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February 1929
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
III. The Future Life taught by Paul. 1 Cor. 15:3-20, 50-58. IV. The Coming of Christ for His Saints, the Rapture, and the First Resurrec tion. 1 Thess. 4:13-18. V. The Eternal Home of the Redeemed. Rev. 21, 22. —o— T ESUS CHRIST has been demonstrated J to be “the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4). His resurrection is one of the best at
The subsequent statement, however, is, “Marvel not at this, for the hour is COM ING in which all that are in the GRAVES shall hear his voice, and shall COME FORTH [contrast “live” in v. 25]; they that have done good, unto the resurrec tion of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." Im mortal life for believers awaits the resur rection day. It will be noted that ALL will come forth from the grave, whether they died treasuring the Word of God or despising it. Those who come forth in the resur rection of damnation cannot receive the immortality promised to believers. Incor ruptibility is only for those who have the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:53-57). The two resurrections are separated by 1,000 years (Rev. 20:5). Those who ap pear in the “first resurrection," or “resur rection of life,” are those who have “passed from death unto life” (v. 24). For them there is no judgment as to destiny. Over them the second death has no power. The resurrection of life brings them that fuller life-—immortality. The second class have no life abiding in them, being “dead in trespasses and sins.” Their resurrection will be from a state of spiritual death to a state of eter nal death, called “the second death.” Other passages teaching a bodily resur rection of the unregenerate are Acts 24: 15; Mt. 10:28; Rev. 20:5, 12; Dan. 12:2. We frequently hear the expression, “immortal soul.” This is a term we do not find in Scripture. We do not speak of a “mortal soul” or a “mortal spirit.” The. word “mortal” has to do with a perishable BODY. “Immortal” obviously means an “imperishable body” and the bestowing of this, we are told in 1 Cor. 15 :51-53, awaits the second coming of our Lord. This be ing true, the statement of 1 Tim. 6 :16 that Christ "only hath immortality" is plain. His body alone has been rescued from the grave, receiving full resurrection glory. It is true that men have souls and spir its which are not subject to death or anni hilation (1 Thess. 5:23). This has to do with existence and continuity, but is not to be confused with immortality, Christ’s gift to the saints at His coming. What light has been shed upon the meaning of immortality? We need only to turn to some of the accounts of our Lord’s resurrection appearances. Lk. 24: 36-45 gives us the picture of Him as He was bringing immortality to light. “It is I myself," He said. “Handle me and see . . . . I have flesh and bones.” He asked for something to eat and partook of broiled fish and honeycomb. This was immortality; that which was dead and buried and corruptible was alive again forever (Rev. 2:8). Nothing short of this is the immortality coming to the true be liever (1 Cor. 15:20). While death holds the believer’s body, or so long as he has a body which is sub ject to death, immortality is not reigning. Mortality must be “swallowed up of life” (1 Cor. 15:51-53) or death is not abol ished. The believer must have a deathless body. This mortal is not immortal until it has “put on immortality," and this will not be until the resurrection. The question of life after death is an other matter altogether. All, saved or un saved, will have existence apart from the body. Believers will have life apart from the body, The believer will have both
FRED S. SHEPARD ’S BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
RESURRECTION
Jno. 11:25. ESURRECTION LIFE Col. 3:1, 2. ESURRECTION GLORY [ 1 Cor. 15:42-44. Because I live, ye shall, live also. .—Jno. 14:19.'
tested facts of his t o r y . Furthermore, there is the argu ment from cause to effect w h i c h the traducers of Chris tianity must answer, if they would be candid. T h e lives
life and immortality when Jesus comes. Just as Christ took His own body from the tomb, changed and immortalized it, so all believers shall be made like unto Him. Our redemption is not complete until this is accomplished (Rom. 8:23). Our Saviour did not announce the doc trine of resurrection as a new one, but rather confirmed it and gave it a new meaning through His own resurrection. The Old Testament contains hints of this truth (Ezek. 37:12-14; Hos. 6:2; 13:14; Isa. 26:19; Dan. 12:2). It is referred to in the Apocrypha and was commonly held by Jews in our Lord’s day. It was the tenet by which Pharisees were distin guished from the Sadducees, who were materialists (Mk. 12:18). Jesus declared Himself “the resurrection and the life” (Jn. 11:25), thus representing Himself the power and source of the resurrection. Many in our day seem to have lost the significance of this doctrine. It recog nizes the fact that the body is essential to complete manhood. It maintains the pre ciousness and dignity of the body. We often hear it said that the body is a drag upon the spirit of man, and that it will be blessed to be set free from a body. This is not the Christian viewpoint. The body is sacred and partakes of the divine image. In the present state it is marred by sin and subject to death. It is “a body of humiliation” (Phil. 3:21); “corruptible” (1 Cor. 15:42); “mortal” (Rom. 8:11). But there is still in it some germ of a higher life. There is an in visible link between every spirit and the body in which it has dwelt. As poor a body a? it was, the day comes when it will attain its ideal. No part of God’s child shall go into the hands of Satan. We lay our loved ones in the grave. We long for the eyes that looked the full light of love into ours, the voice that brought thrills to the heart, the hands that labored for us with devoted affection. Is that body forever thrown away? Is it like any old cast-off suit of clothes ? Is any thing of what He redeemed by His blood and of what we prized, to be lost? Christ answers—a thousand times NO. That dust awaits “the last trump.” The old body becomes the seed of the new body to which the spirit shall finally and forever be united. There will be identity, but identity with great differences (1 Cor. 15:35-58; cf. Jn. 12:24). It will be a body adapted to perfect communion with God and Christ and holy beings, “conformed to the body of his glory according to the working whereby he is able even to sub ject all things unto himself” (Phil. 3:21). —o— G olden T ext I llustration Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life (Rev. 2:10). In the epitaph given below, which is
and activities of the early Christians were transformed by their belief in His resur rection, and “they counted not their lives dear unto themselves.” The church was glorified and made omnipotent in service by this faith, and the miracle of redemp tion continues to the present hour. Could all of this be accounted for by a mere figment of the imagination? Sap does not push up in the trees in springtime without some adequate cause. It is absurd to say that nothing produces something, or that the' mighty work of Christianity could have been built upon a dead and defeated man. The character and achievements ofi Christianity have no adequate explanation without the resur rection of Jesus Christ. There would be no energy in a dead Christ to transform millions of sinful souls and enable them to die in the victory of an all-conquering hope. The One who has borne away the gates of death on His shoulders certainly has power to forgive sins, and from His res urrection follows inevitably the resurrec tion of others. The doors of death are unbarred for all who look to Him as the way of life (Jn. 14:6). The completion of the whole scheme of redemption is guaranteed. He who has conquered death at its source can conquer it everywhere. He has " brought life and immortality to light” (2 Tim. 1 :10). It is of utmost im portance to understand the difference be tween “life” and “immortality."' Life is the present gift to all who accept Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour. This life is communicated here below immediately upon receiving Him. Immortal life is a future gift at the resurrection day, to all who have been born of God. “Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood," said our Lord, “hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (Jn. 6 :54). Here we see the intimate connection between the present gift of life and the future gift of resurrection life: We have an illuminating passage in Jn. 5:25-29. Said Jesus: “The hour is com ing and NOW IS when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live." This is doubt less a reference to the spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1) who are brought into life, as indicated in the previous verse: “He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me HATH everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from DEATH unto LIFE."
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