T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S Him who seeth the end from the be ginning? The third day in Scripture is asso ciated with resurrection. In the first chapter of the Bible, in the program of the third day there is a double figure of resurrection, viz., the emergence of the earth from the watery abyss as from a grave, and the appearance of the first form of life out of the earth. Gen. 1:9, 11. The prophet Hosea makes a dispensa- tional application of the third day to Israel. Ch. 6:2. Again, the resurrection of Christ was a natural necessity. The human body of Jesus was not necessarily subject to death as our bodies are. He could only die by outward compulsion or volun tary surrender. It was as easy to re sume His body after death as it was to assume it in the first place. He did not see corruption because there was noth ing in Him to be corrupted. It is the blood which sustains the living body and it is the blood which corrupts the dead body. There was no blood in the dead body of our Lord nor afterward in His resurrection body. Luke 24:39. The bloody sweat in Gethsemane had evacuated the blood from the minute veins and capillaries on the surface of the body and this had been farther car ried out by the horrible Roman scourge. The piercing of the hands and feet had drained the extremities and finally the spear thrust had exhausted the heart and vital organs so that when His body was taken down from the cross, ten derly bathed and perfumed by costly ointments, and then enswathed in linen clothes, it was as clean and pure as can possibly be conceived. It could have remained much longer than three days and nights in that rock-hewn tomb with out seeing corruption. Christ is called the first fruits of them that slept, not because He was the first man to arise from the dead, but be cause He was the first to arise who did
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not die again. Others had risen before Him, but they died again because they were raised to the old natural life of the flesh. Christ was raised to the supernatural life of the spirit and death hath no more dominion over Him. Rom. 6:9-10. Again, the resurrection of Christ was a moral and spiritual necessity. Justice demanded, it and death had no power over Him after justice had been satisfied. When the sentence of the prisoner has expired and he has served his time, he can be detained no longer behind prison bars. He can step out into liberty and no sheriff, warden or other officer of the law has any power to prevent him. The sentence of Jesus expired in three days. The doors of the prison house of death swung open and He who had been detained as a prison er of hope came forth triumphantly. As He was obliged to suffer and die to redeem men under the curse, so it was necessary that He should rise from the dead to seal and certify that redemp tion. . The spiritual necessity of the resur rection is also seen in the fact that it was God’s reversal of the human ver dict against Him on the ground of His own testimony that He was the Son of God. He was condemned on the ground of blasphemy. The Jews said unto Pilate, “We have a law and by our law, He' ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.” They were right so far in their assumption. If He was not the Son of God, he was guilty of blas phemy. If he was the Son of God, they were guilty of blasphemy. The high priest put Him under oath, saying, “ I adjure Thee by the living God, that Thou tell us whether Thou be the Christ of God.” Jesus unhesitatingly replied, “ I am and hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven.” For that confession
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