"The Age to Come"
BY JOSEPH MARSH
ROCHESTER, N. Y., PUBLISHED AT THE ADVENT HARBINGER OFFICE 1851
RESURRECTION OF THE BODY
we present the following considerations: and
1. The resurrection of Christ. Did Christ die? All readily admit, that his
body did, and the Scriptures
expressly say, that his "soul" was made an "offering for sin" ~~ that "he poured out his
soul unto
death" ~~ that "his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto
death" ~~ and, that "his soul was not
left in hell," or correctly, the grave. That the very same Jesus that died, was raised from death to
life, is evident from his own words. After his resurrection, he said to his disciples, "Behold my hands
and my feet, that it is I MYSELF." (Luke, xxiv. 39.) This word 'myself' is full of meaning and
interest. It clearly and incontrovertibly identifies Jesus after the resurrection with Jesus
before the
crucifixion: they are one and the same person, 'I myself,' with no other difference than, he was
mortal before death, but immortal after death: "he dieth no more," "but ever
liveth."
Well, what has the resurrection of Christ to do with the resurrection of the saints? Much every way.
In the case under consideration, it most conclusively proves the identity of the person that will be
raised, with himself before death: and what is true of one is true of all the saints. But how is this
proved by the resurrection of Christ? By his being the "first-fruits of them that slept." "Now is Christ
risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept." (1 Cor. xv. 20.) What were the
first-fruits, in the type? "When ye shall reap the harvest, then ye shall bring a
sheaf (or handful,
margin,) of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest." (Lev. xxiii. 10.) The first-fruits then, in
the type, were a choice specimen of the harvest, or whole crop: as was the handful, or specimen, so
would be the whole harvest. Hence, Christ, the antitype, in his resurrected state, is a true specimen
and pledge of the real character of what his saints will be, when raised from the dead. And as Christ
himself rose, so every saint, who sleeps in Jesus, will, himself or herself, be raised from death to
life, in the first resurrection. That the whole entire person will be raised, is as certain as that Christ
was raised, or that the real wheat, of which the sheaf or handful was the first-fruits, was gathered in
the general harvest.
That the resurrected body of Christ is a sure pledge that the saints will be like him, is evident from
the following and like scriptures: "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned
like
unto his glorious body." (Phil. iii. 21.) "It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that,
when he shall appear, we shall be like him." (1 Jno. iii. 2.)
2. The declaration of Paul in 1 Cor. xv. The resurrection of the saints is the subject of discourse in
the greater portion of the chapter. That the whole man, and not the body exclusively, will be raised,
is evident from the following expressions: "But every man [not body, exclusively, but the whole
man] in his own order: Christ the first fruits: afterward they [not simply their bodies, but
they] that
are Christ's at his coming." (v. 23.) "What advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? Let us eat and
drink, for to-morrow we die." (v.32)
We will paraphrase this last verse to show its true meaning: "If the dead rise not, it is folly for me to suffer
for Christ, for he is an impostor, and is yet dead; therefore we may as well eat and drink, take our fill of
this world's pleasures and gratifications, and when we die, that will be our everlasting end." This is the
true light of the text, if the whole man, and not simply his body, is the subject of conversation. But the
following is the manner the text should read, if nothing but the body is meant:
"What advantage will it be to my body to suffer, if it will have no resurrection. It is true, my soul will live
forever, whether my body is raised or not. But if my body is never to be raised,
it may as well eat and
drink, and go to destruction at once (while my soul goes to glory,) as to suffer for Christ, with the vain
hope of a resurrection."
Thus it will be seen, that to make good sense of the apostle's language in this case, we must understand
him to teach the resurrection from death to life of the whole man.
Again (v. 35): "But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?"
In order to make good sense of this text, we must understand it to teach the resurrection of the whole
man. If not, it should read, How are the bodies of the dead raised up? and with what
bodies do the bodies
of the dead come? which would be absurd in the extreme.
These questions, "How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?" Paul, in part,
answers thus: "Thou fool! that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: and that which thou
sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare [i.e. the
naked] grain, it may chance of wheat,
or some other grain: but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body."
(vs. 36-38.)
The meaning of the figure seems to be this: As no crop of any kind of grain can reasonably be expected
until the seed is put into the earth, so the saints (with the exception of those who will be alive at the
coming of Christ) need not expect eternal life, or to be gathered in the glorious harvest of the great day,
without following their Lord, Christ the first-fruits, through death.
Again, As the seed that is sown, is the old grain or body, and not the new grain or body that springs from
the old; so the old, infirm, weak and mortal bodies of the saints, are not the
new, powerful, honorable, spiritual, immortal and
glorious BODIES that will be raised.
Further, As the bare (which means naked,) or real grain, ~~ not the
chaff, nor straw, but all that
constitutes it grain, ~~ is sown; so man, ~~ all that constitutes him such, ~~ falls under the power of
death.
Still further, As the real grain, ~~ not simply the chaff, straw, or husks, but all that belongs to the grain,
~~ springs from the original seed sown in the earth: so the whole man, ~~ not simply the body, an
appendage of the "man proper," but all that constitutes the man,---springs to life, from the power of death
and the grave, in the resurrection morn. It would be no more absurd to suppose that the real wheat comes
from the old stock reserved in the granary, and is united with the new straw that springs from the earth,
than to say that the soul comes from heaven, hades, or any other place, and is united with the body,
when it rises from death. If the whole man dies and rises from the dead, then the figure is appropriate,
and full of beauty and meaning, but otherwise, the reverse is the case.
Finally, As every seed produces "its own body, i.e., wheat will not produce rye, nor rye wheat, nor corn
oats, nor barley wheat, &c., but every seed its own body, or the real grain in appearance, name and
nature; so the identical person, ~~ not another being or a shadow, a ghost, a shell, or an unintelligent and
unimportant appendage of the "man proper," but the same person that fell under the power of death ~~
will be raised to life; with the glorious change in the saints from mortality to immortality. Did
Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, the holy patriarchs, prophet, and apostles, die? ~~ They will be raised, and indentified
after the resurrection, as distinctly as they were before in the future world, as in the present. And what is
true of those worthies, is true of all the saints. In a word, we may as well dispense with the resurrection,
as to deny the identity of those who will be raised.
But this identity is made absolutely certain by further declarations of Paul, found in the chapter under
consideration. He says, "So is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption:
it is raised in
incorruption. It is sown in weakness: it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body;
it is raised a spiritual
body." (vs. 42-44.) Here the pronoun "It," as used in these three cases, places the
identity of the person
before and after the resurrection beyond dispute. The "it" that died is the same "it" that rises, ~~ with the
exception of the glorious change named, from corruption to incorruption, from weakness to power, and
from a natural to a spiritual body. And, whatever ideas may be entertained about the "spiritual body," it
should be remembered, that it will be like Christ's glorious body, and that, he said, had "flesh and
bones;"
hence, the spirituality of the resurrected body or person will not destroy its reality or identity with the
body or person in the mortal state.