rtf1ansiansicpg1252deff0deflang1033fonttblf0fnilfcharset0 Georgia;f1fnilfprq2fcharset0 Padua; colortbl ;red0green128blue0; viewkind4uc1pardf0fs24 par b The First Resurrection.b0 par par cf11ulbf1fs22 Rev_20:6cf0ulnoneb0f0fs24. par par Resurrection is our hopeu8212?not death. It has always been the Church's hopeu8212?the hope of patriarchs and kings and prophets. Martha only uttered the confession of the Church universal when she said, 'I know that he shall rise again.' Israel knew resurrection wellu8212?and the Old Testament assumes the truth of it. par par It is not the putting off this vile body (or this 'body of our humiliation'), but the putting on of the immortal and incorruptible that is our hope; not our going to Christ, but His coming to us; not merely our victory over sin and its spiritual consequences, but victory over death and the grave. This hope grew brighter as the ages went on, until it was fully revealed in Him who is the resurrection and the life. But still more was needed; and it was reserved for Paul and John fully to unfold the hope. par par This twentieth chapter of the Revelation is a very wonderful one, and specially valuable as giving us details of the resurrection hope. par par An angel is seen descending out of heaven; he has the key of the bottomless pit, or abyss, and a great chain in his hand. He seizes the dragon, the old serpent (the murderer and liar from the beginning, cf11ulbf1fs22 Joh_8:44cf0ulnoneb0f0fs24), who is the Devil, and Satan; binds him a thousand years; casts him into the abyss; locks him up; sets a seal above or upon him, to hinder his escaping and deceiving the nations for a thousand years. Then thrones are set up (cf11ulbf1fs22 Dan_7:9cf0ulnoneb0f0fs24); and there are sitters upon them, to whom judgment is given (cf11ulbf1fs22 1Co_6:2cf0ulnoneb0f0fs24); the souls (cf11ulbf1fs22 Act_2:41cf0ulnoneb0f0fs24, cf11ulbf1fs22 Act_7:41cf0ulnoneb0f0fs24) of the martyrs and the non-worshipers of the beast are made to live again; and being thus raised, they reign with Christ (cf11ulbf1fs22 Rev_5:10cf0ulnoneb0f0fs24). But the rest of the dead are not raised until the end of the thousand years. This is the first resurrection. par par It gets the designation of 'first,' not because of its pre-eminence and glory, but because it is before another. Properly speaking, the great resurrection fact is but oneu8212?'all that are in their grave shall arise;' but it divides itself into two parts or acts, separated from each other by a considerable intervalu8212?an interval (like that between the Lord's two comings) not at first revealed. But here the interval is explicitly announcedu8212?a thousand years. The righteous rise to glory at the beginning of that period, and during it they live and reign with Christ. At its close, the wicked rise, and are judged. This resurrection of the wicked at the close of the thousand years, sets aside the doctrine of annihilation entirely. They do not rise in order to be annihilated. They do not get new bodies merely in order to have these new bodies destroyed. par par b I. WHEN is it to be?b0 When the Lord comes the second time. In the preceding chapter he is described as coming with the hosts of heaven for the destruction of His enemies. (See cf11ulbf1fs22 1Co_15:23cf0ulnoneb0f0fs24; cf11ulbf1fs22 1Th_4:16cf0ulnoneb0f0fs24; cf11ulbf1fs22 2Th_2:1cf0ulnoneb0f0fs24). He comes as the resurrection and the life; the abolisher of death, the spoiler of the grave, the raiser of His saints. par par b II. WHO it is to consist of?b0 This passage speaks only of the martyrs and the non-worshipers of the beast; but other passages show that all His saints are to be partakers of this reward. 'This honor have all His saints;' all who have followed Christ, or suffered for Him, from Abel downwards. They have suffered with Him here, and they shall reign with Him here. They have fought the good fight; they have overcome the world, and the god of this world. The conflict and the tribulation have been sore, but the recompense is glorious. Oneness with Christ now secures for us the glory of that day. par par b III. WHAT it does for those who share it?b0 It brings to them such things as the following: par par b (1) Blessednessb0 u8212?Peculiar blessedness is to be theirs. God only knows how much that word implies, as spoken by Him who cannot lie, who exaggerates nothing, and whose simplest words are His greatest. par par b (2) Holinessb0 u8212?They are pre-eminently 'the saints of God;' set apart for Him; consecrated and purified, both outwardly and inwardly; dwelt in by him whose name is the 'Holy Spirit;' and called to special service in virtue of their consecration. Priestly-royal service is to be theirs throughout the eternal ages. par par b (3) Preservation from the second deathb0 u8212?They rise to an immortality which shall never be recalled. No dying again, in any sense of the word; not a fragment of mortality about them, nothing of this vile body, and nothing of that corruption or darkness or anguish which shall be the portion of those who rise at the close of the thousand years. 