Fallen Asleep
(No. 2659)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 28, 1900.
(C. H. Spurgeon Memorial Sabbath).
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
JANUARY 29, 1882.
[Just 10 years before he fell asleep in Jesus.]
"Some are fallen asleep." 1 Corinthians 15:6.
Writing concerning the brethren who had seen the Lord Jesus Christ
after His Resurrection and of whom "above five hundred" were present at
one time, Paul said, at the date when he was writing this Epistle, "the
greater part" remained alive, "but," he added, "some are fallen
asleep."
We might have thought that God, in great mercy, would have preserved
the lives of those 500 brethren to an extreme old age, that, in every
part of the globe, there might be extant, as long as possible, someone
who would be able to say, "I beheld the Son of God when He was upon the
earth. I heard Him preach. I saw Him die on the Cross and then I looked
upon Him again after He had risen from the grave." Every one of these
witnesses would have been worth his weight in gold to the Christian
religion! Wherever such a man lived, he would have been, under the
blessing of God, the means of convincing many people of the truth of
our glorious faith! Yet, dear Friends, it does not appear that these
invaluable brethren were spared the shafts of death. These witnesses of
Christ's Resurrection died as other men did. They had no immunity from
death and no extreme old age was granted to them, for the Apostle,
writing not so very long after the event, said, "Some are fallen
asleep."
From this fact I gather that lives which appear to us to be extremely
necessary, may not be so regarded by God! Your own observation will, I
am sure, agree with mine, that the Lord sometimes takes from us those
whom we can least spare. Those who seemed to be the pillars of the
Church have been suddenly removed. The fathers among us–those who have
been the bravest confessors of the faith–or the most useful servants
of the Savior, have been called away. This should teach us–if we are
wise enough to learn the lesson–to regard the most invaluable person
in our own Israel as being only lent to us by the Lord, for a season,
and liable to be summoned to higher service at any moment! Possibly,
God takes some men away from us because we think them absolutely
necessary. He will not let us trust in an arm of flesh–and if He is so
condescending as to use human feebleness and we go and confide in the
feebleness–and suppose that God's strength is tied up to it–in secret
jealousy He removes the instruments that He has used, that men may
learn not to glory in their fellow men, or to make idols out of their
Christian brethren and fathers!
It is probable that these witnesses of Christ's Resurrection enjoyed a
large measure of reverence from the members of the Christian Church.
Had they lived very long, they might have been regarded with a
superstitious and almost idolatrous reverence. God intended that His
Church should increasingly live by faith, not by sight, so, while she
was in her infancy He gave her the prop of miracles and also the
support of living witnesses. But when she had somewhat increased in
strength, He no longer gave the power to work miracles, but left her to
rest upon His Word, alone. And as she further progressed, He, in a few
years, took away the earthly witnesses of Christ's life, death and
Resurrection, that the Eternal
Spirit, working through the Word, might stand, to all time, as the
living and unfailing Witness of the fact that Jesus lived, died and
"rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."
The lesson for us all to learn is just this–let us not set too much
store by any of God's servants and, especially–let us never reckon
that we are essential to the carrying on of His work! The fly upon the
chariot wheel was easily to be dispensed with and so are we. Like
shadows we have come–like shadows we shall go. We may be missed–I
hope we shall all live so that many will miss us when we are gone. But
they will brush their tears away and both the world and the Church–and
especially the Church–will continue to go on without us! While Jesus
lives, whoever may die, we shall never have to say, "My father, my
father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!" But still
shall the Church of God flourish and increase, for the Spirit of God is
with her.
Paul wrote, "Some are fallen asleep." Of course all the witnesses who
personally saw Christ have long ago fallen asleep, but, among
ourselves, it is also true that, "some are fallen asleep." And the
Truth of God is impressed upon us more and more forcibly every week. I
never expect, now, to come to this place on two succeeding Sabbaths
without hearing that some one or other of our friends has departed. Our
death-rate, for many years, has been wonderfully small, for God seems
to have favored us by sparing us to one another. We must not forget
that in past days more of our number were young than is the case with
us now and, as we all march onwards towards the inevitable river, the
deaths will naturally be more numerous among us than they have been.
