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It does make a difference
what we believe |
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There is only one Gospel
that will save |
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We must believe in the
true God |
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God is not a Trinity of
persons, but One God |
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Jesus Christ-Son of God
by begettal, Son of man by birth |
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The Holy Spirit not a
person, but the effluence proceeding from God |
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The nature of man-mortal,
a creature of the dust |
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Man dies, and is dead
after he has died |
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In death man is
unconscious |
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Resurrection the means of
future life for the dead |
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Immortality the gift of
God to the righteous only |
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Life as now possessed is
not eternal, but a vapor that soon passeth |
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Everlasting life not a
present possession, but a matter of hope |
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The wicked and depraved
who are not amenable die and remain |
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The wicked who are
responsible of the dead and living will be destroyed after judgment |
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The soul not immortal,
but is the mortal, bodily being called man |
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Many learned men deny the
immortality of the soul |
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The spirit of man not an
immortal entity, but the word is used for life, mind and disposition |
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Immortality is God's holy
nature; the word "immortal" is never applied to man in his present
state |
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Eternal life is not a
present actual possession, but is promised to the righteous only |
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The wicked will not be
preserved alive in torture, but will be destroyed |
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Hell as employed in the
Bible does not mean a place of eternal torture, but the grave and Gehenna |
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The devil is not a
personal monster dwelling in "hell" and yet everywhere present
tempting all men, but is sin in the flesh |
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God has promised to bless
and fill the earth with His glory |
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The earth is to be the
everlasting inheritance of the righteous not heaven |
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The Gospel as embraced in
the promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is that the righteous through
Christ shall inherit the earth for ever |
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The promises to Abraham
have never been fulfilled |
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The seed in whom the
Abrahamic promises are to be fulfilled in Christ |
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God covenanted with David
to establish a universal, glorious and everlasting kingdom on earth ever |
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The covenant with David
will be fulfilled in Christ's possession of David's restored throne |
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The fulfillment of the
covenants with Abraham and David involves the restoration of the twelve
tribes under Christ |
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There will be a personal
and literal return of Christ to the earth |
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In Christ only can we
obtain redemption and atonement |
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Baptism is one of the
conditions of salvation "What good will water do?" |
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It is our duty after
baptism to obey the commandments of Christ |
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Objections Answered. |
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WHAT IT IS AND HOW TO
OBTAIN IT.
READER, we earnestly appeal to you. We have an
important subject to talk to you about – not about making money, either for you
or for me, but about a matter of much greater importance, that which every man
needs – about what people call religion. You perhaps will answer, "Away
with it; look at the confusion there is in the religions of the world. What is
the use for me to trouble myself when wise men cannot agree?" That is just
the reason I want to talk with you just now – to show you that the wisdom of
the wise is foolishness with God; and that the religion of the Bible is not
found in the "wisdom" of theological schools, but is revealed, so
that plain, homespun people may understand it and be saved by it – in fact I
want to show you – don't get angry – that for to learn the religion of the
Bible is to discard the popular religion of Christendom. Now, "come and
let us reason together".
Perhaps you will have done like many others
– concluded that it does not make any difference what our religious belief is
if we are honest and sincere; but it is the hopelessness of reconciling the
many religious creeds with themselves, and nearly all of them with the Bible
that has driven many to say, "Well, it makes no difference." But your
common sense will tell you that it does make a difference whether you believe
the truth or believe a falsehood, whether you believe God or not' and the
religious world, by it's actions, shows that it makes a difference what is
believed, for they send missionaries to change the belief of the heathen, and
also to the Jews to change their belief, so that they may believe that Jesus is
the Christ.
If it makes a difference what we believe,
then we can see why the Bible has been given – to guide us into the Truth; and
the Bible itself says that our salvation depends upon our belief of the gospel
as revealed in it's pages.
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IT
DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE WHAT WE BELIEVE.
I Thes. 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast
that which is good.
Jude 3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto
you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was
once delivered unto the saints.
Rom. 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation TO EVERYONE THAT
BELIEVETH ...
Mark 16:16 He that believeth (the gospel)
and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Now, reader, do not run away with the
delusion that one man can believe one gospel and another can believe another
gospel; for –
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THERE
IS ONLY ONE GOSPEL THAT WILL SAVE.
