THE RESURRECTION by George I. Butler

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 29, 1875

THE RESURRECTION.

By George I. Butler

(Concluded.)

Nothing is more plainly stated than the fact that the resurrection of Christ is an illustration to us of the nature of the resurrection of his people. Their bodies will be like his. Christ was the first-fruits. 1 Cor. 15:23. As in the law the Jews were required to bring a sheaf of the first ripe grain, which was a specimen of the nature of the whole crop, so our Lord Jesus Christ became the first-fruits of those who slept, not as being the first one ever resurrected, but as showing the nature of the resurrected body, and as demonstrating the fact of a future coming to life of the dead. In the latter part of the chapter, he brings this likeness still more clearly to view: “The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from Heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” We are then to bear the image of Christ, the heavenly. But in Phil. 3:21, the apostle states this so plainly that none can doubt: “Who [Christ] shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself.” We have only to look to his body, as it came from the tomb, and as it was seen by the disciples after his resurrection, and we may know just what our resurrection bodies will be. This is what the psalmist means when he speaks of awaking in his Lord’s likeness.

Going back to the gospel history, we learn that the very body which went down into the grave came forth from it. In it were the very marks and scars caused by the spear and nails which pierced his hands and side. When Thomas doubted, he was called to examine these carefully, to prove that this was the identical person who was crucified upon the cross. His body was a literal body; for he says, “Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” He took also a “piece of broiled fish, and of an honey comb, and did eat before them.” The same actual body that went down to the grave came up again. It had the same outlines and features as before; for he was recognized by his disciples. Had he not looked as before, they certainly would not have accepted him as their Lord. And yet glorious changes had taken place. He seems to have been capable of going rapidly from place to place. He could appear in their midst in a moment. He could cause their eyes to be holden, so that they could not know him. He could mount up to the sky, and pass away from the earth; and no law of gravitation could chain him here. In short, his body was like the angels’ in nature; and so will the bodies of the saints be in the resurrection state. Luke 20:36. There will be a glory attending them, as was the case with Moses at the transfiguration. He had doubtless been raised from the dead.

What ground for consolation do we have here! There is something tangible and real in the resurrection state. We shall have a real body, and, consequently, inhabit a real world. Our powers of locomotion will be like Christ’s in his glorified body. We shall have no need of beasts, coaches, cars, or ships, to convey us from place to place; but we shall mount up with wings as eagles, shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint. Isa. 40:31. The righteous will be able to traverse the earth from its remotest bounds, and appear before God from Sabbath to Sabbath and from month to month (Isa. 66:23) with all the ease that angels of glory could come from the presence of God to comfort Daniel while he was praying. Dan. 9:21. Yes, and who shall say they will not visit other worlds, and behold the glorious workmanship of God? Certainly, if we have a body like Christ’s, these conclusions are inevitable.

Another most interesting and precious thought, suggested by the above facts, concerns the identification of persons in the future world. This is a question which must ever be of surpassing interest to us. How terribly sad if when our friends are laid away we never can hope to see and know them again—if all the memories and associations of this world are to be wholly obliterated from the mind! The resurrection would then be more like a new creation than a living again. The idea seems absurd on the very face of it. Our future life is entirely dependent on this. Our living faithfully here, and spending the probation we have here given to us properly, decides our future state. How reasonable, then, to suppose that we should ever realize this, and be thankful for the means and agencies which God uses for our salvation. The Revelator plainly states the fact that we shall occupy a portion of our time in praising our Saviour. We shall realize, then, in its fullest sense, that it was through his blood and ministry that our happy existence there was brought to us.

Everlasting gratitude will fill our hearts as we reflect upon our transition and the agencies through which it was brought about. Shall we entirely ignore those human agencies, which have also faithfully labored for us—such as faithful ministers, and companions, and friends who have toiled for our salvation? Certainly not. It would be a strange thing if we had no desire to see them there, and to resume their companionship. This would argue that we had far less love there than here, which would be absurd.

