CHAPTER XI.

 

THE RESURRECTION.

 

 

IN our last chapter we made an effort to give you the location of the dead, both of the good and of the bad; of the good both before and after the resurrection of Jesus, and of the bad both before and after the judgment.  Now it is our pur­pose to discuss the resurrection of both the good and of the bad, at the second coming of Jesus.

The points we shall attempt to establish may be enumerated thus:

     1.  A Resurrection of Both Just and Unjust.

     2. The Resurrection of the Just Precedes the Resurrection of the Unjust a Thousand Years.

     3.  The Nature of Each Resurrection.

     4.  The Time of Each Resurrection.

     5. The First Resurrection Contains Different Companies.

     6.   A Contention Over the Bodies of the Saints.

     7. The State of Both Saints and Sinners After Resurrection.

 

     May the Lord assist us as we pass on.

1.  A Resurrection of Both Just and Unjust: “There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.”— Acts 24: 15.  “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.

2.  The Resurrection of the Just Precedes the Resurrection of the Unjust a Thousand Years.  “The dead in Christ shall rise first.”—1 Thes. 4: 16.  This can not mean that “the dead” rise before the “alive” are caught up for Paul says,

 

64

 

THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS.

 

 

“We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them.”  If we who are alive shall be caught up together with the dead in Christ, then surely the “rising first” does not refer to those who are dead going before those who are alive.  So the reference is to the dead in Christ going before the dead in sin.  “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resur­rection . . . . they shall reign with Christ a thousand years.” —Rev. 20: 6.  “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.”—Rev. 20: 5.

     These verses, as well as the whole of the twentieth chapter of Revelation, should prove to any one that there are to be two resurrections, the one of the righteous, the other of the wicked, with a thousand years between the two.

     3. The Nature of Each Resurrection.  So many try to spirit­ualize everything in the Bible.  They tell us that the resurrec­tion of the saints is a spiritual one, taking place at conversion.  This theory, however, denies the clear statement of God’s Word.  Paul was speaking to a class of people about this when he said, “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 . . . . so also is the resurrection of the dead.”—1 Cor. 15: 35‑42.  In this, the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians, the truth of the resurrection of the body is clearly taught.  Just as grain grows out of a grain of wheat that has fallen into the ground and died, so from our bodies that have decayed and returned to the dust there will spring a resurrected body.  The fact that God has provided a resurrection for the smallest grain is a strong argument in favor of the resurrection of our bodies, as well as an illustration of the nature of the resurrection.  Feed this body to the fowls of the air, letting one fly east, one fly west, one fly north, and one fly south, or grind it into powder and scatter it upon the bosom of the sea: yet at the word of

65

 

THE RESURRECTION.

 

 

Jehovah this body must come forth and unite with this soul again.  With what body will the dead rise? Surely the same body, yet in a different state.  Wheat bears wheat, corn bears corn; and yet not the identical grain that is planted.  “So also is the resurrection of the dead.  It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.”—1 Cor. 15: 42-­44.  A glance at the Savior after His resurrection will give us a further insight into the nature of the resurrection of the saints.  We know that He did not depend upon natural means for travel, as He did before His death.  He moved about in a mysterious way.  Walls of stone did not bar Him out.  “We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him.”— 1 John 3:2.  While the saints are to be raised in honor and glory, the sinners are to be raised in corruption.  “Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”— Dan. 12: 2.  The Word teaches, then, that when the resurrec­tion shall come the saints shall be raised in incorruption, even like unto the body of the Son of Man; while the sinners will be raised in corruption and dishonor.

     4. The Time of Each Resurrection.

Paul speaks of a class of people “Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.”—2 Tim. 2: 18.  This class of people are getting numerous.  If men would only take the plain statements of God’s Word they could see things properly.  The time of the resurrection is certainly located at the second coming of Jesus.  “Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.  For . . . . 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 . . . and the dead in Christ shall rise.”—1 Thes. 4: 14‑16.

     Thus the time of the resurrection of the dead in Christ is

 

66

 

THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS.

 

 

placed at the coming of the Lord after His Bride; while from Rev. 20th chapter, we learn that the resurrection of the wicked will take place at the close of the Millennium.

5. The First Resurrection Contains Different Companies.  So many think that all the saints of the ages will be resurrected at the same time.  This is contrary to Scripture.  Paul says, “Every man in his own order.”—1 Cor. 15: 23.  The Greek word here used for “order” is “tagma,” which is a military term, and means “settled order, rank, or company.”  This shows that there are different ranks in the resurrection, and that every man must take his place in his proper company.