That is, the gospel our Saviour commanded
to be preached; the gospel – not a gospel; not any gospel you please, but the
gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And think of this:
Gal 1:6 "I marvel that ye are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel;
which is not another; but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the
gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel
unto you THAN THAT WE HAVE PREACHED UNTO YOU, LET HIM BE ACCURSED."
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WE
MUST BELIEVE IN THE TRUE GOD.
"Now he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him" (Heb. 11:6); and it is life eternal to know Thee the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom he has sent (John 17:3); and therefore it will not do to
believe in any other God or in any other Christ, for that would be idolatry.
A TRIUNE GOD
Is what the religious world believes in,
which is the same as to believe in a trinity of Gods, which, further is the
same as to believe in three Gods; for they say that each is co-equal and
co-eternal, and how can there be three co-equals and co-eternals unless there
are three Gods? Reason, reader, you have a right to. God has invited you to
reason, and it is only a false way out of a difficulty to say "it is
irreverent to pry into these matters."
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GOD
IS NOT A TRINITY OF PERSONS, BUT ONE GOD.
Proof:
Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:29 Hear O Israel, the LORD our God is one LORD.
I Cor. 8:6 But to us there is but one God,
the Father, of whom are all things.
Eph. 4:6 One God and Father of all, who is
above all, and through all, and in you all.
John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true God ...
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JESUS
CHRIST.
JESUS CHRIST IS NOT A THIRD PART OF A TRIUNE GOD, BUT THE SON OF GOD BY BEGETTAL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND SON OF MAN BY BIRTH.
SON OF GOD
Luke 1:35 The Holy Spirit shall come upon
thee, and the power o/the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that
holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called THE SON of GOD.
Matt. 3:17 This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased
John 3:35 The Father loveth the Son,, and
hath given all things into his hand.
SON OF MAN
Acts 2:22 Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles.
I Tim. 2:5 One mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus.
Gal 4:4 God sent forth his Son, made of a
woman.
I Cor. 15:21 By man came death, by man came
also the resurrection of the dead.
Rom. 5:15 The gift by grace, which is by
one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Jesus was not God, very God, as the creed
of the religious world claims; for He Himself disavows any such claim. How
could God be tempted like as we are? How could God die and be buried? Do not
allow yourself to be deceived by the sophistry that it was His humanity that
was tempted died and was buried, as if He Himself was not; for that would be
admitting that He escaped temptation and death and that the "Christ"
of popular religion did not die – could not die, being immortal; that only His
body – not He – died. The Bible says Christ died, Christ was buried, etc.; and
what is the use of perverting such language to suit a religion that is far
astray from the Bible? Instead of Christ's being "co-equal and co-eternal
with God," "God very God," He
WAS OF MAN'S NATURE AND
DEPENDED UPON GOD
Heb. 2:17; 4:15 In all things it behoved
him to be made like unto his brethren. * * * He was in all points tempted like
as we are, yet without sin.
John 5:30 I can of mine own self do
nothing.
John 14:28 I go unto the Father, for my
Father is greater than I
Heb. 5:7,8 He was heard in that he feared;
though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
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THE
HOLY SPIRIT.
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS NOT A PERSON, BUT IT IS THE EFFLUENCE THAT
PROCEEDS FROM GOD, AS THE LIGHT AND HEAT
OF THE SUN PROCEED FROM THE SUN.
The Holy Spirit is not a third part of a
Triune God, but God's power, effluence and influence. It is said that "God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power." Now,
reader, we appeal to your common sense. If each – God, Christ and the Holy
Spirit – were "God very God, co-equal and co-eternal, how could the first
be said to anoint the second with the third in order to impart
"power" from the first to the second through the third? If they were
co-equal, the imparting of power from one to another would destroy the
"co-equality". If they were co-equal what "power" would one
have to impart to. another that the other was not already in possession of?
Will your common sense allow you to believe that one of three co-equals
anointed a second co-equal with a third co-equal? Can you think for a moment
that one person anointed a second person with a third person? Note the
following testimonies:
Psa. 104:30 Thou sendest forth thy Spirit,
they are created.
Job 33:4 The Spirit Of God hath made me,
and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.
Luke 1:35 The Holy Spirit shall come upon
thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Acts 10:38 God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and with power ...
There is, therefore, only one God and
Father of all; and Jesus Christ is the Son of God, having been begotten of God
through the Holy Spirit. God was the one who begat; the Holy Spirit was the
power or influence emanating from Him under the direction of His will in the
begettal; and Christ was the Son of God begotten, who, alter growing in wisdom
and stature, was made perfect by the things which he suffered (Heb. 2:10).
