Christ’s Coming at the Resurrection by Bishop Merrill

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 9, 1882

Christ’s Coming at the Resurrection.

By Bishop Merrill

WE come now to consider the fact that the second coming of Christ is connected with the resurrection of the dead.

This is implied in some of the parables and other scriptures, which we have already noticed, wherein the “harvest” is described, and the sending forth of the angels to gather the elect, and for the purpose of gathering out of the kingdom them that offend, is mentioned. But our business in this chapter is with those passages which connect these two events together, by positive statement, and in terms that cannot be misunderstood or otherwise construed.

And for the minute and definite statements which we now seek, we properly turn to the epistles, where the different phases of the whole subject are clearly brought out, though sometimes in terse expressions and in incidental allusions. In some places the leading topic is the resurrection, and in others, the advent; but always and everywhere the inspired writers carry the thought that the coming of Christ is at the end of the gospel period, and for the purpose of raising the dead and bestowing the final reward.

A brief analysis of Paul’s argument on the resurrection of the dead will be in place here, as we find it in the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians. He first affirmed the fact that Christ arose, and adduced testimony to prove that fact; he then connected with that fact the resurrection of the dead generally, without limitation or restriction, so that these two facts must stand or fall together. “If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen.” After this he speaks of the source and extent of death and of the resurrection. “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: 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 have 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.

It is important to notice that the resurrection of the dead, which is so closely linked to the resurrection of Christ, is not confined to a class of the dead, to the exclusion of the others. It includes all that die in Adam. It is a general or universal resurrection. This fact is of particular significance in its bearing on the question of a premillennial advent. But, having asserted the fact of a general resurrection in such universal terms, as if on purpose to guard against the abuse of this fact which distinguishes modern “liberalistic” interpretations, he introduces, with a disjunctive, the necessary limitations of the results that follow, by recognizing the “order” of the resurrection. “But every man in his own order.”

The word “order” means band or company. It indicates class. There are two orders in the resurrection, as there are two classes to arise. These orders are the first and the last; the good and the bad; “the just and unjust.” The one is a resurrection unto life, and the other is a “resurrection of damnation.” Every man’s “own order” is that company or band or class to which he belongs by moral fitness or spiritual affiliation. The first order consists of those who are “Christ’s at his coming.” These share the resurrection of life. To this class or order the remaining part of the apostle’s discourse, in this chapter, is confined. The other class he purposely leaves in the dark. They come forth at the call of Christ, but the result of their resurrection is not here declared. But it is not a resurrection to glory and honor.

The next point to be observed is the fact that the resurrection of the dead takes place at the time of the coming of Christ. “They that are Christ’s at his coming.” Why should the “coming” of Christ be introduced into this argument at all, if not because of its relation to the resurrection of the dead? There can be no explanation of this language, and no reason assigned for its occurrence in this place, except on the ground that he comes to raise the dead. The resurrection is not a translation or mere transition at the hour of death. It is a rising again of the dead—a palpable and stupendous fact; a miracle of wisdom and power, the glory and consummation of the mediatorial work of our risen Lord. It is a work worthy the coming and kingdom of Christ, the fulfillment of his grandest purpose, the outcome of his incarnation and sacrifice. “Then cometh the end.” The work of Christ’s kingdom is done. The mission of the gospel to humanity is accomplished. The “harvest” is past. The “end” mentioned is the end of the mediatorial reign; the end of the gospel dispensation; the end of human probation; the end of time. Hence this passage antagonizes premillennialism. The coming of Christ is not to “set up” his kingdom on the earth, for the purpose of putting down anti-Christian rule and authority and power; but it is at the end of the reign which will have accomplished that work. It is “when he shall have delivered the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power.” It is, therefore, after the work is done, which premillennialism supposes he is coming to do. And this is confirmed by what is said of the destruction of death. This is the last enemy to be destroyed. Its destruction is the final victory. Beyond it there is no conflict. There remains no rule or authority or power to be put down. And death is destroyed by the resurrection, at the coming of Christ. But if death is then destroyed, all the dead are raised; for it is false to fact, and absurd in itself, to affirm that death is destroyed, when the righteous live again, if all the unrighteous still abide in death. The destruction of death is the abolition of its power over the human race. Death and hades deliver their dead at the appearance of the Son of man and the great white throne.

