he soul, but to a
general resurrection of the dead. The time referred to is the
second coming of Christ; and the force of the text must be this:
As by our bodily likeness to the first man and genetic connection
with him through sin we all die like him, that is, leave the body
and go into the under world, and remain there, so by our spiritual
likeness to the second man and redeeming connection with him
through the free grace of God we shall all rise thence like him,
revived and restored. Adam was the head of a condemned race,
doomed to Hades by the visible occurrence of death in lineal
descent from him; Christ is the head of a pardoned race, destined
for heaven in consonance with the plain token of his resurrection
and ascension. Again, the apostle writes, "In the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trump, the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we (who are then living) shall be changed; for this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal immortality.
Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 'Death
is swallowed up in victory?" O Death, where is thy sting? O Hades,
where is thy victory?'" The writer evidently exults in the thought
that, at the second coming of Christ, death shall lose its
retributive character and the under world be baffled of its
expected prisoners, because the living shall instantly experience
the change of bodies fitting them to ascend to heaven with the
returning and triumphant Lord. Paul also announces that "Jesus
Christ hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality
to light." The word "death" here cannot mean physical dissolution,
because Christ did not abolish that. It cannot denote personal sin
and unhappiness, because that would not correspond with and
sustain the obvious meaning of the contrasted member of the
sentence. Its adequate and consistent sense is this. God intended
that man should pass from a preliminary existence on earth to an
eternal life in heaven; but sin thwarted this glorious design and
altered our fate to a banishment into the cheerless under world.
But now, by the teachings and resurrection of Christ, we are
assured that God of his infinite goodness has determined freely to
forgive us and restore our original destination. Our descent and
abode below are abolished and our heavenly immortality made clear.
"We earnestly desire to be clothed upon with our house which is
from heaven, if so be that, being clothed, we shall not be found
nak