The Departed Christ

From J Preston Eby’s book - Looking for His Appearing

The doctrines and creeds of most churches of our day have developed around and focused upon six events in the life of the Christ. These are known as the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the Ascension, Pentecost and the Second Coming of Christ. But because the fourth of these, the Ascension, has been so falsely interpreted and distorted by the unspiritual minds of tradition-bound theologians and teachers, the church world has come to the wrong conception of the last two - Pentecost and the Return of Christ.

If one did not search the scriptures, but listened only to church preaching, hymns and doctrines today he would surely gather the idea that the Christ has gone somewhere. No one seems to know where He is, but He is in some far-off heaven somewhere literally and permanently seated upon a majestic throne. At any rate, all are quite sure that He has left planet earth, for did not the disciples see Him go? And so the vast majority of Christians are convinced and firmly believe the New Testament affirms that Christ is no longer on earth. But let us SEE!

The longer I travel in my pilgrimage along the blessed pathways of the celestial kingdom the more I become aware of the mighty significance of every word breathed into the sacred pages of scripture, which our heavenly Father has graciously given for our understanding, training and guidance. How carelessly we peruse its pages! How casually we read its astounding and earth shaking statements! How lightly we pass them by and how thoughtlessly we contradict their plain and simple pronouncements, teaching instead for doctrine the traditions of men! What an infinite transformation would be wrought in our understanding and experience should we dare to believe ALL that the scriptures have spoken concerning Him!

When our wonderful Lord Jesus was holding precious communion with His beloved disciples in those heaven-blessed days following His resurrection, on one occasion when He appeared in their midst, we read, "And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him: but some doubted" (Matthew 28:17). What! Are they still doubting? Why, even Thomas has been convinced by now! Are they still doubting? Ah, it does not mean that. Let me briefly give you the scene, not so much from the English translation but from the finer reading of the Greek in which Matthew wrote the record.

It was like this. The eleven were gathered at the appointed place, but Jesus had not come. He was not late - He was never late - but according to their reckoning He was late, and He had not come. Peter goes down to the brow of the hill, which commands a view of the path winding up the hillside, to see if He is coming, but there is no sign of Him. Another disciple goes down to see if He is coming and returns, shaking his head. The Master has not arrived. Is He really coming? And suddenly, as before, He is there. He is there - not immediately in their midst, but just a little way from them. He is suddenly there! and no one had seen Him arrive. Of course, as before, it is probable that He had been there all the time and suddenly He made Himself visible to them and they all saw Him. As they looked upon Him suddenly appearing yonder before them, the majesty of His person compelled them to worship. It is the "prostrate" word for worship, the word which means that they were flat on their faces before Him. And in the very act of worshipping, some doubted.

Wavering worshippers! Do you know anything about that? This message seems to me to be always urgent upon those who follow on to know the Lord. It is so tragically possible still to worship Christ and yet, in the very act of worshipping Him, to waver. Now this word "doubted" is an unusual word: it only occurs twice in the New Testament and both times are in Matthew. When Peter walked on the water and was saved by his Master, Jesus said unto him, "O thou of little faith! Wherefore didst thou doubt?" It is the same word; and it is only on these two occasions, then and there, that this word is used in the New Testament. It means literally "to stand in two ways at once". I don't think I can illustrate it, but I think you will see what it means. Anyway, you will from Peter walking on the water. One moment he was looking at his Lord, and walking by faith: the next moment he was looking at the waves, and walking in fear. Then again looking at his Lord and receiving strength: but immediately a big wave makes him lower his victorious gaze and he is once more frightened and floundering. Wavering - standing in two ways at once - vacillating back and forth between the spirit and the flesh - one moment full of faith, the next moment full of fear. A very unsatisfactory way of walking and living! As James says, "He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed: let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord."

