The martyr Tyndale , referring to the state of the dead , declared : " I confess openly , that I am not persuaded that they be already in the full glory that Christ is in , or the elect angels of God are in . Neither is it any article of my faith ; for if it were so , I see not but then the preaching of the resurrection of the flesh were a thing in vain ." --William Tyndale , Preface to New Testament ( ed . 1534 ). Reprinted in British Reformers--Tindal , Frith , Barnes , page 349 . It is an undeniable fact that the hope of immortal blessedness at death has led to a widespread neglect of the Bible doctrine of the resurrection . This tendency was remarked by Dr . Adam Clarke , who said : " The doctrine of the resurrection appears to have been thought of much more consequence among the primitive Christians than it is now ! How is this ? The apostles were continually insisting on it , and exciting the followers of God to diligence , obedience , and cheerfulness through it . And their successors in the present day seldom mention it ! So apostles preached , and so primitive Christians believed ; so we preach , and so our hearers believe . There is not a doctrine in the gospel on which more stress is laid ; and there is not a doctrine in the present system of preaching which is treated with more neglect !" -- Commentary , remarks on I Corinthians 15 , paragraph 3 .
This has continued until the glorious truth of the resurrection has been almost wholly obscured and lost sight of by the Christian world . Thus a leading religious writer , commenting on the words of Paul in I Thessalonians 4:13-18 , says : " For all practical purposes of comfort the doctrine of the blessed immortality of the righteous takes the place for us of any doubtful doctrine of the Lord ' s second coming . At our death the Lord comes for us . That is what we are to wait and watch for . The dead are already passed into glory . They do not wait for the trump for their judgment and blessedness ."
But when about to leave His disciples , Jesus did not tell them that they would soon come to Him . " I go to prepare a place for you ," He said . " And if I go and prepare a place for you , I will come again , and receive you unto Myself ." John 14:2 , 3 . And Paul tells us , further , that " 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 : and so shall we ever be with the Lord ." And he adds : " Comfort one another with these words ." I Thessalonians 4:16-18 . How wide the contrast between these words of comfort and those of the Universalist minister previously quoted ! The latter consoled the bereaved friends with the assurance that , however sinful the dead might have been , when he breathed out his life here he was to be received among the angels . Paul points his brethren to the future coming of the Lord , when the fetters of the tomb shall be broken , and the " dead in Christ " shall be raised to eternal life .
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