not of any
one being changed. Read his language, John vi:39--"And this is the
Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I
should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day." Nothing
is here said about changing the living to immortal beings. The Father
has given all into the hands of his Son; and if he is to _raise_ them
up at the last day, then all must die, for the _change_ of the living
is not the _resurrection_ of the dead. How then could Paul tell his
brethren, "by the word of the Lord," that they were to be thus
changed? He could not because there is not a "thus saith the Lord" to
support it. But Paul had the word of the Lord support the change in
the living which we have pointed out. Christ said, "the righteous
should go into life eternal," they "that endured unto the end should
be saved" that "they should shine like the sun in the kingdom of their
Father," and that "they should be recompensed at the resurrection of
the just."

But, inquires the reader, were those who died in the cause of Christ
raised immortal at his coming? No, they were not. It simply means that
they were in that day to receive their elevated stations of glory and
and honor in the gospel kingdom, so much so, as if they had been
alive. The living Christians, in this respect, were not to be before
them. Having suffered and died in the cause of Christ, they were in
the minds of the living to "shine as the stars forever and ever" in
the kingdom of Christ, because they had turned many to righteousness.
The Lord had, as it were, delayed his coming, and many had given up
faith in Christ's resurrection, and were sorrowing without hope over
their friends who had fallen asleep in his cause. They of course had
no faith in the immortal resurrection of their friends, nor in the
fulfillment of Christ's predicted coming to raise their names to
unfading honor for having labored and died in his cause. We are not to
understand that those departed saints were _literally_ exalted to
elevated stations in Christ's kingdom on earth, any more than Christ
_literally_ came. But as Jesus was _in that day_, at the end of the
Jewish age, "crowned with glory and honor," as king on the mediatorial
throne of the universe, so were his apostles elevated on thrones of
glory with him. Jesus says, "when the Son of man shall sit on his
throne of glory, ye also shall also sit upon twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel."

Now certa