The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1912-07-24


the trumpet shall sound" and the
dead in Christ shall rise first; then we
which are alive and remain shall be
caught sway together to meeting Of
the Lord In the air." q Corinthians
XIV, 81 So; Thessalonians Nv, 16, Az
How plain, how simple! That will be
the first meeting Of the Church with
her Lord. All Of her members dying
before that time will sleep" while
those dying since that time will not
need to sleep and wait for the glorious
change. But, says one. does not the
second coming Of Christ take place
whenever His holy ones die? Does He
not Immediately come to receive them
unto Himself?
Surely only very lame theory could
seek to bolster itself up by such a per-
version of the Scriptures. If Christ
were to come every time one Of His
sanity ones die, would 1t not mean
many comings instead Of merely SEQ
ond comisgf And even II His faithful
were very few indeed, would It not
seem that this would keep the Redeem
er busy coming and departing every
few minutes?
Only Grass ignorance OF the Bible
could excuse any such mieappfication
of its teachings. Not merely one state
ment of the Scriptures bears upon this
subject. but hundreds Of statements Of
Scripture. by Jesus and the Apostles;
and all contradict any such thought.
"No Man Hath Assembled to Heaven"
Hearken to Jesus words, "No man
hath assembled up to Heaven" Only
the Son Of Man has ever been in heav-
en-. He has assembled up where He was
before, with additional glory and hon
or. He is now preparing a place for
His Bride class and preparing the
Bride class for the place-the place Of
honor at His own right hand. He is
overseeing her experiences and causing
all things to work together for her
good, that she at His Second Coming
may be prepared and be accepted as
His Bride ana granted share in His
glory. honor and Immortality.
It is In full harmony with this that
a little later on the Great Teacher de-
clared that all the dead are in the
grave. and that at His second advent
He will first call forth His faithful
ones to the perfection Of life; and later
will call forth the remainder Of man
kind, not as yet found worthy of life.
that they may have an opportunity, a
testing as respects their worthiness or
unworthiness OF everlasting life on the
human plane.
Hear His assurance again respecting
His faithful ones--that they shall share
tn He resurrection. the Chief Resurrec-
ton. to glory. honor, Immortality. on
the spirit plane. He said. BLESSED and
holy are all they that have part in the
First Resurrection: they shall be
priests unto God and Christ, and shall
reign with Him thousand years."
Be it noted that in all these assur.
ances the Church is spoken of as a
class, all of whom will enter into glory
together. at Christ's second coming.
and not separately. as each may die
True, each has an individual trial OF
testing to determine whether or not be
OF she will be accounted worthy. OF
fitted for place in the glorious Body
Of Christ, in the glorious Bride COM
pany. but the statement is repeatedly
made that we shall be glorifed together
shall have part in the one resurrection
"David Not Assembled to Heaven"
In full accord with all the foregoing
Is st. Peters statement on the Day OF
Pentecost: "For David is not ascend
ed into the heavens: his sepulchre is
with US unto this day." St Peters
words imply that If King David had
assembled to Heaven he would have no
sepulchre ON earth. Similarly, we
might say Of all of the Prophets, and
Of all other persons that, if once they
assembled to the heavenly plane. they
could not be said to have any sepul-
chre on earth, for the very thought
connected with the word sepulchre is
that Of personality awaiting a resur.
recton. awaiting deliverance from the
state and condition Of death. So the
Scriptures always refer. not to a resur.
rection Of the living. which would be
an absurdity. but to resurrection OF
the dead
Note the connection In which the
Apostle Peter uses this expression
David is not assembled into the heav
ems" He had Just called attention to
the fact that David prophesied of the
resurrection Of Jesus. In the prophecy
he personated Jesus, and said. Thou
wilt not leave My soul in sheoS Chadcs)
nor suffer Thine Holy One to see cor
ruption." st. Peter argues that this
was not true Of David, that he did see
corruption. that his soul soas left In
sheol, and is still there. and will not be
reclaimed until Messiah, in the resur
rection morning. shall call him forth.
sBe With Me In Paradise
But, says some one. did not the dy
Ing thief go with Jesus to Paradise
the very day In which they both died
And II SO. does not this prove that al
IN harmony with God go to heaven
when they die. whatever may be the
condition of others in death?
No, we have made stupid hlundei
and neutrality-suspicious. of our Redeem
ers dying words to the thief. The
wrong thought being in our minds We
misinterpreted in harmony Herewith