(Acts 17:31)
"There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and
unjust."--Acts 24:15.
[586]St. Paul then produces his wonderful and beautiful argument on the
resurrection, saying, "If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised;
and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your
sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If
in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most
miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the
firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man
came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so
in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:16-22) Then the
Apostle shows that after the resurrection of the church in the beginning
of the kingdom every man must come forth in his own order. Jesus
declared: "Many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be
first". (Matthew 19:30) This principle may be properly applied to the
resurrection of the dead. Those who died last will be the first to be
awakened; while those who died centuries ago will be among the last to
be awakened.
[587]In the World War millions of men died upon the battlefield. That
was indeed the land of the enemy, the land of death. The Lord gives us a
picture through the Prophet as to the coming days of blessing, saying to
the woman who wept for her children, and thus illustrating all who weep
for their dead: "Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from
tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall
come again from the land of the enemy.
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