Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

by H. J. Vine.

The Pierced One

Those who know Jesus—Jehovah the Saviour—as their Lord and Redeemer, may with good reason rejoice in the atoning value of His precious blood, and let their hearts overflow in praise to Himself, as the writings of the Holy Spirit portray Him before their gladdened souls.

Zechariah pointed forward both to His sufferings and His appearing, when in chapter 12:10 JEHOVAH speaks thus, “They shall look upon ME whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him.” How, it might be asked, could Israel’s Lord and God be pierced?

Through John, the Spirit records in chapter 19 of JESUS, “One of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side … These things were done that the Scripture might be fulfilled … They shall look on HIM whom they pierced” (vverse 34-37). Here we have God’s own divinely given answer to our previous question! And when Thomas (a type of the favoured remnant of Israel in a future day) saw the wounds—looking upon the Pierced One, risen from among the dead—he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”

Finally, in Revelation 1:7-8 (New Translation) we read, “Behold, He comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see HIM, and they which have pierced Him, and all the tribes of the land shall wail BECAUSE OF HIM. Yea, Amen.”

“I am Alpha and Omega, says (the) Lord God, He who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Oh! let our souls adore the Lord!

And bless His Name with one accord!

Our holy, gracious Saviour God!

The Rapture and the Appearing, or Sovereignty and Responsibility

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, 4:14-end; 2 Thessalonians 1:10; Colossians 3:4.

Our subject is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the two principal stages of His coming, which are termed the Rapture and the Appearing. By the Rapture we mean the translation to heaven of all who belong to Christ, and this we know as taught by Scripture will take place when He comes in the air, as we have read in 1 Thessalonians 4, to take all those who believe on Him to be with Him and like Him for ever. The Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ will be when He appears to the world in the greatness of His glory to establish His kingdom on the earth. The Rapture will be an act of pure sovereign grace, but connected with the Appearing is our responsibility as the Lord’s servants below. We shall have our place in the kingdom glory of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the way we have lived and walked in this world. So in connection with the kingdom and glory you have an expression that could not be used in connection with the Rapture: “That you may be counted worthy of the kingdom and glory.” As to the Rapture we know that that is not a question at all of our worthiness, but it is all the result of the Lord’s own grace and love for us, and His desire to have us with Him and like Him for His own pleasure.

Now in the first scripture (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10) we find there are three things that mark those that are to have part in the great glory that is involved in our Lord Jesus Christ’s second coming. The first is they are converted. The second thing is that they serve the Lord, and the third that they wait for His coming. If you have never been converted, you must begin there. You must be converted to God. The gospel has been sent to you for this purpose, it opens people’s eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God; and the moment they turn to Him they get the forgiveness of their sins—blessed be God—and an inheritance in the heavens through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Being converted, the next thing is we serve the living and true God. You may be religious and do so-called Christian work, but it is worse than useless if you are unconverted. We must turn to God first, and then we can serve the living and true God.

The next thing is we wait for His Son from heaven. I have no doubt that takes in the whole thing, not only the Rapture, but the whole thought of the Lord’s coming, both to catch us up to be with Him and then to fill the earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Christ is coming to set up His kingdom. He will bring to pass the time that Isaiah spoke of, when men will give up all their strifes, and beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, and peace will flood the earth.

Now in 1 Thessalonians 4 we have a special revelation as to how the Lord will bring all that about. How is He going to bring out those who are to share in that glory? How is the royal family of heaven going to take up their place with Christ in glory for the ordering and government of the earth? Paul gets a special revelation as to that. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, there is this we may be sure of, that those who sleep in Jesus, as well as those who are alive and remain, when Christ comes in His glory, He will bring with Him. That will come to pass in this way, the saints are caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Before we come with Him we shall be caught up to Him. That is the revelation that is specially made known in the fourth chapter, it is “the word of the Lord” concerning the catching up of those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

The revelation of the Rapture in Thessalonians 4 was not made known until the assembly was formed on the earth. There was no church—no assembly of Christ as we have it—in the Old Testament. The foundation of the church is built upon the apostles and prophets of the New Testament. The assembly had no previous existence.

Sovereignty

The Lord said in Matthew 16, “I am going to do something.” And also in John 14, “I am going to do something.” And again in 1 Thessalonians 4 he has told us of something that HE is going to do. He said, “I will build My assembly.” He had asked the question, “Whom do ye say that I am?” Peter answered, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him, “You are a blessed (happy) man, Peter. The Father has made that known to you.” May this get into the souls of all here tonight. “Upon this Rock,” Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus said, “I will build My church,” “My assembly.” He does not ask you to build it. He said, “I will do it.” It is on Him of whom confession is made by Peter—on Himself as the Christ, the Son of the living God, revealed to us by the Father. He did not say, “I will build the assembly on the revelation of the assembly.” Do not think men are going to get into the assembly even by studying assembly principles. Have you got Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God? Can you say, “He is precious to me”? It was the Father who made Him precious to you, and you to whom the Father has made Him precious are a stone for the building, just as Peter was. The Son of the living God is the foundation, with all the force and energy of divine life in Himself. Now, then, we who have got Jesus, and own Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God, we are by His own work put into that assembly, His assembly, and the gates of hades cannot prevail against it. Their schemes and counsels and espionage are powerless.

