The Resurrection: The Essence of the Gospel
/ am laboring, though most imperfectly, to lead them {my scholars) to Christ in true and devoted faith. I hold all the scholarship that ever man had to be infinitely worthless in comparison with even a very humble degree of spiritual advancement. — Thomas Arnold of Rugby.
The resurrection of the body will be universal and personal, general and particular, of every one good and bad, or, in the language of the Bible, “a resurrection of the just and unjust.” It will take place generally and at the last day. Jesus Christ is very clear in his statement as to the time.
He declares his supreme loyalty to the Father, and avers, “I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me,” and then declares the will of his Father in regard to the resurrection: “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”
With great solemnity he again declares the will of the Father and his own power and purpose in raising all believers from the dead “at the last day:” “And this is the will of him that sent me, and every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
He combines it with the statement of the Father’s drawing, and the drawn ones are to be raised “at the last day:” “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” And again he iterates and reasserts that the crowning glory is to be the resurrection at the last day: “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
This was the accepted truth of the resurrection stated by Martha in her great sorrow at Lazarus’s death: “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Again Jesus uses the statement which locates the resurrection and combines it with the judgment: “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”
These two tremendous facts — the judgment and the resurrection — are united in God’s Word. They certainly have a close unity in importance, in event, and in bearing. Peter declared of Christ: “He which is charged of God to be judge of the quick and dead.” Paul in his solemn charge to Timothy declares of Jesus that he shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and kingdom. Peter, in his Epistle, says: “Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.”
There can be no doubt that in the plain teaching of Jesus and his apostles these two facts, resurrection and judgment, are united. “Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” The saints are specially charged and reminded that they must appear before the judgment seat of Christ for the things done in the body. In the interest of compassion and love, in our judgment, Paul in Romans interrogates and reminds Christians: “But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at naught thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. But he that judgeth me is the Lord.x Wherefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the heart; and then shall each man have his praise from God.”
To heal broken hearts, to confirm faith, to arrest excessive mourning for our dead, Paul gives utterance to the Thessalonians: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
In the fact of a general judgment as well as in the coming of our Lord, the resurrection of the dead is held as a fact precedent and to be taken for granted. This is declared in the parable of the talents, the lord coming to reckon with his servants. This purpose had been declared and established from the first: “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints.”
We have Christ’s inimitable description of his coming the object in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew: “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.”
His dual purpose is set forth to the disquieted Thessalonians in strong terms, and they are urged to repose under the cheering fact that their Saviour would come again, and his coming would be to them the end of sorrow, of pain, and fear: “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.”
“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.”
“And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”
All these passages of the judgment are promises and pledges of the resurrection of the dead. The Bible is explicit on the point; no vague analogies, no poetic dreams, but plain statement declaring the fact.
The resurrection will be general, all will be raised at the same time, as Paul declares — a resurrection “both of the just and unjust.”
The resurrection is one of God’s unconditional facts; it will take place ail the same though never a man, woman, or child believe in it. In regard to this alarming and comforting fact, our unbelief, neglect, cannot make the truth of God a lie. It is inevitable and irresistible. God, who cannot lie, has promised, and Jesus has sealed the promise by his resurrection.
We should familiarize ourselves with the fact. It will nerve us for the conflict of faith, bring comfort to the grave bereft of all other comfort, give a sweet and bright hope in death which destroys every other hope.
We are assured that these soul-cheering, faith-invigorating facts of the Bible are not fed upon as a sweet sacrament, cherished as our talisman against sorrow and sin. They do not enter like iron into our blood. Or else we would not be children tossed about by every wind, the prey of every temptation. This doctrine should be the joy and rejoicing of our hearts. Inspired and charmed by its hopes, we should be lifted above all weakness and defy all assaults.
We subscribe to the creed, “I believe in the resurrection of the body,” which was taught by God to Moses in the burning bush, confirmed to us by prophet and apostle, symbolized and assured in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We accept it not because we understand its method but because God has declared it in his Holy Word. To raise the dead is one of the thrilling and momentous objects of the coming of Jesus. The dead are to be raised, and Jesus Christ is coming to do that work; it is too important and glorious to be delegated to the most honored and lofty among angels or men. The Lord in person coming from heaven, with a shout of triumph and a call of authority to the heavens and to the earth.
The archangel’s trump and the dead raised first — that is, before our Lord attends to any other business. The living are neither noticed nor crowned till the dead are awakened to share in their joys and honors. Locked in the embraces of love and reunion, we will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord! Amen, so let it be!