CHAPTER I Elder R. W. Thompson; Dear Brother: I have been impressed of late to write for the Monitor some thoughts on the doctrine of the resurrection.
While a belief in the resurrection is almost universal, there is quite a variety of notions as to the manner and nature of the resurrection. There are some very strange notions among the heathen, but the most common idea among professed Christians is that the body will appear in the resurrection just as it is in this life. This is the idea that the Sadducees had of it, which, no doubt, led them to disbelieve it. See Matt. xxii, 24-28. This is also the view of most Arminians of the present time. The Sadducees, having no interest in Christ, pointed to the difficulties of renewing the present state of existence. The Arminians, not being able to comprehend anything higher than the present state, take comfort in the thought of family reunions beyond the grave.
Another notion of the resurrection, which I wish to notice more especially, is that the flesh has no part in it, and that it is a spirit resurrection. Although those holding this view agree on the main points, there are so many shades of difference and different expressions used by them that one becomes confused in attempting to determine just what they believe. They either stand on a higher viewpoint than others, or they do not see the matter clearly themselves. I cannot concede the first, and I suppose they will hardly concede the second.
Others affirm a belief in the resurrection of the body, but deny that there will be a future general resurrection. They say that what is buried will never come up. One brother, in resenting the charge that he disbelieved in the resurrection, said in the same letter, “This old shell of ours, the body, will never rise from the ground.” This same writer claims that in I Thessalonians 12:16, Paul is describing a past resurrection.
The word “resurrection,” as used in the Scriptures and as generally understood in common parlance, means a coming up out of death. That which dies shall live again. The same thing that goes down in death shall come up again. And as the resurrection is affirmed of the body by the holy Scriptures, we feel safe in saying, and are constrained to believe that the identical body that is ours now, and is alive, will be brought up out of death into life. The first text that occurs in the Bible that I think of as bearing testimony to this truth is Gen. v, 24; “And Enoch walked with God, and was not, for God took him.” The next is like unto it: “And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven;” II Kings ii, 11. In corroboration of these, we have two texts in the New Testament: “And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven;” Luke xxiv, 51. “Then we who are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord;” I Thes. iv, 17. If there were no other texts in the Bible about the resurrection of the material body, these would be sufficient ground for contending for that doctrine. The first three testify that material bodies were taken up from the earth into heaven, and the fourth is a positive declaration by an inspired apostle that a great company shall be likewise translated.
Paul said, “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found because God had translated him.” “That he should not see death” means that the body should not die; for in all other respects, he was as other men. His body was not found because God had taken it with the spirit. Elisha saw Elijah go into heaven. If his body had been left, Elisha could not have seen his spirit go up, and he certainly would have mentioned the body and told what disposition was made of it.
A careful account is given of the burial of the patriarchs and prophets who “saw death” as other men see it. Even the body of Moses is accounted for, though no man saw it after death. Yet such plain testimony as this is challenged. A brother said in a letter to me, “I believe that Jesus’ body of flesh went up in that cloud, but who knows what disposition God made of it? Then who will speculate or dare claim that that same body is in existence in that cloud or somewhere else yet?” Mark says, “He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.” Is it speculation to claim that the body of Jesus is still in heaven, when the testimony is so clear that he was received up into heaven and sits on the right hand of God? Would it not be worse than speculation to admit that God received the body into his presence and favor and afterwards rejected it, cast it out, or made some “disposition of it” – annihilated it because it was not needed?
Is there any reason given, or can there be any theory advanced, to explain why those three bodies were received into heaven, other than that it was their final reward in heaven? Does God receive and afterward reject? Or was it all a make-believe to deceive the “elect”? Stephen, long after the ascension, was enabled to see the “Son of man standing on the right hand of God” in heaven. Notice the words, “Son of man”, which could only apply to him as the risen son of Mary. Though full of the Holy Ghost, was he yet deceived? Could he, and did he only see the Spirit of God that once dwelt in the Son of man standing on the right hand of God? If you are convinced that these three human bodies were received into heaven and that they were not afterwards cast out, then it is conclusive that every one who has found favor with God, will dwell in heaven with their bodies as they do or that these three are the exception, they alone having their bodies in heaven. To put the foregoing syllogism in form, we have: First. The future state of the elect is identical. Second. The bodies of Enoch, Elijah, and Jesus are with God in heaven. Third. Therefore, the bodies of all the saints will be with God in heaven. This we believe to be an unanswerable argument in favor of the resurrection of the bodies of the saints.
