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CHRISTROSE
(Continued from page /6)
son's "soul"- physical life and
body- and his ..spirit" (Heb.
4: 12). Jesus said at his death, "Fa–
ther, in to thy hands
I
commend my
spirit" (Luke 23:46). While t he
pagan idea of a conscious "immor–
tal soul" within man is not biblical,
nevertheless the Bible here and
elsewhere reveals "there is a spirit
in man" (Job 32:8). This "spirit" is
not conscious by itself, but joined
with the physical brain it forms the
human mind and intellect.
This spirit essence bears the
imprint of a person's character, per–
sonality and memory. lt functions
not unlike a computer tape or disk.
T he tape or disk may contain mil–
lions of bits of information. Com–
bined with the computer it makes
possible the " intellect" of the com–
puter. But separated from the com–
puter , it is inactive and silent.
Jt
does
nothing but store information. Like–
wise does a person's "spirit" func–
tion while it is within the person.
Separated it is unconscious and inac–
tive. " H is spirit departs, he returns
to his earth; in that very day his plans
perish" (Ps. 146:4, RAV). Still it
contains information about all the
things that make a person a unique
individual.
When a person dies, "then shall
t he dust [the physical body, the
soul] return to the earth as it was:
and t he spirit shall return unto God
who gave it" (Eccl. 12:7). This
spirit is kept by God and serves as a
kind of blueprint by which God
will one day resurrect each individ–
ual even though that person's body
may long ago have disintegrated
and returned to dust.
Jesus referred to this important
t ruth when, just befare he expi red,
he cried: "Father, into thy hands 1
commend my spirit: and having
said thus, he gave up the ghost
[spirit] " (L.uke 23:46). That it was
not a conscious, living spir it that
Jesus committed to t he Father is
proved by John 20:17, where, after
his resurrection, Jesus said that
he-the conscious Jesus- had not
yet ascended to t he Father!
Once dead, Jesus' soul- his life–
less body- was put in the grave
where it remained for three days and
March 1983
nights. T he second member of the
God family had ceased to exist in
order to pay the penalty for our sins.
He was "cut off ou t of the land of
the living" (lsa. 53:8). All life and
conscious thought stopped, for "the
dead know not any thing" (Eccl.
9:5). He was asleep, as are all those
who have died (Dan. 12:2). His r'es–
urrection made him t he "firstfruits
[the first to be resurrected immor–
tal, to eterna! life]
of them that
s lept"
(ICor. 15:20).
Why
Jesus Had t o Rise FROM
THE DEAD
Why
was Jesus brought back to life
in a resurrection out of that stone
sepulchre? For two reasons. One,
Jesus was not worthy of death. He
had never sinned. Two, if Jesus
were not brought back to li fe as a
glorified, immortal spirit being all
the dead in Christ would remain
dead forever. They could
nev~r
live
again. "And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain; ye are yet in your
sins. Then they also which are fallen
asleep [they are not alive up in heav–
en, or somewhere else-they are
asleep in their graves] in Christ are
perished"-never to be brought
back to life (1 Cor. 15:17-18).
But the fact is, Christ was raised
from the dead. He now lives to min–
ister to those who are being called to
salvation. Because he lives we have
the glorious
"hope
[not yet the real–
ity] of eternallife" (Titus 3:7) "For
this corruptible
must put on
incor–
ruption, and this mortal
must put
on
immortality"
(1
Cor. 15:53).
When? At the resurrection and not
before (verses 42, 50-54).
That is t he plain teaching of the
Bible! o
TheResurrection:
simpleas
1,2,3.
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T:
he pictures above show the garden tomb, which a
radition says was the site of Jesus' burial. Can you figure
three days and three nights between sunset Good Friday
and sunrise Easter Sunday? No? Then you have a problem.
Because in Matthew 12:40 Jesus said he would be " three days
and three nights in the heart of the earth."
He
also said, in
verse 39, that this was the only sign he would give that he was
the Messiah. Now either Jesus was in error or
the Good Friday-Easter tradition is in error. Our
enlightening and controversia! booklet
The
Resurrection Was Not on Sunday
makes plain ·
the biblical truth. For a free copy, write to the
P!ain Truth
office nearest you.
43