1 Cor. 15
Familiar as we are all obliged to be with death, and in nature shrinking from it, still feeling it inevitable, it is strange that the heart is no more impressed and the thoughts and feelings no more molded by the wonderful revelation of God, which presents the only possible remedy for death, and alone sheds a ray of brightness on the gloom of the grave.
Nothing in the universe is more solemn than death. It is justly styled " the king of terrors;" and it is not by banishing thoughts of it from our minds, nor by thinking lightly of it, that we shall gain the victory over its terrors.
If Christians thought more deeply of what death is, as the quenching and dying down of all earthly associations and hopes.-the perishing in a day of all human thoughts-the dissolving of every tie which affection has ever woven to bind our hearts to those we love-the breaking up of every interest in which, since life began, we have taken a part-the removal from all that, as to this world, has ever awakened a joy or caused a sorrow-to say nothing of the mournful circumstances that so often wait on the hour of dissolution, it would assuredly throw them, as a necessary resource, more on the consideration of the resurrection-that truth and victory of Christ in which alone the remedy for death is seen. It would not then be held lazily and inconsequentially- a doctrine amongst other doctrines, and nothing more; but in its living power, as alone buoying the heart over the vastness of the ruin; and with unfailing thankfulness to God, for having given the brightest light of revelation where nature is most at fault, and thus throwing a ray of the brightest glory on nature's darkest hour I
In the marvelous unfolding of the blessed subject presented in this chapter, it is important to notice how the apostle links all that is revealed to him of the certainty and order and power of the resurrection with the gospel which he preached; and also how simply he presents the elements of that gospel in which alone man's deliverance from sin and all its consequences is found.
This gospel he sums up in the briefest terms, namely, that " Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures." This he says was the subject of common testimony by himself and by the other apostles and witnesses of the resurrection of Christ. " Whether it were I or they, so we preach and so ye believed." It presents thus the death of Christ as the result of God's counsels and the fruit of His infinite grace, according to the testimony of mercy, from the time sin entered into the world until its guilt was met, not by the blood of the typical sacrifices which had been enjoined, but by the death of Christ, who " now once in the end of the world bath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." " He died for our sins, according to the Scriptures." The cause and object of His death is thus presented; for it is not in a living Christ that the gospel is found for dying men. It is true that He lived before He died; but, simple as the distinction may appear, however much Christ may be the subject of preaching or testimony, there is no gospel for sinners but in His death. Man, in death, is reduced to the impotence which belongs to his condition as a sinner; and in it he is obliged to bear witness, however unwillingly, to the solemn judgment of God against sin. Men may deceive themselves about death coming " in the course of nature," and may talk about dying as " paying the debt of nature," or "laying the head to rest on the bosom of mother earth;" but in it there is no " course of nature," nor anything else but the just judgment of God-a judgment irreversible if met apart from faith in the death of Christ. " It is APPOINTED unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."
It is important to notice (for many Christians are deceived by it) how much the life of Christ is dwelt upon-not, it is true, to the exclusion of His death as a historic fact-in the preaching and writings of those who, on the one hand, present Him as restoring man, in his nature, to association with God; and on the other, by those who would present the efficacy and grace which dwelt in him as incarnate as continued now by means of ordinances and- a priesthood. But we must learn from Christ Himself, that whatever excellency or perfection dwelt in Him (perfection on which the renewed heart delights evermore to dwell) is a perfection apart from man and dissociated from man, and can only be participated in by His death, " Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." It is only in death that even Christ Himself becomes fruitful in life and blessing to others. In life He is alone in His infinite perfectness and worth: in death that worth and excellence become the portion of those that believe on Him in His atoning death. It is this which stamps such importance on the death of Christ, and gives its emphasis to the apostle's declaration, " Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures."
But the other part of the gospel is, " that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." In the doctrinal statement of Christ's death and resurrection, it is, he was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification." Here it is the certainty of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, as the fundamental truths on which the whole of Christianity rests. He was not only raised from death, but from the grave. Death and the grave are conquered by the resurrection of Christ; as the apostle speaks at the close, " 0 death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"
Thus he recalls to their minds what was the gospel he preached, and which they received, and by which they were saved-unless, which he does not for a moment allow, all had been in vain. That which he bad received by direct revelation from the Lord he had declared to them; for this was the special characteristic of Paul's testimony. He was a stranger to Christ when he was on the earth, and the other apostles were called; and the resurrection of Christ, as His death also, was a mere nullity to him until convinced of it by the appearance of the Lord Jesus Himself on the journey to Damascus. This enabled the apostle, in a special manner, to join the array of witnesses which he here enumerates in their testimony to those fundamental truths on which the possibility of salvation alone rests, and on which the whole of Christianity is built: and he adds, " last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time."
