April 20—Morning—1 Corinthians 15:20
"Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept."—1 Corinthians 15:20.
One view more, my soul, while thou art meditating upon this delightful subject of thy Redeemer’s triumph over death and the grave, and now look at Jesus’s resurrection as a sure pledge and confirmation of thine own. Did Jesus’s holy body arise? Then so shall thine, sinful and polluted as it now is, but then made a glorified body by virtue of thy union with him. For so saith the Holy Ghost, by his servant the apostle "He shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. For if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. "Philippians 3:21. Romans 8:11. Pause then, my soul, and rejoice in this glorious and transporting doctrine. As sure as Jesus arose, so sure shall all his people; for Jesus arose as the first fruits. Jesus arose not as a private person, but as the public Head. Never call to mind the resurrection of Jesus, but be sure to connect always with it this blessed view of the subject—every redeemed believer is part of Christ’s body. And as we are by nature part of the first Adam, and die, from our union and connection, and being of the same nature with him; so, by grace, being part of Christ’s mystical body, who is called in scripture, particularly on this account, the second Adam, his people are interested in all that concerns him; and because he liveth, they must live also. Hence he is called the first fruits, the first-born from the dead. And as all the after fruits of the harvest follow the first fruits; so the saints, born again in God, follow the first-born from the dead to glory. Oh heart reviving subject! The eyes that now read these lines, and the hand that now writes them, is a part of Christ’s mystical body by regeneration, must assuredly be a part in the resurrection. In the eye of the law they are one. Jesus is the head of his body the church: and how incomplete in glory would be that glorious head without the whole and every individual member of his fair one, his spouse, which he hath betrothed to himself for ever. Shout then, my soul, and shout aloud, and say with Job—"Though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. "My flesh shall moulder indeed, in the dust, and see corruption. And so would I have it to be. Vile’ and polluted as it now is, and fighting as it. now doth against my soul’s desires and affections, methinks I would not, if it were possible, take it with me to heaven as it now is. But when Jesus shall change this vile body, and have fashioned it like unto his glorious body, then it will be without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; and then soul and body, united together in love, and both united to the Lord, will form one united object to praise and glorify God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to all eternity! My soul, dwell upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; and as thou believest that Jesus died and rose again, so equally believe also, that all they that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this the apostle had in commission from the Lord to tell all true believers, that when Jesus shall "descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, the dead in Christ shall arise; and then they which remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall they ever be with the Lord. "Oh for grace to comfort one another with these words!
April 20—Evening—Job 15:12-13
"So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall, not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me in secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time and remember me! "—Job 16:12-13.
My soul! thou hast been viewing and reviewing some of the blessed things, connected with the glorious doctrine of thy Redeemer’s resurrection, for several nights and mornings past; but there is one more point of view in which that heavenly truth demands attention, and which thou hast not even glanced at. Sit down, and ponder over the joy, the gratulations, the unspeakable rapture which will result from the meeting of thyself! I mean thou and thy body meeting together after the long separation made by the grave, and all the humbling circumstances of this flesh of thine having seen corruption. Figure to thyself what an interview that will be of soul and body! In this life, my soul may truly say to the body, Oh! how exceedingly burdened am I, day by day, from an union too dear to be parted from but with pain; and yet too opposed, in all my pursuits and desires, to what I am longing after in spiritual attainments, to wish always to continue! I know, that whilst I am now at home in the body, I am absent from the Lord; and still so much am I allied to thee, so dear art thou, that when the prospect of separation appears, though I know it is but for a season, nature shrinks back, and recoils with terror!—There must be the clammy sweat of death, and, whatever it be, or in whatever it consist, there must be a separation of soul and body. Therefore, like the apostle," though in this tabernacle I groan, being burthened," yet it is "not to be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. "Pause, my soul, and receive comfort from the divine portion of the evening. Job comforted himself with it, and why should not you? Though death separate soul and body, yet it is only to devour that corrupt part of the body which is now so afflictive to the soul. The Lord will "appoint a set time and remember." "He will call, and thou shalt answer him. He will have a desire to the work of his hands. "Moreover, thy body, corrupt as it now is, and virtually all sin, yet hath Jesus as much made it his purchase as the soul. And when the set time arrives, by virtue of his resurrection, thy body shall arise, and thou shalt be among the first, when Jesus gives the word, to descend, and meet thyself in the body, then no longer disposed to interrupt thy purer joys, but as much alive as thou art to the everlasting service, love, and praise of God and the Lamb. Hail, thou glorious Restorer of all things! In thy light shall I see light: and "when thou, who art my life, shall appear, then shall I appear with thee in glory. "Amen.