'On the
importance of the resurrection we must give a few testimonies.
When Jesus
was instructing his disciples concerning their duty to the poor, he said: “For
they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection
of the just.” Luke 14:14.
Let it be
remembered that the resurrection takes
place when the Lord Jesus comes the second time; it cannot take place
before, and if he should never come there would then be no resurrection of the
dead. And, therefore, any text which
introduces the resurrection of the just, of necessity introduces also the
coming of Christ. And, in like manner, any text which speaks of the coming of Christ, introduces to our
minds the resurrection of the just, as they are inseparably connected.
See the
following decisive proof: “For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with
a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the
dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds,
to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thess. 4:16-18.
Notice the
points introduced in connection:— 1. The Lord himself shall come; it will be a
personal, actual coming. 2. The voice of the archangel (the Son of God, compare
John 5:27-29), and the trump of God will be heard. 3. The dead in Christ shall
rise.
Joh
5:27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is
the Son of man.
Joh
5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that
are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh
5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of
damnation.
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H. Waggoner
4. The
living saints will be caught up with them, translated, to meet the Lord. 5.
So—in this manner—shall be ever be with the Lord. 6. These are words of comfort
to the saints.
In Luke
14:14 are the words of Jesus that we shall be recompensed at the resurrection
of the just. In this last text we learn in what manner, and under what
circumstances, the reward will be given. Closely related to this, in its
several circumstances, is the instruction given in 1 Cor. 15. The whole chapter
is an argument on the resurrection, but especially verses 42-54, which speak
directly of the resurrection of the righteous. 1. They shall be raised in
glory. 2. We shall not all sleep; some will be translated. 3. The trumpet shall
sound; the last trump. 4. We shall put on immortality, or, death will be
swallowed up in victory.
1Co
15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached
unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
1Co
15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached
unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
1Co
15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1Co
15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day
according to the scriptures:
1Co
15:5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
1Co
15:6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of
whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen
asleep.
1Co
15:7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
1Co
15:8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due
time.
1Co
15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an
apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
1Co
15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was
bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all:
yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
1Co
15:11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye
believed.
1Co
15:12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some
among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
1Co
15:13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not
risen:
1Co
15:14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your
faith is also vain.
1Co
15:15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have
testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that
the dead rise not.
1Co
15:16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
1Co
15:17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your
sins.
1Co
15:18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are
perished.
1Co
15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most
miserable.
1Co
15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits
of them that slept.
1Co
15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of
the dead.
1Co
15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive.
1Co
15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward
they that are Christ's at his coming.
1Co
15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to
God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority
and power.
1Co
15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his
feet.
1Co
15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
1Co
15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all
things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all
things under him.
1Co
15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son
also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be
all in all.
1Co
15:29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the
dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
1Co
15:30 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
1Co
15:31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord,
I die daily.
1Co
15:32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus,
what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to
morrow we die.
1Co
15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
1Co
15:34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the
knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
1Co
15:35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what
body do they come?
1Co
15:36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it
die:
1Co
15:37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall
be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
1Co
15:38 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed
his own body.
1Co
15:39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of
men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
1Co
15:40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the
glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is
another.
1Co
15:41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and
another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in
glory.
1Co
15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption;
it is raised in incorruption:
1Co
15:43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in
weakness; it is raised in power:
1Co
15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is
a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co
15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul;
the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co
15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is
natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co
15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord
from heaven.
1Co
15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the
heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co
15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear
the image of the heavenly.
1Co
15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
1Co
15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall
all be changed,
1Co
15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall
be changed.
1Co
15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must
put on immortality.
1Co
15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this
mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying
that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co
15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co
15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the
law.
1Co
15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ.
1Co
15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not
in vain in the Lord.
The coming of Jesus is not spoken of, but it
is well understood, for not one of these events can transpire before he comes.
And so the
following: “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also
appear with him in glory.” Col. 3:4. We shall appear with him in glory at that
time, because the saints are “raised in glory,” immortalized, at that time.
