10 Wonders of the Resurrection

The plan of salvation pro­vides for the resurrection of all men. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Cor. 15:22). The physical resurrection of the human race will be one of the greatest of God's works. The resurrection is a wonder of God, a jewel in the gospel treasury to which there are many facets. Here are ten of them:

I. Christ's Divinity Affirmed

The risen Son of God, bursting Joseph's tomb, dramatically portrayed to an awak­ened universe the divine, immortal life re­siding in Himself. "I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:17, 18). To Mary, the first to behold His risen body, He said, with deep meaning, "I as­cend unto my Father and your Father; and to my God, and your God" (John 20: 17). A Son of the Father in a different sense than you and I, Christ was "declared to be the Son of God with power, . . . by the resurrection from the dead" (Rom. 1:4). His divinity was established forever before all His creatures by His conquest of death in life. Jesus "was miraculously marked out Son of God after Resurrection from the dead" (Rom. 1:4, Weymouth).* The New English Bible translates this verse, "He was declared Son of God by a mighty act in that he rose from the dead." +

If "the sons of God," the angelic leaders, had ever conceived of Christ as one alto­gether like themselves, all doubts were now removed—likewise among the men who were His contemporaries. Uncertainty dis­appeared as to His divinity when His risen life shattered the prison of death. If ever devils and men trembled in awe, the crea­ture before the Creator, they trembled when Christ came forth alive from Joseph's new tomb. The resurrection achieved the total acceptance of Christ as the divine Son of God. Christ shattered Satan's in­vention—sin--on the cross. He destroyed the product of sin—death—in the first-day awakening. The cross annihilates sin; the resurrection demolishes death. This is a wonder of the resurrection.

II. Hope for Mankind

Another wonder of the resurrection is its power to inspire hope. Men who are sick and dying and who have this hope be­come living, triumphant men. While they are sickly, aging, and declining in years they believe exultantly that they will some­day soon live forever in a new, immortal body that is above physical infirmity.

How different is the resurrected immor­tal body of the believing saint than the pale, breathless body laid away in the grave. In the bloom of resurrection youth that appears on the face, all the fondest hopes and expectations are por­trayed. Disease is gone. Weakness of mind and body have fled. Pain and suffering have ended. The last resigned breath of the dying and the final prayer of faith in the resurrection promises are now ex­changed for the immortal breath of a new creation and the satisfying spectacle of sight made strong in a new and tireless vi­sion. This fulfillment of man's hope in God's promise of a new life is the glisten­ing wonder of resurrection.

III. Personality Preserved

And personal identity is preserved. This is also a wonder of the resurrection. The guardian angel who is the first to greet the resurrected one recognizes him. He is the identical person he was before death ex­cept that he is changed from mortal to im­mortal, from corruptible to incorruptible. One of the resurrection glories is that the risen one is known. Life beyond would not be worth much if this were not so. To be vitalized in an immortal body, to stand upon celestial ground, to look into a super­nal Face, to eat delectable fruit from a life-giving tree, would not mean much if we were to awaken on the resurrection morning and find that we were not our­selves but somebody else!

Christ was Himself in the resurrection. His disciples recognized Him when doubts and fears were removed from their fearful hearts and unbelieving eyes. So it will be with you and me.

To be ourselves, to retain forever whatever development of character has been attained through Christ, and to cherish the lessons we have learned in this present life, to be seen and known by our friends and loved ones and to be able to have some priceless associations in common with them, will be a gift of the resurrection.

IV. A Glorious Immortal Body

Another wonder of the resurrection is this: The approximation of Christlikeness will become ours in a fuller sense than we can experience now in our mortal bodies. Here the limitations are drawn by the de­velopment of spiritual qualities. The resur­rection does nothing to change these char­acter traits; it only fixes them forever. The resurrection, however, brings us one step nearer to Christ and His total Person. It is by this means that we become immortal and partake of the life that has hitherto been ours by faith alone. Before the resur­rection we possessed a heavenly character in an earthly body, the celestial treasure in an earthen vessel. Now the divine treas­ure is secured in an immortal vessel.

The wonder of the resurrection is that it lifts us up to God and to Godlikeness. To character quality is added a new quality of being; to holiness of life is added holiness of flesh. This is a growth toward God that even Adam in all his perfection never knew. Yet we will never be divine, only divinely changed.

V. Unrestricted Movement

A wonder of the resurrection will be the acquisition of a body capable of the won­drous new power of unrestricted move­ment. "We . . . shall be caught up . . . to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:17). To space-age dwellers this suggests manned satellites launched from spaceships in the ionosphere and beyond. But not so. The resurrection makes possible space travel with the angels.

When we were children we didn't think of flying around in rockets or Sputniks or Explorers, but we did think about flying "without support." We wanted to fly like the birds and be free. If only we could sprout wings and take off, stretching our wings in the fresh, cool air, with the wide stretches of the universe rushing past us. Oh, how we dreamed about enjoying the exhilarating freedom of space travel un­impeded by mechanical attachments!

Man is bound to this terrestrial sphere by his inability for flight. Gravity and the limitations of earth life plague him. We are closed in by mountains and valleys, locked in by cities, cooped up in houses and apartments, and sometimes nearly suf­focated by smog. We want freedom. We want to shake the shackles of the physical and respond to the challenge of the limit­less reaches of immensity. We want to travel to Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus, and the worlds of wonder. We need support. The resurrection gives it to us—levitation, a part of the gift of immortality. What a wonder that will be!