But we are expressly told that certain ones will be known. Moses and Elias were known, even to those who lived in this mortal state, when they appeared on the mount of transfiguration. Will Peter, James, and John, know less when they reach that perfect state, when that “which is in part, shall be done away”? Here we “see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face”; now we “know in part,” but then we shall know as we are known. We think their powers of knowing will be wonderfully increased. Certainly, then, they will know Moses and Elias there.

Even the wicked will see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God. When they come around the holy city, just previous to their destruction, this will doubtless be fulfilled. These things argue strongly that we shall know each other there. But the fact that Christ’s resurrection is an exact sample of ours, the same as the sheaf of the first-fruits was a sample of the rest of the harvest, seems positively to prove recognition. His disciples did know him, and he knew them. Cannot the angels distinguish one another and us? We shall be as the angels are.

The prophet Jeremiah states a most interesting fact when he refers to the children put to death by wicked Herod when he destroyed all the infants in Bethlehem of two years old and under. Jer. 31:15–17: “Thus saith the Lord, A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel, weeping for her children, refused to be comforted, because they were not. Thus saith the Lord, Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.” These children had not gone to Heaven, unless Heaven is the land of the enemy. They were in the grave. But they should come forth. This is the plainest text in the Bible in regard to the future life of infants. These were very young. But they were to come forth—to live again. Were these mothers never to know their infants again? How then could those mothers’ hearts be comforted by this prophecy? How could their work be rewarded if they never should clasp their children again? If they came to their own border, and the mothers never knew one of them, the comfort would be lacking, terribly lacking.

Ah! here is infinite consolation, parents, to you who have lost dear children and precious babes. We have laid them down in sorrow. Our hearts have been pierced with anguish as we saw them in their coffins, and took the farewell look as they were lowered into the grave from our sight. And to some of us, even the consolation of smoothing their dying pillows, of closing their eyes in death, and of taking the last sad look, has been denied. But, thank God, there is hope in their end. The resurrection morn is soon to burst upon us. Old earth shall quiver and throb at the archangel’s trump, and shall bring forth at one mighty birth a nation of immortals. Parents will meet their children, companions their loved ones, dear friends shall greet one another there, never more to be sundered.

There is at times in our hearts an unutterable longing—a soul-hunger—to behold the faces of those we have loved, now, alas! laid away from our view. It seems to us we cannot have it so—as if life was robbed of its charms, and we were utterly heart-stricken. To such, oh, how precious the resurrection promise! “I am the resurrection and the life,” says the Son of God. How precious and important does this make the coming of Christ, which is to usher in the glad morn of immortality. They are waiting in peaceful rest for that glad moment, sweetly sleeping without a pang or sorrow, while our hearts in sadness mourn their absence. Prove to me we shall not know them, and you rob me of some of the most precious hopes that cluster around the glories of Heaven. We shall know them. “Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.”

What a morn of glory is before us, if we are only faithful! What a meeting after our parting! What a company will then be gathered! What joy! what bliss will be felt in every heart! All the truly good will be there, and not one evil person. The holy martyrs who died for the truth will be there. Friends most dear will greet one another. And the assembled, countless host, with their Lord and Saviour at their head, will then ascend to the city of God, to receive the mansions prepared for them. They will go through the pearly gates. They will walk the streets of gold. They will partake of the fruit of the tree of life. They will dwell in the presence of God himself. They will renew the acquaintance and fond associations which death has sundered; and eternity, endless, boundless, will open before them. Then shall we be satisfied. This is the hope which the resurrection makes possible. May God help us to prize it, to live in view of it. What is this poor world in comparison with this hope? It is vain and unsatisfactory. Here is a hope so glorious that souls in darkness will prize it when it is presented before them. May we all labor to bring it before others, that they may share in it at last.

GEO. I. BUTLER. Rolla, Mo., June, 1875.