     In 1 Thes. 4: 16, we find another military term.  It is keleusma.”  This word translated “shout” means a war cry.  It is the cry of the commander to his soldiers as they are lying on the earth without order.  It is the commander’s cry for them to arise and fall into their respective places or orders.  So this farther bears out the idea that the first resurrection is divided into companies.  This truth is so clearly taught in the Bible.  In Matt. 27: 52, 53, we read of the resurrection of many of the Old Testament saints.  This occurred at their deliverance from Sheol.  They have been in their resurrected state ever since, of course.  Paul states that he was striving that by some means he “might attain unto the resurrection out from the dead.”—Phil. 3: 11.  According to Paul’s teaching on the resurrection elsewhere, he certainly knew that he would be “in the first resurrection,” but here he states that he is pressing on, as though he had not already attained unto “the mark of the prize of the high calling of God.”  Paul had already attained unto the mark of the first resurrection (Rev. 20: 6), yet he was striving that he might be in the resurrection out from among the dead.  In other words, Paul wanted to be in the first company of the saints.  Turning to the Book of Reve­lation, we find several companies all included in the first resurrection.  It is also evident that these companies come up

 

67

 

THE RESURRECTION.

 

 

subsequent one to another.  First, the Living Ones and Elders (Rev. 4: 4, 6).  These are caught up before The Tribulation begins.  In Rev. 7: 9‑17, we see another company who came out of The Tribulation, The Great.  In the 14th chapter we see still another company who lived during The Tribulation (Rev. 9: 4; 14: 1); but who are there in the resurrected body.  In Rev. 15: 2, we see another company; and in Rev. 19: 9, still another company are called to the Marriage Supper.  Thus we see a goodly number of companies taking their places in the “armies of heaven” (Rev. 19: 14), all of whom are included in the “first resurrection” (Rev. 20: 4‑6).

     6. A Contention Over the Bodies of the Saints.

Moses died and was buried, but he appeared with Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration “in glory,” while the other saints were in Hades.  He must, therefore, have been raised from the dead—raised in advance of the general resurrection of the saints.  Some say that this can not be true, quoting 1 Cor. 15: 23, “Christ the first‑fruits.”  That is the rule; but per­haps Moses was an exception to the rule.  In John 3: 13, we read the positive statement, “No man hath ascended up to heaven;” yet in 2 Kings 2: 11, we read another positive state­ment, “Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”  The Bible is a book of general principles.  Jesus made a general statement in John 3: 13, yet Elijah was an exception to the rule.  So might Moses be an exception in being resurrected before Christ; Moses being a type of the resurrected saints at the second coming, and Elijah being a type of the translated saints.  If I am right in this view, then the dispute “about the body of Moses” (Jude 9) was a contention about his resur­rection; Michael contending for the recovery of that body from death, and the devil contending against it.  The dispute resulted in the defeat of the devil, and the resurrection of Moses.  So at the first resurrection when Michael shall come to unlock the graves of “many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth” (Dan. 12: 1, 2), the devil will present himself

 

68

 

THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS.

 

 

to accuse the children of God.  The battle is fought between the same agents as before and with the same result.  This is all brought out clearly in the 12th chapter of Revelation, where we notice the birth of the man‑child (Greek, “arsen,” a neuter collective noun, applying to both men and women) typifying the resurrection and translation of the saints at the last day.  At the same time that the saints are caught up into the air (1 Thes. 4: 17) there occurs a war in heaven, or the upper air.  The battle is not fought “with confused noise and garments rolled in blood;” but “It is the war of mind with mind, of malignant and hellish intellect inflamed with desperate hate and anger against the intellect, reason, and right of heaven, a war which has its type rather in some tremendous forensic battle, where giants of the law dispute and contend, each intent on the victory.”—Seiss.

Every child of God embraced in this man‑child was born in sin, and has from time to time transgressed the law of God; upon this ground the devil accuses the child, and stands up against the resurrection of his body.  No saint receives his crown until he is resurrected (2 Tim. 4: 8); hence this attack of the devil is to keep the saints from receiving their crown.  They overcome by the “blood of the Lamb.”  Woe, at that day, to all who today are trusting anything save the blood!  The blood at that time, will be our only plea for our resur­rected bodies.  The battle results in the resurrection and trans­lation of the saints, and the casting of Satan from the skies.

     7. The State of Both Saint and Sinner After Resurrection.

This is easy to determine.  The saints are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, where they are in a state of perfect happi­ness; while the sinners are cast both soul and body (Matt. 10: 28) into hell, where they are in a state of misery.

Thus we have shown you that there is to be a resurrection both of the just and of the unjust; that there will be a thous­and years between these resurrections; the nature of each

69

 

THE RESURRECTION.

 

 

resurrection; the time of each resurrection; that the first resur­rection is divided into different companies; that there will be a contention over the bodies of the saints; and the state of both saint and sinner after resurrection. 

     May God add His blessings.