Read Philippians 1:23, 24. What does Paul mean when he says that “to depart, and be with Christ” is “far better”?
This passage has been greatly misunderstood through the ages. In this week’s passage for study, Paul dealt with the contrast between living and dying. The Christian lives for Christ and may even die for Him. In that sense it is “gain” because our witness is that much more powerful and persuasive (Phil. 1:21). No doubt a person believes when willing to die for that belief.
But we must also recognize that the dead are really dead. They “know nothing.” They rest in the grave till the resurrection (see Eccl. 9:5; John 5:28, 29). That’s why Jesus said of Lazarus, who had died, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep” (John 11:11).
If, when people die, they go immediately to heaven, imagine how that would be for Lazarus. After four days of Lazarus frolicking in Paradise, an angel comes with the “bad” news: “Sorry, Lazarus, but Jesus is calling you back to earth. You can’t stay here.”
When we follow error to its logical conclusion, we see how erroneous it is. Death is like a dreamless sleep from which Jesus will awaken His faithful followers at the Second Advent; then, together with the living saints, they will be caught up and taken to heaven to be with Jesus forever (see 1 Thess. 4:16, 17).
Paul’s “departing” from the present life to be with Christ means to be with Him in suffering and dying (2 Tim. 4:6) in order to “attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Phil. 3:11, NKJV). Also, he was no doubt aware that he would close his eyes in death and that the very next thing he would know, in the twinkling of an eye, would be seeing Jesus, who would take him, with all God’s people, to the place Jesus has prepared for all who love Him (John 14:3, 1 Cor. 2:9).
Though willing to die for Christ, Paul knew it would be better for the Philippians if he would “remain in the flesh” (Phil. 1:24, NKJV). Interestingly, for the Christian, whether it is better to live for Christ or die for Him is not necessarily easy to answer. Paul was “hard-pressed between the two” (Phil. 1:23, NKJV), between staying alive or resting in the grave.
Again, however much no one wants to die, have you ever thought about how the moment you die, the next thing you will know is the return of Christ? How might that thought help you understand Paul’s thinking here?
Supplemental EGW Notes
To Paul the cross was the one object of supreme interest. Ever since he had been arrested in his career of persecution against the followers of the crucified Nazarene he had never ceased to glory in the cross. At that time there had been given him a revelation of the infinite love of God, as revealed in the death of Christ; and a marvelous transformation had been wrought in his life, bringing all his plans and purposes into harmony with heaven. From that hour he had been a new man in Christ. He knew by personal experience that when a sinner once beholds the love of the Father, as seen in the sacrifice of His Son, and yields to the divine influence, a change of heart takes place, and henceforth Christ is all and in all.
At the time of his conversion, Paul was inspired with a longing desire to help his fellow men to behold Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of the living God, mighty to transform and to save. Henceforth his life was wholly devoted to an effort to portray the love and power of the Crucified One. His great heart of sympathy took in all classes. “I am debtor,” he declared, “both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise” (Romans 1:14). Love for the Lord of glory, whom he had so relentlessly persecuted in the person of His saints, was the actuating principle of his conduct, his motive power. If ever his ardor in the path of duty flagged, one glance at the cross and the amazing love there revealed was enough to cause him to gird up the loins of his mind and press forward in the path of self-denial. . . .
In the power of the Spirit, Paul related the story of his own miraculous conversion and of his confidence in the Old Testament Scriptures. . . . His words were spoken with solemn earnestness . . . that he loved with all his heart the crucified and risen Saviour. They saw that his mind was centered in Christ, that his whole life was bound up with his Lord. . . .
Paul realized that his sufficiency was not in himself, but in the presence of the Holy Spirit, whose gracious influence filled his heart, bringing every thought into subjection of Christ. He spoke of himself as “always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:10). In the apostle’s teachings Christ was the central figure. “I live,” he declared; “yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20). Self was hidden; Christ was revealed and exalted.—Lift Him Up, p. 246.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.