When is the resurrection of the righteous to take place?
Answer
"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with
the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first." 1 Thess. 4: 16.
NOTES - If, as stated in Eccl. 9: 5, the dead know not anything, then they have no knowledge of
the lapse of time. "Six thousand years in the grave to a dead man is no more than a wink of the eye to the
living." To them, consciousness, our only means of measuring time, is gone; and it will seem to them when
they awake that absolutely no time has elapsed. And herein lies a most comforting thought in the Bible
doctrine of the sleep of the dead, that in death there is no consciousness of the passing of time. To those
who sleep in Jesus, their sleep, whether long or short, whether one year, one thousand years, or six
thousand years, will be but as if the moment of sad parting were followed instantly by the glad reunion in
the presence of Jesus at His glorious appearing and the resurrection of the just.
It ought also to be a comforting thought to those whose lives have been filled with anxiety and
grief for deceased loved ones who persisted in sin, to know that they are not now suffering in torments,
but, with all the rest of the dead, are quietly sleeping in their graves. Job 3: 17.
Again, it would mar the felicity of one's enjoyment in heaven could he look upon earth and see his
friends and relatives suffering from persecution, want, cold, or hunger, or sorrowing for the dead. God's
way is best-that all sentient life, animation, activity, thought, and consciousness should cease at death, and
that all should wait till the resurrection for their future life and eternal reward. See Heb. 11:39-40.
How came Jesus to live for a time in Egypt?
What, therefore, did God do?
When the church had received help from the state to this extent, what more did she demand?
Whom should we fear and dread?
What promise, through the prophet Malachi, does the Lord make concerning Elijah?
In what respect is the reaping of God's people to differ from their sowing?
How readily will their wants be supplied?
Questions & Answers are from the book Bible Readings for the Home Circle