'Great
Controversy- Chapter XXXIII- The First
Great Deception - continued….
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.” [Genesis6:5,11.]
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;” [Acts 24:15.] “for
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” [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 induration
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 no tbeen.” [Psalm37:10; 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.” [Psalm 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 which are fallen asleep in Christ
are perished”? No resurrection would be necessary.
The martyr Tyndale,
defending the doctrine that the dead sleep, declared to his papist opponent:
“Ye, in putting them [departed souls] in Heaven, hell, and purgatory, destroy
the argument wherewith Christ and Paul prove the resurrection.” “If the souls be
in Heaven, tell me why they be not in as good case as the angels be? And then
what cause is there of the resurrection?”
It is an undeniable
fact that the hope of immortal blessedness at death has led to widespread
neglect of the Bible doctrine of the resurrection. This tendency was remarked
by Dr. Adam Clarke, who, early in the present century, 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!” 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 blest, 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, good and faithful servant,” “enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,”
[Matthew 25:21, 41.] when they have been dwelling in his presence, perhaps for
long ages?
Are the wicked summoned from the place of
torment to receive the 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 numberless prodigies of the Romish dunghill of decretals.”
Commenting on the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes, that the dead know not
anything, the reformer says: “Another proof that the dead are insensible.
Solomon thinks therefore, that the dead are altogether asleep, and think of
nothing. They lie, not reckoning days or years, but when awakened, will seem to
themselves to have slept scarcely a moment.”
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 15:52-55.]
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?” [1 Corinthians 15:52-55.]'
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