22-Chapter 1. The Rapture And First Rsurrection

Chapter 1. The Rapture And First Rsurrection Marana tha. Our Lord, come! (1 Corinthians 16:22) The present age is Easter Time. It begins with the resurrection of the Redeemer and ends with the resurrection of the redeemed. Between lies the spiritual “resurrection” of those called into life (Romans 6:4-11; Colossians 3:1). So we live between two Easters, as those who have been raised between two resurrections, as burning and shining lights (Php 2:15) between two outshinings (epiphaneiai) of the Eternal Light (2 Timothy 1:10; Titus 2:13). And in the power of the first Easter we go to meet the last Easter. The resurrection of the Head guarantees the resurrection of the members. The tree of life of the resurrection bears fully ripe fruit. The hope of the church includes four features: The rapture and first resurrection (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18); The judgment seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10); The marriage of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7-8); The coming World Rule (1 Corinthians 6:2-3).

[1] The Moment of the Rapture

1. The Two Resurrections. Holy Scripture does not teach a general simultaneous resurrection and a single all-embracing final judgment of righteous and unrighteous. I speaks rather of a “resurrection outof the dead” (Luke 20:35), of a “first” resurrection (Revelation 20:6), indeed, of an “out-resurrection out of the dead” (Php 3:11; lit.). It speaks of “divisions” and “classes” within the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:15-24), and emphasizes that these are separated from one another by intervening periods. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ will all be made alive. But each in his own class (the word denotes at the same time military ‘divisions’): the firstfruit, Christ; thereafter those who belong to Christ when He shall come: thereafter the end (that is, the end of resurrection namely of the remainder of the dead)” (1 Corinthians 15:22-24). In the Old Testament both of these—the resurrection “unto eternal life” and the resurrection “unto eternal reproach and shame”—were indeed viewed together in one picture (Daniel 12:2; Daniel 12:13), even as in the prophecies of the Lord Jesus when on earth (John 5:28-29; comp. Acts 24:15). But in the progress of prophetic revelation (John 16:12-13) these two became separated as two chief events: the resurrection of the righteous before Messiah’s kingdom begins, and the general resurrection after the kingdom, at the end of the world. The key is Revelation 20:4-5; “These (the priests of God and Christ) lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead were not made to live until the thousand years should be ended.” “It belongs to the glorifying of the Christ as the Head that His members should share in a special resurrection, one like his own, a “resurrection out of the dead’ “ (Mark 9:9-10; Luke 20:35). These and similar expressions occur 34 times in connexion with the resurrection of Christ (e.g. 1 Peter 1:3; Galatians 1:1) and 4 times in connexion with the resurrection of His people (Mark 12:25; Luke 20:35; Acts 4:2; Php 3:11). This resurrection is: as to its time—the first resurrection (Revelation 20:5-6); as to its extent—an out-resurrection (Php 3:11; Luke 20:35); as to its character—a resurrection of the righteous (Luke 14:14); as to its saving benefit—resurrection unto life (John 5:29; Daniel 12:2).

Therefore, “Blessed and holy are they that have part in the first resurrection” (Revelation 20:6).

