When God said to man in the Garden of Eden, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” the devil said, “Ye shall not surely die.” So, tho the Lord says the result of transgression is death, the devil says, “No; they do not die at all;” and to prove to the world that this statement is true, he has invented and summoned to his aid Modern Spiritualism, through which he gives communication supposedly from our friends in the spirit world.
But if our friends are not dead, as we are often told in obituaries, funeral sermons, and false hymnology, and if they are really helping us in this life, then the devil told the truth, and Spiritualism is the place to seek for comfort in the hours of grief and sorrow.
Why Grieve if True?
Why, if “there is no death, but what seems so is only transition into a higher sphere of usefulness,” should there be hours of grief and sorrow? If we believed such a statement, we should not shed tears of sorrow at the loss of our parents or children; but rather tears of joy. And instead of sorrowing we would feel like singing praise.
The greatest objection to the idea of consciousness after death, is that it is not true, because it is out of harmony with God’s Word, “which is truth.” For it is written, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” 1 Cor. 15:26. Here Inspiration declares death to be an enemy; and why?—Because it robs us of our fathers and mothers, our babies and friends, and leaves nothing but vacancy and sorrow in its trail.
Death is not only an enemy, but it is the work of the great enemy, the devil. In Heb. 2:14, Paul says, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He [Christ] also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Therefore, it is clear that in death one passes under the dominion of the enemy. And since this is the last act of his power upon the individual, death is the last enemy.
The Dead and the Affairs of This Life
The dead are not conscious, nor do they have to do with the affairs of this world after their departure; for it is written: “The dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.” Eccl. 9:5, 6.
Also in Job 14:1, 2: “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.” And in verse 21 we further read, “His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.”
No Wisdom in Death
These scriptures plainly show that there is no continued consciousness nor further affliction with those who die. Thus it is written again, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest” (Eccl. 9:10); and “if I wait, the grave is mine house.” Job 17:13. Jesus says, “The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth.” John 5:28, 29. Paul adds his testimony to this by saying that unless this resurrection takes place, those who have “fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” “For . . . in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” 1 Cor. 15:18, 22, 23. Again it is written, “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and 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.” Then the apostle adds, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thess. 4:16-18.
Therefore, we conclude that the dead are sleeping in unconsciousness, waiting for a resurrection at the second coming of Christ; and it is from this truth we are to gather comfort, and not in the mistaken idea of consciousness in death and visitations and communications through spirit mediums.
Mortal and Immortal
If one should state as a great truth, that God is immortal, the majority of thinking people would say that the statement is wholly unnecessary. The very fact that He is God would indicate that He is immortal. And yet the Bible has regarded it of sufficient importance to declare that God is immortal. “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible,” we read in 1 Tim. 1:17; nay, more, but we are expressly told in the same epistle (6:16) that He “only hath immortality.” It is ever set before the children of God as something to be attained. It is to be sought after by faithful continuance in well doing. Rom. 2:7.
In 2 Tim. 1:10 it is declared that life and immortality are brought to light through the Gospel, implying that they can be found nowhere else; not in the natural man or the theories of men, or in the world religions or philosophies, but only by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There will come a time when the Christian will be made immortal, at the resurrection, when the last trump shall sound; then shall this mortal put on immortality, and this corruptible shall put on incorruption. Then and not till then will be brought to pass the saying, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” The one hope of the ages is in the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will give to His waiting children, whether dead or alive, the gift of immortality.
“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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. But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law: but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 15:51-57.
“The King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; who only hath immortality.” 1 Tim. 6:15, 16.
“Unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory.” 1 Tim. 1:17.
Free Choice
NEVER in the history of the world has God arbitrarily demanded obedience. Man in Eden was a free moral agent; he might partake of the Tree of Life and live forever; he might by so doing become immortal and his life of innocent purity and righteousness measure with the life of sinless angels. Again, he might, with just the same effort, partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and by that single act forfeit all that lay before him, the garden home, comfort and happiness, purity and life, and the association of heavenly intelligences. Which choice he made is only too evident. But he had his choice, his own choice. The God of the universe recognized that created beings had the right to obey or to disobey, and He granted it to the first man, as well as to every man.
Owning God in the Face of Danger
By John Wesley
It is well pleasing to God that we should own Him in the face of danger; in defiance of sorrow, sickness, pain, or death.—John Wesley.