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THE
NATURE OF MAN.
MAN IS MORTAL, A CREATURE
OF THE DUST
Now, dear reader, I want to appeal to you
upon another subject. You know that it is the belief of the religious world
that man is an immortal soul, and that when death takes place the real man does
not die – he simply forsakes his body and continues to live without a body. If
he has been a good man, he goes to heaven to live in happiness; if he has been
a bad man, he goes to hell (supposed to be a place of torment) to live in
misery. Now, just think for a moment. The Bible says there is to be a day of
judgment.
Eccl. 3:17 I said in mine heart, God shall
judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose
and for every work.
II Cor. 5:10 For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things in body,
according to that he hath done, whether good or bad.
This judgment, you must know, is not at
death, but at the second coming of Christ:
II Tim. 4:1 I charge thee therefore before
God and the. Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his
appearing and his kingdom.
Matt. 25:31 When the Son Of man shall come
in his glory, and all his holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the
throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall
separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.
Here is proof that the judgment of good and
bad is to take place when Christ comes back to the earth. So it follows they
have not yet been judged. Now, then, to return to the point. If it be true that
the good go to happiness when they die (and have to die to get there)! and the
bad go to misery when they die, what is the judgment for? I appeal, reader, to
your reason. Can you believe that God will reward and punish good and bad men
for thousands of years and then call them to judgment? You will possibly say,
"O well, God knows where to put them when they die as well as He will at
the judgment day." Granted; but if it is a question of His knowledge, why
has he provided a day of judgment at a set time? Do you not think there is
something wrong with a theory that represents God as arranging in His plan for
a day of judgment in which He will reward every man according as His work shall
he (Rev. 22:12), and yet rewarding some for hundreds of years before that day
of judgment arrives?
Now the Bible will help us out of this
difficulty, and the first step is to believe that man is mortal, a creature of
the dust.
I Cor. 15:47 The first man is of the earth,
earthy.
Gen. 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the
dust of the ground.
Gen. 3:19 For out of it (dust) wast thou
taken; for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return.
Job 33:6 I also am formed out of clay
Gen. 3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him
(Adam) forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground, from whence he was
taken.
Gen. 18:27 And Abraham answered and said,
Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord which am but dust and
ashes.
Job 4:17 Shall mortal man be more just than
God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker?
Job 10:9 Remember, I beseech thee, that
thou has made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
Psa. 103:14 For he knoweth our frame; he
remembereth that we are dust.
Now do not forget that all this is said of
man – not of the house that man is supposed to dwell in for a time, as if man
were one thing and his body another. It was the man that was formed out of the
dust.
It is the man that is of the earth, earthy.
It is the man that is formed out of clay. It is the man that is dust and ashes.
Now the second step out of the difficulty presented is to believe that
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MAN,
WHO IS MORTAL, DIES, AND IS
DEAD AFTER HE HAS DIED.
Job 30:13 For I know that thou bring me to
death, and to the house appointed for all living.
Job 7:1 Is there not an appointed time to
man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
Psa. 89:48 What man is he that liveth and
shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul (himself) from the hand of the
grave?
Eccl. 3:19,20 For that which befalleth the
sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them. as the one dieth
so dieth the other; * * * all go to one place; all are of the dust and all turn
to dust again.
Isa. 40:6 All flesh is grass, and all the
goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field; the grass withereth, the
flower fadeth; because the Spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it; surely the
people is grass.
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IN
DEATH MAN IS UNCONSCIOUS.
Eccl 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to
do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom
in the grave whither thou goest.
Isa. 6:5 In death there is no remembrance
of thee, in the grave who shall give thee thanks?
Eccl. 9:5 For the living know that they
shall die; but the dead know not any thing.
Psa. 146:3,4 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.
Isa. 38.18,19 The grave cannot praise thee,
death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy
truth.
Now, you see, the Bible having taught us
that, instead of death being a continuation of life somewhere off the earth, it
is the cessation of life; and instead of men going to happiness or misery when
they die, they go to the grave, we are helped out of the absurdity of believing
that good and bad are rewarded and punished before they are judged. It is clear
now that, instead of the faithful dead having gone to heaven to continue to
live, these all died in the faith, not having received the promises (Heb.
11:13).
