I propose looking now at a prophecy in 1 Cor. 15, and at another in 2 Cor. 5
Now I read these two Scriptures together, not only because they have each a prophetic character, but because they supply two thoughts on the prophetic subject; the story of the body, and the story of the spirit: therefore I put them together. There is nothing of the story of the spirit in 1 Cor. 15; you would not learn from that chapter the life of the disembodied spirit. 2 Cor. 5, comes to supply that.
The subject of 1 Cor. 15, is the resurrection. He introduces it by the simple gospel, that the Lord Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day. Now Paul saw the Lord Jesus, not merely as risen, but as risen and glorified. He was the apostle of the ascended Christ. The twelve apostles were the apostles of the Lord in the flesh, and also in resurrection, for the lost apostleship of Judas was supplied before the descent of the Holy Ghost. The twelve were sent forth by the Lord, not only in the days of His flesh, which, in a certain sense, failed, and nothing was gathered; but an apostleship of the same order was instituted after His resurrection: and till Matthias supplied the place of Judas, the Spirit did not come down, for there was not a complete thing for Him to anoint. Then in the beginning of the Acts, we see that the early ministry of the apostles confined itself to the house of Israel. But when Stephen was martyred and the hopes of faith were transferred to heaven, when the eye that had been diverted from heaven by the angels in the first chapter, had been directed to heaven by the Holy Ghost in the seventh chapter, then the whole dispensation took a new character, and Paul's apostleship was established upon the new condition of things. Consequently Paul was called into office from the glory, by the ascended heavenly Christ, and that is where the church dates her formal beginning from. So he beautifully says, " As of one born out of due time." I only speak of this passingly, because of what he says, " I am not meet to be called an apostle." Then he enters on the great theme of the chapter,—Resurrection. We will look at the resurrection in its prophetic, not its evangelic, character. The resurrection has an evangelic character. It is that on which the whole gospel rests itself. But we will look now at its prophetic character, and there we find three resurrection eras. The first is of Christ Himself; the second is " at His coming; and the third is "the end." The first fruits, the coming, and the end. The Lord occupied the first of these resurrection seasons, entirely alone: " Of the people, there was none with Him." It was a victorious resurrection, and so is yours, but His was wrought out entirely by Himself. He had a title in His own person to rise. God was debtor to raise Him. It infinitely distinguishes itself from yours in this feature, that you are a debtor to grace for it. It was morally due to Him, therefore He must rise alone. " Of the people there was none with Him," and of the people none could be with Him. Did not His person demand resurrection? Was it possible He could be holden of death? The glory of God owned His title. He " was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father."
Then the second resurrection era is called " at His coming." That is confined to " those who are Christ's," an innumerable host from Adam to the present time, and on to the very end. The first was Christ's, because He was what He was. The second is yours, because you are whose you are. You will be a witness of victorious resurrection, but the difference is that your title is in Him. He shares the victory with you, but He gained it for you. You never gained it. "Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory." How could death hold its Conqueror? He had conquered death, and "him who had the power of death." So He gained the victory, and He has imparted what He earned to you.
His be " the Victor's name,"
Who fought the fight alone;
Triumphant saints no honor claim,
His conquest was their own.
Then the third era comes, in the 24th verse, and is called, " the end."
This is a mere resurrection of the dead, not from among the dead. I find the Lord anticipating it in John 5 The Spirit is here discussing it, and in the Rev. 20, the thing is historically verified. The Lord speaks in John 5, of a rising to life and a rising to judgment. The rising to life is the second of the two eras. The rising to judgment is the third, which is awfully illustrated in Rev. 20
The first resurrection era was a triumphant one, by worthiness. The second is the gift of grace, and the third is merely judicial -they come up to stand before the throne of judgment. So in the 23rd and 24th verses of our chapter, the apostle is exposing to our thoughts this great mystery of the resurrection seasons.
Now he goes on to open to us wonderful prophetic truth. In verse 24 he had told us that the end would not come till the Son of Man had delivered up the kingdom. Then I ask, am I to expect a kingdom to be manifested between the first and second of the resurrection seasons? No, I am not. But I am to look for it between the second and third. The indefiniteness between the first and second is striking; but I am stopped then, and told that the third cannot take place till the kingdom has discharged its duties. Need a wayfaring man err as he reads this? Is there any intervening object between the first and second era? Is there any intervening object between the second and third era? Indeed there is.
