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Chapter Thirty
Three
The First Great Deception
With the earliest history of man, Satan began his
efforts to deceive our race. He who had incited rebellion
in heaven desired to bring the inhabitants of the earth
to unite with him in his warfare against the government of
God. Adam and Eve had been perfectly happy in obedience
to the law of God, and this fact was a constant testimony
against the claim which Satan had urged in heaven, that
God’s law was oppressive and opposed to the good of His
creatures. And furthermore, Satan’s envy was excited as he
looked upon the beautiful home prepared for the sinless pair.
He determined to cause their fall, that, having separated
them from God and brought them under his own power,
he might gain possession of the earth and here establish his
kingdom in opposition to the Most High.
Had Satan revealed himself in his real character, he would
have been repulsed at once, for Adam and Eve had been
warned against this dangerous foe; but he worked in the
dark, concealing his purpose, that he might more effectually
accomplish his object. Employing as his medium the serpent,
then a creature of fascinating appearance, he addressed
himself to Eve: “Hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of
the garden?”
Genesis 3:1. Had Eve refrained from entering
into argument with the tempter, she would have been safe;
but she ventured to parley with him and fell a victim to his
wiles. It is thus that many are still overcome. They doubt
and argue concerning the requirements of God; and instead
of obeying the divine commands, they accept human theories,
which but disguise the devices of Satan.
“The woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the
fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree
which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall
not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the
serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God
doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall
be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
Verses 2-5. He declared that they would become like God,
possessing greater wisdom than before and being capable of
a higher state of existence. Eve yielded to temptation; and
through her influence, Adam was led into sin. They accepted
the words of the serpent, that God did not mean what He
said; they distrusted their Creator and imagined that He
was restricting their liberty and that they might obtain great
wisdom and exaltation by transgressing His law.
But what did Adam, after his sin, find to be the meaning
of the words, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die"? Did he find them to mean, as Satan had led him
to believe, that he was to be ushered into a more exalted state
of existence? Then indeed there was great good to be gained
by transgression, and Satan was proved to be a benefactor of
the race. But Adam did not find this to be the meaning of
the divine sentence. God declared that as a penalty for his
sin, man should return to the ground whence he was taken:
"Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
Verse 19.
The words of Satan, “Your eyes shall be opened,” proved to
be true in this sense only: After Adam and Eve had disobeyed
God, their eyes were opened to discern their folly; they did
know evil, and they tasted the bitter fruit of transgression.
In the midst of Eden grew the tree of life, whose fruit
had the power of perpetuating life. Had Adam remained
obedient to God, he would have continued to enjoy free
access to this tree and would have lived forever. But when he
sinned he was cut off from partaking of the tree of life, and
he became subject to death. The divine sentence, “Dust thou
art, and unto dust shalt thou return,” points to the utter
extinction of life.
Immortality, promised to man on condition of obedience,
had been forfeited by transgression. Adam could not transmit
to his posterity that which he did not possess; and there
could have been no hope for the fallen race had not God, by
the sacrifice of His Son, brought immortality within their
reach. While “death passed upon all men, for that all have
sinned,” Christ “hath brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel.”
Romans 5:12;
2 Timothy 1:10. And
only through Christ can immortality be obtained. Said Jesus:
"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he
that believeth not the Son shall not see life.”
John 3:36. Every
man may come into possession of this priceless blessing if
he will comply with the conditions. All “who by patient
continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and
immortality,” will receive “eternal life.”
Romans 2:7.
The only one who promised Adam life in disobedience
was the great deceiver. And the declaration of the serpent
to Eve in Eden—"Ye shall not surely die” —was the first
sermon ever preached upon the immortality of the soul. Yet
this declaration, resting solely upon the authority of Satan, is
echoed from the pulpits of Christendom and is received by
the majority of mankind as readily as it was received by our
first parents. The divine sentence, “The soul that sinneth, it
shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20), is made to mean: The soul that
sinneth, it shall not die, but live eternally. We cannot but
wonder at the strange infatuation which renders men so
credulous concerning the words of Satan and so unbelieving
in regard to the words of God.
