some among you, that there is no resurrection of the dead ?" Here the apostle argues the saints' resurrection from Christ's. The same body will rise. The same substance, but not in quality. It will be a glorified body. Moses, when he put his hand into his bosom, and took it out, found it was leprous, he put his hand into his bosom again, and took it out of his bosom, and behold! it was turned again as his other flesh," Exod. iv 6, 7. So our bodies, when put into the bosom of the earth, they are full of the leprosy, that is sinful, perishable, and corruptible. In the resurrection the same body will rise, but without these things. This is what the apostle means, when he says, "Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God” i.e. not sinful and corrupt flesh and blood; for Christ in his human nature is now in heaven, which consists of both flesh and blood. Corruption shall not inherit incorruption." 66 The immortality of the soul requires the resurrection of the body. Though the soul man live without the body, as it does, yet its happiness is not complete without it. The soul had the body as a partner in the field of battle, fighting for the Lord; so the soul longs for the body to participate in the eternal triumph. The souls of the saints will thus be completely happy, and the souls of the wicked completely miserable. The manner in which the dead will rise, and the difference between the just and unjust demand a word. The saints will rise with joy unspeakable and full of glory, "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust." They will awake singing like Joseph, who when brought out from prison, was made lord over all Egypt, or as Daniel who when taken from the lion's den, was made prime-minister. Who can express the joy of the saints when the soul and body will be reunited? It passeth all knowledge. Like as the father meeting the prodigal fell on his neck and kissed him, saying, "This my son was dead, but is now alive;" so will the soul say to the body, this my body was dead, and is alive again, was lost, and is found! The resurrection of the bodies of the wicked will be contrary to all this. They will rise with fear and trembling. They will call to the mountains and hills to hide them from the presence of the Lamb. O, the horror that will ensue when the souls of the wicked shall come out of hell to be reunited to their bodies, that they may receive their final sentence from the Judge of the whole earth, who will judge the quick and the dead. The saints will rise by virtue of their union with Christ. He as their Head will raise the body. As a husband He will awake His spouse from sleep; as the everlasting Father, He will call His children home; as the Shepherd, He will gather His lambs from the wilderness to His fold above; as the Captain, He will call His soldiers from the field of battle, to receive immortal crowns as a reward of grace. Their bodies will be beautiful and glorious. They will shine as the sun in the firmament; and be made like unto the glorious body of Jesus Christ. We had a specimen of Christ's glorious body when on the mount of transfiguration. His face shone as the sun; yet his glory now excels that Such will be the glory of the saints. "The body is sown in weakness but it is raised in power; it is sown in corruption, it is raised in in corruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality!" 1 Cor. xv. The body henceforth will be subject to the soul, and not, as now, the soul to the body-Who longs not for this glorious change? "THE praise of Christ ye Christians, sound, His mighty acts be told; Death has received a deadly wound; He takes but cannot hold. Clipt are the greedy vulture's claws No more we dread his power; Believers in their darksome graves, Not long in ground the dying grain Is hid, or lies forlorn; But soon revives, and springs again, So, waking from the womb of earth, And bursting to a better birth, The wicked too shall rise again; FINIS. PRISON TO THEM THAT ARE BOUND. Isai. lxi. 1. AND THE YOKE SHALL BE DESTROYED, BECAUSE OF THE ANOINTING. Isai. x. 27. THE JUBILEE; OR, A TREATISE ON SPIRITUAL FREEDOM. BY EDWARD SAMUEL, MINISTER OF FORD STREET CHAPEL, NEAR THE TOWN HALL, AUTHOR OF "THE TRIUMPH OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS," WITH A MEMOIR OF HIS EARLY LIFE, CONVERSION, AND CALL TO THE MINISTRY; AND "THE TRIUMPH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OVER SIN IN THE SINNER," WITH A PREFACE BY THE REV. W. PARKS, B.A., INCUMBENT OF OPENSHAW, NEAR MANCHESTER. LONDON: PRINTED BY CHARLES WATERS BANKS, 182, DOVER ROAD, S.E. 1860. [Entered at Stationers' Hall.] |