4.—THOSE WHO DENY THE RESURRECTION
A WAKE to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God; I speak this to your shame." Alas! there were those at Corinth who said " that there is no resurrection of the dead "; but on this vital and fundamental truth the whole of Christianity rests, for "if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins " (1 Cor. 15:14-1714And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:14‑17)).
The serpent's hiss is heard all around, and, sad to say, there are many so-called theologians in our own land who do not hesitate, in their impious folly, to call in question the glorious truth of resurrection. The Sadducees of old have many followers today, but the Lord, when here, rebuked their folly by saying, “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
Job, even in his day, had no doubts as to the sublime truth of resurrection, for did he not say, “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand in the latter day upon the earth. And though, after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God?”
Hundreds of years after, Paul, the servant of Jesus Christ, exposes the heterodoxy of Hymen us and Philetus, “who, concerning the truth, erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some." The same beloved apostle did not hesitate to press this solemn truth upon his hearers at Mars' hill, when he beheld the city of Athens “wholly given to idolatry." In that powerful discourse God's devoted servant preached to Epicureans and Stoics, Jews, philosophers and Athenians alike, the grand and all-important truth of " Jesus and the resurrection.”
Spite of those who mocked " when they heard of the resurrection of the dead," Paul declared, in the power of the Spirit and with no uncertain sound, the tremendous fact that " God 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 in that He hath raised Him from the dead." Later on, in his letter to the Corinthians, the apostle remarked, “But some will say, How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come? 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 grain....
But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed his own body... So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, 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." Yes, let men say what they will, the truth remains; and as sure as day follows night, so surely does resurrection follow death; and all who deny this, Scripture calls “fools.”
There is a resurrection unto life, in which all believers share; and there is also a later, or second, resurrection unto damnation, in which all unbelievers have their part. A thousand years, it is true, separate the two resurrections; but there will be, there must be, two. Reader, should you die before Christ comes, in which of these two resurrections will you be found?
Ere closing this paper, let me contrast the believer's blessings with the unbeliever's woes.
In a risen Christ all believers, even now, stand “accepted"; yea, through grace, they are the privileged possessors of eternal life, divine righteousness, and unclouded peace. His resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God are the measure of our complete and perfect acceptance “in the beloved"; for in Him we stand, with death and judgment behind our backs, and life and glory ours. Who then shall condemn those whom God has justified in a risen and glorified Christ?
Born twice, they may die once, or they may not die at all. Should they fall asleep in Jesus before He comes, their resurrection, like His, will be from among the dead, and as they rise to meet Him in the air they will be changed in a comment into His own image, and shine forever in glorified bodies fashioned like His own.
If you, dear reader, miss this first resurrection, you will have to take part in the second. Living in sin, and dying in sin, you will be raised again from the dead in your sins, and your resurrection, as an unbeliever, will be unto damnation. You may refuse, as many do today, to believe this, but it nevertheless remains true, whether you believe it or not, and the tremendous reality of it will be personally proved by yourself as you stand before God, at the last great assize, a lost, a ruined, a judged, and a doomed sinner. Do not any longer expose yourself to the charge of being called “a fool" by God, but be wise in time.
Come then to Jesus now, and trust in His atoning blood before it is too late—and the Father's house, the rest of God, and the smile of Christ, shall be yours forever.
S. T.