ELDER GEORGE RUSTON 1 CORINTHIANS 15:22-26

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”

Of Adam it is written: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7. Also, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Genesis 1:27. Thus the first man was of the earth, earthy, for the name Adam signifies red earth. Adam lived, begat sons and daughters in his own likeness, and died when he was nine hundred and thirty years old. Adam’s family, each generation of them, has died, down to the present time, except two persons. One, Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was translated that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him. The other was Elijah, who was also taken from the earth without dying. Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. These two gracious men are exceptions, but it can be said, “in Adam all die.” We believe that death passed upon Adam and all his seed the day he transgressed. When he begat children, they were conceived in sin and shaped in iniquity, and went from the womb speaking lies. They were dead in trespasses and sins, lost and ruined by the fall. The soul of man, made by the breath of God, was through that transgression dead to that holy innocency which man once enjoyed when he walked with his God, and alive in sin in which man was conceived. When a man’s body has lived out the number of his days, that body dies. He may be killed by his fellow man, but his soul lives on, either in a state of blessedness or of everlasting woe. Jesus said, “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10 28. It is Adam’s body that died, and all his family, from the beginning to the present time, have gone that way; even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Paul asks, “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” Acts 26 8. The Sadducees said that there was no resurrection; the Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the just and the unjust. Paul had a hope towards God, which they also allowed, that there SHALL BE a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. If the resurrection was just Christ’s body being raised, why does he say he has a hope, for hope that is seen is not hope. Paul had been born again, so he was not hoping for that, but he had a hope towards God, which they also allowed, that is, the Pharisees. Some, who may have contrary views, will say, when the resurrection is spoken of, you believe just like other religions. The Pharisees believed it did not make it wrong. Other religions believe in the Word of God, both the Old and New Testaments. Shall we renounce the Bible for that reason? Let us consider the words “even so,” which means without limitation or subtraction, but just as he says. Jesus said, “Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.” Taking these words in their simplicity, God, having hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes, he would have it just that way without any reservation. It is the man made of the dust of the ground that has sinned and who must die and after death be judged according to the deeds done in his body, whether good or bad. Adam was a sinner when he begat his first son, and that son was born dead in trespasses and sins, but he did not know this, nor ever would in this life unless he were quickened by the Spirit of God. That body is not quickened here; it is the soul that was alive in sin. By the Spirit’s work it is made alive to sin, and the flesh not then being changed, from that day there is a warfare of flesh against spirit and spirit against flesh. It was this truth that made Paul cry, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Another rendering of the translators is, Who shall deliver me from this body of death? When deliverance first came to us from our burden of sin, it came through the operation of the Holy Spirit. Christ was born in our hearts, the hope of glory. “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Such have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, although the body is still in the bondage of corruption, but they have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry “Abba Father.” 

Thus, we are enabled to worship God in the Spirit and have no confidence in the flesh, the Spirit bearing witness with our spirits that we are children of God. In spirit, children of God. In body, sons and daughters of Adam. In the body we find infirmities, in it we groan, suffer pain and privation, yet Paul says, “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God,” Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Romans 8:22, 23. God’s children already have the Spirit of adoption, which Paul calls the first-fruits of the Spirit, as distinct from the first-fruits of the body, which is in Heaven in the person of Jesus Christ. We have the Spirit of adoption, but are waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body. Some might ask, where is the body redeemed from? We answer, according to the Word, it shall be redeemed from the grave. It would be interesting here to look at the word resurrection, does it not mean the raising up of that which has gone down in death? It is like the awakening out of sleep or the quickening of a seed. 

