Our Present Condition and our Hope by F.G. Patterson shows the believer as to the past, a suffering, dead and risen Christ; as to the present, the association of the people of God with Him in a pathway of suffering and rejection; and as to the future, His coming again in glory, and taking to Him His great power to reign, and our association with Him in His glory.

 

OUR PRESENT CONDITION: The Lord left his servants to carry on His heavenly mission here below. He set “every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch,” He says, “What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch.”  Our blessed occupation here  is “To serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven”  In one way or another, He has given us something to do for Him, and He is coming back to ascertain how each is discharging the duty given him, and at an “hour ye think not.” Therefore ‘Let your loins be girded, and your lights burning.’

 

Our HOPE: The Lord will come again in power and great glory - the great event which will bring about all this glory for which He waits and we wait. It is near, beloved brethren; the heart feels conscious that it is so; and the present action of the Holy Spirit marks it as very close at hand. By examining the two letters to the Thessalonians,  F.G Patterson  reminds us of what we have to look forward to.  He also shows us that the ‘Coming’ and the ‘Appearing’ are two entirely different things, as are  the ‘Great White Throne’ and the ‘Judgement Seat of Christ’.

 

Publisher’s note.

 

This book is part of the Brethren Writers Library series. These books go forth with the purpose of introducing the listener to the writings of men who were gifted of God as teachers ‘for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ’. Many of their writings are freely available online at Stem publishing.com.

 

 Words by the Wayside, 2015.