P ropk ecy and tk e Bodily R e su rrec tion Charles G allaudet T rumbull, E d ito r of The Sunday School Times, Philadelphia An address made before th e American Society fo r P rophetic Study a t a meeting held in April, 1924. Those in terested in learn ing more of th e aims and membership of th is Society may address th e Secretary, Rev. R obert M. W ebster, 34S W est Dubai Street, Germantown, Philadelphia.
because it is prophetic tru th ? There is a real con nection here, not accidental, not superficial and not imaginary. Let us see the connection for ourselves, by looking a t the statem ents of a few Modernists, and then by looking a t th e Scriptures. A w e ll 1 known theological professor said to Archie L. Dyer of the Jap an Evangelistic Band, “I believe in the resurrection of Jesu s.”; ' “w h a t do you mean by th e resu rrection of Jesu s?” asked Mr. Dyer. “ Do you mean th a t you believe H is physical body was raised from th e g rav e?” W ith a sneer th e other answered: “No, of course I don’t believe th at. I believe His body decomposed and went back to th e ground like every o ther hum an body. But I believe the soul of Jesus rose from the dead and is perm eating hum an society today.” In o ther words, th is theological professor, and many other professing Christian Modernists w ith him , could p ara phrase the old Civil W ar song, “ John B rown’s body lies a-mouldering in th e grave, His soul goes m arching on,” so as to read, “Our Lord’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave, His soul goes marching on.” We recoil from such blas phemy; b u t th a t is Modernism. O ther Modernists are more moderate; they do no t deny the resurrection, b u t they say it is of no importance. One of the best known P resbyterian m inisters in America said to a member of his congregation: “Yes, I believe in the bod ily resurrection of Christ because I believe it is the simplest way out of it. But if any one comes to me and says th a t he believes it was a vision, I have no qu arrel w ith him. All I w ant to know is th a t a man believes th a t Christ made H imself known to His disciples, and I do not care w hether He had a body or w hether it was a vision. I do n o t expect to have a body myself.” An older Modernist, Dr. Lyman Abbott, back in 1910 denied the resurrection because he denied th e supernatu ral. Said he: “ I do not believe th a t any m iracle ever took place, for I do not believe th a t th e customary order of th e world has ever been contradicted. . . . I object to th e word ‘sup ern atu ral’ . . . . because I believe th a t all the n atu ra l is sup ern atu ral and all th e su p ern atu ral is n a tu ra l.” “Death is simply th e dropping off of th e body from th e sp irit; resu r rection is simply th e upspringing of th e sp irit from the body. There was nothing ex trao rd inary in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. E very d eath is a resu rrection . Believing this, it is not difficult for me to believe th a t th e disciples had some ocular evidence th a t the sp irit of Jesus Christ had (Continued on page 182)
HE resurrection of th e body is prophetic tru th . Like the “Coming” of th e Mes siah to th is earth , which the Old Testa m ent prophets, not fully understanding the sup ern atu ral and inspired prophecies they wrote, though t of only as a single g reat event, whereas we, w ith th e fulness of th e revelation in our hands, know th a t it is separated by almost two m illennium s into our Lord’s first coming in hum iliation, and His second coming in glory, and th erefo re the “Coming” of the Messiah is now in the realm s of both fulfilled and unfulfilled prophecy: so also is the resurrection of the body. It is one of th e g reat prophetic tru th s; bu t it is in th e 're a lm of fulfilled prophecy and also in the realm of unfulfilled prophecy. It was fulfilled, in p art, a t the tim e of our Lord’s first coming to th is earth , when th a t chapter in His “ Coming” was consummated, on earth , by the resurrection of His cru cified body from the dead. I t will be consummated as a p art of His second coming to th is earth , when the bodies of all who shall have believed on Him will be raised from th e dead. There is, indeed, a final phase of bodily resurrection, not connected w ith believers, also a p a rt of unfulfilled prophecy, in th e “ Second R esurrection,” when the bodies of th e lost will be raised from the dead for th e judgm ent of th e G reat W hite Throne. This phase of th e resurrection was covered by Dean W illiam L. Pettingill, in his satisfying paper on “The Two R esurrections” read before’th is Society last April. At th is tim e we are considering only th e resurrection body of believers. The fact th a t th e doctrine of the resu rrection is a p art of prophetic tru th has, of course, always been recognized by those who believe th e Bible. But have we recognized the relationship th a t the prophetic aspect of th e resurrection has to the position of Modernism today? I need no t have added th a t word “ today,” for Modernism today is no dif feren t from the Modernism of the first century, or from the Modernism of th e Garden of Eden. It consists only of denials of God’s W ord; th erefo re it is no different today from w hat it has always been,— a time-worn, monotonous ring ing of th e changes on the basic lie of the fath e r of lies, th e devil. But th e recent revival of Modernism, and its widely prev alen t and outspoken teachings, have throw n into sharp relief the fact th a t Modernism denies S criptural prophecy, and the resurrection of th e body. May I suggest th at, although th e Modernists themselves may not realize this, Modernism denies th e resurrection of th e body p artly
Trumbull
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