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THE WAY OF LIFE

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Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jan 18, 1877

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 3, No. 4.

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THE WAY OF LIFE

By James White

FROM PARADISE LOST TO PARADISE RESTORED.

Third Paper—The Resurrection.

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

In our second paper we took the position that it is not necessary that the same matter compose the resurrected body which constituted the mortal body, in order to a resurrection from the dead. Man was made of the dust of the ground. Gen. 2:7. In consequence of transgression he fell under the sentence of death, and the decree that he should return to dust. Chap. 3:19. Adam, as an organized being, is no more. The material that composed the representative of the race is simply dust, as it was before Adam existed. The names of the righteous, as the adopted sons of God, are written in Heaven. Their life records are also on High, and their works follow them on earth. In this sense, like Abel, though dead, yet they speak. And this is all that remains of holy men of God, unless the doctrine of conscious existence between death and the resurrection can be maintained.
The resurrection of the righteous dead is the act of reorganizing from the dust of the ground, with immortal natures, the same beings that lived holy lives on earth, and whose names and worthy records are in Heaven. The matter which will constitute the immortal form will be taken from the dust of the ground, without respect to that which had at any time constituted the mortal being. This view of the subject places the resurrection of the dead beyond the reach of the skeptic. He urges the impossibility of the resurrection of the same matter which composed the mortal body, on the hypothesis that particles which help make up the human body may be transferred through vegetable and animal productions, taken as food, to other human bodies. But as there is no necessity, neither from the facts in the case, nor from any scripture statement to the contrary, for the dear Saviour to put himself to the trouble of searching through the universe for the same particles of matter which composed the body at any time during the natural life, to make up the immortal being, in order to a resurrection of the dead, the wind is taken completely out of the skeptic's sails.
If it be objected, that to reorganize the being at the resurrection with other matter than that which constituted the mortal form would be a re-creation, and not a resurrection, then we reply, that as the form after death returns to dust, the resurrection of the form is to all intents and purposes a re-creation, whether it be reorganized from the matter which composed the mortal form, or from other matter. The creation of Adam was simply his formation from existing matter, called the dust of the ground. After death, man returned to dust, such as Adam was before he was created. The first resurrection will be the re-creation, or re-organization from the dust of the ground, with immortal natures, of those “who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory, and honor, and immortality, eternal life.” Bible students may here see the harmony of divine truth touching the resurrection of the dead. And if the skeptic, in his ardor to overthrow the resurrection, will not see the truth, we shall be obliged to leave him to fire away at his man of straw. But we linger in sympathy with his misfortune in reasoning from the shaky premises of those theologians who urge that the resuscitation of the same matter that composed the mortal body is necessary to the resurrection of the dead. And we plead that Christian men should not give infidelity their moral support by standing on the same shaky foundation on which the skeptic builds.
We urge that Paul has most clearly and pointedly settled this question of identity of the mortal body with the immortal form in the application of his illustration of the product of the grain. He introduces the very subject under discussion with these words: “But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain. But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.” 1 Cor. 15:35–38. The parent grain is exhausted long before the new grain forms; hence the identity of the old with the new is not in respect to matter, but organization of the matter which constitutes the grain, so that wheat produces wheat, and the like of all other grain. If this figure means anything, it teaches that the identity of the mortal form with the immortal is not in respect to matter, but in organization of the immortal being so as to connect the then immortal present with the mortal past. The saints in glory will know themselves and each other there. They will not only adore the Redeemer for the glory that enshrouds him then; but remembrances of the past, what Christ did for them in this life, will constitute the highest inspiration of the new song to the Lamb: “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” Rev. 5:9.
But if it still be urged that the resurrected body must be composed of material that made up the mortal body in this life, then we inquire, Will the immortal being contain that matter which was put into the grave, or that which constituted the mortal man at middle age? If the position be taken that the same matter, no more and no less, will be brought into the immortal being that was buried in the grave, then we invite attention to the fact that men who may be alike in size at middle life become extremely emaciated, or exceedingly full in flesh, and pass into the grave in these conditions. In the resurrection, will some men be immortal skeletons, while others shall be endowed with immortal corpulency?
The objector may think it more consistent to have the immortal body made up of the exact material which composes the mortal form at middle life. Will our friend, who thinks it necessary to the resurrection of the dead that the same matter be raised which constituted the mortal body, fix upon the age of forty to find the best proportioned man to be resurrected? Then we will suppose that this very man lives to the age of seventy-five, until a large portion of his body shall change five times, when he dies and is buried. The resurrection of the man as he stood at forty would have but very little to do with the same man who was put into the grave at seventy-five. The particles of matter which composed this man at forty would be gathered from the four winds of heaven where they had been scattered during the long period of his five-fold changes, and the grave where this very man was buried at seventy-five need not be disturbed.