2. The Days of God. With the first coming of Christ there begin in the calendar of God the “last days” (Acts 2:17). According to early Christian conviction, with the incarnation of Christ began the “End time” (Hebrews 1:2; 1 John 2:18). For Christ is the goal toward which the long previous ages strove (Hebrews 9:26) “His first appearing is the beginning of the End, and with His second appearing begins the end of the End. Therefore the closing points, the “ends” and the goal of the pre-Messianic (Pre-Christian) ages have in Christ come upon us who live in the Messianic (Christian) age (1 Corinthians 10:11). “The church of Christ is the goal of history” (Ph. Bachmann). The history of the End, in the New Testament sense, is therefore not simply the history of the final future, but the whole New Testament history of salvation is the history of the End developing progressively. In Christ the beginning of the completion has appeared. Therefore ever since then everything is already the history of the End time. The present is: i. The “day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2), the “day” in which grace is seeking (Hebrews 4:7), the “hour” of the full proclamation of salvation (John 16:25; lit.), the “hour” of the worship of the Father in spirit and truth (John 4:21-23). The goal is ii. The “day of God” (2 Peter 3:2), the new creation of heaven and earth , the “day of eternity” (2 Peter 3:18, lit., comp. R.V. note). Between these days lies iii. The “last day.” This also is a long period (2 Peter 3:8). It begins with the resurrection of the righteous (John 6:39-40; John 6:44; John 6:54; John 11:24) and ends with the judgment of the lost (John 12:48). Since the Messianic kingdom lies between those two events, it covers a stretch of time of more than one thousand years (Revelation 20:5). It begins with the rapture, the “day of Jesus Christ” (Php 2:16; Php 1:6; Php 1:10; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 2 Corinthians 1:14), 32 and the “day of the Lord” (2 Thessalonians 2:2-4), the “day of Jehovah” of the Old Testament prophets (Joel 2:1-2; Joel 3:14). It continues through the glorious kingdom of Messiah, through “those days,” the brilliant period of the old earth (Jeremiah 3:16; Joel 3:2; Zechariah 8:23), and it ends with the “day of judgment” (Matthew 10:15; Matthew 11:22; Matthew 11:24; Matthew 12:36), the recompensing of men and angels (Jude 1:6), the final settlement before the great white throne (Revelation 20:11-15; 2 Peter 2:9; 2 Peter 3:7; Romans 2:5). Thus it can be compared to a day with the morning star at dawn (2 Peter 1:19; Revelation 22:16), with tempest before midday (Revelation 6:1-17; Revelation 7:1-17; Revelation 8:1-13; Revelation 9:1-21; Revelation 10:1-11; Revelation 11:1-19; Revelation 12:1-17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-20; Revelation 15:1-8; Revelation 16:1-21; Revelation 17:1-18; Revelation 18:1-24; Revelation 19:1-21), with sunshine at noon and in the afternoon (Malachi 4:2, that is the Millennial kingdom), and with flaming lightning towards evening (Revelation 20:9, Gog and Magog). But at last the new sun arises, “at evening it will be light,” and out of world destruction comes forth world transfiguration.

Footnote 32: Comp. Ephesians 4:30; 2 Timothy 1:12; 2 Timothy 4:8; 1 Corinthians 3:13; 2 Peter 1:19; 1 John 4:17; Hebrews 10:25.

3. The Completion of the Age, the coming and appearing of the Lord. The exact time of the rapture cannot be ascertained. 33 “It belongs not to you to know season or hour” (Acts 1:7; Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32). The time of glory is near, for the Lord says, “Behold, I come soon” (Revelation 22:20; 2 Peter 3:8-9). The time of glory is distant, for He said that the bridegroom “tarried” (Matthew 25:5). The nobleman who receives the kingdom went into a distant land (Luke 19:11-12), and only “after a long time” came back so as to reckon with his servants (Matthew 25:13; Mark 13:32-37; Luke 12:40). God desires in us instant expectancy and readiness for eternity. With us the last things should be always the first. “Let your loins be girded and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men who wait for their lord” (Luke 12:35-36).

Footnote 33: How fruitless is all computation here has been shown by the contradictions of the greatest minds that have attempted it. Luther expected the end of the world in 1556, the writer of the hymn “Waken up, the voice is calling” in 1670, the celebrated expositor John Cocceius in 1667, Amos Comenius in 1672 the scientist Isaac Newton in 1715, J.A. Bengel in 1836, not to speak of the contradictions among the Seventh Day Adventists.

Upon the details of this subject much difference has always existed. Equally great saints and scholars support divergent views. This should rebuke dogmatism, induce forbearance, and provoke inquiry. In this spirit we look toward the last time. In reference to the world reign of Christ it is the “completion of the age;” 34 in reference to the absence of Christ it is His Kingly coming (parousia, advent); 35 in reference to the concealment of Christ it is His revelation and unveiling (apocalypse); 36 in reference to the light of Christ’s glory it is His brilliant appearing (epiphany). 37 Footnote 34: Five times in the New Testament: Matthew 13:39-40; Matthew 13:49; Matthew 24:3; Matthew 28:20, lit.

