and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage, neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.” Here

some are counted worthy to obtain a resurrection from the dead, in which they are as angels, and proved to be the children of God because they belong to it and it to them. If all were raised together, this could not be true. There is a resurrection which belongs to the children of God only, and proves they are such.

b

John v. is equally clear. Two great means are there set before us of the glory of the Son: quickening with the Father and judging alone; the two are not confounded, the judgment is to compel all to honour Him. But in which am I to be? They that have heard His word and believed on Him that sent Him, are quickened; they have everlasting life; shall not come into judgment, but are passed from death unto life. Christ already quickened souls as Son of God. They were not to marvel at this, for the time was coming when all in their graves should hear His voice, they that have done good coming forth to the resurrection of life, they that have done evil to the resurrection of judgment: resurrections thus distinct in their character and nature, one being for judgment, the other for life, completing, as to the body, what had been already done for the soul. The word hour is alleged here to show it is at the same time. This is comparatively of little moment compared with the saints being raised apart as already accepted, and now glorified, the wicked being raised for judgment by themselves. But there is no ground for the remark; opa merely means an epoch. There is one of quickening to have a part with Christ, another in which judgment will be executed. The former has certainly lasted 1800 years and more, and comprises two distinct states, Christ on earth, and Christ in heaven. An argument has a poor foundation which rests upon a word in verse 28 meaning a single and same moment, which in verse 25 certainly

b Kplois judgment, condemnation, damnation (see previous note) are all the same word here in Greek, it means judgment and not condemnation, nor damnation; that is, kaтAKPIμA. VOL. I.-New Series. 12

A concordance will show

means 1800 years and more. there is no force in it at all. In chapter vi., verses 39, 40, 44, 54, all confirm this, it is a promise of that which is the completing the blessing of eternal life. It would be of little import to insist on raising a person up at the last day as a sure proof of favour and eternal life, if the wickedest man going was raised just in the same way, both having their case to be settled by judgment.

It is well here to notice in passing that the notion of Christ's coming at the end of the world is an unscriptural idea. At the judgment of the dead, which is at the end of the world, the last enemy who is to be destroyed then meeting his end also, Christ does not come at all; He sits on the great white throne, and heaven and earth fly away from before His face, and the dead stand before God, and the books are opened. This is not coming back to earth. In the same way the end of this world (in Matt. xiii. and other places) is not of this globe when it is consumed, but this age or dispensation; a perfectly well known phrase among the Jews who spoke of the Olam-hazeh, this world or age, and the Olam-havo, the age to come, the latter being the time of Messiah's reign. Now "the last day" alludes to this; he will be raised up when Christ comes and puts an end to this age alwv (aiōn). It certainly is not the end of the world; Christ could not give the glory then, when He spoke, but when He takes His kingdom He will raise them up and they will reign with Him. 1 Cor. xv. I have already considered.

In Philippians, we find the same truth confirmed. If by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, a very useless effort again, if the wickedest unbeliever would be equally there; there was nothing to attain to. If the saints were to be raised separately in glory, then, indeed, it was worthy of his earnest desire. And in the Greek this passage has a force which the English does not give it. The apostle has invented a Greek word to express this distinct resurrection ežavaσTaois (exanastasis), a rising out from among others. That is what he sought to attain to. Christ, the object of perfect divine favour, had arisen out from among others,

the firstfruits; and Paul, he looked to have part in the blessed harvest when Christ will come from heaven as he expresses it at the end of the chapter, "from whence we expect the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be conformed to His glorious body." How evident it is that the mind of the spirit dwells on a resurrection which belongs to the saints, in which the wicked have no part. In the commonest truths this appears: we are waiting for the adoption, to wit the redemption of the body." deliverance of the body from the power of death could have no such expression if a common resurrection to judgment was in the apostle's mind, was a Christian thought. How would it then be "the adoption"? Death, indeed, then for us will be swallowed up in victory.

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The

1 Thessalonians we have already examined. The dead in Christ rise, the living are changed, and both together go up to meet the Lord in the air, and so are ever with the Lord: a statement which needs no comment as to the exclusion of the wicked.

