The Golden Future

Part 6 The Dead Live Again

An inconspicuous little man, broad of shoulder but below average height, made his way up the steps to the Court of the Areopagites. The place—Athens, the pride of ancient Greece. The time—about the year 51 A.D., just before Nero became Emperor of the Roman empire and the British king Caractacus was defending South Wales against the invading legions of Rome.

The philosophers stirred in the sunshine. At a loss, for the present time, for a subject of debate they watched with the languor of boredom as the stranger approached, perceiving by his actions that he intended to make use of the time‑honoured privilege of addressing the learned and wise in their own sanctuary. Indifference changed to interest, and interest to close attention, as Paul the Cilician expounded in the best style of Greek oratory, the thesis of his choice–"Jesus Christ and the Resurrection." Whilst he philosophised upon the nature of God "in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said," (Acts 17:28) they retained their interest; but when he began to speak of the resurrection of the dead, the wise shrugged their shoulders and went back to their lounging. The world was already a long way past such a childish notion as that!

The seventeenth chapter of Acts records the pitiable story with a distinctness and sharpness of outline which stamps it as truth. The philosophers are dust and ashes these many years; but the words spoken on that memorable occasion live on into eternity. God "has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness, by the man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead!" (Acts 17:31 NKJV)

Both the teaching of Jesus and the theology of Paul concur in declaring that the resurrection of all is to take place in that day when Christ reigns over the earth. Very soon after the new administration is set up the fulfilment of Christ’s words may be expected. "All who are in the graves will hear His voice, and come forth." (John 5:28‑29 NKJV) Not only the righteous—the examples given in the Scriptures are an assurance that this re‑awakening is to be universal and to affect all who have ever lived. Thus the men of Nineveh, of Sodom and Gomorrah, cities which were notorious for their iniquity, are to return (Matt.12:41,42; Luke 11:31,32; Ezek.16:55) and Caiaphas, the leading figure in the greatest crime of human history, is to see the coming of that Kingdom against which he so blindly fought. (Matt.26:64) The innocents of Israel (Jer.31:15‑17), Job the proverbial symbol of patience (Job 14:13‑15), Israel the people of God (Dan.12:2), and many more will come back from death in one continuous stream of awakened humanity questioning and wondering at this strange thing which has happened to them.

"How are the dead raised up? and with what Body do they come?" asked the imaginary critic in Paul’s reasoning in 1 Cor.15:35. Truly a question that needs an answer, for if men and women who have been dead and forgotten for centuries or for millenniums and whose physical bodies have long since mouldered into dust, are to re‑appear upon earth again as human beings—well, with what body do they come?

The story of the Garden of Eden has often suffered at the hands of its best friends, but the more that the Bible is studied in the light of the last century’s knowledge the more it becomes evident that in some wonderful manner the first human beings did in very truth receive their physical bodies as a special and a direct creation of God. There is something in man which the brute creation does not possess and never can possess—something which makes all the difference between the highest and most intelligent of animals and the lowest and most degraded of men. God formed man of the dust of the ground (the physical elements of this earth), "breathed into his nostrils the breath (spirit) of life, and man became a living soul"—an intelligent, sentient being. (Gen.2:7) It was the spirit of life, and the mental processes of thought, reasoning, memory and anticipation, operating through a suitable physical organism, that made man what he was and enables him to know himself for what he is.

If then this thing did happen once at the dawn of human history, clearly that same Divine power is able to repeat the process when the time comes for "all who are in the graves" to "come forth." A newly‑created physical frame, impressed with the character, memory and disposition of a being who once lived, and died, and now awakens to consciousness and sentient existence again! The identity being thus the same, the period spent in death will be nothing more or less than a sleep so far as that individual is concerned; and the moment of awakening will be as the moment after that unconsciousness which was death, taking place perhaps four or five thousand years before.

From that point the thread of existence will be taken up, and the individual commence to live with the same mentality and disposition which he had at the same moment of death. Here the stern law of Divine retribution comes into full effect; for "whatever a man sows, that he will also reap!" (Gal.6:7 NKJV) The one who went down into death degraded, brutalised, vicious, will come back with the same characteristics. The one who sought to live a life of uprightness, rectitude and benevolence toward his fellow‑men, will come back an upright and noble man. In consequence, and because righteousness will be dominant in that day, and the practice of evil restrained: and because truth will be paramount and doubt and deceit no longer possible, the noble and upright of heart will already be much farther advanced toward the Divine standard which is then to be attained by all, than those who have misused their human powers and opportunities in their previous life.

It is suggested by some, with good show of reason, that this stupendous awakening of earth’s millions from the sleep of death will continue progressively, in the reverse order to that of their death, until at length the earliest of the most ancient nations will be restored to their place.

Men will without doubt organise the earth’s resources to meet the needs of this returning multitude; and as each generation comes back so there will be those among them who, lovers of God or benefactors of men in their own lifetime, will quickly grasp the significance of this amazing thing which has happened to them and turn with enthusiasm and zeal to the work of instructing their fellows. Thus will be brought to pass the saying of Isaiah, "Your dead shall live…awake and sing, you who dwell in dust …the earth shall cast out the dead." (Isa.26:19 NKJV) "You shall call, and I will answer You;" says Job (14:15 NKJV) "You shall desire the work of Your hands." Every man and woman entering upon a social order which has a use for each one will find an obligation devolving upon them to take their own place in its administration and service; by means of an all‑powerful and absolutely righteous system of government having the opportunity to come to a true and correct knowledge of the principles which shall govern all human life to all eternity—those laws of Nature which are also the laws of God.

The scientist and the statistician may and does oppose such a prospect with the cold logic of alleged facts, questioning the capacity of this planet to support life in perpetuity and talking about an ultimate "running‑down" of the Universe. Such talk sounds convincing at first, but the scientists of past ages argued just as convincingly that the earth was flat, that men could never fly in the air lest they got too near the sun and were consequently burned up—and even as recently as the nineteenth century stated with perfect assurance that human endurance could never survive a travel speed of more than sixty miles an hour!

The integrity of the Bible stands involved in this whole question. Long years ago it was stated that God created not the earth in vain—to be a ruin—but to be inhabited. (Isa.45:18) The Divine promise is that this planet is to be filled with the glory of God, to be the home of a happy race of undying beings who, having at long last learned by bitter experience the "exceeding sinfulness of sin" will live to all eternity amidst glorious surroundings and a perfect environment, in complete accord and amity with each other and in absolute harmony with God.

Before this desirable condition of things can be brought about it must be that "Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them" (Rev.20:13 NKJV), that all may have this wonderful opportunity to accept the grace of God in Christ.

Bible Fellowship Union