Had man after his fall been allowed free access to the tree
of life, he would have lived forever, and thus sin would have
been immortalized. But cherubim and a flaming sword kept
"the way of the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24), and not one of
the family of Adam has been permitted to pass that barrier
and partake of the life-giving fruit. Therefore there is not
an immortal sinner.
But after the Fall, Satan bade his angels make a special
effort to inculcate the belief in man’s natural immortality;
and having induced the people to receive this error, they were
to lead them on to conclude that the sinner would live in eternal
misery. Now the prince of darkness, working through
his agents, represents God as a revengeful tyrant, declaring
that He plunges into hell all those who do not please Him,
and causes them ever to feel His wrath; and that while they
suffer unutterable anguish and writhe in the eternal flames,
their Creator looks down upon them with satisfaction.
Thus the archfiend clothes with his own attributes the
Creator and Benefactor of mankind. Cruelty is satanic. God
is love; and all that He created was pure, holy, and lovely,
until sin was brought in by the first great rebel. Satan
himself is the enemy who tempts man to sin, and then destroys
him if he can; and when he has made sure of his victim, then
he exults in the ruin he has wrought. If permitted, he would
sweep the entire race into his net. Were it not for the
interposition of divine power, not one son or daughter of Adam
would escape.
Satan is seeking to overcome men today, as he overcame
our first parents, by shaking their confidence in their Creator
and leading them to doubt the wisdom of His government
and the justice of His laws. Satan and his emissaries represent
God as even worse than themselves, in order to justify their
own malignity and rebellion. The great deceiver endeavors
to shift his own horrible cruelty of character upon our heavenly
Father, that he may cause himself to appear as one
greatly wronged by his expulsion from heaven because he
would not submit to so unjust a governor. He presents before
the world the liberty which they may enjoy under his mild
sway, in contrast with the bondage imposed by the stern
decrees of Jehovah. Thus he succeeds in luring souls away
from their allegiance to God.
How repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy, and
even to our sense of justice, is the doctrine that the wicked
dead are tormented with fire and brimstone in an eternally
burning hell; that for the sins of a brief earthly life they are
to suffer torture as long as God shall live. Yet this doctrine
has been widely taught and is still embodied in many of the
creeds of Christendom. Said a learned doctor of divinity:
"The sight of hell torments will exalt the happiness of the
saints forever. When they see others who are of the same
nature and born under the same circumstances, plunged in
such misery, and they so distinguished, it will make them
sensible of how happy they are.” Another used these words:
"While the decree of reprobation is eternally executing on
the vessels of wrath, the smoke of their torment will be
eternally ascending in view of the vessels of mercy, who, instead
of taking the part of these miserable objects, will say, Amen,
Alleluia! praise ye the Lord!”
Where, in the pages of God’s word, is such teaching to be
found? Will the redeemed in heaven be lost to all emotions
of pity and compassion, and even to feelings of common
humanity? Are these to be exchanged for the indifference of
the stoic or the cruelty of the savage? No, no; such is not the
teaching of the Book of God. Those who present the views
expressed in the quotations given above may be learned and
even honest men, but they are deluded by the sophistry of
Satan. He leads them to misconstrue strong expressions of
Scripture, giving to the language the coloring of bitterness
and malignity which pertains to himself, but not to our
Creator. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure
in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his
way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why
will ye die?”
Ezekiel 33:11.
What would be gained to God should we admit that He
delights in witnessing unceasing tortures; that He is regaled
with the groans and shrieks and imprecations of the suffering
creatures whom He holds in the flames of hell? Can these
horrid sounds be music in the ear of Infinite Love? It is
urged that the infliction of endless misery upon the wicked
would show God’s hatred of sin as an evil which is ruinous
to the peace and order of the universe. Oh, dreadful
blasphemy! As if God’s hatred of sin is the reason why it is
perpetuated. For, according to the teachings of these theologians,
continued torture without hope of mercy maddens its
wretched victims, and as they pour out their rage in curses
and blasphemy, they are forever augmenting their load of
guilt. God’s glory is not enhanced by thus perpetuating
continually increasing sin through ceaseless ages.
