I T is interesting to see how that, across the years, men have writ ten and spoken many things on the subject of the resurrection of the believer in a coming day. There is a tremendous fascination connected with such a subject and there is not one of us who does not have some loved one who is among the millions of Christian dead. If Christ comes in our life time, we who are believ ers will not die but we shall be changed from mortal to immortal and in a moment shall be caught up alive without dying to find ourselves standing before the Son of Man. But what about the Christian dead whose bodies now lie in the grave? We will seek to find an answer to that problem as we share this word with you. The Christian doctrine of resurrection is that not only does the soul live after death, but also that the body will one day rise up and join it. Resurrection means that this body of mine, if it dies, will be preserved by the power of God, one day gathered from the dust and made into a new body. Resurrection, as the Scriptures teach, is that this new body will not be vaprous, in tangible, ghostlike, but a real, actual, substantial body; a body that can feel and be felt; that can see and be seen; a body as real, as actual and substantial as the body in which I now sit before you. This resurrection of the believer’s body takes place at the coming of Christ for His saints. Well did Jesus say: “I am the res urrection,” for it is all His. It takes place at the sound of His voice; it is wrought by His power; the re demption of the body was purchased by His death; we are raised in His likeness; we are raised to His throne and it will happen at His second coming.
I would like to share with you the following considerations concerning our new resurrection bodies: 1. The resurrection body will be far superior to the old body. When we place a shrivelled seed in the ground, what do we receive in return? We receive a full-grown head of wheat or a beautiful flower far superior to the bare seed that was sown (I Cor. 15:42). This pres ent body is like a shrivelled grain of seed. It is a body of corruption be cause it is decaying all the time. It is a body of dishonor because it is often the home of a tragic disease. It is a body of weakness and this is why it finally passes away. But it is raised in incorruption — no decay will ever touch the new body. It is raised in glory — no disease shall ever come near it. It is raised in power no weariness shall ever be known by the systems in our new bodies of everlasting youth. 2. The resurrection body will be vital and very real and substantial. Spurgeon wrote: “While the Scrip ture tells us there is a natural body and a spiritual body, that does not mean that the natural body is real, tangible and substantial, while the spiritual body is unreal, intangible and wraith-like. What do we know about the matter anyway?” The Word of God through Paul, speaks very eloquently of the change that will take place in Philippians 3:21, where we read, “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fash ioned like unto His glorious body.” Here we find in so many words that the believer will have a body like Christ’s resurrection body. Was not this a real, actual, substantial body? Did not Christ speak in this body? Was He not seen in it? With this 31
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