The Happiness of Those Who Sleep in Jesus, Doctrine 3 – Application 1
Doctrine 3.
That Iesus Christ will raise the dead bodies of those that sleep in him, and raise them as their Head and Saviour, and bring them with him to Iudgment, and then carry them into Heaven, where they shall be ever with the Lord.
All these particulars are comprehended in the words of the Text — God will bring with him. But before he brings them, he must first raise them. The bodies of the Saints shall not alwaies dwell in the dust; Isa. 26.19.therefore the Prophet Isaiah calls upon them to awake and sing, Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust. A strange expression! Is there any cause of rejoycing for those who dwell in dust? Yes; Awake and sing ye which dwell in dust, for the Earth shall give up the dead which are in it, and the Sea also. As the Whale cast up Ionah on the shoar, so shall the Sea cast up her dead. When Ionah was swallowed up by the Whale, one would have thought he had been utterly lost, yet God did but speak a word to the Whale, and he cast him on the dry land. The grave to an Atheistical eye is like the belly of the Whale; and an Atheist is ready to think, that the Child of God is utterly lost. But when the Trumpet shall sound, and the Arch-Angel speak the word, the Whale shall cast up Ionah; the Sea shall give up her dead, and the Earth also, for they are but Gods Stewards, unto whom he hath betrusted the bodies of his Saints, and when God calls them to give an account of their Stewardship, they will give in a most faithful account, and will not leave one body behind. They are but tyring-houses or with-drawing rooms for a while; they are but sleeping-places. And as a man when he goeth to sleep hopeth to awake again in the morning; So do the Saints of God fall asleep by death with a sure and certain hope of a Resurrection from the dead. So then, All that sleep in Jesus shall rise again.
And they shall arise with the same bodies, (the same for substance, though not for qualities) otherwise it were no Resurrection, but a new Creation. Joh. 5.28.29.Christ tells us, That all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth. The Apostle tells us, That this mortall body shall put on immortality, 1 Cor. 15.53.and this corruptible body shall put on incorruption. This was Iobs comfort upon the dunghill, Job 19.27.That with these very eyes he shoould see his Redeemeer. And it cannot stand with Gods Justice, that one body should sin, and another be condemned, and one body serve him, and another be crowned. The same body then shall rise.
And rise by vertue of its union with Christ. This is hinted in the Text — For if we believe that Iesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Iesus will God bring with him. By the same power by which Christ raised up himself, by the same power he will raise all that are by the Spirit united to him: For he is the Husband of his Church, and the Husband will raise his Spouse. He is the Shepheard and King of his Church, and the Shepheard will raise his Sheep, and the King his Subjects; and therefore he is called the first fruits of them that sleep. 1 Cor. 15.2.As the first fruits did sanctifie the whole lump: So by Christ's Resurrection all that die in the Lord are sanctified unto him, and assured of their resurrection by him. 1 Cor. 15.20.And it is said, As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive; that is, all that are in Christ shall be raised by the power of Christ, as their Head, and as their Merciful Saviour and Redeemer. If the Head be above the water, the Body cannot be drowned, but will rise after it. And let me add.
It shall rise after a most Glorious manner; 1 Cor. 15.42, 43, 44.It is sown in Corruption, but it shall be raised in Incorruption. It is sown in dishonour, but it shall be raised in Glory. It is sown in weakness, but it shall be raised in power. It is sown a natural Body, but it shall be raised a spiritual body. For Jesus Christ in his Incarnation assumed our Bodies, as well as our souls, and at his Death, suffered for us, in his Body, as well as in his Soul. Our Bodies are united to him, and Members of him, Temples of the Holy Ghost, and Instruments in his Service, as well as our Souls. And therefore he will glorifie our Bodies, as well as our souls, and make them like unto his own Glorious Body. It is impossible to set out all the Glory that God will bestow upon the bodies of his Saints, at the great Resurrection. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath in entred into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared, even for the bodies of those that love him. Some part of this Glory I have discovered already in a Funeral Sermon in Print, and therefore shall now forbear to mention it.
The Bodies of the wicked shall come out of their Graves, as out of their Prisons, as so many Malefactors, to appear before an Angry Iudge. They shall come out of their Graves, as the chief Baker did out of Prison, to be executed in Hell for ever. They shall rise with great Fear and Trembling, and shall call to the Rockes and Mountains, to hide and cover them from the wrath of the Lamb. But the Bodies of those who sleep in Jesus, shall rise out of their Graves, as out of their Beds, with great Ioy and Rejoycing. They shall come out of their Graves, as Ionah out of the Whales Belly, as Daniel out of the Lions Den, as the Chief Butler, who came out of Prison, to be restored to all his former Dignities, and as Ioseph, who after his Release out of the Go…l, was made Lord of Egypt. So shall the Bodies of the Saints be raised out of their Graves, to be made like unto the Angels, and to have their Faces shine like the Sun in the Firmament, Mat. 13.43.and to be crowned with everlasting Glory.
Now the Dead in Christ, thus raised, Christ will bring with him, at the great and dreadful Day of Judgment, and he will cause them to sit with him in his Throne, as he sits with the Father in his Throne, Rev. 3.21. and he will advance them to be Iudges of all the wicked and ungodly, and not only of wicked men, but of the wicked Angels; I say to be Judges, as coassessors with Christ, and Approvers of his Sentence. 1 Cor. 6.2, 3.This is a high Preferment, not proper (as the Papists think) to the Apostles, and such who have left all for Christ, but common to all the Saints of God, who are such indeed and in Truth. I deny not, but that the Apostles shall have eminentiorem Thronum, a more eminent degree of Glory then other Saints. But yet this Honour of judging the world, is common to all Saints, to the least, as well as to the greatest. They that now are judged and condemned by the wicked of the world, shall one day, sit with Christ in his Throne, and judge their Iudges, They that are now tempted, buffeted, and somtimes foy…ed by Satan, shall one day be Judges of him and all his Angels.
Now after the Day of Judgment is finished, Christ will carry up all that sleep in him, with himself into Heaven, where they shall be ever with the Lord in perfect Happiness. So much for the explication of the three Doctrines.
Use 1.
Let us not mourn immoderately for the death of our Godly Friends and Relations. This is the Use which the Apostle would have us to make. 1 Thes 4.13.Mourn we may, but not as the Heathen, who have no hope. Let us remember, that the death of a Child of God is nothing else but a comfortable and blessed sleep; that he goes to the Grave, as to his Bed, and there lieth free (as a man asleep) from all Cares and Troubles, and at rest from all his Labours, that even while he is in the Grave, he is asleep in Iesus, and there continueth a Member of his Body; that his very dust is precious in Gods sight, and part of Gods Election, Christs Redemption, and the Spirits Sanctification. That by vertue of its Union with Christ, his body while in the Grave, is not utterly extinct, but there is a Substance, not only reserved, but preserved, to be raised to everlasting Glory. That Christ hath so perfumed the Grave, as that it is nothing else to him, but as a Tyring-house, and withdrawing-Room. In a word, that he lieth down in his bed till the Morning of the Resurrection, and then he shall put on stolam immortalitatis, the Garment of Immortality, and his vile body shall be made like unto the Glorious Body of Iesus Christ. Let us comfort one another with these words: Let us not weep immeasurably for those from whom all Tears are wiped away, but let us consider their unspeakable g…in. Death hath put an end to all their temporal and spiritual evils, and opened a door for them to everlasting Happiness.