The Scripture Doctrine of a Future Life

TAKE the obituaries of the Bible, and we find them very different from our modern obituaries. Bible obituaries represent the pious dead as being asleep in the grave. Take the case of David, as one example out of many. "So David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David." 1 Kings 2:10. What became of David? He slept with his fathers, and he was buried. It does not say his body slept; it says that David slept, and David was buried. Whatever constituted David was that which slept and that which was buried.

But some affirm that it was simply the body of David that slept, which is here called David. They affirm that another David went off to Heaven at the same time. Thus they virtually maintain that death converts one person into two! One David went into the sepulcher; another David was in Heaven. One David was asleep; another David was awake and living. Such is the absurd yet necessary conclusion to which men who accept the Scriptures as truth are led when they adopt the heathen idea that the soul or spirit separated from the body is the true man, or a man or person at all.

About one thousand years after David's death, Paul thus speaks of it:—"For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption." Acts 13:36. This is in harmony with the Old Testament record. David fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers. Peter, referring to the same thing, states it in even stronger language. "Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the Patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day." Acts 2:29.

The Patriarch David is dead and buried and with us today. But that is not all. He positively affirms that David had not gone to Heaven at that time. His words are: "For David is not ascended into the Heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand." Acts 2:34.

How shall we harmonize this with the theory that David went off to Heaven the very day he died? Peter's testimony is decisive, David is not ascended into the Heavens.

This is just what we believe. David was asleep. Moreover the Scriptures state that the dead know nothing of what is transpiring upon the earth, and that they are utterly without any thought or consciousness. Thus Job says, "But man dieth, and wasteth away." "His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." Job 14:14, 21. After he is dead, whether his sons are honored or brought low, he knows nothing of it. If men would believe this, it would take the foundation right away from Spiritualism. Again David says, "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Ps. 115:17. This is not in harmony with modern teachings, but it is what the word of God says, the dead do not praise the Lord. Even clearer than this is the following statement. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. 146:34.

The very day a man dies, then his thoughts perish. Does not this teach the utter unconsciousness of the dead? Can a man be in Heaven and have no thought? Can he be in hell and not think? Yet this text does positively affirm that the very day a man dies his thoughts perish. Another scripture is, if possible, still more to the point. "For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun." Eccl. 9:5, 6.

Here it is expressly stated, in so many words, that the dead know not anything. How can this be harmonized with the doctrine that the dead know everything? But a weak dodge is attempted here. It is said that it is merely the body that does not know anything. But how foolish it would be to assert that a dead carcass does not know anything! However, the next verse shows that it is the intellectual, thinking, feeling part of man that is referred to; for it says, "Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy is now perished." Could the soul be in Heaven and not love? Could it be in hell and not envy? And are not love and hatred the operations of the soul? The word of God says not only that the dead know nothing, but they neither hate nor love. This passage is utterly irreconcilable with the pagan notion that the thinking intelligent man is conscious in death.

The Scriptures always represent the dead as asleep. We will quote a few texts. Job, in his complaint, wished that he had died when first born. "For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest." Job 3:13. He argues that if he only had died he would have lain still and slept. Again he says, "For now shall I sleep in the dust." Job 7:21. Once more he says: "But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth, and drieth up; so man lieth down, and riseth not; till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep." Job 14:10-12.

Here the same doctrine is stated. When a man dies he lies down in the dust, and shall not be awakened out of his sleep till the heavens be no more. So the prophet Isaiah says: "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust." Isa. 26:19. God's saints, then, are dwelling in the dust, from which they are to awake by and by. ln harmony with this the angel said to Daniel, "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake." Dan. 12:2. It will be noticed that it is said all the way through that the dead are asleep. They are not annihilated, not gone forever; they are simply slumbering till the resurrection. Then they will awake and put on glory and immortality.

Notice what Jesus said of the young maid that died, —"Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth." Mark 5:39. She was dead in the ordinary sense of the word, that is, life and animation were suspended. She was a corpse, but she was only sleeping. If Jesus had not raised her she would have slept till the final resurrection. So Jesus says of Lazarus: "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death; but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead." John 11:11-14.

First he says: "Lazarus sleepeth." Then he explains this to mean, Lazarus is dead; so that to be dead is to be asleep. But after Lazarus had been dead four days, Jesus raised him. The believers in the immortality of the soul affirm that Lazarus' soul was not dead during that time, but had been to Heaven, and was called back again to reanimate the body. But why did not Lazarus tell of something he saw in Heaven during that time? On their views he had seen Adam and Methuselah and Noah and Samuel, and talked with them in the Heavenly land. What revelations of the other world he could have made! If his Jewish brethren believed this theory, why did they not ply him with questions concerning what he had seen? Yet, strangely, he never lisped a word of what he had seen in the other world, nor did any one think to ask him; and why not? Evidently because they had no faith in such a theory and he had no experience to that effect.

