nern Zustand," 2 the restoration of all things to their original perfect condition. " This consummation may be called a • resti- tution,' in allusion to a circle which returns into itself, or more probably because it really involves the healing of all curable disorder and the restoration to communion with the Deity of all that He has chosen to be so restored. Till this great cycle has achieved its revolution, and this great remedial process has accom- plished its design, the glorified body of the risen and ascended Christ not only may, but must, as an appointed means of that accomplishment, be resident in heaven, and not on earth." 2
The general resurrection is represented as connected with the final judgment, in Matthew xxiv. 30, 31, and xxv. 31-46, 2 Thessalonians i. 7-10, and elsewhere. On this point Dr. Julius Miiller says : " It is the plain doctrine of Scripture that the general resurrection of the dead contemporaneous with the transfiguration of believers then living on earth is to occur at the end of the world (or of history), at the reappearance of Christ
for judgment and for the glorification of his kingdom
With this consummation of Christ's kingdom, and the therewith
connected a7roA.vTp<o<ris tov (roS/mi-os rjfiwv airo rrjs SovAci'as rrjs <p0opas,
the Apostle, in the profound passage, Romans viii. 19-23, sets forth, as also connected with these events, the renovation of the nature of the earth and its exaltation to a participation in the glory of the children of God. As the body of man stands in intimate relation with nature, .... it is scarcely possible to form any idea of the resurrection of the body .... without assuming a corresponding exaltation of the external world as the theatre of his new life. This renovation of nature, the new heavens and the new earth, takes for granted, according to the Apostle, the destruction of the world as it now is." 8 With these views, which accord with the common doctrine of the Church, Lange avows his entire agreement.4
The only passage which seems to teach that there is to be a first and second resurrection of the body, the former being con- fined to martyrs and more or fewer of the saints, and the latter including " the rest of the dead," is Revelation xx. 4-6. It must be admitted that that passage, taken by itself, does seem to teach the doctrine founded upon it. But —
i De Wette, Exegetisches Handbuch zum Neuen Testament, Leipzig, 1845, vol. i. part 4,
P*2 The Acts of the Apostles Explained. By Joseph Addison Alexander. New York, 1857, vol. i. p. 118.
8 Studien und Kritiken, 1835, pp. 783-785.
4 Lehre von den letzen Dingen, Meurs, 1841, pp. 246, 247.
842 PART IV. Ch. IV. — THE SECOND ADVENT.
1. It is a sound rule in the interpretation of Scripture that obscure passages should be so explained as to make them agree with those that are plain. It is unreasonable to make the sym- bolic and figurative language of prophecy and poetry the rule by which to explain the simple didactic prose language of the Bible. It is no less unreasonable that a multitude of passages should be taken out of their natural sense to make them accord with a sin- gle passage of doubtful import.
2. It is conceded that the Apocalypse is an obscure book. This almost every reader knows from his own experience ; and it is proved to be true, the few who imagine it to be plain to the contrary notwithstanding, by the endless diversity of interpreta- tions to which it has been subjected. This diversity exists not only between commentators of different classes, as rationalistic and orthodox, but between those of the same class, and even of the same school. This remark, which applies to the whole book, applies with special force to the passage under consideration.
3. The Bible speaks of a spiritual, or figurative, as well as of a literal resurrection. This figure is used both in reference to indi- viduals and in reference to communities. The sinner, dead in trespasses and sins, is said to be quickened and raised again in Christ Jesus. (Rom. vi. and Eph. ii.) Whole communities, when elevated from a state of depression and misery, are in pro- phetic language said to be raised from the dead. (Rom. xi. 15 ; Is. xxvi. 19.) " Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust ; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." (Ez. xxxvii. 12.) "I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel." More than this, Elias is said to have lived again in John the Baptist ; and, ac- cording to a common interpretation, the two witnesses spoken of in the Apocalypse are Moses and Elias, who are to rise not in person, but as represented by men filled with the same spirit, endued with similar gifts, and called to exercise the same offices. It would, therefore, not be inconsistent with the analogy of prophecy if we should understand the Apostle as here predicting that a new race of men were to arise filled with the spirit of the martyrs, and were to live and reign with Christ a thousand years. According to Hengstenberg, the Apostle saw the souls of the martyrs in heaven. There they were enthroned. This was their first resurrection. " There can be no doubt," he
|t.] THE GENERAL RESURRECTION. 843
says, "that by the first resurrection we are here primarily to understand that first stage of blessedness." *
4. John does not say that the bodies of the martyrs are to be raised from the dead. He says : " I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus." The resurrection of tne dead is never thus spoken of in Scripture. There is a sense in which the martyrs are said to live again, but nothing is said of their rising again from their graves. The first resurrection may be spiritual, and the second literal. There may be a time of great prosperity in the Church, in which it will be a great blessing to participate. It is said that there is no force in this argument, as the Apostle does not speak of a resurrection of souls. He simply says he saw the souls of the martyrs ; as in chapter vi. 9, it is said: "I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God." The prophet, according to xx. 4, first saw the martyrs in the state of the dead, and then he saw them alive. The argument, however, is not founded merely on the use of the word " souls," but on the fact that the resurrection of the dead is never spoken of in the Scrip- tures in the way in which the living again of the martyrs is here described.
5. The common millenarian doctrine is, that there is to be a literal resurrection when Christ shall come to reign in person upon the earth, a thousand years before the end of the world, and that the risen saints are to dwell here and share with Christ in the glories of his reign. But this seems to be inconsistent with what is taught in 1 Corinthians xv. 50. Paul there says : " Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the king- dom of God ; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." It is here expressly asserted that our bodies as now constituted are not adapted to the state of things which shall exist when the kingdom of God is inaugurated. We must all be changed. From this it follows that the spiritual body is not adapted to our present mode of existence ; that is, it is not suited or designed for an earthly kingdom. Luthardt admits this. He admits that the renovated, or transfigured, body of necessity supposes a ren- ovated earth. He admits also that when the bodies of believers are thus changed they are to be caught up from the earth, and are to dwell with Christ in heaven. When Christ appears, his people are to appear with Him in glory. Bengel, and after him others, endeavour to reconcile these admissions with the theory of
1 The Revelation of St. John Expounded, edit. Edinburgh, 1852, vol. ii. p. 281.
844 PART IV. Ch. IV. — THE SECOND ADVENT.
an earthly kingdom of glory, by assuming that risen saints are to rule this kingdom, not from the literal Jerusalem, but from heaven. This, however, is to* introduce an extra-scriptural and conjectural idea.
6. It has already been said, when speaking of the restoration of the Jews to their own land, that this whole theory of a splen- did earthly kingdom is a relic of Judaism, and out of keeping with the spirituality of the Gospel.1
All this is said with diffidence and submission. The inter- pretation of unfulfilled prophecy experience teaches is exceed- ingly precarious. There is every reason to believe that the pre- dictions concerning the second advent of Christ, and the events which are to attend and follow it, will disappoint the expecta- tions of commentators, as the expectations of the Jews were dis- appointed in the manner in which the prophecies concerning the first advent were accomplished.
§ 2. The Final Judgment.