It is beyond the power of the human mind to estimate the
evil which has been wrought by the heresy of eternal torment.
The religion of the Bible, full of love and goodness, and
abounding in compassion, is darkened by superstition and
clothed with terror. When we consider in what false colors
Satan has painted the character of God, can we wonder that
our merciful Creator is feared, dreaded, and even hated?
The appalling views of God which have spread over the
world from the teachings of the pulpit have made thousands,
yes, millions, of skeptics and infidels.
The theory of eternal torment is one of the false doctrines
that constitute the wine of the abomination of Babylon, of
which she makes all nations drink.
Revelation 14:8;
17:2.
That ministers of Christ should have accepted this heresy
and proclaimed it from the sacred desk is indeed a mystery.
They received it from Rome, as they received the false
sabbath. True, it has been taught by great and good men; but
the light on this subject had not come to them as it has come
to us. They were responsible only for the light which shone
in their time; we are accountable for that which shines in our
day. If we turn from the testimony of God’s word, and accept
false doctrines because our fathers taught them, we fall under
the condemnation pronounced upon Babylon; we are drinking
of the wine of her abomination.
A large class to whom the doctrine of eternal torment is
revolting are driven to the opposite error. They see that the
Scriptures represent God as a being of love and compassion,
and they cannot believe that He will consign His creatures to
the fires of an eternally burning hell. But holding that the
soul is naturally immortal, they see no alternative but to
conclude that all mankind will finally be saved. Many regard
the threatenings of the Bible as designed merely to frighten
men into obedience, and not to be literally fulfilled. Thus the
sinner can live in selfish pleasure, disregarding the requirements
of God, and yet expect to be finally received into His
favor. Such a doctrine, presuming upon God’s mercy, but
ignoring His justice, pleases the carnal heart and emboldens
the wicked in their iniquity.
To show how believers in universal salvation wrest the
Scriptures to sustain their soul-destroying dogmas, it is needful
only to cite their own utterances. At the funeral of an
irreligious young man, who had been killed instantly by an
accident, a Universalist minister selected as his text the Scripture
statement concerning David: “He was comforted
concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.”
2 Samuel 13:39.
“I am frequently asked,” said the speaker, “what will be
the fate of those who leave the world in sin, die, perhaps, in
a state of inebriation, die with the scarlet stains of crime
unwashed from their robes, or die as this young man died,
having never made a profession or enjoyed an experience of
religion. We are content with the Scriptures; their answer
shall solve the awful problem. Amnon was exceedingly
sinful; he was unrepentant, he was made drunk, and while
drunk was killed. David was a prophet of God; he must
have known whether it would be ill or well for Amnon in
the world to come. What were the expressions of his heart?
‘The soul of King David longed to go forth unto Absalom:
for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was
dead.’
Verse 39.
“And what is the inference to be deduced from this
language? Is it not that endless suffering formed no part of his
religious belief? So we conceive; and here we discover a
triumphant argument in support of the more pleasing, more
enlightened, more benevolent hypothesis of ultimate
universal purity and peace. He was comforted, seeing his son
was dead. And why so? Because by the eye of prophecy he
could look forward into the glorious future and see that son
far removed from all temptations, released from the bondage
and purified from the corruptions of sin, and after being
made sufficiently holy and enlightened, admitted to the
assembly of ascended and rejoicing spirits. His only comfort
was that, in being removed from the present state of sin
and suffering, his beloved son had gone where the loftiest
breathings of the Holy Spirit would be shed upon his darkened
soul, where his mind would be unfolded to the wisdom
of heaven and the sweet raptures of immortal love, and thus
prepared with a sanctified nature to enjoy the rest and society
of the heavenly inheritance.
“In these thoughts we would be understood to believe that
the salvation of heaven depends upon nothing which we can
do in this life; neither upon a present change of heart, nor
upon present belief, or a present profession of religion.”
