I CAN HARDLY WAIT TO DIE FOR CHRIST or Allah! (Conclusion)

(As you can see, it does not pay to take verses out of their context).

Paul was not saying, “hey let’s all go out and put ourselves in a dangerous place where we could to get killed, cuz, hey, then we will be with Christ!”  What he was saying was that he himself was torn between wanting, desiring for the gathering together to be with Christ and continuing to do what he was doing, for their sake; not that he or us has any control over the return anyway. Paul goes on to say: 

Phil 1:23 But I am pressed by both, having the desire for (the) departure and being with Christ, [for] [it is] very much better, Darby

More of the context of Philippians: Phil 2:16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. KJV

Paul goes on to say in Phil 3:7  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. KJV

Phil 3:10-11 That I may know him, and the power of his ability to raise the dead, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the rising from the dead. AT

Phil 3:20-21 for our commonwealth has its existence in [the] heavens, from which also we await the Lord Jesus Christ [as] Saviour,  who shall transform our body of humiliation into conformity to his body of glory, according to the working of [the] power which he has even to subdue all things to himself. Darby

 2 Thess 2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For it (the day of the Lord) will not be, unless the departure comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction, WEB

Death is an enemy and will be an enemy until it is destroyed: 1 Cor 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. KJV

Do you remember that Paul said in 1 Thess 4:13-17 that the dead are sleeping in Christ? Where are they sleeping? In Sheol, the grave. This is where the apostle Paul is now, and Peter and David and Moses as well as everyone who has ever lived and died, except Jesus Christ. Some are awaiting the Gathering Together of the Church of God, the Body of Christ; others are awaiting the Resurrection of the Just, some the Unjust and still others have no idea that they are waiting for anything. But, the fact remains, that they are dead and don’t even know it. Anyone who was ever any good for God, who are dead, are no longer. Death will find us all soon enough without us going out looking for it!

 Eccl 9:10

Whatever your hand finds to do, verily, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going. NASB