p. 1 | THE RESURRECTION by C. W. Stone

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 24, 1879

THE RESURRECTION.

By C. W. Stone

BY C. W. STONE.

(Continued.)

We will next examine the teachings of the apostle Paul. It will not take long to determine what he believed, for he tells us very plainly that he had hope toward God, “that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” Acts 24: 15. You have been ready to exclaim for some time that you believe in the resurrection. Yes; but do you not by this time see that the doctrine is made very prominent in the Scriptures? that it is set forth as the hope of the Christian? and that without the resurrection his hope is lost? Paul styles it the “hope of Israel.” In Acts 28: 20 he says, “For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.” That this hope was the resurrection, or something to be received through it, is shown from the first part of chapter 26. In verses 6–8, he says, as he stands bound before Agrippa, “And now

I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers; unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?”

This closing question of Paul’s shows just what it was that he was persecuted for. It was for preaching the resurrection of the dead, especially the resurrection of Christ. And he proved the resurrection of all the dead by, or, rather, rested it upon, the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, and represented it as that through which all Israel hoped to receive the promise made of God unto the fathers. That promise was made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. See Gen. 13: 14–17; 26: 1–4; 28: 13–15. It included the whole world. Rom. 4: 14. God promised it to Abraham and his seed. That seed is Christ. Gal. 3: 16. If we are Christ’s children, then we are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Verse 29. But Abraham and all his heirs to the present time have “died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off.” Heb. 11: 13. Abraham never received a square foot of the land God promised him. Acts 7: 5. God has foreseen something better for us, that we should have our reward at the same time Abraham receives his. Heb. 11: 40.

But now comes the point,—How is Abraham to receive that inheritance? He is dead. Now if he has an immortal soul that has gone to its reward, certainly the earth is not included in that reward; and if men are continually leaving this earth at death, to dwell eternally in Heaven, that promise made of God unto the fathers can never be fulfilled. But if Abraham is raised from the dead, brought up out of the grave in which he now sleeps, and invited with all his righteous seed to inherit the kingdom prepared for the blessed from the foundation of the world (Matt. 25: 34), then will the promise of God be fulfilled, “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” Matt. 5: 5. The literal resurrection of the dead is proved by this line of argument, and its absolute necessity is seen from the fact that God’s word could not be fulfilled without it. Hence, if there be no resurrection, our hope is lost. And that is precisely what Paul says in 1 Cor. 15: 13–18. Thus: “But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen; and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. . . . Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” Thus the whole gospel is of no use if the dead rise not. The pious, godly men of old, and all our dear ones who sleep in Jesus, are perished if there be no resurrection.

Pause here, dear reader. Do you believe all those good people are now in Heaven? Then the resurrection is a matter of little concern to them. They are all right without it. But no; they are not in Heaven, and they can never go there till they are raised from the dead; and if the dead are not to be raised, then they are all perished. Do you not see the infinite importance of the resurrection? Do you wonder that God has said so much in his Bible to enlighten us upon this matter, when our eternal interests hinge upon it? And remember that the Bible doctrine of the resurrection annihilates that other doctrine of man’s natural immortality, and his entrance into Heaven at death.

In many places in the Bible we find it stated that there shall be a resurrection of both righteous and wicked. We learn from Rev. 20: 5, 6, that the righteous have part in the first resurrection, and that the wicked dead do not live again until a thousand years later. In Rev. 19: 11–21 is given a grand description of the coming of Christ, and of a portion of the events which will attend his coming. He is represented as riding at the head of the armies of Heaven. On his head are many crowns, and his vesture is dipped in blood. He comes as a terror to his enemies. On his thigh is a name written,—“King of kings, and Lord of lords.” He will smite the nations, and rule them with a rod of iron; “and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” An angel stands in the sun, and invites all the fowls of the air to gather themselves together “to the supper of the great God,” to eat the flesh of kings, of mighty men, of horses and their riders, and of wicked men of all classes and ranks.

This is the time when that dreadful prayer is heard from these same persons, who address the reeling mountains, and say, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.” Rev. 6: 14–17. But it is too late for them to pray. To-day, “if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 2: 1. He is ready to plead your cause to-day, dear reader, and he invites you to come to him. But by and by he will plead no more. Mercy’s voice will be hushed, the door of the ark will be closed. Oh! the anguish of that hour, when the sinner shall realize that “he that is unjust” must forever so remain! Rev. 22: 11, 12. Repentance can avail nothing then. The sinner cannot bear the sight of the awful glory of the coming King, and he desires to be hidden from the face of Him whose pleadings he rejected, and who now comes to execute the just vengeance of an offended God. The wicked cannot endure the sight. The vials of wrath unmixed have fallen on their unsheltered heads; “and the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, . . . and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.” Rev. 19: 21. Dread carnival of man’s last enemy, death! A dismal silence, unbroken save by the shrieks of vultures and the wail of demons, reigns on the depopulated earth.

