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The Resurrection to Immortality, June 26
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also
which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1
Thessalonians 4:14
.
To the believer, Christ is the resurrection and the life. In our Saviour
the life that was lost through sin is restored; for He has life in Himself to
quicken whom He will. He is invested with the right to give immortality.
The life that He laid down in humanity, He takes up again, and gives to
humanity.
When Christ comes to gather to Himself those who have been faith-
ful, the last trump will sound, and the whole earth, from the summits of
the loftiest mountains to the lowest recesses of the deepest mines, will
hear. The righteous dead will hear the sound of the last trump, and will
come forth from their graves.
All come forth from their graves the same in stature as when they
entered the tomb. Adam, who stands among the risen throng, is of lofty
height and majestic form, in stature but little below the Son of God. He
presents a marked contrast to the people of later generations; in this
one respect is shown the great degeneracy of the race. But all arise
with the freshness and vigor of eternal youth.... The mortal, corruptible
form, devoid of comeliness, once polluted with sin, becomes perfect,
beautiful, and immortal.... Restored to the tree of life in the long-lost
Eden, the redeemed will “grow up” to the full stature of the race in its
primeval glory....
The living righteous are changed “in a moment, in the twinkling of
an eye.”
1 Corinthians 15:52
. At the voice of God they were glorified;
now they are made immortal, and with the risen saints are caught up
to meet their Lord in the air.... Little children are borne by holy angels
to their mothers’ arms. Friends long separated by death are united,
nevermore to part, and with songs of gladness ascend together to the
city of God.
All the precious dead, from righteous Abel to the last saint that dies,
shall awake to glorious, immortal life.
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