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Dr. Irwin "Rocky" Freeman
Good evening ladies and gentlemen, we welcome you this evening and it's a privilege to be back with you to discuss and to share some thoughts of encouragement and challenge and excitement concerning the Christian view of death.
It is amazing the conception that many people have concerning this subject. Many denominations and some of the major religious views. We will find a conflict with the word of God itself. And our purpose again for this study is as it is a source of encouragement and of strength to the Christian.
And so we want to cover several topics that are important to us. And so let's just begin tonight by asking ourselves the question, what is the resurrection? It's an extremely interesting and important question that people ask.
What becomes of the body at death? I recall some time ago I was in a city down in Texas and I was teaching in a church and we were discussing this subject. And I made some statements concerning the body of the believer during the resurrection.
And I was amazed at the hostility and the anger that came from the people of the church, some from the minister's family themselves. Because I made a statement that the same body that you have now is the same body that comes out of the grave.
Now obviously the Lord has to make some adjustments and accommodations and things of this nature. However, the hostility came from a lack of understanding of what the scripture actually teaches us. The question of course could be raised, does it matter what becomes of it at all?
The Lord has everything worked out, the Lord has everything under control. So some people do. But as with all other great issues of life there are conflicting opinions as to what the answer to the question really and truly is.
There are those who claim there is no resurrection of the body. The Lord met with those representatives of this group in his day. You recall they were called the Sadducees. They sought to entrap him constantly.
These same ones were bitter enemies of the apostles in the early church. The same people. They harassed Paul in his day and amazingly the same line of thinking permeates today and so they live today. It is openly declared, listen carefully, by some professed believers of Jesus Christ that the doctrine of the resurrection of the body is unimportant.
It is just not that important if you're saved, the Lord has it all worked out, so you don't have to worry about it. The vital thing they say is the value of the idea and not the fact of the resurrection.
But a question arises in my mind, how can there be value apart from the fact? If it were not a fact, where is the value? Abandon the fact and the value of the fact will soon disappear. The moment a person begins to investigate the varying theories which deny the resurrection of the body, you will find that there is no general agreement among those who oppose this particular Bible doctrine.
There are those who deny there is such a thing as a body to rise. Everything is immaterial. That there is no real body in reality. There is also a group that claims that if there is to be any body to be united with a soul in the other life, then that body must come from heaven, it must differ entirely from the earthly body, and it must bear no relation to it whatsoever.
It is an entirely new creation. And the third line of thinking amongst these particular people is this third group, that they claim the soul somehow, mystically or mysteriously, magically, marvelously, somehow, will weave about itself a material covering that has nothing in common with a body of any sort.
It is not a body at all but a mere covering for the soul as a garment does your body. But now the scriptural view of the matter is that there is a resurrection of the body of every person, every believer, and every unbeliever.
That is the teaching, not by inference only, but in the positive, direct declaration of the entire word of God. If there is one thing that the scripture emphasizes, it is the resurrection of the body.
The resurrection of the body is the distinctive teaching of Christianity. Mark that down. The resurrection of the body is the distinctive teaching of Christianity. The religions of the world, while there is some sort of future existence for man, they give no assurance of the resurrection of the human body.
Its reunion with the soul or the spirit to the full restoration of the human being. The resurrection of the Lord, you recall, was not a minor teaching in the preaching of the apostles, but it was the most important fact that they had to present.
You recall on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, verses 25 to 36, it was the very heart of the preaching of Peter on Pentecost. He preached to those Jewish people in the city of Jerusalem at the time of the high holy feast.
He preached unto them about the resurrection of the body. Paul, Saul of Tarsus, said in 1 Corinthians 15, 17, of course 1 Corinthians 15 is a great chapter where Paul discusses and displays and dissects and presents to us the doctrine of the resurrection of the body.
Paul said, and if Christ be not risen, your faith is in vain, ye are yet in your sins. So the resurrection of the bodies of believers is conditioned on the resurrection of Christ. If he was resurrected, then we shall be resurrected.
His resurrection is the divine assurance that the bodies of all men will be raised from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is referred to in the scripture as the first fruits. The reference is to an Old Testament record, of course, of a remarkable ceremony.
We know it as the wave offering, the wave sheaf offering, and it was observed statedly by the Israelites. In Leviticus chapter 23, verses 9 through 11, we read the following. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
Now, as the time of the harvest approached, they began to walk through their fields of standing grain, and they would pluck a little here and pluck a little there, and handful of wheat heads, or mine them into a sheaf, and that is called the sheaf of the firstfruits.
It was taken to the priest, then, who waved it above his head before the Lord as an offering. This was done before the harvest was gathered and before they themselves had eaten of any of that harvest.
It must be noted also the day of the week, did you catch it, on which the ceremony took place? For there was a time appointed for its observance as definite as was the appointment of the feast itself.
The one was as vital as the other. The priest was to wave the sheaf before the Lord on the morrow after the Sabbath, or on the first day of the week, for it was prophetical of the resurrection of Christ from the dead on the first day of the week, and of his becoming the firstfruits of them that slept.
The sheaf of the firstfruits, then, was a sample of the entire crop that was to be harvested, and the bringing in of one sheaf was a token that a harvest of similar sheaves would follow. So would the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
You might read John 5, verses 28 -29. Every child of Adam will someday be raised from its grave. The scripture teaches that the entire creation felt the deadly effect of man's sin, so as to experience the beneficial result of his redemption.
