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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
April-May, 1933
WILL THIS BODY cJ 2 tve I/hgain? B y CARL G. WgSTERDAHL* Los Angeles, Calif.
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' “Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you’’ (2 Cor. 4:14). “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself’ (Phil. 3:21). " l l h e l io n , the King of the Forest, was sick, and all the wild animals went to his den to give expression of their sympathy. Among the visitors was also the fox. Before entering, he took notice of the many footprints of other sympathizers who had gone in before him. Examining them closely, he decided not to go in. Said he, “I see foot prints of all sorts of animals leading into this den, but I can find none leading out.” So, turning back, he went away. That den is like the grave. The sands of time are cov ered with the footprints of men of every tongue and every clime leading toward the grave. Are there no indications of those who have returned? The great question has always been: “If a man die, shall he live again?” Thank God, there are footprints leaving the grave—the footprints of Jesus Christ. The resurrection of the dead is a truth of pure revela tion. The Old Testament gives us a few glimmerings of hope in that direction, but the New Testament, in no uncer tain tones, brings this truth into full-blown splendor, illustrating it with the fact of the resurrection of Christ. To many, the future is a vapory existence, floating through the realms of spirit haziness. The Scriptures teach plainly the resurrection of men and a future embodiment in a structure adapted to resurrection life. D if f ic u l t ie s P resented and D issolved At the mention of this, difficulties will immediately arise in our thinking. This is natural as we have never ex perienced anything of the kind before. It also appears to conflict with that which we have observed. How can the substances of the body be gathered together again as a human body, especially when the old body has disintegrated and gone into the nourishment of plants, animals, and in some cases, cannibals? Many have lost limbs and then moved to other parts of the globe. How can there be a resurrection of the body ? A complete explanation of this cannot be given, as God has not given it to us. We are surrounded by facts on every side that are just as unexplainable as the resurrec tion, only we have become so accustomed to accepting them that we think nothing of it. The Holy Spirit has anticipated the questions and given us a suggestion as to the very plausibility of the resurrec tion of the body. In 1 Corinthians 15:35-58, Paul begins by saying: “Some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?” Then he goes on to speak about the resurrection. He points out that the God of resurrection is resurrecting bodies all the time. A grain is placed in the ground and dies. Another body is harvested. It is not the body that was sown, but at the same time it is. The resurrection body could not be apart *Pastor, Swedish Mission Tabernacle.
from the body that was placed in the ground. There is a vital unity between them, and although the body that is raised has its own identity, it is an identity that is altogether derived from the body that is sown. The Holy Spirit, who now tabernacles in the believer, has brought about a union between us and the risen Christ that insures a resurrection glory for the believer like that of our Lord Himself. Physically speaking, our body is made of. the dust of the earth. The chemist will analyze it as so much lime, mag nesia, potash, soda, fluorin, silica, iron, etc. The body is like a great city where people are ever dying and others born. So the cells of the body are constantly breaking down and being carried away, while others come into being. Thus they tell us that every seven years we have practically a com pletely new body as far as its cell structure is concerned. If you are, say, forty-nine years of age, you will then have had seven new bodies since you were born. Certain parts of the body have been renewed more frequently than that. Yet through it all, you yourself, your own person ality, have abided and you have clear recollections of expe riences that came to you forty-five or more years ago. Your real memory is not merely in your brain. Yet your physical structure has ever had certain peculiarities which seem to go together with your own personality. Thus the bodily structure is not merely dependent on physical and material motions, but is built up by your own inherent spiritual personality and individuality. The believer has dwelling within his own spirit the Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead. That Spirit shall quicken your mortal bodies, not give you a new body unrelated to your present structural substance and characteristics, but out of that, yet fashioned after the pattern of the risen Christ. Thus we read such wonderful truths of revelation as these: “The first man is of the earth, earthy.” “God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him.” “It is raised in incorruption.” Thank God! Disease is corruption setting in while you are still here. That will be eliminated in the resurrection body. “It is raised in power.” How weak the present body is ! A draught from the window can lay it low. The activity of our reign with Christ will find us with a structure that will know no fatigue—a body of power to serve and reign with Him. “It is raised a spiritual body.” That does not mean a hazy sort of a vapor body. Our present body is for an earth life, with the curse resting on earth conditions. Some people call it therefore an animal body, because it is made to harmonize with an earthly environment. The spiritual body will be a real body, fitted as the perfect instrument of a sanctified spirit, to live, move, and act as the sons of God. “We shall be like him.” After all has been said that we can find in the Word of God about the resurrection body, we must remember that the half has not been told. There are great things awaiting us ahead, providing “the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead” dwells in us.
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