'Neither shall they die any more' (cf11ulbf1fs22 Luk_20:36cf0ulnoneb0f0fs24). They 'shall not be hurt of the second death' (cf11ulbf1fs22 Rev_2:2cf0ulnoneb0f0fs24), but shall feed upon the tree of life. Their connection with death, in every sense, is done forever. par par b (4) The possession of a heavenly priesthoodb0 u8212?They are made priests unto God and Christu8212?both to the Father and the Son. Priestly nearness and access; priestly power and honor and service; priestly glory and dignityu8212?this is their recompense. They, with their glorified and reigning Head, form the link between creation above and creation belowu8212?between the Creator and the creature, carrying up the incenses of prayer and praise and service from all parts of a holy universe, now linked to Godhead forever, beyond the possibility of fall. They maintain the communication between God and His world, between Paradise regained and the Paradise that was never lostu8212?no, between God and His innumerable worlds throughout all space. For priesthood is not for sacrifice alone, but for carrying on the endless communion between heaven and earth. par par b (5) The possession of the kingdomb0 u8212?They shall reign for a thousand years over a renewed earth, where there are traces still of the fall, and on which Satan is for a brief season to be let loose; and they shall reign forever and ever over a world thoroughly restored and purified, into which Satan shall never again find entrance. They are kings as well as priests, both in oneu8212?God's Melchizedek's, wearing the priestly miter, and wielding the royal scepter. Having their home and place and throne in the new Jerusalem, they rule over a delivered creation, over the converted nations, over a world now filled with the Holy Spirit in all its nations. par par Such are our prospectsu8212?let us live accordingly. Let our coming honors influence us nowu8212?making us self-denied, consistent, heavenlyu8212?quickening us to zeal and love. par par Sinner, walking on in unbelief, and worldliness, and pleasure, what are your prospects? Have you considered them? Are they satisfactory? What is your hope? What is judgment to do for you? What is resurrection to bring? Look at the following alternatives, and ask which is to be yours. Everlasting gladnessu8212?or everlasting sorrow? Everlasting gloryu8212?or everlasting shame? Everlasting songsu8212? or everlasting wailing? The marriage supper of the Lambu8212?or the perpetual banishment from all that is good and holy? The new heavens and earthu8212?or the eternal wilderness, with its parched and burning wastes? The heavenly Jerusalem, with the Lamb as its lightu8212?or the blackness of darkness forever? The fruit of the tree of life and the waters of the celestial riveru8212?or the eternal hunger and the unquenchable thirst? (cf11ulbf1fs22 Luk_16:24cf0ulnoneb0f0fs24). The first resurrectionu8212?or the second death? These are the alternatives before youu8212?and there is no middle doom. par par O that second death, and that resurrection unto condemnation! (cf11ulbf1fs22 Joh_5:29cf0ulnoneb0f0fs24; cf11ulbf1fs22 Rev_20:13cf0ulnoneb0f0fs24.) You shall arise, O manu8212?but what will that rising do for you? When you were carried out at the first death, there were tears shed upon your coffin; but shall it be so when you are carried out at the second death? Your funeral procession moves on; but there are not friends, no mourners. What means that dark procession? It is a legion of fallen angels come to escort you to that place where the worm dies not. They lament not, but rejoice that they have got you, both soul and body, into their keeping forever. O man! Man, made in the image of God, and made for fellowship with Godu8212?is this to be your end? Man, with a soul susceptible of such gladness and such sorrow, and with a body capable of such pleasure and such painu8212?is this to be your doom? Is this the end of all time's hopes, and fears, and dreamsu8212?its songs, and smiles, and laughter? Is this the end of sermons, and Sabbaths, and sacraments? Is this the end of warnings, and judgments, and providences, and entreaties, and messages of love? Well may hell from beneath be moved at your coming, and sayu8212?Have you too become like one of us? par par Oh, before the last trumpet sound, before you lie down upon your earthly deathbed, lift up your eyes to the saving cross! There is healing in a look. Look and live! Though it were your last look here, before the eye closed forever, it would suffice. The uplifted Savior saves even at the lastu8212?saves even the chief of sinners!