rather inclined to exalt the body by praising its grandeur and glory. It is difficult to believe that the present body has the stamp of dishonor upon it, because one has never seen a body anywhere else but here, or under any other condition except as seen here. Nothing is known of the appearance of the body before sin struck it such a fatal blow. If one could compare the present body with the body of man as it was originally created, what a striking contrast would be apparent!- No doubt one would ex claim, ‘How are the mighty fallen!’ It would be easy then to admit that much of the honor and glory with which the body was originally in vested has departed, and that it is at best but a shell of its former self. Its glory now is but the remains of the original glory. And there is not much reason to be proud and boast ful of a body that is so often full of aches and pains; that has to be patched up continually to keep it liv ing; that grows old and feeble in a few brief years, and then finally falls into utter decay. “But this will not be true of the body of glory which will be fashioned from this present one. Then the be liever will have a perfect body shin ing in the luster of eternal life. An incident in the life of Moses gives a dim picture of what it will be. It is related that when he came down from the mountain after his inter view with God, his face shone with such glory that he had to cover it before the people. And is there not also a suggestion of the glory of the resurrection body in the transfigura tion of the body of the Lord on the holy mount? There Peter, James, and John beheld His body as it shone with glorious luster. As the believer’s body is to be like His body of glory, is there not here at least some sem blance of what the resurrection body will be like? “The third contrast is that of weakness and power. Man may boast
One day while he was on the isle that is called Patmos, for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ, he saw the Son of Man in the midst of the seven candlesticks —the risen Christ—clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; and His feet like unto fine brass, and His voice as the sound of many waters, and He had in His right hand seven stars, and His countenance was as the sun shines in His strength (Rev. 1:12-16). Whatever else may be in volved in this description, it most assuredly means to convey the fact that Christ’s risen body was a real, visible, glorious one. Orr declared: “Paul describes His resurrection body as ‘the body of glory,’ and insists that the bodies of believers will be conformable to it. There are four great contrasts given in I Corinthians 15:42-44, between the natural body which is subject to death, and the spiritual or resurrec tion body which will never die. In these four contrasts Paul does not refer solely to the condition of the body at the moment of death or to when it is buried, but gives a pic ture of the whole bodily existence on this side of the grave. He does this in order that he may compare it with existence, not only at the moment of the resurrection, but t h r oughou t eternity. Note the contrasts: “The first contrast is that of cor ruption and incorruption. The pres ent body is subject to decay and corruption. That point need not be argued. Disease is always at work. But how different will be the resur rection body! It will never' grow tired, the head will never ache, and the heart will never faint. “The second contrast is that of dishonor and glory. It is not so easy to think of the body as presently con stituted as one of dishonor. One is 32
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