In Romans 8, verses 22 -23, a marvelous passage of scripture. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ours also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body.
The peace and well-being of the creature world, therefore, are dependent upon the fact of the resurrection of the body. Since that is the case, it is reasonable to suppose that God will leave humanity and the physical earth in this despairing and hopeless condition forever.
I think not. If he did, it would indicate that he was defeated in his whole plan for mankind, and the world which he created, in which he pronounced good, would be defeated. The last word then would belong to the adversary.
Death would be the victor, and not God. But, my beloved, this will never happen. For a glorious future is in store, not only for man, but also for the earth. It will be fulfilled when he who laid down his life for man's redemption and bore the thorns, the emblem of the curse, upon his holy brow, when he comes again, and the bodies of the dead in him are raised in glory, never again to know sin or taste death.
But the scripture likewise teaches that death is related to the enemy, Satan, and all his works must be destroyed. 1 John 3, 8,. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Jesus Christ voluntarily died for the sins of his people, entering into the experience of death, according to Hebrews 2, 14, that through death he might destroy him that had power of death, that is, the devil.
Thus the problem of the future state becomes simply a question as to whether or not Jesus Christ can accomplish what he set out to do. Of course, at present, Satan has the power of death over the bodies of men within the overall will of God.
He's been exercising that power since the days of Adam, but he will not always have it. The Lord will gain the victory, but he will not gain the victory until these corruptible bodies are raised from the dead and the devil and his emissaries are shut up forever in the lake of fire that is never quenched, reserved forever for them.
But the undoings of the works of the devil, which he has wrought in human bodies, will be the last act of the blessed Lord in his redemptive work in behalf of the believer, the last enemy to be destroyed is death.
And that destruction cannot be until this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality. Why are we so sure of this? Why am I able to speak so confidently concerning this?
What are the reasons that you and I as Christians would have for believing so positively in the resurrection of the body? Let's look at some of those reasons. First of all, God has honored the body. Christianity honors the body.
God has been pleased to make it the temple of the Holy Spirit on earth during these days. The body of every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. If God condescends to dwell in the body in its present frail and humiliated condition, he must value it.
God has not only honored the body, but the body has been supremely honored by the incarnation of the Son of God. He took unto himself a true body as well as a reasonable soul and thus became one with man in order that he might redeem him completely both body and soul.
Man was originally created in the image of God, but through sin he lost in a measure that image. Now God gave his only begotten Son to be made in fashion of man that man might be restored to that lost estate.
And the human body was the instrument of this accomplishment. The hope of the believer is not deliverance from the body, but redemption of the body. And this redemption appears in God's refashioning it into the likeness of the body of Christ's glorious body.
Secondly, not only has God honored the body, but man cannot be perfect or cannot be a perfect being apart from the body. Man is going to be perfect in heaven. He will be in a perfect place in a perfect condition.
Despite all the blessings and privileges of this life presently, the believer groans for a more perfect deliverance from the bondage of corruption and the one and only thing that will bring this deliverance is the redemption of the body.
The body is a distinct and fundamental part of your being. Man cannot be made perfect without it. His redemption cannot be fully accomplished apart from it. The crowning act of redemption then will be the deliverance of the body from the bondage of corruption in which it is now imprisoned.
But more importantly is the significance of the term resurrection. The Holy Scripture employs the word resurrection with considerable frequency and it always uses it in the sense of bringing back to activity a body once dead.
Again 1 Corinthians 15, this chapter seems to be the full discussion of God's revelation concerning the resurrection of the body. And in it special emphasis is laid on the fact that what is placed in the grave is what comes out of the grave.
The soul does not go down to the grave. It departs immediately to be with Christ which is far better than living here. But that is not the complete state. Happy and glorious as that state must be, a sense of incompleteness is felt.
As only the body is put into the grave, nothing but the body belonging to man can come out of the grave. But beloved there is more in that word resurrection than merely bringing back to activity. I believe it signifies also that the body will be restored to the highest degree of perfection and it will be refashioned after a new pattern.
In Romans 8 verses 28 and 29,. 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. Now watch this,. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate.
Now predestinate to what? It goes on to say, To be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn amongst many brethren. God did not allow the body of Moses to fall into the hands of the devil.
Neither will he allow the devil or any other power to keep the body of the believer from being resurrected and united with his soul at the coming of the Lord. But there is another reason. It is the only logical and sensible conclusion to life here.
This is true in view of God's marvelous estimate of the worth of man and the cost, the price that he paid for man's redemption. Man is God's creature. He was not only created by God, but created in the image and after the likeness of God.
Man is the most precious thing that God has on this earth. The very facts of how God created the body of man and what he's done to rescue him from his fallen state are convincing evidence that God is going to do what he's declared to be his intention.
What is that? To raise up the body in the last day. But think with me about the term as it's used in the New Testament to describe bodily death. It is interesting that it is the term sleep. By the atoning work of Jesus Christ on man's behalf, the term is no longer death, but sleep.
We'll find phrases like, she is not dead, but sleeping. David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep. Jesus said, our friend Lazarus sleeping. In John 11. He said, we shall not all sleep.
Stephen fell asleep. The scripture says them also which sleep in Jesus. And those are just a few of the examples of the use of the word one finds in the New Testament. Early Christians, you know they call the burial grounds cemeteries.
What does the word cemetery mean? It means sleeping place or sleeping places. It is where they laid the bodies of their dearest friends to take their quiet rest. But friends, sleep is transitory. It implies a reawakening.