Now, dear reader, do not, like many, get
angry and denounce this as "materialism", and say, "If a man in
death is no better than the beasts – is as dead as the beasts are – there can
be no future life;" for that is just what some in Corinth said; and Paul
said they were fools for doing so.
Paul argued with the Corinthians that the
dead were dead, and proved that if there was no resurrection even those who had
died in Christ had perished (I Cor. 15:18), gone for ever – an impossibility if
they had gone to a heaven of happiness.
Now if there is to be a resurrection of the
dead and a "gathering", of those who are alive at Christ's return to
judge the quick and the dead, then our difficulty is gone, the wisdom of God
shines brightly and the Bible is a book of consistency and beautiful harmony.
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RESURRECTION
IS THE MEANS OF A
FUTURE LIFE FOR THE DEAD.
Job 14:14 If a man die shall he live again?
Job 19:25,26 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.
Psa. 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from
the power of the grave.
Isa. 26:19 Thy dead men shall live, together
with my dead body shall their arise. Awake and sing) ye that dwell in dust.
Dan. 12:2 And many of them that deep in the
dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and
everlasting contempt.
Phil. 3:10,11 That I may know him, and the
power of his resurrection, * * * if by any means I might attain unto the
resurrection of the dead.
I Cor. 15:16,18 For if the dead rise not,
then is not Christ raised; * * * then they also which are fallen asleep in
Christ ARE PERISHED.
While it is clear from the testimonies
given that man is mortal and absolutely destitute of immortality, and that in
death he is dead and therefore unconscious, our hope of immortality must be
through the resurrection, and immortality is therefore a matter of hope for the
righteous only, and not an inherent possession of saint and sinner alike.
Immortality is Gods nature. He is "The King eternal, immortal,
invisible" (I Tim. 1:17), "who only hath immortality" (I Tim.
6:16). It is therefore a holy nature befitting righteous beings only; for God
would surely not impart His own holy nature to wicked and depraved beings.
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IMMORTALITY
IS THE GIFT OF GOD
TO THE RIGHTEOUS ONLY.
II Pet. 1:4 Whereby are given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of
the DIVINE NATURE, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust.
I John 3:2 Beloved now are we the sons of
God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he
shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Phil. 3:20,21 For our conversation is in
heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who
shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned ONTO HIS GLORIOUS BODY.
Luke 20:35,36 But they which shall be
accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead,
neither marry, nor are given in marriage; neither can they die any more; for
they are equal unto the angels and are the children of God, being the children
of the resurrection.
Rom. 2:6,7 Who (God) will render to every
man according to his deeds; to them who by patient continuance in well doing
seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life.
I Cor. 15:51-54 Behold I show you a
mystery; 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.
Now the word "immortality" is
found only six times in the Bible, and never once is used as a prefix to the
word soul in the oft-repeated form we hear from men – "immortal
soul". First, it is said that God is immortal (I Tim, 1:17). Second, that
God only hath immortality (I Tim. 6:16). Third, that Christ abolished death (in
Himself), and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (II Tim.
1:10). Fourth, that we must by well doing seek for immortality (Rom. 2:7).
Fifth, that immortality will be put on at the resurrection. And, sixth, that
when it is put on death will be swallowed up in victory (I Cor. 15:53-57).
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LIFE
AS NOW POSSESSED IS NOT ETERNAL OR EVERLASTING, BUT A VAPOR THAT SOON PASSETH
AWAY.
Job 14:1,2 Man that is born of a woman is
of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower and is cut
down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Psa. 39:5 Behold thou has made my days as a
handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his
best state is altogether vanity.
Psa. 103:15 As for man, his days are as
grass; as the flower of the field so he flourisheth.
Psa. 144:4 Man is like to vanity; his days
are as a shadow that passeth away.
I Pet. 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and
all the glory of man as the flower Of grass. The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth away.
Jas. 4:14 For what is your life? It is even
a vapor, that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away.
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EVERLASTING
OR ETERNAL LIFE IS NOT A PRESENT POSSESSION, BUT A MATTER OF PROMISE AND HOPE
OF THE RIGHTEOUS ONLY.
I John 2:25 And this is the promise that he
hath promised us, EVEN ETERNAL LIFE, through Jesus Christ.
II Tim. 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus
Christ, by the will of God according to THE PROMISE OF LIFE which is in Christ
Jesus.
Tit. 1:2 IN HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE, which God
that cannot lie promised before the world began.
Tit. 3:7 That being justified by his grace,
we should be made heirs according to THE HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE.
