The Resurrection | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 15, 1882

The Resurrection.

THE following remarks on the resurrection are from Dr. Dwight:—

‘‘Against the resurrection itself there is no presumption, and in favor of it a strong one, from analogy. Many works of God naturally and strongly dispose the mind to admit the doctrine without hesitation. In this climate almost the whole vegetable world dies annually. At the return of spring the face of nature is renewed; and all the plants, shrubs, and trees with which it was adorned, are again clothed with verdure, life, and beauty. In the insect creation, we find a direct and striking example of the resurrection itself. Animals of this class begin their existence in the form of worms. After continuing some time in the humble state of being to which they are confined by their structure, they die and are gone. In the moment of death they construct for themselves a species of shell or tomb, in which they may, with the strictest propriety be said to be buried. Here they are dissolved into a mass of semi-transparent water; the whole which remains of the previously existing animal, exhibiting to the eye no trace of life, and no promise of a future revival. When the term of its burial approaches an end, the tomb discloses and a winged animal comes forth, with a nobler form, often exquisitely beautiful; brilliant with the gayest splendor; possessed of new and superior powers; and destined to a more refined and more exalted life. Its food is now the honey of the flowers; its field of being, the atmosphere. Here it expatiates at large in the delightful exercise of its faculties, and in the high enjoyment of those sunbeams which were the immediate means of its newly acquired existence. Could there be a rational or even a specious doubt concerning the power of God, and his sufficiency to raise the body from the grave, this change in the world of insects, accomplished before our eyes, and for these animals not less extraordinary than that which we are contemplating is for man, puts an end to every such doubt, and place the possibility of this event beyond debate. In truth, this change is nothing less than a glorious type of the resurrection.’’

No cause is benefited by being advocated in a manner contrary to just reasoning. The above remarks present a popular, but by no means a Scriptural or reasonable, view of the resurrection. There is no analogy to the resurrection of the dead in any of the illustrations given. In each and all of them, that which dies does not live again, and that which shows life again does not die. The stalk which bears the flower dies and never lives again. The root which bore the stalk does not die, but lives to produce other stalks. The leaves die and fall from the tree; they never live again. The living tree produces other leaves. But if the tree dies it does not produce other leaves, nor does it live again. The insect or animal undergoes a transformation, and appears in another form. But if it dies—if the life become extinct—it never undergoes its transformation; it never reappears in any form.

Such is not the idea of the resurrection as taught in the Scriptures. In his resurrection Christ became ‘‘the first-fruits of them that are asleep.’’ (Revision). 1 Cor. 15 : 20. In his case he ‘‘died, and rose, and revived.’’ Rom. 14 : 9. It was not the dying of one part, and the revivifying of another part, as in the case of plants. So it was with Lazarus. He had been dead four days, and corruption was doing its work. But at the voice of Him who is ‘‘the resurrection and the life,’’ ‘‘he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin.’’ John 11 : 44.

The nearest to any analogy in nature is the example presented by Job; but he presents it as a contrast instead of a case of analogy. ‘‘For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground.’’ But its nearness to analogy is but in appearance. Often do we see a stump that is really dead above ground, and the main roots decaying, ‘‘yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.’’ And all because, as he said, ‘‘the tender branch thereof will not cease.’’ It had not become utterly dead.

He then presents the contrast: ‘‘But man dieth, and is cut off [Margin—Heb.]; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up, so man lieth down and riseth not; till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.’’ Job. 14 : 7–12. By no process of nature, or natural process of his being, can man show signs of life, as the vegetables do. Nothing less than the direct power of God can awaken him; nothing but the voice of the archangel can call him forth and revive him.

That which sleeps in the dust of the earth shall awake. Dan. 12 : 2. ‘‘Thy dead men shall live; together with my dead body shall they arise.’’ Isa. 26 : 19. ‘‘All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth.’’ John 5 : 28, 29. There is no life-germ in a dead human body by which it may revive, and show signs of life. Where, then, is the analogy between the resurrection of the dead and the revival of the vegetable world in the time of spring? It does not exist. Such illustrations are entirely destitute of argument.

There are those who dislike this presentation of the case. If we would predicate the resurrection on some such process as nature presents in revivifying plants in the spring—something which they could accept on philosophic grounds—they say they would no longer object to the doctrine. And we think that is so; they would rather accept it upon the deductions of their own reasonings than upon the word of God’s revelation. But we have neither science nor philosophy to meet either the facts of the resurrection as demonstrated in the case of Lazarus and others, or the doctrine as presented by the prophets, and by Messiah and his apostles. Did we not believe the Bible, we should reject the idea of the resurrection of the dead as readily as the unbelievers of Athens did when Paul preached it to them. A crucified Saviour was foolishness to the Gentiles because they did not believe in the possibility of his resurrection.

The ground taken by our Saviour in confuting the Sadducees, is that upon which we rest; upon which every Bible believer must stand. Said Jesus, ‘‘Ye do greatly err.’’ Why? Because they could not reconcile Scripture with ‘‘true science?’’ Because they were not well versed in philosophy? No. They erred, ‘‘not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.’’ The Scriptures many times declare that the dead will arise. The resurrection was taught to Abraham, as Paul informs us in Heb. 11. It was taught to Moses, as Christ proves in Matt. 22, etc. Job, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Hosea, each spoke of it in terms so plain as not to be mistaken. Surely they were in great error, and in great ignorance of the Scriptures, if they did not know these things. And as God has said that the dead shall arise, so he has power to fulfill his own word. Here the Saviour rested it; here we leave it with the full assurance of faith and hope. God has spoken; he is able to perform; and so we believe.