Thus does the professed minister of Christ reiterate the
falsehood uttered by the serpent in Eden: “Ye shall not surely
die.” “In the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as gods.” He declares that the vilest
of sinners—the murderer, the thief, and the adulterer—will
after death be prepared to enter into immortal bliss.
And from what does this perverter of the Scriptures
draw his conclusions? From a single sentence expressing
David’s submission to the dispensation of Providence. His
soul “longed to go forth unto Absalom; for he was comforted
concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.” The poignancy of
his grief having been softened by time, his thoughts turned
from the dead to the living son, self-banished through fear of
the just punishment of his crime. And this is the evidence
that the incestuous, drunken Amnon was at death
immediately transported to the abodes of bliss, there to be purified
and prepared for the companionship of sinless angels! A
pleasing fable indeed, well suited to gratify the carnal heart!
This is Satan’s own doctrine, and it does his work effectually.
Should we be surprised that, with such instruction, wickedness
abounds?
The course pursued by this one false teacher illustrates
that of many others. A few words of Scripture are separated
from the context, which would in many cases show their
meaning to be exactly opposite to the interpretation put upon
them; and such disjointed passages are perverted and used in
proof of doctrines that have no foundation in the word of
God. The testimony cited as evidence that the drunken
Amnon is in heaven is a mere inference directly contradicted
by the plain and positive statement of the Scriptures that no
drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians
6:10. It is thus that doubters, unbelievers, and skeptics turn
the truth into a lie. And multitudes have been deceived by
their sophistry and rocked to sleep in the cradle of carnal
security.
If it were true that the souls of all men passed directly to
heaven at the hour of dissolution, then we might well covet
death rather than life. Many have been led by this belief to
put an end to their existence. When overwhelmed with
trouble, perplexity, and disappointment, it seems an easy
thing to break the brittle thread of life and soar away into
the bliss of the eternal world.
God has given in His word decisive evidence that He
will punish the transgressors of His law. Those who flatter
themselves that He is too merciful to execute justice upon the
sinner, have only to look to the cross of Calvary. The death
of the spotless Son of God testifies that “the wages of sin is
death,” that every violation of God’s law must receive its just
retribution. Christ the sinless became sin for man. He bore
the guilt of transgression, and the hiding of His Father’s face,
until His heart was broken and His life crushed out. All this
sacrifice was made that sinners might be redeemed. In no
other way could man be freed from the penalty of sin. And
every soul that refuses to become a partaker of the atonement
provided at such a cost must bear in his own person the guilt
and punishment of transgression.
Let us consider what the Bible teaches further concerning
the ungodly and unrepentant, whom the Universalist places
in heaven as holy, happy angels.
“I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the
water of life freely.”
Revelation 21:6. This promise is only
to those that thirst. None but those who feel their need of the
water of life, and seek it at the loss of all things else, will be
supplied. “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and
I will be his God, and he shall be My son.”
Verse 7. Here,
also, conditions are specified. In order to inherit all things,
we must resist and overcome sin.
The Lord declares by the prophet Isaiah: “Say ye to the
righteous, that it shall be well with him.” “Woe unto the
wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands
shall be given him.”
Isaiah 3:10, 11. “Though a sinner do
evil an hundred times,” says the wise man, “and his days be
prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them
that fear God, which fear before Him: but it shall not be well
with the wicked.”
Ecclesiastes 8:12, 13. And Paul testifies
that the sinner is treasuring up unto himself “wrath against
the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of
God; who will render to every man according to his deeds;”
"tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth
evil.”
Romans 2:5,6,9.
“No fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man,
who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of
Christ and God.”
Ephesians 5:5, A.R.V. “Follow peace with
all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the
Lord.”
Hebrews 12:14. “Blessed are they that do His
commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and
may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are
dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and
idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”
Revelation
22:14, 15.
God has given to men a declaration of His character and
of His method of dealing with sin. “The Lord God, merciful
and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and
truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and
transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the
guilty.”
Exodus 34:6, 7. “All the wicked will He destroy.”
"The transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the
wicked shall be cut off.”
