By Sylvester Hassell
The resurrection of the souls of the elect from the death of sin to an everlasting life of righteousness is called also the new birth or birth of the Holy Spirit, a passing from death unto life, and a new creation, and it is effected by the Spirit of God in the present state of existence, and the chief evidences of it are repentance towards God, and faith in His Son as our only Saviour, and hatred of sin, and love of God and of His people and of holiness, and a life of obedience and submission; and God is the author of this resurrection, (Joh 5:25; 1:12; 3:3-8,25; 6:37-51; 10:7-30; Eph 1; 2; Ro 6:23; 8; 1Co 1:26-31; Ac 20:21; Ga 5:19-24; Php 1:6; 3:7-14; Heb 6:1-2,17-20; Tit 2:11-14; 3:4-8).
The resurrection of the bodies of both the elect and the non-elect is also alone by the power of God, and will take place at the second personal coming of Christ to the world, the souls then reuniting with their companion bodies, the elect rising to the fullness of everlasting life and blessedness, and the non-elect to the misery of everlasting punishment,. {Da 12:2-3; Jos 5:15,15; Ac 24:15; 2Th 1:6-10; Isa 25:6-9; 26:19; Mt 25:31-46; Ro 2:6-16; 1Co 15; 2Pe 3:3-18; 2Ti 4:1,6-8; Re 1:7; 6:13-17; 14:9-11; 20; 20:15 and Re 22}
All who are taught of God believe in these plain and certain truths of His inspired and infallible word. God spoke these words by His prophets, His Son and His Apostles,. {Heb 1:1-3; 2Ti 3:16-17} It is impossible for Him to lie,. {Heb 6:18} All wicked men are liars from their youth,. {Ps 58:3; 116:11} “Let God be true, but every man a liar,.” {Ro 3:4} “Every man at his best state is altogether vanity,.” {Ps 39:5} At the second coming of Christ to the earth, the world will be filled with infidelity, corruption, and violence, as in the days of Noah,. {Lu 18:6; 17:26-30; 2Pe 3:3-13; Ge 6:11} As proved by the Scriptures and by science and by the traditions of all nations, the Lord literally destroyed the world by a flood of waters, and when He comes again, He will, for the wickedness of man, literally destroy it by a flood of fire, {2Pe 3} and then He will make a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, (Rev. 21).
May He, for the sake of His dear Son, raise our souls by His Holy Spirit in the present life from a state of sin to a state of righteousness and thus prepare us, at His second coming, for a change of our bodies from a natural, mortal, and corruptible state to a spiritual, immortal, and incorruptible condition like the body of our glorified Redeemer.
Williamston, N. C., June 1924