Again, in effect, He said, “I go to the Father, and in His house there is plenty of room. I will prepare a place for you, that where I am you may be also.” Doubtless His going there as Man prepared the place. Now, mark, “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there YE may be also.” He does it all. Let our hearts rest in the perfection of the love, and in the perfection of the work of Christ; not only in His wonderful work on the cross, but in His present work in building the assembly, and in nourishing and cherishing it, and also in the fact that He will come again, and receive us to Himself. Why? Because He loves us. He loves us so much that He not only joyfully gave all that He had in order to buy the field for the treasure that was in it (Matt. 13:44), but such was His love that He must give Himself for us. Oh, how He must have loved us! And He says, “I am going to get the answer to all that I have gone through for you. I am going to answer my own heart’s desires by presenting you to Myself without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.” And He reminds us of these things. Why? That they might be a word of encouragement to us in these trying times. He nourishes our affections, and cherishes us by telling us of His love for the assembly, of which we are a part.

Then, as we said, we have that special revelation as to the manner of His coming for His own. He will come into the air. We shall meet Him in that particular point in the universe. He will leave that place where He now is, in the glory, and come to the border of this world’s atmosphere. He will come with what is there termed in military language “a commanding shout”—a shout for the assembling of those that are His. Yes, He will come with a shout! The Apostle speaks of “the patience of Christ” in 2 Thessalonians 3. For a long time He has waited! Throughout all this period of grace His rights in this world have been refused Him. Think of His patience—nearly two thousand years! How great is His long-suffering! The Apostle desired that the Lord would direct our hearts into the patience of the Christ. Yet some of us wish the Lord would come tonight, so that we might get out of this poor world. How impatient we get; but look how patient He has been. When the moment of His patience is ended, that military shout will be heard. He will step from the throne. He will come into the air, and His shout will call His hosts together. The archangel will take up the command, and pass it along the ranks. The “archangel’s voice” will be heard, and everything will be cleared out of the way that this mighty host—the dead in Christ and the living saints—may have a free passage right up through the air to meet their blessed Lord. Hallelujah! Then there is “the trump of God.” That trump of God will sound, but I do not believe the unconverted will hear these things—the shout, the voice, the trump.

Notwithstanding all the questioning today as to the secret rapture, I fall back upon it with greater confidence than ever. The world “knew not,” we are told, even when Noah went into the ark before the flood. And I can give you another reason for holding it to be the truth. There was a time when you sat in a gospel meeting, and the Word was preached in the power of the Spirit of God. The Lord spoke to you perhaPsalm No one else heard that voice. Or it may be you were alone when your soul was reached by that life-giving touch that brought you consciously to trust in Jesus. You heard the voice of the Son of God, as it says, “The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.” And you heard it for yourself, and no one else knew what had happened. So when Jesus comes His voice will be heard by those who have ears to hear, and by no one else. Thank God, in the twinkling of an eye we shall be caught up. The dead in Christ get the first touch. Then we which are alive and remain get the next touch, but altogether we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air. The change will take place in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:52). The scientists used to say that before you can see the twinkle of an eye there must be at least a thousand twinkles! How, then, can the thing be done? The other day some soldiers were in charge of a gun in the north of France. Suddenly a great German shell burst right amongst them. It put the gun out of action, but when the explosion was over they looked round, and though every man standing there was unhurt, one man was missing. “Where is he?” one asked, but to this day they have not found even a button off his coat. In the twinkling of an eye he was gone. If man’s ingenuity can produce a power that can destroy men in the twinkling of an eye, do you think the blessed Lord who made all things cannot take us away in the twinkling of an eye? Of course He can!

Responsibility

“If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” We are first taken up to Him, and then we shall come out with Him. I am not going into the judgment side of His coming tonight. I know He will break up the present system of the nations, and establish a new system with Israel restored to the Lord as the centre. I want to speak of Him now as coming out in all His blessedness, when He comes down like showers on the new-mown grass, after the scythe of judgment has done its work. He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe. He will have you and me with Him. He is going to have all His own there, so that when He shines out in His glory He may be glorified in them. We are going, if you like, to help to put things right. You cannot do it now. Men are trying to break militarism, but the Bible tells us of a worse and a blasphemous militarism that will follow this one. The Roman Empire will be revived with an imperial military head, full of blasphemy (Revelation 13). Things cannot be put right till Jesus comes. But when He comes He will do it. I said the other day they would shut up the great gun works. “No,” said a converted pitman, “they will not. They will turn the same works into a place for making implements to till the land. They will still make use of the works.” “Oh,” I replied, “all right. You mean they will be done with making instruments of destruction, and they will make implements of peace and prosperity, using the iron for the purpose for which God gave it.”

Now before that time comes there is an important moment embraced in that short word “NOW.” Sometimes you think, “If I could live over last week again I would do things very differently.” You cannot alter the past. “Tomorrow,” you say, “I intend to be really here for Christ.” You are not sure you will have tomorrow. It is always the present that you have. You can turn a meeting like this to good account by using your ears in a right way, judging what is said, not waiting for everything to be elucidated so that you will have no need of exercise. You want something to exercise your moral discernment upon. If everything is watered down for you you will never develop your spiritual teeth. You want to be making good use of your time. Do not take everything for granted that a speaker says. Always be testing and trying things in the presence of God, that you might get what God has got for your soul, so that if the Lord leaves you here, you might come out in this life to serve the Lord faithfully.