It is the mention of this appearance of Christ to himself that throws his mind back on the state of things with him when thus met by the Lord. He thinks of his having been a persecutor of the Church of God, and his heart is bowed by the sense of that grace which saved him and made him an apostle and a witness for that Christ whose name he had so madly attempted to destroy. He ascribes all the energy of his service to the grace which he had received; and his labors, which were so abundant, he renounces as his, and declares that they were due only to the grace of God which was with him.
He then assumes as the foundation of his argument that Christ had been preached, that " he rose from the dead," and asks how it should be that some amongst them said that " there was no resurrection of the dead." Because if it were once allowed that there is no such thing as a resurrection from the dead, it is plain that Christ, who was both dead and buried, could not be risen. And if this were so, all the consequences immediately followed, that the apostle's preaching was vain, and vain was their faith; and those who had preached a dead and risen Christ were found to be false witnesses in regard to God, because they testified that God had raised up Christ, which could not be, if the dead do not rise. But, then, if Christ were not raised, their faith was vain-they were yet in their sins. If the resurrection of Christ was gone, all was gone. His death was no atonement for sins, and, consequently, those who had fallen asleep in Christ had perished, and the apostles were of all men the most to be pitied for trusting implicitly to a mere fable, and for suffering such miseries in the world on account of it. It is likely that the Corinthians had no thought of consequences like these being connected with their denial of the resurrection of the dead: for certainly they had no thought of making a formal surrender of Christianity; but the Spirit of God by the apostle shows that, if this point of christian truth were sacrificed, Christianity in its whole essence was gone, and man was left in the hopelessness of sin and despair, notwithstanding all that the gospel might have promised. The resurrection in the apostle's mind connects itself alike with the foundation of his faith and his final hope beyond the grave: without it his only standing in the presence of God is gone, and every hope perished.
Having proceeded thus far in proof of the testimony that had been borne amongst them, and shown that the denial of a resurrection of the body from the dead, whatever they might think of it, was the utter subversion of the whole of Christianity; and assuming the position as incontrovertible that, " Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept," the ground is cleared for his advancing argument. But from verse 20 down to verse 29, the revelation is confined to the resurrection of Christ, and to the position of power to which, in the counsels of God, he was advanced by it. For it is as man that Christ is contemplated here, and " raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father." Christ in His resurrection is presented first as " the wave-sheaf," or " first-fruits of them that slept," in reference to the gathering in of that harvest which will take place at his coming. His resurrection is the pledge and power of the resurrection from the dead of all that are of Him; as it is stated, in verse 23, where the order of the resurrection is given, " Christ the first-fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." Then it is shown that, as it was by man that death was brought in, so it is by man that the resurrection of the dead, the only possible remedy for death, is also introduced. This is shown by the contrast between Adam and Christ: death is by the one, and life out of death by the other. Death is the consequence of association with Adam-it is nature's doom; life is the fruit of association with Christ-it is faith's triumph.
The universality of the terms, " As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive," is limited to the association with the respective heads of death and life. " In Adam all die" is so far universal as a consequence of relationship with him by natural descent, as it is unmet by association with Christ through faith. " Even so in Christ shall all be made alive" does not regard the exercise of His power, when " all who are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth," some to " resurrection of life," but others to " a resurrection of judgment." Not that this universal power of Christ over the dead to call them forth is questioned; but in this passage it is limited to association with Himself, as the head of redemption to all those that are in Him by faith, and whose resurrection is the consequence of another principle than the exercise of divine power which all must obey. This is seen in Rom. 8:1111But 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. (Romans 8:11): " 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."
