0965. An Illustration
An Illustration
"Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
"And that which thou sowest thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain" (1Co_15:36-37).
The Word of God is apt in the use of illustrations.
We never read there, little tear-extracting stories given merely for the sake of effect. We do read of illustrations given to glorify thought.
When the Holy Spirit desired to answer the question, "With what body do they come?" He immediately carried us forth into a field of wheat or of some other grain and seemed to say, "Thus shall it be in the resurrection."
There are three things here which we may learn.
1. Life comes out of death. Christ said, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (Joh_12:24). This is the law not only of resurrection but it is also a, law of spiritual life, because our Lord went on to say that if we would save our life, we must lose it.
So is the resurrection. When we see the body laid aside in the cold ground, when we see it decompose and decay, it does not mean that it shall never live again. The fact is that its very death is a token of its coming resurrection. The corn can never bear grain except it die.
2. Death is not a cessation of life. When the physician says, "He is dead," that does not mean that there is a cessation of existence either of spirit or of body. The spirit still lives and the body still exists. There is death because there is a separation of spirit and body, there is not a cessation of existence.
We know that the spirit of the believer goes to be with Christ] we know that the spirit of the unbeliever is kept in hades awaiting the judgment of the last day. Then why should we think that the body is not kept? The body dies, it passes back, dust to dust, and earth to earth, and yet it will still bear grain–corruption must put on incorruption.
3. The seed of wheat has a life germ within it. When the grain which is sown, decays; when mortification sets in, the grain disintegrates, but, within the grain there is a germ of life which promises new life. This germ reaches out its fingers and takes hold of the sunlight and moisture and earth, and soon the new life is seen in the corn, then in the blade and then in the full ear.
We do not assert that in the resurrection every particle of the body that dies shall appear again in the resurrection body. What we do assert is "Thou so west not that body that shall be, but bare grain."
We fully believe that God is able to bring back the same body that is sown, but such a statement is not vital to the literal resurrection of the body.
The body that we have today is not, according to scientists, the body that we had seven years ago. The body is continually changing. It is sluffing off the old, and it is taking on the new, yet it is, to all intents, the same body.
What the Bible does teach is that the body will bear grain; that the corruptible body, under the miraculous touch of God and in answer to the call of Jesus Christ, shall come forth again, incorruptible.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR