p. 23 | Resurrection by Samuel W. Pack

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 4, 1871

Resurrection.

By Samuel W. Pack

The hope that we should have another life beyond the grave is the revelation of Jesus Christ himself. Man could not have imagined such a wonder, that, after he had crumbled into dust, he should again be brought forth a living creature; for still, as at Athens, when they hear it for the first time, they fall to mocking. “Can these dry bones still live?” is still the unbeliever’s sneer. This theme was the burden of the apostles’ preaching; and wherever the first missionaries went, they made this prominent, that there should be a judgment and a resurrection from the dead.

How does the apostle Paul describe the gospel that he preached? “I delivered unto you,” said he, “first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures;” and he argues that if Christ be not risen, his preaching and their faith were vain. 1 Cor. 15:3, 4, 14. Now, if we would honor Christ, we should give prominence to this truth, for it is, as C. H. Spurgeon calls it, the keystone of the Christian arch.

In the fifth chapter of John’s gospel, Christ, after speaking of his power to give everlasting life to those who believe on him, says, that all who are in their graves, multitudes upon multitudes, shall at his voice come forth and stand before him. “The hour cometh!” What an hour it will be when it does come; and it is coming apace. Eighteen hundred years have passed since this declaration was made; and according to the fulfillment of prophecy and the signs of the times, that hour is now very close upon us, in which the dead in Christ shall hear his voice and come forth clothed in glorious immortality. How little we realize it, yet that hour is sure to come, for “God hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” There is an hour which precedes this hour of the resurrection, and that is the hour of his judgment, as recorded in Rev. 14:7. We are now living in that hour. It began in 1844; and how soon it may come to a close! Then the destiny of all will be forever sealed; for Christ at the close of this judgment hour will pronounce the sentence, “Let him that is holy be holy still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still.” Rev. 22:11. Probation will then be ended.

When Christ comes on the white cloud, the wicked will be slain with the breath of his mouth and the brightness of his coming, and the righteous dead be raised from their graves and taken to the New Jerusalem above, where they will live and reign with Christ a thousand years. Rev. 20:6. The New Jerusalem then comes down from God out of Heaven. Rev. 21:2. The wicked are raised. The whole human family will then be assembled for the first and last time. Who can compute the number? It is a countless multitude!

Not one nation or two will be represented there, but the whole world are assembled, the righteous safe in the city, the wicked outside awaiting their doom. Thought of the resurrection and what our lot will be should lead us to forsake every evil way. It should be the inquiry of our hearts, Will it be said to me, “Come, ye blessed of my Father,” or, “Depart, ye cursed”? God grant that you and I, dear reader, may be found ready, when Jesus comes, to receive from him eternal life. Samuel W. Pack.