復活的盼望 Resurrection Hope

復活的盼望

經文: 「因為主必親自從天降臨，有呼叫的聲音、和天使長的聲音，又有上帝的號吹響；那在基督裡死了的人必先復活。以後我們這活著還存留的人，必和他們一同被提到雲裡，在空中與主相遇；這樣，我們就要和主永遠同在。」（帖前四16~17）

「清早天還黑的時候」（約廿1），主耶穌從死裡復活了。沒有太陽，只有晨星發光，照在那挪開的墳墓上。黑夜還沒有退去， 耶路撒冷的市民還沒有睡醒。祂起來了，並不驚醒沉睡的人們。照樣，在「清早，天還黑的時候」。只有晨星發光照耀的時候，在基督裡死了的人必要復活。他們起 來的時候，也像他們的主一樣，並不驚醒沉睡的人們。世界聽不見呼召他們的聲音，「睡在塵埃的阿，要醒起歌唱。」（賽廿六19）每一個榮耀的身體，要從墳墓 中出來，被提至空中與主相遇。今天我們為他們還有甚麼憂愁呢？「一宿雖有哭泣，早晨便必歡呼。」（詩卅5） 破曉的陽光射入在門徒中間，他們沐浴著晨曦，東方的雲彩淡淡一抹，只露出極微薄的日光。那輕輕的芳香，平和的寧靜，振奮的清新，甜蜜的沈靜，樸素的純淨；一切莊嚴肅穆，同時又充滿了希望，這一切都是他們的了。 哦，這一切和他們所經過的黑夜，是如何鮮明的對照；這一切和他們剛才脫離的墳墓，又是如何鮮明的對照！他們抖掉蓋在身上的塵土撇 開死神，以蒙受尊榮的形體上升，去和主在空中相會，其實，他們由晨星的光所照耀和引導，沿著無人踏過的路徑上升，那顆晨星就像耶穌降生時的伯利恒之星，帶 領他們到萬王之王的面前。──彭納（Horatius Bonar） 一位兵士說：「當我死在我墳墓上不要吹熄燈和就寢的號角，要吹催促我起床的晨號。」

Resurrection Hope

Scripture: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: so shall we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:16-17).

It was "very early in the morning" while "it was yet dark," that Jesus rose from the dead. Not the sun, but only the morning-star shone upon His opening tomb. The shadows had not fled, the citizens of Jerusalem had not awaked. It was still night--the hour of sleep and darkness, when He arose. Nor did his rising break the slumbers of the city. So shall it be "very early in the morning while it is yet dark," and when nought but the morning-star is shining, that Christ's body, the Church, shall arise. Like Him, His saints shall awake when the children of the night and darkness are still sleeping their sleep of death. In their arising they disturb no one. The world hears not the voice that summons them. As Jesus laid them quietly to rest, each in his own still tomb, like children in the arms of their mother; so, as quietly, as gently, shall He awake them when the hour arrives. To them come the quickening words, "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust" (Isa. 26:19). Into their tomb the earliest ray of glory finds its way. They drink in the first gleams of morning, while as yet the eastern clouds give but the faintest signs of the uprising. Its genial fragrance, its soothing stillness, its bracing freshness, its sweet loneliness, its quiet purity, all so solemn and yet so full of hope, these are theirs. Oh, the contrast between these things and the dark night through which they have passed! Oh, the contrast between these things and the grave from which they have sprung! And as they shake off the encumbering turf, flinging mortality aside, and rising, in glorified bodies, to meet their Lord in the air, they are lighted and guided upward, along the untrodden pathway, by the beams of that Star of the morning, which, like the Star of Bethlehem, conducts them to the presence of the King. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." --Horatius Bonar A soldier said, "When I die do not sound taps over my grave, but reveillé, the morning call, the summons to rise."