EDITORIAL
No hope here; no hope hereafter! This is the sad commentary of some of my paralytic friends. Certainly they have no hope here. The doctors have long ago told them that. They are destined to remain as they are the rest of their lives. They shall never again walk about on their feet and legs nor use their hands and arms. They shall have to quietly sit by their windows and watch the rest of the world go by. They shall have to be satisfied (as best they can) to live a life shut in and shut out from most physical pursuits, to just sit or lie, completely dependent upon someone else. There is no hope for anything better, this will be their life till death releases them from this body.
But even in this they have no hope. The future life, life after death, is just as dark and hopeless as this life, even more so. They know not what the future holds. To them it is all a mystery, a dark, foreboding mystery.
My heart goes out to these paralytics. I am paralyzed as they, and as they, I too must face the fact of death and a hereafter. But not like some of my paralytic friends, I have a hope. I have found in the pages of Holy Writ something that has changed my whole outlook on life. Paralysis need not mean hopelessness, either in this life or the next.
The hope to which I refer is a Person. Jesus Christ the Lord is our hope. The Bible says, "Christ in you, (is) the hope of glory." "Without Christ . . . no hope." This has made the difference for me. Since receiving Him into my life as Saviour and Lord, life has taken on real meaning, even life lived in a paralyzed body, and the future promises even better things. Christ has become a close Companion in this life's journey. Nothing comes my way but that He shares it, whether good or ill. He has promised never to leave nor forsake me. He helps me along the way. He speaks to me from His book. I talk to Him in prayer. He knows and understands all my heart cries. Though my body is immobile, this Friend sticks by me, and because of this, paralysis has not proved unbearable. My testimony to Him is: "In Thy presence in fulness of joy."
But "if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." Our hope extends beyond the grave. For "now is Christ risen from the dead . . . so in Christ shall all (believers) be made alive." This thought is a constant source of encouragement to me. There are better things beyond, infinitely better things. Woe is me, if this life were all. But there is more and better ahead. Greater things, more lovely, marvelous, wonderful, blessed, holy, glorious, await the paralytic who is a child of God when at last he steps over the threshold of Heaven into God's presence, there to dwell forever.
This is my hope--not that I hope I'll make it, for Bible hope is a certainty--this is my sure future, just as sure as Christ himself, and I rejoice in it. You ask, "How can you be happy sitting in a wheel chair, completely paralyzed?" I answer, "How could I be anything else with Christ as my hope, and the promise from Almighty God of all things to enjoy through Him?"
Let me ask you, my paralytic friend, and in fact all of you who read this editorial, "How can you continue another moment in your present state, having no hope, and without God in the world?" "How can you stare death in the face without Him who is your hope?" I have no special claims on Christ--no more that you have. He loves you too. He died for you too. He will be your daily Companion, as well as mine. He will save you and take you to Heaven also. He has made full provision for your present joy and your future salvation. All He requires of you is that you believe it. You have been shunning Him, by-passing Him, rejecting Him; now He wants you to change your attitude toward Him and let Him come into your life and be your Saviour and Lord. I know He will be everything to you He has been to me. Your life will become meaningful; your future bright. Then it may be said of you: "Christ in you, the hope of glory."
Sincerely,
Arthur E. Gordon, Editor
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Dear Shut-In . . .
"MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR THEE"
By C. H. Spurgeon
The other evening I was riding home after a heavy day's work; I felt very wearied, and sore depressed, when swiftly, and suddenly as a lightning flash, that text came to me: "My grace is sufficient for thee."
I reached home and looked it up in the original, and at last it came to me in this way, "My grace is sufficient for thee," and I said. "I should think it is, Lord," and burst out laughing.
I never fully understood what the holy laughter of Abraham was until then. It seemed to make unbelief so absurd.
It was as though some little fish, being very thirsty, was troubled about drinking the river dry, and Father Thames said, "drink away, little fish, my stream is sufficient for thee."
Or, it seemed like a little mouse in the granaries of Egypt, after the seven years of plenty, fearing it might die of famine; Joseph might say, "Cheer up, little mouse, my granaries are sufficient for thee."
