjoy the full sonship. None of the unbelievers can discern that we are the sons of God today. To them we are the same as they are. But according to Romans 8, one day the sons of God will be manifested. Everyone will be able to see that we are the sons of God. The redemption of our body is the full sonship of God.
The redemption of our body, which is the transfiguration of our body of humiliation, will be the glorification of our entire being (Rom. 8:30, 17; 2 Thes. 1:10; 1 Pet. 5:10; 2 Tim. 2:10; Heb. 2:10). This means that our entire being will be saturated with the glory of the divine life. In other words, our humiliated body will be filled with the splendor of the divine life.
Second Thessalonians 1:10 says that Christ will come to glorify Himself in us. This is a hard word to understand. How will Christ come to glorify Himself in us? On the one hand, Christ’s coming is from the heavens. On the other hand, Christ’s coming is from within us. Today Christ is first in the heavens and then in us. When He comes, He will come from these two directions. He will come from the heavens above to the earth. He also will come from within us. He is coming out from our spirit to appear in our body. The appearance of Christ from within us is His coming. This kind of coming is His glorification. Christ in us is a mystery. He is in us as the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). One day this hope will be manifested, and that will be our glory. When the inner hope is manifested, He will become the outer glorification. In that day Christ will glorify Himself in us. That is our glorification, and in our glorification Christ will be glorified.