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II Job believed in the resurrection of his body of flesh. After bewailing his frailty and showing that his endurance of this life was inferior to that of a tree, he said, “So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more. They shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. Oh, that thou wouldst hide me in the grave, that thou wouldst keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldst appoint me a set time and remember me! If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time, I will wait till my change comes. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thy hands;” Job xiv, 12-15.
Why does Job ask to be hid in the grave and to be kept secret until God’s wrath be past, if the grave is final? Why should he ask, “If a man die, shall he live again?” He had just acknowledged that he could not live again in this world when contrasting his life with the life of a tree. What change was appointed for which he waiting? He must have been waiting for the resurrection, to wit: the redemption of his body.
Hear his solemn words spoken a little later from the depths of his heart, and we believe by inspiration: “Oh, that my words were now written! Oh, that they were printed on a rock forever! For 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 this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” This is certainly the language of faith. – A prophecy of “Jesus and the resurrection.” He could not have been speaking of his restoration to health, for his body was not destroyed in that sickness. He did not speak of God’s appearance to him in that affliction as recorded in the latter part of the book; for the entire narrative indicates that that appearance was unexpected and it occurred so soon that his vision of it didn't have to be “graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock.” He was speaking of an event that was to occur “in the latter day”; after he had been hidden in the grave until the wrath of God had passed, and his body destroyed by worms after his Redeemer, Jesus, had stood on the earth in the latter day.
David believed in the resurrection of his body; for he said, “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope;” Psa. xvi, 9. Also, “As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness; Psa. xvii, 15. David, in this, saw by faith what Paul afterward declared, when he said, “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection;” Rom. vi. 5. Note that the resurrection is here spoken of as still in the future. How could David’s flesh rest in hope if the grave is its final destiny? David, like all other persons, knew that his flesh was failing from day to day and that it must perish, but he had hope that it would rise again. But someone may say, David was portraying Jesus. Admit it and the evidence is strengthened, for David was speaking what was written in his own heart and experience, and whatever is done for the flesh of Jesus, is done for the flesh of David; for our resurrection depends on his resurrection; and David’s faith embraced his resurrection in Christ, even in his very likeness.
John iii, 2, also bears testimony with Job and David: “Beloved now, are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise: awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead;” Isa. xxvi, 19. This is a figure pointing to the restoration of the kingdom of Israel in and by Christ. But Daniel shows that there is real substance in that figure when he says, “And many of them that sleep in the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt;” Deut. xii, 2. Matthew records similar language, Chap. xxvii, 52, 53. Another figurative use of the resurrection is recorded in Rev. xi, 11; “And after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet: and great fear fell upon them that saw them;” read the entire chapter.
The thirty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel is highly figurative. Thus, we have three circumstantial witnesses to prove the resurrection, that it is impossible to impeach, for these witnesses are true and speak no lie. They have not drawn their figures from fiction, but from things in truth. Figures, types, and parables in the Bible are always drawn from real, substantial facts; never from the unreal. Jesus spoke of sheep, seed, plants, metals, water, and many other things because there were such things, and by using them in a figure, we can better understand the subject at hand. The subject with Ezekiel was the death and decay of the Jewish kingdom and the establishment of the kingdom of Christ instead. Death and the resurrection are a strong and well-taken figure. The Jewish kingdom came from God, but was temporal and must perish; even as our human nature, though coming from God, is temporal and must perish. And as our future holy being must be the transformed spiritualized human being, so was the kingdom of Christ the transformed Jewish kingdom. So complete is the figure that Judea is laid out as the site of the resurrected kingdom. David is restored to the throne, not as his former self, but as the exalted Christ. The people are to be the same, but transformed even as their King. So wonderful is the change, and so much better is their state and condition, that they are no more to be divided. “Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and I will be their God.” No other figure could so forcibly illustrate the wonderful difference between the kingdom of God in its temporal, legal form and its exalted spiritual form. The inhabitants of the kingdom of Christ are, in their spiritual natures, immune from sin, free from harm, fed with the bounties of heaven, and clothed with righteousness. If there is no resurrection of the material body, this figure would not have been used. Hence, we have here developed another syllogism, which put in form is: 1st. All figures, types, and parables in the Bible have their foundation in fact. 2nd. The resurrection is used as a figure to illustrate other subjects. 3rd. Therefore, the resurrection of the material body is a fact. Unless the first proposition in this syllogism is proved false, it remains an unanswerable argument in favor of the resurrection of the material body.