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we shall appear with Him in glory. This is a blessed reality. Take it home to your heart, and be prepared to take up the present path. Be out and out for Christ. Be devoted to Him as were the three mighty men to David. One day he breathed out a desire to drink of the water of a well of Bethlehem. They caught the breathings of his heart, and they made their way through the host of the Philistines, and brought him to drink. Do not you know, notwithstanding all the power of the Philistines today, that you may bring something that is pleasurable to Jesus? If you are near enough to the Lord that you catch the desires of His heart, you may; and if it does cost you a little trouble and a little difficulty, still it gives pleasure to Him. Let us remember this, that when we get to glory, we shall not have the chance of doing what we can do now. The little moment of suffering service will be over, and then we shall reign with Him. Christ shall come to be glorified in us, but we want Him to be glorified in us now. He is going to be by and by. He is going to be “wondered at,” as the word “admired” is rightly translated, in all them that believe (2 Thessalonians 1:10). In that day when He shines out, and when His bride (the assembly) comes out as the city with twelve gates, she will light up the nations. It says, “The nations shall walk by its light.” He will be wondered at, my brother, in you. Wondered at as you shine out with Him!—one of those gems lit up to reflect the glory of God to the nations. When the One who is our life is manifested, we shall be manifested with Him. You say, “Will all this terrible state of hostility cease then?” Thank God, it will. Christ will regulate the nations. All will be ordered in perfection, and then peace shall flow over the earth, and righteousness shall obtain from pole to pole, and joy shall fill every heart. I know that we have righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost even now, but it will be established publicly then. All shall know the Lord. No man will need to get hold of another then and say, “Come to a gospel meeting and get converted.” All will know the Lord from the least to the greatest. Such will be the effect of the New Covenant established with Judah and Israel. Their sins and iniquities will be remembered no more, and the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. He will appear, and you and I will appear with Him. The heavenly city shall shine down her beautiful rays of guidance for the earth. No, the Kaiser is not going to be the world emperor—Jesus is. You and I are going to share with Him, to take part with Him in His great and glorious administration. Brother, you are in for greater things than the Cabinet at Westminster! Wake up to it! Seek to walk worthy of it! You are converted with an end in view! We suffer with Christ now: we shall reign with Him then. We shall appear in glory with Christ. What a prospect!

I remember the first time I saw one of those electric signs. I came out into one of the streets one night, and I saw a letter light up on a building. I thought that was a strange thing, and while I was looking at it another letter lit up, until at last the shining sign all lit up was there before me, telling me the name of the firm that ran a huge business establishment in the city. God comes and He touches you, and He touches me, and lights us with the knowledge of Christ, and so His work goes on, but soon He will have the whole lit up with divine light. He will put us all up there with His beloved Son, and then we shall shine out as the divine sign in surpassing splendour, having the glory of God. What will be seen? Just one word expresses it—“CHRIST.” When Christ who is our life shall appear, we shall appear with Him in glory, and right through the universe He will be glorified and wondered at in all of us who have believed.

May God give us to wake up a little more to these great and glorious things; and in the meantime, the little NOW, to be behaving in such a way that we may be counted worthy of the glory. I know the blessed Lord is wonderfully gracious, and He will have a place for every one of us in that glory, but I see some dear brethren going on faithfully following the Lord—perhaps not making any big show, but I believe they are piling it up up there, where Christ is. Some one says, “Might it not make us a little selfish if we went in for that?” No. I remember a brother saying to us, “Go in for as many crowns as you can get”; and then he added this, “That you may cast them all at the feet of Jesus.” The more you can get the more you will have for His praise and glory. The result, we are told, will “be found to praise and glory and honour in the revelation of Jesus Christ: whom having not seen, ye love: on whom (though) not now looking but believing ye exult with joy unspeakable and filled with the glory” (1 Peter 1:7-8, New Translation).

The Resurrection of the Dead

“This Gospel of God, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:1-4).

The Son of God Marked Out

At the very commencement of this gospel letter to the believers at Rome, the Holy Spirit calls our attention to the important fact that our Lord Jesus Christ was marked out as Son of God by resurrection.

The genealogy of Matthew 1 shows clearly that He was David’s Seed according to the flesh. He must of necessity be so if He were to bring in the sure mercies of David. He must, however, be the Son of God also, if the fullness of the blessing of the gospel were to be brought to us. The Holy, Spirit puts the fact that He was so beyond all question, with these words: “Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead” (Romans 1:4).

This determines the matter fully and finally for us. It must be noticed, however, that it is not His own resurrection simply; for He raised others; “the dead” is not in the singular, but in the plural. It is stated abstractly.

The gospel, then, is concerning God’s Son, who is marked out to be such by resurrection of the dead; by His own resurrection, and that of others also. What a firm foundation we have here! What divine rest and assurance it imparts to the believer’s heart! With what watchfulness, therefore, should the true servant of the Lord guard this truth, which involves the glory of our Lord and the peace of His saints who are so precious to Him.

The Resurrection and the Life

When the body of our Lord Jesus Christ lay in the grave, His spirit was with the Father, into whose hands He commended it ere He died. The body in which He bore our sins upon the tree, and which was laid in the grave, was the same precious body which was raised again, but quickened now by the Spirit; the blood having been poured out for our redemption. The marks which Thomas saw, and which convinced him, declare plainly that it was the very same body: the temple raised from death to die no more.

But the Lord raised the widow’s son also, and the daughter of Jairus, and Lazarus; He raised the last after corruption consequent upon death had set in. Who but the Son of God could so work?

Before He raised Lazarus He declared, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” Everything was there in Him for both raising and giving life, essentially and potentially. Neither death nor corruption could stay His power. The glory of His person is involved in the whole question of resurrection, and since this is so we must hold to the truth of it with great tenacity.

Before we could be raised to eternal blessedness, He Himself must first die for us and be raised again, so as to take away death’s sting and victory. The resurrection of Lazarus, nevertheless, declared His glory. Indeed, his sickness was, as we are told, “for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified by it” (John 11:4). He might have healed him; but He waited; and His glory shone out at a grave-side of death and corruption. It is not ascension and glory which mark out the Son of God; but resurrection. So when He told Martha that He was the Resurrection and the Life, He also told her that the believer on Him who died, should live; also that everyone who lived and. believed on Him should never die. He then asked her a very important and pointed question: “Believest thou this?”