Now we will inspect the kingdom. Do you know the difference between grace and power? This is the age of grace. The millennium will be the age of power. Grace is fully performing its duties now, but when the kingdom comes, power will be put into commission, and will fulfill its duty with the same fidelity that grace is doing now. How beautiful to see this lovely dispensational order! If power went before grace, not one of us would be saved. Grace does its business, and then, and not till then, power will take its place. Then he shows the kingdom: " For He hath put all things under His feet." " He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet." And do you think, if that be the commission of the scepter which is put into the hands of the Son of Man, He will give it up till He has discharged His duty? " The last enemy which shall be destroyed is death." Then when power has done its business, and verified its faithfulness, " then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all."
But, now, mark here a little word, pregnant with moral beauty, in the bosom of his argument.
That fine little word is delivered." There never has been a kingdom delivered up to God yet. Every other steward of power has been unfaithful to his stewardship. Every beast—the head of gold, the breast of silver, &c.—every imperial steward of power, has been unfaithful to his commission; and power has been taken away from him. Was not power taken from the head of gold and given to the breast of silver? God has committed the scepter to one after another, and in due time has sent some one to take it away. But when the Lord takes the scepter, He will hold it faithfully till He " delivers " it up. The blessed Lord Jesus has been the only one, from the beginning hitherto, who has been faithful to God. Was Adam in the garden faithful? Was Israel in the land faithful? Has the candlestick of this dispensation been faithful? Christ is the grand and solitary exception to the unfaithfulness of all. Now this is the way the interval between the second and third eras is shown to you. Between the first and second you are to be gazing up into heaven. Do I wait for a circumstance here? No, I wait for a circumstance there. But suppose I were living after the second era, I should know that the kingdom could not come till certain events had taken place here. Then in Rev. 21, you find what is intimated here—God all in all.
If we had read the rest of the chapter we should see that it referred to the second of these eras. It assumes the first—does not concern itself with the third and discusses the second, and what manner of body you will occupy. It will be like the Lord's glorious body.
We do not here get the story of the spirit at all. But now, suppose we turn to 2 Cor. 5, we shall have a beautiful supplement. You might say, What will become of me if I die between the present time and the glorious resurrection? Well, " We know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God," &c. &c. " For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon," &c. You see several conditions here,—a burdened condition—an unclothed condition, and a clothed upon condition. A burdened condition is our present state. Then, to be unclothed, there must be SOMETHING to be unclothed. Now, he says, I do not groan for the unclothed condition, for the body would be still earth to earth, dust to dust. Now mark how beautifully he gives the story of the spirit. He says it is to be with Christ: " Absent from the body-present with the Lord." If our affections were right we should say, this is enough for me to know. I remember a dear brother in the Lord, who was dying some years ago, saying, " If a person were to come to me and say, I will go to heaven and bring you word if all you have believed is true,' I should say, Friend, you may save yourself the trouble.' " And if anyone would give us large volumes of descriptions of the heavenly country, we ought to be able to say, It is enough for me to know that to be absent from the body is / to be present with the Lord. With one stroke of the pen lie satisfies the heart as to our condition if we die.
"Wherefore we labor," &c. That is how we should actively supply the interval, viz., by doing that which is acceptable to Jesus. We shall fill up the interval between the second and third eras by reigning on thrones. Between the first and second we should fill up the interval by doing the good pleasure of the absent Master. And let me ask, When did the story of the spirit begin? It began when the Lord Jesus said, " Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." It was continued when He said to the thief on the cross, " This day shalt thou be with Me in paradise." It was continued in the person of Stephen, and very beautiful it is to see the new creature, born but a minute before, going to the same place as the martyr, who was sealing his testimony to Christ by his blood. We get the story of the spirit also in Paul—a man in Christ, carried up to heaven, whether in the body, or out of the body, he could not tell. So we have seen the story in a promise to the dying thief, in a vision in the case of Stephen, in the rapture of Paul, and its blessedness is didactically taught here.
This is the prophetic meditation that Corinthians furnishes. The Lord help us with obedient and desirous minds, abounding in hope, and letting the world in its best conditions know that it is by no means good enough for us. Amen.
(Continued from page 80).