VICTORY OVER DEATH
Then, "when this corruption shall have put on incorruption, and when this mortal shall have put on immortality," shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory." (1 Cor 15:54)
Was death a good thing?
No!
Whose victory is this?
The victory of our Lord, the victory of our Heavenly Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
When will death be swallowed up?
After he shall-have accomplished his mission.
And how long will it take to swallow up death?
It will take the whole millennial age. Death will have its power until the very close of that time, for the statement is, "He must reign until he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."
In Rev 20: 5 we have the statement: "The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years are finished." The prophet John, the writer, has just recounted the matter of the first resurrection; that they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But who will they be reigning over? A dead world!
Not a world in non-existence during the thousand years, but a world which will not have attained to life, in its proper sense, until the thousand years are finished. From God's standpoint this word "live" has a particular significance.
Adam was alive before the sentence of death came, and from the moment he became a transgressor and under sentence he became a dying man instead of a living man. That represents the condition of the entire world. All have a measure of life, as they exist today, but all are in a dying, not a living, condition. They are not in the tomb, but God does not recognize them as alive.
During the millennial age conditions will be reversed, and instead of the race going down more and more into degradation and sin and death and corruption, the order will be changed, and they will be rising, and rising, and rising, out of death, out of death — but they won't get out of death totally, fully, UNTIL THE CLOSE OF THE AGE. They will not live, in the sense that God speaks of it, until the thousand years are finished. Then, having come to the condition of perfection, having received all that was lost, they will live again in the same sense that Father Adam lived before he transgressed.
WHEN THE DEAD HEAR
Our Lord referred to the same thought in John 5: 25, "The hour is coming when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear SHALL LIVE." Some of us have already heard the voice of the Son, while we were children of wrath, and from a reckoned standpoint we have begun to live, through faith in Christ.
"He that believed on the Son hath life," he has a life reckoned to him, and so enjoying it by faith that it will be an everlasting life, and that the tomb will not interfere with his life. But speaking of the world of mankind in general during the millennial age, when the dead are awakened (John 5: 28-29) as Lazarus was awakened, there will be an opportunity for all who have never heard the voice of the Son of Man to hear it THEN, and those who hear in the proper sense of obeying will continue to progress to the attainment of life, in its full sense.
"God wills that all men shall be saved, (to be preserved, that they should not be totally cut off from opportunity while in the tomb, preserved from extinction), and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim 2:4) The great majority are in ignorance, but God wills that all shall know, because, the apostle goes on to say, "There is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom FOR ALL to be testified (to all) in due time."
When you heard the testimony your responsibility began. When the heathen shall hear their responsibility will begin. Those who will hear during the millennial age, in the sense of obeying that great prophet, teacher, Christ the Head, and the church His body, will be brought up gradually by restitution processes, until at the close of the millennial age they shall live, and those who refuse to hear the prophet — mark the words of Peter (Acts 3: 23), "shall be utterly destroyed amongst the people." Suffer second death.
Daniel gives us a picture in the 12th chapter, of the millennial conditions: "Some shall arise to life; and some to shame and everlasting contempt."
The word everlasting here is from the Hebrew word "olam," which is not as strong as our English word, but is equivalent to the word "lasting." They will come forth to lasting contempt.
How long will this contempt last?
As long as the contemptible conditions last.
We fancy Nero, for instance, coming forth. Under the new conditions as he will see around him the evidence of righteousness he will experience shame and contempt; he will not only have contempt for himself, but the contempt of all those about him. They will recognize Nero of ancient days. But under the blessed conditions of that time, if he will hear the Son's voice, he will be assisted to righteous conditions — he will be given the blessings of restitution processes, an opportunity to raising up to life, to an appreciation of what is right and wrong (even as others, remember everyone residing at that time are part of the “unjust” class), if Nero (or for that matter any other like him) chooses the right, chooses to be on God's side, he may make progress up out of his degraded condition to the full human perfection provided in the glorious resurrection for the obedient of the world. (1H139)
Then, "when this corruption shall have put on incorruption, and when this mortal shall have put on immortality," shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory." (1 Cor 15:54)
Was death a good thing?