The next thing that is presented is the order of the resurrection: " Every man in his own order." " Christ the first-fruits"-which, as we know, has been accomplished more than 1800 years-" afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." It is not until His coming that those who are His will be brought into the enjoyment of the actual resurrection, which is necessary in order to their entrance into glory with Christ, however they may have known "the power of his resurrection" in many of its blessed fruits before. This is fully presented in 1 Thess. 4:16,1716For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16‑17): " For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and 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: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
It is not the intermediate state, or the happiness of the spirit apart from the body that is here dwelt upon, however it is declared that " to depart and be with Christ is far better," and " to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." It is the resurrection of the body from among the dead; the intervention of Christ's power to deliver the bodies of his saints from the corruption in which they have been sleeping, and thus to rescue them from the last trace of the power of sin, and to present them " faultless before the presence of his glory," as the trophies of his power and love.
Next in order after the display of Christ's power in the resurrection of those that are His, at His coming, is " the end." This Taos, or end, is shown to be at the close of Christ's mediaterial kingdom which he will then deliver up. But this will not be until His power and reign have resulted in the putting down of " all rule and all -authority and power," and the subjugation of all enemies. Even " death" itself is to be destroyed by the power of Christ, inasmuch as those who are left under its power, as not having a part in the " first resurrection," will at the end be raised, as presented in Rev. 20:11-1511And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11‑15). " And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
The only notice of what is termed the general resurrection," or the resurrection of those that are not Christ's, is found in the expression, " The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death," which answers to the passage just quoted from Rev. 20
That which follows upon this is the final state, beyond all dispensation, when Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father;" and when " the Son also himself shall be subject to him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." It is this state that is presented in Rev. 21:1-51And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. (Revelation 21:1‑5), following in order of time the judgment of the dead, already referred to, at the close of Christ's millennial reign. Its characteristics are " a new heaven and a new earth," and the declaration that " the tabernacle of God is with men," " for the former things are passed away." It is at Christ's coming that Ile receives the kingdom; but "the end," refers to the period of His giving it up, after the full exercise of power in putting down all opposing rule, and the subjugation of every enemy.
Nothing is more wonderful or calculated to impress the soul than this breadth of Scripture, which, in a few simple sentences, lays open the destinies of man and of the universe; and, while outstripping the flight of time, directs the eye through the long vista of God's dispensations, until the view is lost in the eternity of God Himself! And what calmness does it give the soul, what superiority to all the interests of time, to be thus occupied with the thoughts of God, and to find that our true inheritance, our eternal portion, is thus bound up with His eternal counsels in Christ Jesus! And what dignity does it throw around " the man of sorrows," whom we have learned to love, to find Him thus the center and the end of all these counsels.
But it may be asked, how is it that events like these, of which there is no foreshadowing in the annals of time, should be spread out before us thus with all the definiteness of a map? The answer is, it is God's program. His outline of the vast drama of the universe, which runs on till eternity shall meet and engulf the flood of time 1 That which man knows fully he can declare simply; and God, whose wisdom has foreordained all things, and whose power accomplishes all, can reveal with perfect ease and simplicity the order and sequence of the purposes of His eternal mind I Happy he who finds his interest and his joy knit up with all that is thus revealed!
