The Great Doctrines of the Bible Part 39

By this is meant that there is nothing, so far as we can sea from the teaching of the Scriptures and the signs of the times, to hinder the introduction of the Day of the Lord, or the Second Coming of Christ looked upon as a great whole--a series of events, by Christ's coming to take His own people unto Himself. In other words, there is nothing to hinder the "rapture" or "parousia"--the "epiphany,"

"manifestation," or "revelation" is something for a later day.

Some objections are offered to this view, the which it will be well to examine and answer even though briefly.

First, That the Gospel has not been preached into all the world (Matt. 24:14), therefore the coming of Christ is not imminent.

Reply: We must understand the emphatic words of the text: By "end"

is meant the end of the age; but the rapture, or Christ's coming _for_ His saints, of which we are here speaking as being imminent, is not the end of the age. By "world" is meant the inhabited earth; by "Gospel," good news; by "witness," not conversion but testimony.

Even if these events are to precede the "rapture," have they not all been fulfilled? See Acts 2:5; 8:4; Rom. 10:18; Col. 1:6, 23, for the answer, which is certainly in the affirmative. We must give the same meaning to the word "world" in Romans and Colossians that we do to Matt. 24:14. Further, is the Church the _only_ witness? See Rev. 14:6. If the rapture is not the end of the age, and if an angel can proclaim the Gospel, why cannot part of the work of witnessing be carried on after the rapture?

Second, Peter, James, and John were told that they should not taste of death until they had seen the coming of Christ's kingdom (Matt.

16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27).

Reply: True, but was not this fulfilled when they saw Christ on the Transfiguration Mount? Peter, who was there, in his second epistle (1:16-18) distinctly says it was thus fulfilled.

Third, The disciples were told that they shall not have gone over all the cities of Israel until the Son of Man be come (Matt. 10:23).

Reply: Mark 6:30, Luke 9:10 shows that they did not finish all the cities, nor is there evidence anywhere that they ever did, for Israel rejected the message of the kingdom. May it not be that under the restoration of the Jews and the preaching of the "two witnesses"

(Rev. 11) this shall be accomplished?

Fourth, Christ said "This generation shall not pa.s.s, till all these things be fulfilled." See Matt. 24:34; Luke 21:32; Mark 13:30.

Reply: What is meant by a "generation"? Some would say "forty years,"

consequently the Master referred to the destruction of Jerusalem, which event was the second coming of Christ. But this is not necessarily the case. The word "generation" may refer to the Jewish _race;_ cf. the use of the same Greek word in Matt. 11:16; 16:4; Mark 8:38; Luke 7:31; 16:8; 17:25; Phil. 2:15; Psa. 22:30; 24:6. And in this connection consider carefully the wonderful preservation of the Jewish race. Other nations have pa.s.sed away, having lost their ident.i.ty; the Jew remains--that generation (race) has not yet pa.s.sed away, nor will it "till all these things be fulfilled." [FOOTNOTE: _Jesus is Coming,_ by W.E.B., is heartily recommended as an exceedingly helpful book on this subject. The author is indebted thereto.]

B. THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD.

Under this caption is included the resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked, although, as will be seen later, they do not occur at the same time.

I. THIS DOCTRINE CLEARLY TAUGHT IN THE SCRIPTURES.

1. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.

2. IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.

II. THE NATURE OF THE RESURRECTION.

1. LITERAL RESURRECTION OF THE BODIES OF ALL MEN.

2. RESURRECTION OF THE BODY NECESSARY TO COMPLETE SALVATION.

3. THE NATURE OF THE RESURRECTION BODY.

a) In General.

b) The Body of the Believer.

c) The Body of the Unbeliever.

III. THE TIME OF THE RESURRECTION.

1. OF THE RIGHTEOUS.

2. OF THE WICKED.

I. THE DOCTRINE OF A RESURRECTION CLEARLY TAUGHT IN THE SCRIPTURES.

1. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.

It is set forth in various ways:

_In Word:_ Job 19:25-27--"For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see G.o.d: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me." Also Psa.

16:9; 17:15; Dan. 12:1-3.

_In Figure:_ Gen. 22:5 with Heb. 11:19--"Accounting that G.o.d was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure."