Another
apostle testifies to the same thing. “We know that, when he shall appear, we
shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2. “And when the
chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not
away.” 1 Peter 5:4. This is a parallel text, and one of great clearness and
force. And yet several times more we find the Son of God pointing to the advent
and, of course, to the resurrection of the just, as the time of conferring the
reward. “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his
angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” Matt.
16:27. “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man
according as his work shall be.” Rev. 22:12. See also Matt. 25:31-34.
Mat
25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy
angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Mat
25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Mat
25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the
left.
Mat
25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world
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The
infinite importance of this subject to the saints, as the time when and the
means whereby they shall be glorified, fully justifies the apostle Paul in
calling it “the blessed hope.” “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:13. More
literally: “And appearing of the glory of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus
Christ.” Compare Matt. 16:27, quoted above. We cannot forbear quoting a few
words from the comments of Dr. Clarke on 1 Cor. 15. On verse 32 he says:— “What
the apostle says here, is a regular and legitimate conclusion from the doctrine
that there is no resurrection; for if there be no resurrection, then there can
be no judgment; no future state of rewards and punishments; why, therefore,
should we bear crosses, and keep ourselves under continual discipline! Let us
eat and drink, take all the pleasure we can, for to-morrow we die; and there is
an end of us forever.” Very few theological writers of the present time, recognized
as eminent and orthodox, would use the language here used by Dr. Adam Clarke.
A great
change has come over the minds of the Christian world, on this subject. Dr.
Clarke said that, in his day, early in the present century, the faith and
preaching of the church differed much, on this subject, from that of the
apostles and the early church. And in no part of the Christian era has the
popular sentiment, concerning the nature and importance of the resurrection,
changed as fast as from Dr. Clarke’s time to the present.
The
following are his words:— One remark I cannot help making; the doctrine of the
resurrection appears to have been thought of much more consequence among the
primitive Christians than it is now! How is this? The apostles were continually
insisting on it, and exciting the followers of God to diligence, obedience, and
cheerfulness, through it. And their successors in the present day seldom
mention it! So apostles preached; and so primitive Christians believed; so we
preach, and so our hearers, believe. There is not a doctrine in the gospel on
which more stress is laid; and there is not a doctrine in the present system of
preaching which is treated with more neglect!”
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H. Waggoner
The doctor
inquires, “How is this?” It is not difficult to give the reason: the church has
accepted a substitute for the coming of Christ and the resurrection.
The Bible
says that immortality is brought to light by Christ in the gospel. The schools
of Christian theology teach that it was most forcibly brought to light by
Plato—shown to be inherent in the nature of man.
The Bible says we are to seek for immortality.
“What a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” Why seek for that which we
already possess? The Bible says we shall put on immortality at the
resurrection. Theology teaches that, if there is any bar to the fullness of our
immortality, it is removed by death! by means of which we are ushered into a
state of immortal joy.
The Bible
says we shall appear in glory when Christ, our Life, appears. But theology
teaches that we are glorified by death, which opens the pearly gates to the
soul set free from the clogs of our physical natures.
The
contrast may be carried much farther, but none who read the Bible can fail to
see it. And to show that our presentation of the contrast is strictly just, we
quote the following paragraph from one of the most influential religious papers
in the United States. It was part of a comment on 1 Thess. 4:13-18, which
teaches us to comfort one another with the facts that the Lord is coming, the
dead in Christ will be raised, and the living saints will be translated. Thus
it speaks:— “For all practical purposes of comfort the doctrine of the blessed
immortality of the righteous, the immortality of the soul, takes the place for
us of any doubtful doctrine of the Lord’s second coming. At our death the Lord
comes for us. That is what we are to wait and watch for. The dead are already
passed into glory. They do not wait for the trump for their judgment and
blessedness.” How can the church highly appreciate the coming of Christ and the
resurrection of the dead, while holding to such views?