At a time when all the foundations of faith are being questioned, it may not be out of place to put the Lord’s question to the reader, “Believest THOU this?” Do you believe in the power and glory of the Son of God? To question resurrection is to question the power and glory of Him who is in Himself the Resurrection and the Life also. No true believer would wish to fall into such a snare. There may be lurking suspicions of the mind of the flesh, which is fallen and corrupt, as to the possibility of these things; suspicions which are hateful to the renewed mind. Many sincere souls are troubled by these questions, and the suggestions of science (so called), and the rationalistic reasonings of today, feed such wretched suspicions; but only let the glory of the marked out Son of God have its proper place in the heart by faith, then these hateful birds of the night will take wing and swiftly fly away, like bats before the brightness of the sunrise.

The Body Raised

It was to the assembly of God at Corinth that the question was addressed: “How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:12). And it is first shown in this chapter that it is part of the gospel, for Christ is preached that He is raised. It then shows that it is a necessity for the rich and far-reaching results in glory which are to follow. The whole chapter is a treatise as to the resurrection of the body. It is no question of the spirit: for elsewhere we are taught that, leaving the body, the believer is as to his spirit present with the Lord. Absent from the body; present with the Lord. The chapter deals with the body, with its resurrection specially; with that which is buried; not with that which has departed to be with Christ, but with that which is laid in the grave as Christ was, and which is to be raised again as Christ was. This must be held firmly in faith. The Apostle shows that the one involves the other, saying: “If there is not a resurrection of [those that are] dead, neither is Christ raised” (verse 13, New Translation). And if Christ is not raised, then there is no gospel; we are still in our sins; and those that have passed away have perished. But, thank God, Christ is raised; and He is raised as the Firstfruits; a sure and certain pledge that we who are His shall be raised like Him for God’s glory—the great harvest.

The man who questions: “How are the dead raised, and with what body do they come?” is called a “fool” by the Apostle. Nevertheless, he proceeds to point to what GOD does in nature in the case of seed buried in the earth. That is enough to teach an ordinary mind. In its rising, after death, He gives it a body as it pleaseth Him; but mark, “to each of the seeds its own body” (verse 38); not a body of a different kind altogether. Identity is retained. “GOD” is the sufficient answer for a simple and sincere soul, though this may not be sufficient for a “fool.” As in the case of Lazarus, the thoughtful believer sees that the work of resurrection is “for the glory of God, and that the Son of God may be glorified in it.” The greater the difficulty appears to be, the greater the triumph and the glory.

The Apostle points out that the hope of resurrection sustained him in all his labours and sufferings. If the dead rise not, “why,” he asks, “do we endanger ourselves every hour?” (verse 30, New Translation). It seems that it was different with others, for he writes: “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some are IGNORANT OF GOD” (verse 34, New Translation). There lies the root of all the trouble and questioning—ignorance as to the true character of God. Surely He can and will raise the dead? Do you not believe this? It was King Agrippa who was asked by the prisoner of the Lord: “Why should it be thought it thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” It was the unbelieving Sadducees who said, “There is no resurrection,” whom the Lord Himself rebuked, saying, “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor THE POWER OF GOD.” All is plain and clear to the one who believes in the God of resurrection, in His power and wisdom. Such an one delights to speak and sing of the glorious day

“When Christ our precious dust will take

And freshly mould:

And give these bodies vile

A fashion like His own;

And bid the whole creation smile,

And hush its groan.”

The House from Heaven

The Apostle not only speaks of the stimulus which the knowledge of resurrection gave to him in his labours for the Lord, but he concludes by exhorting others to let it also affect them in a similar way. “Therefore,” he writes, “my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” No toil, no testing, no suffering gone through in faith for the Lord will be lost. All is treasured up, and in the resurrection, in the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, it will be found to praise, and glory, and honour.

What glory and beauty will then characterize the bodies of believers in that day of brightness and blessedness! The weakness, weariness, and humiliation which now mark them will then have disappeared for ever. And this should cheer us on now to serve and suffer for the One who loves us; for the One who freed us from our sins by His own precious blood; for the One who is coming for us to give us bodies like His own body of glory. To bring this to pass, we are told, He will use transforming energy—“according to the working of the power which He has even to subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:21).

Then indeed we shall possess bodies which are according to God’s eternal purpose. He has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). That is not simply morally, as is sometimes suggested. The body of the believer will be then characterized by that which is from heaven. It will indeed be “a building from God.” Nor will its fashioning be of man. It will be truly “a house not made with hands” (2 Corinthians 5:1). Already in the purpose of God its design and beauty, are before Him; yea, it is “eternal in the heavens.” It is not something which God had not predestinated; something which He has not revealed also; for the Apostle so longed for it that he wrote: “For indeed in this we groan, ardently desiring to put on our house which is from heaven” (2 Corinthians 5:2). Then that which is mortal shall be swallowed up of life.

All this is so encouraging to the true believer that we will add a final word as to how this will come to pass: how that which is raised up from the dead shall put on that which is from heaven: how the raised bodies of believers shall become characterized by that which is from heaven when “this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:54).

From Earth and From Heaven

To make this clear we must notice that the Scriptures quoted speak of two distinct things in regard to our bodies of glory. FIRST, of that which is raised “from the dead”: SECOND, of that which comes “from heaven.” FIRST, of that which comes up from the earth SECOND, of that which comes down from heaven, so to speak. That which is raised up shows the divine power of God in resurrection, and maintains the connection with that which is buried: that which comes down shows the eternal design of God in the heavens, and is brought out to characterize the believer’s body for ever. The body which was before characterized by mortality and corruption also, if buried, puts on, when raised, immortality and incorruption. These things are eternal in the heavens; and are therefore from heaven when they are “put on.” Then life shall swallow up mortality.

