MIF 5:5 (Sept-Oct 1973)
Editorial
An Act of God
“Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” Acts 26:8.
We speak in the legal sense of an “act of God” as an accident or a calamity which could not be forseen or avoided. The bodily resurrection of the dead that Paul spoke to King Agrippa about is also an act of God; but it is neither an accident nor a calamity. It is the very basis of our faith—the cornerstone on which the Christian framework rests. The resurrection of Christ is one of the best documented facts in all history and has withstood for ages the attempts of men to disprove it.
How can there be any more doubt about God’s purpose or ability to complete the redemption of our physical bodies than there is about the redemption of our souls! He Who created and controls the universe would have no trouble rebuilding a worn-out or dismembered body into one without any physical limitations or shortcomings. He Who originally formed man out of the dust of the ground and made him a living soul would have no trouble in re-uniting the living soul with the resurrected body. Since God has promised to do this, we should have no trouble believing it.
As a Jew, King Agrippa should have known that the testimony of Job, David, Isaiah, Daniel, Hosea, and other prophets points to a literal bodily resurrection in the last day. Paul repeatedly cites the actual resurrection of our Lord as evidence and promise that we too shall one day rise from among the dead with the same victory over death, hell and the grave that Christ won by His resurrection. Jesus told His disciples, “Because I live, ye shall live also.”
Incredible? Only believe in the omnipotence of God Who declared it; then all other difficulties disappear.
“Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth … John 5:28, 29a.
—A.F.W.