Redemption by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 10, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 15.

Redemption.

By Editor

(Continued.)

ON the nature of the resurrection we are willing to submit the foregoing to every candid, reverent reader of the pages of divine inspiration. On the importance of the resurrection we must give a few testimonies.

When Jesus was instructing his disciples concerning their duty to the poor, he said: "For they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." Luke 14:14. Let it be remembered that the resurrection takes place when the Lord Jesus comes the second time; it cannot take place before, and if he should never come there would then be no resurrection of the dead. And, therefore, any text which introduces the resurrection of the just, of necessity introduces also the coming of Christ. And, in like manner, any text which speaks of the coming of Christ, introduces to our minds the resurrection of the just, as they are inseparably connected. See the following decisive proof: "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." 1 Thess. 4:16-18. Notice the points introduced in connection:—

1. The Lord himself shall come; it will be a personal, actual coming.

2. The voice of the archangel—the Son of God, compare John 5:27-29,—and the trump of God will be heard.

3. The dead in Christ shall rise.

4. The living saints will be caught up with them, translated, to meet the Lord.

5. So—in this manner—shall we ever be with the Lord.

6. These are words of comfort to the saints.

In Luke 14:14 are the words of Jesus that we shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. In this last text we learn in what manner, and under what circumstances, the reward will be given. Closely related to this, in its several circumstances, is the instruction given in 1 Cor. 15. The whole chapter is an argument on the resurrection, but especially verses 42-54, which speak directly of the resurrection of the righteous.

1. They shall be raised in glory.

2. We shall not all sleep; some will be translated.

3. The trumpet shall sound; the last trump.

4. We shall put on immortality, or, death will be swallowed up in victory.

The coming of Jesus is not spoken of but it is well understood, for not one of these events can transpire before he comes.

And so the following: "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." Col. 3:4. We shall appear with him in glory at that time, because the saints are "raised in glory," immortalized, at that time. Another apostle testifies to the same thing. "We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." 1 John 3:2.

"And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." 1 Peter 5:4. This is a parallel text, and one of great clearness and force. And yet several times more we find the Son of God pointing to the advent and, of course, to the resurrection of the just, as the time of conferring the reward. "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." Matt. 16:27. "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:12. See also Matt. 25:31-34.

The infinite importance of this subject to the saints, as the time and means when and whereby they shall be glorified, fully justifies the apostle Paul in calling it "the blessed hope." "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Titus 2:13. More literally: "And appearing of the glory of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Compare Matt. 16:27, quoted above.

We cannot forbear quoting a few words from the comments of Dr. Clarke on 1 Cor. 15. On verse 32 he says:—

"What the apostle says here, is a regular and legitimate conclusion from the doctrine that there is no resurrection; for if there be no resurrection, then there can be no judgment; no future state of rewards and punishments; why, therefore, should we bear crosses, and keep ourselves under continual discipline! Let us eat and drink, take all the pleasure we can, for to-morrow we die; and there is an end of us forever."

Very few theological writers of the present time, recognized as eminent and orthodox, would use the language here used by Dr. Adam Clarke. A great change has come over the minds of the Christian world, on this subject. Dr. Clarke said that, in his day, early in the present century, the faith and preaching of the church differed much, on this subject, from that of the apostles and the early church. And in no part of the Christian era has the popular sentiment, concerning the nature and importance of the resurrection, changed as fast as from Dr. Clarke's time to the present. The following are his words:—

"One remark I cannot help making; the doctrine of the resurrection appears to have been thought of much more consequence among the primitive Christians than it is now! How is this? The apostles were continually insisting on it, and exciting the followers of God to diligence, obedience, and cheerfulness, through it. And their successors in the present day seldom mention it! So apostles preached; and so primitive Christians believed; so we preach, and so our hearers believe. There is not a doctrine in the gospel on which more stress is laid; and there is not a doctrine in the present system of preaching which is treated with more neglect!"