The Bible calls bodily death a sleep for the reason that the death state is not eternal, but only temporary. This is not sleep, which has no awakening to follow. After the resurrection, the apostles never used the word death to express the close of the Christian's earth life, but referred to the passing of a Christian as at home with the Lord, to depart and be with Christ, to sleep in Jesus.
Fallen asleep, loosing the moorings, and forever with the Lord. And I cannot insist strong enough this evening that it is the same body that is raised. There has been and still is a great deal of teaching about a spiritual resurrection.
And people who teach it, it's in some seminaries and schools. They use the scripture in 1 Corinthians 15, 44. Notice what it says. It is raised a spiritual body. The Greek word soma is translated body in this passage.
It's used 10 times in this chapter. And in each instance, it evidently refers to the actual material body. And what is true of the use of the word in that chapter applies to its use throughout the New Testament.
You can look at Matthew 6 .25, Mark 5 .29, and John 19, verse 40. Why do some people try to make it mean something else when its importance is clearly evidence? Such scriptures as Romans 8 .11, which states that the mortal body will be quickened.
Romans 8 .23, which puts before the Christian the hope of the redemption of the body. And Matthew 27 .52, which distinctly states that the bodies of the saints arose after the resurrection of Christ. All of these are utterly meaningless unless understood literally and to be exactly what they say.
Jesus told his disciples, and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And almost immediately, he makes a strange statement, but there shall not a hair on your head perish. Now, that is interesting.
That he says you'll be put to death, but not a hair on your head will perish. Luke 21, verses 16 to 18. What does this mean? It is always safest in interpreting scripture to take the statement literally unless the context demands that it be taken figuratively, which is certainly not the case in this passage.
Further proof of this is the numbering of the hairs of the head by God. God does nothing idly. This is not some little idle thing that God does. When we view the other revelations of scripture, we can well believe that the Lord was promising literal bodily resurrection to those who should lay down their lives under persecution because of their faithful testimony to him.
And to include the hairs of the head in the resurrection victory may seem staggeringly miraculous to some, but the question is, beloved, what is too hard for God? Well, I want to give another reason. Another reason is that Jesus Christ must reign.
That is an assured fact. He will reign. He shall reign. He must reign. The last act of time will not be man's act, but God's act. It is written this way in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 24 to 28. Then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom of God, even the Father, when he shall put down all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be all in all.
So there is a divine necessity for the resurrection of the body. And that necessity lies in the fact that he must reign. He shall reign and his saints with him in their resurrected bodies, fashioned like unto a glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself, Philippians 3, 21.
So the resurrection of the body is sure. Why? Because he must reign. But if there is a resurrection of the body, then what is the nature of the resurrection body? What does it look like? How is it going to be?
These are questions that are constantly and consistently asked in Bible conferences. The resurrection is not only distinctly taught in the Scripture, but beloved, it is one of the cardinal doctrines of Christianity.
You take the doctrine of the resurrection out of the Bible, and the foundation stone of the Christian faith is removed. Paul declares the resurrection to be the sum and substance of the gospel, which he faithfully preached and for which he gladly died.
But reassuring as it is, it doesn't completely satisfy one who is seeking light on the life beyond. Most people want to know what kind of a body it will be when it is resurrected. Well, you and I can always trust God to keep his word, and to give each individual not only his own body, but with those changes that are necessary to make it best suited to the requirements of the new surroundings.
You can trust God. But one of the first questions that are asked, or that is asked usually is, well, how are the dead raised up? And what bodies do they come in? How, for example, when bodies of loved ones and friends are laid away in extreme weakness or they're maimed by accident, one wants to know what kind of bodies they are to have in the resurrection.
Will the bodies of these friends be raised in their weakened and maimed condition? Or will they be restored to the freshness of youth? Will they be young people? In the vigor of full manhood, which they once knew, will they be adults?
Or will they be given entirely different bodies? The only source of information that you have on all questions having to do with a future life is very simply and plainly the word of God. The Bible declares, yes, there is to be a marvelous difference between what the believer is here and what he shall be there.
But with all the difference, the believer will still be himself and will not be, I say again, will not be another person. I believe that a believer will carry with him into heaven and will retain forever his personal identity.
And this identity of person applies as truly to the body as to any other part of his being. He'll most certainly not be less a person in his resurrection body than he was in his earthly body. Whatever changes are made in the body, it will still be the body he had in this life, the one in which they toiled and suffered, loved and rejoiced, and at last did what the world says, died.
Now it might be less difficult for some people to believe that at the resurrection instead of the present body they get an entirely new one. And it has no relation whatever to the present mortal body.
And there are those who argue in favor of such a theory. But dear beloved, they claim it would be far easier and much more logical for God to create an entirely new body from fresh earth, dust of the earth, or some other appropriate material found elsewhere in his universe, whatever it would be, than to search out the scattered dust of dead bodies and refashion them and give them again to the myriad host of disembodied spirits who once possessed them.
If that conception were true, and I don't believe that it is, one could hardly speak of a resurrection, could they? Have you thought about that? For if that which has become dust does not rise, something new must take its place, and that is creation, it is not resurrection.
In that event, there would be no conceivable reason why the scripture should speak of the body coming forth from the grave. Unless the body is raised, there would be no resurrection, and the scripture would create a grave misapprehension concerning the entire matter.
