RESURRECTION OF JESUS. WE had the pleasure, on eve of Easter Sunday, of hearing a Chicago Baptist minister preach upon the resurrection of Jesus, an old subject, but one rarely dwelt upon by modern popular ministers, and yet it is one of the cardinal doctrines of the churches. His premises were sound and his conclusions just and reasonable. He was emphatic, and waxed eloquent in argument, alleging that the resurrection of Jesus was not only a scriptural and reasonable doctrine, but a well-attested historical fact. He boldly declared that if Christ did not arise from the dead as recorded and proclaimed by the apostles, then we have no Saviour, no Christ, no Son of God at the right hand of the Father; our prayers and hopes are in vain; and we are yet in our sins. He asserted that upon the fact of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, were based, all the hopes of the Christian church; that although Jesus might have been a good man, the greatest teacher of morality, a prophet sent of God, performing wonderful miracles, healing diseases, feeding the hungry, etc., yet if he did not rise from the dead, he was a’ “deceiver, and the world has no Saviour today. All this and much more we were glad to hear him say, believing every word to be true. It so happened (providentially, I think)that at the Close of the service the minister sought me out of the crowd, knowing I was a stranger, and kindly asked me to come again. As we lingered and conversed when pearly all had left the house, I was constrained to ask the earnest, friendly man one question. It was this:— If, in order that Jesus might enter Heaven, sit at the right hand of his Father, and engage in he’s intercessory work, it was, absolutely necessary that he arise from the dead, come forth from the tomb, is it not also true by parity of reasoning that Abraham, David, and Paul must have a resurrection from the grave before they can enter Heaven and receive their reward? I assured the minister that I heartily indorsed his positions, as being sound and scriptural, Before pressing him for an answer, I reminded him that if his position was correct and scriptural, and the resurrection of Abraham and others was yet future (which he admitted), then all the righteous dead are still in the prison-house of death, and not in Heaven, not alive; and without a resurrection are perished. 1 Cor. 15: 18.He tried in vain to evade the trap he set for himself, and asserted that the righteous dead were now in paradise, without a resurrection. I again reminded him that if he could get Abraham, David, and others to Heaven without a resurrection, he could do the same with Jesus, and thus overthrow the argument of his sermon, and leave himself standing on the “Spiritualist platform. The reader can better imagine than I can describe his confusion at this point. He frankly admitted that there is no future immortal life except by and through Christ. This admission was fatal to his inherent immortality theory. I left the earnest man with his half-and-half, truth-and-error position, hoping he would have the courage to accept the truth. How grateful to God we ought to be for the light of truth he gives us in these times when error has so many eloquent advocates May we so live, that when Jesus, the Lifegiver, shall come, whether sleeping or waking, we may have eternal life in a home with the, people of God. By L. McCoy.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 09:51:12 +0000
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