What about the Resurrection?
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Key Verse: “Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept … For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Selected Scripture: |
A FUNDAMENTAL TEACHING of Christ and his apostles is the fall of man into sin and its penalty—death. On this point, the Apostle Paul said, “As one man’s trespass [Adam’s] led to condemnation for all men, So one man’s [Jesus’] act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men.”—Rom. 5:18, Revised Standard Version
In I Corinthians 15:21-23, Paul explains: “Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” He explains in another letter, “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”—Heb. 2:9
The perfect man, Adam, is the one who sinned and was sentenced to death. In order to redeem him it was necessary that one should be like him, a ransom (a corresponding price), a perfect man, not a sinful man like the race, but holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, the condition of Adam at the time he sinned.
Such a perfect man was given birth by the Virgin Mary after the life of the Logos was transferred to her womb. Jesus became the Redeemer of all mankind. But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” (I Cor. 15:35, RSV) It will not be the body which dies that will be resurrected. That body returns to dust. In the morning of Messiah’s reign, God through Him will grant each of Adam’s race “a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.”—vs. 38
The saintly few, joint-heirs and associates of Christ, will share in the First Resurrection, to glory, honor and immortality, the Divine nature. Then will come God’s blessing upon the world, to give them earthly bodies as a part of the restitution program. It is manifestly much more reasonable for God to give a new body than, as some have surmised, to restore the same body. Not a passage of scripture mentions the resurrection of the body.
Although the prophecy, “On earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14), has not yet been fulfilled, the birth of the babe Jesus was one step toward it; his death on the cross was another; the glorious resurrection and ascension of Jesus to the spirit plane, were other significant steps. The presentation of the merit of his sacrifice to Divine Justice was yet another step in this direction.
The selection of the Church as Messiah’s Bride is another, nearly complete. The establishment of the thousand-year Messianic kingdom will complete the blessed prophecy as described in John 5:28,29, RSV: “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.” The promised blessing of all the families of the earth is drawing near.—Gen. 22:18