Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1903-04-09
THE SABBATH SCHOOL.
International Lesson Comments Fer
April II.
Subject The Resurrection, Cor. XIV, 70, 81,
5O.5S-GoIden Text, Cor. XIV, 20
Memory Verses, 55.5S--Com.
mentary on the Days
Lesson.
I. Christ's resurrection affirmed Tvs. 20

20. "Now is Christ risen" Paul begins
this famous chapter with narshaling OF
the proofs of the resurrection of Christ.
He brings witness after witness, even 800
at ono time, who, during the forty days
between the resurrection and the ascension
saw Jesus, touched Him, heard Him talk,
ate with Him, walked with Him at differ:
ent times in various places. And many OF
these witnesses were familiar acquaint.
ances. Later ON Paul himself met Jesus,
saw Him, heard Him. Jesus must be alive.
No event in all history has greater or more
convincing. proofs than that Jesus rose
from the dead. Sight, hearing, touch, all
combined in the proof. Then, the Chris.
tian church, and indeed every convert and
every miracle, was a proof that a living
Saviour was working in the world. "The
First Fruits" The first fruits were the
first ripe ears of grain, offered under the
edgement to God for His goodness. 1t was
the pledge and promise of the whole har.
vest. So Christ's resurrection was the
pledge that the whole resurrection harvest
would follow. THAT slept" A most beau.
tiful and instructive term for death. Gem:
terry means sleeping place. Death is called
a sleep because, l. In both the person is
UNCONSCIOUS of the worldly activity around
him., 2; The soul continues to live, while
the body is unconscious. 8. There is to
be an awakening to new and fresh life.
The very expression implies immortality.
q. "By man." It pleased God that in
some way humanity should within itself,
however aided with divinity, work out its
own destiny, both for death and life, in
Adam and in Christ. Game DEATH"
Compare Rom. s: 1919, with the narrative
Mortality came by Adam, immortality by
Christ; so sure as all have been subjected
to natural death by Adam, ss sure shall all
be.raised again by Christ Jesus.
II. The incorruptible body Tvs. 5O-57).
30, '"This | say" The apostle shows
clearly that man in his present condition
cannot enter the portals of eternal glory.
state of unity and decay, with body
that is ..agi'e and weak. Cannot inherit"
His nature is not capable of enduring the
eternal weight of glory" In order to be
able to inhabit the eternal mansions man
must be immortal. "Kingdom of God"
Heaven; appropriately called the kingdom
because He will reign there in undivided
and perfect glory forever. Neither
doth. etc. Our ordinary flesh and blood
ton. 1t is not with such flesh and blood
that we can become partakers of the in.
corruptible life.
81, So. "A mystery" A truth not known
before, and even now that it is revealed it
is too deep for human reason to fathom.
eve" That is, the whole body of Chris
tians who are candidates for the glorious
resurrection. The use of the word 1--WE" in
this connection does not prove, as some
to be alive at the coming OF Christ. Not
all sleep" We shall not all die. can be
changed" Those who are alive at the day
of Judgment shall be changed so that their
bodies will become spiritual bodies like the
bodies of those who shall be raised from
the dead. "Twinkling of an eve" In an
instant of time; as soon as a person can
wink. The resurrection of all the dead
from the foundation of the world to that
time, and the change Of ali the Gying then
upon earth, shall be the work of a single
moment. ''Iast trump" The trumpet
will he sounded on the last great dav to
call the dead from their graves. It was
probably never heard but once bv human
ears, and that was at Sinai (l,x 10: l6-l9).
So, 81. "This incorruptble." The NOR.
tai body is not DESTROYED and again created,
It receives an addition of qualities which
it did not possess before. "Is written"
In Isaiah %: 8. Swallowed up" Death
ia here personified and renresenteJ as n
devourinp being, swallowing up all the
generations of men, and bv the resurrec.
tion of the bodv and the destruction of
the empire of death, God is represented as
swallowing him up, an victory" The
victory over death and the grave will he
complete. The changed BODY will be ~
incorruptible, (2) glorious. i3) powerful.
"a a spiritual body 81 one like the BODY
of the glorified Christ, What a time of vic.
tory that will be for the righteous,
1857. "Thy sting" Quoted from Hosea
10: H. Death is here represented as nav.
ing 1 sting. 80 rraye-deatb." The r. Y.
also transposes The two members of this
verse. "Stinp-sin," Death could not have
entered into the world if sin had not en-.
tered first, and it is sin that has armed
death with its DESTROYING force; bv sin both
bodv and soul are slain "Tbo Law" That
which gives sin its mower il the fact that il
is the transgression of the ripbteous law
Of an all.wise and all.holv heinz There il
not a raw of light in the law for the sin.
ner. the law nronounces the death sentence
and shows no mercy. "But The sinner
can rejoice that there is One who has made
an atonement for sin and thus made it Dos.
sible to deliver the transgressor from the
curse and mower Of the law, This ! done
through The mercy If Cod md we should
give eternal thanks 70 His name for His
unspeakable Gift. He riyeth the victory
over Satan. death hell and the grave.
'Therefore." We come now, to the conclu-