It teaches directly and positively, not by inference only, that the spirit will necessarily receive its own body again. The Christian is taught that Jesus Christ is the first fruits of them that sleep.
That is to say, his resurrection is a sample and an assurance of the resurrection of the body. Well, what kind of a body did he have after his resurrection? Important question. Was it the same as the one which was put into Joseph's new tomb?
Was it not his body? The one thing above all others which they would keep undisturbed was the burial place of the Lord. Every ounce of power, every bit of power which could be exerted by the Jewish leaders with the assistance of the Roman government was exercised to prevent his body from coming out of that grave, that tomb.
But they were not able to do so. After three days, according to the scripture, he appeared in his body to his disciples. Now, what happened? Watch this carefully. They did not recognize him immediately.
Immediately. They thought he was an apparition, a spirit. But he began at once to convince them of his identity to prove he was the same person whom they had seen down the cross. Now, how did he convince them?
By proving to them his body was the same body. In Luke 24, 39, did he not say, Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have.
To Thomas he said, Reach hither thy finger. Behold my hands and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. John 20, 27. Jesus Christ based his appeal for recognition on the fact that he was in the same body.
And when Thomas saw the body, the wounds, the scars, he cried, My Lord and my God. But the Lord went even further. You recall, he took a piece of fish and some honey and ate it before their eyes. Many people have asked the question, Why?
Because he needed food? Of course not. But to convince them beyond the shadow of a doubt that he was the same Lord, appearing to them in the identical body which they had seen mangled on the cross. The question is, will there be any difference between the present body and the resurrection body?
I'm convinced that definitely there will be. Identity, you see, does not require that the body be raised from the grave exactly as it was laid in it. If it did, that would not be very pleasant anticipation for many.
A person wants this present body, but he does not necessarily want it as it is. For example, one often meets the deformed and the crippled, the blind, the deaf, and people with other imperfections. But these are defects that do not belong to the body as such.
Hear me, these defects do not belong to the body as such. The body has been terribly maimed by sin and by disease, which is the result of sin being in the world. God does not fashion the body in that way.
The human body was perfect when it came from the hand of God. There was not a single defect in all the complex mechanisms of the human body when God created it. All these imperfections and defects and weaknesses and all the like are the result of the catastrophe which overtook man in the fall in the Garden of Eden.
It is simply and no more, no less, it is a part of the wages of sin. The beloved God was not pleased to leave man in his fallen state. You and I know that he provided salvation for man. The question is, did he redeem only a portion of man?
Did he just redeem man's soul, his spirit? Or, did he redeem all of man? No, his redemption reaches to man's last and least interest. Is it conceivable that God, who endowed man with such a marvelous body, the psalmist said, I am fearfully and wonderfully made, that he would allow it to be wrecked forever?
It is not possible that he would do so. It again will be a perfect body one day. Perfection, as I understand it, excludes all that is weak and sick and immature. It will be the same body, but it will be wearing again the nobility of the image and likeness of God.
It is likewise evident from the scripture that while the two bodies are identical in essence, they are different in qualities. It will be changed from the common to the noble, from the humiliated to the glorified, yet in essence, it is the same body.
As to the nature, the fashion of the resurrection body, the Bible teaches us very simply that it will be conformable to the body of the glory of Christ himself. In Philippians 3, verses 20 and 21, there is a marvelous, marvelous passage of scripture.
Look at it with me. For our conversation, our citizenship, is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that is, our body of humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, or as it literally reads, body of glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself, Philippians 3, 20 and 21.
Now what do we know of Jesus Christ's body of glory? How was it made? What did it look like? What was it like when his disciples saw him go up in his body into the clouds out of sight? Are any of its characteristics known to us?
The answer is a resounding yes. A number of them have been made quite evident to us from the Holy Scripture. Let's go over and look at some of these. First of all, it was visible. It was visible. It was something they could see and touch and handle.
In other words, it had substance. He was visible to his disciples at intervals for 40 days in his resurrection body before the ascension. They had ample time to examine and observe his body. He appeared to individuals, groups of individuals, and on one occasion to a company of more than 500 people, but he was visible after his ascension.
You recall in Acts 7, verse 56, when Stephen, it says, Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Paul, on more than one occasion, talks about the ascension of the Ascended Lord.
John had a glorious appearance and fell at his feet as did when he wrote the book of the Revelation and received the information from the Lord. Since the bodies of believers are to be fashioned like unto his body of glory, certainly, visibility would be one of its qualities.
But very quickly, I add, it was also a real body. Not only was it visible, but it was a real body. It was not an apparition. It was not a spirit as the disciples first thought. You recall, he said to them, A spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have.
He even allowed them to handle him to convince them that he was with them in a true, real body. He ate food before them. Now, that doesn't imply that there is a need of nourishment, that his body was sustained by nourishment.
I believe it was to prove to them that he had a real body. They were on the sea of Tiberias, the Galilee. And he appeared to his disciples that they recognized him a far distance at sea as he was on the shoreline.
It was a visible body and it was a real body. But thirdly, it was a glorified body or a body of glory. John, the apostle, was permitted to see and vision something of the glory of Christ's present body.
He saw the Son of Man in the midst of seven candlesticks in the Revelation. The risen Christ clothed with a garment down to the foot and gird about with a golden girdle. In Revelation chapter 1 verses 12 to 16, Revelation chapter 1 verses 12 to 16, we find it goes on to say his head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like undefined brass, and his voice as the sound of many waters.
