- THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
There is
another doctrine of the Bible which holds just as important a place in the
divine scheme as does that of the resurrection; and that is, the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This
likewise is subverted by a belief in the doctrine of the natural immortality
of the soul. The subversion of this truth is, in a measure, involved in that
of the resurrection, because without the second coming of Christ there would
be no resurrection, and anything that destroys belief in the resurrection of
the dead, by that means destroys faith and hope in the second coming of the
Lord.
That the
event of the resurrection of the dead depends wholly upon the second coming of
Christ, is easily shown by the Scripture, which, of course, in these things is
the only authority. We have before
shown that the righteous are rewarded only at the resurrection; and to show
plainly the connection, we will repeat a verse before quoted: "When thou
makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And thou shalt
be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at
the resurrection of the just." Luke 14:13, 14
And of
his own coming, Jesus says: "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is
with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:12.
The coming of the Lord, and the resurrection of the righteous dead, are
directly connected by Paul thus: "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." 1 Thess. 4:16, 17.
And
again: "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
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. O death, where is thy sting? O
grave, where is thy victory?" 1 Cor. 15:51-55.
"Then shall be brought to pass the
saying." When?-"At the last trump," certainly; "for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised." When is it that the
trump shall sound?-"This we say unto you by the word of the Lord, . . .
The Lord himself shall descend from heaven . . . with the trump of God; and
the dead in Christ shall rise." "Then
shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in
victory." Then it is, and not till then, that men shout, "O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"
But
through belief in the doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul, it is
now sought to be made to appear that this "saying" is "brought
to pass" when men die! There can be no more direct perversion of the word
of God than to represent this saying as being brought to pass when men die.
But what does the doctrine of the immortality of the soul care about the
perversion of the word of God?
The first time that that doctrine was ever uttered, it was in
direct contradiction of the express word of the Lord himself. The Lord said,
in the event of man's disobedience, "Thou shalt surely die" (Gen.
2:17); and the devil said, "Ye shall not surely die" (Gen. 3:4; Rev.
20:2.) And there is no shadow of reason to expect that the doctrine will, in
reality, ever assume any other position.
It is not alone a perversion of Scripture to so apply the
"saying" in question; it is alike a perversion of the plainest
principles of reason and experience. For instance, here are death and a saint
of God struggling for the mastery. Presently death
obtains the mastery. The saint lies lifeless; death has the victory.
When he is dead, is that a time to claim victory over death? When he is being
lowered into the grave, is that a time to shout the victory over the
grave?-Nay, verily. But it is not to be always so. There is One who exclaims,
"I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore,
Amen; and have the keys of hell [the grave] and of death." Rev. 1:18. And
when that glorious One "shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God," and with power that
bursts the bars of the cruel grave and destroys the strength of death, then
the saint arises triumphant over death, and "then shall be brought to
pass the saying that is written, Death is
swallowed up in victory." Then
the saint can shout exultingly, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave,
where is thy victory? "And, "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
And thrice thanks, yea, "blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead," 1 Peter 1:3.
However, it is not alone through the subversion of the doctrine
of the resurrection that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul strikes
against the coming of the Lord. The issue is directly joined. For by those who
believe in the natural immortality of the soul, it is held that those who die
in the Lord go straight to heaven; that they go direct to the place where the
Lord is; and so they sing,-
"Then persevere till death Shall bring thee to thy God;
He'll take thee, at thy parting breath, To his divine abode." - Gospel
Hymns, No 112.
And obituaries are actually written by them such as the
following, which we read not long since in the Christian
Cynosure: "Alvah Palmer went to heaven from" a certain place
in New York; and then the notice went on to tell when and of what he died,
etc. And Dr. Talmage, in relating how a certain saintly woman was
"emparadised," tells how the chariot of Elijah was outdone; for
there it must have taken some little
time to turn out the chariot and hitch up the horses; but here, in this
instance, the transition was all made instantaneously, without waiting for
either horses or chariot! And all this when a person died! These are only
notable expressions of the common idea of those who believe in the doctrine of
the natural immortality of the soul.
Now, if
these things be true,-if it be true that death brings people to God; that men
and women go direct to heaven from their homes in this world, and this so
instantaneously that there is no time to get ready the chariot of God, as was
done when Elijah went without dying at all,-we
say if these things be true, then there is literally no place left for the
coming of the Lord. It would be simply the height of absurdity to talk about
the Lord's coming to this world after people who are not here at all, but are,
and have been, for years and hundreds of years, in heaven,-in the very place
which he leaves to come here! This is why the doctrine of the coming of the
Lord is so neglected, so despised, in fact. Believing this, and there is no
need to believe in the coming of the Lord; indeed, it is a palpable
inconsistency to believe in it. Believing this, and there is no need to look,
or wait, for the coming of the Lord; all there is for such to do is to wait
till death shall come and take them; and so death-"the last enemy,"
"the king of terrors"-is given the place and the office of Him who
is our life (Col. 3:4), of Him "that loved us, and washed us from our
sins in His own blood."
But this
belief is not the "belief of the truth."
There is
no element of truth, in any form, in the idea of people going to God or to
heaven when they die.
Christ
himself said as plainly as tongue can speak, "Whither I go, ye cannot come." John 13:33.
Then when
his disciples were troubled because of these words, he told them, in words
equally plain, of the event upon which they must place their only hope of
being with him where he is, and that event is, "I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also."
John 14:3.
And that
word "that" shows positively that that is the only way in which men
may ever be with him where he is.
Therefore
the coming of the Lord is the Christian's hope.
And the
doctrine of the immortality of the soul, in supplanting, as it certainly does,
the doctrine of the coming of the Lord, supplants the Christian's hope. Then
when the doctrine of the immortality of the soul sends men to heaven before
the end of the world, before the sounding of the last trump, before the time
when the Lord himself shall descend from heaven and raise the dead, before he
appears in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and sends his
angels to gather together his elect-we say when the doctrine of the
immortality of the soul puts men into heaven before the occurrence of these
events, it does it in defiance of the word of Christ, which liveth and abideth
forever.
Therefore
we say it stands proved that the belief of the doctrine of the immortality of
the soul is subversive of the doctrine of the second coming of Christ, and, in
that, is subversive of the truth of God.
To be continued….
The Immortality of the Soul, Is it
a Scriptural Doctrine?
BY A. T. JONES.
[Pacific
Press Publishing Association]
[Oakland,
Calif.]
[September 1890]
[Bible Students' Library No. 70]
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