No!
Whose victory is this?
The victory of our Lord, the victory of our Heavenly Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
When will death be swallowed up?
After he shall-have accomplished his mission.
And how long will it take to swallow up death?
It will take the whole millennial age. Death will have its power until the very close of that time, for the statement is, "He must reign until he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."
In Rev 20: 5 we have the statement: "The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years are finished." The prophet John, the writer, has just recounted the matter of the first resurrection; that they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But who will they be reigning over? A dead world!
Not a world in non-existence during the thousand years, but a world which will not have attained to life, in its proper sense, until the thousand years are finished. From God's standpoint this word "live" has a particular significance.
Adam was alive before the sentence of death came, and from the moment he became a transgressor and under sentence he became a dying man instead of a living man. That represents the condition of the entire world. All have a measure of life, as they exist today, but all are in a dying, not a living, condition. They are not in the tomb, but God does not recognize them as alive.
During the millennial age conditions will be reversed, and instead of the race going down more and more into degradation and sin and death and corruption, the order will be changed, and they will be rising, and rising, and rising, out of death, out of death — but they won't get out of death totally, fully, UNTIL THE CLOSE OF THE AGE. They will not live, in the sense that God speaks of it, until the thousand years are finished. Then, having come to the condition of perfection, having received all that was lost, they will live again in the same sense that Father Adam lived before he transgressed.
WHEN THE DEAD HEAR
Our Lord referred to the same thought in John 5: 25, "The hour is coming when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear SHALL LIVE." Some of us have already heard the voice of the Son, while we were children of wrath, and from a reckoned standpoint we have begun to live, through faith in Christ.
"He that believed on the Son hath life," he has a life reckoned to him, and so enjoying it by faith that it will be an everlasting life, and that the tomb will not interfere with his life. But speaking of the world of mankind in general during the millennial age, when the dead are awakened (John 5: 28-29) as Lazarus was awakened, there will be an opportunity for all who have never heard the voice of the Son of Man to hear it THEN, and those who hear in the proper sense of obeying will continue to progress to the attainment of life, in its full sense.
"God wills that all men shall be saved, (to be preserved, that they should not be totally cut off from opportunity while in the tomb, preserved from extinction), and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim 2:4) The great majority are in ignorance, but God wills that all shall know, because, the apostle goes on to say, "There is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom FOR ALL to be testified (to all) in due time."
When you heard the testimony your responsibility began. When the heathen shall hear their responsibility will begin. Those who will hear during the millennial age, in the sense of obeying that great prophet, teacher, Christ the Head, and the church His body, will be brought up gradually by restitution processes, until at the close of the millennial age they shall live, and those who refuse to hear the prophet — mark the words of Peter (Acts 3: 23), "shall be utterly destroyed amongst the people." Suffer second death.
Daniel gives us a picture in the 12th chapter, of the millennial conditions: "Some shall arise to life; and some to shame and everlasting contempt."
The word everlasting here is from the Hebrew word "olam," which is not as strong as our English word, but is equivalent to the word "lasting." They will come forth to lasting contempt.
How long will this contempt last?
As long as the contemptible conditions last.
We fancy Nero, for instance, coming forth. Under the new conditions as he will see around him the evidence of righteousness he will experience shame and contempt; he will not only have contempt for himself, but the contempt of all those about him. They will recognize Nero of ancient days. But under the blessed conditions of that time, if he will hear the Son's voice, he will be assisted to righteous conditions — he will be given the blessings of restitution processes, an opportunity to raising up to life, to an appreciation of what is right and wrong (even as others, remember everyone residing at that time are part of the “unjust” class), if Nero (or for that matter any other like him) chooses the right, chooses to be on God's side, he may make progress up out of his degraded condition to the full human perfection provided in the glorious resurrection for the obedient of the world. (1H139)