The doctor inquires, "How is this?" It is not difficult to give the reason: the church has accepted a substitute for the coming of Christ and the resurrection. The Bible says that immortality is brought to light by Christ in the gospel. The schools of Christian theology teach that it was most forcibly brought to light by Plato—shown to be inherent in the nature of man. The Bible says we are to seek for immortality. "What a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?" Why seek for that which we already possess? The Bible says we shall put on immortality at the resurrection. Theology teaches that, if there is any bar to the fullness of our immortality, it is removed by death! by means of which we are ushered into a state of immortal joy. The Bible says we shall appear in glory when Christ, our Life, appears. But theology teaches that we are glorified by death, which opens the pearly gates to the soul set free from the clogs of our physical natures. The contrast may be carried much farther, but none who read the Bible can fail to see it. And to show that our presentation of the contrast is strictly just, we quote the following paragraph from one of the most influential religious papers in the United States. It was part of a comment on 1 Thess. 4:13-18, which teaches us to comfort one another with the facts that the Lord is coming, the dead in Christ will be raised, and the living saints will be translated. Thus it speaks:—

"For all practical purposes of comfort the doctrine of the blessed immortality of the righteous, the immortality of the soul, takes the place for us of any doubtful doctrine of the Lord's second coming. At our death the Lord comes for us. That is what we are to wait and watch for. The dead are already passed into glory. They do not wait for the trump for their judgment and blessedness."

How can the church highly appreciate the coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead, while holding to such views? The inquiry may be raised. If the immortality of the soul and glorification at death "takes the place for us" of the advent and the resurrection, why did it not take their place for Paul and his brethren? Has "that blessed hope" really been displaced for another in the gospel plan, or is the church proving recreant to the truths of divine inspiration? This is a matter of the highest importance; it concerns our loyalty to the truth of the Most High, and the honor of our Saviour, whose plans and appointments are being disparaged before the world.

Life is the greatest gift that can be conferred upon a creature. All enjoyments, all hopes, all possibilities, are centered in life. The loss of life is the aggregate, the sum total, of all losses. Man may lose many things in life; when life is lost, he has no more to lose. Death is the extreme penalty of law. It is the penalty of the transgression of God's law. This penalty—this loss of all—man incurred by disobedience to his Maker. Jesus, the Son of God, came to seek and to save that which is lost; he came to open a way whereby man might escape death and have everlasting life. He is the great Restorer to life; he is "our Life." Col. 3:4. "God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." 1 John 5:11.

Death is an enemy, which Jesus came to overcome and to destroy. 1 Cor 15:26; 2 Tim. 1:10. The race of man is literally a dying race; without Jesus there is no hope. The earth has become a vast charnel house, marked with its graves from one end to the other. Death severs the dearest ties of earth; it bereaves hearts, and brings the keenest anguish to loving ones. Its conquests are well-nigh universal; it holds in its gloomy prison-house the untold millions of our ill-fated race. But, as an enemy to the saints of God, death itself is doomed. The rapacious grave shall be robbed of its spoil. "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren," said an inspired apostle, "concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." He then proceeds to remove all occasion of ignorance, and give them the ground of gospel hope concerning their loved ones sleeping in death. He bases all on the fact "that Jesus died and rose again." And then rehearses in order the future facts in which the hope of the Christian may rest. 1. The Lord, "the Lord himself, shall descend," and the trumpet shall sound. 2. The sleeping ones, "the dead in Christ shall rise." 3. We that are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them, and so ever be with the Lord. His conclusion is: "Comfort one another with these words." And this, said the apostle, "we say unto you by the word of the Lord." Here is no conjecture; faith rests here without a doubt.

Let the mourning, bereaved ones look up, redemption draws near. Oh, the glory of that day when Jesus shall come to gather his ransomed ones home. The voice of the archangel shall open the graves of the righteous ones, who once felt the sting of death. In the bloom of immortal youth they rise to meet their Lord. Remembering the pains of death which they once endured, and conscious that, for them all pains and tears have forever passed away, they shout in triumph, "O death, where is thy sting?" Looking down upon those dusty beds where they have long slumbered,

they exultingly ask: "O grave, where is thy victory?" And the translated ones join with them in one rapturous song: "Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Well might the lamented Bliss anticipate the triumph of that day when he sung:—

"All joy his loved ones bringing, When Jesus comes: All praise through Heaven ringing When Jesus comes. All beauty bright and vernal, When Jesus comes; All glory, grand, eternal, When Jesus comes."

"When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality," and God shall wipe away all tears from the eyes of his people; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, then we shall realize, as we cannot now, the value of the blood of Jesus and the glory of his Atonement. Then, and not till then, can the church sing her song of complete victory, then, for the saints, love's redeeming work will indeed be done. EDITOR.

(To be continued.)