by Rev. James McRobbie ©Pillar of Fire, International |
"It is with
the hope of the resurrection that the people of God are to 'comfort one
another.'" |
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Living Word] [Back: Chapter 6] [Next:
Chapter 8] [Index]
Chapter 7 Contents: [Christ the Firstfruits]
["With What Body Do They Come?"]
[The First Resurrection] [The
Second Resurrection] [Supplementary Resurrection]
[Resurrection Hope]
[What the Bible Teaches refers to numerous
passages from the Bible. Your study will be greatly enhanced by looking
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the Bible and this study. All quotations in What the Bible Teaches
are from the King James Version [KJV] unless otherwise specified.]
Chapter 7: What the Bible Teaches ABOUT
THE RESURRECTION
The
constant theme of apostolic preaching was the resurrection. It was a strange
and startling doctrine. When the Athenians heard Paul preaching on the
"resurrection of the dead, some mocked." When this apostle was before Agrippa,
he said, "Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God
should raise the dead?" [Acts 26:8] Since the resurrection was so ardently
preached at the outset of the church era, and since it constitutes the
hope that lends comfort to despairing hearts, it ought to be of great importance
to us.
Christ the Firstfruits
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The miracle and majesty of the resurrection
is not incompatible with the power of God considered in the light of His
omnipotence. Martha was confident that her brother would rise again in
the resurrection at the last day, to which Jesus replied, "I am the resurrection."
In that wondrous resurrection chapter [1 Corinthians 15], our Lord is declared
to be the "firstfruits of them that slept" [verses 20, 23]. He was the
first to return from death with a glorified, resurrected body. Our resurrection
is in Him -- made possible by His spotless life and the atonement He made
for sin on the cross, by which He was vindicated as the divine Son of God
and man's divine Savior.
At various times, both in the Old
and New Testaments, others had been brought back to life from the dead:
three in the Old Testament and five in the New [1 Kings 17:21; 2 Kings
4:34; 2 Kings 13:21; Luke 7:15; Matthew 9:25; John 11:44; Acts 9:40; Acts
20:10]. While these persons were restored to life, it was simply a re-animation
of the body, being subject again to death. Resurrection is to be differentiated
from resuscitation, the latter being simply a coming to life again, the
resurrection implying a new state of existence. When Christ arose, while
it was true that the tomb was empty, it was also true that His resurrection
body was spiritual and supernatural -- capable of adaptation either to
the terrestrial or celestial spheres.
Though Christ was the "firstfruits
of them that slept," the "resurrection and the life," yet long before His
incarnation many Old Testament saints firmly believed in a future resurrection
of the body. Job's beautiful declaration, which we should all be able to
repeat from memory, implies this:
I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall
stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms
destroy my body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for
myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." [Job 19:25-27]
You will remember Abraham's wonderful
expression exhibiting an indomitable faith in connection with the offering
of Isaac. He believed that "God was able to raise him up, even from the
dead; from whence also he received him in a figure ["figuratively speaking,"
NIV]" [Hebrews 11:19]. The Old Testament saints endured fiery trials and
countless sufferings in order that they might "obtain a better resurrection"
[Hebrews 11:35]. The Psalmist had the same confidence, for he said, "Thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell [sheol, the place of the dead]," and, "I
will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake,
with thy likeness" [Ps. 16:10; Psalm 17:15]. Look at Ezekiel's prophecy
of the resurrection of dry bones: "I will open your graves, and bring you
into the land of Israel" [Ezekiel 37:12], was a resurrection-emblem showing
how the Jews were to be brought from their spiritual and political death
through the miracle of God's sovereign grace.
There is also a spiritual resurrection
for the "dead in trespasses and sins." Of the prodigal son it was said,
"This my son was dead, and is alive again." Our Lord said, "The hour is
coming, and now is, when the dead [spiritually dead] shall hear the voice
of the Son of God and they that hear shall live" [John 5:25].
"With What
Body Do They Come?"
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In Paul's day, as in ours, some were
saying, "How are the dead raised up?" There were some false teachers in
his time who explained away the sublime truth of the resurrection, saying
that the "resurrection in past already." In Christ's time this truth was
denied by the Sadducees [Matthew 22:23; Luke 20:27; Acts 23:8]. Even in
the early church the resurrection seems to have been disputed, for we read,
"How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?" [1
Corinthians 15:12].