Footnote 35: Seventeen times in the New Testament of the advent of Christ: e.g. Matthew 24:3; Matthew 24:27; Matthew 24:37; 1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Thess. 2:19; 13:13; etc. The term does not signify “future” or “ return” but “presence,” or more strictly the entrance of the one parousia and epiphany were the technical terms for the visit of a king or emperor (e.g. the parousia of Nero, the epiphany of Hadrian). Thus the element of the kingly rule of Jesus is contained in the conception of the early Christian hope of the parousia and epiphany. It is the arrival of Jesus as the “King of glory.” “Behold, thy King comes to thee” (Zechariah 9:9).

Footnote 36: Five times in the New Testament of the return of Christ: 1 Corinthians 1:7; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:7-13; 1 Peter 4:13.

Footnote 37: The Greek word is connected with “shine” (epi-phan-eia: comp. phaino, I shine; e.g. John 1:5).

[2] The Nature of the Rapture

“Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall indeed not all sleep, but we shall all be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51). “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven, with a war cry and the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ will first arise. Thereafter we who live and remain over will at the same time as they be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we will be at all times with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). The rapture as to its nature is a fivefold event: catching away, catching up, transfiguration, triumph, blessedness.

1. A Catching Away. It is a catching “away,” a taking out of all distress of soul and body (2 Corinthians 5:2; 2 Corinthians 5:4; Php 3:21), out of all persecution and oppression by the foe, out of the entire sphere of sin (comp. Romans 6:6) and of death (Romans 7:24). Thus it is rest with all saints (2 Thessalonians 1:7) in “the day of the (coming) redemption” (Ephesians 4:30; Romans 8:23). As such it is: an act of Divine grace, “the grace which will be brought to us by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13), and which will free us from all sin; an act of Divine mercy, the mercy for which we wait unto eternal life (Jude 1:21) and which will free us from all misery. “Grace takes away the sin, mercy the misery” (Bengel); an act of Divine omnipotence, the omnipotence which transfigures us into conformity with the Redeemer and elevates us to the most glorious spiritual body. At that time the same power which moves the whole universe will act upon our body! “He will change our body of humiliation that it may be fashioned like unto his body of glory, according to the power by which he is able to subdue the whole world” (Php 3:21).

Therefore Paul uses for “rapture” a particularly strong word (harpazo, 1 Thessalonians 4:17), which really means, to seize hastily, to rob with violence, to draw to oneself by swift, sudden movement, which word Luke uses in the Acts to describe how Paul was torn away by the Roman soldiers from the mob of his oppressors (Acts 23:10). And in 1 Thessalonians 1:10, where Paul calls the rapture a “salvation from the coming wrath” he uses a word (Gk. rhuo) which means strictly a “rescue with power,” the same word by which in 2 Timothy 4:17 he describes his preservation in Nero’s judgment court, his “rescue out of the jaws of the lion.” Therefore he describes the taking home of the church by an accumulation of powerful military figures. The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with an “alarm signal,” with a “word of command,” a “battle cry,” (K.J.V. A SHOUT) with a “trumpet clang” of the “trump of God.” And then will He, the royal Conqueror, accompanied by the armies of heaven, unite with Himself for ever His earthly warriors. And this is all the most important, for the rapture is 2. A Catching Up, and as such it is A uniting of the members to the Head; for the Lord Himself will descend and we shall be withHim for ever (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). He will present the church to “Himself” glorified (Ephesians 5:27) for the purpose of perfecting His glory as the Redeemer (Ephesians 1:23). “I come again and will receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be” (John 14:2-3). And the rapture is A uniting of the members to one another; for the living will be caught up at the some time with the dead (1 Thessalonians 4:17), and for the first time the church of all times and all lands will be with one another. Thus the completed church will exist for the first time, but not on earth but in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Till then there exist only churches (in the plural, Revelation 22:16), and the church of a generation living at any one time on earth. “But then there will be an ascent, not of a solitary Elijah with fiery chariots and horses, but millions of saints will rise, drawn upwards by the holy power of God, and all together will fill the heavenly regions with their Hallelujah.” But yet more. Those thus lifted above will receive their transfiguration.

