06.03 - Chapter 37 - The Resurrection of the Body

Chapter 37 THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY And when I’m to die ’Receive me,’ I’ll cry; For Jesus hath loved me, I cannot tell why: But this I can find We two are so joined He’ll not be in glory and leave me behind.

~*~

Rowland Hill A Confession of Faith

“At the last day, such of the saints as are found alive shall not sleep, but be changed; and all the dead shall be raised up with the selfsame bodies, and none other; although with different qualities, which shall be united again to their souls for ever. (The Baptist Confession Of Faith Of 1689, Chapter 31, Section 2; study 1 Corinthians 15:51; 1 Thessalonians 4:17; Job 19:26-27; 1 Corinthians 15:42-43).

There is to be a Bodily Resurrection The Sadducees denied the immortality of the soul and therefore logically denied the resurrection of the body. In Mark 12:26 Christ challenged the thinking of the Sadducees by stating that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob still lived. If their souls were immortal, perhaps their bodies would one day also be resurrected. Jesus said there would be a resurrection (John 5:28).

Now, only that can be resurrected that has been buried. The word implies a previous burial. This cannot be said of the soul. Moreover, Christ’s resurrection was bodily, therefore all others must be the same. Many passages speak of a bodily resurrection (Daniel 1:2; Isaiah 26:19; Romans 8:12; 1 Corinthians 15:42-44; John 5:28; John 6:39-40). Is Belief in the Resurrection of the Body Realistic? The biblical answer is, "Yes." God is not irrational. Consider this truth. It takes both body and soul to constitute the complete personality of man as he was originally created. Therefore, Christ’s redemption had to involve both body and soul, and it did. The good news of the gospel is that though the Fall of mankind in the person of Adam in the Garden of Eden involved man’s body and soul, redemption will not stop short of the entire restoration of all that was lost. The Resurrection is Miraculous

While the hope of the resurrection of the body involves faith in the miraculous, the resurrection no more incredible than the initial birth of a baby. “It is no more strange that the human body should exist a second time than that it should exist the first time. That a full-formed human body should be produced from a microscopic cell is as difficult to believe as that a spiritual resurrection body should be produced out of the natural earthly body. The marvels of embryology are, a priori, as incredible as those of the resurrection. The difference between the body that is laid in the grave, and the body that is raised from the grave is not so great as the difference between the minute embryonic ovum, and the human form divine. If the generation of the body, were, up to this time, as rare an event as the resurrection of the body it might be denied with equal plausibility. However, “Why should it be thought a thing incredible that GOD should raise the dead?” Dr. William G.T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology. The Resurrection of Christ: Its Certainty

"The stone was rolled away from the door, not to permit Christ to come out, but to enable the disciples to go in." (Peter Marshall) The resurrection of Christ is one of the best attested facts in Christian belief. Proof of the resurrection of Christ becomes the assurance of the resurrection of all those united to him. But every man in His own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” (1 Corinthians 15:23). Concerning the resurrection of Christ, consider the following.

• The gospel narratives are written in a open and truthful manner.

• The apostles firmly believed in the resurrection and gave their lives proclaiming it. Paul said that if Christ had not risen then they were false witnesses. That was the only choice. They were either saying what they knew to be true, or what they knew to be false.

• The apostles knew how to distinguish between a vision and a real appearance; their belief cannot be attributed to a vision.

• The apostles did not expect the resurrection. Their belief cannot be traced back to any preconceived opinion.

• The empty tomb was doubtless one reason why so many were convinced at Pentecost that the gospel they heard proclaimed should be embraced. If the body had been in the tomb the Jews could have produced it after the third day or even as late as Pentecost and silenced forever the claims of the apostles that Christ had risen. That the tomb was empty after the third day is evident. So what are the possible ways that the body could have been removed?

# The body of Christ could have been taken by His friends.

Problem. They were too emotionally weak and scattered to boldly steal away his body. They would have had to use force against Roman soldiers which they would never have done.

# The body of Christ could have been taken by His enemies.

Problem. They were too busy guarding the tomb trying to make sure that the body should remain within that cold sepulcher.

