the forerunner, the prototype, the sample and
prophecy of immortality for the Christian.

Until the Christian is made immortal his redemption is not complete.

The Christian who dies is transported to heaven.

His estate there as compared to this is "far better."

But "far better" is not the "best." It is only a comparative.

The superlative requires that the Christian shall have a body.
Without a body the Christian is neither a complete human being nor a
perfect son of God.

The divine ordination is "_spirit, soul, and body_."

Unless the Christian receives an immortal body the victory of our
Lord Jesus Christ over death and over him who has the power of death
(that is the Devil) is not complete.

Satan as the strong man armed holds the goods and keeps them secure
within his house.

The instrument with which he is armed is the law. That law which
requires that it shall be "appointed unto men once to die." The
goods are the bodies of the saints, and the house is the dark and
dismal grave.

O the pitifulness of it! that our Lord Jesus Christ should possess
the Christian as a ghost in heaven, and the Devil hold his blood
-bought and spirit-sealed body in the grave.

A risen Christ in an immortal body, surrounded by disembodied
Christian ghosts in heaven forever--that is a concept too hideously
grotesque to consider.

An immortal Christ who redeemed his own body from the power of the
grave, but is unable to deliver the bodies of those for whom he
died--to think it is blasphemy! to believe it--impossible!

If the Devil be the strong man armed, the risen Lord is the one
"stronger than he," who has met and equalled all the demands of the
law, and by his death nullified its ultimate power over the bodies
of those for whom he died.

In the very nature of the case, then, full redemption requires that
the body of every Christian shall be delivered from the grave, and
that every Christian, whether living or dead, shall be clothed
finally with an immortal body.

This is the great objective of salvation--not just to save men from
vice and immorality here; not just to fit them with an antidote
against the poison of sin; or give them an impetus to holiness and
truth for a few brief years in this mortal body, then let them die
under various circumstances of suffering and pain and be carried
away to heaven to live there as attenuated, invisible ghosts
forever!

O no! it is not that!

It is true men are to be save