Again, I imagined a man away up yonder, in a lofty mountain, saying to himself, "I breathe so many cubic feet of air every year, I fear I shall exhaust the oxygen in the atmosphere," but the earth might say, "Breathe away, O man, and fill the lungs ever, my atmosphere is sufficient for thee."
Oh, brethren, be great believers! Little faith will bring your souls to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your souls.
(By permission of the "Bible House of Los Angeles." Los Angeles, California)
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man's tragedy
GOD'S TRIUMPH
By Arthur E. Gordon
(The editor's testimony)
IN THE midst of the New Testament stands a storehouse of spiritual treasure called The Epistle of Paul to the Romans. In the middle of this storehouse lies a treasure chest filled with precious gems of eternal truth. This treasure chest, the eighth chapter of Romans, contains one gem which immediately catches the eye for its unparalleled beauty--verse 28. Verse 28 reads: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." "And we know," i.e., we Christians know. We know because God tells us so. We know because we have found it so by experience.
I was "called" of God in January, 1945. The place was a bit out of the ordinary. It was aboard an American troop-transport, somewhere on the Atlantic, just four days out of New York, headed toward the battlefields in Germany, when the Holy Spirit brought me to the end of myself and to whole-hearted faith in Jesus Christ. This experience changed my life and started me thinking along different lines. I felt immediately God wanted me to witness to lost souls. After the war and my discharge from the Army I started training, first in Bible school, then college and seminary, for what I thought would possibly lead to a pastorate, missionary work, or some such work of the ministry.
This was my reasoning, but what I had yet to learn was that He who called me, called me "according to HIS purpose." I had no idea what His purpose involved. In August, 1955, my wife and I and our three children were to enter upon an experience which none of us realized at the time would be a new application for us of the "all things (which) work together for good." We were to experience the working of seeming tragedy "for good."
On that date two of our children and I entered the hospital with paralytic polio. The children rallied quickly and after a few weeks were well on the way to almost complete recovery. My muscles refused to respond however, leaving me paralyzed from the neck down. Thirteen months of hospitalization followed. Although the muscles didn't return, a certain amount of independence was gained through special gadgets which had been invented to help paralytics.
God's purpose at first was not clear. I was given to wondering what it all meant. I wondered what good was seminary training, now that I was entombed in an iron lung. Then one day a Scripture came to mind which I had learned long before. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 3:5,6).
I resolutely determined, then and there, to do what these verses enjoined. I began to trust the Lord for the present circumstances, and ceased trying to understand the reasons. Also I acknowledged Him to the first person who came along, which happened to be my physical therapist. She smiled indulgently as I asked: "Do you know that God loves you and that Jesus Christ died for your sins?" She apparently thought I had lapsed into delirium again, and didn't give me too much encouragement. But her response (or lack of response) didn't bother me, for I was happily stepping out on one of God's never-changing promises and was filled with anticipation to see how He would bring it to pass. "He shall direct thy paths," was the promise; and, oh, how wonderfully He did just that.
Shortly after my decision to trust and acknowledge the Lord in my supine position, a student nurse stopped by one afternoon to say good-bye for the day. In our conversation I asked her if she attended church. She answered in the affirmative. Then I asked if she were saved. She didn't know. I explained the plan of salvation and had her read Joh 3:16 from my New Testament. Before she could finish she burst into tears. I asked if she would believe in Christ as her Saviour. She said "Yes!" We prayed, and the little nurse left my bedside with the new-found joy of salvation.
Later the same day two of her roommates asked me of her experience and shortly they too had decided for Christ. In the next few months of hospitalization several more made decisions. Since it takes the repentance of only one sinner to fill the courts of heaven with rejoicing, I was beginning to understand how all this was working "together for good."
The months passed not too rapidly but eventually I was once more enjoying family and home. Our home was arranged to best accommodate a wheelchair father. An electric typewriter was placed within reach of my mouth-stick which I now used instead of paralyzed fingers. Gradually the Lord led my wife and me into our present ministry.
In August of '57, just two years after our encounter with polio, we sent out the first issue of TRIUMPH, a mimeographed devotional, to some 800 homes. The name was inspired by verse 14 of Second Corinthians, chapter two: "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." Immediately letters began to come in telling of blessings received from our publication. Many of them contained money to help with expenses. Each month from then till now TRIUMPH has gone out into more and more homes. Never once have we been short of finances; God has supplied through His people.
