THE RESURRECTION OF SINNERS.
THE burden of the gospel is the way of salvation, and the blessedness of the saved. But this is not all; it also makes mention of the helplessness of man without the gospel, and the hopelessness of those who reject its claims. Ruin awaited man if Christ had not been offered; retribution awaits those by whom the great salvation is rejected, the crucified Redeemer trodden under foot, the blood of the everlasting covenant counted an unholy thing, and the Spirit of grace resisted and despised. Having considered the resurrection from the grave as the personal hope of the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles; having seen the resurrection of the just presented as the hope and heritage of all the faithful of the Lord; having considered the scriptures which declare that the children also “shall come again from the land of the enemy,” we are now led to remark that THE HOLY SCRIPTURES DIRECTLY ASSERT, OR EXPRESSLY IMPLY, THE RESURRECTION OF CERTAIN UNGODLY MEN WHO ARE MENTIONED BY NAME, OR IDENTIFIED BY THE ACTS WHICH THEY HAVE COMMITTED. I. BALAAM. Num. xxiv. 14–23. Hired of Balak to curse Israel for money, compelled of God to pronounce benedictions instead of maledictions, he “heard the words of God,” and “knew the knowledge of the Most High,” and “saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance with his eyes open,” this man,—so corrupt, so covetous and sinful, whose desire to “die the death of the righteous” without living their life, found its fitting response when he was slain by the sword of vengeance while fighting against Israel whom God had compelled him to bless;—and who is held up to all the age as an example to those who have “gone in the way of Balaam for a reward,” and coveted “the wages of unrighteousness,”—this man, about whose character there is no recorded virtue, and about whose death there is not one ray of hope, was yet compelled, by the Holy Ghost, to foretell the coming of Messiah, and to say, “I SHALL SEE HIM, but NOT NOW; I SHALL BEHOLD HIM, but NOT NIGH; there shall come a STAR out of Jacob, and a SCEPTER shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. . . . Out of Jacob shall come He that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth in the city. . . . Amalek was the first of the nations, but his latter end shall be that he perish forever. . . . ALAS, WHO SHALL LIVE WHEN GOD DOETH THIS?” It is plain that Balaam predicted the rising of Bethlehem’s star; to view which, long after, wise men came from the regions of the East. It is also plain that Balaam died a godless, an unpardoned man, and has never yet seen Jesus Christ. But he “shall see him,—NOT NOW,” but when he comes to judge the world. He shall behold him,—NOT NOW,” but afar off, when he stands at the left hand, and hears the word, “depart,” and plunges into “the blackness of darkness for ever and ever.” Hence Balaam must arise from the grave in the Judgment day, to receive the doom that he has merited, and the wages of sin which he has earned. II. THE MEN OF NINEVEH who REPENTED, and the generation who heard Christ and did not repent, shall also arise. Luke xi, 29–32. Thus it is written: “When the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation, they seek a sign; and there shall be no sign given it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. The queen of the South shall rise up in the Judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them; for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the Judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here.” Both classes are to be represented then. The believing queen of Sheba, who came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, shall rise up in the Judgment with the unbelieving Jews, who reject the wisdom of God in their midst. The penitent Ninevites who accepted Jonah’s message, shall rise up in the Judgment with the impenitent Jews who despised the gospel Jesus brought to man. Both shall rise, and both shall receive their deserts at the hand of “the Lord the righteous Judge.” III. THOSE who enjoyed Christ’s PERSONAL MINISTRY and yet CONTINUED IN SIN, shall rise. Luke xiii, 23–30. “As he was teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem, there said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are; then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.” What a day that will be! The Master waits long and patiently for the loitering guests. At length he rises and shuts the door. No one can enter then. Many will vainly seek admission when it is too late. They stand without, while they see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God. Then they plead for entrance: “We have eaten and drunk in thy presence; and thou hast taught in our streets.” No one can say this but those who lived and walked with Jesus when he was on the earth. Christ has not taught in any streets for eighteen hundred years, but in that day “workers of iniquity” who ate and drank with Christ, perhaps among the thousands that he fed, and who listened to his instructions and admonitions, shall plead for recognition and be thrust out from the glory which they shall behold the patriarchs and prophets enjoying, but which they shall never be permitted to partake.243 IV. THE PRIEST and COUNCIL who condemned the Lord Jesus. Matt. xxvi, 63, 64. When they had conspired for his betrayal, paid the price of Judas’ treachery, and Christ was arrested in his midnight agony, and brought into the Jewish Sanhedrim, the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death. But to all their lies and accusations he made no response; until at length the high priest and all the council most solemnly demanded an answer, saying, “I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of God. Jesus said unto him, Thou hast said; nevertheless I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” The impious mockery went on; the Lord was crucified; those men mocked his dying agonies; sealed his tomb, and set a watch about the door; lied about his resurrection; whipped, persecuted, and murdered his witnesses; feared not God, and were contrary to all men; till wrath came upon them to the uttermost. But nevertheless those very men who judged, and mocked, and buffeted, the Son of God, must rise to see his face in the royal glory of his return when he shall come to judge the world and reign forevermore. V. THE MEN WHO CRUCIFIED CHRIST. Rev. i, 7. When priests and rulers had united to condemn and kill the Just, the soldiers led him out to Calvary. There, in fulfillment of prophecy, they pierced his hands, and pierced his feet with cruel nails, fastening him to the cross; and at last one of the soldiers took a spear and thrust it deep into his side. Thus Jesus died. But he lives again, and will come again in glory; and to that day the beloved disciples looked when he said, “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him; and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so; Amen.” Not only shall Balaam see him; not only shall the Jewish council see him; but “every eye shall see him.” The rough soldier that mocked and taunted him, and pierced his brow with thorns; the cruel crucifiers who pierced his hands and feet; and the soldier who pierced his side with a spear; “they also that pierced him” shall rise from death to see him in that day. The Scriptures teach the resurrection of individual sinners, as well as the resurrection of individual saints. Job says, “In my flesh shall I see God.” Balaam responds, “I shall see him, but not now.” Isaiah says to the waiting saint, “Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty.” But Jesus also said to the godless priests who judged him, “Ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” These words are true and faithful. Job and Balaam, Caiaphas and Paul, the queen of Sheba and the impenitent Jews; the men of Nineveh, and the men of Judea; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their ungodly descendants who refused the gospel call; those who pitied Jesus, and those who pierced him; all must hear his voice, and come to meet their Lord and Judge. And you and I, my reader, must behold them then; we must see his face, and hear his voice. The very oath of God declares that “every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to God.” “Great God! what do I see and hear!
The end of things created!
The Judge of man I see appear,
On clouds of glory seated.
The trumpet sounds,—the graves restore
The dead which they contained before;
Prepare, my soul, to meet him.”
—The Christian.