Basic HTML Version
PubliJhln&:
The
PLAIN TRUTH
•
Mllg~ZiM
of
tlNOBISTANDING
Dear Friend:
The
WORLD TOMORROW
A
WoaLD-WIDB BaoADCAST
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WOUD 1'0)10UD'If
BoX
Ill,
PASADENA, CALIFORNlA
Are those saints who arose about the time of
Christ's resurrection still alive?
It 1B a common conception,
o~ten
taken £or
granted
1
that the saints who arose shortly a£ter Christ
are still. alive. But what does the Bible say?
Firat
oC
all, let us get the picture clearly
in mind. This incident, recorded
1n
Matthew
27:52,53,
reads as Collows: "And the graves were openedj and
rnany
bodies of the saints which slept arose
1
And came out of
the graves after his resurrection, and went into the
hol y
city~
and appeared unto many."
These were not the first nor the only people
to be restored to life from the dead. Notice II Kings,
the rourth chapter. Here we read the story
oC
Elisha
and the Shunamm1te's son, whom he raised to lite through
the power of God. This young man was resurrected many
hundreds of years before Christ
and
yet Paul says in
I
Corinthians
15:22,23
that. Christ ia the flrstfruits
or the first to be made immortal as the Son
oC
God
(Rom. 1:4),
anatha~ere
ia a definite order, Christ
first, then afterward -- not those saints -- but they
that are Christ•s at His coming. "Now God is not the
author of confusion. He would not set a definite order
of resurrections and then violate that order.
And yet, what about the Shunammite
1
s son, and
what about Lazarus {John
11:5),
and the widow's son
mentioned
1n
Luke
7:
14,15?
These· were all raised be.fore
Christ's resurrection. What happened to them?
If
we
cast out preconceived ideas, and merely
take the Bible as it is, the answer is very clear.
iRey
were not made immortal because Paul states 1n
I
Timo
y
o:IO
tnit~ist
alone,
ot
all men who have ever lived
1
is immortal.
I
Corinthians
15:22-23
says £urthermore:
"For as
in
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive. But every man
1n
his own order: Christ the
firstfruits; afterward they-rhar-are-cfir1st
1
s
AT HIS
COMING."