Ah, then I think I see what this means. I think I can sympathize with them, methinks I have done it in my own soul again and again. As they looked at Him standing there suddenly before them, they were compelled to worship, so glorious was He, so commandingly majestic. As some of them lifted their gaze from their prostration on the ground, they looked into His eyes and they saw something that was so challenging there that they knew He had big things for them: they knew that He was calling them to something great: and as they looked at Him, worshipping Him, they shrank, some of them, from what they knew He was going to give to them and demand of them. I think He must have had His flint face on that day. They wavered! Wavering worshippers!

Do you not remember some great experience, some glorious meeting, some wonderful manifestation of God's presence, some mighty move of His Spirit, some awesome unveiling of His glory when the Lord Christ was so exalted before you in the power of the Holy Spirit that you were worshipping Him. There was nothing else to do - you had to worship Him. Did you waver as you worshipped? In the face of His glory, at the majesty of His presence you caught an enthralling glimpse of the glory set before - the glory of sonship to God, the holy expectancy of being made like Him, conformed to His image; the awesome wonder of sharing His mind and His wisdom, His authority and His power; the calling to be a joint-heir and co-ruler with the Christ in the marvelous work of redemption and restitution, to restore the creation into God again. This high and holy calling, known only by revelation of the Holy Spirit of Truth, is a jewel and a prize to be greatly cherished and revered by God's elect. What a vision! What a hope! But - did you waver as you worshipped? Is it not true that in the very face of the ecstasy of the moment of divine illumination and quickening we are at once distraught by the haunting voice of the carnal mind pressing its demands upon us: You will never make it to perfection! Our inherent weaknesses and persistent faults, our unconquered carnality and obvious mortality present themselves before us, magnified like weird mocking monsters dancing hideously in the twilight, taunting, jeering, scorning, sneering, condemning - just who do YOU think YOU are? A son of God? - indeed! You will never be a son of God! You wretched little pretender! You can't make it, such a high and holy calling is forever beyond your grasp, you will never be an overcomer, you claim too much, its not for real! Oh to worship Christ without wavering!

No wonder they wavered! For look what He had to say to them. "Jesus came," --you see, He came right up to where they were now, came close - "and spake unto them, saying" - and, Oh, what a word is this! You have noticed the four "alls"? "ALL power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Therefore go ye and disciple ALL nations, baptizing them into the Name, teaching them to observe ALL things whatsoever I have commanded you, and, lo, I am with you - literally - ALL the days, even to the consummation of the age." Consider His power. "All power is given unto Me. . ." All authority (exousia, not dunamis) hath been given to Me in heaven and on earth! His power! That position our ascended Lord occupies today. All authority in heaven and on earth is in the loving hands of our living Saviour. His power! Consider His plans. "Go ye therefore and disciple ALL nations. . ." Consider His principles. "Teaching them to observe ALL things whatsoever I have commanded you."

Consider His PRESENCE. "And, lo, I AM WITH YOU ALL THE DAYS - perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion - to the very close and consummation of the age" (Matthew 28:20, Amplified). "All the days" - Sundays and Mondays. All the days! Days of sunshine and blessing and glory - days of thundercloud and turmoil and trial. ALL the days! Days when everything goes right and days when everything goes wrong. Days when you have the victory and days when you suffer defeat. "All the days I am with you!" Throughout the march of the centuries an innumerable multitude of men and women have claimed these beautiful words as the unfailing promise of our lovely Lord Jesus. But, precious friend of mine, that is not a promise! I dare say you will find it in the Promise Box, but it is not a promise.. He did not say, "I WILL be with you all the days." it is better far than a promise; it is a FACT! "I AM with you always" - making no conditions - not saying: "If you do this, that and the other, I will be with you" - but stating as an accomplished, perpetual, unchanging fact the complete assurance of a constant and age-lasting PRESENCE OF THE CHRIST with us. How much plainer can any statement be? Yet the preachers today confidently affirm that HE IS GONE! "Christ is in heaven," say they, "but His Spirit is with us here," as though His Spirit were somehow not HE HIMSELF. Who is the Lord, anyhow? "Now the Lord I-S THAT SPIRIT" (II Corinthians 3:17). Mark, in the last verse of His Gospel tells us, "And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the LORD WORKING WITH THEM and confirming the Word with signs following." After He ascended HE WAS RIGHT THERE WITH THEM STILL. Glory to God!

