| OCR Text |
Show THE FUTURE LIFE International Sunday School Lesson for April 17, 1949 Memory Selection "Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of them who have fallen asleep." I Corinthians 15:20. Lesson Text John 5 :25, I Cor. 15 :20-25, II Cor. 4 :16-18 The Christian faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ and the confident belief in individual immortality rests largely upon the reality of his victory over the power of death and the grave. If Jesus did not live again after his death at the hands of the Jewish authorities, the whole truth and dependence of the gospel stories becomes worthless. Therefore, it is very reassur- ing to realize that the resurrection resurrec-tion of Jesus is probably better attested than any other historical histor-ical fact, which is nearly two thousand' years old. Aside from the many occasions upon which he appeared to his disciples, all recorded in the ancient manuscripts, manu-scripts, the sudden transformation transforma-tion which took place among his apostles, changing them from frightened and discouraged men into flaming evangels of a new doctrine, is evidence of some miraculous event which had transformed them. The average man or woman takes life and death as the expected, ex-pected, scarcely bothering himself him-self with mental searchings and gropings, which led to a firm conviction in life beyond the grave. Scientific proof of immortality im-mortality is lacking, if we require re-quire laboratory demonstrations demonstra-tions under physical limitations, for no man can convince the doubter as definitely as he can show that water, heated, dissipates dissi-pates itself as steam. But, neither can the doubter irrevocably irre-vocably prove that death is the end, for all nature seems to reveal re-veal the indestructability of matter. Form and habitat may be changed but matter cannot be destroyed so with the human hu-man soul. We know that hydrogen and oxygen, in certain proportions, unite to form what we know as water. The running brook is hydrogen and oxygen, the frozen froz-en ice or vaporous steam is the same. Melt it or condense it, and we have water again in its customary form. This is no mystery and we accept it with- out question. Then, why does not life our conscious, individual identity or soul have capabilities of existing ex-isting in our human bodies during dur-ing one period and, under certain cer-tain conditions, and of surviving in spirit under a different environment en-vironment and at another time? The same creating power which perpetuates hydrogen and oxygen oxy-gen in their various stages would hardly equip the acme of I his creation the human soul with less resourcefulness! Man, in his mind, distinguishes distinguish-es himself from the physical body, which is his. During all the years of life, he is alert to the unity of one soul thruout all the changing forms of his mortal frame. He knows that he controls that body, that he directs its activities as a being separate and superior to it. He is cognizant of a natural world around him, all of which apparently appar-ently exists for his use and benefit, ben-efit, but, of all things, he himself him-self ranks first. A common unity underies all of nature. There is apparently a definite correlation and purpose pur-pose thru it all, culminating in man. For what, then, does he exist? This points to a future life for the human soul, which begins with the death of the physical body and forced from : the body by the latter's physical ; death, but why not think that ! we die humanly when our eter-! eter-! nal spirit deserts its earthly j frame? The caterpillar crawling in the dust is far removed from the beautiful butterfly flitting about in the springtime sunshine, sun-shine, yet it has changed thru death. Faith enables man to project his vision into that spiritual spir-itual existence, into which death is the only gateway.. Reason justifies this expectation. Nature Na-ture round about us furnishes analogies and faith assures mortal mor-tal men and is "evidence of things not seen." Jesus gives the answer to the most profound question of all ages: "How shall I find eternal life?" He says, "I am the resurrection resur-rection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever who-soever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die." (John 11: 25-26 . |