It is the same IT that is sown in corruption that is raised in incorruption, the same IT that is sown mortal is raised immortal. If the same body is not raised, then it is not a resurrection but a creation. If one died and were immediately quickened and taken to Heaven, it would be a quickening but not a resurrection. There is an order in this matter in the fulfillment of God’s purpose. Let us examine it, for they are not changed into the likeness of Christ at death. Jesus’ Spirit went to Paradise at death, so did the dying thief’s, for Jesus said, “Today shalt thou be with me (my Spirit) in Paradise.” The spirits, all that have departed in Christ, are in Paradise, the “Paradise of God.” Their bodies are sleeping in the graves until the last trumpet. Not so, the Spirit of Jesus. It left Paradise, joining his blessed body, God raising him from the dead. This is referred to by Paul as fulfilling the second Psalm. “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” From that moment, the Eternal Son of God had an immortal body. His mortal body died and was raised immortal, so that he, Jesus, hath brought life to light. More than that, he hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. Paul tells us that the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. Some have inferred that this trumpet is the gospel trumpet, but follow the thought a little further. Does the blowing of the gospel trumpet raise the dead? The Arminians may think so, do we? No, the trumpet of God is not the gospel trumpet. It has never been blown by man. It will be spoken of at the end of our subject. Christ’s body was laid in the grave with the whole company of those who had died before, but Jesus has risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them. Under the law, as was the first-fruits, so was the harvest. Jesus was acceptable unto God as the first-fruits of them that slept, and all them that ever will sleep in the grave. We say again, he has already risen. The rest, that is, those who are Christ’s, will be raised at his coming. Does this just mean when he comes by his Spirit to comfort his children, or when he comes to destroy the Jewish nation, and scatter them as wanderers upon the face of the earth? No, we do not feel that. That is not the coming here spoken of, for we see m the following when his coming will be. It will be before he has delivered up the kingdom to his Father, before the end spoken of in our text. It will be on the last day, whatever and whenever that day will be. Until then, the heavens have received him until the times of restitution of all things, and he now sits at the right hand of God, expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. That body, which was crowned with thorns, is now in heaven, “decked with resplendent wounds,” yet glorified. John speaks of him as the Lamb amid the throne, the Lamb, to show that it is the same Jesus who suffered, who is now Lord of all. How glorious and soul-comforting is his truth to God’s despised and afflicted people, for they shall be his face. The disciples saw him taken up into heaven, a cloud receiving him out of their sight. “And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” But had he not said, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” His Spirit is with his people while he is in heaven on his throne. He will come in like manner, and he will be the same Jesus, and every eye shall see him. We look for his appearance. The Church of God, as wise virgins with their lamps trimmed, is waiting for her Lord. Paul said the Thessalonians had turned from idols to serve the living God, and to wait for his son from heaven, even Jesus. I said that those who have departed this life and are in the Paradise of God are waiting also, but what different waiting is theirs from ours? With our waiting, temptations and cares annoy, sin distresses us, and our joy is damped, while in this tenement of clay, for we that are in this tabernacle do groan, here we are never satisfied. They are satisfied to wait, for they are with his presence satisfied, he leads them to fountains of living waters, and the Lamb in the throne feeds them. With them, as with God, a thousand years is but as yesterday when it is past. Being heirs of God and joint-heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ, they are waiting for all the joint-heirs to be made manifest; they wait for all the family to come home, for that time when death shall be swallowed up in victory. Instead of death being swallowed up now, death is swallowing up young and old. They wait, but it is pleasant waiting in perfect love, what restful waiting where perfect happiness abides. John says in Revelation 6, “I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they shall rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.” There is an interesting account of an experience of Paul’s related by himself in 2 Corinthians 12, which dates back fourteen years to the time recorded in Acts 14:19. Paul was stoned, then drawn out of the city and left for dead. We do not desire to speculate, but does not this circumstance suggest that his soul, for a while, left his body? This occurred in the twelfth year of his ministry, and fourteen years after this experience, he wrote his letter to the Corinthians. He was caught up in the THIRD HEAVEN. Whether in the body or out of the body, he could not tell. He was caught up into PARADISE, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

Of the coming of the Lord, Paul often reminded his brethren. Especially do we see this in his first epistle to the Thessalonians, where he mentions it in every chapter, and in the fourth chapter, he gives us more particulars. His words are “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 (unto the coming of the Lord) 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.” Our corruptible bodies are not changed until then, even if we should be here when the Lord comes, because these bodies must beget children who shall be conceived in sin. If the body were born again here, it would beget a seed that would not need salvation, nor would any of them enter into perdition. This will go on, men and women marrying and being given in marriage, until he comes. The dead in Christ shall rise first. There will be two resurrections as outlined in the Word of God. The bodies of the saints are being preserved in the earth, blameless, unto his coming; the bodies of the wicked are being preserved blameable. 