When the holy Christ of God uttered His wonderful proclamation, "And, lo, I AM with you always," that proclamation forever established that in truth the Christ NEVER WOULD DEPART. There is a wonderful difference between ascending and departing. Jesus said, "I ascend unto My Father, and your Father" (John 20:17), but never, once did He say that He would depart from them. For hath He not said, "I will NEVER LEAVE THEE, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). That which the church today regards as the departure of Jesus, was never so regarded by His disciples. Rather it meant to them a CONDITION OF POWER, for He told them that He must "go away" that the Comforter might "come." None of the Gospel writers felt that the "taking up" involved any departure of the Christ. It never did mean AN END of His presence to any of them. But on the other hand, it really meant a far greater realization of His presence than they had ever experienced. Their statements that He continued to work with them, that He said He would be with them to the end of the age, and their fullness of joy all testify to the fact that they believed He was still with them and had not gone anywhere else. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but CHRIST LIVETH IN ME" (Galatians 2:20). In the last chapter of Luke's Gospel and the first chapters of its sequel which we call "The Acts of the Apostles," the pen of inspiration has faithfully recorded the facts surrounding the ascension of our Lord and His coming to us as the Spirit. Jesus led His faithful little band of followers out of Jerusalem as far as the village of Bethany and while speaking to them He stretched out His hands in blessing upon them. As He blesses, His feet lift from the grass and, still blessing them He rises upwards. They follow Him with their gaze, until a cloud intervenes and receives Him out of their sight. Only out of their sight. Not out of their company. Only His BODILY PRESENCE was denied to them. Had He not said, "Lo, I am with you always"? In a sense He did not really go away: HE ONLY WENT OUT OF SIGHT. And in ten days' time, He was to come to them in a closer way than ever by His indwelling Spirit.

That cloud intrigues me. "And a CLOUD received Him out of their sight”. . ."received Him out of" is one word in the Greek meaning "to take under". It signifies to take up by placing one's self underneath, in the style of a hiker carrying a backpack, or as a waiter holds a tray. Weymouth's translation puts it like this: the cloud "closing beneath Him, hid Him from sight." This wasn’t the sort of cloud which spills the rain and from which the lightning flashes. No! The Cloud described here is the Cloud of the Glory of God, the Shekinah, described in Ezekiel 1:4 as "a great cloud. . .and brightness."

A cloud is perhaps the best known Eastern symbol for the swirling, lustrous radiance which hides "the face of His throne" (Job 26:9). The Hebrew term translated "cloud" in Ezekiel is AWNAUN, a word which is occasionally used of a nimbus or thundercloud, but which is repeatedly used for THE GLORY CLOUD OF YEHOVAH. The first appearance of AWNAWN, "cloud," as a technical term for the Shekinah is found in Exodus 13:21 wherein we read, "And the Lord went before (the Israelites) by day in a pillar of a CLOUD, to lead them the way." It was this "cloud" which Ezekiel saw while he was with the exiles in Babylon by the Chebar River. The Glory Cloud is the "chariot" of Yehovah, composed of myriads of celestial beings, the spirits of just men made perfect, the armies which are in heaven, the heavenly hosts of the spiritual world. "Behold," declares the prophet, "the Lord rideth upon THE CLOUD, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it (the cloud)" (Isaiah 19:1).

Just as the CLOUD "covered the mount" at the giving of the Law (Exodus 24:15-18), so, also, it "covered the tabernacle" when it was completed. "And the Glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, and Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the Cloud abode thereon, and the Glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle" (Exodus 40:34-35). Many years later, when Solomon had finished the work of the temple, "The Cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the Cloud; for the Glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord" (I Kings 8:10-11). It will be observed that "The Cloud" and "The Glory" are equated as synonymous, for The Cloud "filled the house" and The Glory "filled the house" are stated in parallel fashion.