According to the illustration given in 1 Corinthians 15, a seed is sown. It dies; then it rises up again from the earth. What shall characterize this which comes up from death? A bud, or blossom, or fruit may come. It may be characterized by beauty of design, by brilliance of colour, by remarkable richness of bloom. Does all this wealth and variety then come up from the earth? Nay; the beauty displayed is from above. God has so constituted the surroundings with atmosphere, cloud, light, sunshine, and other things, that that which rises may be able to put on the treasures which God has therein placed for this purpose. Just so, when raised, shall we put on the glory which shall characterize us for ever. We cannot count up this wealth; we cannot measure our vast treasure; but we can meditate upon its loveliness with thankful hearts; for God has revealed these things. Let us list some of these riches of resurrection.

1. Heavenly bodies then instead of earthly (1 Corinthians 15:49).

2. Glory shall mark them instead of dishonour (verse 43).

3. Power then, and no longer weakness (verse 43).

4. Spiritual bodies then instead of natural (verse 44).

5. Immortality shall mark them, not mortality (verse 54).

6. Incorruptibility, and no longer corruption (verse 54).

7. Life instead of death for our bodies (2 Corinthians 5:4).

Already by the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has annulled death, life and incorruptibility have been brought to light. It was in God’s purpose; but by His death and resurrection He has secured it for us, blessed be His holy Name! “Fear not,” He says, “I am the Living One.” He has the keys of death and of hades. Satan had “the might of death,” but He has been into death’s dark domain and annulled him; and moreover, He has risen victorious. He is the glorious First-fruits from the dead; and just as surely as He is this, the after-fruits shall be raised like Him, when He comes again. He is marked out as Son of God by resurrection. His triumph is also seen in this. When His assembling shout is heard; when the Lord Himself shall come, then the mighty operations of resurrection power shall be set in motion; then the dead in Christ shall rise; and then the living, changed, shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord—the marked out Son of God, the Resurrection and the Life.

The Resurrection Proved

Evidently the apostle had been very diligent in his enquiries as to the resurrection of Christ as a Man from among the dead. It was a serious matter; and he writes to the Corinthians, “If Christ be not raised your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins”; but he marshals his witnesses to show that without a shadow of doubt He was raised. Any solicitor would be glad to have a case with such abundant witness. Here are the witnesses who saw Christ as a Man in resurrection given in 1 Corinthians 15:

1. “He was seen of Cephas.”

2. “Then of the twelve.”

3. “After that, of above 500 brethren.”

4. “After that, He was seen of James.”

5. “Then of all the apostles.”

Moreover Paul adds, “He was seen of me also.” This would be at his conversion, when he was persecuting the assembly of God. Examine those witnesses and give up all questioning! Others could have been called, but all these have some exceptional and distinctive features. Just think of 500 witnesses, “at one time” too—and most of them living when the apostle wrote his document! Think of James, born of the same mother, who questioned his wonderful claims when on earth (John 7:2-5)! There was no question left after Christ’s resurrection! How earnestly he served the Lord after that we see in Acts and elsewhere. How reverently He owned His Lordship we find in his epistle (James 1:1), where he speaks of himself as “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” There is no room for questioning the resurrection! Nothing but wilful perversity or the seductions of fallen spirits would lead any intelligent person to do so. We may well take up the exultant language of the apostle after he had brought forward his irrefutable witnesses, “Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the Firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by MAN came also the resurrection of the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:20-21).

Moreover, if Christ be not raised, where is His justification? Men treated Him as one unfit for decent society, unfit even to live in this world. They treated Him with every indignity. Is He left without any justification whatever? No; certainly not! Man crucified Him, but God raised Him. His resurrection is His justification, for by it God has declared that man’s treatment and judgment of Him was wrong. In Isaiah 50 the Spirit of Christ speaks in the prophet. He is smitten; the hair is plucked from His cheeks; shame is heaped upon Him; they spit in His face. Then He says, “He is near that justifieth Me” (verse 8)! So He was, and God raised Him from among the dead. He is declared to be the Just One, the Holy One, yea, the Son of God by resurrection. Men treated Him as a malefactor, but He was raised “by the glory of the Father.”

If His resurrection be the pledge of ours, as we have seen so His justification has secured ours also. Indeed the words of Isaiah 50 are used in Romans 8:34 to show there is no condemnation for true believers. Christ was the elect One of God, and those who are His are elect also; and, it is asked, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God.” Yes, He is in the seat of power and glory, and a day of great rejoicing is coming for all who believe; a day of honour for the One who was so dishonoured—a day of great gladness to the heart of God—the whole universe shall be changed in perfect order in relation to the One whom Gad has highly exalted; every family of the blessed in the heavens shall be placed in relation to Him as Head and Centre of all; every family upon the earth also; and all those also who inhabit the infernal regions “prepared,” not for men, but for the devil and his angels (though the unsaved go there), must own Him too; for God has decreed, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly, earthly and infernal beings, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” That will be a great day. It is a great day, too, when a soul confesses Him as Lord now; for it is written, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9).

The “saved” are those who will leave earth for heaven when He comes again, like Israel marching out of Egypt, only more swiftly—“in the twinkling of an eye.” The world will be left behind. “The shout” of the Lord—as that of a commander (for the terms used are military)—will call us away. “The archangel’s voice” will be uttered, “the trump of God” will be sounded, and “the redeemed” will be gone. The dead in Christ raised first, and the living changed, with triumph we shall rise to realms above! We are told that the power, by which the Saviour will transform our bodies like to His own body of glory is the power which He has to subdue all things in the universe to Himself (Philippians 3:21). Our hearts are longing for that time. We look forward to that supreme moment when we shall “see His face”! Oh, glorious day! Ah! but He shall see the result of His soul’s travail and suffering on Calvary’s cross, and He shall be satisfied. Notwithstanding all that He has gone through, and all the attacks made upon Himself and His finished work, He will never have a regret. He shall be satisfied. We shall be satisfied, too, and praise and worship Him for ever. Meanwhile may we be waiting, watching, and working for Him, serving the Lord with gladness.