From verse 20 to 29 of this chapter we have a subject of itself-a divine episode concerning the power and glory of Christ as the Risen Man, and His reign until " the end." The direct argument concerning the resurrection of the dead was broken off at verse 19, and is resumed again at verse 29, with the words, " Else what shall they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all?" And the questions are asked, " Why are they then baptized for the dead? And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?" In verse 18 the apostle had shown, as a consequence of the denial of the resurrection of the dead, that " they which had fallen asleep in Christ had perished," and now be reasons on the folly of their being baptized for the dead apart from the hope of the resurrection. To be baptized into Christ's name, then, whatever it be now, was equivalent to being baptized for death. If the martyrs were struck down and others rushed into the ranks to fill their place, it was with the prospect of sharing their fate. But what inducement could there be to encounter this, except in the certainty of the resurrection? They were thus baptized " in regard to the dead;" for that appears to be the force of the passage. Not that there was any such custom, in apostolic days, whatever there may have been in the progress of superstition since, of persons being baptized in the place of others who had died without baptism that they might have the benefit of it. This seems to have been a custom fabled to meet the difficulties of the passage, which in its connections is simple enough, and the explanation above is confirmed by the next point to which the apostle adverts, viz., his own experience. He had said, (ver. 19,) " If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most miserable:" and he now adds an illustration of this in the question, " Why stand we in jeopardy every hour?" His life, for Christ's sake, was but a succession of perils. He had daily to meet death as the consequence of the hopes he cherished. He had to encounter an infuriated populace at Ephesus, which he compares to the contest with wild beasts in the amphitheater. But what advantage was there in all this, if the dead rise not? Take away the resurrection and there is no motive left for the encountering of persecutions and evils in this life. It is of no use to say that other motives might still have impelled to such a course. That is exactly the point in question; and the apostle declares that christianity, such as it is, furnishes no motive apart from the resurrection. And it is exactly here that we learn the importance of the doctrine and the place it held in the apostle's system. We have already seen the bearing of its denial on the gospel and on the apostle's testimony and the faith of believers; and now we see it as cutting the sinews of the apostle's energy, and as the utter extinction of his hopes. The resurrection gone, he sees no alternative but to " eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." And he more than intimates that this effect had already resulted from the denial of the doctrine, at least on the part of some. " Evil communications had corrupted good manners." The philosophic notions of the heathens around them and their corrupt and sensual practices were producing their fruits amongst the Corinthians. Their intercourse with those who were far from God had, it is likely, first corrupted their doctrines, and as a consequence was now corrupting their morals.
It was this corruption from heathen intercourse which led to the stern rebuke of the apostle, " Awake to righteousness and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame." This does not imply that there was direct ignorance of the being of God or a denial of His existence, but such an absence of the sense of the holiness of His character and claims as could only result from neglect of the truth and the absence of that communion to which the grace of the gospel introduces. For we must remember that the grace which the gospel presents comes to us through the unfolding of the character of God in the truth and righteousness and holiness which characterize His being. This amongst the Corinthians was lost, as it is in every case where error becomes dominant in the soul. This knowledge of God, which gives activity and brightness to conscience, being absent, the safeguard of the soul is gone, and we are exposed to Satan's wiles: for these can only be detected as we are walking in the light.
As to the doctrine itself, it is plain that no philosophic speculations about a future life, nor reasoned conclusions about the immortality of the soul, nor imaginative sickly sentinientalizings as to the enjoyments of disembodied spirits, the "philosophy of a future state!" can ever take the place of the plain Scripture doctrine of the resurrection of the dead; that doctrine which brings in GOD in the supremacy of His power to complete the redemption which His grace began, and which leaves to man no place but that of a helpless sinner, the just victim of death and corruption. It was in the resurrection from the dead that Christ's victory over death was accomplished and proclaimed; and it is in the resurrection of His people that their participation in His victory is shown. The knowledge that " to depart and to be with Christ is far better," is not denied. The truth, as regards the believer, that to be " absent from the body is to be present with the Lord," has its own rightful place. Nay, we owe to the same apostle the revelation of these truths; but how much do they appear in the reasonings of this chapter? Are they for a moment allowed to weaken the importance of the fundamental truth he is establishing? The reason of this is plain. The certainty of the soul's being in the presence of Christ at death gives present light and cheerfulness to the passage-is an installment of heavenly hope; but it is only in the resurrection that Christ's full power over death is declared. Corruption has still a hold on that which Christ has redeemed while the body is sleeping in the grave. The victory is not complete while any part of that which constitutes the integrity of our being is still under the power of death. We know, indeed, that our Lord, when the resurrection of the dead was in question, (Luke 20,) declares that " God is not a God of the dead but of the living; for all live unto him." Still we are taught that " the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God;" and this manifestation will be when they are raised from the dead by Christ at His coming. " When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear (be manifested) with him in glory." Glory for the believer is not reached through death, but through resurrection, or that which is tantamount. " He shall change our vile bodies and fashion them like to his own glorious body." What believers are declared to be waiting for is, " the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."
It is not, then, in consonance with Christ's glory, nor is it for the interest of holiness, as producing separation from the world's spirit of self-indulgence, nor does it tend to energetic, hopeful service that the eye and the heart of the Christian should be so little set upon that which is beyond death, even upon that resurrection which is the peculiar and distinctive privilege of those that are Christ's; however much it may be merged and lost sight of in the notion of a common and distant and simultaneous resurrection of all men, from which, in scripture, it is most carefully distinguished, both in point of time and principle of accomplishment. " Blessed and holy is he that bath part in the first resurrection."