Psalms 145:20;
37:38. The power
and authority of the divine government will be employed to
put down rebellion; yet all the manifestations of retributive
justice will be perfectly consistent with the character of God
as a merciful, long-suffering, benevolent being.
God does not force the will or judgment of any. He takes
no pleasure in a slavish obedience. He desires that the
creatures of His hands shall love Him because He is worthy of
love. He would have them obey Him because they have an
intelligent appreciation of His wisdom, justice, and benevolence.
And all who have a just conception of these qualities
will love Him because they are drawn toward Him in
admiration of His attributes.
The principles of kindness, mercy, and love, taught and
exemplified by our Saviour, are a transcript of the will and
character of God. Christ declared that He taught nothing
except that which He had received from His Father. The
principles of the divine government are in perfect harmony
with the Saviour’s precept, “Love your enemies.” God
executes justice upon the wicked, for the good of the universe,
and even for the good of those upon whom His judgments
are visited. He would make them happy if He could do so
in accordance with the laws of His government and the
justice of His character. He surrounds them with the tokens
of His love, He grants them a knowledge of His law, and
follows them with the offers of His mercy; but they despise
His love, make void His law, and reject His mercy. While
constantly receiving His gifts, they dishonor the Giver; they
hate God because they know that He abhors their sins. The
Lord bears long with their perversity; but the decisive hour
will come at last, when their destiny is to be decided. Will
He then chain these rebels to His side? Will He force them
to do His will?
Those who have chosen Satan as their leader and have
been controlled by his power are not prepared to enter the
presence of God. Pride, deception, licentiousness, cruelty,
have become fixed in their characters. Can they enter heaven
to dwell forever with those whom they despised and hated
on earth? Truth will never be agreeable to a liar; meekness
will not satisfy self-esteem and pride; purity is not acceptable
to the corrupt; disinterested love does not appear attractive
to the selfish. What source of enjoyment could heaven
offer to those who are wholly absorbed in earthly and selfish
interests?
Could those whose lives have been spent in rebellion
against God be suddenly transported to heaven and witness
the high, the holy state of perfection that ever exists there, —
every soul filled with love, every countenance beaming with
joy, enrapturing music in melodious strains rising in honor
of God and the Lamb, and ceaseless streams of light flowing
upon the redeemed from the face of Him who sitteth upon
the throne, —could those whose hearts are filled with hatred
of God, of truth and holiness, mingle with the heavenly
throng and join their songs of praise? Could they endure the
glory of God and the Lamb? No, no; years of probation
were granted them, that they might form characters for
heaven; but they have never trained the mind to love purity;
they have never learned the language of heaven, and now it
is too late. A life of rebellion against God has unfitted them
for heaven. Its purity, holiness, and peace would be torture
to them; the glory of God would be a consuming fire. They
would long to flee from that holy place. They would
welcome destruction, that they might be hidden from the face of
Him who died to redeem them. The destiny of the wicked
is fixed by their own choice. Their exclusion from heaven
is voluntary with themselves, and just and merciful on the
part of God.
Like the waters of the Flood the fires of the great day
declare God’s verdict that the wicked are incurable. They
have no disposition to submit to divine authority. Their will
has been exercised in revolt; and when life is ended, it is
too late to turn the current of their thoughts in the opposite
direction, too late to turn from transgression to obedience,
from hatred to love.
In sparing the life of Cain the murderer, God gave the
world an example of what would be the result of permitting
the sinner to live to continue a course of unbridled iniquity.
Through the influence of Cain’s teaching and example,
multitudes of his descendants were led into sin, until “the
wickedness of man was great in the earth” and “every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually.” “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the
earth was filled with violence.”
Genesis 6:5, 11.
In mercy to the world, God blotted out its wicked
inhabitants in Noah’s time. In mercy He destroyed the corrupt
dwellers in Sodom. Through the deceptive power of Satan
the workers of iniquity obtain sympathy and admiration, and
are thus constantly leading others to rebellion. It was so in
Cain’s and in Noah’s day, and in the time of Abraham and
Lot; it is so in our time. It is in mercy to the universe that
God will finally destroy the rejecters of His grace.