They are beginning to be so, already, and I am continually hearing of
one or another of our most useful Brothers or Sisters being "called
Home." Almost every day this Truth of God is impressed upon me–"Some
are fallen asleep." I suppose that all the year round, almost as
regularly as the clock ticks, about two a week of our Church members,
beside others out of the congregation, are taken up to dwell in the
Master's Presence. So my subject concerns us just as much as it did
those of whom and to whom the Apostle wrote.
I. Now, coming to the text, I call your attention, first, to THE FIGURE
USED HERE–"Some are fallen asleep." In the heathen part of the
catacombs of Rome, the inscriptions over the place where their dead
were buried are full of lamentation and despair. Indeed, the writers of
those inscriptions do not appear to have been able to find words in
which they could express their great distress–their agony of heart–at
the loss of child, or husband, or friend. They pile the mournful words
together to try to describe their grief. Sometimes, they declare that
the light has gone from their sky now their dear ones are taken from
them. "Alas! Alas!" says the record, "dear Caius has gone and with him
all joy is quenched forever, for I shall see him no more." Heathenism
is hopeless to afford any comfort to the bereaved!
But when you come into that part of the catacombs which was devoted to
Christian burial, everything is different. There you may constantly
read these consoling words, "He sleeps in peace." There is nothing
dreadful or despairing in the inscriptions there–they are submissive,
they are cheerful, they are even thankful! Frequently they are
victorious and the most common emblem is–not the quenched torch, as it
is on the heathen side, where the light is supposed to have gone out
forever–but the palm branch, to signify that the victory remains
eternally with the departed one. It is the glow of the Christian
religion to have let light into the sepulcher, to have taken the sting
away from death and, in fact, to have made it no more death to die!
The figure used here is that of falling asleep. It describes first, the
act, and then the state. "Some are fallen asleep." That is the act of
death. Having fallen asleep, they remain so–that is the state of
death. For a Christian to die, is, according to Scripture, an act of
the most natural kind, for it is but to fall asleep. What that act
really is, in its literal meaning, I cannot fully explain to you,
though I know by long personal experience–and all of you know, and
will soon know, again, if you are permitted to fall asleep, tonight,
and to wake in the morning! Yet you never knew exactly when you went to
sleep. You have often wanted to go to sleep, but you could not and,
probably nobody has ever gone to sleep while he has tried to do so. But
it is when all idea of forcing slumber has gone from us that gradually
we pass into a state of unconsciousness. Such, perhaps, is death–the
sinking away and becoming unconscious of this world, and asleep to
it–though happily conscious of another world and sweetly awake to it.
That is the act of falling asleep.
Then, after the act of falling asleep, which is death, comes the state
of sleep in which rest is the main ingredient Are Believers, then,
asleep? Yes, and no. Never make a figure run on four legs when it was
only meant to go on two. Some people, when they get hold of a metaphor,
want to make it have as many feet as a centipede–and they seek to draw
all sorts of parallels which were never intended to be drawn. The fact
is that the saints sleep, first, as to their bodies. There they are in
the cemetery–which means the sleeping-place–till dawns the bright
illustrious day when these bodies shall
wake again. As for their souls, they are asleep as to this world–their
memory and their love are things of the past–they are, alike,
unknowing and unknown as far as this earth is concerned. As to that
other world, we read that they shall be "forever with the Lord." Our
Savior said to the penitent thief–"Today shall you be with Me in
Paradise." And the prayer of Christ for His people was that we might be
with Him where He is–not to be asleep–but to behold His glory, the
glory which the Father had given Him.
Hence, the word, "sleep," is not to be regarded as implying that the
souls of the departed lie in a state of unconsciousness. It is nothing
of the kind! It is unconsciousness as to the things of time and sense,
but a blessed consciousness as to another and a fairer and brighter and
better world than this! Even while I am in this mortal state, when I am
asleep, though I may be unaware of anything that is happening in my
bedroom, yet, full often, in my sleep, my mind is soaring on the wings
of eagles, mounting up to Heaven, or diving into the depths, conscious
of dreamland, and of the spirit land, though unconscious of the present
world for the time being!