While we know that the resurrection
is surrounded with mystery and is beyond the power of our finite minds
to fully comprehend, yet we are not left in complete darkness regarding
this subject so dear to the hearts of Christians. This glimmer of light
radiates from the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians.
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(1) The seed and the grain [verses 36-38].
The seed cannot be quickened unless it first die. So the body that is sown
is "not the body that shall be." It will be a new body arising out of the
old. "God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him." The new resurrection
body will be God-given and according to God's own will.
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(2) Different kinds of flesh [verse 39]. We
all know Paul's argument here how that there are many kinds of flesh. He
enumerates the flesh of men, beasts, fish, and fowl. This is to teach us
a valuable lesson, namely, that the resurrection body, though coming from
the old, though new and supernatural, will still be FLESH. There are "different
kinds of flesh." This means that it will be a literal body. Not
necessarily the "flesh and blood" as we know it in the present human tabernacle,
for this cannot "inherit the kingdom of God" [verse 50]. Let us bear in
mind the words of the patient patriarch [Job}: "In my flesh shall I see
God." There is no contradiction here.
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(3) Different
kinds of bodies [verse 40]. The bodies we have now are suited to
this terrestrial world. But St. Paul adds, "There are also celestial bodies."
So then, they will be literal, real bodies, although adapted to the heavenly
realm. This accords with the words of our Lord in Matthew 22:30, that in
the resurrection we shall be as "the angels of God in heaven." Our heavenly
body will be comparable to that which our Lord has now, for, "We shall
be like him" [1 John 3:2], and according to that marvelous power whereby
He is able to subdue all things unto Himself, He shall change our vile
body [the "body of our humiliation" R.V.], that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body" [Philippians 3:21].
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(4) Various kinds of glories [verse 41]. He
refers here to the sun, the moon, and the stars, and how they vary in glory,
and adds, "So also is the resurrection of the dead." There is truly a glory
of the human earthly body, for it is "fearfully and wonderfully" made.
Yet doubtless this will be dull, cumbersome and handicapped as compared
to the "glory" of the resurrection body. The glory is relative; it is a
matter of difference. There was a foreshadowing of the glory of the resurrected
body when Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration [2 Peter 1:17].
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(5) Comparison of sowing and raising [verses
42-44]. This earthly body is "sown in corruption." It will disintegrate
and decay, yet, "IT is raised in incorruption." The same identical body
that went into decomposition will be raised free from it. "It is sown in
dishonor," that is, the one that will be planted in the grave will be under
the curse, subject to limitation and temptation because of sin, but it
will be "raised in glory" -- free from all the marks of the old creation
and the fall, for then, "There shall be no more curse." The earthly body
is characterized by "power" -- power that will defy disease and death;
that will enable it to soar from world to world; like unto Him after whom
the new body will be fashioned. It will be "sown a natural body," that
is, a physical body of flesh and blood, with its natural proclivities and
idiosyncrasies, yet this same body shall be quickened and changed: "It
is raised a spiritual body." The first, the natural, is of the
earth; the second is of the Lord from above. As we have been earthly, so
we will be heavenly, qualified for heavenly residence, for that seems to
be the meaning of "spiritual." There will be no flesh and blood in the
"kingdom of God" [verse 50].
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(6) Instant change [verses
51-57]. St. Paul next associates the resurrection with the rapture. "Sleep"
is a New Testament word used for "death" [Acts 7:60]. Introducing us to
a "mystery," he says, "We shall not all sleep." All shall not die, or go
through the portals of the grave, but, "We shall be changed." When the
trumpet sounds that shall call the righteous dead from their graves then,
suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, "we shall be changed." That which
is dead, the "corruptible," shall put on "incorruption," and the "mortal,"
referring to the saints who are then alive, will put on "immortality."
This, the apostle further elucidates in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: "The Lord
himself will come down from heaven with a loud word of command, and with
an archangel's voice and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall
rise first. Afterwards we who are alive and are still on earth will be
caught up in their company amid clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And
so we shall be with the Lord forever" [Weymouth].