_In Prophecy:_ Isa. 26:19--"Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust." The words "men" and "together with" may be omitted--"Thy dead (ones) shall live." These words are Jehovah's answer to Israel's wail as recorded in vv. 17, 18. Even if they refer to resurrection of Israel as a nation, they yet teach a bodily resurrection. See also Hosea 13:14.

_In Reality:_ 1 Kings 17 (Elijah); 2 Kings 4:32-35 (Elisha and the Shunamite's son); 13:21 (Resurrection through contact with the dead bones of Elisha).

The Old Testament therefore distinctly teaches the resurrection of the body. Mark 9:10, which might seem to indicate that the apostles did not know of a bodily resurrection, is accounted for by their unwillingness to believe in a crucified Christ.

2. IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.

_In Word:_ Note the teaching of Jesus in John 5:28, 29; c. 6 entire, note especially vv. 39, 40, 44, 54; Luke 14:13, 14; 20:35, 36. The teaching of the apostles: Paul, Acts, 24:15; 1 Cor. 15; 1 Thess. 4:14-16; Phil. 3:11; John, Rev. 20:4-6; 13.

_In Reality:_ The resurrection of saints (Matt. 27:52, 53); of Lazarus (John 11); of Jesus Christ (Matt. 28). Our Lord's resurrection a.s.sured them of what till then had been a hope imperfectly supported by Scriptural warrant, and contested by the Sadducees. It enlarged that hope (1 Pet. 1:3), and brought the doctrine of the resurrection to the front (1 Cor. 15).

II. THE NATURE OF THE RESURRECTION.

1. A LITERAL RESURRECTION OF THE BODIES OF ALL MEN--A UNIVERSAL RESURRECTION.

John 5:28--"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth." 1 Cor. 15:22--"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." The apostle is speaking of physical death in Adam, and physical resurrection in Christ.

Revelation 20:12, and 2 Corinthians 5:10 both show the necessity of the raising of the body in order that judgment may take place according to things done in the body. See also Job's hope (19:25-27); David's hope (Psa. 16:9).

An objection is sometimes made to the effect that we literalize these scriptures which are intended to be metaphorical and spiritual.

To this we reply: While the exact phrase, "resurrection of the body," does not occur in the Bible, yet these scriptures clearly teach a physical rather than a spiritual resurrection. Indeed John 5:25-29 draws a sharp contrast between a spiritual (v. 25) and a literal (v. 28) resurrection. See also Phil. 3:21; 1 Thess. 4:13-17.

2 Tim. 2:18--"Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is pa.s.sed already," indicates that the early church believed in a literal resurrection. Surely there is no reference here to a spiritual resurrection such as we read of in Ephesians 5:14. Acts 24:15 speaks of a resurrection of the just and the unjust--this cannot refer to a spiritual resurrection surely. If the resurrection were spiritual then in the future state every man would have two spirits--the spirit he has here, and the spirit he would receive at the resurrection. The term "spiritual body"

describes, not so much the body itself, as its nature. The "spiritual body" is body, not spirit, hence should not be considered as defining body. By the term "spiritual body" is meant the body spiritualized.

So there is a natural body--a body adapted and designed for the use of the soul; and there is a spiritual body--a body adapted for the use of the spirit in the resurrection day.

2. THE REDEMPTION OF THE BODY IS INCLUDED IN OUR COMPLETE REDEMPTION.

Rom. 8:11-23--"And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (v. 23). See also 1 Cor. 6:13-20. In John 6:39 and Job 19:25-27 we are taught that the dust into which our bodies have decayed will be quickened, which indicates a physical resurrection.

This conception of the value of the body is doubtless what leads to the Christian's care for his dead loved ones and their graves.

The believer's present body, which is called "the body of his humiliation" (Phil. 3:21) is not yet fitted for entrance into the kingdom (1 Cor. 15:50). Paul's hope is not for a deliverence from the body, but the redemption of it (2 Cor. 5:4).

3. THE NATURE OF THE RESURRECTION BODY.

a) In General.

Because the Scripture teaches a literal resurrection of the body it is not necessary to insist on the literal resurrection of the identical body--hair, tooth, and nail--that was laid under the ground. The idea that at the resurrection we are to see hands flying across the sea to join the body, etc., finds no corroboration in the Scriptures. Such an idea is not necessary in order to be true to the Bible teaching. Mere human a.n.a.logy ought to teach us this (1 Cor. 15:36, 37)--"thou sowest not that body which shall be."