8. What did the Sadducees in Christ's time deny?
“Then came to Him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection.” Luke 20:27.
9. How did Christ, from the Old Testament Scriptures, prove the resurrection?
“Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto Him.” Verses 37, 38.
Note.—That is, in view of the resurrection—of the fact that there is to be a resurrection—all live unto God. In His purpose, all are alive. It is in this sense that Paul speaks of God as the one “who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” Rom. 4:17.
10. Under what illustration from nature are the resurrection and the final salvation of the righteous taught?
“That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die.” 1 Cor. 15:36. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12:24.
Notes.—The seed dies to spring forth into new life. In this we are taught the lesson of the resurrection. All who love God will spring forth to life, and live again through endless ages in the earth made new.
The Open Grave.—The truth of the resurrection has been forcibly illustrated by the following incident: In the city of Hanover, Germany, is a grave known as “The open grave.” It is that of a woman, an infidel German princess, who died over one hundred years ago, and who, on her death-bed, gave orders that her grave should be covered with a great marble slab, weighing perhaps a ton, surmounting solid blocks of stone firmly bound together with clasps of iron, with this inscription placed on the lowermost stone of the tomb: “This grave purchased for eternity, must never be opened.” But no human device can thwart the plans of [pg 517] God, or hinder the workings of life from Him. It happened, providentially no doubt, that a birch-tree seed was buried with the princess. Soon it began to sprout. Its tiny shoot, soft and pliable at first, found its way up through the ponderous stones of the massive masonry. Slowly and imperceptibly, but with irresistible power, it grew, until at last it burst the bands of iron asunder, and opened this never-to-be-opened grave, leaving not a single stone in its original position. See illustration on page [498]. What a rebuke to infidelity! and what a mute but striking promise that, erelong, in God's own time, all graves shall be opened, and the sleeping ones awake from their dusty beds!
