Levend Water
The Apostle of the Reconciliation - Charles H. Welch
Index - Page 112 of 159
THE APOSTLE OF THE RECONCILIATION
112
`Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion,
and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously' (Isa. 24:23).
`And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the
lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And He will destroy in this mountain the
face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in
victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall He take
away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it' (Isa. 25:6-8). (See also Isa. 26:1 and 27:1).
A further note of time is given in 1 Corinthians 15:52, `At the last trump'. In Revelation 11, at the sounding of
the seventh trumpet, `the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ'. Immediately
there follows reference to the `great power' and the `reign' and the `time of the dead', and the `destruction of them
that destroy the earth'. These Scriptures therefore place the period in view as being before the second death.
Perhaps a word will be expected upon that difficult verse 1 Corinthians 15:29 :
`Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized
for the dead?'
We do not for one moment believe that the passage teaches baptism for the dead, by proxy, although this strange
rite is practiced by `The Church of the Latter Day Saints', commonly known as the `Mormons'. We quote from a
report in the Arizona Republican Phoenix, November 23rd 1921:
`Up to and including the year 1920 there have been 3,220,196 baptisms performed by proxy in the temples ...
and since the world has so wonderfully helped us out in genealogical research, placing in our hands so
munificently the records of our fathers, the year 1921 bids fair to double the number of 1920. Genealogy, and its
handmaid, temple service, contemplates tracing the family line back to Adam, and administrating the ordinance
of baptism ... '
The strange idea contained in these words, and the enormous energy and patience expended upon the `5,500
volumes of genealogy' in the Library at Utah, are swept aside by the one majestic statement, `As in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive'.
The meaning of verse 29 appears to be this. It reads on from verse 19, `If in this life only we have hope in
Christ, we are of all men most miserable'. For what is the good of being baptized? It is merely a baptism into death
if the dead rise not. Baptism, however, is not only `into His death' but:
`... we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness
of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection' (Rom. 6:4-5).
The apostle follows the question, `Why are they then baptized for the dead?' by another which illuminates his
meaning, `And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? ... I die daily' (1 Cor. 15:30,31).
The grand conclusion with its spiritual exhortation must not be omitted in this summary:
`Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord' (15:58).
The connection between the resurrection and reconciliation is shown to be vital. It takes us out of the sphere of
Adam to place us into the sphere of Christ. While we are all alike included in each category, different ranks are to
be found in the resurrection. Further, some will be abolished as enemies before the kingdom is delivered up to the
Father. These we see at the great white throne, whose names are not in the book of life, and who are cast into the
lake of fire. This is the second death, and from that Scripture nowhere speaks of a resurrection. Fire is throughout
Scripture and in nature a great destroyer; and as death and hades are to be cast in too, it looks as though this
represents the final riddance from that kingdom of all things that offend before the time arrives when God shall be
all in all.
The way is now clear for more direct teaching concerning the reconciliation, and immediately the news reaches
the apostle that the Corinthians had taken to heart the warnings and censures of the first epistle, he dispatches a