Why does Job ask to be hid in the grave and to be kept secret until God’s wrath be past, if the grave is final? Why should he ask, “If a man die, shall he live again?” He had just acknowledged that he could not live again in this world when contrasting his life with the life of a tree. What change was appointed for which he waiting? He must have been waiting for the resurrection, to wit: the redemption of his body.
Hear his solemn words spoken a little later from the depths of his heart, and we believe by inspiration: “Oh, that my words were now written! Oh, that they were printed on a rock forever! For 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 this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” This is certainly the language of faith. – A prophecy of “Jesus and the resurrection.” He could not have been speaking of his restoration to health, for his body was not destroyed in that sickness. He did not speak of God’s appearance to him in that affliction as recorded in the latter part of the book; for the entire narrative indicates that that appearance was unexpected and it occurred so soon that his vision of it didn't have to be “graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock.” He was speaking of an event that was to occur “in the latter day”; after he had been hidden in the grave until the wrath of God had passed, and his body destroyed by worms after his Redeemer, Jesus, had stood on the earth in the latter day.
David believed in the resurrection of his body; for he said, “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope;” Psa. xvi, 9. Also, “As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness; Psa. xvii, 15. David, in this, saw by faith what Paul afterward declared, when he said, “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection;” Rom. vi. 5. Note that the resurrection is here spoken of as still in the future. How could David’s flesh rest in hope if the grave is its final destiny? David, like all other persons, knew that his flesh was failing from day to day and that it must perish, but he had hope that it would rise again. But someone may say, David was portraying Jesus. Admit it and the evidence is strengthened, for David was speaking what was written in his own heart and experience, and whatever is done for the flesh of Jesus, is done for the flesh of David; for our resurrection depends on his resurrection; and David’s faith embraced his resurrection in Christ, even in his very likeness.
John iii, 2, also bears testimony with Job and David: “Beloved now, are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise: awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead;” Isa. xxvi, 19. This is a figure pointing to the restoration of the kingdom of Israel in and by Christ. But Daniel shows that there is real substance in that figure when he says, “And many of them that sleep in the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt;” Deut. xii, 2. Matthew records similar language, Chap. xxvii, 52, 53. Another figurative use of the resurrection is recorded in Rev. xi, 11; “And after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet: and great fear fell upon them that saw them;” read the entire chapter.
The thirty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel is highly figurative. Thus, we have three circumstantial witnesses to prove the resurrection, that it is impossible to impeach, for these witnesses are true and speak no lie. They have not drawn their figures from fiction, but from things in truth. Figures, types, and parables in the Bible are always drawn from real, substantial facts; never from the unreal. Jesus spoke of sheep, seed, plants, metals, water, and many other things because there were such things, and by using them in a figure, we can better understand the subject at hand. The subject with Ezekiel was the death and decay of the Jewish kingdom and the establishment of the kingdom of Christ instead. Death and the resurrection are a strong and well-taken figure. The Jewish kingdom came from God, but was temporal and must perish; even as our human nature, though coming from God, is temporal and must perish. And as our future holy being must be the transformed spiritualized human being, so was the kingdom of Christ the transformed Jewish kingdom. So complete is the figure that Judea is laid out as the site of the resurrected kingdom. David is restored to the throne, not as his former self, but as the exalted Christ. The people are to be the same, but transformed even as their King. So wonderful is the change, and so much better is their state and condition, that they are no more to be divided. “Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and I will be their God.” No other figure could so forcibly illustrate the wonderful difference between the kingdom of God in its temporal, legal form and its exalted spiritual form. The inhabitants of the kingdom of Christ are, in their spiritual natures, immune from sin, free from harm, fed with the bounties of heaven, and clothed with righteousness. If there is no resurrection of the material body, this figure would not have been used. Hence, we have here developed another syllogism, which put in form is: 1st. All figures, types, and parables in the Bible have their foundation in fact. 2nd. The resurrection is used as a figure to illustrate other subjects. 3rd. Therefore, the resurrection of the material body is a fact. Unless the first proposition in this syllogism is proved false, it remains an unanswerable argument in favor of the resurrection of the material body.
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