Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1912-04-17

without Gods purpose of n resurrection
those who have fallen asleep in death
would have perished as brutes
You will recall also that we demon
strated that 1t is mot the body. but
the soul. that is promised resurrec-
tion-that it was our Lords soul that
went to sheoI, to hddes. to the death
state. and that God raised Him from
death on the third day. We noted a
difficulty into which all Christendom
was plunged by the theory that it is
the body that is to be resurrected.
What Went to Hsaven7
The ordinary thought in Christian
minds In respect to Jesus death and
resurrection is that when He seemed
TO die He did not die: that he. the be
ing, the soul. could p-e die; that. in
stead. He went to heaven. and then on
the third day came back to get the
body which had been crucified; that He
took 1t to heaven forty days later
married with the print OF the nails iu
His hands and feet. the thorns upon
His brow and the spear mark In His
side. What CHASTITY thought,
Our Methodist friends have not yet
Nn&lnStn lnt
namely. HE assembled up on high, TAX
Ing His heshly body with Him. and all
that appertained thereto, and sat down
on the right hand OF God" This medi-
eval statement correctly admits that
the fieshly body was not the Lords,
but that He. the soul, took IL with Him
as luggage. The statement. And all
that appertained thereto" presumably
refers to sandals, walking stick, etc.
All this is of piece with the theory
that the saints when they die go to
heaven. and then. later come back and
get their bodies land all things apper-
tainlng thereto"-the Inconvenience,
presumably. that they have been rid
of for centuriesi How many trunk
loads of things appertaining thereto"
may be taken by some is not stated.
What Say the Seriptures7
The Bible presentation of this sub
ject is every way reasonable, con-
sistent and harmonious. St Paul points
out that There is a natural body and
there is a spirit body" He does not
mean, and he does not say. that the
spirit body is a human body glorified.
Quite to the contrary. He declares
that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the Kingdom OF GOd'-no matter how
| glorified 1t might be. a human being
would be so totally different from a
spirit being that, as ST. Paul says. cit
doth not yet appear what we shall be"
in our change-and the Scriptures do
not evenattempt to give an explanation.
The Bible merely declares that as we
80 fI.1 l.
| (Adam). we shall, by the glorious res
direction change. be given a share in
the nature and likeness OF the Second
Adam. our glorious Lord: 1--WE shall
be like Him. and see Him as He is
and, be 1t noted, we must change from
flesh and blood conditions to spirit con-
ditions by resurrection power, in order
that we may see Him as He is.
He Appeared and Disappeared.
Two lines OF difficulties now present
themselves. one of which can be an
swered, and the other cannot The
unanswerable difficulty is where a nat
ural minded man undertakes to reason
the subject out. st. Paul explains this,
saying, THE natural man receiv eth not
the things Of the Spirit OF God, neither
can he know them, because they are
spiritually diScerned."
The Apostle proceeds oversees 36-J0)
TO tell US that all men are natural men.
except such as have been begotten by
the Holy Spirit. All natural men will,
In their resurrection. receive earthly or
human bodies, while all spiritual ones
New Creatures in Christ, will receive
spirit bodies.
Coming to the point OF what is to be
resurrected, we note that our Lord ap-
pcared in a body Of flesh, and showed
the disciples the print of the nails and
the hole made by the spear. But We
perhaps. failed to note that only twice
did He thus appear, and but for a few
moments each time. His other six or
seven appearances during that forty
days were also very brief, and In vari-
GUS bodies-once rs a gardener another
time as traveller. His third time as a
stranger on the shore. and to Saul of
Tarsus as spirit being Of more than
angelic s-'shining above tie
brightness of the sun at MONDAY"
How we see more distinctly why our
Lord did as He did. His disciples were |
natural men and therefore could not
appreciate spiritual things. Tho Lord |
adopted the only reasonable way OF |
helping them to understand thar He !
was no longer dead-that He had risen
from the dead