This is the Cloud of HIS GLORY into which the triumphant saints of God are to be caught up. "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" (I Thessalonians 4:16-17). There is no definite article in the Greek text before the word "clouds," to make it THE CLOUDS, which would thus identify them as the clouds of the lower atmosphere surrounding our earth. Where the identifying article is missing, it speaks of quality, or is used as a descriptive term. The Greek word "cloud" it often used of a large body of individuals in the Greek Classics, and it is also so used in Hebrews 12:1 speaking of that great "cloud of witnesses" which surround us. Thus our "catching up" is being brought into that higher spiritual sphere, where we shall become one with that whole great cloud of witnesses, that "general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect" (Hebrews 12:23). What a glorious UNION of forces when those of our generation upon the earth, and all those overcoming saints of all former ages who have gone on before us, are joined together, becoming an indestructible force in the full, total and complete manifestation of His majesty, power and glory at the manifestation of the sons of God!

The Resident within the shimmering Cloud of Glory is the Lord Himself, the very source of the dazzling light, for it is HE who causes the celestial host to shine forth, thus forming the "cloud" and manifesting His glory thereby. Yes, He shall be revealed TO US, shall complete all of His work and purpose in us, lifting us up into higher realms of the Spirit, and completing that UNION WITH THE WHOLE BODY OF THE FIRSTBORN. Then shall He be revealed IN US in fullness as Paul explains, "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty messengers, in flaming fire. . .when He shall come to be GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS, and to be ADMIRED IN ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE in that day" (II Thessalonians 1:7-10).

I would draw your reverent attention to the following two scripture passages. "Behold! He cometh WITH CLOUDS" (Revelation 1:7). "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, The Lord cometh WITH TEN THOUSANDS OF HIS SAINTS" (Jude 14). Or, "Lo, the Lord comes in holy myriads of Himself" (Literal translation). If you will take a few minutes to meditate upon these two verses you will begin to realize that the Lord coming WITH CLOUDS and the Lord coming WITH SAINTS is not two separate events, but just the same thing. The "cloud" that received our Lord Jesus out of their sight on the day of His ascension, was the same "cloud" which revealed the majestic Person of Yehovah on Mount Sinai and in the Tabernacle and Temple of old, and the very same "cloud" with which He comes again and into which His elect is gloriously caught up. It was the Cloud of celestial spirits swooping down from realms of glory to bear Him up in triumph to the sphere of authority, power and blessing which should thenceforth flow forth as a mighty river of life through the channel of His body upon earth. They came, say the Greek, and they wrapped Him round, some of them underneath Him, and into their presence He passed, and the eyes on earth beheld Him no longer. From the eternal and omnipresent realm of the spirit He occupies the omnipotence of the throne of the universe; from that throne He gives the Holy Spirit of HIS PRESENCE to all who believe.

May the blessed Holy Spirit open the eyes of our understanding that we may see that beyond the veil of the flesh is the realm of God, the realm of the Spirit, and it is there the Christ of God dwells, and it is there He must be touched, seen, known and experienced. He did not "leave us" for He promised He never would; His "disappearance" from the sight of men was not a lessening of His PRESENCE with us in any way. Rather it was an intensification of that PRESENCE. For the Christ was transferring that PRESENCE from one body to many bodies. He was expanding and enlarging His power and influence and character greatly among men. That expansion and enlargement has continued throughout the centuries, and the body of Christ has continued to grow and develop in preparation for the full and total and complete manifestation of His life when every elect son of God has come forth finally from Father's hand full grown in the mind, nature, will, power and dominion of Almighty God.

Our testimony joins in harmonious accord with that of the beloved disciple John when he declared, "WE KNOW THAT THE SON OF GOD IS COME." He is here now in the world, IN US, and it will have to be through us that the world will come to the knowledge and experience of this PRESENT CHRIST. The enveloping and overwhelming of HIS PRESENCE - this is the PAROUSIA of Jesus Christ! With this precious truth in mind let us now reverently consider a couple more texts touching on the PAROUSIA of our Lord.

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