WHEN the apostle Paul was taken to Rome as a prisoner he sought an interview with the leading Jews, that he might explain to them why he, a once prominent Jew, was in chains. He wanted them to understand that, while he was a prisoner because of charges preferred against him by Jews, yet he had committed nothing against the people or customs of the fathers. Altho he was a prisoner at the instigation of leading men in Jerusalem, yet, he declared, it was "for the hope of Israel" that he was bound. Acts 28 : 17-20. At the time of Paul's arrest in Jerusalem the captain of the Roman guard took him before the Jewish council in order to find out what they had against him. Paul—seeing that in the audience were both Pharisees, who believed in a resurrection, and Sadducees, who did not so believe—cried out, "I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question." Acts 23 : 6. This caused such a commotion that Paul was hastened off to prison again in order to quiet the rival factions. But Paul's real offense was that he had been preaching the Gospel of Christ, and it was this that he called the "hope of Israel," that hope being "the resurrection of the dead." This is in harmony with Paul's hope as expressed in his epistle to the Philippians. Here he declares that he "suffered the loss of all things" in order to gain the righteousness of Christ. All this, he says, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Phil. 3 : 8-11. This shows that the resurrection of the dead has been the hope of the Gospel from the beginning. Man came under the condemnation of death because of sin (Gen. 3 : 19), and redemption could mean nothing else than salvation from death. The first man was driven away from the tree of life lest he should eat and live forever. Gen. 3 : 22-24. This made his death sure, and entailed death upon his posterity. "So in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Cor. 15 : 22. But even then all will not be saved. "For the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the 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. In 1 Cor. 15 : 12-18 we are shown the absolute necessity of a resurrection in order that the dead may have life at all. In 1 Thess. 4 : 13-17 we have portrayed the manner of the resurrection of the righteous dead, together with the translation of their righteous brethren who may be living at that time. And in Revelation 20 it is explained that there will be a period of time between the resurrection of the righteous and that of the wicked. The first is called "the first resurrection," and a blessing is pronounced upon those who have part in it. Verses 5, 6. Those who come up in the second resurrection will suffer a "second death." So "the hope of Israel," the hope that the apostle Paul entertained, the hope of the Gospel, the hope of eternal life, is dependent upon having a part in the first resurrection, or a translation to immortality of those who are living when Christ comes in glory. All who have not this hope will be "destroyed by the brightness of His coming." The same power that will give life to the righteous will inflict death upon the unrighteous. It is simply a matter of choice and of faith upon which side we shall stand, and in which resurrection we shall appear.