18. The Resurrection Body

The "Resurrection Body" is not a body of "Flesh" and "Blood," for "flesh" and "blood" cannot inherit the "Kingdom of God." 1 Cor. 15:50. Blood is the source of corruption and decay, therefore there can be no blood in the Resurrection body. To preserve a human body it must be drained of blood, or the blood chemically preserved by an embalming fluid. The office of the blood is to convey to the tissues of the body, that are wasting away, the elements that will keep them in repair. Hunger and thirst are nature's warning that the body is wasting away and must have food and drink to replace the waste, or the body will die. But when we get our Resurrection body we shall neither hunger nor thirst any more (Rev. 7:16), a sign that our bodies shall no longer waste away, therefore we will need no blood. In Heaven there will be no sickness or death, both of which are caused by corruption, and there will be no necessity for night, for night is for sleep, and sleep is not necessary where there is no need for recuperation. Neither will there be any more pain, for pain is caused by diseased tissue.

But while we shall not have a body of "Flesh" and "Blood," we shall have a body of "Flesh and Bones," such as Jesus had after His Resurrection. Luke 24:39. Physicians tell us that the bursting of a human heart is caused by a draining of all the blood in the body to the heart, which bursts under the pressure. If this be true, then Christ's heart had burst before the sac that held it was pierced by the Roman soldier's spear, and so His whole body was drained of what blood was left in it after the "bloody sweat" of Gethsemane, and the hemorrhages of the nail pierced hands, and what was laid in the grave was only "FLESH" and "BONES." But the "Flesh" of our Resurrection body will not be human flesh but flesh adapted to the "Spirit World," and as such a body will

THE RESURRECTION BODY require a "framework," that framework will be of bones suitable for a "Spirit Body." Thus our "Spirit Body" will be a "vehicle" adapted to every need of our "Spirit," and be able to convey us anywhere in the Universe of God. It will differ as much from our present body as the body of the "Butterfly" differs from the "Caterpillar" from which it rose in resurrection from the grave of the "cocoon." Let us look at the character of the "Resurrection Body." The Apostle says that—

1. "It is sown in 'Corruption,' it is raised in 'INCORRUPTION.'"

"It is sown in corruption." This is the truth unvarnished. It is sown in foul rottenness. Says the Apostle—"Our conversation is in Heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our 'VILE BODY,' that it may be fashioned like unto His Glorious Body." Phil. 3:20-21. To box a man up because his presence cannot possibly be tolerated in his own home one day longer, to convey him away in a hearse from his family, and friends, and society; from church and bank; from store and office, from shop and mill, and deposit his remains seven feet beneath the sod to protect the community from the vile odors that would contaminate the atmosphere, is what the Apostle means by "SOWN IN CORRUPTION." When Abraham appealed to the children of Heth, saying, "I am a stranger and sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead OUT OF MY SIGHT" (Gen. 23:4), the scene is pathetic. What dead one was it he thus desired to put out of his sight? None other than that beautiful woman he delighted to call Sarai, my Princess. To avoid burial, and prevent corruption, the ancient Egyptians embalmed their dead and preserved their remains in expensive and beautiful mummy cases, a process now numbered among the lost arts. In order to banish the thought of corruption the East Indian Emperor, Shah Jehan, reared the incomparable marble palace—"TAJ MAHAL," over the decaying remains of his beloved wife. And as if to rob death of its terrors and express a belief in the immortality of the body, magnificent buildings have been erected, like "Westminster Abbey," in which the great and noble have been entombed. But all the beauties of architecture, and the skill of the sculptor's chisel, cannot rob the grave of its repulsiveness.

But while the body is sown in "corruption" it is to be raised in "INCORRUPTION." "It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like HIM." 1 John 3:2. "For this corruptible must put on INCORRUPTION, and this mortal must put on IMMORTALITY." 1 Cor. 15:53-54. And when that shall take place—"Death will be SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY." O happy day, when the undressed soul shall put on the fadeless beauty and undying glory of the Resurrection body. That will be the Easter of all Easters, when the voice of the Archangel shall summon the sainted dead to rise, and corruption shall put on incorruption, and we shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the Air. 1 Thess. 4:13-18.

2. "It is sown in 'Dishonor,' it is raised 'IN GLORY.'"