And he had in his right hand seven stars, and his countenance was as the sun shines in his strength. Whatever else may be involved in this passage, it certainly teaches that Christ's risen body was real, it was visible, and it was a body of glory.
It was a glorious body. Paul describes Christ's resurrection body as the body of glory, and he insists that the bodies of believers will be conformable to it. You know, in 1 Corinthians 15, which we all refer to, and we continually make reference to it as that great chapter on the resurrection, in 1 Corinthians 15 verses 42 to 44, there are four great contrasts that one can see between the natural body, which is subject to death, and the spiritual or resurrection body, which will never die.
Paul gives a picture of the entire existence on this side of the grave. And I believe he does this in order that he may compare it with existence, not only at the order that he may compare it with existence, but at the moment of the resurrection, but also throughout all eternity.
Let's look at those four contrasts. First of all, corruption and incorruption. The present body is subject to decay and corruption. Disease is always at work. But how different it is going to be with the resurrection body.
It will never grow tired. The head will never ache. And the heart will never grow faint. Then there's another contrast, dishonor and glory. It's not so easy to think of this body as it is presently constituted as one of dishonor.
One is rather inclined to exalt the body by praising its grandeur, its glory. It is difficult to believe that the present body has the stamp of dishonor on it if you watch the television and the radio ads, because one has never seen a body anywhere else but here, or under any other condition except as seen here.
If one could compare the present body with the body of man as it was originally created, what a striking contrast would be apparent. It would then be easy to admit that much of the honor and glory with which the body was originally invested has departed, and its glory now is but the remains of the original glory.
There's not much reason to be proud of a body that's so often full of aches and pains and has to be patched up continually to keep it living. It grows old and feeble in a brief few years, and then finally falls into utter decay.
But this will not be true of the body of glory which will be fashioned from this present body. Then the believer will have a perfect body shining in the luster of eternal life. Moses, you recall, when he came down from the mountain, his face shone with such glory that he had to cover his face.
And with our Lord Himself on the Mount of Transfiguration, is there not a suggestion of the glory of the resurrection body in that transfiguration experience of the body of our Lord on the Holy Mount?
Is there not some semblance of what the resurrection body will be like? Dishonor and glory is a contrast. But there's a third contrast, and it's between weakness and power. Man may boast of his strength, but he knows that he's none too strong.
He cannot endure too much. There are many things that are undone because he doesn't have the strength to finish them. I'm just so tired. I just can't do any more. He would do more if he had the power.
But then as the years come, and they go, years go by, whatever strength he has gradually diminishes. He even becomes so frail that he cannot care for himself. This is one of the things that most people dread about growing old, not being able to care for themselves.
But of the new body, it can never be said that there's not sufficient power. No. For it will equal to all the requirements of the eternal life. It will never grow weary. Just think with me. Never become exhausted.
Never have to fail because of the lack of strength. The power that is at work in the Christian's life, this power not only raised Jesus Christ from the dead, but exalted him to the right hand of God. That same power will raise the Christian, change the body, and keep it to perfection throughout the ages of eternity.
But that leaves us a fourth contrast, the natural and the spiritual body. All of this means, as I understand it, that the Spirit of God who makes these bodies his temple while they are here on earth will have full possession of the body and will be wholly adapted to the new heavenly environment even in a far greater sense than this present body is adapted to its present environment.
Remember, despite all the changes to be wrought in these bodies, individuality will not be lost. Each person will receive a body that is fitted to his own personality and through which he may fitly express himself.
The inevitable conclusion then is that the believer will not only live but be his own true self in the life beyond. And this is not true here for there is too much wrong with us. But before we enter the eternal existence in the resurrection body, all grossness, all imperfection, all immaturity will have been completely and forever removed in order that there will be nothing to hinder the believer.
It ought to be enough to satisfy anyone that their body will be like Jesus Christ own glorious body throughout eternity. So we have a wonderful body stored up for us, that which he has ready for those who love him and for those who serve him.
And so, beloved, we have this hope and this promise. But you know, you hear a lot of sermons on Bible prophecy and in prophetic conferences there are many subjects that are treated, the reign of the Antichrist, the reign of Christ, the millennium, and the coming kingdom, the rapture of the church, Israel's restoration, Jesus ruling upon the throne of David, and one of the topics that is usually covered in a prophetic conference is the subject of the believer's judgment.
It's called the judgment seat of Christ. We know that after the resurrection, the next event to occur as far as we are concerned, according to the scripture, is the judgment seat of Christ. And that is a subject which little is heard sometimes and less is known because a lot of places do not have prophetic conferences.
Yet, and many pastors do not preach on the things of prophecy. Yet it is a matter for which should be the concern because no one is going to escape judgment. It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this, the judgment.
You recall that the apostle Paul on Mars healed to the Athenians, he declared that God now commands all men everywhere to repent because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Acts 17 verses 30 to 31. So the day of judgment has been appointed by God. Now there are two groups of people obviously to be involved in the judgments. There are believers and unbelievers. The purpose for the believer is entirely different from that of the unbeliever.
In the case of the unbeliever, it has to do with his sins and future punishment, whereas the believer has his works judged and rewards bestowed. The place of the believer's judgment is the judgment seat of Christ.
Now Paul writing to the bereaved at Corinth, you recall, in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 10, he says,. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
The question is not the believer's sins then, but his works. The sins are atoned for and remembered no more forever, Hebrews 10 verse 17. But every work must come into judgment. Read Matthew 12 verse 36, Ephesians 6 verse 8, Colossians 3 verse 24 and 25.
