T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S As if when He returned from the realm of shades, He brought with Him the key of every subterranean dungeon, so that if Satan should by any hap capture one of the saints, He could not keep him long for Jesus would open the dungeon door and liberate' the captive. The Scriptures declare that resurrec tion is the antidote of death. 1 Cor. 15:54. Herein is the mourner’s com fort now. Although death is the last enemy that shall be destroyed, yet it shall be destroyed and our lost treas ures shall be restored never to be taken from us again. If the Lord tarry, we must pay the debt to nature but we may shout triumphantly as we go down into the grave, “ Rejoice not against me O mine enemy, though I fall, I shall arise.” The-- same necessity that brought about the resurrection of our Lord will bring about our own since we are in Him. The great question to be settled now is concerning our spiritual location. Are we in the first or second Adam? If we are in the first Adam we shall have no part in the first resurrec tion. When the archangel’s trumpet sounds we shall sleep on in our graves for a thousand years after the righteous have arisen and then be raised only for the judgment of the great white throne. If we are in the second Adam who is the" Lord from heaven, we shall hear the trump of God and leap up from earth, soaring like singing birds into the sky, to meet our descending Lord. “ Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: They shall be priests of God agd of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” READY FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL The robbery of a Los Angeles till of several.hundred pennies the other night induces the belief that the thief is get ting ready to attend Sunday School for quite a spell.
350 they nailed Him to the cross. Had He been willing to compromise the matter and lower His testimony, He might have saved His life. In raising Christ from the dead, therefore, God set aside their verdict, proving that they were the liars and that Jesus had told the truth, “ He was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.” Rom. 1:4. As Satan sought in every way during the-earthly life of Jesus to bring Him under the power of death, may we not suppose that he would make every ef fort to keep Him beneath its power when he had brought Him there. When the Saviour, knowing that His hour was come, started from the realm of death to the world of life, who shall say how many demon hands were out stretched to hold Him back! When the Philistines tried to keep Samson pris oner- in the town of Gaza, he arose at midnight, tore the gate posts out of their sockets and bore them up to the hill top before Hebron, Judges 16:3. The Lord Jesus Christ bowed between the pillars of the underworld, wrenched them from their foundations and brought them upon His shoulders as the spoils of war. Finally, the resurrection of Jesus is the pledge and prophecy of our own. He is the first fruits of them that sleep. We shall be the harvest. The first fruits are the same in kind as the harvest. When we are united to Him in regen eration, His experience becomes ours. If we were crucified with Him, we also arose with Him. The same Holy Spirit is in us now as was in Him then. Rom. 8:11. Eph. 1:19-20. When John fell at the feet of the glorified Redeemer on the isle of Pat- mos, he heard Him say, “ I am He that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore, Amen, and have the keys of Hades and of death.” Rev. 1:18.
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker