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General meeting, Toledo, November 1976. Third reading meeting.
We're at the 39th 1St.
1St Corinthians 15 verse 39.
All flesh, not the same flesh.
But there is one kind of flesh of men.
Another flesh of beasts.
Another fishes and another birds.
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There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial.
With the glory of the celestial as one.
And the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars. For one star different from another star in glory.
So also as a 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 an unnatural body. It has raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body.
And so it is written. The first man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
How be it that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural and afterwards that which is spiritual?
The first manners of the earth, earthy the 2nd man is the Lord from heaven.
That is the earthy such are they also that are earthy, and as is the heavenly.
Such as they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Neither does corruption inherit incorruption. 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 that corruptible shall I put on interruption, and this mortality shall I put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass in saying that his written death is swallowed up in victory.
Death, where is I sting, O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us a victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
I.
The expression in corruption.
I believe the thought is.
A state that can never be corrupted again.
Here in resurrection life, it isn't simply that the state itself is one of interruption, but it means that its character is such that it can never be corrupted.
That's the way the new translation reads, and it seems so remarkable. It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruptibility. It's really so beautiful to see the distinction. One would expect it to say in corruption. But incorruptibility is that which never could be corrupted again. The Apostle Paul contrasts his ministry. I say his ministry, I mean.
The ministry that he was specially given by revelation.
Which this is a part of Indiana, the 2nd Corinthians with the ministry of the law.
Now he shows how that the ministry under the law was introduced with glory.
There was a gathering of all of the elders of Israel with Moses, and there was a pavilion of sapphire stones where they met with the God of Israel, and they ate and drank.
And the angels were there, myriads of angels. It was all attended with glory. But Paul says I have a ministry that exceeds all this.
And it's a ministry of the Spirit, and it's a ministry of righteousness. Now those two things connected with glory, just think of them for a moment. Righteousness and the spirit, we we see that in Corinthians, the deep things of God that's mentioned.
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In the second chapter, I believe of First Corinthians, the deep things of God the Beloved, are they not those things which have to do with his nature and with his Holy Spirit? And think of being brought into that sphere where there's no possibility ever again of of any corruption, never a possibility again.
Of grieving the spirit.
As we do down here, but also just the contrast. Everything will be attended with glory, a glory that so far exceeds the glory that introduced the law that it can't even be mentioned, the old glory, so that we we're thinking of things this afternoon.
That's connected with the glories of Christ, which brings us in relationship with them that nothing can exceed.
It's so great. It's so wonderful. It's so high. And so in our our verses here he's he's beginning to speak of of the flesh and then he goes on until he speaks of the spiritual and brings us right into the very image that we will take on in that day.
Striking, isn't it? The subject where we started reading all plesh is not the same place.
Was mentioned this morning that while we are considering very deep truths, yet God can use simple illustrations to give us an understanding of the meaning of what the Spirit of God has before us. And so in this 39th verse, all flesh is not the same flesh, but there's one kind of flesh of men.
Another flesh of these to another of fishes and another of birds. Now God in his wisdom has created various creatures and animals to live in a certain sphere, That is, there are animals there to walk on the earth. There are fishes that live in the water, couldn't live out of the water, and they are birds that live in the air, fly on the air.
Well, now God in his wisdom has.
Prepared bodies suited to the scene into which they're to dwell in glory with Christ, if we were to translate it to heaven In our bodies as they are now, we carry all our miseries and all our afflictions with us. But God has foreseen something far better than for us to be in heaven with bodies where we groan as down here.
And so he has fitted us. He will fit us for a scene, and the very bodies that He's going to give us in the resurrection scene will be perfectly adapted to that wonderful region where we shall dwell with God's beloved Son. So he uses this illustration. The fish doesn't go on land. He'd die.
And the bird doesn't go underwater. That's not his.
That's not his realm. So now we're to be not only resurrected.
And changed in the twinkling of an eye as we get in the 51St verse. But we are to be admitted into a scene where we're perfectly adapted to that scene where these glorified bodies shall dwell in all their wonderful.
Marvelous change that takes place when the Lord comes for his own.
Remarkable that it says too, isn't that they're also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial.
And the glory of the celestial is 1 And the glory of the terrestrial is another, showing us that there will be those who will be glorified with Christ above. That's the Celestial. But those who dwell upon the earth in the eternal state will have bodies suited to the earth too, glorified terrestrial bodies, so that they will be no corruption in the earthly scene either.
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But there will be a different body given to those who share in the heavenly scene, to those who will share in the blessing of the earthly scene.
Jenny thought about one star differing from another in glory.
I don't think there's any graduation there, do you?
According to the teaching of our old writers, you know, it's just an illustration to illustrate what's coming, isn't it?
There is no such thing as anyone said above another. That's not the thought, is it?