Our mailing list to date has over 4000 names. Many say they pass the paper on to others. Two years ago (August '59) the job became too big for mimeographing, so TRIUMPH took on a new format and became a six-page printed devotional. Scores of handicapped and shut-ins receive its message of comfort and encouragement each month. Several handicapped have themselves contributed articles. Many dedicated pastors, professors, and missionaries, and not a few lay folk have made their journalistic contributions. TRIUMPH not only extends across the United States but to many foreign countries. What can we say to all of this? "To God Be The Glory, Great Things He Has Done!"
Jacob's sons had evil intentions when they sold their brother, Joseph, into Egyptian slavery. But when the end was known, God was seen to have had His hand in the whole proceeding. "Ye thought evil against me," testified Joseph to his brothers, "but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive" (Genesis 50:20). What seemed at the time tragic circumstances for Joseph, in reality turned out to be a great deliverance for the nation of Israel and a mighty triumph under God. Likewise today we may be assured that "all things (even apparent tragedy) work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Indeed God's purpose in our lives has to a marked degree become abundantly evident. Our praise goes up to Him continually for so high a calling. "Thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ . . . "
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THE BIRD WITH THE BROKEN WING
(Written by a Rescued Girl)
It lay by the dusty roadside where the people came and went,
But none looked down on the panting bird whose life was nearly spent.
One woman did, but she hurried on with a sigh of helpless pain,
For she said, "Poor bird with a broken wing, you can never fly again."
It fluttered in anguish all day till the sun was set,
And night came down in silence on the slopes of Olivet,
But the Master who lay on the sod that night 'neath the trees and open sky.
Could not sleep for the sound that pierced His heart, of the dying birdling's cry.
As the glory of the morning was touching the eastern hills,
He came to where the weary bird lay cold, and faint and still.
He bent His head in compassion over the shattered thing,
It was bruised, and broken, and dying; It could never soar or sing.
He drew it from the tangled grass with a hand of healing power,
And said, "You shall soar and sing for Me as bird never sang before."
He lifted it high on His blessed palm and it spread its wings to fly,
And filled the blue Judean sky with a flood of melody
Which echoed over hill and plain with such triumphant strain
That men stood still to drink their fill and turned to drink again.
Then with wings that were strong and tireless as an eagle's on its way,
It mounted up to the Throne of God past the gates of earthly day,
And sang its songs of liberty while angels stood in amaze,
And took up the song as it swept along, and all Heaven rang with its praise.
The song of the bird with the broken wing is the song my heart is singing:
The story of His matchless grace through all my life is ringing,
Up out of the tangle of sin and shame His love hath lifted my soul,
And the healing touch of the Son of God hath freed me and made me whole.
-- Way of Faith
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FEAR NOT
Fear not! Whate'er betide you,
In all the coming days,
Your Lord will walk beside you,
In His appointed ways.
His hand will surely guide you,
When friends and helpers fail,
And His pavilion hide you,
When foes and fears assail.
Fear not! Turn backward never,
Whatever may oppose;
Look unto Jesus ever,
And in His love repose.
And when life's little story
At eventide is told,
Then, in the morn of glory,
You shall His face behold.
-- H. B. Hartzler
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FREE PRISONER
"My cage confines me round;
Abroad I cannot fly;
But though my wing is closely bound
My heart's at liberty.
My prison walls cannot control
The flight, the freedom of the soul.
"Oh, it is good to soar
These bolts and bars above,
To Him whose purpose I adore,
Whose Providence I love;
And in Thy mighty will to find
The joy, the freedom of the mind."
-- By Madame Guyon
who spent ten years of her life in French prisons from 1695 to 1705.
Poems from "Three Thousand Illustrations" by Walter B Knight;
Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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HUMAN SUFFERING
by John A. Cerrato, Jr.
Hebrews 12:11. "Now no chastening for the present seemeth joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."
