When Does the Resurrection Occur?
By A. O. Tait
The subject of the resurrection has ever been a favorite theme. Prophets have foretold it, and the good men of all ages have talked about it and longed for the time to come. And with what a thrill of joy does the thought come to us that we are even now living in the very presence of the great day when “the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible!” This is the generation that is to witness the coming of the Lord and the resurrection day. Glorious thought and joyful news! Tell it everywhere. Let all the world know about it, and get ready for the gladsome time. Do you ask how we know that the resurrection day is near? The answer is easy and ready at hand. The resurrection takes place at the second coming of Christ. “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.” 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17. “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven: . . . and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” Then, when the Lord comes, the dead in Christ arise. How plain the Word of God makes its statements! But observe that not only the dead arise at Christ’s coming, but “we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” Then there will be living believers in Christ at His coming, who will be caught up with the resurrected dead to meet the Lord. The resurrection day is coming, and some will be alive to see it. And what a thought of sublime and inexpressible joy it is to know that there are those still alive at that great and grand day who are now upon the stage of action! Men and women are alive to-day who will still be alive to witness His coming and hear His voice when He raises the dead. “‘Tis a glorious thought,’ do I hear you say, ‘but how do you know?’” How do we know it? Listen to the words of the Master: “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it [margin, ‘He’] is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” Matt. 24: 33, 34. The Lord here speaks of certain things that we shall “see,” and tells us that “when ye shall see all these things, know that He is near.” Now when the things appear that the Lord has given as signs of His coming, we are to “know” that He is near. There is to be no conjecturing nor guesswork about this. The Saviour positively tells us that we may “know.” Then do you know that His coming is near, “even at the door”? If not, you should lose no time in acquiring that definite knowledge; for it is an actual, positive fact that Christ’s second coming and the great resurrection day are right at hand. In all probability you will live to see it, for there be millions of people on the earth to-day who will live till the opening heavens shall reveal Jesus coming in the clouds. But you ask, How do you know this so definitely? How can you say so positively that the resurrection day is right at hand? It is plain enough. We “see all these things” that the Master gives as the signs to precede His coming. It is not one or two things that we see, but multiplied evidences have arisen as massive monuments all about us, and by these things we do “know” that the great and final day that ends earth’s career of sin is right at hand. But again you ask, “What are these things?” Have you never read in the Bible that the days just before the second coming of Christ would be full of the war spirit? that the nations of earth would be angry? And have you not read that, notwithstanding this war spirit that fills the earth at the close of time, there will be many who will be saying that it only means “peace and safety”? Have you not read in the Word of God of the men who, by oppressing the laborer, heap treasure together for the last days? Have you not read that which is written in the Book about the vice and drunkenness and violence, even as it was in the days of Noah and Sodom, that shall fill the world at the close of time? Have you not read of the raging of the stormy elements that will lay the earth desolate, break down its great cities, and finally cause it to reel to and fro like the staggering drunkard? And have you not read that these evils and terrors will continue till the faces of men shall gather blackness and their hearts shall fail them for fear and for looking after those things that are coming on the earth? And are you not seeing all these things to-day? The foregoing are among the “all things” that the Saviour said we might “see,” and seeing them might “know that He is near, even at the doors.” The “all things” that we are to see are all revealed clearly in the Bible. And since Jesus says we are to “see” and “know,” we should search diligently in the Book of Books in order that we may see what He has so clearly revealed, and thereby know what He desires should be known by every one of us. It is only just a little while till we shall see Jesus in person. And when we see Him, we shall also hear His voice, as He calls all the sleeping saints to life. O, the thrill of the moments in which we live! O, the joy at the thought of that happy and eternal reunion! Are you ready for it? The time is right at hand. The great resurrection day, with all its glories, is about to break upon us. Hail, happy day! And may the Lord hasten the time.