The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1911-04-17

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His flesh was accepted The evidence
Of its acceptance was the ilupurtatiop
of the Holy sliirli, WHICH us dove
rested upon Him and Exercised
quickerlng and Illuminating influence
upon His mind. enabling Him 10 TN.
derstand more than humnn things and
70 perform more than human acts
It was JESUS. New Creature. be.
gotten OF the Spirit ut Jordan. that did
the mighty works Of the Father Ills
flesh. His humanity. was gradually laid
down sacrifclally in harmony with
the Divine providences. lie drank "the
cup" which the Father poured for Him.
Divine Power brought From the Dead
the Great Shepherd"
This Easter Sunday celebrates the
momentous' event Of our Lords resur-
rection from the dead His resurrec-
tion is either truth or a falschood
In our text st. Paul assures us that If
It is untrue, our faith our hopes. our
preaching nnd teachings are of no avail
useless. If the resurrection of the
dead is impossible, then the resurrec-
ton of Jesus was impossible. If the
resurrection Of Jesus did not take
place. then we have no proof. and no
ground for believing, that Divine pow
er could resurrect the Church. If Di-
vine Power brought again from the
dead the great Shepherd of the sheep"
It is Jehovah also who will bring rs
from the dead by Jesus, in Gods due
time.
Let none avoid the question. Let all
decide at once, Either we believe In n
resurrection from the dead. or we do
not believe in 1t. If the resurrection
bc n myth then. says the Apostle. all
those who fell asleep with faith In
Christ are persisted are not in
heaven. Purgatory nor eternal torment
If we believe in the resurrection of the
dead. both of the just and the unjust
then. logically. we must believe that
they are dead. except in the Divine
promise. purpose. arrangement. The
decision of this resurrection question
Is most momentous one. as 1t affects
practically every doctrine Of the Chris
tlau Church. If we get straight the
doctrine Of the Ransom effected through
the Rcdeemcr, and the doctrine OF the
Resurrection of the dead. all OF our doc
trincs will fall into line and all Of our
absurditles. which have troubled us so
long. will fall out OF the way. and all
of the Scriptures will be found har-
monious in teaching Divine Justice,
Wisdom. Love and Power.
Christ the Frst.Fruits.
"But now Is Christ risen from the
dead and become The nrst-frults of
them that slept (versc 20. An. thank
God, the APOSTLE did not mean to in
sinuate the possibility OF our Lords
not having risen. Merely, he would
put the question that we might see
how weighty is the subject-how much
depends on the answer He eXultantly
answers, Christ is risenw We re.
joice in this for several reasons. First.
how sad it would be lf He who laid
aside His glory and was made flesh
and tasted death on our behalf should
have lost by His loyal endeavor "a
serve us and 20 do the Fathers will,
How glad we are that He is risen. and
that He was not raised again in tho
flesh, with the loss of His heavenly
glory, but raised as the King of all, far
above all others, and partaker Of the
divine nature.
Secondly. we are glad on our own
account and on account of all man.
kind; for If our Lord Jesus had not
been raised from the dead It would
have proven one of two things-either
that He had not been faithful-up Ia
the Divine standard. and therefore
that His life could not be n satisfaction
for He human Hfc lost in Adam. or else
IL would have proved that God, who
had promised TO raise Him from the
dead If He would be obedent unto
death, had been unable to do so; and
II unable to raise Him from the dead
we, likewise. would be without hope
even II our sins were cancelled by vir'
tue OF His sacrifice.
The Apostles words give further
suggestions: Our Lord in His rcSurrec,
tion became ''thc tirst-fruiis of them
that slept" This signifies that none
was ever raised from the dead before
| Him. AS another Scripture declares,
"He was the first that should arise
from the dead" There were indeed
others Gcakened from the tomb. by
Jesus Himself and also previous IN
His Advent, But they were merely
aU0kencd, not lifted fully up out of
death conditions to perfect life. The
Redeemer was the first to have such
an experience. But the Apostles
words mean more. If Jesus was the
fbst-t'Uits of them that slept, there
must of necessity be dftcr-frWiS. And
this the Apostle proceeds TO prove, de-
claring that "as all in Adam die, even
so all in Christ shall be made alive"
Il Corinthians xv, 22l. Glorious resur.
rection hope! Precious Bible! The one
Book alone which teaches a resurrec-
tion Of the dead, or that the dead are
dead.
The Apostle proceeds to tell us that
the dead will not all be resurrected
together-at once-"but every man in
his own ORDER Il Corinthians XIV. 23i,