The Revival of Spiritism; What it Indicates

Those who are instructed in the Word of God by the Holy Spirit are not surprised at the present-day recrudescence of Spiritism; rather would they be surprised did not such a revival of this ancient cult take place; because it has been long foretold in the sacred writings as that which would take place in the midst of Christendom in these days; and the forewarning is divinely given for the sake of those who are redeemed in Christ—who are truly of “the faith”—that they might be forearmed when it reappeared.

The Forewarning

Note first what is said to Timothy, a young servant of our Lord Jesus Christ: “The Spirit speaketh expressly”—laying special emphasis on the matter—“that in the latter times some shall depart (or ‘apostatise’) from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Timothy 4:4). Here Spiritism in its deceptive and its doctrinal forms is plainly foretold; and after indicating other accompaniments, the apostle adds, “If thou put the brethren (those who are truly the children of God) in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ.” Now notice, this is apostasy from “the faith.” We are not told to expect this in heathendom. Nor is it the remarkable activities of spirits in the midst of Confucianism, of which we have reliable records from China. Neither is it the strange phenomena so frequently observed amidst the dark superstitions of India and Ceylon. It is not Buddhist, Brahman, or MohammeDaniel It is an apostasy specially indicated to take place in Christendom, for it is an apostasy from “the faith,” seducing spirits and their teachings being turned to instead.

Other Scriptures show us that this is a sign of the near return of our Lord Jesus Christ, when He will come again and take all true believers out of the world to be “for ever with the Lord”; and, then, for a while, before He takes up the direct government of the nations and peoples of the earth, Spiritism will have almost unlimited sway; but, first, as we have said, all the saints of God will be translated from earth to heaven like Enoch before the day—in the twinkling of an eye. The moment the one Holy Spirit who indwells us quickens our mortal bodies, and we are gone, Spiritism, which is spreading so rapidly now, will have no check, and the “strong delusion” foretold in 2 Thessalonians 2 will seize upon those who “received not the love of the truth that they might be saved” (verse 10). These deceiving spirits may easily say,—when men are at first in fear because of the disappearance of so many—We told you that something extra-ordinary would happen. Men’s minds will be enslaved in gross darkness, for there will be “works of power and signs and lying wonders” done by these Satanic agencies. It will be a marvellous imitation of what the Lord did, and His apostles, whose preaching of salvation was also accompanied by “signs and wonders and with diverse miracles” or “acts of power” (Hebrews 2:4). We can therefore understand how those who have not “the love of the truth that they might be saved” now, will be carried away then; but the march from earth to heaven of all the redeemed will have suddenly and swiftly taken place before that awful day has arrived. At the Victor’s shout—for the Lord will call us away with “a shout” (1 Thessalonians 4:16)—we shall rise and leave the world behind.

Spiritism New and Old

There is nothing edifying in the smallest degree in the writings of spiritists. Much is very paltry, and the editors themselves admit this, but they are lured on and their records contain a great deal which has been rightly termed “trash.” It is freely admitted that the messages received from the spirits are frequently deceptive, and that lies are often told. It is just what the Spirit of truth “expressly” foretold in the Scriptures. There is much fraud and trickery by so-called spiritualists, but the Holy Word of God leaves this alone and deals only with the actual working of spirits which come to deceive, impersonating the departed it may be, or professing to reveal something to those who heed them. It is certain that no unfallen spirit, angel or other, would transgress by seeking to gain the attention of men and women. The fact that some do so proves that they are fallen spirits, and are working to seduce and turn souls from the truth, as Scripture shows.

One spirit, professing to be that of F. W. H. Myers, the poet, said: “I feel just as lonely. Lodge, it is just as they say, you grope in fog and darkness” (Survival of Man, by Sir O. Lodge, p. 295). One would expect a godly man to turn from these things after hearing such words; but the temptation seems to be tremendous to an inquisitive mind; and it is pursued notwithstanding the serious warnings of God’s Holy Word. I read Isaiah 8:19-22 to one psychic student who was deeply immersed in it. He seemed to be interested in these solemn words when a violent rapping startled him, and hurrying from the room he seized his hat and went out into the night.

I could give many other instances from experience, but it is unnecessary. What the inspired volume says is of greater importance to us. I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer, said one of old, by taking heed of Thy Word.

In Egypt

When God, on the ground of redemption by the blood of the lamb, was about to deliver His people from Egypt and march them from the land of their slavery, the masters of the psychic sciences were called in to oppose Moses and Aaron, who demanded the freedom of Israel. In more ways than one we have a type in this of our own deliverance through the blood of Christ; but let us follow the actual facts; for they reveal a remarkable development of psychic powers. The present students of these things are a long way behind. When Aaron threw down his rod it became a serpent. God thus gave a sign to Pharaoh—the greatest monarch of that day. This powerful king, however, had in his colleges men of extraordinary learning—unearthed writings and monuments show this. Among them were those who were familiar with “enchantments.” They were the spiritualists of that time, called in Exodus 7:11, “The wise men and the sorcerers,” “the magicians of Egypt.”

These men were acquainted with supernatural powers, and had access to the royal presence. They cast down their rods also and they became serpents in like manner as Aaron’s, but his rod swallowed up theirs. Satan is called that old serpent “which deceiveth the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). By deception he brings about the fall of men and nations, as he did with Adam and Eve at the beginning; and it is striking that God should give this serpent sign to Pharaoh. God’s people and representatives were a despised minority, but the power with them was greater than that with their opponents who sought to keep them in Egypt. It is the same today. In the oft-quoted passage as to trying the spirits in 1 John 4 it is said to the children of God: “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods!

