Works of John Bunyan: THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD, AND ETERNAL JUDGMENT.-832

 

Having thus, in a few words, shewed you the truth of the resurrection of the dead, I now come,

SECOND—To the manner of their rising.

THE MANNER OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE JUST.

And FIRST of the just.

The apostle, when he had in the fifteenth of the 1st of the Corinthians proved the truth and certainty of the resurrection, he descends to the discovery of the manner of it; and to the end, he might remove those foolish scruples that attend the hearts of the ignorant, he begins with one of their questions—"But some man will say," saith he, "How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?" (verse 35). To which he answereth,

First, by a similitude of seed, that is sown in the earth. In which similitude, he inserteth three things—

1. That our reviving or rising must be after death—"That which thou sowest is not quickened except it die" (verse 36).

2. That at our rising, we shall not only revive and live, but be changed into a far more glorious state than when we were sown. "That which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be," &c. "But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him" (verse 38)—that is, he giveth the body more splendour, lustre, and beauty at its resurrection. But,

3. Neither its quickening, nor yet its transcendent splendour, shall hinder it from being the same body—as to the nature of it—it that was sown in the earth; for as God giveth it a body, for honour and splendour as it pleaseth him, so "to every seed his own body" (verse 38).

And, indeed, this similitude by which he here reasoneth the manner of the resurrection of the just, is very natural, and fitly suiteth each particular; for, as to its burial—(1.) The corn of wheat is first dead, and after sown and buried in the earth; and so is the body of man. (2.) After the corn is thus dead and buried, then it quickeneth and reviveth to life: so also shall it be with our body; for after it is laid in the grave and buried, it shall then quicken, rise, and revive.

Again, as to the manner of its change in its rising, this similitude also doth fitly suit; as,

It is sown a dead corn; it is raised a living one. It is sown dry, and without comeliness; it riseth green and beautiful. It is sown a single corn; it riseth a whole ear. It is sown in its husk, but in its rising it leaveth that husk behind it.

Further, though the kernel thus dies, be buried, and meet with all this change and alteration in these things, yet none of them can cause the nature of the kernel to cease—it is wheat still. Wheat was sown and wheat ariseth; only it was sown dead, dry, and barren wheat; and riseth living, beautiful, and fruitful wheat. It hath this alteration, then, that it doth significantly change its resemblance, though yet it hath this power, as still to retain its own nature. God giveth it a body as it pleaseth him, "but to every seed his own body."

The apostle, having thus presented the manner of the resurrection of the saints by the nature of seed sown and rising again, he proceedeth,

Second, for further illustration, three more similitudes—The first is, to shew us the variety and glory of flesh. The second is to shew us the difference of glory that is between heavenly bodies and those that are earthly. The third is to shew us the difference that is between the glory of the light of the sun, from that of the moon; and also how one star differeth from another in glory: and then concludeth, "so is the resurrection of the dead" (1 Cor 15:39-43). As who should say, at the resurrection of the bodies, they will be abundantly more altered and changed, than if the flesh of beasts and fowls were made as noble as the flesh of men; or the bodies of earth, were made as excellent as the heavenly bodies, or as if the glory of the moon should be made as bright, and as clear as the glory of the sun; or as if the glory of the least star was as glorious, and as shining, as the biggest in the firmament of heaven.

It is a resurrection indeed, a resurrection every way. The body ariseth, as to the nature of it, the self-same nature; but as to the manner of it, how far transcendent is it! There is a poor, dry, wrinkled kernel cast into the ground, and there it lieth, and swelleth, breaketh, and, one would think, perisheth; but behold, it receiveth life, it chitteth,2 it putteth forth a blade, and groweth into a stalk, there also appeareth an ear; it also sweetly blossoms, with a whole kernel in the ear: it is the same wheat, yet behold how the form and fashion of that which now ariseth, doth differ from that which then was sown; its glory also when 'twas sown, is no glory, when compared with that in which it riseth. And yet it is the same that riseth that was planted, and no other; though the same after a far more glorious manner; not the same with its husk, but without it. Our brand shall be left behind us when we rise again. The comparison between the bodies heavenly and bodies earthly holds forth the same: "The glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another." Now mark it; he doth not speak here of the natures of each of these bodies, but of the transcendent glory of one above another. "The glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another." Wherefore I say, at our rising, we shall not change our nature, but our glory; we shall be equal to the angels (Luke 20:36), not with respect to their nature, but glory. The nature also of the moon is one thing, and the glory of the moon is another; and so one star also differeth from another in glory.