When Does the Resurrection Occur?
By A. O. Tait
By A. O. Tait
The subject of the resurrection has ever been a favorite theme. Prophets have foretold it, and the good men of all ages have talked about it and longed for the time to come. And with what a thrill of joy does the thought come to us that we are even now living in the very presence of the great day when “the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible!” This is the generation that is to witness the coming of the Lord and the resurrection day. Glorious thought and joyful news! Tell it everywhere. Let all the world know about it, and get ready for the gladsome time.
Do you ask how we know that the resurrection day is near? The answer is easy and ready at hand. The resurrection takes place at the second coming of Christ. “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; and 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. 4: 16, 17.
“The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven: . . . and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” Then, when the Lord comes, the dead in Christ arise. How plain the Word of God makes its statements! But observe that not only the dead arise at Christ’s coming, but “we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” Then there will be living believers in Christ at His coming, who will be caught up with the resurrected dead to meet the Lord.
How Do We Know?
The resurrection day is coming, and some will be alive to see it. And what a thought of sublime and inexpressible joy it is to know that there are those still alive at that great and grand day who are now upon the stage of action! Men and women are alive to-day who will still be alive to witness His coming and hear His voice when He raises the dead. “‘Tis a glorious thought,’ do I hear you say, ‘but how do you know?’”
How do we know it? Listen to the words of the Master: “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it [margin, ‘He’] is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” Matt. 24: 33, 34. The Lord here speaks of certain things that we shall “see,” and tells us that “when ye shall see all these things, know that He is near.”
Now when the things appear that the Lord has given as signs of His coming, we are to “know” that He is near. There is to be no conjecturing nor guesswork about this. The Saviour positively tells us that we may “know.” Then do you know that His coming is near, “even at the door”? If not, you should lose no time in acquiring that definite knowledge; for it is an actual, positive fact that Christ’s second coming and the great resurrection day are right at hand. In all probability you will live to see it, for there be millions of people on the earth to-day who will live till the opening heavens shall reveal Jesus coming in the clouds.
Signs of His Coming
But you ask, How do you know this so definitely? How can you say so positively that the resurrection day is right at hand?
It is plain enough. We “see all these things” that the Master gives as the signs to precede His coming. It is not one or two things that we see, but multiplied evidences have arisen as massive monuments all about us, and by these things we do “know” that the great and final day that ends earth’s career of sin is right at hand.
But again you ask, “What are these things?” Have you never read in the Bible that the days just before the second coming of Christ would be full of the war spirit? that the nations of earth would be angry? And have you not read that, notwithstanding this war spirit that fills the earth at the close of time, there will be many who will be saying that it only means “peace and safety”? Have you not read in the Word of God of the men who, by oppressing the laborer, heap treasure together for the last days? Have you not read that which is written in the Book about the vice and drunkenness and violence, even as it was in the days of Noah and Sodom, that shall fill the world at the close of time? Have you not read of the raging of the stormy elements that will lay the earth desolate, break down its great cities, and finally cause it to reel to and fro like the staggering drunkard? And have you not read that these evils and terrors will continue till the faces of men shall gather blackness and their hearts shall fail them for fear and for looking after those things that are coming on the earth? And are you not seeing all these things to-day?
The foregoing are among the “all things” that the Saviour said we might “see,” and seeing them might “know that He is near, even at the doors.” The “all things” that we are to see are all revealed clearly in the Bible. And since Jesus says we are to “see” and “know,” we should search diligently in the Book of Books in order that we may see what He has so clearly revealed, and thereby know what He desires should be known by every one of us.
It is only just a little while till we shall see Jesus in person. And when we see Him, we shall also hear His voice, as He calls all the sleeping saints to life. O, the thrill of the moments in which we live! O, the joy at the thought of that happy and eternal reunion! Are you ready for it? The time is right at hand. The great resurrection day, with all its glories, is about to break upon us. Hail, happy day! And may the Lord hasten the time.
The Dead Know Nothing
“For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; . . . also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished.” Eccl. 9: 5, 6, A.V.
Comfort One Another
“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
LET nothing that has been said concerning the attitude of some university professors, and even religious teachers, have the slightest effect in weakening your confidence in the things that you have heard and learned. Rather, let it strengthen your conviction of their truth, for God has clearly foretold of these days. The darker the apostasy looms, the stronger testimony it bears to His Word.
“Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night.” The night first, and the morning afterwards. The darkness is the prophecy of the dawn.
Jesus said, “When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find the faith on the earth?” The inference is that His flock in that day will be as “little” relatively as in the day in which He spoke the word. In the meantime we have His promise, “I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” — James M. Gray, D.D.
Trust Not in Princes
“Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Ps. 146: 3, 4.
Immortality, Eternal Life
The two expressions are not synonymous, tho often so used. The life of God, it needs no argument to prove, must be eternal life. He is “the eternal God;” His life must be eternal; His eternal life is in harmony with His eternal law, for that eternal law is the law of righteousness, and “in the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.” Prov. 12:28.
When man was created, he received from his eternal Maker eternal life. He knew no other. His nature was in perfect harmony with his Creator. Life flowed in an uninterrupted stream from the great Fountain. Man received that spiritual life, which permeated his whole being. He possessed, too, the life of God in physical frame, and would have possessed it as the life of God to all eternity if he had never sinned; but when man sinned, he perverted the eternal law of righteousness, the channel through which life came to him, and through which it was also perpetuated. When the channel was perverted, the life was perverted; perverted righteousness is sin; perverted blessing is cursing; perverted life is death.
While still all life flows out from the great eternal Fountain, it comes as God’s life to those only who are in harmony with God’s law. Just as soon as the carnal heart stretches its will across the channel of life, it perverts the life.
We have a good illustration of the good perverted, in the law of gravitation. That law is a good law. It holds things in stable equilibrium upon the earth; yet if one should cast himself from the top of an eminence, from some great building or precipitous ledge of rock, he would be dashed to pieces below. The same law which is a blessing to all mankind in general, proves his destruction because he has perverted it.
Take also a river rising in the great, everlasting fountains of the mountain springs; it flows through the land a blessing to vegetation and commerce. Dam up its channel, and it overflows its banks and causes devastation and destruction of property, homes, and lives. The blessing perverted becomes a curse.
Electricity is a beneficent agent, capable of wonderful utility. Flowing on in a live wire overhead it drives machinery, lights and warms factories, carries messages, and is a good thing generally. Let some one pervert it, however, from that channel through which it flows, into a human body, and the human immediately dies.
So it is with God’s life. God’s life perverted means death. God’s law perverted is sin. When the sinner returns to God through Jesus Christ, he comes again into harmony with the law of God’s life. He places himself by faith in that attitude where God can bestow again upon him the gift of eternal life. Then life again flows into his being as it did before sin entered. Here it is possible for faith so to receive it as to lift the soul above the power of sin, which dwells in perverted flesh. This is what true conversion means to the sinner. It does not mean that he has simply changed attitude. It means that he has actually partaken of the divine nature, the spirit of the eternal life has come into his own heart and soul. Therefore we read:
“But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the SPIRIT IS LIFE BECAUSE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, He that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall GIVE LIFE ALSO TO YOUR MORTAL BODIES THROUGH HIS SPIRIT THAT DWELLETH IN YOU.” Rom. 8:9-11.
There is life and power in that Spirit to lift us above all spiritual weaknesses; to cleanse away sin, inherited and inbred; to give us power over the temptations of the adversary; and to illumine our spiritual understanding that we may not be ignorant of the devices of the enemy or of the ways of God. There is healing and life for the physical frame to him who will appropriate it. It will bring the body into harmony with the mind, and will make all the fibers of his being open channels for the life of God to flow through, laden with health. That is the eternal life which God gives to His children of faith, which the world itself does not possess.
We are expressly told by the apostle in Eph. 2:12 “that at that time [when unconverted] ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” The same truth is elsewhere declared, “being alienated from the life of God.” Eph. 4:18.
Let us read again the text, more familiar perhaps than any other in the Word of God: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36. Once again: “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him: he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he hath not believed in the witness that God hath borne concerning His Son. And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life.” 1 John 5:10-12.
We know not how language could be clearer or stronger. We know not how it could be more forcibly taught that the poor human’s only hope of everlasting life is in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that apart from Him we are “without God,” “alienated” from His life. God gives to us this eternal life that we may have power to overcome.