The result is the reward or loss of reward, but he himself shall be saved, 1 Corinthians 3, 11 through 15. But someone's asking the question, but isn't every throne considered the judgment seat of Christ?
Does he not declare that the Father judges no man but has committed all judgment unto the Son, John 5, 22? And that is true. Both the living and the dead are to give a full account to him whether they are saved or unsaved.
But the point I'm making is that the believer will never be subject to a condemnatory judgment. For him all such judgment is passed, John 5, 24. Now while that is blessedly so, and it is true, all believers will stand before Christ to receive the things done in the body whether they be good or bad.
The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the judge of the believer, gives a very vivid picture of this in one of his parables. You recall he tells of a man who before making a journey into a far country, called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods, giving to one five talents, to another two, to another one.
To every man according to his several ability that they might use them to his advantage during his absence. The servant who had received five talents made of them other five talents. And the one who had two made two, and one who had one, you recall he went and digged in the earth and hid his money.
Now what happened when the Lord returned? With those who had received five and two, he rewarded them for their works and was pleased. But the one who had failed to make use of the one talent entrusted to him not only received no reward but was dispossessed of what he had.
Now when we go to the scripture it is quite evident that at the judgment seat of Christ only the believer will be there. It would seem the little pronoun we in 2 Corinthians 5 definitely decides this question for we shall all stand.
You know the chapter is not very long but in it the word we occurs amazingly 26 times and in every instance it refers to believers only. Go to 2 Corinthians 5 and just underline we, look at that. That only believers are men is even more clearly when you see the connection of the pronouns and look what it says we know, we have, we groan, we walk, we are confident, we labor, we may be accepted.
And any time the plural pronoun we is used in any of the epistles believers and only believers are men. But the question is what is the purpose of the judgment at which the believer is to appear? The common opinion by many is that it is a trial to determine salvation.
Robert Ingersoll the well-known agnostic of a generation ago wrote this in a poem. He says, Is there beyond the silent night an endless day? Is death a door that leads to light? We cannot say. The tongue-less secret locked in fate.
We do not know. We hope and wait. End quote. That is the language of agnosticism. And yet I say to you that there are many, many Christians who use similar language. But the Christian who knows Jesus Christ in the forgiveness of sin faces no secret locked in fate concerning his place in eternity.
God has given us the Bible to remove doubt as far away as He has removed our sin by the blood of Christ. Job 19 verses 25 to 26 Look at that. I know that my Redeemer liveth and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.
And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God. In 2 Corinthians 5 1 We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
That marvelous verse in 2 Timothy 1 12 I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day. Beloved, believers do not have to hope and wait.
They rest their future on the finished work of Jesus Christ. The judgment is not to be a trial to decide the fate either of the saved or unsaved. The Bible speaks very plainly on that if one will read it and believe it.
It is unthinkable to me that the Apostle Paul who served faithfully and finally sealed his testimony with his own life after being now for more than 1900 years with the Lord is to appear at the judgment seat of Christ to learn whether his eternal destiny will be life or death heaven or hell.
No, I believe the scripture is clear. The trial will be in the domestic court so to speak and those present will be saved regardless of the fate of their works. I think you'll find that is brought out very plainly in 1 Corinthians 3 verses 11 to 15.
God's work for the believer places Him as to His standing on new ground. He is placed beyond judgment for sin. It is a life beyond the judgment. All believers have this immunity whether they realize it or not.
It is sheer unbelief to doubt it. Whatever else may be the purpose of the judgment it is not to decide whether the believer shall enter heaven or not. There is therefore now no condemnation for them who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8 .1. But while the purpose of the judgment is not to decide one's destination, it will decide the degree of glory to which the believer will attain in the future. Each will receive a reward according to his works and that is a reward of grace not in the common sense.
I believe they'll cover several areas. Some of those would be for what he has suffered and sacrificed for Jesus Christ's sake. There will be rewards for the proper use of talents entrusted to his care as we mentioned in the parable.
Also for the love he has shown to his enemies and for the help given the poor and for the sick visited in his blessed name. These things bring a reward. The salvation you see will be the same for all but the glory will not be the same.
The difference being determined by the fruits of their lives on earth. But no one need fear that envied jealousy will spring up among the redeemed over their respective rewards. Each one will be perfectly satisfied.
There are not going to be any unholy passions and desires in the heavenly realm. Neither will it be in the hearts of those who have come into unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Ephesians 4 .13. Since the reward is now being laid up by believers in heaven, it behooves them to make the service of Christ their chief business on earth. But you say, what about the sins of the believer?
Won't those be there to face him, to his shame and dismay? No, not according to the word of God. Think with me for a moment. What about the sins before a person becomes a believer? Hebrews 10 .17 and Romans 3 .5.
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. The fact that the believer's sins are forgiven and forgotten will be firmly, strikingly illustrated in Hebrews chapter 11. We call this the great chapter of faith.
It is the portrait of the faithful. This is an account of what faith in God did for Old Testament believers. Where there no other record of these men and women and this was the record you had, you would suppose they were perfect specimens of believers.
But such is not the case. Some of them were pretty bad sinners, if you want to use those terms, in their lives at one time. But in this chapter, there's not a word about the failure of a single one of them.
Why is that? Because in the previous chapter, in Hebrews 10 .17 it says, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. So, the sins before. But what about the sins after one becomes a Christian?