“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Romans 6:23. While
life is the inheritance of the righteous, death is the portion of
the wicked. Moses declared to Israel: “I have set before thee
this day life and good, and death and evil.”
Deuteronomy
30:15. The death referred to in these scriptures is not that
pronounced upon Adam, for all mankind suffer the penalty
of his transgression. It is “the second death” that is placed in
contrast with everlasting life.
In consequence of Adam’s sin, death passed upon the
whole human race. All alike go down into the grave. And
through the provisions of the plan of salvation, all are to be
brought forth from their graves. “There shall be a resurrection
of the dead, both of the just and unjust;” “for as in
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
Acts 24:15;
1 Corinthians 15:22. But a distinction is made between
the two classes that are brought forth. “All that are in the
graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that
have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that
have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”
John
5:28, 29. They who have been “accounted worthy” of the
resurrection of life are “blessed and holy.” “On such the
second death hath no power.”
Revelation 20:6. But those
who have not, through repentance and faith, secured pardon,
must receive the penalty of transgression—"the wages of sin.”
They suffer punishment varying in duration and intensity,
"according to their works,” but finally ending in the second
death. Since it is impossible for God, consistently with His
justice and mercy, to save the sinner in his sins, He deprives
him of the existence which his transgressions have forfeited
and of which he has proved himself unworthy. Says an
inspired writer: “Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not
be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall
not be.” And another declares: “They shall be as though
they had not been.”
Psalm 37:10;
Obadiah 16. Covered with
infamy, they sink into hopeless, eternal oblivion.
Thus will be made an end of sin, with all the woe and
ruin which have resulted from it. Says the psalmist: “Thou
hast destroyed the wicked, Thou hast put out their name
forever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to a
perpetual end.”
Psalm 9:5, 6. John, in the Revelation,
looking forward to the eternal state, hears a universal anthem of
praise undisturbed by one note of discord. Every creature in
heaven and earth was heard ascribing glory to God.
Revelation
5:13. There will then be no lost souls to blaspheme God
as they writhe in never-ending torment; no wretched beings
in hell will mingle their shrieks with the songs of the saved.
Upon the fundamental error of natural immortality rests
the doctrine of consciousness in death—a doctrine, like
eternal torment, opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures,to the
dictates of reason, and to our feelings of humanity. According
to the popular belief, the redeemed in heaven are acquainted
with all that takes place on the earth and especially with the
lives of the friends whom they have left behind. But how
could it be a source of happiness to the dead to know the
troubles of the living, to witness the sins committed by their
own loved ones, and to see them enduring all the sorrows,
disappointments, and anguish of life? How much of heaven’s
bliss would be enjoyed by those who were hovering over
their friends on earth? And how utterly revolting is the
belief that as soon as the breath leaves the body the soul of the
impenitent is consigned to the flames of hell! To what depths
of anguish must those be plunged who see their friends passing
to the grave unprepared, to enter upon an eternity of
woe and sin! Many have been driven to insanity by this
harrowing thought.
What say the Scriptures concerning these things? David
declares that man is not conscious in death. “His breath
goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his
thoughts perish.”
Psalm 146:4. Solomon bears the same
testimony: “The living know that they shall die: but the dead
know not anything.” “Their love, and their hatred, and their
envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion
forever in anything that is done under the sun.” “There is
no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the
grave, whither thou goest.”
Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10.
When, in answer to his prayer, Hezekiah’s life was
prolonged fifteen years, the grateful king rendered to God a
tribute of praise for His great mercy. In this song he tells the
reason why he thus rejoices: “The grave cannot praise Thee,
death cannot celebrate Thee: they that go down into the pit
cannot hope for Thy truth. The living, the living, he shall
praise Thee, as I do this day.”
Isaiah 38:18, 19. Popular
theology represents the righteous dead as in heaven, entered
into bliss and praising God with an immortal tongue; but
Hezekiah could see no such glorious prospect in death. With
his words agrees the testimony of the psalmist: “In death
there is no remembrance of Thee: in the grave who shall
give Thee thanks?” “The dead praise not the Lord, neither
any that go down into silence.”