OK, fine brother. First chapter of Genesis, that on the third day we find that God there speaks twice as that which he has seen as being very good or being good. And one has enjoyed noticing that the first time is in connection with the waters being gathered together onto one place, and the dry land appears, and it's at that point that the Lord says that it was good.
Well, it seems to me that we have there in tight God, giving us to see that the work of Christ the Calvary is such that has glorified God, established the basis for blessing for man. The dry land appears, and yet if not one soul had been saved at all, it would still have had immense value in the eyes of God. It was good. But then we find it goes on to say that there is fruit.
And the fruit that is produced is after his kind. And so we find that God in his wondrous grace again says that it is good, because the work of Christ and Calvary has not only glorified God, immense as that is, but there has been fruit, And the fruit that has been produced is after his kind, after the kind of the seed that, as we had this morning, fell into the ground and died.
And so we find here in our chapter that it specifically says that God gives it a body as it hath pleased him. And so we look to the word to find out what kind of a body has God been pleased to tell us We'll be our portion in glory. And we find, beloved brethren, that the body that God has prepared for us to have in the glory is a body fashioned like unto his body of glory.
We find in first John chapter three, that it tells us that it does not yet appear what we shall be. And so it is that we find now we don't manifest now that body that we will have. But God has told us, and to our own soul it's so precious that God has revealed to us what His purpose is, what the body he has been pleased to have for his own. And that body is tells us in Romans chapter 8.
That we have been predestinated to be conformed to the image of God's Son, that we should have bodies fashioned like unto his body of glory. It seems to my own soul here in this chapter that we are shown how that in the type the Lord Jesus had to die and he has brought forth fruit. But it's also true of us that is that our old standing, our old position in Adam comes to an end.
It dies. God can do nothing with the old man except condemn it. And so the word of God says, ye are dead. But in resurrection we're given to know the wondrous joy, the wondrous truth that we are going to be just like Christ. And why? Because God has been pleased to have its own. He pleases it to be so. And as it tells us in that 38th verse, God giveth it a body as it has pleased him.
Interesting and.
In uncomforting, isn't it that in connection with the burial of a child of God, it doesn't speak of burial, it speaks of sowing, so it says.
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So also is the resurrection of the day. It is so 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, so on so that in laying aside the body of a child of God, it isn't a hopeless thought like the world.
I can all man I knew when his wife died. He is an unbeliever and often pulls the Bible and talking to me when his wife died. So it's all over tall over, just perfect.
Distress and no hope whatever.
That his partnership with his wife, that he loved dearly, was all over. This light pleasures had ended well. How different from for the believer it is soon we don't put the there are seeds of flowers in the ground just to bury them and never expect to see any fruit from it. We put those in the ground. We saw it because we perfectly have confidence in the seed that it will come up.
And produce something beautiful and lovely. More lovely and more beautiful than the seed that goes into the ground. Well, what marvelous contrasts are brought before us in these verses you get here. It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. That's just what you were speaking about, wasn't it, Brother Lundeen? A body that can never go into corruption again.
We never end the dishonor again.
Like the next verse says.
It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory.
My brother spoke about the the bulb. It looks pretty rough when you put it in the ground and it goes through the winter, but the flowers not like that, is it?
These illustrations, these natural illustrations help us, don't they do, to see what's coming?
Those seeds have to have life that we plant or they don't come up. That's that's true with the sewing of the of the body too. We're not going to get a new life, that resurrection. We already have it so that the pretender, the mere professor, although he looks like.
Any of the rest of the real Christians, he hasn't got life, and so that is vital. Resurrection is not quickening, It's not the giving, giving of life. Those seats have to have life. We sow some seeds and they don't have life and they don't come up.
The resurrection is a very different thing. It involves the reunion of the body and soul with the body, soul and spirit. So.
Here we're looking at resurrection and when.
A dear St. of God is put away. It's just the sowing of the seed, and God is the one who is going to fall. For the one who said, I am he that liveth and was that, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of heaven, of death, so that the Lord Jesus in his time will fall forth those sleeping Saints.
There will be, of course, the resurrection of those who have died in their sins, and it's remarkable that the Scripture is silent as to what body they will have in resurrection, that they will be raised. The Scripture makes very clear. But the IT couldn't be said that it's incorruptible. It couldn't be spoken now as being raised in in power. It's the manifestation of God's power. But.
As our brother remarked, when God spoke of the body that he is given by, it's very good. But when we think of those who have died in their sins being raised, Scripture doesn't tell us. Perhaps they'll come forth in the very bodies in which they abuse their their lives here with sin, and have to suffer the result of that for all eternity. It's a very solemn thought that the Scripture never makes any mention of what kind of bodies they.
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Wicked dead will have in resurrection, but that they will be raised is no question. The scripture makes that very clear. The resurrection of the just and the unjust, The resurrection of damnation.
At the expression there it is so the dishonor. It is raised in glory that once and for all settles the question as to our being eternally saved When we leave this scene, if we dive trusting in Christ, everything is settled for all eternity, and the wretched doctrine that pervades some parts of Christendom.
That after you get to the judgment seat, it'll be determined there whether you are works were sufficient that you could be in heaven, or whether your works were such that you'll be condemned to hell. Now this would forever refute such an argument as that because the body, when it comes from the grave, it comes in glory. It comes out of the grave as a glorified body.
Well, to suggest for a moment that that body of glory.
Would be tried before it could have its joys in heaven. And and some might be confined and sent to a lost eternity to suggest such a thing. As to answer it, it couldn't be. Could God send a glorified body into hell? Boy, it's impossible. It shows how absolutely secure.
He is a believer that trusts in Christ, and when he dies, why everything is settled for his soul, for all eternities. So when he comes out of the grave, he comes in a glorified state where he will spend eternity with Christ and there's no possibility of his ever being lost.
The spiritual bodies too. I'll wouldn't it be glorified and spiritual both and the rest of that verse?
Who speaks of?
Shown in.
Shown in weakness.
Yes, the end of the 33rd verse, sown in weakness, is raised in power now in Ephesians 1.
I like to think of that in connection with it in the 18 verse or.
Yes, the 18th verse.
This is the the prayer, the first prayer of the Apostle in Ephesians. The eyes of your understanding or hearts being enlightened, that she may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe according to the working of.
His mighty power, or the might of his power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead.
And set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.
Far above all principality, and power, and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth All in all.
Now this was the apostles prayer that the believer might be in the good of what the Spirit brings, that is the anointing, the intelligence, the understanding, the entering into these things that belong to us.
And although it's weakness now, we're going to be raised in power, just like Christ was raised.
Out from among the dead. In connection with that, I was looking at First Corinthians, the first chapter, and I was wondering about that 25th verse.
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We have the the word weakness there. The apostle is using this, no doubt.
To remind the Saints at Corinth that everything that belonged to the first man was worthless in the in the light of what God was bringing in in the new order. And so we have this expression here in the 25th 1St weakness of God.
Is that not associated with the place that Christ took on the cross as God?
Setting before us that which of course was not weakness in the sense that.
There's nothing weak about God, but he took that place. He took that place to show how far he would come to meet us in our need.
Remember Brother Brown saying this one time that there's nothing honorable about dying?
It's a beautiful thing to see a strong man, a very intelligent woman, one who has been lovely and had.
A place in this life. See them struggling, trying to get their breath and finally passing out. Nothing honorable about that, but what a contrast sown in weakness, raised in glory. What a marvelous thing takes place.
When the Lord comes and gives that shout in the air, should the Lord tire, there may be some of us here that will.
Will experience that weakness and leaving this poor world, these poor bodies wear out the jaw, our last breath, and we're no longer here. But we have that glorious and wonderful promise that though that body is lower, Lord into the grave, it's going to come out with a mighty power.
As you said, Brother Lundeen, giving the illustration of the power that brought the Lord out of death when he had leaned there in that tomb, I love to think about how they roll that stone to the door of the Sepulchre and seal it. Where the seal of the Roman Emperor. Well, who would dare to interfere with the seal of the greatest emperor that ever lived on the earth?
There his orders were, Don't disturb that sepulchre. But when the Angel came down from heaven, his raiment was quite as the light. And had he any fear of that seal of that Roman emperor, roll that stone back, and broke that seal? Not to let the Lord's body come out of that tomb, but to show to his own that he was not there?
He could say to the women.
Come see the place where the Lord lay, or what a triumph the resurrection really is, beloved, how little we enter into it. But the amazing and marvelous thing, as you brought before us, is to see that resurrection in the very one who is head of the whole resurrection company, already raised and already seated in highest glory.
Says of the Lord Jesus in Corinth, Second Corinthians. He was crucified in weakness, but he liveth by the power of God.
But we must distinguish between the death of a believer and the death of the Lord Jesus in this and that. His body never saw corruption, never could see corruption. And so as soon as a natural man dies, the body immediately begins to corrupt. But not so with the Lord Jesus. There was nothing that could ever touch that blessed holy body that he took, whether in life or death, that in any way was characterized by corruption.
His triumph was a mighty triumph over death. But with believers, when they die, oh how many marks we have already. And after death more of corruption, that is, we see age come on, Gray hairs, all those constant reminders that the body breaks down. This was never so with the Lord Jesus. But that triumph that was displayed when he rose is going to bring out those who are sown in dishonor.
The Lord Jesus wasn't sown in dishonor, but with us it's sold. But all what a marvelous thing. The ones who come forth won't have any marks of sin. There will be no Gray hairs. We think about recognizing those who have gone before, but it will be because of divine perception, not because of the necessary similarity, because the bodies in glory will have the view of youth as we read in the Psalms.