The meaning of the term is evidently this–as sleep brings to us rest,
the blessed ones, who have fallen asleep in Christ, are perfectly at
rest. It is delightful for a man, who has worked very hard all day, to
forget his toils and fall asleep. Well did Young write, in his Night
Thoughts, concerning–
"Tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep." In his sleep, the
prisoner in the dungeon forgets his manacles. The slave in the galley
forgets his bondage. The poor man forgets his poverty and he who dreads
the approach of danger drinks a draught of the waters of Lethe and
remembers his fears no more. What a blessing sleep is to this poor,
weary frame and to the throbbing brain! The saints in Heaven have a
better rest than sleep can give, but sleep is the nearest word we can
find to describe the state of the blessed. They have no poverty, no
toil, no anguish of spirit, no remorse, no struggling with indwelling
sin, no battling with foes without and fears within. "They rest from
their labors and their works do follow them." Oh, what a sweet thing to
fall asleep, if this is what it means–to enjoy perfect repose and to
be beyond the reach of all influences which make life here to be so
sorrowful! "Some are fallen asleep," that is, they have entered into
their rest.
By falling asleep, again, is meant a state of security. The man who is
in the battle may be wounded and may die, but he who has gone up to his
chamber to sleep is supposedly there to be at peace and out of the
reach of danger, though that is not always the case. But, in those
heavenly chambers where the Lord shall hide away His people, they shall
be perfectly secure. They will never have to keep watch against "the
arrow that flies by day," or, "the pestilence that walks in darkness."
They are out of gunshot of the enemy! As Dr. Payson said, when he was
dying, "The battle is fought," so is it with them–the battle is fought
and the victory is won forever! Therefore have they ascended to the
hilltops of Glory and to the chambers of eternal rest! And there they
sleep while we still struggle hand to hand with the enemy, with many a
deadly thrust and many an ugly wound. God be praised that there is a
place of safety for all the soldiers of the Cross! "Some are fallen
asleep," and so shall we, in due time, if we are fighting under the
banner of Emmanuel, God with us!
Now let us learn, from this figure of falling asleep, a little about
death and, especially, about a Christian's death. I learn from it,
first, that the act is not a painful one, nor even a disagreeable one.
As I have said before, I cannot really tell what falling asleep is, for
in the very act we, ourselves, pass out of the consciousness of it.
But, as far as one has watched children falling asleep, there certainly
is no appearance of any pain, for usually they drop off into slumber
very happily–and that is how God's people shall do when they fall
asleep in Jesus. Do not regard your departure out of the world as a
thing to be surrounded with horror! Do not conjure up hobgoblins, evil
spirits, darkness and terror! "The Valley of the Shadow of Death," of
which David spoke, I do not think was ever meant to be applied to
dying, for it is a valley that he walks through and he comes out the
other side of it! And it is not the Valley of Death, but only of "the
Shadow of Death." I have walked through that valley many a time–right
through from one end of it to the other–and yet I have not died! The
grim shadow of something worse than death has fallen over my spirit,
but God has been with me, as He was with David, and His rod and His
staff have comforted me. And many here can say the same! And I believe
that often those who feel great gloom in going through "the Valley of
the Shadow of Death," feel no gloom at all when they come to the Valley
of Death itself! There has generally been brightness there for the most
sorrowful spirits and those who, before going there, have groveled in
the dust, have been enabled to mount as on eagles' wings when they have
actually come to the place of their departure into the future state.
The more you think this matter over, the more clearly will it appear to
you that there cannot be any pain in death– all pain must be connected
with life–it is the living who suffer. In death, we forget all pain.
That gentle touch, that Divine love-pat that shall end all pain and
sorrow is the thing which men usually call death, but which the Apostle
rightly calls sleep. There is nothing to be dreaded in it! It may be
altogether unattended with pain. I believe that full often it is so. To
fall asleep is a very natural act and so it is for us to die. A little
child has been playing in the field gathering buttercups and daisies
all day long, but, at last, tired right out, he drops asleep upon his
mother's lap. What could he do better? So, though we may be unwilling
to die, the time will come when we shall have finished our life-work or
play, whichever you may please to call it–and we shall fall asleep
upon the bosom of our God. What better thing could we do? There is a
dear old friend of mine, now in Heaven and, when he came to this house,
one Sunday, I said to him, "Our old friend, So-and-So, has gone Home."