The problem of evil and human misery has been a question wrestled with since man began to think and seek a meaning in life. Men have reasoned and speculated, and come up with ideas and theories but an explanation which can give assurance and comfort has never been formulated. In fact most theories are fearful and vague, often even helplessly cruel.
Nearly everyone I have talked to who was faced with real human misery has expressed some feeling of wonderment about the meaning of life. Suffering is one of the very few things that can stop a person and cause them to think about ultimate things and eternal questions. Suffering makes us look beyond ourselves and each other for answers. As men through the ages have thought about it they ask, "Why do these things happen?"
Their answers usually take on either of two general themes. Both try to look beyond man but one to one thing and the other to another.
Often the view is that life is ruled by blind force or chance. There may be some Spirit in nature or existence, or possibly just nature of which we are a part. It may be out of control of God -- if there is a God.
In the past this general view was held with optimism, with a hope of taming nature or a triumph by God -- if there is a God. Now it is usually hopelessly expressed as something we must adjust to.
This idea may be alright if everything is going good for you, if "chance" hasn't killed your son or daughter or crippled you or your loved one. But it doesn't comfort or explain much to the victim.
The other theory is a fatalistic resignation to a belief that God is in control and no matter what happens it is His will. Although it sounds good it is too vague, it lays at God's door things which do not belong there, and it gives no real purpose for suffering.
This is the view that tries to say, after a school fire in which a hundred little boys and girls died, "well God needed more angels in heaven so He took them: It is nearly blasphemy to say such a thing; to say it, means that God burns and suffocates innocent children in order to get angels. What kind of God is that? If He created all, He can create angels. The God of the Bible made all out of nothing, and He is love. Those who think He slaughters the innocent for such reasons never knew Him.
Although the Bible speaks much of suffering and more of the meaning of life which includes good and evil, it does not give detailed answers to all questions. But it does answer the most important ones and makes provisions for the areas of mystery.
To get God's view we must first see from His word that all of man's ways of classifying and dividing mankind are trivial. God divides and distinguishes between those who are trice-born, Christians, (those who know Christ) and the once-born, non-christians, (those who don't know the Saviour). The Lord deals with them differently and allows them to suffer for different reasons.
Secondly, God places a great importance on the difference between this life and the next when He allows suffering. He will not compromise our happiness for eternity, to let us get away with temporary enjoyments on this earth.
Thirdly, we must see that God is in total control. Some things He directs and some are His passive or permissive will. God has created man with a free will, a power of choice, and placed him in an existence, a framework of law. All of life is built on moral laws. The law of sowing and reaping is built into life. It is set up that way with individuals, families, societies, nations, and civilizations. There are individual consequences (of keeping or breaking God's laws) and there are collective consequences.
When a group such as the East India Company of years ago refused to take missionaries to the Far East and used the power of European nations to force China to buy opium, they were sowing and since then we have reaped and have yet to reap.
When our founding fathers, with an open Bible, planted slavery in America we reaped the tragic slaughter of the Civil War and are still reaping.
When a man drinks and lives after his lust or drives like a fool he is sowing and he shall reap.
But often a person suffers not for what he does but for what he refuses to do. God is dealing with us with a view of heaven and hell. When men refuse to take time to honor their God and selfishly refuse to give Him even a portion of their time they are gambling with their souls and God does them a favor when he tries to turn them by the only way that works.
God has ordained us to a free will, He will not force us to accept His forgiveness and eternal life through Christ, but in love He seeks to turn us to Himself for our eternal good.
Men running from God in their hearts get bitter and deceive themselves and refuse to face the truth which their heart knows, that if God over marked their iniquity they would have been in hell long ago.
In the light of the shortness of life and the length of eternity Paul said: "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." In Hebrews we read: "No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."
God has the hairs of our heads numbered. He knows when a sparrow falls, said Christ. If we will exercise our will to submit to Him He will show us His purpose in all things and give us the eternal hope that comes with the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
If you are facing pain and problems, look to Christ. For every detail He has a purpose that reaches heaven. He has been trying to speak to you. Won't you respond by surrendering your life to Him? Ask Christ to come into your heart, to forgive your sins once-and-for-all, and to give you power to walk in His will. If you are really ready to confess and forsake it, there is no sin He will not forgive. Our light affliction, (it seems heavy but is it light compared with the eternal weight of glory) which is but for a moment (a moment compared to the good it can do us for eternity) worketh for us (not against us) a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Look to the Unseen, our Lord Jesus Christ. Give Him your heart today.
