man.

66

66

risen from the dead, and is declared to effect the resurrection of Paul, after asserting that, as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive;" and after declaring that Jesus must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet, and destroyed death, the last enemy; and that, "when all things shall be subdued to Christ, then shall the Son also himself be subject to him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all," he treats more directly of the nature and consequences of the resurrection; and, after speaking of the different glories of the sun, moon, and stars, says, 'So, also, is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." 1 Cor. 15: 42-44. He further says, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." Verses 53-57. Here is our victory, and the foundation of our hopes. The apostle has here given a lively description of the closing scene of Christ's mission on earth. This will be the final consummation of God's eternal purpose; "that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him." Then all who have died in Adam will be made alive in Christ. Then shall the "creation itself be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God." Then sin and death will be forever destroyed; tears shall be wiped from all faces; sorrow and sighing shall have a perpetual end; and the ransomed world shall sing, "Blessing and honor, glory and power, unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, forever and ever."

We have noticed those passages which we think have an important bearing upon the subject of the resurrection. It may be supposed, by some, that we have omitted passages that have an immediate connection with the subject; and, by others, that John 5: 29, speaks

of a resurrection, which ought to have been noticed. But to the last we reply, that Christ had no allusion to a literal resurrection in this text. In verse 25, he speaks of a death in which the unbelieving Jews were involved; and, in the 28th verse, he represents those, thus involved, as being "in the graves;" verse 29, that they "shall come forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." The time alluded to is the time of Jerusalem's sad catastrophe. See Daniel 12: 1-3, and Matt. 24: 21, also, 16:27, 28, all of which speak of, and identify the time here referred to. The resurrection is a figurative one, showing the waking up, and calling forth, from the moral graves of sin and rebellion, that nation and people to a sense of what they were, and where they were. See Ezek. 37: 12, 13, "Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, 0 my people and brought you up out of your graves." In Dan. 12: 2, it is said that they shall awake from the dust of the earth, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." In the text it is said, "And they shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." Let it here be borne in mind, that they all come forth, in this rising, the one who has done good, unto life; the other, who has done evil, unto damnation. Here they receive in proportion to their merit or demerit. The hour was then coming, and soon did it overtake them even in that generation. Matt. 16: 28. The word anastasin, here rendered resurrection, simply signifies the act of rising from a sitting or reclining posture, from a seat or the ground, a rising up, a starting up, &c. See Donnegan's Lexicon. The word is here applied to the calling forth of the Jews from a state of lethargy and moral death, as we have before shown. See on the judgment, and other places in this work.

CHAPTER VIII.

ON THE PHRASES THAT DAY, LAST DAY, LAST TIME, GREAT DAY, DAY OF THE LORD, ETC.

SECTION I.

Those pussages where the phrases THAT DAY, LAST DAY, LAST DAYS, LAST TIME, LAST TIMES, GREAT DAY, DAY OF WRATH, DAY OF THE LORD, etc.,

occur.

Ps. 95: 7, 8. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness.

Heb. 3: 8, 9. Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

Deut. 32: 35. To me belongeth vengeance and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

Zech. 14: 9. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.

Zech. 2: 10, 11. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee.

Isa. 49 8. Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people.

2 Cor. 6: 3. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

John 16: 26. At that day ye shall ask in my name; and I say not unte you, that I will pray the Father for you.

John 8: 56.

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it and was glad.

Last day, Last days, etc.

Isa. 2: 2. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

Micah 4: 1. But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. Acts 2: 17. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

John 12 48. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him : the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

2 Tim. 3 1. This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall

come.

:

Heb. 1 1, 2. God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers, by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.

2 Pet. 3 3. Knowing this first, that there shall come, in the last days, scoffers, walking after their own lusts.

Last time, Last times, etc.

1 Peter 1: 5. Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last times.

Verse 20. Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.

1 John 2 18. Little children, it is the last time; and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

Jude 1 17, 18. But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

1 Peter 1: 7. But the end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

Rev. 6 17. 1 Thess. 5: 2, 3.

:

Great day.

Joel 2: 11. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Verse 31. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.

Acts 2 20. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come.

Zeph. 1 14. The great day of the Lord is near; it is near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord.

Mal. 4 5.

ng of the great Jude 1 6.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the comand dreadful day of the Lord.

And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left

their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under dark ness, unto the judgment of the great day.

Rev. 6 17. For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Rev. 16 14. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

SECTION II.

General Remarks on the phrases THAT DAY, LAST DAY, LAST DAYS, LAST TIMES, GREAT DAY, DAY OF WRATH, etc.

It will be seen that the word day, in the Scriptures, is used in a variety of ways to denote any given time or period, either definite or indefinite. But where it has the definite article, or any defining word, prefixed to define and limit its meaning, we must of necessity look to the context, or general subject of discourse, to learn its meaning. In the commencement of the preceding section of passages it will be seen that the day of temptation to the Jews in the wilderness is referred to. In the quotations from Zechariah it will be seen that the phrase that day is limited and confined to the day or kingdom of Christ, which was then future. And in the quotation from John 16: 26, that day alludes to the same period. Also, chap. 8 56, the phrase my day has the same limits. Under the phrases last day, last days, &c., it will be seen, in the quotations from Isa. 2: 2, and Micah 4: 1, that the phrase last days has special reference to the close of the Legal dispensation, when the Jewish rites and ceremonies, with all their national privileges, were about to be closed, and a new order of things established. Peter has clearly defined the time, and illustrated the events, in Acts 2: 16, 20, “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants, and on my handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy and I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before that