Their imitations, however, still successfully followed Moses and Aaron and steeled the king against Israel, until Aaron brought life out of the dust of the earth. “Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God.” The Holy Spirit is thus named in the gospels. It is He Who is in the children of God and greater than he that is in the world. At this sign the psychic men were brought to the dust before God literally. It is striking again to notice what was said to the “old serpent” at the beginning: “Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.” These signs were given in view of the deliverance of God’s people; and again, when He brings Israel back to their land by and bye, it is said, “According to the days of thy coming out of Egypt will I show unto him (their enemy) marvellous things … they (those who oppose) shall lick the dust like a serpent” (Micah 7:15, 17). The power of God must triumph over every other power, and He shows it victoriously through the salvation of those who believe. Spiritists may imitate. Their familiars may say, God is unknown; but that is untrue. He is fully revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The exceeding greatness of His power, too, toward those who believe, has already been shown in the resurrection of Christ, their representative Head as well as Lord. “Out of dust” man was made at the first; “out of dust” life was brought through Aaron’s rod, and this baulked Egypt’s magicians. Out of “the dust of death” the mighty power of God raised Jesus our Lord, the Head of the assembly from among the dead; and this secures the eternal overthrow through man of every opposing force, and the complete triumph of good over evil, of light over darkness, of Christ over Satan. The children of Israel marched out in triumph. They sang of the Lord’s victory on the far shore of the Red Sea! The magicians had not helped the great Pharaoh, nor had they secured prosperity for his great country by their enchantments. It was severely smitten, the mighty monarch’s power was broken, too, and the Egyptians themselves were spoiled. God’s righteous judgment fell upon that land of dark practices, and His down-trodden people were delivered with songs of gladness on their lips from the tyranny which had made them groan in cruel bondage.

In Palestine

When Israel marched toward the land of promise, fear took hold of the inhabitants of Palestine. God had waited long centuries before punishing them for their wickedness (Genesis 15:16; Deuteronomy 18:9-14). Diviners, enchanters, and those with familiar spirits, had plunged the nations of that land into darkness and degradation. “Because of these abominations,” it is distinctly said to Israel, “the Lord thy God doth drive them out before thee” (Deuteronomy 18:12). Pharaoh tried to hold God’s people in his power, and, now, as they approach the land, Balak seeks to oppose them by means of that extraordinary clairvoyant Balaam. Needless to say, it failed. Even the donkey was more clairvoyant than the master; yet, in spite of the angel with the sword (forespeaking Balaam’s own punishment) on he went in his folly, only to have to declare, “Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel.” Balaam was a man of repute in those days; a man who could also entertain nobles and princes; “the man,” as be himself said, “whose eyes are open, who heard the words of God, who saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open” (Numbers 24:3-4); nevertheless he had to own to Balak that he was unable to curse God’s people, and “Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and be smote his hands together; and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times.” The wickedness of Balaam’s heart, however, comes out afterwards, when be advised Balak to corrupt the Israelites though he could not stay their possession of the Land of Promise.

In the closing books of the Bible we are warned concerning the successors of this remarkable man of such extraordinary psychic attainments. The “way” of Balaam the “doctrine” of Balaam, and the “error” of Balaam, will again be pursued, we are told; but just as God’s people came out of Egypt and entered the Land of Promise, so will the elect be safely and surely brought through to their heavenly inheritance, in spite of all the workings of fallen spirits and of those who are deceived by them. Indeed, their special activities always seem to indicate some near and special intervention on their behalf by the Lord, as we have seen. In Palestine itself the cult had developed to a very high degree, and the propensities of the race seemed to severely demand that the men, women, and children should all be exterminated. Righteousness might require this, but mercy also, lest they should enslave God’s people likewise by their practices. In measure, that is just what happened; for Israel did not carry out fully God’s command; and many were led away by idolatry and familiar spirits. King Saul sought to rid the land of them, yet he himself fell away and consulted a witch at the end, but only to hear his own doom solemnly pronounced.

The progress of these dark sciences in the centres of learning reached at least nine distinct branches :—

Fire traversing.

Divination.

Observing of times.

Enchantment.

Witchcraft.

Charming.

Spiritism.

Sorcery.

Necromancy.

These various branches of occultism might seem imposing to the students of that day, but the Scripture says: “All that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord” (Deuteronomy 28:12). In God’s sight those who practise these things are ABOMINABLE, and the things they do are ABOMINATIONS. Ruined body and soul themselves, they had ruined the kingdoms of the land; and this seems to be always the outcome of this “falsely-named science.”

Notwithstanding, however, all the solemn warnings of God, the Israelites themselves fell under the allurements of these things, and in King Manasseh’s day we read, “He made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel” (2 Ki. 21:6, 9). God therefore gave them over to captivity.

At the time when the Lord Jesus came to men, many in the land of Israel were possessed by spirits, and on nearly every other page of the Gospels we read of them being cast out by the Lord and His disciples. He spoke of Israel’s national condition in relation to this, as “when the unclean spirit is gone out.” It is striking that Israel, so prone to this thing, has been free from it since their dispersion, but they are going back to Palestine in unbelief, and the unclean spirit will return. When he is come, he findeth his house “empty, swept, and garnished. Then goes he, and takes with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there.” Thus spake the Lord, showing that there is to be a terrible revival of this spirit-possession in the land, and that the last state of Israel will be worse than the first.