VI. Truth, not Fiction

A wonder of the resurrection will be the duplication of the miracle that brought Moses from the grave, the son of the widow of Sarepta back to his mother, Lazarus to life at Bethany, the son of the widow of Nain back to her, Jairus' daughter to her father, Dorcas the welfare worker back to her friends. All these passed into the grave through the dark portal. Each vacated the tomb through the door of light into life again. You and I perhaps will have the same experience. The miracle of each res­urrection is a chapter in history. Each of those already raised from the dead has en­tered into the record. Each has made his­tory. In due time so will you and I. It is all a part of His story. It is a wonder of the resurrection. It is real—not a fable, not a false hope.

VII. Resurrection Life Now

A wonder of the resurrection is that we enjoy it now. The joy of the resurrection is present reality as much as future glory. "We are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4).

Newness of Life! That is, spiritual re­generation is a new life altogether, not a modification of the old life or an improve­ment of it. We are new creatures in Christ Jesus, born again. Likewise, the resurrec­tion body is a new body altogether, not a modification or an improvement of the old. The resurrection body is new mate­rial, a new creation of finer quality than the material of which the present mortal body is made. It is not the same old body made new. The resurrection body is a new body, a new life altogether.

So resurrection is now. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are be­come new" (2 Cor. 5:17). Now. He is a resurrected man. This is a wonder of the resurrection—an awakening experience to­day and every day, for we are to be con­verted every day.

VIII. Revelation of God's Order and Wisdom

A wonder of the resurrection is that it is light, like a window into God's mind, open­ing up aspects of His justice and wisdom impossible to detect except through this miracle. We talk of the door of life opened to us by the resurrection. We forget that the resurrection is a window through which we may look at God and His orderly ways.

See how His justice and wisdom is re­vealed in this doctrine. Christ's resurrec­tion has priority in the plan of the resur­rections. Without it, all other resurrections would be impossible. "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall an be made alive" (1 Cor. 15:22). "Christ the firstfruits" (verse 23). "Christ was raised to life—the firstfruits of the harvest of the dead" (verse 20, The New English Bible).* The wave sheaf of the harvest, waved in the old Jewish Temple, was but a token of the har­vest of the grain to follow, a sign and pledge of a fruitful reaping. So in human life, Christ was the first fruits. Only because of Him could there be a fruitful harvest of the dead.

Moses was the first to come from the grave, historically. Providence arranged for his reappearance to Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, with Elijah. Here was a symbol of the dead who will be raised at Christ's coming and of the living saints who will be translated. Moses was the beginning of the harvest, Elijah, the grand consummation.

The company who rose from the grave at Christ's resurrection were shaken from their tombs when He breathed out on the cross, "It is finished." This was the first group resurrection. The sickle had begun to reap. The fruits of Christ's death and resurrection were already visible. These resurrected ones first appeared on earth, then in heaven, where they are seen as elders around the throne of God.

A special group resurrection prior to Jesus' coming fulfills Daniel 12:2. "All who have died in the faith of the third angel's message come forth from the tomb glori­fied."—The Great Controversy, p. 637. (See also Early Writings, p. 285). Those who pierced Him, plus the overt enemies of God's truth in all ages, also awake to life. It is fitting that through this resurrec­tion God makes possible a witnessing, on the part of a unique group of saints and sinners, the miracle of the Second Advent. Both special groups deserve to see Him in His majesty—one to their shame, the other to their eternal glory.

There is a resurrection for the righteous when Jesus comes, and a resurrection of the wicked at the close of the millennium. Each major resurrection is preceded by a judgment. The first offers the rewards of judgment, the second the penalties (John 5:28, 29). A wonder of the resurrection is its orderliness, its symbolism, its reality. It is a window to the mind and purposes of God, a revelation of His orderly plan and providence.

IX. Superabundant Life

A crowning resurrection wonder is life always within our grasp. Hezekiah faced death and he cried for life. Fifteen years were granted him and they passed quickly away.

Eternity will never diminish in prospect or reality. Life will always be there facing us as a blessed expectancy. "And the years of eternity, as they roll, will bring richer and still more glorious revelations of God and of Christ. As knowledge is progressive, so will love, reverence, and happiness in­crease. The more men learn of God, the greater will be their admiration of His character. As Jesus opens before them the riches of redemption, and the amazing achievements in the great controversy with Satan, the hearts of the ransomed thrill with more fervent devotion, and with more rapturous joy they sweep the harps of gold."—The Great Controversy, p. 678.

X. Reunion and Reorientation

The climax of the resurrection will be reunion and reorientation. We shall see our loved ones again. Our fondest dreams will come true in the land of God tomor­row where the skies are always blue and where life measures with the life of God. What a day that will be! Husbands and wives embracing each other; parents and children in an ecstasy of gladsome reun­ion. Sinners saved, warmly thanking the witnessing ones who brought the words of life to them. Reunion without the slightest fear of separation again. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sor­row, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Rev. 21:4). Lord, hasten that wonderful day.

And reorientation. Life as we know it will be gone, with all its occupations. Preachers will not preach, undertakers will not bury, physicians will not treat the sick, dentists will not operate, lawyers will not plead cases, statesmen will not argue dis­armament before the councils of men. Other assignments await these servants of the Lord. Policemen will be unnecessary, for criminals will be gone. Standing armies, navies, weapons of war, have no meaning in such a place. No more taxes, winter cold, icy streets, or blizzards. Hurricanes, tropical suns, scorching heat, will be no more. There will be reorientation to the new life. Life will be perfect there, as Adam enjoyed it, and better. The resur­rection is the wonder that makes these marvels possible to us.

And so, while men of science are dis­cussing the wonders of the new scientific age of space and space travel and engineer­ing skill, observe that none have the won­der of the resurrection life to offer. This is the reward of religion. This blessed hope is the gift of God through Jesus Christ, and this cataclysmic event is what the Christian contemplates at this spring sea­son when the flowers and the bursting seed remind us that because He lives we shall live also.