We hold that life by living, constant faith in Him. It is the power which He gives us by which we may overcome sin and develop characters worthy of a higher existence, but not until the character is developed do we receive the gift of immortality. That gift of immortality pertains not simply to the mind, but to the physical man. It changes this body of our humiliation, and fashions it after the body of His glory. It takes the poor mortal and invests him with incorruptibility. It is God’s stamp of an incorruptible character. The incorruptible character is worthy of an incorruptible, undying existence; and God gives to the incorruptible mind a body that will live forever, fed continually from the life of God. This will be given to His children at the second coming of Christ, when those who are alive will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, from mortality to immortality, and when those who sleep in Christ shall be raised to immortality, and come up from the grave without one mark of death or sin upon them.
This is the hope which we would set before our readers. This is the life which the Lord charged His disciples to proclaim. This is the power which Jesus Christ gives to all those who believe in Him. Truth is always better than error. The error into which the world has fallen, that man is immortal, that he goes to his reward at death, sets aside other great truths of the Bible; for if that be true, what need of a day of judgment, which is so strongly emphasized in both Old and New Testaments? what need is there of a resurrection, which is so clearly taught? what need is there of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, with which the whole Scripture is permeated?
Granting the great Bible truth that the soul is not immortal, then all these other things are plain and clear, each falls into its own place in the great divine scheme; otherwise there is confusion unutterable. How much better it is to accept the truth, that we are candidates for immortality, a gift which God will bestow upon every one who desires it, in harmony with the only conditions on which it can prevail, namely, righteousness.
Christian Science and Pantheism No. 1
CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS en masse repudiate the charge that Christian Science is a form of pantheism or is pantheistic. Now, the matter is not a problem of mere statement on either side. It is not enough merely to say that Christian Science is pantheistic; neither is it conclusive for Christian Scientists to deny merely and think that the matter is settled.
The question is to be answered by the very facts themselves. The matter must be settled by a comparison of the principles involved. If there is a similarity in the principles of these two forms of teaching, then they are similar. If the two agree in their fundamental principles, then there is no evading the fact that Christian Science is pantheistic.
“The radical principle of the [pantheistic] theory is that God and the world are one. It9denies to God any being distinct from the world, and to the world any being distinct from God. It may assume different forms according to the manner in which the divine nature is conceived. God may be conceived as spirit, . . . in [which] case there results an idealistic form of pantheism.”—“Apologetics,” by Alexander Dalmain Bruce, D.D., p. 71.
The quotation given above was written without any reference to Christian Science. It is a plain definition of pantheism in its various forms; and we see at once, if we know anything about Christian Science, how truly the latter is pantheistic. Christian Science is a form of idealistic pantheism; it accounts God and the real world as one, and that spiritual; this is its fundamental doctrine; this is the root from which the whole growth springs. We will find very much in the book “Science and Health,” but consider this, taken almost at random from its pages: “God is the divine Principle of all that represents Him and of all that really exists.”
Put this with the definition of pantheism as already given. “The radical principle of the [pantheistic] theory is that God and the world are one.” And the radical principle of the Christian Science theory is that God is the divine principle of all that really exists.
“All is mind or God,” says Christian Science. “All is God,” says pantheism. Both come from the same root; the two grafts may differ in outward form to some extent, but there is such a kinship between the two that they both thrive from the very same root.
And now according to the teachings both of Christian Science and of pantheism, since all is God, all is eternal; there was no creation. Pantheism teaches, “All things exist eternally by necessity.” Christian Science teaches that “harmonious and immortal man has existed forever.” “Spiritual man is the image or idea of God, an idea which can not be lost nor separated from its divine Principle.” “Immortal man is coexistent and coeternal with God.”—“Science and Health,” chapter on “Science of Being.”
If man is coexistent with God, he has always existed with God, and was never subject to creation; for man there is no creation but coexistence with God. In this, pantheism and Christian Science are irrevocably in accord.
Since Christian Science denies all spiritual existence or beings except the infinite Spirit—God, and since it denies the existence of the material universe, it denies creation as presented in the doctrines of Christianity, that is to say, in the Word of God.
