If A Man Die Shall He Live Again?

by F.W.Fullerton | Category: General | Dec 1936

No more momentous question has ever exercised the thoughts of men. As we think of the 1,600,000,000 of human beings that "are but a single wave of the great tide of human life that breaks, generation after generation, upon the shore of the unknown world"; and "as we come to realize that every unit is a human being with a little world of joys and sorrows all his own, and an unbounded capacity for happiness or sorrow," every thinking person craves an answer, and an answer, if such be possible, of absolute certainty.

Conflicting human theories have at all times been advanced, and the inevitable result thereof has been the dark mists of scepticism and unbelief, or the easy going "liberalism " of socalled "modern thought."

The resurrection of the dead is said to be a "scientific impossibility," and some who are exceedingly wise in their own conceit cannot at most permit the existence of a " Creator who is responsible for any act beyond "the commonplace facts of their own experience."

What then can satisfy the individual who considers the great problems of life and death? Such problems can only be met and solved by the word of Him who is the Author of life and who holds the "keys of death" (Revelation 1. 18).

WHAT SAITH THE SCRIPTURE?

The raising of the dead is one of the outstanding themes of Holy Scripture, of which the resurrection of Christ is a guarantee and assurance to all men (see and compare 1 Corinthians 15. 20-22; Acts 17. 30, 31). If we wished to cite human testimony we could easily do so (for example: Sir Ambrose Fleming in his presidential address to the meeting of the Victoria Institute in London, 14th January, 1935, said-" The bodily resurrection of Christ is one of the most certainly attested facts in human history "). However, we turn from all human testimony as possessing any claim to speak with authority and finality on the subject of resurrection, and we listen to the voice of Him who spake with Divine authority-" The hour cometh in which all that are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth: they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done ill unto the resurrection of judgement" (John 5. 28, 29).

Herein is revealed the tremendous fact that the dead await a given time when He who is the Conqueror of death and to whom "all authority" has been given "in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28. 18), including the right to raise and judge all who have gone through the portals of death (John 5. 19-29) shall speak with a voice which will penetrate the darkest recesses of earth and the deepest depths of sea calling forth therefrom to the reunion of soul and body, which is the resurrection of Divine revelation. Each individual of the human race who has been capable of exercising the will, must be held accountable for the deeds done in the body, even to the speaking of idle words; "I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement" (Matthew 12. 36). But supreme above every other issue, men will be held responsible for their attitude toward light from God which reached them; the obeying of which will bring blessing and the right to share in the resurrection of life, but the disobeying and rejection of which will bring Divine displeasure and judgement.

We believe the doing or practising of good to be the acknowledging of and bowing to the claims of the Creator as revealed; whether in the works of creation, concerning which the Psalmist declared "The heavens declare the glory of God, And the firmament sheweth His handywork" (Psalm 19.), or the Divinely inspired Scriptures in which He has been pleased fully to reveal His will, through human instrumentality, in human speech, for man's obedience.

The doing or practising of ill, is the antithesis of bowing to the Divine will. It is the refusal to recognise and give glory to Him whose glory and majesty are seen in creation (Romans 1. 18-25), or the deliberate and wilful rejection of the Christ of God, who is presented as the Saviour in God's final revelation to men in the Gospel. It can be briefly summed up as the assertion of the creature's will in defiance of that of the Creator.

What then follows upon resurrection ? (we do not here refer to the "rising" of the " dead in Christ," 1 Thessalonians 4. 16). We cannot deal at length with this solemn subject, but briefly call attention to certain passages in the Word of God. Romans 2. 6-9, shows the great principles of judgement and the life to come, for God" will render to every man according to his works:

to them that by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honour and incorruption, eternal life: but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall be wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek (Gentile, A.V.)."

Furthermore be it noted, that the degree of light which has penetrated to men will determine the degree of their responsibility and the severity of judgement (Romans 2. 12). There is no thought or suggestion either here or elsewhere that death "is the end of all things for man," but clear as noon-day is the teaching of Scripture that, beyond the grave is an eternal future for all mankind. For some, a future of joy, of endless life beyond the reach of pain, decay and death; and for others a future of eternal punishment (see Matthew 25. 46; 2 Thessalonians 1. 9).

We anticipate that the large percentage, if not all, of those who read this paper are those who are living in lands where the kindly and life-giving rays of the Gospel are shining. Such a position of privilege, however, brings with it corresponding responsibilities and obligations to hearken to the words of Divine command, from which they cannot escape, for God now commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent (Acts 17. 30).

WHAT MUST I Do TO BE SAVED?

What then is obedience to God's revealed will in the Gospel, and what is the answer to the question, "What must I do to be saved ? " Firstly, let us be very clear as to what such obedience

is not. It certainly is not some standard of behaviour which men may set up for themselves, while ignoring the Bible, which contains a faithful and accurate statement of the Creator's claims upon His creatures. And yet in the midst of the full blaze of Gospel light, men make to themselves a god of their own imagination, and ways of salvation innumerable.

When the Lord Jesus Christ was asked, "What must we do that we may work the works of God? " His reply was, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent" (John 6. 28, 29). And again, "For this is the will of My Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son, and believeth on Him, should have eternal life " (verse 40); while on a remarkable occasion later on-Acts 16.30, 31,from the lips of God's servants, in reply to the startled cry of an awakened sinner, came the life giving words, " Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved."

These are a few of the words of eternal life, and may be regarded as briefly worded examples of the substance of the blessed Gospel message which leaves no room for human ideas; "The Gospel of God," is "concerning His Son" (see Romans 1. 1-4). Christ is its great theme, the One who is very God and perfect Man; and who by His obedience unto death satisfied all the claims of Divine righteousness (Romans 3. 25, 26), for not all the love, kindness, and compassion, manifested in His sojourn amongst men could meet man's deepest need. Though He healed the bodies of the diseased and infirm, yet bad His love and mercy ended there, mankind would have been left with no way back to God. But, blessed be God, Christ's sinatoning death and triumphant

resurrection can meet man's deepest need ; for because of the infinite value of that redemptive work, man, who is guilty before God (Romans 3. 19), and bankrupt, with nothing to pay (Luke 7. 41-42) is offered salvation from the consequences of sin against a righteous and Holy God (John 3. 16; 5. 24, and many other scriptures). Yea, man is offered blessings beyond the power of the human mind to grasp or conceive (1 Corinthians 2. 9, 10). All is offered as a free gift

(Romans 6. 23) and must be received as such. Human merit is valueless, "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags " (Isaiah 64. 6): such is the Divine estimate of all mans fancied goodness in his unregenerate state. Salvation is " not of works, that no man should glory (or boast)" (Ephesians 2. 9). This excludes all hope of gaining salvation as a reward for "good works." (Let it, however, be clearly understood by the reader that, "good works" should follow salvation, as normally as fruit follows upon the planting and cultivation of a fruit tree.)

Christ and His perfectly finished atoning work is the only way whereby men may have salvation and eternal life. And those who are satisfied with Christ's work and rest on Him by faith work "the work of God" (John 6. 28,

29). To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal, living Saviour, who can deliver from the penalty and the power of sin, is to be saved-yea, and saved with an eternal salvation.

As we close, we cannot but remember the dark and dread alternative of refusing God's salvation-"Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish " (Acts 13. 41), the inevitable result of disobedience to the Divine command to repent. "He that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on Him" (John 3. 36).

F.W.Fullerton | Dec 1936
General