LIFE AND IMMORTALITY

By Dr. David L. Cooper
(A Radio message)
Biblical Research Monthly
April, 1955

The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth! "Jehovah is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him" (Hab. 2:20).

Greetings to you, my friend, wherever you may be, by the grace and providence of God.


We very frequently hear the expression, "Hold on for dear life!" This is a proverbial saying, which indicates that men and women everywhere want to continue to live. Another axiomatic expression that is quite familiar is that "Self-preservation is the first law of nature." Man, because he has a desire to continue to live and to engage in his pursuit of happiness and satisfaction, all things being equal, does not want to lay down his lifework and launch out into the great unknown beyond this life. This feeling is not simply one that has arisen in modern times. It goes back to the beginning of the race.

As Job was debating with his friends concerning the great problems and mysteries of life, he was grappling for the truth. He had the Word of God, as much as had been revealed in his day, was studying it, and believed what he saw therein. But at times he drew various erroneous conclusions from it, as we see in the study of his speeches. His friends, with whom he was debating, also made many illogical and hasty deductions.

7 For there is hope of a tree,
If it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
And the tender branch thereof will not cease.
8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth,
And the stock thereof die in the ground;
9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud,
And put forth boughs like a plant.
10 But man dieth, and is laid low:
Yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
11 As the waters fail from the sea,
And the river wasteth and drieth up;
12 So man lieth down and riseth not:
Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake,
Nor be roused out of their sleep."

In this passage Job was distressingly gloomy in regard to life after this one. Then, as we see in verses 13 and 14 of this same passage, he began to express a little hope:

13 "Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol,
That thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past,
That thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If a man die, shall he live again?
All the days of my warfare would I wait,
Till my release should come."

The revelation of God is Job's day was not so complete as it is now. Hence he, together with his friends, would not see clearly what we can in the light of a more complete revelation. The more Job reasoned and debated with his friends, and the more he thought on the subject of life after death, the clearer his thinking became. Later he therefore expressed the firm conviction that

There is a life After This One

Thus he expressed his convictions on this point in the following words:

23 Oh that my words were now written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
24 That with an iron pen and lead
They were graven in the rock for ever!
25 But as for me I know that my Redeemer liveth,
And at last he will stand up upon the earth:
26 And after my skin, even this body is destroyed,
Then without my flesh shall I see God;
27 Whom I, even I, shall see, on my side,
And mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger.
My heart is consumed within me" (Job 19:23-27).

Job had seen in the primitive revelation, which was in his possession, that the Redeemer would come to earth, and that this appearance would be in the far distant future. He, however, could not live to see that time, but he believed that, after he left the body—in the spirit—he would be able to see the Messiah when He would come, and that, apart from the flesh, he would see Him on his side, championing his cause. Of course, as he expressed in this passage, he expected to have a resurrection body.
It was clearly revealed to David, the King of Israel, that

Messiah, the World's Redeemer, Would Be Killed But Would Be Raised From the Dead

"8 I have set Jehovah always before me;
Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth.
My flesh also shall dwell in safety,
10 For thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol;
Neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption.
11 Thou wilt show me the path of life:
In thy presence is fulness of joy;
In thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Psalm 16:8-11).

Throughout this psalm the author, King David, used the personal pronouns, I, my, me, mine. A glance at the first seven verses shows that David, in that section of the poem, was speaking of his own, personal experiences. But when we come to verses 8-12, which I just read, he moves out in a sphere that was far beyond his own experiences. David died and was buried, and his tomb, as we see in Acts, chapter 2, was there in Jerusalem at Pentecost. So, though he did use the personal pronouns in the first person, he was not speaking of himself. But as the inspired Apostle Peter said, he was speaking for the Messiah. There is therefore clearly revealed in this passage the fact that the Messiah would be killed, but would be raised from the dead and would be brought back to life. Hence, from Psalm 16:8-11, we see that there was and is hope of a life beyond this one, seen by the psalmists and prophets. By turning to the Gospel Records, we can see that

Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, When He was Crucified,
Was Buried, But That He Was Raised Again to Life

For instance, in John 20:1-10, we have a marvelous account of the resurrection of our Lord. May I read this passage to you now? "Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken away from the tomb. 2 She runneth therefore, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they have laid him. 3 Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. 4 And they ran both together: and the other disciple outran Peter, and came first to the tomb; 5 and stooping and looking in, he seeth the linen cloths lying; yet entered he not in. 6 Simon Peter therefore also cometh, following him, and entered the tomb; and he beholdeth the linen cloths lying, 7 and the napkin, that was upon his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then entered in therefore the other disciple also, who came first to the tomb, and he saw, and believed. 9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. 10 So the disciples went away again unto their own home" (John 20:1-10).

None of the disciples expected Jesus to rise from the dead, although He had repeatedly told them, especially during the last six months of His earthly life. Evidence proving that He had been raised from the dead had to be of such a character as to overcome the doubts which they had, and to prove positively that He had been raised from the dead.

When John arrived at the tomb, according to the account just read, he stooped down and looked in, but hesitated to enter. When Peter, who came a little later, arrived, he went into the tomb. Then John followed him. They both saw the cloths lying and the napkin that had been around the head of Jesus lying by itself in its own place. The condition in which the clothes and the napkin were was positive evidence to the two Apostles that Jesus had been raised from the dead. How could this prove that He had been raised? They knew that the body was not there, but the clothes were. Just a little thought concerning their condition will make this clear.

Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus used a hundred pounds of spices in preparing the body of Jesus for burial. The use of these spices played a unique role in the testimony regarding the resurrection of our Lord. Do you say, How can that be? I shall gladly tell you. According to Jewish custom of burial in the first century spices were prepared, by being beaten and pounded so that the juices could flow, and were spread upon the grave clothes just as a poultice, for instance, is smeared on a bandage before it is applied to a wound. A more perfect illustration is that of a doctor who makes a cast for some part of the human body that has been injured. The physician puts a layer of soft plaster of Paris on a bandage and winds it around the part to be encased in the cast. Both the bandage and the plaster of Paris are soft when they are wound around the part of the body being treated. In a very sort time, the materials harden, assuming the form of the part of body around which they are wound. Thus it was with the spices and the grave clothes used in the interment of our Lord.

When Peter and John entered the tomb, the clothes were still in the position and in the form in which they were when wound around the body of Jesus, but He was not there. There were no signs of anyone's having touched those clothes. They had not been cut or broken in any way. But they were simply lying there in the same position in which they were when they were around His body. Peter and John came to the conclusion that Jesus had been miraculously raised from the dead. No other conclusion could they draw. They could not explain the absence of the body and the condition of the clothes in any other way. Neither could any scientist today think differently. If a modern scientist today had seen the body of Jesus interred, as is stated in the Scriptures, he would know that, if the grave clothes had not been touched or molested in any way and the body of Jesus were no longer in the cast there is but one conclusion to which he could come, and that is, that a miracle had been wrought. Such was the reasoning of Peter and John concerning the resurrection of our Lord. They could not think in any other way. Thus the empty tomb is one of the great bulwarks of the Christian faith.

The Apostle Paul affiremed that

Christ Had Been Proved to Be the Son of God by the Resurrection According to the Spirit of Holiness (Rom. 1:4).

Some of the people during the life of Christ recognized the fact that He was God in human form, who entered the world by miraculous conception and virgin birth. They knew that He was more than a human being. For instance, Nathanael, when he first met Jesus, exclaimed: "Thou art the Son of God! Thou art the King of Israel!" His spiritual insight was so very keen that he recognized instantly, upon seeing Jesus, that He was God in human form. But the great majority of people could not see back behind the thin veil of His flesh. Not even His most intimate disciples could see that. Even Peter, who confessed on one occasion that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God, when God specially revealed it to him, did not believe that He would be raised from the dead.