The next passage we cite is Phil. 3: 20, 21: “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” That this connects the resurrection with the coming of Christ there can be no doubt. The resurrection of the righteous dead is always uppermost in the mind of the apostle, and here he speaks of the change awaiting the glorified, without reference to a different class. That which he calls “our vile body” cannot be other than the mortal body in which we live, the body of our humiliation, which is tending to corruption. The Lord Jesus Christ himself shall come from heaven and change this vile body by his own power, and clothe it with immortality and incorruption, and thus fashion it “like unto his own glorious body.” Hence John says, “When he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” This is why the coming of Christ from heaven is the “blessed hope” of the Christian. It is the time of “the manifestation of the sons of God.” “When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”

The only effort “liberalists” have made to explain this passage, without connecting the coming of the Saviour and the resurrection, is to assume that it relates to a change in the condition of the church in consequence of the destruction of Judaism. The coming of Christ from heaven is claimed to be that “figurative” coming we have so frequently had occasion to mention; and “this vile body” is represented as the old Jewish church, and “his glorious body” is called the Christian church. The “change” is said to be the change in the church, wrought when Christ came “figuratively” at the destruction of Jerusalem, and destroyed the old polity and instituted the new polity, or that which distinguishes the gospel kingdom. Of course this is unworthy of the name of criticism or exposition, and unworthy of formal reply; and yet men of culture, who pride themselves in their advance of thought beyond the limitations of the creeds, have put it forth in sober earnestness. It seems no obstruction to such expositors, that the old Jewish church was never changed into the glorious Christian church, and that Paul and those addressed, were living in the Christian church, and not in the Jewish church, and had been for some time, while they were looking for the Saviour, and anticipating the day when “this vile body” should be changed. But enough.

We now turn to 1 Thess. 4: 13-18: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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.”

This describes the personal coming of our Lord to raise the dead, or it is utterly misleading. By “them which are asleep,” the apostle undoubtedly means the dead—those that have fallen asleep in Christ. These are distinguished as a class, from those that “are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord.” And this coming is neither spiritual nor figurative, but personal and literal. It is the coming of the Lord “himself.” It is his public revelation in the “clouds of heaven,” when every eye shall see him; for with this coming are the “shout,” and the “voice of the archangel,” and the “trump of God,” so connected as to show the character of the event. This is that “great sound of a trumpet” which is mentioned in Matt. 24:31, and also in 1 Cor. 15:52. It always relates to the resurrection of the dead.

Another important fact is here brought out. Not only do the dead arise at the coming of Christ, but the living shall then be “changed.” The dead and the living are the two classes mentioned. The dead in Christ are specifically in mind while the unbelieving dead are unrecognized in this passage. Perhaps some thought the living would have an advantage over the dead in the day of the advent, so that it would be better for them not to die. But the apostle controverts this idea. In that day all the saints shall have equal advantage. The living shall not ascend to meet the Lord in advance of the dead in Christ. These shall “rise first;” that is, before the living ascend. Then, when the dead are raised, and the living changed, all the saved “shall be caught up together.” This “change” in the living, which is at once equivalent to death and the resurrection, in its effect upon the mortal body, is more particularly set forth in 1 Cor. 15:51, 52: “Behold, I shew you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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.” As a living man, writing to living men, of the living and the dead, he naturally identified himself, and those to whom he wrote, with the living, without implying that he or they would still be living when the great event described should actually occur. But, whether he or they should be living or dead, the great thought was that “all” should be “changed” in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. They were to be changed from corruption to incorruption, from mortality to immortality. And being thus changed, the distinction between these classes is obliterated. They all pass into the immortal state together, and so shall they ever be with the Lord. Thus the coming of Christ terminates the reign of death on earth.

To multiply proofs or extend arguments on this point would be superfluous. There are incidental questions connected with the Scriptures cited, which might be considered here, but which must necessarily come up in other connections, so that we pass them now to avoid repetition. These relate to the other events which are to follow the coming of the Lord, such as the gathering of the nations, the resurrection of the wicked, the judgment, the retribution, and the conflagration. Each in its place will receive due attention, and in the outcome it will be found that nothing essential to the main argument is overlooked. The single point in hand, that Christ’s literal coming in person is to raise the dead, being sufficiently made out, we close the chapter, expecting to show that the final judgment is just as plainly connected with this same personal advent.—The Second Coming of Christ, by Bishop Merrill.