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That all the freshness of the body that the Lord Jesus took in resurrection.
Well, I just mentioned that because the Lord's body never saw corruption, never could. The body of a believer may if the Lord doesn't come, but the triumph will be as complete when He raises us to be fashion like himself.
Now this may be a thought a little far into what we've been talking about, but you know Joseph of Armenia, Arimathea had a new sepulchre human, Oliver Rock. He was a wealthy man, and doubtless he wanted his body in a perfectly clean.
Tomb where no corruption had ever taken place that saw no corruption and connection with his burial place.
And he gave it over to the Lord all that night. He was that day when the Lord was taken down here, Aramoth, his soul was so touched. Give his tomb. Give my tomb to him. Bury him there. Did the Lord in any way cause any anything that would not be pleasant in that sepulchre? He saw no corruption. He didn't miss anything by turning his.
Lovely sepulcher that he and HyunA had hewn out of the rock for his burial by giving it to the Lord.
And is there not a lesson for us in that, that anything we give to the Lord will have no regret? There's nothing that will ever cause.
Sorrow or disappointment about it, we can hand anything over to him, just like the little boy that handed over the five loaves and the two fishes, He is never sorry for taking his little lunch and handing it over to the Lord.
For he had the delight of seeing 5000 men, besides women and children, fed with the little that he had provided for himself.
I wonder if it could have been.
That one of the disciples had whispered the jaws of Arimathea. What the Lord said, If I go away, I'll come again. And if that were so, Joseph would never have needed that too, would he?
The thought and the spiritual body is the thought of the life principle of the body, isn't it? It's not that in resurrection we'll be spirits and the Lord Jesus said a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. But the principle of this body is that it has to be sustained through breathing and through oxygen. But the blood is sustained in this way the Lord Jesus shed his blood. And so the life principle in resurrection is spirit.
And we'll have bodies of glory, fashion like unto his own glorious body. And so there will be no blood as we have in the 50th verse. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. But when you and I take our place in that glorious scene above, it will not be flesh and blood. It'll be a body like Christ, flesh and bones. And the life principle will be spirit.
When men went up to the moon, they had to take oxygen because they must breathe. They couldn't live outside of the atmosphere of this world. But when you and I hear that shout, will be changed, and the Lord will take us up into His presence, The bodies will be suited to that passage, into His presence, and glorified like the one who went there as a forerunner, as it says in Hebrews, whether the forerunner is for us entered.
Even Jesus.
It's the same body, though, is it not, Brother? Yes. But change. Change, yeah. I think I mentioned that because I think there's a very practical word for all of us, and I would think especially for the young in this same epistle in chapter six, since it is the same body.
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It shows how important our bodies are to the Lord, and perhaps we are.
Negligent in thinking of the fact that our bodies are the Lords as well as our souls. That is, not only our souls are redeemed, but as we had before us yesterday, our bodies are not yet redeemed, but they're purchased. And I just like to read in verse in the 6th chapter of First Corinthians.
One might read this with profit on their own, but I was thinking in the.
In verse 15 the beginning know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ, and then again in verse 20.
Verse 19 rather what? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you're not your own? For your thought with a price, doesn't that refer to the body? Therefore glorify God in your body.
I believe the words and your spirit are omitted in the better manuscript. The object is that the body here is seen as that which has been purchased. So when we speak about the resurrection, it's the body that is sown as we've been speaking, in weakness and dishonor and corruption. But it's raised in power and glory and incorruptibility and a natural body. But it shows that.
The body that we now have has been bought, purchased by the Lord Jesus, and so he says, therefore glory by God in your body.
Wondering if someone could tell us a little about the thought in Philippians 3 connected with the thoughts our brother Johnson is just.
Philippians chapter 3.
And verse 20 for our conversation.
It is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our not vile body, but body of humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Does that fit in here, too? Yes, indeed, that's what we are Speaking of.
I have wondered if there is perhaps a little distinction between the thought here in Philippians 3 as compared with first John 3.
That is here in Philippians 3. It is very specifically the changing of our body.
That it may be fashioned like under his body of glory. In first John Three it says, It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure.
I have wondered if in first John Three there is not only the prospect of physical conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ, but also moral conformity because of the verse that follows. Every man that hath this hope in him purified himself, even as he is pure. If I rejoice in the fact that I am going to have a body of glory fashioned like his own, if I think about it every day of my life.
It still will have no effect on the aging process of this body that I possess. I'll continue to grow older and show it. But if there is some occupation with the prospect of being morally conformed to him in that day, this hope in him, surely it will have some present effect upon us. It would be a vain thing, I I doubt, not to speak of the fact that all were going to be morally like Christ in that day.