If he does not confess his sins after he becomes a Christian, the Lord deals with him and chastises him in Hebrews 12. But 1 John 1 .9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
To forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The sin question has been settled at the cross and it will never be brought up. But some say, but what about the scars of sin? I believe again, Isaiah 53 .5, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.
Christ himself bears the marks, the scars of sin. The mark is in his hand and the scars are in his wounded side. Three things will occur at the judgment seat of Christ as I understand it. First of all, the Son of God himself shall be manifested.
When he came to die for men, they did not recognize him as the Son of God, because he made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, Philippians 2 verses 7 and 8.
But he will be changed when he appears again. He will be seen in the full blaze of glory which he had with the Father before he came to earth. So the first thing that occurs is the Son of God himself shall be manifested.
And then I think secondly the manifestation of the sons of God in glory. You recall 1 John 3 .2, a verse that is well known and well used. It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
At the present time, the believer does not rank in the estimation of the world. A Christian is a lowly, humble sort of life. His value to human society is not readily recognized. But at the judgment seat of Christ, his true worth will be seen.
What a marvelous revelation that will be. But thirdly, there is going to be the appraisal of the believer's works and the distribution of rewards. 1 Corinthians 3 .13. Every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
Is there anything so calculated to stir the Christian to further activity than this fire test of all of his works? One needs to check their motives lest they be found performing service only to be seen of men and have their praise.
These will all be for naught, unless done in the name of Jesus Christ and for his sake. So there is a pertinent question that we have to answer. What is Christian service? Dear friends, it is not just any good deed one may choose to perform, because the child of God has been created into Christ Jesus under good works.
Ephesians 2 .10 Which God hath before ordained that he should walk in them. Some think they can do as they please and receive a full reward. But it is only as Christians walk in the work which God has ordained that they receive a reward.
This means there is a definite field of service divinely planned for everyone and that good works in the biblical sense can only be in finding and doing that which he has ordained. The works are then good only as they are done according to the good and acceptable and perfect will of God for everyone.
These can only be entered into by his direction, which will be realized by all who wholly yield to him. I believe the service must be where he wills in the way he wills it and the believer would be careful to maintain good works according to divine appointment.
Would you at your leisure read Titus 2 .14 and Titus 3 .8? There are those who talk about society and, you know, they're wonderful civic organizations and they do marvelous good but dear friends, that is not what I'm talking about.
The shoddiness of the social gospel, the tinsel of a semi-religious and worldly entertainment, the blare and flare of human exhibitions, the whitewash of empty and powerless ethics, the humanitarianism which is based on mere selfism for acclaim and applause, and the self-inflation of rationalism, the externalism of addressee ritualism, they are materials which will be fuel for the fire at the judgment seat of Christ.
But another thought about the judgment seat of Christ, it marks the beginning of the ages to come. Do you remember Ephesians 2 verse 7? God will show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
There the believer will be placed for all creation to see as the manifestation of what God's grace could do and did do in saving, cleansing, and keeping poor, frail man who had been dead in trespasses and sin.
Hope you enjoyed your recess and a few moments of break. I think it's good for us to take a slight break each evening just to kind of greet one another and then also to catch our breath, but let's move along quickly if we might.
You'll be seated. A question that is connected with a future life that is probably more frequently and earnestly asked than any other is this question. Will we know one another in heaven? I think it becomes particularly so when loved ones are taken away and our hearts are filled with sorrow.
Will those precious relationships which life has given endure? Some people even go so far as to feel that they would almost rather be annihilated than to live forever without renewing these fellowships of life.
Better no future life, they say, than a life in which recognition of loved ones is denied. Well, when we look for ground and begin seeking for it on which to base the hope of personal recognition in heaven, I believe that we find much in the scripture to give substance to it.
And I want us to think very quickly and clearly but very thoroughly tonight about will we know one another in heaven? First of all, the belief in future recognition is as universal as is the belief in immortality itself.
Wherever you find men entertaining any belief of a future existence, they find a belief also in some kind of recognition. I believe the social instinct is so eradicably embedded in the human heart that it recoils from the thought that personal knowledge and companionship end with the present existence.
Go where one will, the desire for companionship will be found burning brightly in the bosom of all men. The ancients felt it and they cherished the hope of being gathered to their fathers. Plato recognized it and spoke of it rather freely.
Virgil recorded it and the Hindu incorporated it in his ancient creed. The Indian always looked forward as one of the assured realities of the happy hunting ground. I believe the very universality of this desire seems to be a strong presumption if it's not proved, in favor of the belief that human beings will know one another in the future life.
It is unthinkable that God would endow man with such a universal hope, a hope that dates back as far as human history extends, only to disappoint that hope. The Egyptians even developed a method of embalming their dead and burying their servants with them, alive, in hope of it.
The pharaohs would have eunuchs buried with them, alive. These eunuchs would be live people as they would be entombed within the pyramids and within the burial chambers so that they might serve into life to come.
But there's another thought, secondly. The fact of personal identity also adds weight to the presumption of future recognition. If individuals are to be the same persons there as they are here, the consciousness of personal identity would seem to me, would require personal recognition and fellowship.
You see, lives are so interwoven here that the consciousness of being oneself there, it would appear to me, necessarily carries with it, not only the memory of such relationships, but also the ability to recognize at least those who contributed so largely to such associations.