This message was preached on February 12, 1961, over radio WCOJ, Coatesville, PA, by Rev. Cerrato who pastors the Willowdale Chapel, Kennett Square, PA.
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SERMON SERIES
THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER
No. 21
THE BELIEVER'S SURETY
CHRIST
DESCENDED -- AROSE -- ASCENDED
I Peter 3:19-22
JESUS CHRIST has been pleased to identify Himself in a very remarkable way with His followers. He came down from the Father to our station in life, to live among us. More than this, He actually condescended to the place of death, dying in our place. In our present study we see how we on the other hand may in a wonderful way be identified with Him in His triumphant resurrection and glorious ascension. But before we consider His ascension there is another matter that presents itself. Paul says, "Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?"
CHRIST DESCENDED
In our last study we learned that Christ as God's perfect Sin-offering died that He might bring us to God. He was "put to death in the flesh, but quickened in spirit" (18). Our text continues: "By which (spirit) also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water: (19,20). During the intermediate state, between His physical death and bodily resurrection, Christ in spirit went on a preaching tour.
There is a lot left unsaid here that we might wish had been said to clarify the meaning. Over the years different interpretations have come forward. But where Scripture is not clear we can't be dogmatic. What Peter had in mind we are not sure. I shall present what seems to me the proper interpretation.
Of this much we are sure: that Christ in spirit preached. What He preached, to whom He preached, where He preached, is not certain. Possibly the place He preached was the place (here called "prison") of the departed dead called in the Old Testament "sheol" and in the New Testament "hell" or "Hades." The "spirits" to whom He preached may have been the angels who sinned in the days of Noah (see verse 20). The message He "preached" was no doubt one of victory, in that He had defeated the enemy of souls by His incarnation and death and coming resurrection and ascension. But whatever the interpretation, we find in this verse a truth which will serve to encourage us as we look ahead to our own intermediate state.
The very fact that Christ was alive and active during this intermediate state should encourage us. There is no soul-sleep here, as some would teach. Christ didn't lie unconscious in the grave till His resurrection three days later. He was very much awake and active. And as He was, we shall be. Asleep in the grave till our resurrection? Preposterous! Our bodies shall indeed "sleep" in the grave, but our spirits shall be vitally alive. We shall in fact be alive as never before -- alive to God and things spiritual and eternal. Paul says, "To be absent from the body, (is) to be present with the Lord." No uncertain future, this. The moment our spirit slips away from this body of clay, that moment we enter into the presence of our Surety, He who led the way.
Now concerning those "spirits in prison." "Which (spirits)," says Peter, "sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water." The story is told in Genesis, chapter six.
God looked down on the world in that day, and the account says, "It repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart." Why was He grieved? "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." And not only that, but "the sons of God (angels) saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." Wickedness had advanced to such a stage that angels of God dared to take to themselves and cohabit with women of the earth. This would in itself be bad enough, but back of it all we can see the devil himself at work trying to disrupt God's plans. Had this situation been allowed to continue the earth would soon have been overspread with a mongrel breed of persons, half angel--half man, Into such a race Christ could not have been born. God had to preserve the purity of the human nature so He sent the flood which destroyed all flesh, and He cast their souls into "sheol," along with the fallen angels. Thus you can see the significance of Christ preaching His victorious incarnation and death to these angel "spirits in prison." Satan's intentions had been defeated; God had been victorious; man had a Saviour.
But in all that corrupt scene God saw one man who remained aloof from it all. "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." "Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." It was through this man that God would preserve the purity of the human nature, through whom the Christ might come to redeem mankind. So Noah built an ark, as God instructed him, by which he and his family were saved from the flood waters.
Sin is running rampant today. Satan is still trying to thwart God's purposes. But be assured, God is the Victor. Through Christ He has mightily triumphed over Satan. While His message of victory was directed to the "spirits in prison," it was meant for us. His victory has become our victory -- all of us who have believed in Him. We shall not be engulfed in the fiery wrath of God, when it shall fall upon the earth in the day of judgment, but shall in Christ be wafted above it to the very throne of God.
