On the Resurrection of the Flesh

AFTER ALL THIS: we must also turn our attention to those Scriptures that forbid us to believe in the kind of resurrection held by your Animalists. I will not call them Spiritualists. They say it either takes place now, as soon as people come to know the truth, or else that it is completed immediately after they depart from this life. Now since the appointed times of our whole hope have been fixed in Holy Scripture, and since we are not allowed, as I understand it, to place its fulfillment before Christ's coming, our prayers are directed toward the end of this world, toward its passing away on the great day of the Lord, the day of His wrath and vengeance, the last day. It is hidden from all and known to no one but the Father, although it has been announced beforehand by signs and wonders, by the dissolving of the elements, and by conflicts of nations. I would set aside the words of the prophets, if the Lord Himself had said nothing, although the prophecies were the Lord's own word. But it serves my purpose better that He confirms their statement with His own mouth. When His disciples asked Him when those things would happen, the things He had just been speaking about concerning the destruction of the temple, He first spoke to them about the order of Jewish events up to the overthrow of Jerusalem, and then about those concerning all nations up to the very end of the world. For after He declared that Jerusalem would be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled, Luke 21:24, meaning, of course, those who were to be chosen by God and gathered in with the remnant of Israel, He then went on to proclaim against this world and dispensation, just as Joel and Daniel and all the prophets had done with one consent, that there would be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, and men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking after the things that are coming on the earth. Luke 21:25-26. For, He says, the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draws near. He spoke of it as drawing near, not as already being present. And He spoke of those things as beginning to come to pass, not as already having happened. Because when they have come to pass, then our redemption will be at hand. It is said to be approaching up to that time, raising and stirring our minds to what is then the near harvest of our hope. He immediately adds a parable about trees that sprout tenderly into a flower-stalk and then develop the flower, which comes before the fruit. In the same way, He adds, when you see all these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of heaven is near at hand. Watch, therefore, and pray always, that you may be counted worthy to escape all those things and to stand before the Son of Man, Luke 21:36, that is, no doubt, at the resurrection, after all these things have first taken place. Therefore, although there is a sprouting in the acknowledgment of all this mystery, it is only in the actual presence of the Lord that the flower is developed and the fruit is borne. Who then has stirred up the Lord, now at God's right hand, so unseasonably and with such severity, to shake terribly, as Isaiah 2:19 says, that earth which, I suppose, is still unshattered? Who has already put Christ's enemies beneath His feet, to use David's words, making Him more hurried than the Father, while every crowd in our public assemblies is still with shouts consigning the Christians to the lions? Who has yet seen Jesus descending from heaven in the same way as the apostles saw Him ascend, according to the declaration of the two angels? Acts 1:11. Up to the present moment, they have not yet, tribe by tribe, beaten their breasts while looking on Him whom they pierced. No one has yet met Elias. Malachi 4:5. No one has yet escaped from Antichrist. 1 John 4:3. No one has yet had to bewail the fall of Babylon. Revelation 18:2. And is there now anyone who has risen again except the heretic? Of course, he has already left the grave of his own corpse, although even now he is still liable to fevers and ulcers. He too has already trodden down his enemies, although even now he still has to struggle with the powers of the world. And of course, he is already a king, although even now he still owes to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. Matthew 22:21.