We follow the objector one step further, as we see him clinging to the position to which he feels completely driven. It is this, that it is not necessary in order that there be a resurrection of the dead, that the immortal being be made up wholly of matter which composed the mortal form at any given time, but lest the immortal body be the result of an entire new creation, and not of the resurrection, he urges that a portion, more or less, of the old being must help constitute the new. His real position finally is, according to the distinction he makes between re-creation and resurrection, that the immortal man will be partly resurrected and partly created!
Dear reader, we take you back, after showing you some of the absurdities of the objector's positions, to the great Bible facts relative to the resurrection of the dead which you should ever keep in view. God formed Adam of the dust of the ground. After dissolution, man returns to dust. The first resurrection from the dust is the reorganization of good men, with immortal natures, from the dust of the ground, without respect to the scattered particles of matter which helped to make up the mortal body during this life, or at any given period in this life. Christ's body did not see corruption. He was raised with the marks of the crucifixion upon his body, that he might be identified as the very same Jesus that died upon the cross. Moses probably did not return to dust. The body of Moses, as well as that of Christ, is doubtless an exception to the rule that man should return to dust, as Enoch and Elijah were exceptions to God's appointment that all men should die. Heb. 9:27.
The fact that the same body that was placed in Joseph's new tomb came forth, bearing the marks of the crucifixion, or the probability that the body of Moses had not seen corruption at the time the disputation occurred between Michael and Satan, and, therefore, Christ raised the same body that the Lord buried in the valley of Moab, must be regarded as exceptions to the general decree, “Unto dust thou shalt return.” The immediate resurrection of these, before seeing corruption, must be regarded in the light of the change which the living saints will experience at the blast of the trump of God at the second coming of Christ.
As the objector reads passages from both the Old and New Testaments which speak of the resurrection of the dead, he is impressed that the obvious meaning of these texts make it necessary that the same matter be brought forth from the graves at the resurrection that was buried in them. We will give these texts, and briefly notice their bearing upon the question under discussion. Let the reader carefully apply the direct statements and illustrations of Job, to the position we have taken that all there is of man returns to dust, and that hope of the future life depends upon the resurrection of the dead, without respect to one portion of matter above another, and it will be seen that in his words we find one of our strong-holds.
“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; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man dieth, and wasteth away; 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. O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave, that thou wouldst keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldst appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee; thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.” Job 14:7–15.
With a keen sense that all there would remain of him after death would be his record on High, until he should identify himself in the resurrection, Job anxiously and yet triumphantly exclaims: “Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” Chap. 19:23–27.
This remarkable fact appears, that the writers of both Testaments represent the state of the dead by the figure of sleep. David speaks of the resurrection in these words: “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” Ps. 17:15. “God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive me. Selah.” Ps. 49:15.
Isaiah speaks of his dead body rising with others. But, in the most literal sense, the prophet returned to dust, and as an organized body ceased to exist more than two thousand years since. If we are to be guided in our understanding of his words by other plain declarations of the Scriptures, and also facts relative to decomposition of the body and its return to dust, the strength of the following prophetic language must be regarded as setting forth simply the reorganizing of the body at the resurrection of the just: “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they rise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.” Isa. 26:19.
The resurrection of all the saints under the figure of the whole house of Israel is presented to the prophet Ezekiel under the figure of a valley filled with dry bones. But the expression, I will open your graves and bring you up out of your graves, must not be understood so as to contradict the plainest facts relative to the condition of the dead. To give these words their most literal sense would be as absurd as to contend that in some valley on the globe God has collected and preserved the bones of all his saints. The strength of the following declarations and figures of the prophet of God is to show that God will reorganize immortal beings at the resurrection, in whom will be perpetuated the identity of the mortal organism.
“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones. And caused me to pass by them round about, and, behold, there were very many in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above, but there was no breath in them.
“Then saith he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost, we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves. And shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land. Then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.” Eze. 37:1–14.
The Lord by the prophet Hosea declares: “I will ransom them from the power of the grave. I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy plagues. O grave, I will be thy destruction.” Hos. 13:14. And to this very prophecy Paul refers in the closing part of the following quotation: “Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” 1 Cor. 15:51–55.
The apostle in his letter of condolence to those of the church at Thessalonica who had buried Christian friends, would dispel their griefs by removing their ignorance respecting the state of the righteous dead. He cites the church forward to the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the righteous dead as the source of their comfort under bereavements, and the consummation of their hope. He says: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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. 4:13–17.
“The hour cometh,” says Christ, “in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation.” John 5:28, 29. And in Paul's confession of faith before Felix he declared the “resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” Acts 24:15. But it is left to the Revelation chapter 20 to place these two resurrections one at each end of the millennium.
J. W.