# The demons of darkness could have done something with the body of Christ. Problem. Satan above all creatures wanted to make sure that the body of Jesus was kept in the tomb to prove that Christ was really dead.

# God the Father could have restored His Son to life.

Solution. And that is the only explanation!

What About The Empty Tomb?

Men have sought to account for the empty tomb in a variety of ways.

# The resurrection is simply a fantastic lie.

Response. That is inconsistent with the character of the apostles and of Christ. It is inconsistent with the lives of their testimony. Men do not endure persecution and death to maintain and perpetuate a falsehood.

# Jesus only swooned on the Cross and was not really dead.

Response. There are great difficulties to this view. How could such a wounded and weak man roll away the great stone, walk several miles to Emmaus and back and appear well and healthy immediately after such an experience? Besides His enemies and the other soldiers made sure He was dead and it is not likely they were deceived.

# The resurrection is a legend that grew up about Christ’s memory as years passed.

Response. The resurrection was preached immediately, before any legend had time to grow. The gospels and epistles were written soon after the crucifixion and are practically contemporaneous accounts. No legend grew up around the name of John the Baptist; therefore the first century was not such a myth-making age.

# The resurrection can be attributed to visions which the disciples mistook for facts.

Response. The disciples were always careful to distinguish between visions and objective events. Besides groups of men do not all have visions at the same moment of time; any more than they all dream the same thing at the same time. The eleven disciples frequently saw Christ, and He was seen by above five hundred at once. The vision theory may be disposed.

“Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the more first fruits of them that slept. And if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” Few doctrines are more precious to the human heart than the doctrine of the resurrection. Philip Schaff was right. "Before one can reason the [bodily] resurrection of Christ out of history, we must reason the apostles and Christianity itself out of history." The Joy of the Resurrection: The Blessings of Belief

• Belief in the resurrection brings the joy of continued existence in body and spirit. It supports the doctrine of immortality, and he who loves life will crave its continuance. No normal man desires annihilation but turns from the thought of it. It is unnatural to the human spirit. The doctrine of the resurrection fits into an innate love of existence. God is to be praised for the hope of a resurrection.

• The doctrine of resurrection provides comfort. “It is a doctrine too good not to be true. Who can bend over the open casket and look for the last time into the face that he loved, or look into the open grace as the form is lowered to its resting place and not prize the resurrection above all the gold of the world? From the gloom and grief of bereavement the stricken heart turns away to another day “when the morn those angels faces smile, which we have loved long since and lost awhile.” Who can measure the value of that of which unbelief would rob us? How dark this world, and how bitter our fate if the doctrines of the gospel be not true!” (David Clark)

Three Voices The Voice of Atheism I was not, and I was conceived;

I lived, and did a little work;

I am not, and I grieve not. The Voice of Pantheism O drop of spray cast from the Infinite, I hung an instant there, and threw my ray To make the rainbow. A microcosm I, Reflecting all. Then back I fell again: And tho’ I perished not, I was no more. The Voice of A Christian God willed: I was. What He had planned I wrought, That done, He called, and now I dwell with Him.

Author Unknown The Identify of the Resurrection

“The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonor, the bodies of the just, by His Spirit, unto honor, and be made conformable to His own glorious body.” (The Baptist Confession Of Faith Of 1689, Chapter 31, Section 3; study Acts 24:15; John 5:28-29; Php 3:21).

It is the Same Body that Dies

Christ’s resurrected body was the same body that was crucified at Calvary. This fact was proved to Thomas in the upper room when Jesus invited Thomas to touch His side and feel the prints on His hands. With Christ as the true pattern, Paul teaches that the same body that is sown will also be raised once more (1 Corinthians 15:42). In the resurrection, each person will be recognized for who they are. “The resurrection body is an identical body. An identical body is one that is recognized by the person himself, and by others. “No more than this is required in order for bodily identity. A living man recognizes his present body as the same body that he had ten years ago; yet the material particles are not the same identically.” Also, “That the spiritual body is recognized is proved by: Moses and Elijah were recognized by Christ and pointed out to the disciples. (Dr. William G. T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology). To the people of His day, Jesus spoke of the future and said in Luke 13:28, “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.” This shows alone that souls will be recognized in a life beyond the grave.