Page 315 - Maranatha (1976)

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Mysteries of the Resurrection For, October 20
I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter
day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this
body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and
mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be
consumed within me.
Job 19:25-27
.
Our personal identity is preserved in the resurrection, though not the
same particles of matter or material substance as went into the grave. The
wondrous works of God are a mystery to man. The spirit, the character of
man, is returned to God, there to be preserved. In the resurrection every
man will have his own character. God in His own time will call forth the
dead, giving again the breath of life, and bidding the dry bones live. The
same form will come forth, but it will be free from disease and every defect.
It lives again bearing the same individuality of features, so that friend will
recognize friend. There is no law of God in nature which shows that God
gives back the same identical particles of matter which composed the body
before death. God shall give the righteous dead a body that will please Him.
Paul illustrates this subject by the kernel of grain sown in the field. The
planted kernel decays, but there comes forth a new kernel. The natural
substance in the grain that decays is never raised as before, but God giveth
it a body as it hath pleased Him. A much finer material will compose the
human body, for it is a new creation, a new birth. It is sown a natural body,
it is raised a spiritual body.
He [the believer] may die, as Christ died, but the life of the Saviour
is in him. His life is hid with Christ in God. “I am come that they might
have life,” Jesus said, “and that they might have it more abundantly.” He
carries on the great process by which believers are made one with Him in
this present life, to be one with Him throughout all eternity....
At the last day He will raise them as a part of Himself.... Christ became
one with us in order that we might become one with Him in divinity.
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