Paul in his great argument on the resurrection of the dead repeatedly affirms that they are now asleep. He says: "Some are fallen asleep." 1 Cor. 15:6. Again he says, "fallen asleep in Christ." Verse 18. Once more: Christ is now "become the first fruits of them that slept." Verse 20. Once more, "We shall not all sleep." Verse 51. To the Thessalonian brethren he says: "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." 1 Thess. 4:13.

Evidently these brethren had lost some very dear friends. They were in deep sorrow. Paul wishes to offer them consolation. He gives them the best he had. He told them that their dead friends were asleep. Then he proceeds to cheer them with the hope that though dead and asleep, they should awake and live again when Jesus comes. "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thess. 4:14-18.

This dear reader is the grand hope of the gospel. The dead are asleep; but Jesus is coming, the trumpet will sound, the dead will rise first, the living will be changed, and together they will all ascend to meet the Lord. The apostle adds that we are to comfort one another with these words, with this hope.

THE RESURRECTION.

Having seen that the Bible teaches that immortality is the gift of God, Rom. 6:23, to be bestowed alone upon those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for it, Rom. 2:6, 7; and that the dead both good and bad are dead and not alive, are silent in the dreamless unconscious, profound sleep of the grave, we next look with anxiety for a ray of light that shall pierce the portals of the tomb, and light up the darkness of the dismal chambers of hades. The doctrine of the resurrection comes to us with the olive branch of assurance extended; and now we are prepared to hail it with joy as we realize the infinite importance that is attached to it as the only door of escape.

With the Bible view of man's nature and his condition in death before us, there must be a resurrection from the dead, or the race is lost. Abel and Cain, David and the prophets of Baal, saint and sinner, all alike are perished. We turn to the Bible to see if it attaches such importance to the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead; and as we might expect, in view of the perfect consistency of God's word, we find the resurrection taught all the way through, and that it was the hope of prophets, apostles, and holy men of God in all Bible times.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob looked through the resurrection to their reward. God promised them an inheritance. Gen. 13:14-17; 26:4; 35:12. This inheritance embraced the whole world. Rom. 4:13. Abraham died without coming into possession, under this promise, of enough land to set his foot on. Acts 7:1-5. God did not intend by his promise that he should receive that inheritance in this life, but afterwards. Heb. 11:32-35. Abraham did not expect it in this life, but afterwards, Heb. 11:8. He looked forward to the time when the glorious city of God should be located on the earth, as the period when his hopes should be realized. Heb. 11:10. He did not expect to find his reward at death, but with Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Samuel, the prophets, the martyrs, who were supported amid their sufferings by the hope of the resurrection. Heb. 11:32-35. He looked forward to the time when with Paul, and all the good since his day, he should receive his reward, and with them be made perfect, all at the same time. Paul, after naming many of the holy men of the past, says, "These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better things for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Verse 40. It is evident from this that the hopes of all these men centered in the resurrection.

Job has left upon the inspired page a testimony that is unmistakable. He raised the question, "If a man die shall he live again?" Job 14:14. He does not for a moment cherish the notion that the real man lives right on while simply the body dies; but he says, "If a man die, shall he live again?" What is the answer? "All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer

thee; then wilt have a desire to the work of thy hands." Job 14:14, 15. Job knew he should die, and then he knew there would follow a waiting time. Where is Job waiting? "If I wait," says he, "the grave is mine house." Job 17:13. But he knew that the time would come when the voice of the Redeemer should call. Then he would awake and respond and come forth. "Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee."

The Saviour teaches the same thing:—

"Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in the which 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 thy that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5:28, 29

That senseless form that has lain in the grave for ages, now resumes its animation, begins to exercise the functions of life, hears, thinks, and comes out of the grave. So Job says, in another place, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." Job 19:25, 26. Job had no idea that he, as an immaterial spirit, should ever see God; but he looked forward to the resurrection day when his dead body should be reanimated and come forth; and he declared that in his flesh should he see God. His hope was in the resurrection. Reader, the testimony already examined is sufficient to settle the whole question. It does positively show that the dead are utterly unconscious, that they are in the grave, and that they shall hear the voice of Christ at the resurrection morn, and come forth.