3. Transfiguration. “In a moment , in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the last trump—then will they be changed for the body of humiliation into the body of glory (Php 3:21), and this corruptible will put on incorruption and this mortal immortality (1 Corinthians 15:51; 1 Corinthians 15:53). And this all in the air! (1 Thessalonians 4:17). What a triumph!

4. Triumph! For the air is the very base of operations of the Enemy. It is from the air that the world is at present ruled by demon powers. Therefore Satan is called “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2; comp. 6:12). But now exactly in the region of his power, at the very headquarters of the conquered foe, there takes place the meeting of the Conqueror, and His victorious hosts. The triumph cannot be greater; a more glorious festival of victory cannot be. Christ has conquered completely. His church has overcome absolutely. Therefore the crowning of the persecuted takes place at the headquarters of their defeated Persecutor.

5. Blessedness. This is the “blessed hope” of the redeemed (Titus 2:13). “Awake and rejoice, ye who lie in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of the heavenly lights, and the earth will again bring forth the shades [Heb. Rephaim] to the light of day” (Isaiah 26:19; comp. 35:10; 51:11).

[3] The Coming Spiritual Body

1. Its necessity. But why exactly bodily resurrection? Why not simply pure spirit? Because the body is not a prison of the soul, but belongs to the essence of man, for without a body the man is “naked” (2 Corinthians 5:3). Because even here below the earthly body was ennobled by being the temple of the Spirit and therefore cannot be left deserted (Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 6:19). Because through sin there has come the separating of the spirit and soul from the body, and in consequence without bodily resurrection something of the effects of sin would remain in the redeemed. But God created man as a whole, and therefore as a whole He will redeem him. Mere permanence of the spirit as immortal were only a partial continuance of life and so a partial redemption. God does not abandon the works of His hands: matter also is a thought and a work of His power as creator. Therefore no part of His own redeemed one can be allowed to remain in death. Only so will “death be swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57 :2 Corinthians 5:4; Isaiah 25:8; Hosea 13:14). There cannot be permitted a redemption from the body, but there must be a redemption of the body (Romans 8:23). Therefore Christ looks on the raising of the dead as His special work as Saviour, indeed, He Himself is the living resurrection (John 11:25). “No one can come to Me except the Father draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day? (John 6:44). “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, he has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54; comp. 39; 5:28,29).

2. Its actually. “Embodiment is the end of the ways of God.” this is proved most distinctly by the resurrection body of Jesus. It could be seen with the eyes (Luke 24:40) and touched with the hands (Luke 24:39; John 20:27). It could eat honey and fish (Luke 24:41-43; comp. Acts 10:41); indeed, according to the Lord’s own testimony, it even had flesh and bone: “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bone, as ye see that I have” (Luke 24:39). The Greek has ostea, bone, the same word as in John 19:36 and Hebrews 11:22. The teaching therefore is false that the Risen One had no actual body but only a power of embodying Himself; that as to His nature He had become pure “spirit” and had taken a resurrection body solely for the purpose of making Himself visible to men, but always to lay it aside after His appearances. This at once contradicts the above passage, Luke 23:39, where the Lord says expressly that He was no “spirit.” According to that erroneous opinion He would have been usually a spirit without flesh and bone, in which case He must have completely misled His disciples by what He said; for instead of saying, “a spirit has not flesh and bone, as ye see that I have,” He must have said, “a spirit cannot take flesh and bone.” But the Risen One is the standard and prototype of all the perfected ones at the heavenly throne (1 John 3:2; Romans 8:29). To His body of glory ours will presently be conformed (Php 3:21; 1 Corinthians 15:49). Therefore in His body we can perceive certain basic features of our own future body; and if His body has glorified matter as its outward foundation, so also ours.

1 Corinthians 15:50 says nothing against this; for, as the context shows, Paul speaks there only of the unglorified flesh and blood that it cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Nor will appeal to 1 Corinthians 15:54 hold. The new body is indeed called there a “spiritual” body, but this does not signify that it is wholly immaterial and consists purely of spirit. This is as little the case as that “soulish” (psychical) body we at present have consists only of “soul.” Much rather by “soulish” and “spiritual” the basic nature of both kinds of body is indicated. In the earthly body the soul dominates, in the heavenly body the spirit. The change of the one into the other does not consist in a putting off of the material, but, exactly the reverse, in putting on (1 Corinthians 15:53-54), not in an “unclothing,” but in a “clothing upon” of this corruptible matter with immortality and incorruption (2 Corinthians 5:2-4). But the nature of this change is wholly inexplicable; it is a marvel which, as also that of the heavenly material, will be perceived only in eternity.