The one to whom I spoke was an old man himself, one of our most
gracious elders, and he looked at me in a most significant way and his
eyes twinkled as he said, "He could not do better, dear Pastor! He
could not do better and you and I will do the same thing one of these
days. We, also, shall go Home!" Our aged friend, as I told you, has
gone Home since that time, and now I may say of him, "He could not have
done better." Why, that is where good children always go at
night–home! If they ran away, where would they go? When our night
comes, beloved children of God, you and I also must go Home–do we feel
at all afraid of such a prospect? If so, surely our love to our
Heavenly Father, and to our Elder Brother, and to our Home above must
be growing somewhat cold.
And then, again, if we did not die, we would wish to do so. Certainly,
when people cannot sleep, that is the very thing they crave for! There
have, perhaps, been times when you have been ready to take something
which would help to keep you awake when you have needed to do some
special work, or to watch over some precious sick one. But when night
follows night and there has been no sleep for you, you do not want
anything to keep you awake, then, but you long for sleep. "Oh, that I
could sleep!" you cry. We regard it, always, as a bad symptom when the
sufferer says, "I cannot sleep." The disciples said, concerning
Lazarus, "If he sleeps, he shall do well," and they spoke wisely,
although they misunderstood the meaning of the word, sleep, in that
connection. And, surely, we shall do well when we fall asleep in Jesus!
It shall become to us the most blessed thing that God Himself can send
us. Oh, if we could not die, it would be indeed horrible! Who wants to
be chained to this poor life for a century or longer?
There came to me one of whom I may tell the story, for he is now dead
and he said that if I would do his bidding, I would live forever here,
for he had discovered a great secret by which men need never die. I
said to him, "Sir, you seem to me like a man of seventy, and I should
say that you are getting on towards death, yourself." He replied, "Oh,
no! I expect some little rash will come out all over me, in a few
years, and then I shall be quite young again, and start living for
another hundred years." He told me that the people would believe his
teaching when he had been here six or seven hundred years. And I
answered that I thought it was very likely that they would! He offered
to share his great secret with me, dear good man that he was, but I
replied, "I would not give a button to know it–why should I want to
live in this wretched penal colony forever?" He talked to me for some
little time and when he found that he could make no impression on me,
to consummate his madness, he asked me to go outside my door with him.
He lifted up the knocker and rapped two or three times, saying very
solemnly, "Too late! Too late! You cannot enter now!" He said that he
had shut me out of the blessing of living here forever and so I said to
him, "I am very much obliged to you for doing me such a kindness!"
He printed books and gave lectures on the subject, being fully
persuaded in his own mind that he would never die. But he has died–I
knew he would and I told him so. He said it was my lack of faith which
made me talk like that, but he himself was confident that he would
never die. Oh, what an awful thing it would be if that man's fad could
be a fact! Superstition declares it to be the curse upon "the wandering
Jew" that he should never die. God be thanked that such a curse has
never fallen upon us! No, unless the Lord should come first, we shall
fall asleep in Him–and what a blessed thing it must be to fall asleep
on the bosom of Christ! The child may be afraid to be put to bed in the
dark, but it never fears to fall asleep upon its mother's breast. And
we might dread to be laid to rest, out there in the cold cemetery, all
alone, but we do not fear to sleep in Jesus! Such a state as that is a
thing to be desired, not to be dreaded!
II. Now let us come to our second point, THE THOUGHTS AWAKENED BY THIS
FIGURE–"Some are fallen asleep."
First, thinking about the many who have fallen asleep, let me ask–How
did you treat them? If your conscience pricks you concerning that
matter, I want you to act towards the livingsaints in such a way as you
would like to have
done supposing you never see them again. When there has been an angry
meeting or parting–when there have been hard words spoken, or when
there have been unkind thoughts–when you could not enjoy true
fellowship with some Christian friend, suppose that, the next morning,
somebody came to your house and said, "Brother So-and-So is dead?" You
would feel deeply pained to think that he had fallen asleep after you
had so treated him. People have killed their minister by their
unkindness–and there have been, alas, many who have done so! Those who
have killed other persons–and there have been many of that sort, who
have vexed and worried other people into their graves–may well think,
with great sorrow, "Some are fallen asleep, but we did not treat them
with the love and kindness we ought to have shown them." Think over
that matter, dear Friends, and see to it that no such regrets shall be
possible to you.