Again, take this definition as given in “Science and Health,” chapter “Science of Being”: “Man’s true consciousness is in the mental, not in any bodily or personal likeness to Spirit.” This places the matter of creation exactly where pantheism places it; there can not possibly be any creation. Since man’s consciousness and hence existence is in the mental, he is eternal, for God’s mind is eternal and unchangeable. Consequently man was never created; for if created there would be something more to man than purely mental. There would be the thought or mentality of the Creator plus its realization in time and space by the creative act. Hence Christian Science denies creation. It will not do to say that God created this mental, His thoughts, for that would necessarily imply that He had to do something before He could think, which is too absurd for consideration.
Why, then, does Christian Science use the terms Creator and Creation?—For precisely the same reason that it uses “Christian” in its name of “Christian Science.” It uses throughout the names of Christianity for the prestige that such terms give, while in fact it teaches that which is absolutely unchristian. It appears in the sheep’s clothing of Christian terms, while it hides under this its real wolf nature of pantheism and idealistic philosophy. It denies in toto anything like creation, and yet uses the Christian term of Creator because of its beloved associations for hundreds of years in Christian doctrine.
Man and the Resurrection
1. What is man's condition in death?
“His sons come to honor, and HE KNOWETH IT NOT; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.” Job 14:21.
“For the living know that they shall die; but THE DEAD KNOW NOT ANYTHING. . . . Also their LOVE, and their HATRED, and their ENVY, IS NOW PERISHED.” Eccl. 9:5, 6.
“Let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that HE IS BOTH DEAD AND BURIED, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.” Acts 2:29.
2. Inasmuch as the descendants of Adam were not responsible for his sin and the death which came in consequence, how does God save them from it?
“For as in Adam ALL die, even so in Christ shall ALL be made alive.” 1 Cor. 15:22.
3. But as Adam's nature was not originally sinful, and ours is, because inherited from sinful parents, how does God meet our need, that we may not die for our own sins?
“Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Rom. 5:20.
4. In what way is grace manifested that we may live again?
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, but have EVERLASTING LIFE.” John 3:16.
5. Do men have eternal life, connection with God, by nature? Is there hope apart from Christ?
“That at that time ye were WITHOUT CHRIST, being ALIENS from the commonwealth of ISRAEL, and STRANGERS from the covenants of PROMISE, HAVING NO HOPE, and WITHOUT GOD in the world.” Eph. 2:12.
“Having the understanding darkened, being ALIENATED FROM THE LIFE OF GOD.” Eph. 4:18.
6. But what do those who are in Christ possess?
“And this is the record, that God HATH GIVEN TO US ETERNAL LIFE, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son HATH LIFE; and he that hath NOT the Son of God hath NOT life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that YE MAY KNOW THAT YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” 1 John 5:11-13.
7. How, then, will the dead live, and how many classes will there be?
“Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which ALL THAT ARE IN THE GRAVES SHALL HEAR HIS VOICE, and shall come forth; THEY that have done GOOD, unto the RESURRECTION OF LIFE; and THEY that have done EVIL, unto the RESURRECTION OF DAMNATION.” John 5:28, 29.
“There shall be a resurrection of the dead, BOTH OF THE JUST AND UNJUST.” Acts 24:15.
8. Wherein, then, does the hope concerning the dead rest?
“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. 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. Then THEY ALSO WHICH are fallen asleep in Christ ARE PERISHED.” 1 Cor. 15:12-18.
9. When will the resurrection of the righteous occur?
“Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this MORTAL shall have put on IMMORTALITY, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1 Cor. 15:51-54.
10. In connection with what great event will the trumpet sound?
“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the COMING OF THE LORD shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the LORD HIMSELF SHALL DESCEND from heaven with a SHOUT, with the VOICE of the ARCHANGEL, and with the TRUMP OF GOD: and 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. 4:15-17.
11. Who only possesses immortality by nature?
“The blessed and only Potentate, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; WHO ONLY HATH IMMORTALITY.” 1 Tim. 6:15, 16.
“Now unto the King ETERNAL, IMMORTAL, invisible, the only wise God.” 1 Tim. 1:17.
NOTE.—Everywhere in the Scriptures man is spoken of as mortal, subject to sin and death. He is vain man with a vain life, which is as a vapor, a cloud, his days swifter than a weaver's shuttle, likened to things the most transitory and fleeting, everywhere demonstrating the truth of the Word of God, “THE SOUL THAT SINNETH, IT SHALL DIE.” Eze. 18:4, 20. His only hope of living is the resurrection through Christ.
