The Late ELDER L. H. HARDY REIDSVILLE, N. C., May 25, 1909. ON THE RESURRECTION

DEAR BROTHER CHICK: – For some cause I feel strongly impressed to write some of the things which I understand the Scriptures to teach concerning the resurrection of the bodies of those who sleep, both of the just and of the unjust, and I pray the Lord to guide me in the attempt. 

I have thought whether God’s dealings with Enoch were not a figure of His dealings with all the other members of his mystical body. “He was not, for Go& took him.” – Gen. v. 24. Where was that natural body in which he had lived and walked with God and begat sons and daughters? Was it not that body that “was translated that he should not see death”? – Heb. xi. 5. If so, are there two kinds of people in God’s glory, one in the translated body and another in a different or exchanged body? We read of him that he was not found, for God had translated him. Doubtless, it was the same body that lived here and in which he pleased God that was translated. If that is true, how can it be otherwise than that it is the same body that is today and suffers pain, commits sin, walks as God directs, &c, that shall rise from the dead? Not a natural, but a changed and spiritual body. The body of Enoch was not a natural body after the translation, but a transplanted, spiritual body, as all the saints shall have.

Another case was that of Elijah. As he and Elisha walked and talked, there came “a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” – 2 Kings ii. 11. Where was his body in which he had prophesied and been persecuted? The sons of the prophets would send fifty strong men to look for it, even after Elisha had protested, and they searched in the mountains and in the valleys for three days, but returned empty-handed. They persuaded Elisha until in his shame he gave his consent for them to go, but when they returned, the shame was theirs and the prophet had honor with the Lord. Where was the body of Elijah? It was taken to heaven, as was that of Enoch, and was a translated body, or a spiritual body.

It is said of our Lord, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” – 1 Cor. xv. 20. Why call him the firstfruits if there are none to come after him? In the days of Israel’s sacrifices, they were commanded to bring to the house of the Lord the first of the first-fruits of the harvest; did not that signify that there should be other fruits to follow the firstfruits? If not, I fail to see the sense of the language. Also in Paul’s expression concerning Christ, if there are to be no other fruits from the dea,d I fail to see the sense of his argument. He was not speaking of the spiritual quickening that the Lord spoke of in John v. 25: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live;” but of that which our Lord said in verses 28, 29; “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 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.” If this is not what Paul refers to, I fail altogether to catch his meaning. Christ, in his body, is the firstfruits of the resurrection of the saints in their bodies, which shall come forth like unto his glorious body. When his body came forth from the dead, it was the same body that ministered to the saints and that was crucified, for the prints of the nails and the spear were yet there, and they became a witness to Thomas. It appears to me that the whole of the time that he showed himself to his disciples after his resurrection was for a testimony to the saints for all time. They saw that it was he, the same Jesus, who had shown forth to Israel for three and a half. He had conquered everyone who had risen up against him, and now he had conquered death and the grave with the Roman seal upon it. He who had power over death while he was yet in death, and could take up his life again, can he not bring forth from the dead all who put their trust in him? Yes, verily, for this is just what he has done. In the resurrection of his body from the dead, there is the assurance of the resurrection of all the members of his mystical body at his coming. That is the time of the harvest, when the full virtue of the firstfruits shall be known. Christ is “the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s, at his coming.” Now if the dead rise not, then is Christ not raised, and if Christ be not raised, then there is no gospel, and those who now live in hope must die in despair. Just as sure as the body of Christ has risen from the dead, just so sure shall the bodies of the saints rise at his coming; and just as sure as the saints now bear the image of the earthy, just so sure shall they then bear the image of the heavenly. Now they bear the image of Adam, the earthy, and are like unto the body of Christ while he was in the flesh, but in the resurrection that earthy image will be fully done away, for it will have been swallowed up of death. They shall be raised up like unto his glorious body. It is the same, however, that was sown a natural body that shall be raised a spiritual body. This fifteenth chapter of first Corinthians is devoted to the resurrection, first, of the actual body of our Lord, and secondly, of his mystical body, the church, and the one is just as sure as the other, for if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not raised, your faith is vain and our preaching is vain. Are not the troubles and deliverances through which we are now passing the earnest of these very things? And what is the sense of an earnest if it is not to inspire hope in that to which it points forward? Surely if the saints are not to rise, faith is vain, hope is vain, our preaching is vain, and we are yet in our sins. Let us eat and drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die and will be no more. The anchor is lost, the compass is taken away, the cable is broken, and the ship is cast on the rock and beaten to pieces, and we will be no more. If this is not the teaching of Paul, I am so blind that I cannot see. The teaching of our Lord in that before-cited text, John v. 28, 29, is that both the righteous and the wicked shall hear His voice and shall come forth. He says, “The hour is coming.” Therefore, it is in the future. We do not know when it is, but if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. “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.” – 1 Thess. iv. 16. Evidently, the apostle is not speaking of the resurrection of the actual body of Christ, which event occurred nearly two thousand years ago, but of the actual resurrection of the bodies of the saints, who are the members of his body in particular. They shall rise first. What can he mean? To be sure that there is someone to rise afterwards. Who is it? Our Lord said it is they who have done evil, and they shall come forth unto the resurrection of damnation, and of them he has said, “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment.” For he had said unto them, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”

My dear brother, I hope you will be able to gather from what I have written what I understand the Scriptures to teach, and what I really believe to be the way of the Lord with us. I am in very feeble health; I hope you and yours are well. The Lord bless both you and us to live unto him and to declare his word. Your brother in the hope of the resurrection of this body from the dead.