"Some are fallen asleep." Then, who is to fill their place? Many have
already gone from us this year and others keep on going. Sunday school
teachers go–who will be "baptized for the dead"–by taking their
places in the ranks and filling the gap? Hear this, you Church members
who are doing nothing for Christ! "Some are fallen asleep." Let that
little sentence be a clarion call to you to wake up and go and occupy
the vacant positions, that the work of Christ may know no lack in any
part of His vineyard! Wake up! Wake up! You who are asleep in another
sense–now that so many are being taken away from us–dig up the talent
that has been wrapped in a napkin and buried in the earth–and put it
out to blessed usury by employing it in the Master's service!
"Some have fallen asleep." Then you and I will also fall asleep before
long. It cannot be a long while for some of you who are getting gray or
white. It may be a very short time for some of us who have scarcely
reached the middle of life. And even you young folk may soon fall
asleep, too, for I have seen a child asleep in the morning as well as
at night, and so have you. Oh, let us not live in this world as if we
thought of staying here forever, but let us try to be like a pious
Scotch minister who was very ill and, being asked by a friend whether
he thought himself dying, answered, "Really, Friend, I care not whether
I am or not for, if I die, I shall be with God. And if I live, He will
be with me." There is not much to choose between those two blessed
states! But let us remember, by the memory of everyone who has fallen
asleep, that the time of our own departure is coming, by-and-by, and it
may be very soon!
But, as for those who have fallen asleep in Jesus, we need not fret or
trouble ourselves about them. To cut their faces, in token of their
mourning for the dead, was natural to the heathen–well might they
torture themselves in their hopeless grief, for they believed the
separation to be eternal! But as for us, when children go upstairs to
bed, do their elder brothers and sisters, who sit up later, gather
together and cry because the other children have fallen asleep? Ah, no!
They feel that they have not lost them, and they expect to meet again
in the morning–and so do we! Therefore, let us not weep and lament to
excess concerning the dear ones who are fallen asleep in Christ, for
all is well with them! They are at rest–shall we weep about that? They
are enjoying their eternal triumph–shall we weep about that? They are
as full of bliss as they can possibly be–shall we weep about that? If
any of your sons and daughters were taken away from you to be made into
kings and queens in a foreign land, you might shed a tear or two at
parting, but you would say, "It is for their good, let them go." And do
you grudge your well-beloved their crown of glory and all the bliss
which God has bestowed upon them? If the departed could speak to us,
they would say, "Bless God for us! Do not sit down and mourn because we
have entered into His Glory, but rather rejoice because we are with Him
where He is." Therefore let us comfort one another with these words.
III. Lastly, Brothers and Sisters, let us think, for just a minute or
two, of THE HOPES CONFIRMED BY THIS FIGURE–"Some are fallen asleep."
First, then, they are still ours. If they were really dead, we might
say that we had lost them, but as they have only fallen asleep, they
are still ours! Wordsworth proclaimed a great Truth of God in that
simple little poem of his, "We are seven." There were some of the
family buried in the churchyard, but the girl still declared that they
were seven–and so they were! Did you ever notice, concerning Job's
children, that when God gave him twice as much substance as he had
before, he gave him only the same number of children as he formerly
had? The Lord gave him twice as much gold and twice as much of all
sorts of property, but He only gave him the exact number of children
that he had before. Why did He not give the Patriarch double the number
of children as well as twice the number of cattle? Why, because God
reckoned the first ones as being still his! They were dead to Job's
eyes, but they were visible to Job's faith! God still numbered them as
part of Job's family–and if you carefully count up how many children
Job had, you will find that he had twice as
many in the end as he had in the beginning! In the same way, consider
your friends who are asleep in Christ as still yours–not lost, any one
of them–and say of them, "Some are fallen asleep."
"Our membership has been diminished," somebody says. Yes, it has been,
according to the Church Book and the figures as we reckon them here,
but it has not really been diminished. I have, by faith, seen our
Brothers and Sisters flying, like doves to their windows, and ascending
to Heaven from this place! Every week some of them are going to the
land beyond the skies. My soul has often rejoiced as I have thought of
the spiritual children whom God has given me. I might almost claim that
great promise which was made to Abraham, "Look now toward Heaven, and
count the stars, if you are able to number them: and He said unto him,
So shall your seed be." For, if they have not reached the number of the
stars yet, they are no more to be reckoned than are the stars! As I
remember how many of them have already reached the better land, I do
not think of them as lost, for they only fell asleep, here, to wake in
the Presence of Jesus. Their sleeping bodies shall also wake again when
the Resurrection trumpet sounds. No matter what has become of the
particular particles of dust of which those bodies were composed, the
essence of each individual shall be preserved by Omnipotent power, and
out of it shall spring an undying body, remodeled and fashioned like
unto Christ's glorious body! And the soul shall enter it and that soul
shall be here, again, at the coming of Christ, for when He shall come
in His Glory, they, also, who sleep in Jesus will He bring with Him!
