By that time, the house was rocking and rolling, and I thought, “It’s the day of the coming of the Lord.” And I was THRILLED TO DEATH!! that I was going to get to see— I ran to the east window. Now why I went to the east window, I don’t know. Why didn’t I think of going to the north window, I can’t tell you. But I went to the east window to see Him coming. And it dawned on me, “This is an earthquake.”

So, I kinda got a sub-conscious feeling about MY attitude toward the return of the Lord. It was a GLAD day! A GLAD day! And the only sad note that I had in my heart was that my family was in America and I’m in Australia. But then the third thought that came to my mind was, “Well, we’ll be joined together to meet Him in the air.”

You can think a lot, you know, in seconds like that when in danger. I was so thrilled when it was all over. Sub-consciously, those were my thoughts. I don’t know whether you’ve thought about those things, or not. But we have a HOPE OF A RETURNING SAVIOR! The Gospel gives us that.

Secondly , the Gospel gives us the HOPE OF A RESURRECTION —the resurrection of these bodies and the glorification of these bodies.

Probably— Well, not probably. No. For certain, the greatest dissertation that has ever been written on the resurrection is Paul’s sermon—his message about it—in 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. He begins by saying, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; ²By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. ³For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; ⁴And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures: ⁵And that He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: ⁶After that, He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. ⁷After that, He was seen of James; then of all the apostles. ⁸And last of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time,” [1 Corinthians 15:1-8].

Christ, he says, was…raised…from…the dead. I keep saying that, “He was resurrected.” And I had a Gospel preacher call me this last week and he said, “Three times in your sermon Sunday, you talked about Christ being resurrected. And there is no such word.” He said, “I went to the dictionary, and there is no such word in the dictionary as “resurrected”.

But I believe He was resurrected, don’t you? He was raised from the dead. And He was seen of these people, some of whom were still living at the time, and could be called as living witnesses as having seen Him after He was raised from the dead. And, Paul says, “He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time,” as we mentioned this morning.

[Paul continues:] “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet [not worthy; do not even deserve] to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. ¹¹Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.

¹² Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: ¹⁴And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. ¹⁵Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ: Whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. ¹⁶For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: ¹⁷And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. ¹⁸Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. ¹⁹If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable,” [1 Corinthians 15:9-19].

Notice the next verses: “²⁰But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. ²¹For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. ²²For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. ²³But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming. ²⁴Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. ²⁵For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. ²⁶The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. ²⁷For He hath put all things under His feet. But when He saith all things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted, Which did put all things under Him. ²⁸And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all,” [1 Corinthians 15:20-28].