Because, therefore of the reality of the heavenly body the Scripture speaks of the resurrection of bodies out of the graves. “The hour comes in which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man “ (John 5:28-29). This body of humiliation will be glorified (Php 3:21); this mortal body will be made alive (Romans 8:11); this body sown in corruption will be raised incorruptible and immortal (1 Corinthians 15:42-43; 1 Corinthians 15:53-54; comp. Job 19:25-26).

“But if there were no spiritual body and no direct relation between the present body and the future, why the opening of the graves? Why then a resurrection at all? In that case the new body would be quite another, nor the same, not “this” body which had been sown in the grave. No, there must be a connexion between the old and the new body, a connexion not only of soul and personality, but also of the body. In the earthly body the atoms are continually in flux. The change of matter completes every seven years a full transformation of the whole material constitution of the body, so that with the passing of this period not a single atom of the former material is any longer present; and yet it is “the same” body. By means of the power given by the Creator the soul continually builds of the material which surrounds it a “new” body. The body itself is composed of the material taken from Nature which the soul quickens and governs and, corresponding to its own character, moulds into a higher unity of nature.

Thus in even the earthly body it is not the material that is the deciding element, but the body-building power of the soul; nevertheless there must be already present in the old, corruptible body an indestructible element which at the resurrection and transfiguration will be “clothed upon with the house which is from heaven (2 Corinthians 5:2). Only so it is conceivable that the old body must “rise” and that it can be described as the “seed” of the future body. The process in view is at one and the same time both breaking down and building up, dissolution and connexion, new creation and preservation.

“Even as in the dying plant only an element survives, which then, drawing to itself new material, under the influence of the light and the earth, forms to itself a new plant body, which because of that element is the same with the dead plant and nevertheless another,” so also after the dissolution of the human body there survives an element with the possibility of new formation The soul is, as it were, the magnet of the body which effects the conjunction of the millions of its atoms. In death it loses its magnetic power and the atoms fall apart; but in resurrection it receives it again, and indeed in far higher and more perfect degree. Therefore now the soul puts on the powers of heavenly light and clothes itself (2 Corinthians 5:2-4) with a new perfect body of glory.

We can form no conception of the heavenly material. Only figurative language is possible. It is related to earthly material as the flashing diamond to the dark carbon out of which it is formed, 38 as the luminous body of the gas flame to the black coal out of which it is made; as the radiant jewel to the dull soil out of which it is taken. Thus do the graveyards of man become the seed-plots of resurrection and the cemeteries of the people of God become through the heavenly dew the resurrection fields of the [promised] perfecting (Isaiah 26:19).

Footnote 38: Through heat (comp. 2 Peter 3:12) the coal, volatilized to gas, crystalizes becomes as it were “glorified” into diamond.

Note on the Intermediate State.

Concerning the circumstances of the soul between death and resurrection Scripture says but little. It is certain that the perfecting of the individual is attached to his resurrection, and so does not take place at death. Holy Scripture mostly looks on to the goal, passing over the interval with only a few hints and laying upon it no special stress. We should wait for the return of Christ, not for death. For the believing dead it is first of all a blessed waiting time in Paradise (Luke 23:43), with Christ (Php 1:23; Acts 7:59), in “Abraham’s bosom” (Luke 16:22), where it is “far better” than here (Php 1:23). For the unsaved dead there begins at once the “fire” (Luke 16:22-24). Therefore for the believer the first “gain” is not at the rapture but at death (Php 1:21); for the unbeliever there is a fearful expectation of the righteous judgment of God. But in both cases the completion is the resurrection either of life or of judgment (John 5:29).

[4] The Sevenfold Glory of the Resurrection Body The nature of the new body is indescribable. The Scripture gives only figurative intimations.

