(6) Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (7) (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) (8) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (9) Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. (10) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. (11) Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
The confidence the Apostle speaks of, is an unceasing confidence. Be speaks of it more than once, and calls it always. And if the Reader looks at the principle upon which it is founded, he will see, that it is not liable to any change, for it ariseth not from any fluctuating or uncertain cause; but is in itself a fixed and certain thing; namely, God's Covenant-promises in Christ. It was thus holy men of old lived and died! They relied upon the Covenant-promises of God in Christ. They walked by faith, not by sight. They had never seen Christ in the flesh, none of the Patriarch believers. But what of that. They had seen Christ's day afar off. They believed in what God had said. So that the things were in representation by faith, always in view: and their whole souls rejoiced in the full expectation of them. Hence, they were confident of them; and whether in life, or death, they rejoiced in hope of the glory of God.
Reader! what saith your experience, to these things? Hath the same Almighty Teacher, who wrought this grace in their hearts; wrought it in yours? Hath the Lord given you also the earnest of the Spirit? What discoveries have you of Christ, of your interest in him, and your communion with Him? Are you sensible at times of his Person being present with you; that you walk with him by faith now, and are looking forward with pleasing hope, when you shall see him by sight, and dwell with him forever?
Moreover, what are your apprehensions of the judgment-seat of Christ, before which you must shortly appear? We are all to receive there the things done in the body; whether by the things of regeneration wrought on the Lord's people, in bringing them into a justified state before God; or those who are found in guilt from the unawakened nature of Adam, and in a state of condemnation before God. Reader! it is a grand point of decision. For while all unawakened, unregenerated, and unrenewed men, must stand awfully condemned before God; we are expressly told, that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus: for they are passed from death to life, and are freely justified in the grace which is in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:1; 1 John 3:14; Acts 13:39. Sweet thought! God's people are saved now, with an everlasting salvation. Their right, and title, to all Covenant blessings, and mercies, is founded in Christ. So that, as they are justified now, they cannot be condemned then. They must all appear indeed before the judgment seat of Christ; the righteous as well as the wicked: him that feareth God, as well as him that feareth him not. But with very different views. The wicked, the Scripture saith, shall be turned into hell, with all the people that forget God, Psalms 9:17. But the ransomed in Zion are said to return with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, Isaiah 35:10. They are to have the whole Covenant transactions laid open to their view, and not only their acquittal from all law charges, all demands of justice, and all claims of obligation, proclaimed before a congregated world of men and angels; but their acceptance in Christ, their oneness, and right of union with Christ, most fully established, and confirmed forever, And oh! what inconceivable rapture, will then break in upon the soul, when Christ shall own his Church, his Chosen, his Segullah, as the gift of his Father, the purchase of his blood, and the conquest of his Spirit. When he shall say: Behold I, and the children whom thou past given me! Isaiah 8:18. Reader! what are your views of this subject. Who that hath such blessed prospects, and well certified, and made sure by divine teaching, but must at times, feel somewhat of the Apostle's feelings; and be willing to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord!