Jottings

by J. Miller | Category: Jottings | Sept 1967

Adam and Eve had the utmost freedom to eat of the fruit of every tree of the garden of Eden save the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; the punishment for eating of that tree was death: God's sentence was, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2.17). There has been much discussion over what kind of tree this was, but after all has been said the wisest debater is no further forward than the simple-minded believer that accepts the word of God by faith without asking questions. There were two trees in the midst of the garden about which there is much of mystery, the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The first evidently gave life to such as ate of it, and the other brought death to the eater. The latter tree brought death in a double sense, death both morally and physically.

The story of the Fall is told in Genesis 3. The woman being beguiled by the serpent, ate of the forbidden fruit, and then gave to Adam and he also ate. He did not eat as having been deceived, as Eve was, for "Adam was not beguiled" (1 Timothy 2.14). The moral change that came over Adam and Eve is clearly seen in the fact that when they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the wind of eventide, they fled from the presence of God and hid amongst the trees of the garden. God called Adam from his hiding place and spoke to each who had sinned that day. To the serpent the most subtle of the beasts of the field, He spoke the words of degradation and of judgment, words which go beyond the beast, and have application to the old serpent the devil. He spoke to the woman of increased conception and added sorrow therewith, and that she would be ruled by her husband. Then He spoke to man, of the earth being cursed through his sin, and of his toil and labour and sweat in getting food from such an earth, and of the time when his body would return to the dust.

Who can doubt that the decisions God made relative to the man and his wife have affected the race that has sprung from that first sinful pair? The time comes when both men and women, perhaps burdened with years and weary of life, pass on to mingle the small amount of their dust with the dust of earth. That is one view of the end of human life, but it is not the only one in the Holy Scriptures. Paul gives us quite another view when he writes that marvellous chapter on resurrection (1 Corinthians 15). Here we have the apostle reasoning on the subject of resurrection. He says,

"But some one will say, How are the dead raised? and with what manner of body do they come? Thou foolish one, that which thou thyself sowest is not quickened, except it die: and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not the body that shall be, but a bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other kind; but God giveth it a body even as it pleased Him, and to each seed a body of its own" (verses 35-38).

We know something of this change between the seed that is sown and the body that God has given to each kind of seed. Paul cites in particular the seed of wheat and the body of the wheat plant that rises from the seed that is sown. Then later he writes of the remarkable change that takes place between what is sown and what is raised.

"So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, "The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam (became) a life-giving Spirit" (verses 42-45).

We are told that "the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both " (Acts 23.8), and amongst men today there are those who are of the mind of these two sects of the Jews. Some believe in resurrection and some do not. Generally speaking believers in Christ believe in Christ's resurrection and in the resurrection of the dead. These facts are plainly taught by Paul in I Corinthians 15 and elsewhere in the New Testament.

The raising of Lazarus of Bethany from the dead was intended by the Lord to confirm to the Jewish people and others that He was the Son of God. After hearing that Lazarus was dead, the Lord remained two days in the place where He was, beyond Jordan, and He did not come to Bethany until Lazarus had been dead for four days. Lazarus was dead by the time that He set out for Bethany. After speaking at length to His disciples, He said, "Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe ; nevertheless let us go unto him" (John 11.14,15). The raising of Lazarus was intended to have a lasting effect on the faith of His disciples and on that of others besides. When He drew near to Bethany, Martha the sister of Lazarus who heard that He was coming, went and met Him. She said, "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died". But she confessed that if He asked of God, God would give to Him what He had not given to her, in answer to her prayers. The Lord's reply was that her brother would rise again. She agreed, believing in the truth of resurrection, but that would be at the resurrection at the last day. The Lord told her that He was the Resurrection and the Life, and He added, "He that believeth on Mc, though he die, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth on Me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto Him, Yea, Lord: I have believed that Thou are the Christ, the Son of God, even He that cometh into the world" (11.25-27).

Martha, being a believer, believed all that Jesus said, but it is doubtful whether she grasped the depth of meaning in His words. Even so it is with ourselves. We believe the Holy Scriptures to be wholly true and completely inspired of God, but we know, too, that our minds cannot fully contain the mind of God expressed in the Scriptures.

What did the Lord mean by the words we have quoted? Nothing more or less than what Paul wrote to the Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians

15.51-53;

"Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."

The Lord's words, "He that believeth on Me, though he die, yet shall he live," mean that the one who dies must in the resurrection put on incorruption; and the words "Whosoever liveth and believeth on Me shall never die," mean that there will be those alive when the Lord comes again who shall not die. Mortal means what is subject to death, but is not dead; and such as are mortal will put on immortality, which means that they will be no more subject to death, but will experience what the Lord said, they "shall never die". The bodily change of the saints at the Lord's coming, when their bodies will be "conformed to the body of His glory", will be "according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Himself" (Philippians 3.20,21). The change will be effected in a moment (a moment of time that cannot be divided), in the twinkling of an eye. Millions from the dust will be raised with bodies like unto the body of His glory.

J. Miller | Sept 1967
Jottings