And then no evidence of any present moral conformity to him along the way. Is there that thought in first John 3, every man that had this folk in him? I used to think that was it myself. But I've got to get clear of that. It isn't in myself that I have the whole it's in Christ himself. And having that hope in Christ, the effect is, as you say, that I want to be more like the one that.
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Now I'm going to be like in glory.
I.
And speaking about.
That verse in Philippians 3.
There are some stark reasoning, you know. How can those bodies all be brought back? Sometimes their bodies have been consumed by sharks, and some bodies have been burned in their ashes, scattered to the four winds.
How is it possible for those bodies all that has been disintegrated and has gone so completely? How can they be brought together again? Remember brother Clifford Brown giving this answer? He says there are three words that answer the whole thing. He is able. That's settlement. We don't have to try to puzzle our poor brains and try to understand how it can be, but there it is. He is able.
And when you stop to think that God is infinite.
Thank God, the creation, an infinite creation. Everything connected with God is infinite, isn't it? And if God could take the dust of the ground and form a human body such as we're living in, and then breathed into the nostrils, the breath of life.
And for man in that way, what is there that God can't be? And if God is praised, and he will be pleased to bring all the bodies of his Saints back together?
Why? It's nothing to God at all. He is able, and when the time comes and the Lord gives that shout.
The dead in Christ are going to rise. Whether they are buried in the sea or where they have been buried, they are going to come out.
Is that what the trump of God means, that?
It's the it's the power that that raises the dead. Is that the thought of the trump of God? And I thought Brother Lundine, that trump of God is more the gathering together, isn't it? I don't know. I'm asking. Well, usually a Trump is a thought of gathering the armies together, the soldiers together, the great trumpet being sounded that bring Israel together in the coming days.
The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and I believe a better translation is with Archangel voice.
And trump of gods and the dead in Christ there is the Trump brings them together there is that the thought? Well, the 10th chapter of numbers, when it speaks about the trumpet there, says in the first verse, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Make the two trumpets of silver of a whole piece shalt thou make them, that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps?
And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. And so is your remarked when we come to the Gospels. And the Lord spoke of the coming day, And the gathering back of Israel says he would gather his elect.
With a great sound of a trumpet from the four corners of the Earth saw, I'd like to think of it as you speak.
Alas, many of God's children are scattered now, but when the show is heard, they'll all be gathered unto him.
Those trumpets were used to gather them together at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation to Moses. Well, when the Lord comes with that trump, why there'll be no scattered Saints, they'll all be gathered and all be gathered to him. I like to think of it in that way myself.
He has spoken of in that way too, isn't it in Second Thessalonians chapter 2 where they had lost the present hope of the Lord's return?
And he says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him.
I believe I heard one time that there were three trumpets.
And the Roman army. And the first trumpet sound was to strike the camp and I got their tents and their possessions and get ready to March. And the 2nd trumpet was to fall in line and get ready to go forward. And the last trump, the third trump was to begin to March. And so the reference here is to the last Trump. So we're on that verge of just being called to move on. We need to be ready, don't we?
00:50:21
It said a little later in the chapter. I was the reason I was wondering about the thought it says in the 52nd verse.
For the trumpet shall sound, and the debt shall be raised in corruptible. I was wondering if in that last Trump, that it's the voice that calls forth even the dead as as they're gathered together.
It's the it's the voice of God himself.
That calls forth the dead, and will all be caught up together.
I've rather enjoyed in the 1St Thessalonians 4 where it mentions 3 things there.
The 16th verse. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God. Then 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. That we have the three things there I have rather enjoyed thinking of the shout of the Lord's joy. Then the moment comes when he is going to gather his people the fruit of his work.
To himself it's a shout of triumph and of joy that that moment has come. And then there's the voice of the Archangel speaks of the Archangel in the book of Daniel is standing for the Prince of their standing as the Prince for God's people. And we're told also in Hebrews, that angels are ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them, who shall be heirs of salvation. We know there is an angelic ministry now on behalf of the people of God.
Caring for us in so many ways as we travel through this scene. Well that is come to its end when the church is escorted to glory and then the trump of God, the gathering together to him. What a moment that will be. A moment of joy to the Lord. The wilderness journey being over, we won't need that angelic care. And then the gathering together, no longer scattered, but all gathered together to him.
All this in a moment when the Lord calls us home to be with himself.
And together is a marvelous truth, isn't it? I was thinking of the of the stones of the temple that were cut out there in those caverns. And those stones were raised out of those caverns and placed in that marvelous temple one by one, I suppose. And some of them were very huge, 200 tons, 250 tons each. But I was thinking of the.
They were raised and put into this building.
One at a time. But when the Lord Jesus comes, every stone, every single God is going to be raised up together. Think of the not only his love, but the power of God to do this raised up together. One is suggested that if we could conceive the idea that all those stones were cut out in those caverns, and then all raised together, we might see some contrast as to or comparison as to the mighty power of God.
