April 1924
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
202
T h e Resurrection of the Body Prom “The Ineffable Glory—Thoughts on the Resurrection” by Rev. Edward M. Bounds
chill of winter, but spring’s warm breath brings them to life again. The day declines into darkness and night, but rises again into the full day. Suns set, but come again, full- orbed, out of the eclipse of their setting. Moons wane, but wax into fullness and brightness again. But our loved ones leave us, eclipsed and lost in the darkness of death, but no spring, no morn, no rising ever brings them again.” The Triumph of Faith Christianity hushes these sighs, fills this emptiness, lifts this despair. She lights the darkness of the grave with the morning star of hope, and sheds the luster of the resurrec tion day upon the night of the tomb. Faith asks of unbe lief, of doubts and despair: “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead? Is anything too hard for God?” She declares: “All that sleep in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall come forth.” Faith puts the brightness of an immortal hope amid our graveyard griefs; writes on every tombstone, ‘‘I am the resurrection and the life ;” calls aloud to every mourner, “Thy dead shall live.” Christianity is not agnosticism, but faith, assurance, knowledge; not negative, but positive. “I believe in the resurrection of the body,” is a fundamental and enduring item of her creed. Christianity is not rationalism, but faith in God’s reve lation. A conspicuous, all-important item in that revela tion is the resurrection of the body. THE QUEST In tire le s s se a rc h , m a n g iv e s h is q u e s t F o r th a t h e h o p es m a y b rin g h im r e s t A nd p eace of h e a rt. H e striv e s , h is so u l to s a tis f y In d iv e rs w ay s, w o u ld p a c ify W ith m a n y a n a r t. T h e th in g s o f e a r th a ll m a k e th e ir claim — T h e p ra is e of m en, w e a lth , r a n k a n d fam e, H is life e n th ra ll, A nd th o u g h th e y fa il to feed h is so u l O r ea se h is h e a rt, e x a c t th e ir to ll— D em an d h is all. A h m an ! w ith y e a rn in g h e a rt, th o u g h blin d , T h in k y o u th a t in th e s e th in g s y o u ’ll find T h a t sw e e t c o n te n t F o r w h ich y o u r e m p ty so u l d o th cry , A nd, d e a f to p le a d in g s, yo u d en y T ill life is sp e n t? T h a t w h ich w ill b rin g yo u p eace a n d r e s t; W ill e a se th e h u n g e r in th e b r e a s t Of e v e ry soul, W ill n o t be fo u n d in a r t s of m en, A nd v a in th e se a rc h a n d void w h en T h ese be th e g o al. B u t tu r n y o u r se a rc h to w a rd H e a v e n ’s th ro n e , W h ere r e s t o f so u l in God a lo n e M u st e’e r be s o u g h t; W h ere p eace a n d jo y th ro u g h C h rist th e Son I s o ffered y ou a n d e v e ry one: A ll else is n a u g h t. JAM E S A. BROBECK . S te a m b o a t S p rin g s, C olorado. YOU ARE NOT ONLY ENTITLED BUT OBLIGATED TO KNOW WHERE AND HOW YOUR GIFTS ARE BEING USED (Read Inside Back Cover)
HE whole system of Jesus Christ is based on the immortality of the man, not the philosophical idea or guesses of the immortality of the soul, but of the man. The whole man, in his dual or triune nature, is to live forever. The spirit or higher department defies death; the body is to come out of the ruins and prison house of death and be raised to life. Man immortal — the whole man, soul, body, spirit, immortal— this is the keystone and keynote of the redemption by Christ. The deathless nature of the soul has been taught in the philoso phies of earth, pagan and Christian, but the resurrection Of the body is distinctively a Christian doctrine. It belongs to the revelation of God’s Word. It is found in the Bible, and nowhere else. Nature may have echoes, analogies, fig ures; but nowhere is the doctrine fully asserted, fully as sured, except in the Scriptures which contain the revealed will of God. This doctrine of the resurrection of the body is not a mere inference from Bible statement. It is the statement itself, the key of its arch, the corner stone of its founda tion. It is not a rich afterthought of the Gospel, but co ordinate; “Jesus and the resurrection” are the Gospel. Faith’s Appeal Faith can make no appeal to reason or the fitness of things;1its appeal is to the Word of God, and whatever is therein revealed faith accepts as true. Faith accepts the Bible as the Word and will of God and rests upon its truth without question and without other evidence. Faith accepts the Word of God as indubitable evidence of any fact, and rejoices in the fact as true because God as serts it in His Word. Many of the facts revealed to us in the Bible receive the credence of our reason as fit and proper things. Others extend beyond the range of reason, which has neither vision nor analogy with which to measure them. The Resurrection—A Supernatural Fact The resurrection of the human body, its coming back into ilfe from the ravages, decay, and oblivion of the grave, is one of these supernatural facts. It has been the anxious and tearful question of the ages: “Can the dead live? Is there strength anywhere to vanquish death? Is there any hope of victory over the grave? Reason has neither answer to the question nor hope for the questioner. Analogy starts some faint light, but this goes out amid the increasing night of the tomb. There are but two questions the answers to which quicken and satisfy faith in the resurrection of the body. These questions are of promise and ability: Has God prom ised to raise the body from the dead? Is He able to per form His promise in this respect? The body is a distinct, a very important part of the man. It is the part seen, known, handled, described as the man, the organ, the out let, throught which the man comes into contact, sympathy, and action with the world around. A part, an all-im portant, indispensable part, of the man, the body, belongs to the man, is an original, organic part of the man, evident and conspicuous. Will this body rise from the tomb where it has been laid amid tears and heart-breaking farewells? Its death is a fact distinct and clearly outlined. “Will it live again?” is the passionate question of love and longing. The heathen world sighed out their upbraidings, empti ness, and despair. “The flowers,” said they, “die by the
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