"Therefore," again I say unto you, "comfort one another with these
words."
This is our last thought–we shall again meet those who have fallen
asleep. We said, "Adieu," to them, and so committed them to God's
keeping. We said, "Good-bye," that is, "God be with you," and God has
been with them. We said, "Farewell," and they have fared well. And we
shall see how well they have fared to be with Christ, for we shall see
them again! I believe that we shall know them, have communion with them
and shall admire Christ's Grace in them, and that it shall be part of
our Heaven to come not only "to Jesus the Mediator of the New
Covenant," but also, "to the general assembly and church of the
first-born, who are written in Heaven."
Now I have finished my discourse, but, how far is there any comfort to
some of you in all that I have said? Some of you work very hard–have
you any hope of rest in Heaven? If not, I pity you from the very depths
of my heart! Some of you fare very hard–have you any hope of better
fare with Christ forever? If not, I do indeed pity you, more than I can
say! To go from poverty and misery, here, to a place where there shall
be no hope for you forever, will be dreadful, indeed! If there were no
Hell, I could not endure the thought of being shut out of Heaven, for,
to be with Christ, to be with the Father, to be with the Holy Spirit,
to miss the company of gracious and just men forever, would be a Hell
that might well make men gnash their teeth in torment! Oh, may God save
us all through faith which is in Christ Jesus! May we be saved tonight
and then it will not matter how soon anyone may say of us, also, "They
have fallen asleep," for all will be well with us forever! God bless
you, dear Friends, for Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: REVELATION 7:9-17; 1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-28;
50-58.
We will read two passages from the New Testament tonight. The first
will show us where the glorified saints are and the second will tell us
what is to become of their bodies.
Revelation 7:9-13. After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude,
which no man couldnumber, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and
tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with
white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice,
saying, Salvation to our God which sits upon the throne, and unto the
Lamb! And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the
elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces
and worshipped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and
thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be unto our God forever
and ever Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me. In
reply, as it were, to John's question put by the very look of his
countenance! Sometimes the Lord Jesus Christ gave an answer to men who
had not spoken to Him–and the angelic elder here followed His example
and also, in another respect, imitated his Lord by replying to the
inquisitive glance of John by asking him a question.
13-17. Who are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came
they? And I said unto him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes,
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before
the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple:
andHe that sits on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger
no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them,
nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall
feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. This is to be the future
state of all those who are redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus and
to whom the saving Grace of God has come! So that, concerning all who
have thus fallen asleep, we sorrow not as those without hope, for we
know that all is well with them forever!
Now let us read a little of what the Apostle Paul was inspired to write
with regard to the resurrection of the body.
1 Corinthians 15:1, 2. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the
Gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and
wherein you stand; by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory
what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. What, then,
was this Gospel which Paul had preached, and which the Christians in
Corinth had received–the Gospel which Paul declared would save them if
they truly believed it? Was it a Gospel made up merely of doctrines?
No! It was a Gospel formed of facts.
3. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. That is
the first fundamental fact in the Gospel system. Blessed is the man who
believes it and rests his soul upon it!
4. And that He was buried: and that He rose again the third day
according to the Scriptures. That grand fact of the Resurrection of
Christ from the dead is rightly put next to His substitutionary
Sacrifice, for it is the very cornerstone of our holy faith! It is one
of the essential doctrines which must be received by us, for we cannot
truly believe the Gospel unless we accept the great Truth of Christ's
Resurrection!
5-8. And that He was seen ofCephas–that is, Peter–then ofthe twelve:
after that, He was seen ofabove five hundred brethren at once; of whom
the greater part remain unto this time, but some are fallen asleep.
