32.2 Section II, III

Section II.—At the last day, such as are found alive shall not die, but be changed: and all the dead shall be raised up with the selfsame bodies, and none other, although with different qualities, which shall be united again to their souls forever. Section III.—The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonour; the bodies of the just, by his Spirit, unto honor, and be made conformable to his own glorious body.

Exposition

1. Such as remain alive upon the earth at the last day shall not die, but undergo a wonderful change. This truth was first revealed to the Church in Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians (xv. 51): "Behold I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." When Christ shall descend from heaven to judge the world, some will be found alive upon the earth; these shall not die, and sleep for a short time in the dust of the earth; but they will experience a change equivalent to that which shall pass on those who shall then be raised from the grave, and, as we are informed, the dead saints will be raised before the living are changed. "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." - 1 Thess. iv. 16,17.

II. There shall be a general resurrection of the dead. This is a doctrine which unassisted reason could not discover. The wisest of the heathen philosophers derided it. When Paul preached at Athens, which was called the Eye of Greece, the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers mocked when he spake of the resurrection of the dead. But it cannot be reckoned an incredible thing that God should raise the dead. If he be omnipotent and omniscient, as he certainly is, otherwise he would cease to be God, this cannot be considered impossible. He who formed the human body out of dust, and breathed into it the breath of life, must be able to raise and animate it again after it has been reduced to dust. To the power of God our Saviour referred, as an answer to all the cavils which might be brought forward against the doctrine of the resurrection. To the Sadducees, a sect of the Jews who denied this doctrine, he said: "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." - Matt. xxii. 29. But it is only by the revelation of the will of God that we are infallibly assured of the certainty of the resurrection. It was revealed in the writings of the Old Testament. Job expressed the strongest confidence of the resurrection of his body.—Job xix. 25. The prediction of the Prophet Daniel is equally explicit.—Dan. xii. 2. This doctrine held a prominent place in the discourses of our Lord and his apostles. Nothing could be more explicit than our Lord’s declaration: "The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth," &c.—John v. 28, 29. After our Lord’s ascension this was the grand theme of the testimony of his apostles, as upon it the truth of the whole system of Christianity rested. Hence Paul thus argued with the Corinthians: "Now, if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." - 1 Cor. xv. 12-14. The resurrection of the saints is firmly established by the resurrection of Christ himself. In the chapter to which we have now referred, the apostle shows the infallible evidence which he and his brethren had for the resurrection of Christ, and then argues that the resurrection of believers necessarily follows from the admission that Christ their head is risen. The grave cannot always retain what is so intimately connected with the living Redeemer. "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept."—1 Cor. xv. 20. See also 1 Thess. iv. 14; Rom. viii. 11.

III. The dead shall be raised with the selfsame bodies, although with very different qualities. The very tern resurrection implies that the same bodies shall be raised that fell by death; for if God should form new bodies, and unite them to departed souls, it would not be a resurrection, but a new creation. Our Saviour declares: "All that are in the graves shall come forth." This certainly implies that the same bodies which were committed to the graves shall be raised; for, it new bodies were to be produced, and united to their souls, they could not, with truth, be said to come out of their graves. The Apostle Paul affirms, that the same body shall be raised which is sown in corruption, and declares: "This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality;" pointing, as it were, to that corruptible and mortal body which he then carried about. But, though the bodies of the saints will be the same in all essentials as to substance, they will be vastly changed as to qualities. "Flesh and blood" in their present state of grossness and frailty, "cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." The resurrection-body, therefore, shall be wonderfully changed, in respect to qualities, that it may be fitted for the employments and felicities of the heavenly state. "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." - 1 Cor. xv. 42-44. With regard to the wicked, the Scriptures give us no specific information with respect to the state and qualities of their bodies. All that we learn is, that they shall rise "to shame and everlasting contempt;" from which it is evident that they shall be raised to dishonour.

How solicitous should we be to obtain the resurrection of the just! This was Paul’s great desire, and the object of his earnest pursuit.—Phil. iii. 11. If we would attain to a blessed resurrection, let it be our concern to be "found in Christ". United to him by the inhabitation of his Spirit and by a living faith, we need not be slavishly afraid of death or of the grave; for Christ is "the resurrection and the life, and he that believeth in him, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in him shall never die."