The resurrection of the dead in Christ will be first. John saith of them, “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power.” The resurrection of the ungodly will come later, for the upright are to have dominion in the morning. Psalm 49:14. His coming is to deliver his saints from the WRATH TO COME, but how different God’s Word declares it will be for the wicked. Let us see what Paul says of them, “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord: Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.” Do we need more proof? Jesus said, “The hour is coming, in 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.” In Job’s afflictions, he was made to confess that he had heard of him by the hearing of the ear, but he said, now mine eye seeth thee. This was the eye of faith, which the soul is given, and by which the soul beholds Jesus as the altogether lovely and the chiefest among ten thousand. At such a sight of him, Job said, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” So with Job it did not yet appear what he should be, yet he said earlier, “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 (plural) shall behold, and not another.” That is, it would be that same Job whose eyes would behold his Lord. Over seven hundred years B.C., Hosea wrote, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction.” Isaiah, about the same time, prophesied, “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.” 

When Jesus came as our sin-bearer, he came weeping, bearing precious seed, and here we fellowship with him with penitent and broken hearts. “And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him.” His second coming is referred to by the Psalmist, who says, “He shall DOUBTLESS come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” During Christ’s ministry on earth, death was not swallowed up in victory, and in Paul’s day, he called it a saying, but when the trumpet of God shall sound, and we are raised incorruptible, then shall come to pass the saying. It has not come to pass yet, but it will come to pass when he comes from heaven with a shout. Revelation 21:4. tells that “God shall wipe away all tears from their EYES; (plural) and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this is not putting on Christ in our profession and walk, as the new man of the heart desires to do, for the new man of the heart never dies, and is not corruptible, but is created after God in righteousness and true holiness. 

I have heard it said several times by good brethren that they had enough trouble with, and in, this old body in this life that they would never want to see it again after death, but let us all remember that the Word saith “Who shall change our vile body, that IT may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.” None of us wants our old bodies as they are. David did not, but he said, “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied when I awake, with thy likeness.” Psalm 17, 15. How often we have longed to be like him, but it doth not yet appear, but when he shall appear, we shall be like him. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, EVEN SO them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” For, “we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (go before) them which are asleep.” It will be no harder for God to change those that are alive than to raise those that have been dead, whether in the earth or seas. Our God made this earth, and all that is in it, out of nothing. He who assembled everything, giving it being when it had none before, can, in his time, assemble that which has been. It is admitted that those bodies will be different from what they were here; in likeness, they will be like him. Their qualities will be different, but the substance will be the same there, as it was in Jesus, and as it is in the plant or blade that has come up from the seed. 1 Corinthians 15. Thus, the corruptible substance, it did not see corruption, nor did it need salvation, for he was not a sinner. We say the substance will be there, for it will be a body of flesh and bones. We say flesh and bones, for Jesus said, “Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” This is to show that it was not his spirit, but him. Paul says, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” This is, of course, a form of speech; he means mankind as it is. We have shown that mankind is dead, and all that he inherits here from Adam are sickness, pain and ills that are legion, but through our Lord's resurrection from the dead, we have been begotten unto a LIVELY HOPE, to an inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In conclusion, we ask our readers to read 2 Thessalonians 1 to see when this will be revealed. 

G.R. Dutton, Ontario, Canada 

Associate Editor of the Signs of the Times 

(Editorial in February 1943, issue