That will raise all the Saints together when he comes, when the Lord Jesus comes.
Even the expression in First Thessalonians is with an assembling shelter, as though the Lord has just been waiting for this. Oh, at a moment that will be when all are assembled. It will mean a great deal to us, and I hope we're really looking forward to being assembled at last and all, how much it will mean.
To the Lord Jesus. I enjoyed the thought too. It was mentioned at the first meeting that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus was really a work of the Godhead. Each specifically mentioned God raised him from the dead. I have power to lay my life down, and I have power to take it again, quickened by the Spirit. And it's wonderful too to think that this moment that we have been Speaking of is also a work of a whole Godhead.
I just kind of instinctively knew that it would be, but it took me a while to find it. And I must admit I was frustrated in my search because I read 1St Thessalonians 3 and I just knew I would find the whole Godhead there. But I couldn't. The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout.
00:55:18
But the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God, and I read it through no mention of the Spirit. And I searched here and there and could find no mention of the Spirit. That I I just couldn't believe it. I just knew that the whole Godhead had to be active in this marvelous moment till I realized that it was Revelation 22 The spirit and the bride say, come, the Spirit of God has already come down.
Is here indwells the believer and would long to have each one of our hearts saying by his power. Even so come Lord Jesus. And it really touched my heart and searched my heart too, to see the place that the Spirit of God really does have in the moment of the rapture. The place the Spirit of God has if you wish, is within our hearts seeking, inviting if you wish.
Inviting him to come. There is also the passenger Albert in Romans 8 and particularly speaks of his part in the Rapture, Romans 8 and verse 11.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you, I believe that's the rapture.
The earthly man here contrasted with the.
The heavenly.
Now this isn't necessarily, as I take it, bringing in the thought of man and his his condition as he is now, but is simply a contrast, is it not between the 1St and the last, That is the first atom he was made for this earth.
But the believer belongs to entirely new order is not earthy.
It's heavenly and so that it isn't simply future, but it says.
As is the earthy or the earthy ones, such are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly or heavenly one, such are they also that are heavenly. Now this is true. Now is it not that Our Calling is a heavenly 1?
Heavenly people and if we take the whole truth as it's given us in Ephesians.
We're already seated there in the counsels of God, so that we are a heavenly people. Now think of what it will be when the bodies, the spiritual bodies, the glorified bodies, will be joined.
To the believer who already in spirit is heavenly.
This 47th verse gives the subject matter of the whole Bible, doesn't it?
The story of two men. That's what the Bible is all about. The story of two men.
One was thinking of the Lord Jesus coming down and becoming a man. The word was made pleasure.
The Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then in John 14114, I'm going to have to read it.
John's Gospel.
One and verse 14 the word was made plague and dwelt among us. It really says in the best translation became places what he became God came down and became a man, and I believe that in Jesus.
We see that God is just as perfect in humanity as He is in in Vietnam. That is, Jesus is just as perfect in humanity.
As he is in Deity, and nothing one has enjoyed with that.
This wonderful change that that we're going to experience as believers, that we shall be just as like the second man as we have been like the first. That's the perfect work of God. We're going to be just as like the second man as we have been.
01:00:10
Like the first, I'd like to suggest one other scripture about this great change in Luke chapter 20, this great change whereby his table.
The magnitude of it. There's one little phrase here that we haven't touched on that we ought to enjoy. In the 36th verse, I'll just mention the first phrase. Neither can they die anymore? Isn't that a wonderful thing to enjoy? We won't be able to die anymore when we're there.
There's lots more to it, but this is nice, isn't it?
You notice that it speaks of the first man and the 2nd man, but it doesn't speak of the first atom and the second atom, but it's the first atom on the last atom that is, there'll never be another.
Hit of a race. Adam was a head of a race. Christ is a head of a race, and there'll never be another because the first man, everything depended on him.
Whether Adam was obedient and subject till the command of God.
We know he failed and he became the head of a fallen race.
How everything in connection with our blessing and our position depends on the last atom and the whole thing hinges upon whether he is sustained, whether he has failed. Well, we know he hasn't failed, He know he can't fail, so we can't say like it could be said at the beginning.
That if heaven fell while all the creation would fall with it, now after all we have been brought into and all the prospects we have before us.
Can it fail just as it failed in the Garden of Eden that?
The head of the whole race falls and the the the paradise is lost. That can never be the first atom, the second atom has been or the last atom has been fully tested.
He came into this world, and he was tested of man. He was tested of Satan, who tried him for 40 days and had to leave him defeated. And then he came back and get 70 and tried again, And the Lord again by subjection and saying, not my will but thine be done, triumphed over him after man had tried him for 33 years and nailed him to the cross.
