| The Christian Life | April 1946 |
A Glorious Morn
“Many Sleep, But Not Forever”
THIS comforting thought is in full accord with the entire teaching of the Bible. Thus we read, “Abraham was gathered to his fathers”; and they were heathens. We read also of the prophets, judges, and kings, good and bad: “They were gathered to their fathers”; “They slept with their fathers.” (Gen. 25:8; I Kings 2:10; 11:43; 22:40) In the New Testament we read the same. Jesus said of Jairus’ daughter, and of Lazarus of Bethany, that they were sleeping. Their awakening was an illustration of the great, divine power, operating in Jesus, which during the Millennial age, will awaken all the sleepers from death.
The Bible tells that the church only will have a share in the first resurrection, and that it will be the best, or superior one—to the spirit plane of glory, honor, and immortality. The kingdom power will then be put into operation, and all the living generations will be brought to the knowledge of the Lord. A little later the sleeping ones will begin to be awakened. All who have ever lived shall come back from the tomb. This the Bible distinctly teaches. Paul declares that without a resurrection there could be no future life.—I Corinthians 15
The penalty which came upon father Adam and his race was a death penalty, not a penalty of eternal torture, as we once supposed when we neglected the study of our Bibles and believed the false doctrines of our creeds, made during the Dark Ages. Reading the account of Genesis 3:17-19, we notice how plainly the matter is stated. But God never designed that man should die hopelessly. On the contrary, he purposed a redemption and restoration, which is to be carried out to the very letter. In the divine purpose, Jesus was the Lamb of God slain from before the foundation of the world, as the Redeemer of our race. Because of God’s purpose to redeem the race, and awaken them, he everywhere speaks of the dead as being asleep.
Note the plain statement, “As by man [Adam] came death, by a man also [Jesus] comes the resurrection of the dead.”—I Corinthians 15:21-23
The Bible assures us that the sleeping ones are entirely unconscious, and that, when awakened in the resurrection morn, their first thought will connect up with the last thought they had when they died. What a great blessing will come to the world, to be awakened during Messiah’s kingdom, and to enjoy all its blessings of knowledge, and of opportunity to rise up from sin and death to perfection in the image of God!—Psalm 146:3, 4; Isaiah 26:19; Hosea 13:14
The church’s resurrection will be in a moment; but the world’s resurrection will not be finished until the end of the Millennium.