After that, He was seen of James, then of all the Apostles. And last of
all He was seen of me, also, as of one born out of due time. I suppose,
Brothers and Sisters, that we may have persons arise who will doubt
whether there was ever such a man as Julius Caesar, or Napoleon
Bonaparte. And when they do–when all reliable history is flung to the
winds–then, but not till then, may they begin to question whether
Jesus Christ rose from the dead, for this historical fact is attested
by more witnesses than almost any other fact that stands on record in
history, whether sacred or profane! The risen Christ was seen by many
persons who knew Him intimately before He died–by those who saw Him
put to death and who saw Him when He was dead. He was seen, on various
occasions, privately, by one, by two, by 12 of those who had been His
companions for years. At other times, He was seen in public by large
numbers who could not all have been deceived. These men were so certain
that this was, indeed, the same Christ who had lived, and died, that,
although it was at first difficult to make them believe that He had
risen from the dead, it was impossible to make them doubt it
afterwards! And the major part of them died to bear witness to the
fact! They were martyred because they confessed that Jesus had indeed
risen from the dead. There is no fact in history, from the days of Adam
until now, that is better attested than this great central Truth of God
of the Resurrection of Christ! So we accept it and receive it gladly.
Paul finishes up his list of witnesses by putting himself down as one
of them, although his conversion was, to himself, such a marvelous
display of Divine Grace that he was like "one born out of due time."
9-14. For I am the least ofthe Apostles, that am not meet to be called
an Apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the Grace of
GodI am what I am: and His Grace which was bestowed upon me was not in
vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I; but the
Grace of God which was with me. Therefore whether it were I or they, so
we preach, and so you believed. Now if Christ is preached that He rose
from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of
the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ
not risen: and if Christ is not risen, then is our preaching vain and
then your faith is also vain. It is all emptiness! Our preaching
evaporates–there is nothing left in it–unless Christ did really rise
from the dead! And your faith has nothing in it, either–you are
believing in that which is only vanity and nothingness–unless His
Resurrection was a fact.
15-17. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have
testified of God that He raised up Christ: whom, He raised not up, if
it is so that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not
Christ raised: and if Christ is not raised, your faith is vain; you are
yet in your sins. So that you cannot be a Christian if you deny the
Resurrection of Christ! You must give up Christianity altogether and
confess that your faith in it was a delusion unless you believe that
Jesus Christ rose from the dead and that, therefore, there is a
resurrection from the dead for the sons of men! Let it always
be most clearly understood that what Christ is, that His people are!
There is an unbroken union between the Head and the members, so that,
if He lives, they live. And if He lives not, then they live not. And if
they live not, then He lives not. Jesus and those for whom He died are
so intimately joined together that they are really and truly one–and
nothing can ever separate them!
18, 19. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are, of all men, most
miserable. That is to say, if our hope for the future is all a lie, we
have been dreadfully deceived and, moreover, if we could lose a hope so
brilliant as that has been to us, there would fall upon us a sense of
loss so great that no one in the world could be so wretched as we
should be! Besides, the Apostles were always in jeopardy of their
lives–if they were suffering poverty, persecution and the fear of
death by martyrdom, all for a lie—-they were, indeed, of all men the
most deluded, and the most miserable! But the Corinthians would not
admit that and neither will we.
20. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits.
He must always come first, that in all things He may have the
preeminence.
20-28. Of them that slept. For since by man came death, by Man came
also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ
the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming. Then
comes the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even
the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and
power. For He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For He has put all
things under His feet But when He says all things are put under Him, it
is manifest that He is excepted, which did put all things under Him.
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. The mediatorial Person of Christ, as God-Man, shall bow
before the eternal majesty of the Godhead, "that God may be all in
all." Now we will finish our reading with just a few verses at the
close of the chapter.
50, 51. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption.
Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all
be changed. We shall not all die, some will be alive when Christ comes
to this earth, again, "but we shall all be changed," if not by the
process of death and resurrection, yet by some other means.
52. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we
shall be changed. Somehow or other, such a change as this must take
place before we can enter Heaven, for "flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God."
53-58. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal
must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall
be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in
victory. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?
The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. But
thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ Therefore, my beloved brethren, be you steadfast, unmovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that
your labor is not in vain in the Lord. That should be the practical
outcome of receiving the great Truths of which we have been reading.
God grant that it may be! Amen.