Mysteries of the Resurrection

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me. Job 19:25-27
Our personal identity is preserved in the resurrection, though not the same particles of matter or material substance as went into the grave. The wondrous works of God are a mystery to man. The spirit, the character of man, is returned to God, there to be preserved. In the resurrection every man will have his own character. God in His own time will call forth the dead, giving again the breath of life, and bidding the dry bones live. The same form will come forth, but it will be free from disease and every defect. It lives again bearing the same individuality of features, so that friend will recognize friend. There is no law of God in nature which shows that God gives back the same identical particles of matter which composed the body before death. God shall give the righteous dead a body that will please Him.
Paul illustrates this subject by the kernel of grain sown in the field. The planted kernel decays, but there comes forth a new kernel. The natural substance in the grain that decays is never raised as before, but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him. A much finer material will compose the human body, for it is a new creation, a new birth. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
He [the believer] may die, as Christ died, but the life of the Saviour is in him. His life is hid with Christ in God. “I am come that they might have life,” Jesus said, “and that they might have it more abundantly.” He carries on the great process by which believers are made one with Him in this present life, to be one with Him throughout all eternity. . . .
At the last day He will raise them as a part of Himself. . . . Christ became one with us in order that we might become one with Him in divinity.
Maranatha p. 301
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Prayer Requests
—– Please pray for me as pain levels and discomfort are extremely high today. Glad I can get in for treatment in a few hours. Hoping for relief and that I can really enjoy Sabbath and being in God’s house worshipping Him with fellow believers. Karen
—–Please continue to pray for T that he may get the victory over addiction and guilt.
—–Pray for several families we know at Springdale who are in danger of losing everything! The fires are really fast moving, and level three evacuation is in place, that means they need out of there. Many have evacuated completely. Shelley [Pray for all the people in Washington and Idaho who are in the path of the many fires.]
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Dear Friends
Before my grandfather, Edwin Harmon, had married my grandmother, he had married a woman from Canada. Elsie was very homesick and it wasn’t too many years before she left my grandfather taking their two little children with her. It broke my grandfather’s heart. Those toddlers would be teenagers before he saw them again.
Uncle Ed, the one holding the cat, grew to be a lumberjack in British Columbia, Canada. Although he was always skinny, he was strong and tough from all those years of working outside in the fresh air. He greatly enjoyed his work.
One day as he was helping with cutting down one of those massive trees, it did not fall the way it was supposed to. Instead, it came crashing down on top of my uncle. Many of his bones were broken and he felt as if his very life was being crushed out from him. Every shallow breath that he was able to take brought him great pain as his ribs punctured his lungs. The other men finally were able to get him out from under that wooden giant and carried him as carefully as they could to the doctor. It took many painful months for him to recover as much as it was possible considering his injuries. For the rest of his life, he was weakened and never could go back to the work he loved.
Sin is so much like that giant tree. It starts out as a little “seed” allowed to take root in the heart. As we practice that sin and cherish it, it can grow so big that it will crush us leaving us all broken and hurting. Even if we repent and receive the forgiveness we need, we are never the same as before. Sin’s scars remain.
What a Merciful Saviour we have, Who offers us grace and forgiveness. He has promised, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely.” “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Hosea 14:4; Jer 31:34 “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. Ps 103:8-14 “He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:18,19 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Cor 5:17
Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ro 4:7, 8; 5:1 May we come to Him today, that we may receive that forgiveness and restoration He so freely offers and that we so much need. May we hear His voice saying to us as He did to Isaiah, “thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” Isa 6:7 May we, though scarred from sin, walk each day victorious through our Blessed Saviour’s grace and power is my prayer.
Rose