Vout. XXXII BROOKLYN, N. Y., MAY 15, 1912 No. 10 JESUS NO LONGER FLESH—NOW “THAT SPIRIT” “With what body do they come?”—1] Cor. 15:35. In the May 1 issue of Taz WaTcH TowER we discussed the fact of the resurrection and showed from St. Paul’s words that without God’s purpose of a resurrection those who have fallen asleep in death would have perished as brutes. We followed with the Apostle the assurances that Christ did rise from the dead and did become the First-fruits of all those who have gone into the sleep of death. Others, indeed, were awakened temporarily—as, for instance, Jairus’ daughter, Lazarus the friend of Jesus, and the son of the widow of Nain. Yet none of those instances is counted as a resurrection, for it is said that Christ is the first-fruits of those who slept. Their awdkening was merely of a temporary nature, and they soon relapsed into the sleep of death. They did not have a full resurrection—anastasis—a raising up to perfection of life, such as the redemptive work of Jesus guarantees to Adam and to all his race willing to accept the same under the terms of the New Covenant. You will recall that in our last issue we demonstrated from the Scriptures that it is not the the body, but the soul, that is promised a resurrection—that it was our Lord’s soul that went to sheol, hades, to the death state, and that God raised him up from death on the third day. We noted a difficulty into which all Christendom was plunged by the unscriptural theory that it is the body that is to be resurrected. We now continue to search and note well further difficulties into which this error plunged us as believers in the words of Christ, particularly in connection with our Redeemer’s resurrection. 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 being, the soul, could not die; that, instead, he went to heaven, and then, on the third day, came back to get the body which had been crucified; and that he took it to heaven forty days later; that he hag had that body ever since; and that he will have it to all eternity, marred with the print of the nails in his hands and feet, the thorns upon his brow, and the spear mark in his side. What a ghastly thought! How strange that we should ever have been misled into so unscriptural and unreasonable a theory! Some endeavor to gloss the matter by suggesting that our Lord’s flesh is glorified—that it shines—the shining presumably making the wounds all the more conspicuous. ABSURDITY OF THEORIES RECEIVED FROM DARK AGES Our Methodist friends have not yet changed their statement of the matter, namely, “He ascended up on high, taking his fleshly body with him, and all that appertained thereto, and sat down on the right hand of God.” This medieval statement correctly admits that the fleshly body was not the Lord’s, but that he, the soul, took it with him as luggage. The statement, “and all that appertained thereto,” presumably would refer to our Lord’s sandals, walking stick and such clothing as the soldiers did not divide amongst them at the time of his erucifixion—if indeed he had any others! But our dear Methodist friends want to be sure that nothing was left behind. All this is of a piece with the theory that the saints when they die go to heaven, and then, later, come back and get their bodies, “and all things appertaining thereto”—the inconveniences that they have been rid of for centuries! How many trunkloads of “things appertaining thereto” may be taken by some, and how mixed an assortment by others is not stated. Neither are particulars given respecting those whose clothing, etc., have meantime worn out. But we have had enough of this, if it has helped us to see the absurdity of our theories received from the “dark ages”—if it has awakened us to thought and to Bible investigation on this important and interesting subject. WHAT SAY THE SCRIPTURES? The Bible presentation of this subject is every way reasonable, consistent 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 it might be A human being is so totally different from a spirit being that, as St. Paul says, “It doth not yet appear what we shall be,” in our resurrection change; and the Scriptures do not even attempt to give us an explanation. The Bible merely declares that as we now bear the imaye of the earthy, Adam, we shall, by the glorious resurrection change, be given a share in the nature and likeness of the second Adam, our glorious Lord. We shall be like him and [5025] see him as he is; and, be it noted, we must change from flesh and blood conditions to spirit conditions by resurrection power, in order that we may see him as he is. Surely this proves that our Lord Jesus is no longer flesh, as he once was—“in the days of his flesh.’—Hebrews 5:7. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEAVENLY AND EARTHLY BODIES Our text calls attention to the difference between celestial bodies and terrestrial, or earthly bodies, and declares that they have different glories. It tells us that the first Adam was made a living soul, a human being, but that our Redeemer, who humbled himself and took the earthly nature, “for the suffering of death,’ thereby became the second Adam—the Heavenly Lord. The wide distinction between the second Adam and the first Adam is clearly set forth. One was earthy and the other heavenly. As we now bear the image of the earthy, we shall, if faithful, bear the heavenly image of our Lord, the second Adam, after our resurrection change. St. Paul illustrates by saying that we know by many kinds of organisms on the earthy or fleshly plane—one flesh of man, another of beasts, another of birds and another of fish. But however different the organisms they are all earthy. So, on the heavenly plane, the spirit plane, there are varieties of organisms, but all are spirit. Our heavenly Father is the Head or Chief—“God is a Spirit.” Cherubim, seraphim, and the still lower order of angels are all spirit beings; and Christ Jesus, our Redeemer, after finishing the work of sacrificing appointed to him, was resurrected to the spirit plane—far above angels, principalities and powers—next to the Father; and thus we read, “Now the Lord is that Spirit.” And again that “He was put to death in the flesh, but quickened (or made alive} in the spirit.”— 1 Pet. 3:18. The more we examine the subject the more foolish and unscriptural the views handed to us from the dark ages appear. For instance, the Scriptures clearly set forth that our Redeemer, prior to becoming a man, was a spirit being—‘‘the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.’ His leaving the spirit plane to become a man is Scripturally described as a great stoop or humiliation. Is it reasonable to suppose that the heavenly Father would perpetuate to all eternity that humiliation, after it had served its intended purpose? Surely he would do nothing of the kind! The Bible tells us why Jesus humbled himself to the human nature—‘a little lower than the angels.” It was because a man had sinned, and the Redeemer must, under the law, be on the same plane of being as the one whom he would redeem. Thus Jehovah particularly specified, ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life”’ Hence the death of an angel, or of our Lord in his pre-human condition, could not have effected the payment of man’s penalty and the consequent release of the condemned race. Thus again we read, “A body hast thou prepared me,” “for the suffering of death.” GOD HIGHLY EXALTED HIM No one questions that this applies exclusively to our Lord’s experiences during the years in which “Ie who was rich for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich.” Surely it is unsupposable that the Father would arrange a plan by which our Redeemer’s faithfulness’in accomplishing man’s redemption would cost him an eternity of poverty, humiliation, degradation to a plane “a little lower than the angels,” while the church would be made rich, and would attain a spirit state “far above angels’—be made “partakers of the divine nature.”—2 Peter 1:4. On the contrary, the very same Apostle who tells us of our Lord’s humiliation carries the matter to the climax, telling us of his faithfulness, as the Man Christ Jesus, unto death, even the death of the cross: and then he adds an assurance of the heavenly Father's faithfulness in not leaving his Son on a lower plane: “Wherefore,” says the Apostle, “God also highly exalted him, and hath given him a name above every name.” This, too, is in harmony with our Lord’s words in his praver to the Father. A joy had been set before him by the Father— a joy of pleasing the Father, of bringing a blessing to mankind, and the joy also of exaltation, as a special reward for obedience. But the Redeemer, ignoring all the promises of a higher glory as a reward for his faithfulness, merely prayed to the Father in these words, “Father, glorify thou me with the glory which IT had with thee before the world was.” In humility he asked no reward. He did not pray, Remember that you (159-160)
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