We find his perfect and final victory there. And now we see the second or the last atom in in resurrection, the heads of a new race, and it can never fall, It can never fail, because the one who is the head of the whole system has been perfectly obedient and has in no way failed, has been fully tested out, and has triumphed over every every.
Man and Satan that is ever raised against him.
And it's in John's Gospel were you seen as the Son of God that he says, Because I live, ye shall live also.
Everything depends on a man.
As the head of the race, as you said, because I live, ye shall live also.
Also, I think they hear the contrast between the two men isn't so much to emphasize the fact that the first man failed, but his origin. The first man is of the earth, earthy. Even if Adam had not sinned, he would have never been of a heavenly harder. He would have only been of an earthly arter, but now through grace and in connection with the the 2nd man, the last Adam.
Heavenly order of things. So the in Romans 5 we have these two heads brought before us, and there the actions of the two are considered and the consequences of their actions. But here I believe it's more emphasized the fault of the origin. The first man is of the earth, earthy, and had he never failed, he would have always been of that order. But the second man is out of heaven. It's a heavenly order of things now.
01:05:18
In connection with our head, the Lord Jesus, so that.
It seems that the apostle is seeking to elevate the thoughts of the Saints in Corinth from being earthly, being earthly minded and occupied with the things here, seeking to reign before the time as we have earlier in this epistle, and seeking to walk as men all the way through. He's he's connecting them with the the true character of Christianity.
Here we have the truth order, you might say, with which we are connected, which is heavenly and not earthly.
Secret. Hand it hold. I show you a mystery. A mystery is a secret, and when a secret is told, it's no longer a secret.
You wouldn't find anything like this in the writings of Isaiah or Jeremiah.
That you get in this verse, that we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. That was a mystery, one of the mysteries that were committed to the Apostle Paul.
Like the mystery of the church.
In connection with that, Deuteronomy 29 and verse 29 is very nice for us.
Deuteronomy 2929 says, The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Well, how much God has revealed now to hasta had been secret, and it belongs to us, but we can only possess it as we.
Do or walk according to the Scriptures, and we ought to prize it for ourselves and for our children.
I'm just going to ask that word image. Is that the thought of likeness?
In the next verse.
49th 1St.
Well, I believe it's physical layer, although image is usually used in scripture as the thought of representative. I had taken an adverse to be the physical and that is we were part of a race here, an earthly earthly race, but we actually belong now to a heavenly one and we're going to bear the image of it. It would be connected I believe is what we have in first John three that was mentioned. It does not get appear what we shall be.
We're already children. After that heavenly order, it hasn't been manifested. We should display it morally. We know we'll be like Christ morally and physically then, but we ought to display it morally. But we cannot display it physically until the Lord comes. I believe that expression in John could also be translated manifested, that is, in the third chapter, that is.
When he is manifested.
Will be manifested with him, that is, there will be that likeness scene.
Exactly like Christ. Now it says also in in Colossians, I believe, that our life is hid with Christ in God.
Well, when he when he appears or is manifested.
We'll be like him. We learned in the Hebrews one that.
When He brings the first begotten into the world again, all the angels shall fall down and worship Him. And so Christ is hid now, and so is our life hid up there with Him. But when He's, when He is manifested, we will be manifested with Him, and we will be just like Him. We have borne the image of the earthy, that is, the one who belonged to the earth, but we will bear the image.
01:10:12
Of the Heavenly 1.
I was thinking, in connection with what our brother was saying, that in Deuteronomy 29 and 29 the thought that we may do all the words of this law. When Moses was commanded to make the Tabernacle after the pattern that was showed to him in the mount, we are told in Hebrews that it was a pattern of things in the heavens. If he were to deviate from that in any way, he would have spoiled that which was a pattern of the heavenly things.
But he didn't understand that. But now, since the Spirit of God has come, we can look back and enjoy all those wonderful things that were given as being a pattern of that which God had in mind something far above the order of things in Judaism. And so also in First Corinthians chapter 2, it says in the ninth verse, I have not seen Nair heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them, that love him.
We hear that verse quoted sometimes.
To be our present state that we were not to be able to enjoy all these things. But that is the Old Testament state, isn't it? Now these things have been revealed. And as our brother just remarked, behold, I show you a mystery or a secret. It's no longer something that is hidden.
That we don't know. Every believer taught of God now can say I know what's ahead.
I know the place that awaits me. I'm going to be with and like Christ, the heavenly scene is brought before us. Our place of relationship is part of the Bride of Christ. What a view of those glories. As much as it is possible for the Spirit of God to unfold to those who are now indwelled by the Spirit has been made known. So what a place we are in now in contrast to those previous to the cross and to the coming of the Holy Spirit.
It's the most blessed place, and it's ours to enjoy. Now God's secrets, shall I say, have been revealed, and the Spirit of God is here to make them good in our souls.