The
inquiry maybe raised, If the immortality of the soul and glorification at death
“takes the place for us” of the advent and the resurrection, why did it not
take their place for Paul and his brethren? Has “that blessed hope” really been
displaced for another in the gospel plan, or is the church proving recreant to
the truths of divine inspiration? This is a matter of the highest importance;
it concerns our loyalty to
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the truth
of the Most High, and the honor of our Saviour, whose plans and appointments
are being disparaged before the world.
Life is
the greatest gift that can be conferred upon a creature. All enjoyments, all
hopes, all possibilities, are centered in life. The loss of life is the
aggregate, the sum total, of all losses. Man may lose many things in life; when
life is lost, he has no more to lose. Death is the extreme penalty of law. It
is the penalty of the transgression of God’s law. This penalty—this loss of
all—man incurred by disobedience to his Maker. Jesus, the Son of God, came to
seek and to save that which is lost; he came to open a way whereby man might
escape death and have everlasting life. He is the great Restorer to life; he is
“our Life.” Col. 3:4. “God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in
his Son.” 1 John 5:11. It must be apparent to every reader of the Bible that
when man was placed on probation it was for his life. When he sinned, he
incurred the penalty of the law which said he should die. The sentence against
his transgression was that he should return unto the ground out of which he was
taken. The means employed to execute the sentence, was depriving him of access
to the tree of life lest he should eat and live forever. But one contrast is
presented throughout the Bible: it is of life and death. Death is an enemy,
which Jesus came to overcome and to destroy. 1 Cor 15:26; 2 Tim. 1:10.
1Co
15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
2Ti
1:10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus
Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to
light through the gospel
The race
of man is literally a dying race; without Jesus there is no hope. The earth has
become a vast charnel house, marked with its graves from one end to the other.
Death severs the dearest ties of earth; it bereaves hearts, and brings the
keenest anguish to loving ones. Its conquests are well-nigh universal; it holds
in its gloomy prison house the untold millions of our ill-fated race. But, as
an enemy to the saints of God, death
itself is doomed. The rapacious grave shall be robbed of its spoil. “But I
would not have you to be ignorant, brethren,” said an inspired apostle,
“concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which
have no hope.” He then proceeds to remove all occasion of ignorance, and give
them the ground of gospel hope concerning their loved ones sleeping in death.
He bases all on the fact “that Jesus died and rose again.” And then rehearses
in order the
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H. Waggoner
future
facts in which the hope of the Christian may rest. 1. The Lord, “the Lord
himself, shall descend,” and the trumpet shall sound. 2. The sleeping ones,
“the dead in Christ shall rise.” 3. We that are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them, and so ever be with the Lord. His conclusion is:
“Comfort one another with these words.” And this, said the apostle, “we say
unto you by the word of the Lord.” Here is no conjecture; faith rests here
without a doubt. Let the mourning, bereaved ones look up; redemption draws
near. Oh, the glory of that day when Jesus shall come to gather his ransomed
ones home. The voice of the archangel shall open the graves of the righteous
ones, who once felt the sting of death. In the bloom of immortal youth they
rise to meet their Lord. Remembering the pains of death which they once
endured, and conscious that, for them all pains and tears have forever passed
away, they shout in triumph, “O death, where is thy sting?” Looking down upon
those dusty beds where they have long slumbered, they exultingly ask: “O grave,
where is thy victory?” And the translated ones join with them in one rapturous
song: “Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ.” Well might the lamented Bliss anticipate the triumph of that day when
he sung:— “All joy his loved ones bringing, When Jesus comes; All praise
through Heaven ringing When Jesus comes; All beauty bright and vernal, When
Jesus comes; All glory, grand, eternal, When Jesus comes.” When this corruptible
shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality,”
and God shall wipe away all tears from the eyes of his people; and there shall
be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, then we shall realize, as we
cannot now, the value of the blood of Jesus and the glory of his Atonement.
Then, and not till then, can the church sing her song of complete victory;
then, for the saints, love’s redeeming work will indeed be done.
(To be
continued)
(Excerpt
from-) THE ATONEMENT PART SECOND:
THE
ATONEMENT AS REVEALED IN THE BIBLE
(1884)
BY ELDER J. H. WAGGONER
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