Mysteries of the Resurrection

[devotional at egwlists.whiteestate.org]

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Ellen G. White Estate, Devotional for October 20
Visit us at http://www.whiteestate.org
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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 Savior 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. 

>From Maranatha - Page 301