And as the Saints, by virtue of this Communion with God, have the assurance of “The forgiveness of sins;” so likewise they look joyfully forward in hope of “The Resurrection of the Body” and “The Life Everlasting.” For “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; and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. iv. 16, 17).
FOOTNOTE:
[30] Consequently the expression “in Christ” or “in the Lord” is frequently used to denote the fact of a person being a Christian. Thus S. Paul sends greeting to certain, who had been converted before himself, in these words, “Salute Andronicus and Junia who were in Christ before me” (Rom. xvi. 7); and describes the Christians of Palestine, at the time of his visit, as “the Churches of Judæa which were in Christ” (Gal. i. 22). And thus of the Christian departed it is said, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord” (Rev. xiv. 13).
CHAPTER XI.
CONCLUSION.
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“From Heaven He came and sought her To be His Holy Bride, With His own Blood He bought her, And for her life He died.” |
“The Kingdom of Heaven,” what is it?
It is the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ. It is that Kingdom which was prophetically set forth by our Lord in His parables; that Kingdom, the subjects of which were described in His teaching, and redeemed by His Blood to be His own “purchased possession” (Eph. i. 14); that Kingdom which was founded through the coming of the Holy Ghost—being a spiritual Kingdom not of the world, though at present in the world—and which was preached from land to land as an Universal Kingdom, intended to embrace the whole race of man.