Section 1160
IV. To consider the particular concern which God the Father, Son and Spirit have in this stupendous work
It is a work that a creature is unequal to, and incapable of. It is always ascribed to God; it is God that raises and quickens the dead. If it was ever referred to a creature, it might well be judged incredible; but it need not be thought incredible that God should raise the dead. Now, as all God’s works, ad extra, are common to all the three Persons, and this being such an one, they are all three concerned in it. And,
1. God the Father is concerned herein. The resurrection of Christ is frequently attributed to him, and so is the resurrection of the saints, and they are sometimes mentioned together; the former as the pledge and earnest of the latter, as saith the apostle, 1 Corinthians 6:14, “And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power; ” that is, God the Father has raised up the Lord Jesus, and we may be assured that he will also raise up us, since as he is able to raise the one, he is able to raise the other, and that by his own absolute, original, and underived power; which assurance of faith, in the doctrine of the resurrection, the apostle expresses in another place, in stronger terms, “We having the same Spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you, ” 2 Corinthians 4:14, where also the resurrection of the saints is ascribed to God the Father, who is manifestly distinguished from the Lord Jesus, whom he raised up, and by whom he will raise up the saints; not that Christ is the Father’s instrument, or medium of operation, by which he will raise the dead; for,
2. Christ, as God, being equal with the Father, is a coefficient cause of the resurrection; “As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will, ” John 5:22. He is “the resurrection and the life, ” i.e., the Author of the resurrection unto life; he is the Prince of life, has the keys of hell and death in his hands, and can open the grave at his pleasure, and call forth the dead; at whose all-powerful and commanding voice, all that are in the graves shall come forth; which will be a further proof both of his omnipotence and omniscience; this will show that he is the Almighty, since he can “change our vile body, that it may he fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working, whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself; ” and that he knows all things, and is that living Word, before whom every creature is made manifest, and all things are naked and open; for if he was not omniscient, he could not know where every particle of matter is lodged; and, if he was not omnipotent, he could not collect them, range them in their proper places, and unite them together. That he is equal to this work, we may conclude from the resurrection of his own body; he had power to lay down his life, and take it up again; he raised up the temple of his body, after it had been destroyed three days, and so was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” As he is the Mediator, he is the meritorious and procuring cause of the resurrection; there is an influential virtue in his resurrection, not only on the justification and regeneration of his people, but also upon their resurrection from the dead. He is the “first fruits of them that slept; ” the pledge and earnest of the saints’ resurrection; they are, in a sense, risen with him, and shall certainly be raised by him, in virtue of their union to him, as their risen Lord. As man, his resurrection is the pattern and exemplar of the saints; their bodies shall be fashioned like to his; as his body was raised incorruptible and immortal, powerful and glorious, so shall theirs, in such manner, as never to die more, or see corruption, or be attended with distempers and death.
3. God the Holy Ghost has a joint and equal concern with the Father and the Son in this amazing work. The resurrection of Christ, is the act of all the three Persons: the Father glorified his Son by raising him from the dead: he “raised him from the dead, and gave him glory.” Christ of himself took up the life, which he had laid down; and though he was “put to death in the flesh, ” yet he “was quickened by the Spirit.” So the resurrection of the saints from the dead, will be the act of all the three Persons, not only of the Father and the Son, but also of the Spirit; for “if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you, ” Romans 8:11. The bodies, as well as the souls of the saints, are united to Christ, by virtue of which union the Spirit of Christ dwells in them; not in their souls only, but in their bodies also; “What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you?” 1 Corinthians 6:19. Now, as the union between Christ and his people is not dissolved by death, so neither does the Spirit of God forsake the dead bodies of the saints, or neglect to take care of them; the dust of the saints is under his peculiar care and guardianship; and, at the last day, the Spirit of life from God, shall enter into them, and they shall live and stand upon their feet. Thus all the three divine Persons, Father, Son, and Spirit, will be concerned in the resurrection of the just.
The means by which God will do this great work, and the time when he will do it, the Scriptures are not altogether silent about. As to the means, we are told, that “all that are in the graves shall hear his (i.e., Christ’s) voice, and shall come forth, ” John 5:28, 29, “that the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise; ” and that the “trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible; ” but whether by the voice of Christ and the archangel, the shout, and the trumpet of God, we are to understand’ so many several distinct things, or one and the same thing, is not easy to determine. The voice of the archangel, who shall descend with Christ, may be called the voice of Christ, because formed at his command; the same may be signified by the trumpet of God, which shall be sounded, and that may be signified by the shout which shall be made, either by the archangel alone, or by all the angels with him, and this shout no other than some violent claps of thunder, which are the voice of God; like those which were heard when God descended on Mount Sinai, and gave the law from thence, which, perhaps, were formed by the ministry of angels; and this the apostle Peter may design, when he says: “The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, ” 2 Peter 3:10. Or by the voice of Christ, may be meant an audible and inarticulate voice of his, so powerful, as to reach all that are in their graves, such as that was which was heard at the grave of Lazarus, where “he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth; ” or as that which Saul heard from heaven, saying “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” or as John heard, which he says, “was as the voice of many waters.” Or, perhaps, the voice of Christ may design the power of Christ, which shall be exerted upon, and shall be felt and perceived by all that are in their graves, when the archangel shall sound the last trumpet, attended with the shout of all the rest of the angelic host.
As for the time, when the dead shall be raised, it cannot be exactly fixed, nor does it become us curiously to inquire into it; “It is not for us to know the times and the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power, ” Acts 1:7 As no man knows the day and hour of judgment, so no man knows the day when the dead wilt be raised. In general, it is said, that “it will be in the last day, and at the coming of Christ, ” John 6:39, 40, 44, 54, 11:24; 1 Corinthians 15:27, at which time the dead in Christ shall rise first; that is, they shall rise before the wicked, which will be the first resurrection. Not that the martyrs shall rise before the rest of the righteous, but all the righteous shall rise at Christ’s coming; but whether, their rising will be successive, or be at once, in a moment, is not very material. The change that will be made on the living, will be in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye; but it is not so manifest, that the resurrection of the dead will be so quick and sudden, but rather that it will be successive; since it is said, “Every man in his own order shall be raised, ” 1 Corinthians 15:23, which may be understood either of order of time, so that they that died first, shall be first raised; or of dignity, so that those who has been the most eminent for gifts, grace, usefulness, etc. shall be first called forth out of their graves, which, perhaps, may be the differing glory that will be upon the saints at the resurrection, of which the apostle speaks, saying, “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead.” 1 Corinthians 15:41, 42.
There are many curious and needless questions which are asked concerning the resurrection, and the state of those who are raised; as, whether abortions, or untimely births, shall be raised? at what age, and in what stature the dead shall rise? whether with their present deformities or not? whether there will be any distinction of sexes? and whether persons shall know one another? But these I shall not give myself the trouble to answer, but pass on to that which will be more useful; which is,