After Christ was raised from the dead, He appeared on ten different occasions to different disciples, who had been eyewitnesses of His personal ministry. There were, on one occasion, above five hundred brethren, to whom He appeared at one time. These people were on the scene and were intelligent, thinking, honest, conscientious souls who wanted truth. They were convinced that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Hence they preached and taught the resurrection as an actual fact. There were those who preached it, though they knew that by so doing, they would have to pay for their loyalty to truth with their lifeblood.

Let us remember that the Apostles and the early disciples of Jesus did not expect Him to rise from the dead. When, however, He appeared to them, they used all their intelligence to ascertain whether or not it was He who appeared to them. This the Apostle John declared, "That which was from the beginning, that which we haver heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life 2 (and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare unto you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); 3 that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us: yea, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ: 4 and these things we write, that our joy may be made full" (John 1:1-4).

Every impression that we have of the outside world is received through one of the five senses. John declared that those who saw Christ after His resurrection had the testimony of three of their faculties, namely: the seeing of the eye, the feeling of the hand, and the hearing of the ear. Thus it is quite evident that, when Jesus appeared after His resurrection to His disciples, they were not prepared to believe that He was raised from the dead. They wanted to make no mistake; hence they looked at Him with big-eyed wonder. They listened to what He said. And they compared what He said then with what He had said during His lifetime. They could remember the peculiarities of His speech and His accent. Moreover, they felt of His actual body, to be convinced that it was not an apparition, or a phantom, floating around among them. They therefore had the testimony of three of the five senses. When we remember that there were above five hundred brethren at once to whom Jesus appeared after His resurrection; when we remember that, as Abraham Lincoln said, "One may fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time," I feel that all of those in that group, when they actually examined in every possible way, came to the conclusion that it was He who had been raised from the dead.

While they had the testimony of their hearing, feeling, seeing, there was another sense, a sixth sense, that man possesses, by which they sensed that it was Jesus himself who appeared to them. When we come into the presence of any person, that one's personality has a certain effect upon us. We react to his presence. It is absolutely certain, then, that the Apostles reacted to Christ after His resurrection as they did before. They recognized that it was His spirit. There is such a thing as kindred spirits. And they recognized that it was He.

In addition to the proof of a life beyond this one as seen in the empty tomb of Christ, there is a second bulwark of the Christian faith, namely,

The Appearance of the Lord Jesus to the Apostle Paul
When He was on His Way to Damascus

There are three accounts of his conversion and of Christ's speaking to him from glory. One of them was written by Luke, who was most accurate and scientific in his gathering of facts and data and in recording them. This account is found in Acts, chapter 9. We have also two speeches by the Apostle Paul, one in Acts, chapter 22, the other in chapter 26. In these he declared that Jesus had appeared to him when he was on his way to Damascus, and that he had a certain conversation with Him. There can be no doubt that the risen Christ spoke from glory to the Apostle Paul, and that he surrendered to Him and accepted Him as his Lord and Saviour.

The evidence as set forth in the Scriptures which were written by those who were not prejudiced in favor of the resurrection, but who were on the opposite side, was so very strong that it pulled them from their extreme negative attitude over to a positive position, where they affirmed with all their hearts that Christ was raised from the dead. They were willing to lay down their lives for this astounding fact. Some of the disciples did suffer martyrdom because they testified to the resurrection of Christ. We are therefore of the profound conviction that Christ "abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." We can now say with Paul: "… For I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that day" (II Tim. 1:12).

And we can sing from the very depths of our hearts, "Up from the grave He arose!"

"Low in the grave He lay-Jesus my Savior!
Waiting the coming day-Jesus my Lord!

"Vainly they watch His bed-Jesus my Savior!
Vainly they seal the dead-Jesus my Lord!

"Death cannot keep his prey-Jesus my Savior!
He tore the bars away-Jesus my Lord!

"Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o'er His foes;
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!"

The Lord bless you, my friend, and keep you in the center of His holy directive will. Good-day.