Here (verse 35) the argument takes another form, as to how the resurrection is accomplished and with what body. This we shall briefly pursue.
In the first place, the difficulty or objection which is supposed in the questions, is declared to be the offspring of folly, and consequently is not directly answered, and perhaps could not be. It is a question simply of the power of God, which is not to be limited by man's capacity to conceive of its exercise. Still, there are certain analogies which cast their light upon the question. First, there is the example of the seed sown. This does not spring up apart from the decomposition, the death, of the grain; nor does it come up the same body that was cast into the ground, but with a body given to it according to God's good pleasure. Still, every seed has its own appropriate body, whether it happen to be of wheat or any other kind of grain. Next, there is the analogy of animal organized life. In this, though flesh is a common characteristic of all, there is the difference which adapts each kind to its peculiar habits and to the element in which it is designed to exist. It is marvelous, but for its familiarity, that flesh should exist in such different circumstances, and in such opposite elements, as we find to be the case in men, and beasts, and birds, and fishes! Next, there is the difference between the heavenly bodies and the earthly; and their distinctive glory. " The glory of the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is another." But between the celestial bodies also there is a difference in splendor or glory. The glory of the sun is distinct from the glory of the moon; and star also differs from star in glory. In all these there is the bright witness of the power and wisdom of Him on whose fiat the resurrection of the dead depends. So that any question of " how," or " with what body," only resolves itself into the folly and ignorance of one who is blind to the displays of divine power around him, or unobservant of His works of might and wisdom that the wide creation presents.
" Almighty God has done much more: and what He can He will: His own omnipotence stands bound to see it done."
This closes the analogies; for " so also is the resurrection of the dead" (ver. 42) does not refer to the differences of the heavenly bodies and their various glories, but returns to the example of the seed sown. (ver. 380 This is pursued through all the characteristics of the resurrection-body, in its incorruption, glory, power, spiritual nature-the bright contrasts of the corruption, dishonor, weakness, in which the natural body is sown. "it is sown in corruption," See. The very term, when so applied by the Spirit of God, awakens hope at the moment the eye is most disposed to be fixed on the gloom of the grave, and paints a bright rainbow on our cloud of sorrow. For what Christian that has ever stood by the grave, and seen the cold sod fall heavily on the bosom of the objects of affection, but has felt relief in the thought, " It is but a sowing?" The grave is but receiving the seed in order to render it back again in all the triumph of christian hope expressed in the words, " 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 spiritual body."
This last characteristic of the resurrection-body, which expresses its differential character, gives occasion to a declaration, the force of 'which is sometimes overlooked. The apostle says, " There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." This is not the trite assertion that man is composed of a natural body and a spirit, which we all know; but that " there is a spiritual body"-a body known and existing in the wondrous economy of God, bearing this distinctive character after the type of which the saint will be invested at the resurrection, as he is now possessed of " a natural body," suited to the exigences of his existence in the present state. It is with regard to these expressions that reference is made to the first Adam being a living soul, and the last Adam a quickening spirit. It marks the condition of Adam's being in his creation, and what Christ is in His divine person. It is introduced as giving the basis of the natural body and of the spiritual body, of which it is shown that in the order of time the natural comes first, and afterward the spiritual. Adam being made of the dust of the ground is said to be " of the earth earthy." This is the character of the first man. But the second man is not said to be of the heaven heavenly, but " the Lord from heaven." What He is in His nature and divine relationship of necessity enters into and characterizes what he accomplishes, and what He is as the head of redemption. The next point in prominence is the participation of this nature. It is said that, " as is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly." Our participation in Adam's nature associates us with him in like condition of being, and places us in all the circumstances connected with his state as of " the earth earthy," having no spring of life beyond that which is natural, and which is forfeited by sin, and having by the very condition of his nature, " of the earth earthy," no association with heaven. But participation in the nature of the second Adam, " the Lord from heaven," places us in the condition in which He is as the risen head of a redeemed and heavenly family, and in all the circumstances and connection with heaven in which the resurrection has placed Him. " As is the heavenly, such are they also which are heavenly." Mere natural circumstances of earth may remain, as resulting from our connection with the first man, but our life, our nature, is derived from heaven, and belongs to heaven, and can only have its home in heaven, as it is allied to " the second man, who is the Lord from heaven."