Psalms 6:5;
115:17.
Peter on the Day of Pentecost declared that the patriarch
David “is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us
unto this day.” “For David is not ascended into the heavens.”
Acts 2:29, 34. The fact that David remains in the grave until
the resurrection proves that the righteous do not go to heaven
at death. It is only through the resurrection, and by virtue of
the fact that Christ has risen, that David can at last sit at the
right hand of God.
And said Paul: “If the dead rise not, then is not Christ
raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are
yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in
Christ are perished.”
1 Corinthians 15:16-18. If for four
thousand years the righteous had gone directly to heaven at
death, how could Paul have said that if there is no resurrection,
"they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are
perished"? No resurrection would be necessary.
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 1 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
1 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.”
1 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.
Before any can enter the mansions of the blessed, their
cases must be investigated, and their characters and their
deeds must pass in review before God. All are to be judged
according to the things written in the books and to be
rewarded as their works have been. This judgment does not
take place at death. Mark the words of Paul: “He hath
appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in
righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof
He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised
Him from the dead.”
Acts 17:31. Here the apostle plainly
stated that a specified time, then future, had been fixed upon
for the judgment of the world.
Jude refers to the same period: “The angels which kept
not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath
reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the
judgment of the great day.” And, again, he quotes the words of
Enoch: “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His
saints, to execute judgment upon all.”
Jude 6, 14, 15. John declares that he “saw the dead, small and great, stand before
God; and the books were opened: . . . and the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books.”
Revelation 20:12.
But if the dead are already enjoying the bliss of heaven
or writhing in the flames of hell, what need of a future
judgment? The teachings of God’s word on these important
points are neither obscure nor contradictory; they may be
understood by common minds. But what candid mind can
see either wisdom or justice in the current theory? Will the
righteous, after the investigation of their cases at the judgment,
receive the commendation, “Well done, thou good and
faithful servant: . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,”
when they have been dwelling in His presence, perhaps for
long ages? Are the wicked summoned from the place of
torment to receive sentence from the Judge of all the earth:
"Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire"?
Matthew 25:21,
41. Oh, solemn mockery! shameful impeachment of
the wisdom and justice of God!
The theory of the immortality of the soul was one of those
false doctrines that Rome, borrowing from paganism, incorporated
into the religion of Christendom. Martin Luther
classed it with the “monstrous fables that form part of the
Roman dunghill of decretals.” —E. Petavel, The Problem of
Immortality, page 255. Commenting on the words of Solomon
in Ecclesiastes, that the dead know not anything, the
Reformer says: “Another place proving that the dead have
no . . . feeling. There is, saith he, no duty, no science, no
knowledge, no wisdom there. Solomon judgeth that the
dead are asleep, and feel nothing at all. For the dead lie
there, accounting neither days nor years, but when they are
awaked, they shall seem to have slept scarce one minute.” —
Martin Luther, Exposition of Solomon’s Booke Called Ecclesiastes,
page 152.
Nowhere in the Sacred Scriptures is found the statement
that the righteous go to their reward or the wicked to their
punishment at death. The patriarchs and prophets have left
no such assurance. Christ and His apostles have given no
hint of it. The Bible clearly teaches that the dead do not go
immediately to heaven. They are represented as sleeping
until the resurrection.
1 Thessalonians 4:14;
Job 14:10-12.
In the very day when the silver cord is loosed and the golden
bowl broken (Ecclesiastes 12:6), man’s thoughts perish. They
that go down to the grave are in silence. They know no more
of anything that is done under the sun.
Job 14:21. Blessed
rest for the weary righteous! Time, be it long or short, is but
a moment to them. They sleep; they are awakened by the
trump of God to a glorious immortality. “For the trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. . . .
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and
this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be
brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed
up in victory.”
1 Corinthians 15:52-54. As they are called
forth from their deep slumber they begin to think just where
they ceased. The last sensation was the pang of death; the last
thought, that they were falling beneath the power of the
grave. When they arise from the tomb, their first glad
thought will be echoed in the triumphal shout: “O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
Verse 55.
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