I would only add that as this and 1 Cor. xv. speak very distinctly of the resurrection of the saints as taking place at the coming of the Lord, those passages which speak of His coming for the saints confirm, in the distinctest the same truth. Thus, "if I way, go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am there ye may be also." Christ comes and takes His own up to Himself. That this excludes the wicked from such a process, there is no need to say.

Here

So in the end of Heb. ix.: "As it is appointed to men once to die (KEITα, it is their lot), and after that the judgment, so Christ was offered to bear the sins of many; and to them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." again salvation and looking for Him exclude the unbeliever. And remark, that this is in contrast with (the natural portion of fallen man) death and judgment. The more familiar we are with the New Testament, the more we shall see how Christ and the believer are asso

с

ciated by the Holy Ghost. So that life and resurrection belong to both, they have a like part in it; only that it is in Him divinely, and by right of course; in us through grace. Their trust was in God that raiseth the dead; they knew that He which raised up Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus, and present us with all saints; that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle be destroyed, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. They looked that mortality might be swallowed up of life. God had wrought them for that, and given them the earnest of the Spirit, so that they were always confident. The cold doctrine of a resurrection common to all, to go and to be judged, furnishes no such thoughts. When Christ comes to judge even the living on this earth, when He finds them eating, drinking, buying, selling, etc. (which is clearly not the great white throne, and seems to have been almost forgotten), all scripture declares that the saints shall appear with Him. The Lord thy God shall come, and all the saints with thee. The Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints. When He shall appear we also shall appear with Him in glory. The armies which are in heaven followed Him, clothed in white linen, and they which are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful. The angels will surely come, but some of these passages do not and cannot apply to angels. We shall appear with Him in glory. Hence, before any judgment of Christ whatever, even of the living, the saints have been raised and are with Him. Them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him, as we have seen in 1 Thess. iv., where there follows the account of how they get there, so as so to come. It is this complete association with Christ which gives such blessedness to the doctrine of a distinct resurrection of saints. We are not only saved through Christ, but blessed and glorified with Him, like Him the firstborn among many brethren. Hence the resurrection was the testimony as well as the hope of the apostles and of saints, as we find them in scripture. It is plainly taught we are happy meanwhile; the thief on the cross,

❤ Then only the dead appear.

2 Cor. v., Phil. i., Stephen, all testify plainly in fact and doctrine to this, but full conformity to Jesus, and that is our hope, is not when we are dead and our spirits with Him, but when we are raised and glorified as He is, like Him and seeing Him as He is. It will be seen that I have treated the subject on the general ground of the universal teaching of scripture, what it makes of the resurrection of the saints, how it associates them with Christ in it; the resurrection of the wicked (though distinctly revealed, and that it is for judgment,) is simply stated, and never expatiated on,-whereas, the resurrection of the saints is largely treated, and as one exclusively theirs, distinct in nature, principle, object, and time.

I am not aware of the resurrection of the wicked being spoken of directly (though constantly assumed elsewhere), save in Paul's address to Felix, and in the fifth of John, until we come to the Revelation, to which I now turn. There, thrones of judgment are seen, and those that sat on them, among whom we find those who had been beheaded for the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus, and thosed who had not worshipped the beast; judgment is given to them, and they lived and reigned with Christ. These compose the first resurrection. And remark, Christ is now come, heaven being opened, the marriage of the Lamb is come, His bride made ready, the beast judged. I am not now speaking of the exact moment of resurrection in the order of these events among themselves, which is not spoken of here at all, but of the epoch at which all this takes place. Babylon is judged of God, the marriage of the Lamb come, so that His whole bride is there, the beast destroyed by Christ, King of kings, Lord of lords. The armies which accompany Him being clearly the saints, for they are in their white robes, and (as expressed in chap. xvii.) they that are with Him are called, chosen and faithful, the first epithet being wholly inapplicable to the angels. When the whole Church, then, is complete, the saints will be raised and sit on thrones, those who have been beheaded for the word of God amongst

d It is a second distinct class-oiries.