How could there be any personal identity without such an ability? A third reason that would seem to teach personal recognition is where is the wisdom of creating dear relationships, enjoying and encouraging them, even giving them the sanction of religion if they are simply incidental and temporary?
Reason appears to be well on the side of the hope of personal recognition. But another thought, fourthly, is the nature of love itself argues for recognition. No one can love another person without adding something substantial and abiding to his own soul, as well as to the soul of the object of that love.
Love has always been an abiding treasure of life. We well know that Paul knew this when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 13, 13,. Now abideth faith, hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.
But fifthly, there is the implication that people will continue to be interested in the same things there in which their hearts are most engaged here. Now the little details of human life which connect them with earthly surroundings are going to cease to interest us because they are no longer needed and are intended to be temporary.
But the great fundamental affairs of this life which have interested people in their souls and for which they have labored with kindred spirits during the weary years of their earthly pilgrimage will still be important to them.
And that fact seems to be brought out very clearly in the visit which Moses and Elias made to Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration. There, you recall, these heavenly visitors talked with him about the great atonement which he was to make, and that's a subject in which they had been vitally interested on the earth.
Though they had been away from earth for centuries of time, they had in no way lost their interest in the great plan of redemption, and it does not seem too much to believe that those whose chief joy here was to do his will, and whose knowledge of that will is now infinitely enlarged and purified, will be more interested in it and more conscious of their associates and fellow laborers than they were on earth.
I believe we can conclude that the inhabitants of heaven will not know less of each other than they did here. I think Paul was sure that it was true. In 1 Corinthians 13 12 he said,. Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as also I am known.
Of course, there are many questions in which one would wish the clearest revelation, and we don't always find it. I think the reason for this lack is that the future life is so vastly different from the present that it is not possible to put the revelation into language which man could understand in his present state.
But what are some of the great facts unmistakably set forth in the scripture concerning heavenly recognition? First of all, when the believer reaches his eternal home in the Father's house, he will be there with a new and wonderfully enlarged knowledge.
Again, 1 Corinthians 13 12,. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. In this life, man's intellectual and spiritual faculties are united to a body, seriously disarranged by the fall of sin.
He will be able to comprehend as never before the infinite greatness and goodness of God toward the children of men. Is it not logical to infer that with this marvelously increased knowledge, he will there come to a better acquaintance with others than was ever known here?
It is also said that the names of believers are written in heaven. Rejoice not that the devils are subject to you, but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven. I believe the name stands for the person that means him and no one else.
His name marks him as an individual. The scripture would seem to teach that one is not only known, but known before he arrives. Also, third, the hope of mutual recognition has always belonged to the life of faith.
The child of God in every age of man has cherished not only the hope of the future life, but of knowing and being known. The record concerning each of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is that on his death he was said to be gathered to his people.
This gathering to his people would have no virtue if it did not carry with it the fact of personal recognition, for one cannot be said to be gathered to his people if he does not know them when he arrives where they are.
In Matthew 22, 31, and 32, as touching the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?
God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. One idea is quite clear from this to me. Each of those patriarchs still exists in his own identity and distinctiveness, and as such, each one is known to the other, and each one to God.
Of Moses and Aaron there was a like declaration, Get thee up and die in the mountain, whether thou goest up and be gathered to thy people. But you see, Aaron's people were not buried on Mount Or, or near there.
It was in the faith of seeing again his loved ones that he died on Mount Hor. David found comfort, and he said, when he talked about the death of his son, I shall go to him, he shall not return to me.
In the teachings of the Lord and the apostles we find the same. The account of Lazarus and the rich man. It is implied that neither had any difficulty recognizing each other. What would have prompted the request to send Lazarus to talk to the five brothers if Lazarus was not recognized?
Paul, writing to the bereaved ones at Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 -18, he talked about sleeping saints being raised, living ones changed, and both being caught up together forever to be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words. Surely the essence of the comfort of reunion would be recognition of one another. Then Paul described those converts, 1 Thessalonians 2, 19 -20, he beautifully says they were his hope, his joy, his crown in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming.
Evidently Paul expected to be able to recognize these souls, and to be recognized by them, or how could he rejoice in them before Christ unless he recognized them. Then when he wrote to Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 1, 14, he said that he fully expects mutual recognition between himself and his converts, as also ye have acknowledged us in part that we are your rejoicing, even as yet also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.
There has to be mutual recognition before there can be mutual joy. The Bible exemplifies recognition by presenting the resurrected Christ as the first fruits of them that sleep. He was changed after his return from the grave, but his identity was not destroyed.
Now the teaching is that as he arose, so will believers be raised also, changed yet unchanged, glorified but still recognizable, knowing even as they are known. But I think the Bible does more than presuppose recognition.
I think it affirms it. Christ said in John 14, verses 2 and 3, 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 you may be also.
He said, if it were not so, I would have told you how real that makes the other world. You know, believers enter heaven not as strangers, but as members of the family of God. He wants his children to think of it as home, as a family, abiding place.
Every word is suggestive of acquaintance, recognition, and fellowship. No new relation at death is formed for the believers already a son of God or a child of God. It is inconceivable that members of the family not be able to recognize one another.
But I think the Bible teaches that one's ability to recognize others in heaven will extend far beyond those whom he knew personally. Peter, James, and John recognized Moses and Elijah who'd lived centuries before them.
It is evident that Jesus Christ is counting on being with his own. His own should be counting on being with him. The real fullness of the future life, after all, is life with him who is our life.