Rom. 2:6,7 Who will render to every man
according to his deeds; to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek
for glory, honor and immortality, eternal life.
Col. 3:3,4 For ye are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God; and when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, THEN
shall ye also appear with him in glory.
John 5:28,29 All that are in the graves
shall hear his voice and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the
resurrection of life.
Gal. 6:8 He that soweth to the spirit shall
of the spirit reap life everlasting.
Luke 20:35,36 They which shall be accounted
worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry,
nor are given in marriage; neither can they die any more; for they are equal
unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the
resurrection.
A false theory forces many to attach an
erroneous meaning to the phrase eternal life, making it stand for eternal
happiness. While eternal happiness is the sequence of eternal life, the one
must not be confounded with the other. Since the testimonies given prove that
eternal life is the gift of God to the righteous only, it follows that those
who obtain the precious gift will enjoy a happy state of being. If wicked men
live for ever, they live everlastingly; and surely to live everlastingly is
eternal life. The place where they live can make no difference as to the
duration of life. If we ask those who are unreasonable enough to believe in the
eternal conscious existence of all wicked and depraved men, Do you believe the
wicked will be tormented eternally,? they will answer yes. Then do you not
believe they will live eternally in torment? Yes. Then if they live eternally,
will not that be eternal life in torment? The difference, therefore, between
the righteous and the wicked is only one of place and state in which they live
eternally – both having eternal life, the one in happiness and the other in
misery. Compare this theory with the testimonies given above, and it will be
seen that it is far astray from the Word of God, which teaches that "God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Everlasting life for
those who believe. No everlasting life for those who do not believe; but they
perish.
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THE
WICKED AND DEPRAVED WHO ARE NOT
AMENABLE DIE AND REMAIN DEAD.
Psa. 49:12,14,20 Man being in honor abideth
not; he is like the beasts that perish. * * * like sheep they are laid in the
grave; death shall feed on them, and the upright shall have dominion over them
in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their
dwelling. * * * Man that is in honor, and understandeth not, is LIKE THE BEASTS
THAT PERISH.
Isa. 26:13,14 O LORD our God, other lords
beside thee have had dominion over us; but by thee only will we make mention of
thy name. They are dead, THEY SHALL NOT LIVE; they are deceased, THEY SHALL NOT
RISE; Therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them and made all their memory
to perish.
Prov. 21:16 The man that wandereth out of
the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the DEAD.
Jer. 51:39,57 In their heat I will make
their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice and sleep a
perpetual sleep, and not awake, saith the LORD. * * * And I will make drunk her
princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men;
they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not awake, saith the king, whose name
is the LORD of hosts.
Obadiah 1:16 For as ye have drunk upon my
holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall
drink and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not
been.
Rom. 2:12 For as many as have sinned
without law shall perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law
shall be judged by the law.
If these testimonies are accepted a
question that has baffled the understanding of many will be solved. What will
become of the heathen? has troubled those who have received from their
forefathers and their theological "fathers" the tradition that every
human being is an immortal soul, that must either bask in bliss or writhe in
pain to all eternity. Consistency will not allow the belief that the thousands
of wretched beings in human form go to heaven; for that would make the supposed
future abode of the saints unfit for decent people. To preserve them in
torture, on the other hand, would be no more just and reasonable than to do the
same with the beasts of the field. How can you, dear reader, believe that the
savage is possessed of God's holy nature? which he is if he has an immortal soul.
To reason with the belief that every human being once alive is always alive is
to be driven to the conclusion that the vast majority of the human family is to
be preserved in misery, and thus perpetuate a monstrous evil in God's fair
universe. It can never be harmonized with the wisdom, goodness and power of
God.
Accept the testimony, then, both of
Scripture and reason, that those who have lived the life of mere animals also
die the death of the beasts of the field and all is clear.
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THE
WICKED WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE, OF THE DEAD AND THE LIVING, WILL BE DESTROYED AFTER
JUDGMENT AND CONDEMNATION.
Acts 24:15 And have hope towards God, which
they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead,
both of the just and the unjust.
II Cor. 5:10 For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things in body
according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Ezek. I8:4 Behold all souls are mine; as
the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that
sinneth, IT SHALL DIE.
Prov. 16:25 There is a way that seemeth
right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Psa. 37:10,20 For yet a little while and
the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place and it
shall not be. * * * But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD
shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume
away.