In Babylon

Before the overthrow of the vast Babylonish empire we find psychic and similar sciences very advanced. The monarchs of that day looked upon them as of the very first importance. The great Nebuchadnezzar had about the throne of the empire “the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans and the soothsayers.” The last king, Belshazzar (a deputy king), of Babylon, was exceedingly profane; and amidst a great feast, which he made to a thousand of his lords, he abandoned himself to insult the God of Israel, the true God. Automatic writing is common in modern Spiritism, and sometimes there is seen the appearance of a hand or arm: and at that impious feast, in the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand,” and wrote upon the wall of the king’s palace. But this was God’s writing, and the king saw it, and fear seized him, as well it might (Daniel 5). He called in the scientific men—“the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers”—“the wise men of Babylon,” as they are named in Daniel 5:7. The king offered them great rewards if they could explain the writing, but they failed to do so. Then forgotten Daniel, in whom was God’s Spirit, was called in. He read the writing and gave the interpretation, which pronounced the doom of the monarch. In that very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain.

It has often been said that the book of Daniel gives us principles that obtain during “the times of the Gentiles,” before Israel is restored to her city and land. The failure of these scholars to read and interpret God’s writing was not confined to that day; we see it today; these things are hidden from the wise and prudent, but the forgotten children of God still read and benefit by the unfoldings of the inspired Volume, for the Spirit who indited its words dwells in them. Soon after the overthrow of the Babylonish empire the restoration of God’s people to Jerusalem took place. It will be so again, when the future “Babylon” of Revelation is destroyed; but before that time, every true believer on our Lord Jesus Christ will leave earth for heaven, at the coming of Christ into the air, as 1 Thessalonians 4 shows us,

The way for the present revival of dark sciences, so long forbidden in God’s Word, has been prepared by the higher critics, men who boast in their scholarship, but who by their destructive criticism of God’s Holy Word have made it easy for men to be deceived.

But this revival indicates the near intervention of the Saviour for the deliverance of the elect of God, when they will surely, and suddenly, leave the world, being “caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” We have seen God’s intervention in Egypt in the presence of the psychic men of that day, and how He marched Israel out of the land in triumph. We have seen how he overthrew the intentions of Balak and Balaam, the clairvoyant. We have seen what has happened, and will yet happen, in Palestine through the workings of familiar spirits and sorcery; and lastly, we have seen what happened in Babylon when its last king was slain. The more developed these phenomena become, the more apparent is the divine intervention when that takes place; but, on the other hand, it seems that the advance of these cults brings a tremendous influx of fallen spirits into a nation or empire, and precedes its overthrow. If this be so, the present popularizing of them in this land speaks badly for the future of the nation and empire. It would be well if these things could be swept away before it is too late. There is an empire spoken of in the Bible that goes to pieces, like a ship “in the midst of the sea,” One hopes it may not be the British; but the practice of forbidden sciences would expedite such a catastrophe. The question for the true believer is not whether wonderful things are done by these spiritists—Satan can and will do these—but does God’s Word sanction or forbid these practices? He forbids them! He names them “abominations,” and those who do them Abominable! That is enough for any true believer (Deuteronomy 18:12).

Life After Death

Now as to life after death, it is not only that the spirit of a child of God is absent from the body, when he falls on sleep—as Scripture speaks of death for such—and goes away to be “present with the Lord,” but his body also, every particle of its dust, is watched over by God and will be raised again from among the dead. The scientist says no atom can be destroyed though it may be changed. God says of the body, “It is sown,” and “It is raised.” We have the word of the Apostle Paul, divinely inspired, that to be thus “with Christ” is “far better” than the best we have known here in the body. Nevertheless the body is also to be raised in immortality and incorruptibility, in honour, power, and glory, at the coming again of our Lord and Saviour. He Himself was raised from among the dead, and that is the pledge of our resurrection, “Christ the Firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Corinthians 15:23). He is “The Firstfruits of them that slept.”

After His own resurrection, seven times, it is said, He was “seen” in the resurrection chapter just referred to. When He, the risen Man, came into the midst of those gathered together at Jerusalem they were confounded and frightened. They supposed they beheld a spirit (Luke 24:37). But it was not a spirit but a real Man who stood before them; a Man who had vanquished death, Satan (who had wielded its power to keep in bondage God’s children), and the grave; a risen Man, whose physical resurrection involved their eternal salvation, redemption and glory. Still, they were troubled! He had robbed death of “its sting,” Satan of his “power,” and the grave of “its victory.” He was their victorious Saviour and Lord. Their eternal blessing was secured in Him as well as the glory of God, though they knew it not then.

“Why do thoughts arise in your hearts”? He asked of them. “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself: handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have” (Luke 24:39)! They saw Him thus; and it is recorded in the Scriptures of truth, and yet so-called scholars, modernists, would have us believe that they know better than the disciples, and that it was only an apparition they saw! What folly! What senseless reasoning! Surely Scripture is correct when it says, “Professing themselves to be wise they became fools.” The spiritists say, Christ is the supreme Spirit in the unseen! but God says, He is a Man, in a raised, glorified body at His right hand! He died! He rose! He ascended! and He will yet return! He said, referring to His holy body, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). When therefore He was risen His disciples remembered that He had said this. Why did our risen Lord say “flesh and bones,” and not “flesh and blood”? His blood had been poured out for our eternal redemption.

Spiritists deny the truth as to Christ. They do not acknowledge Him as the exalted Man at the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens, much less are they prepared to own His deity. To own Him as Man raised from among the dead would overthrow their whole system. It did so with the psychic students at that seat of learning in Ephesus, when they received the gospel preached by Paul (Acts 19:18).

The letter, too, sent to the assembly at Ephesus afterwards, emphasizes the exceeding greatness of God’s power which raised Christ as a Man from the dead; and that set Him above every intelligence—principality, authority, power and dominion,—and every name named! What a triumph God has secured in Man—in Man raised and exalted above all!

This ends our reading for this session. Until next time, have a great day, and God bless.