If we are consecrated, Spirit-filled believers
we are not to look for the grave but for glory. The living saints at the
time of Christ's coming will be changed and wafted away without dying,
and the bodies of the saints who have been sleeping in the dust ever since
the beginning of time will awaken and come forth. Then death, that insatiable
monster who has glutted himself on the harvest that sin has given him,
will be swallowed up "in victory." How gracious God is! How marvelous are
all His holy ways! May we lift our voices with the apostle: "Thanks be
to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
The First Resurrection
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Apart from the resurrection of Christ,
who is the "first-fruits," there are two specific resurrections. The first
is to take place at the first part of Christ's second coming, which will
be at the beginning of the tribulation. "Every man in his own order," says
the Word, "Christ the firstfruits; afterwards they that are Christ's at
his coming" [1 Corinthians 15:23]. This is not a general resurrection;
it is for those who are Christ's or, as we read in 1 Thessalonians 4:16,
"The dead in Christ shall rise first." To be Christ's and to be "in Christ"
are the evident qualifications for participation in the first resurrection.
This blessed and happy state is holiness, for without this no man shall
see the Lord [Hebrews 12:14], and, "Blessed and holy [sanctified] is he
that hath part in the first resurrection" [Revelation 20:6].
At the first resurrection the saints
will be judged according to their works, and rewarded [2 Corinthians 5:10].
This is also called the "resurrection of the just," when the faithful shall
be recompensed [Luke 14:14].
There is a reference in the book of
Hebrews to the "better resurrection" [Hebrews 11:35], which the Old Testament
saints sought to obtain at the cost of great persecution and suffering.
St. Paul longed to share the sufferings
of Christ -- suffer as He suffered, die as He died -- that he might attain
unto the "resurrection from among the dead" [Philippians 3:11, Weymouth].
What Paul had in mind was the "first" or "better" resurrection. Well he
knew that the "rest of the dead" would sleep on until a "thousand years
were finished" [Revelation 20:5], to awaken, as Daniel stated, to "shame
and everlasting contempt."
The Second Resurrection
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A thousand years separates the two
resurrections. The resurrection which takes place at the close of the millennium,
and which is associated with the last judgment, is the "second resurrection,"
and is for the wicked dead. Paul plainly declared by the inspiration of
the Holy Ghost that there is to be a "resurrection of the dead, both of
the just and the unjust" [Acts 24:15]. The unsaved are to be reunited to
their bodies -- sinful, diseased and unredeemed. Since they will not have
partaken of the salvation of Jesus Christ, they will know nothing of deliverance
from sin or the redemption of the body. They will be reunited to the same
old bodies, only changed according to the power of God, to live forever.
These resurrection bodies of the wicked will have the same old unsatisfied
lusts and cravings, the same inexorable pride, the same defiance and godlessness,
the same animosities and profanity. They who will have rejected or neglected
the Lord Jesus, they whose fatherhood is the devil, they who will have
chosen to live for the world and sense and time, with its gold and pleasure
and dissipation -- unchanged, unrepentant, hopeless and godless -- will
live then, body and soul reunited, in a far more real and vivid manner
than they live now.
The second resurrection will be universal.
The redeemed, having already responded to the first resurrection, will
be in heaven, then "all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And
shall come forth" [John 5:28-29], for at the "name of Jesus every knee
shall bow" [Philippians 2:10]. Time, distance or place will make no difference.
The sea shall give up the dead which are in it, and death and Hades will
deliver up all who are in them -- and must come forth.
Supplementary Resurrection
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Since the "first resurrection" will
take place before the tribulation, it is to be remembered that those who
suffer martyrdom, who refuse the "mark of the beast" during the tribulation
period, are to "live and reign with Christ a thousand years" [Revelation
20:4].
Resurrection Hope
It is with
the hope of the resurrection that the people of God are to "comfort one
another." In this world of bereavement and separation Christians are not
to mourn as those who have no hope. If the great Husbandman sees fit to
gather our dear ones as flowers to bloom in His spotless paradise, never
again to be subject to change and decay, it should be an incentive to those
of us who remain to meet bravely the storms of time, to remain faithful
and true to our high calling, until we meet with them in the "sweet by
and by" where we shall "know even as we are known," and where there will
be no more separation, no more anguish, no more tears or pain or death.
It is with this thought that St. Paul closes his great classical passage
on the resurrection:
Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
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