How many a body has been sown in dishonor through some ancestral sin or some inherited propensity, through some depraved appetite or unnatural passion, some physical disfigurement or unsightly deformity that it carried from the cradle to the tomb. But the Resurrection will end all this. It shall be raised IN GLORY. No more shame or dishonor about it because no more sin. No more disfigurement or blemish, because our Resurrection body shall be like unto His Glorious body.

3. "It is sown in 'Weakness,' it is raised in 'POWER.'"

A corpse is the embodiment of weakness. But if that lifeless body be the body of one of God's saints He will raise it with power. Not only will He display power in its resurrection, upheaving graves, breaking into vaults, and shattering mausoleums if necessary, but the raised body will be possessed of power. This power includes more than physical power. It means an enlargement of our present faculties.

THE RESURRECTION BODY a. SIGHT

Take "Sight" for example. Our present range of vision is limited. If we want to see at a distance we take a telescope, if we want to examine minute objects we use a microscope, if we want to discover the cause of some disorder in the human body we resort to the "X Ray." When our vision is impaired we use eye-glasses. We have power to see through a pane of glass, but not through a sheet of iron. We are surrounded on all sides by a universe of objects and creatures that the human eye cannot see. If our spiritual eyes were opened we would see spirit beings about us, as did the young man at Dothan (2 Kings 6:15-17) and as Nebuchadnezzar saw one like unto the Son of God walking in the midst of the Burning Fiery Furnace. Dan. 3:24-25.

b. HEARING

Our "Hearing" also is defective. There are sounds too high, and too low for the human ear. We can hear the footfall of a horse, but if we want to hear the footfall of a fly we must use the Microphone. We can multiply the power of the human voice by the use of the Megaphone, and the Telephone increases the power of the human ear. If man can invent such instruments to augment his power of hearing, what cannot God do for the ear when He endows it with the power of the Resurrection body?

c. TASTE

Taste implies a mouth, tongue, palate, and digestive organs. This raises the question of eating and drinking in the next world. Why not? Jesus ate in His Resurrection body. He said to His Disciples at the last supper—"I will drink no more of the 'Fruit of the Vine,' until that day that I drink it new in the KINGDOM OF GOD." Mark 14:25. In Rev. 22:2 we read of the "Tree of Life" which bears twelve kinds of fruit, a different kind for each month. The fruit of these trees are for "Overcomes" only (Rev. 2:7), while the leaves are for the healing or preservation of the Nations that shall occupy the New Earth. While, as we have seen, there will be no occasion for eating in the next world to supply the waste of the body, yet doubtless one of the pleasures of the Heavenly World will be eating and drinking.

d. MEMORY

How quickly we forget! But the fault is not with the mind, but the brain. We all know that sickness and old age affect the memory. But when we reach that land where there is no sickness, and where the inhabitants never grow old, then the brain shall be perfect in its powers, and memory shall never fail or fade. The words of Abraham to the "Rich Man"—"SON REMEMBER" (Luke 16:25) are an implication that the "worm that shall never die" to the wicked will be "MEMORY." When we speak of having a poor memory, we mean we have a poor "remembrancer." Memory is like the recording cylinders of a Phonograph, it preserves the doings of our life, and at the Judgment will recall every "idle word" and justify the fairness of our sentence.

If the powers of the Resurrection body shall only be the increasing and intensifying of our present natural powers, they will be surpassingly grand, but the Scriptures teach that our present faculties and powers are to be wonderfully multiplied. Now our means of locomotion are limited. We have feet with which to walk, and we have multiplied our means of travel until we can, by the aid of the Automobile and Aeroplane, traverse great distances in a very short time, but in our Resurrection body we shall be able to pass with the swiftness of the lightning from earth to Heaven. When Daniel began to pray the angel Gabriel was commanded to go to him, and "flying swiftly" he reached Daniel's side before he finished his prayer. Dan. 9:20-23. The angels know where they are going and why. They know the highways and byways of the "Stellar Spaces," and how to steer their course through the labyrinth of suns and systems and radiant orbs. They have "telescopic," "microscopic," and "X Ray" vision. They need neither the "Telephone" nor "Wireless" to communicate with

THE RESURRECTION BODY each other. The flight of a bird is limited to the atmosphere, the flight of angels has no limit inside the boundaries of the Universe.