1. Spiritually. The body of humiliation is a “soulish” body, the body of glory will be “spiritual” (1 Corinthians 15:44-46), which means that in the former the soul predominates, in the latter the spirit.

2. Subjection. The body of humiliation is often a limit and restraint: the body of glory will be entirely serviceable. The body of humiliation, as a “soulish” body, has a certain independence of the spirit, an independence which quite often amounts to conflict between body and spirit (Romans 7:5; Romans 7:23; 1 Corinthians 9:27; Romans 6:6). But the body of glory will be completely ruled by the spirit. In unrestricted dependence it will be at the disposal of the spirit, a perfect instrument of the perfected life. But in the natural world the reverse condition rules.

3. Superiority. The body of humiliation, which is in measure independent as regards the spirit, as regards natural conditions is dependent and bound; the body of glory, which is dependent upon the spirit, is independent and free as regards these natural conditions. Therefore with the former there is the necessity of nourishment and the danger of sickness and misfortune; with the latter, however, is royal freedom and it is superior to the restrictions of matter, space, and time. So it can eat, but without its being necessary (Luke 24:41-43)— superiority over the material; so it can appear in a room with closed doors (John 20:19; comp. Luke 24:31; Luke 24:36)— freedom from the restrictions through space; so it is immortal in eternity (1 Corinthians 15:54; 1 Corinthians 15:42)— freedom from all limitation through time.

4. Exaltation. The body of humiliation, because it is such (Php 3:21), is a body of “dishonour” (1 Corinthians 15:43). But the body of glory will be a body of exaltation. The lowliness of the present body is shown by sickness and death, as also by conception, birth, and the manner of its being nourished (1 Corinthians 6:13); it therefore belongs to the dignity of the future body that these conditions shall cease: “in the resurrection they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; but are as the angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22:30). But this does not mean “they will be themselves angels,” but only in this point “as angels.” No man becomes an angel when he dies. We shall indeed be in fellowship with the angels (Hebrews 12:22; Luke 16:22); but we shall be more than angels (1 Corinthians 6:2-3). We are “firstfruits of his creatures” (James 1:18), and “sons of God” (Romans 8:14).

5. Happiness. The body of humiliation goes through sorrow and pain (2 Corinthians 5:2; 2 Corinthians 5:4); the body of glory will be full of bliss. “They shall neither hunger nor thirst” (Isaiah 49:10; Revelation 7:16-17). “Neither mourning nor crying nor pain shall be any more: the first things are passed away” (Revelation 21:1-27; Revelation 4:1-11). “It is sown corruptible, it is raised incorruptible. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness and is raised in strength” (1 Corinthians 15:42-43).

6. Splendour. The body of humiliation is a poor tent, the body of glory is a transparent, radiant palace. “The righteous ... shall shine forth in their Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 13:43): as dazzling white snow (Mark 9:3; Php 3:21); as transparent dew (Isaiah 26:19); as the moon and the stars (Daniel 12:3); as the brightness of the firmament (Daniel 12:3); as the sun in its might (Matthew 13:43; Matthew 17:2Revelation 1:16); as the Lord Jesus Himself in the light of His glory (Php 3:21; 1 John 3:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18). “The teachers will radiate brightness as the heaven, and those who turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever” (Daniel 12:3). This is the grandeur for which we wait. Compared with this the earthly body is as a seed to the fully unfolded flower (1 Corinthians 15:35-39; 1 Corinthians 15:42-44). As little as one can see that a brilliant plant is contained in a tiny poppy seed, or the mighty oak in the acorn, or the apple tree in the pip, so little can one discern in the present body the glory of the future body.

7. Conformity to Christ. But the most glorious feature is that the redeemed will be conformed to HIM. “We shall be like him, for we shall see him even as he is” (1 John 3:2). We shall be “conformed to the body of his glory” (Php 3:21). We shall bear on us His “image” that “He may be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:18; comp. 2 Corinthians 3:18). “For the first man is of earth, of dust; the second man is of heaven. But as he who is of dust, so are they who are of dust; and as the heavenly One so are also the heavenly ones. And as we have borne the image of the one from dust, so shall we bear also the image of the One from heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:47-49; Darby).