Well, isn't it a secret that revealed to, as it were, to those who were initiated into this calling? You know, in Masonry there are certain secrets. There's only those who are.
In the Mason system can be told about it. Well, I suppose in a practical sense that one might hear this that's an unbeliever and listen to it. But really to enter into the true meaning and thought the spirit of God has, one must be in that initiated into that so that this is a real secret to his soul.
That he enters into the blessedness and preciousness for himself. Is that right? Yes, every believer has the capacity by the Spirit, but unless we allow the Spirit of God his way with us, why we don't enjoy the things even though we have the capacity to enjoy them. And that's why it says he that is spiritual discerneth all things and the natural man cannot receive them because he doesn't have the spirit of God.
The one who has the Spirit must be yielded to the leading of the Spirit to enjoy these precious things. Not that anyone of us here I trust would say, well, I'm a spiritual person. But we can't exercise our own hearts as to how much we are yielded to the leading of the Spirit who wants to lead us into the enjoyment of all those revealed things that have been given to us now in Christianity.
51St verse that allows for the Rapture, doesn't it? We shall not all sleep.
So that the present hope is before us here, as well as the time of the, the raising of all the.
Of the dead.
The hope of the believer being caught away, I mean, without going through death, it says in this 51St verse, Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but it's true. We should all be changed.
01:15:00
How long does it take for that change to take place?
I don't know how it can be calculated.
Everything down here and opens to everything that's up there.
John.
In that passage mentioned in Revelation 4.
For some time during the meetings, immediately I was in the spirit.
It's a precious thing to think that there'll be an immediate change. Immediately I was in the Spirit. But is there any thought? Brethren to self, we shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air that feels before we meet the Lord, we're together. I have often wondered if there would be a moment's recognition of our loved ones.
That when that child is heard.
You only thought about that?
Well, I believe the recognition and glory is always associated with spiritual relationships. I have always felt that the only scriptures that speak of us knowing one another are always associated with spiritual things because.
Natural relationships will not exist in heaven. So the disciples on the mountain knew Moses and Elias not because there was a relationship in nature, but because of a divine relationship.
Paul said that he would know the Thessalonians Saints. He said what is our hope for joy, our Crown of rejoicing?
Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming? And it seems to me, it does encourage us to live with those spiritual relationships in mind. It even says also in the Psalms, he that goes forth and weepeth bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him now there again it's associated with our service to the Lord.
So I believe the thought of recognition is associated with a spiritual.
Enjoyment, and that's why, I remarked in the young people's meeting, it's happy when we exist in the natural relationship and have the enjoyment of the spiritual, which is what remains. The only thing that abides in that day is what is of new creation, I believe.
You emphasized a while ago the worst he is able. When we think in terms of a twinkling of an eye. It's a very, very brief span of time. But it seems to me from First Thessalonians 4 that even that brief span of time is sort of divided. The dead in Christ shall rise first, then. God alone is able to divide the twinkling of an eye into a first and a then. And if we find it a bit impossible to consider the the realization of going home.
Together. All I can say is God is able and whatever is the best plan, that's the way it will be. We'll go home together. And I have rather enjoyed the fact all this work together. I know we specially think perhaps of those who've meant a little extra to us along the way. But when the word together is used in connection with the Lord's people, let's think of it as he thinks of it together. The assembling principle that I believe He.
So longed for.
And that we ought to long for too together with them.
Our time is slipping away. What about the death being swallowed up in victory, Brother Barry?
You tell us. Well, I was just just wondering, I was interested in your thought on it. Where is that coded from?
Well, it's it's from one of the minor Prophets, isn't it? Yes.
A little differently though.
This is what chapter is.
13.
The 14th verses of the 13th chapter.
It says there I will ransom them from the power of the grave. I will redeem, I will redeem them from death, oh death, I will be thy slave, oh grave I will be thy destruction.
01:20:04
Repents shall be hid from thine eyes well. It seems to me that the spirit of God in First Corinthians 15.
Very accurate in the statement, then shall be brought to pass that which is said. It isn't exactly the fulfillment of the prophecy in Hosea, if that has more to do with the.
The Millennium and the blessing that come for death will be robbed of its power, and those who are saved will live through the 1000 years and go into the eternal state, won't they?
That saying that is written in the Old Testament can be applied in a special way.
Here are the rapture, when the Lord comes for his own that he takes to glory.
Should we sing hymn #323?
Behold himself, I'll call.
Back.
All my time.
To promote.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as he know that your labor is not in faith in the Lord as we think of that which lies ahead and the certainty of it.
How fitting it is that the chapter would end with such a word for each of us.
Steadfast, unmovable, like the one fixed point of the compass, always abounding in the work of the Lord, that point of the compass that would reach out by the grace of God, to be engaged in that concerning which the Scripture says, We know that your labor is not in faith.