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    The Resurrection
    The Resurrection
    The Resurrection
    Ebook114 pages1 hour

    The Resurrection

    By J. S. Mohler

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    Preface


    The doctrine of the resurrection as taught and exemplified by Christ is the most comforting of all the doctrines in the Christian religion. It cheers the bereaved heart with the hope of a happy reunion with the loved ones in heaven. It is the morning star that shines across the “dark valley and shadow of death” and heralds the dawn of eternity’s day. It is the crowning work of human redemption, without which Christianity would be a failure. To cheer the despondent; to comfort the bereaved; to strengthen the weak; to inspire the doubting, this work is written. May it have this gracious effect upon the heart of the reader, is the humble wish and prayer of


    The Author.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCrossReach Publications
    Release dateOct 3, 2018
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      Book preview

      The Resurrection - J. S. Mohler

      Preface

      The doctrine of the resurrection as taught and exemplified by Christ is the most comforting of all the doctrines in the Christian religion. It cheers the bereaved heart with the hope of a happy reunion with the loved ones in heaven. It is the morning star that shines across the dark valley and shadow of death and heralds the dawn of eternity’s day. It is the crowning work of human redemption, without which Christianity would be a failure. To cheer the despondent; to comfort the bereaved; to strengthen the weak; to inspire the doubting, this work is written. May it have this gracious effect upon the heart of the reader, is the humble wish and prayer of

      THE AUTHOR.

      I. Introduction

      The doctrine of the resurrection is a very interesting one. It is a matter of deep anxiety as to where we shall spend eternity, and how and with whom. There is no other subject or doctrine in all the range of the imagination, thought, reason, or revelation that is fraught with such tremendous consequences. To the saints it will be a time of joy unspeakable and full of glory; to the wicked a time of wailing and gnashing of teeth. The resurrection of Christ from the dead is the crowning work of human redemption. When Jesus expired upon the cross, and his body lay in the grave, the powers of darkness seemed to hold sway for a little season. The Light that was brought from heaven went out. The enemies of righteousness had triumphed. He of whom it was expected that he would deliver Israel and the world as well, lay silent in the chamber of death. The hope of Israel faded away. Heaven was awed at the scene. There was silence in heaven; a mantle of gloom and darkness shrouded the earth, and the foundations of the earth were shaken at the awful conflict and sacrifice of the Godhead for the redemption of the human race.

      But the powers of darkness had reached their climax. The archangel, like the lightning’s flash, descended from above and shed a halo of glory around the tomb. At his touch the ponderous stone that closed the tomb rolled back, and Christ, at the touch of the Almighty Creator, came forth from the dark chambers of death, the mightiest Conqueror that ever appeared upon the stage of human life. He conquered him who had power over death, that is, the devil. Heb. 2:14. He conquered every grave by making possible the resurrection of every one. All that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth. John 5:27, 28.

      Death is a waiting point between two worlds. The resurrection is the door that opens into the world to come. This momentous doctrine gives us concern for the future, and our concern grows as we near the death line. All that lies beyond is a matter of faith and hope. While we are here in the flesh our spiritual vision is not clear. We see through a glass darkly. 1 Cor. 13:12. But when the glass is broken, and the spirit is set free from its mortal abode, then we shall see face to face. 1 Cor. 13:12. Then we shall realize all the fullness and glory of the resurrection, and faith and hope will be consummated in happy fruition.

      It is not possible for the brightest imagination to conceive and express the happiness and glory of the resurrection state. The feeble attempts we may make in this work as to the glory of the saved ones in heaven will be made only with a view of prompting us all to a greater diligence in our heavenly calling, so that we may be accounted worthy to share in the resurrection of the just. Had Christ not risen from the dead, Christianity, in its grandest aspect, would be a failure. How dark this world would be without a risen Savior! No mortal can comprehend and express the comfort, hope and happiness the resurrection already imparts to saints in this life, to say nothing of its enjoyments in the world to come.

      II. Reasonableness of the Resurrection

      The resurrection is a most reasonable doctrine. It does not seem reasonable that a being so richly endowed as man should live only a few years, and then die and sink into eternal oblivion. Man is too noble for so small a purpose. If death ends all, then life is a miserable failure. The few fleeting pleasures of earth do not balance our sorrows and disappointments.

      Man has capacities for enjoyment, and longings of soul and conceptions of bliss this life can never supply. No other creatures on earth have such longings, such grand conceptions of the future; for the reason that animals are creatures of this world only to which their capacities are adapted, but man is a creature of two worlds. This is his first one in which sufficient time and all necessary helps are afforded him to fit him to live happily in the world to which he is hastening. While man is passing through this world under the teaching and discipline of his Master, he is a stranger and a pilgrim, seeking for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Heb. 11:10. While he is thus seeking, he conceives in his mind the country to which he is going—a country most beautiful to behold, whose soft, glorious light is never obscured by threatening clouds, by storms, or by midnight darkness, where the verdure is ever of living green and the flowers eternally bloom, and the groves are fairer than Eden, resounding with such melody of song as mortal ears have never heard; where the sparkling waters of the river of life roll steadily on; where the city of God—the home of the saints—eternally stands, reflecting the glory of its Builder, adorned with walls of stone most glorious to behold, whose gates are of pearl, and its streets are of pure gold. Rev. 21:21.

      We conceive of a life that knows no pain, no sorrow, no crying, no hunger, no thirst, no burning heat or freezing cold, no death—a life always young, fair as the morning and fresh as the rose, upon which the ages of eternity cannot impress the ravages of time or disease. We conceive of a condition of society that is absolutely free from every taint of sin—perfectly pure and in the full enjoyment of all the noble faculties of the soul. No murderer, adulterer, fornicator, drunkard, liar, thief, extortioner, swearer, or anything that defileth shall ever enter that holy place. For such enjoyments the soul longs in its pilgrimage here below. Can it be that with such noble endowments, such holy longings, such grand conceptions of the beautiful, the soul must be forever barred by the "iron gate" of death from coming forth out of the valley of death to enjoy its ideal happiness? The green verdure and the flowers say NO. The sun, moon and stars say NO. Revelation says NO. Christ burst open the iron gate of death that had so long barred the way to the portals of immortal bliss and walked forth from its gloom in all the power and glory of immortality, to die no more. He holds the keys of death and the grave in his hands, and will destroy death—the last enemy—and unlock every grave. Then will be fulfilled the saying, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 1 Cor. 15:55.

      The resurrection is also a reasonable doctrine from this standpoint, that inasmuch as the life we now live is associated with a body that is subject to many infirmities, temptations, disease and death, a body in which the divine life can never attain to supreme happiness, therefore the necessity of the separation of the divine life, or spirit, from the body, after

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