Hence the next point that is presented is our sharing the likeness of Him whose nature we share. "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." This is what will be: it is connected with our hope. " It Both not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him." But even now, amidst all the misery by which we are surrounded, amidst sorrow and corruption and death, and all the dreadful consequences and issues of sin, we know that, " as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly." " We are more than conquerors through him who bath loved us."
But " flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor corruption inherit incorruption." There is the necessity, the absolute necessity, for a change as to our present condition of being, tantamount to that which the apostle had already taught takes place in the resurrection, when it is " raised a spiritual body," &c., from the impossibility of man's nature being associated with the glory of the kingdom of God. This brings out another point of revelation, exactly as we see it when the believer's hope concerning the departed is presented in the Thessalonians. " This we say unto you by the word of the Lord"•answering exactly to verse 51 of our chapter: " Behold I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed," &c. The assertion of the absolute necessity of this change, in order to inherit the kingdom of God, necessitates the disclosure of the power of Christ in another form than that which takes place in the resurrection. It seemed up to this point as if the kingdom of God, and the change that fitted for it, could only be reached through death. But we are taught that, though the necessity for the change is universal, the necessity for death on the part of believers is not universal. " We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." A change will pass upon the living saints when Christ comes, without their passing through death. A single moment of time, a period marked by the twinkling of an eye, will be sufficient to invest them with the garments of light, and to introduce them into the kingdom of glory. " The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." This will take place, we are told, " at the last trump"—.a military phrase, in reference to the sounding of the trumpet for a general advance, when the various divisions are formed; which corresponds with 1 Thess. 4: " The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God;" the effect of which is the resurrection of the dead in Christ, and the catching up of the living all together " in clouds to meet the Lord in the air."
How wonderful is Christ's power! And how absolute the position in which He has placed His people. Death to them is no longer a necessity. They only wait for the word of Him who is risen and in glory to say, " Come up hither;" and in a moment the world and all the interests of time will be left behind, and they in bodies like His glorious body will join the Lord in the blessedness of the eternal kingdom of God!
It is true that " this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality;" but we have seen that a moment of time, when the hour comes, will be sufficient in the hands of the Lord Jesus to accomplish this! And " when this corruptible"-the body that has been subject to death and the grave-" shall have put on incorruption," and " this mortal"-referring to the dying nature of the body-" shall have put on immortality; then shall be brought to pass the saying, Death is swallowed up in victory!" Death that has conquered all besides, himself receding and lost in the entire and glorious victory of Christ " Life and incorruption are brought to light by the gospel;" but here death with all his hold on those that are Christ's, disappears-" swallowed up in victory!"
The apostle's spirit kindling with the contemplation of the entireness of this victory and power of Christ, exclaims, " 0 death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" For apart from redemption, death is armed with a terrible sting, and the grave has a cruel victory. But in Christ the sting of death is entirely taken away. His power to wound is absolutely gone. For "the sting of death is sin;" not the pains of dissolution, or the natural fears that may accompany it. So that sin being gone, the sting of death is of necessity gone, for sin was its sting. It is the judgment of God against sin that arms death with its sting; and it is the law which gives sin its terrible strength, its power to bind conviction on the conscience, from which there is no escape, but through the knowledge of Him who is " the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth," and " who himself bare our sins in his own body on the tree."
But thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" Little thought is there of this victory, or of the sorrows and sufferings through which it was won, on the part of Christ, or even of the terribleness of the consequences of having no part in his conquest of sin and death, where the world and present things possess the thoughts and heart! But where the dreadful character of sin is known, and the groaning of creation is entered into, and all the sorrows of the saint in passing through this world are present to the soul, the victory will be felt to be great indeed; and the heart will advance with a firm and unshaken step towards death-if we are called to die-or wait with earnest hope the hour of Christ's return. This wondrous truth established, all besides that concerns us is summed up in the closing exhortation, « Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, Immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord!" Every changing circumstance of life is but a step onward to the hour of final victory; and every occupation for which we are left free by Christ, may be made " the work of the Lord," a work which will not be in vain or have no fruitful issue; but which He will own and honor when He comes. Amen.