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The General Resurrection Of The Righteous, December 24
Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs,
and the earth shall cast out the dead.
Isaiah 26:19
.
The King of kings descends upon the cloud, wrapped in flaming fire. The
heavens are rolled together as a scroll, the earth trembles before Him, and every
mountain and island is moved out of its place....
Amid the reeling of the earth, the flash of lightning, and the roar of thunder, the
voice of the Son of God calls forth the sleeping saints. He looks upon the graves
of the righteous, then, raising His hands to heaven, He cries: “Awake, awake,
awake, ye that sleep in the dust, and arise!” Throughout the length and breadth
of the earth the dead shall hear that voice, and they that hear shall live. And the
whole earth shall ring with the tread of the exceeding great army of every nation,
kindred, tongue, and people. From the prison house of death they come, clothed
with immortal glory, crying: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
victory?”
1 Corinthians 15:55
. And the living righteous and the risen saints unite
their voices in a long, glad shout of victory.
All come forth from their graves the same in stature as when they entered the
tomb... 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. All blemishes and deformities are left in the grave....
The living righteous are changed “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.”
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. Angels “gather together his
elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
As the little infants come forth immortal from their dusty beds, they immedi-
ately wing their way 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.
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