Referring to the "water" he just mentioned, Peter continues with a present-day "figure." "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) . . . " (21a). This is not teaching baptismal regeneration, that we are saved by the ordinance of baptism. It is the gospel of Christ that saves. Paul told the church at Corinth: "Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel." He declared elsewhere that the gospel was "that Christ died for our sins . . . that he was buried . . . and that he rose again." No baptism is included here. And again he declares that it is this gospel that "is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Baptism does not save, but as a "figure" it points to that which does. As the ark in Noah's day and the flood waters in "figure" pointed ahead to salvation through Christ, so water baptism in "figure" points back to that salvation through Christ.
So that we might not misunderstand, Peter adds: Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh." He is saying it is not a physical or ceremonial cleansing of the old sinful nature that we need, "but the answer of a good conscience toward God." Only those cleansed by the blood of Christ can have this. But when we submit to baptism, as the Lord said we should, we are witnessing thereby to that "good conscience toward God" which we receive when we were saved.
How then are we saved? The true means of salvation follows in the text.
CHRIST AROSE
Peter contends we are saved " . . . by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (32b).
Matthew reports "the resurrection of Jesus Christ," in this manner. "In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the wee, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye week Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying. All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. Then the disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him" (Matthew 28).
The death of Christ was essential for our salvation, but so was His resurrection. Our text says we are saved by His resurrection. The fact that he arose testifies to the efficacy of His death. It proves that God was well pleased with His sacrifice for sin. And what happened to our Surety, shall surely happen to us.
The promise to us is: "And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power." Paul confidently testifies: "Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus." Here's how it shall be. "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 . . ., caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (I Thessalonians 4).
But some doubters mockingly ask: "How are the dead raise up?" They suppose it an absurdity that a decomposed body could come back to life again. Paul tells them to look at nature: "Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened (made alive), except it die: and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be . . ., but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him." Just look at a tulip bulb. What appears dry and dead when planted in the fall, comes forth from the ground in the spring, green and vibrant with life. Yes, all of nature testifies to the fact that God can and does bring life out of death.
But the doubters are not yet satisfied. "With what body do they come?" they want to know. Paul explains: The body "is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; 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. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." The body we now have is a "natural body." The word "natural" comes from the word for "soul" in the Greek. Thus our present body is a "soulish body," i.e. a body controlled by the soul. It is mostly conscious of self and all that relates to self in the world. It has little consciousness of God and things relating to Him. The body we shall have from God at the resurrection will be a "spiritual body," i.e. a body controlled by the spirit. It will be mostly God-conscious. It will know and appreciate God and all that is related to Him as the "soulish body" never could. And it will never decay nor die nor be dishonoured nor grow weak, for it shall be raised like unto its Counterpart (Christ's own body), in glory and power. Don't you long for that day?
CHRIST ASCENDED
Peter continues speaking of Christ. "Who," says he, "is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him" (22).
Christ's ascension happened on this wise. After His resurrection, Jesus went about among His disciples, "being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." He told them of the coming of the Holy Spirit to empower them to be His witnesses to the world. "And (then) he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God" (Mark 16;Luke 24;Acts 1).
Christ's ascension guarantees our own. Jesus promised: "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." His promise is good enough for me; I rejoice in it. Our arrival doesn't depend on our own worth, work, or merit. Our arrival depends wholly upon the arrival of our Surety, Jesus Christ; and He has arrived. So shall we! In fact as far as God is concerned we are already there. In Ephesians we are told: "But God, who is rich in mercy . . . even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ . . . and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." We are there already, in Christ. We are, in Christ, seated even now at "the right hand of God."
"The right hand of God" is a place of glory, authority, and power. The many creatures of God in the heavens are made subject unto the glorified Christ. He was for a time "made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death . . . that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." But in His ascension He was "crowned with glory and honour . . . bringing many sons unto glory . . . angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him." This makes our Lord Sovereign in heaven. He now waits for you to make Him Sovereign in your life, at which time He will become your Surety, guaranteeing you inheritance with Himself.
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