THE simple way for the Christian to resist error is to abide in the truth. If divine truth could be gauged by the measure of human common sense it would not be divine; we expect and we find in divine truth that which is altogether beyond and above the sense of man or the grasp of his reason. Nevertheless, as instructed by the Holy Spirit, we see in divine truth perfect unity and perfect wisdom, and we discern in it a scheme in entire accord with itself―a scheme devised by the highest and mightiest understanding, and one which, since God has given us minds, appeals to our instructed sense as absolutely perfect. Amongst the truths which lie above all mere human knowledge is that of the resurrection. Some while ago an educated heathen said to a missionary friend of ours, “I admire your moral teaching and the life of Christ; but you must not ask me to believe what you say about the resurrection; it is too far-fetched.” This same missionary was labouring in the Gospel in Paris some years afterwards. At the close of an address two workmen (atheists) drew near and asked of him questions as to his doctrine. They listened carefully. What he said was new to them; never before had they heard of the living God in His love and His righteousness. After a while the missionary spoke to them of the resurrection and the judgment to come. The idea of the resurrection was irresistibly absurd to them; and they, in true French fashion, embraced each other, and were so convulsed with laughter that they actually fell to the ground. These are instances of this nineteenth century unbelief in a well-known divine truth; and they remind us of the pagans of Athens, who, having heard the apostle Paul speak of the resurrection, in their wisdom mocked at the idea.
Pagans of a more ancient date than those Greeks did believe in a resurrection; but, as the ages have proceeded, foundation truths have become forgotten by the human race, and now the philosophers in Christendom, who teach the doctrine of evolution, in the sense that man has arisen to his present form from a lower organism, teach a doctrine which denies the truth of resurrection. Resurrection cannot grow out of evolution. It is outside natural law, as we speak, and demands a power to carry it out which is above and beyond all the laws of nature. It is attributed in Scripture to the direct act of God. The Christian asks with the Apostle Paul, “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” and says with him, “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain.” And more: “If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised.” Man was not made to die; he was made to live upon this earth. But by one man sin entered the world, and death by the sin; and men die because sin is in them. Nevertheless, God will raise the dead, and will bestow on man a body which will live eternally.
The purpose of God in relation to the future of man cannot be read aright apart from the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, neither can the mystery of our Lord’s humiliation as a man be duly recognized, apart from the majesty of the glory of His ascension as a man, to the throne of the divine Majesty on high. Risen from the dead, death “hath no more dominion over Him”; He “dieth no more.” He is the Man ascended to heaven, and established in glory and honor above angels, and above all in the creation of God. The angel hosts and the spirits of the just see the glory of the Man Christ Jesus in heaven, and behold in Him a witness to the glory which shall presently beam forth upon the men He has redeemed.
The “first man” and the “second Man “are presented in contrast by the apostle in his great chapter on resurrection (1 Cor. 15). The first man of the earth, “made a living soul,” as the Book of Genesis describes, is first spoken of, and Adam.
He could not carry out the great purpose for which his Creator formed him, and all his race bear his stamp: “As is the earthy, such are they also which are earthy.” They will never evolve themselves above the earthy, nor will the “fittest” of them ever reach up by a process of development to the majestic future designed by God for man.
This great end will be brought to its realization by
THE UNFAILING SECOND MAN,
who is the Lord from heaven. We note the titles here given to Christ―the second Man, the last Adam: both contrasting with the head of our race, yet both describing a human headship. “And as is the heavenly, such also are they who are heavenly.” The Lord joined Himself with men, and through and in Him the original purpose of God in the creation of man will be realized. To this the apostle, filled by the Spirit, looks forward, and exclaims, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” Then the corruptible body in the very grave shall put on incorruption, and the mortal frame shall put on immortality. The body that was made out of the dust of the earth, and which had returned to dust, shall be called up out of the earth, and shall be transformed into a spiritual body. It will not be reformed a repetition of its former self, but will be reconstituted. It will not be an evolution of the old order of body of flesh and blood, but it will be a new order of body of flesh and bones; it will not be again a natural body, it will be instead a spiritual body.
We see here a perfect chain of progress, but not of that which we know as natural law, but one greater and nobler, even the chain of the fulfilment of God’s own will by His own energy and power, notwithstanding the temporary triumph of death and of sin, which from certain positions is often regarded as mere natural law.
We know just so much of what the resurrection body will be as the Scripture tells us. As Christ has risen from the dead, so shall we rise from the dead; as His body is glorious, so will He fashion ours like unto His own body of glory. We shall possess a capacity for living in heaven where Christ dwells. Though our origin is the dust of this earth, we shall live forever when the earth has passed away, and no place will be found for it. In a way more excellent than was ever the case with the first man, we shall bear the image and the likeness of our Maker and our Redeemer.
As we meditate upon the purpose of God in our creation, and upon the great fulfilment of that purpose in the glory of the new creation, we cannot but recognize the magnificence of the divine scheme in relation to the creature, man. And while we do this, we can but acknowledge how degrading and debasing are the notions relative to man’s origin, and how hopeless those relating to his end, which are boasted in by the believers in the doctrine of evolution.