Jeremiah had a view of the earth thus torn and disinhabited. “The slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried: they shall be dung upon the ground.” Jer. 25: 33. They will not be buried, for there will not be a living man on earth to do it. In another place he gives further particulars, thus: “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.” Jer. 4: 23. The earth will be reduced to that state of disorder and chaos in which it was when God created it, and again shall darkness rest upon the face of the deep. Gen. 1: 2. “I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger. . . . For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.” Jer. 4: 24–28. The word of the Lord is pledged for it, and it will certainly come to pass.

It is now proper to ask, Where are the children of God during and after these terrible scenes? All that part of Rev. 19 which we have examined speaks only of the fate of the wicked living at the advent of Christ. But the Lord does not leave his people hopeless. Even before he made the panorama of this terrible slaughter to pass before the mind of the beloved John, he caused him to hear the glad songs of triumph as they will be sung by the redeemed hosts on the banks of eternal deliverance. The chapter opens thus: “I heard a great voice of much people in Heaven, saying, Alleluia; salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God.”

Just so when Jesus comes, it will be his first care to protect his people. “He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect, from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matt. 24: 31. When that trumpet shall sound, the resurrection takes place. “We shall not all sleep,” says Paul, some will be alive when the Lord comes, “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.” At that time we are to put on something that we never have had before; namely, immortality. When this shall have been done, “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?” The grave has long had the victory; but when it is unlocked, and the prisoners spring to life, when they hear his voice, and come forth, then will they shout in ecstatic joy, Where now, O grave, where now is thy victory? You have held us a little while; you have had a momentary victory, “but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 15: 51–57.

Paul wrote further particulars in his letter of consolation to the Thessalonians, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him [bring them from the dead as he did Jesus]. 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 [go before] them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first [the rest of the dead, the wicked, do not rise till a thousand years after. This is the first resurrection. Rev. 20: 5]. 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: 14–17.

The Lord comes down from Heaven; the dead in Christ come up from the graves, and with the living saints ascend to meet the Lord.

Some have tried to show that the saints remain in the air until the earth is purified, and that they are returned to the earth without having been taken to Heaven at all. That this is a baseless theory will clearly appear as we proceed. Paul says they are caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. Jeremiah says the earth is left without a man on it. Jer. 4: 25. Jesus said that his followers should go to Heaven when he comes, which forever settles the point. Said he to Peter, “Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterward.” Jesus was speaking of going to his Father, and this is a direct promise that his disciples shall go there too. And he tells when that shall be; namely, at his coming. Thus: “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” Then, as if to make the truth doubly plain, John is permitted to look into the future and see the redeemed on Mount Zion. “And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, . . . and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.”

Now we are prepared to return to Revelation 19, where it is recorded that John “heard a great voice of much people in Heaven.” We have noticed the supper to which “all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven” are invited, spoken of in verses 17, 18, and 21. A supper of quite a different character is spoken of in verse 9. It is the marriage supper of the Lamb. The saints of God will be the guests. You have read of Jesus, as he lived a life of humility and sorrow. He was “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Isa. 53. For us he wore the purple robe and the crown of thorns. For us he was spit upon, whipped, and crucified. Oh, what humility for the Son of God to endure! He will never have to suffer again. He is coming in terrible majesty as King of kings, clad in garments of vengeance. Thus his foes will see him; but his waiting saints will exclaim, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isa. 25: 9. His coming will be the source of the greatest joy to them. They receive him as their Redeemer and King. But they will never behold him in his humility again. “Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.” This is the marriage supper of the Lamb. And He to whom his guests owe their salvation, who died for them, who is their King,—the Host, the Bridegroom,—will gird himself and serve them. What earthly monarch ever treated his servants with such honor? Infinite condescension and love! The good of all ages will be there. Parents and children, brothers and sisters, dear ones whom death has separated, will sit side by side at that beautiful table. Oh, what bliss untold! Jesus will look with joy upon the happy company, and as he thinks of what his sufferings have bought for them, he will be satisfied. This will be his joy. Shall we see some there saved through our labors? If so, then we can truly “enter into the joy” of our Lord.

Reader, need I ask which of these two suppers you wish to attend? Nay, pause a moment; you must attend one of them. You are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Will you try to be there? Do not make excuses, as did the men in the parable (Luke 14: 15–24); for if you do, others will be invited in your place. “Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Rev. 19: 9. But if you are not among these, you will have part in that dread supper of the great God, prepared for the filthy birds of prey. The former was purchased for you by the blood of Christ; the latter comes as the wages of sin. Will you comply with the terms, and accept the free gift of the first, or will you continue in carelessness to labor for the second? May God help you and me to make a wise choice.

(To be continued.)