Mal. 4:1,3 For, behold, the day cometh that
shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall
be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of
hosts, that it shall leaves them neither root nor branch. * * * And ye shall
tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet.
Matt. 13:40 As therefore the tares are
gathered and burned in the tire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
Matt. 3:12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he
will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner; but he
will bum up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
II Thes. 1:7-9 And to you who are troubled
rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his
mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and
that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of
his power.
Now, a great many people will, when they
are confronted with testimonies to prove that man is mortal, that he dies and
is unconscious, and that the wicked are destroyed, proceed to theorize that such
testimonies refer to the body only – not to the soul or real man. But, reader,
can you satisfy yourself in the belief that God has taken so much pains to tell
us that the body, as a mere house in which the man resides, dies? that when the
Scriptures speak of the dead knowing "not any thing" it is simply the
body that is unconscious, while the real man continues alive and conscious? Can
you be fully persuaded that when it is said the enemies of the Lord shall be
consumed like the fats of lambs and burns up root and branch it means that it
is the body only that is consumed and destroyed, while the man, the responsible
man, is not? Such a position would place the punishment upon that which,
according to the theory held, is in no way responsible, while the responsible
man would be exempt. If the soul is the man separate from the body, and the
body is not the thinking part of man, why should it be said that the body
becomes unconscious? Is it not that which is conscious when it is alive that
becomes unconscious when dead? Is it not that which is responsible for sins
committed that suffers destruction as punishment? It is the man, which is a
being of bodily form, made and kept alive by the Spirit of God, which gives
life to all living beings, that dies, becomes unconscious in death, is raised
from the dead, judged according to his deeds, given eternal life if worthy,
punished with eternal death – the opposite of eternal life – if unworthy.
You will, however, ask, What is the soul?
Why is it that it is claimed that the soul is immortal? And so we will briefly
deal with the question of the soul.
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THE
SOUL IS NOT IMMORTAL, BUT IS THE MORTAL, BODILY BEING CALLED MAN.
This proposition gives the primary meaning
of soul as used in the Bible; but the word is also used for life and mind, and
it is applied to animals as well as to man.
We quote the following from the Emphatic
Diaglott:
"The Hebrew word nephesh, of the Old Testament, occurs about 700 times,
and is rendered soul 471 times, life and living about 150 times; and the same
word is also rendered a man, a person, self, they, me, him, anyone, breath,
heart, mind, appetite, the body (dead or alive), lust, creature, and even a
beast; for it is 28 times applied to beasts and to every creeping thing. The
Greek word psuche of the New Testament corresponds with nephesh of the Old. It
occurs 105 times, and is rendered soul 50 times and life 40 times. The same
word is also rendered mind, us, you, heart, heartily, and is twice applied to
the beasts that perish. Psuchicas, an adjective derived from psuche, occurs 6
times, and is translated natural and sensual; it is properly translated animal
in modem translations. Perhaps it may be worthy of notice that in all the 700 times
which nephesh occurs, and the 105 times of psuche, not once is the word
immortal or immortality or deathless or never-dying found ,in connection as
qualifying the term.
ANIMALS ARE CALLED SOULS
AND THE WORD SOUL IS APPLIED TO THE LIFE OF THE BEASTS.
Num. 31:28 And levy a tribute unto the Lord
of the men of war which went out to battle; one soul of five hundred, of the
persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses and of the sheep.
Gen. 1:20 (The very first place where the
word nephesh, the word rendered soul occurs) And God said, Let the waters bring
forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life (nephesh, soul, see
margin), and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
Gen. 1:30 And to every beast of the earth,
and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth
wherein there is life (margin living soul) I have given every green herb for
meat.
Gen. 2:19 And Adam called (named) every
living creature (Hebrew nephesh, soul).
Gen. 9:10 And I will establish my covenant
with every living creature (Hebrew nephesh, soul) that is with you of fowl, of
cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you. See also verses 15, 16.
Job l2:10 In whose hand is the soul of
every living thing and the breath of all mankind.
SOULS DIE AND ARE
DESTROYED.
Josh. 10:28 And that day Joshua took
Makkedah, and smote it with the edge of the sword; and the king thereof he
utterly destroyed, them, and all the souls that were therein. See also verses
30, 32, 35, 37, 39.
Judges 16:16 And it came to pass, when she
pressed him daily with her words and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto
death.
Job 7:15 So that my soul chooseth
strangling and death rather than my life.
Psa. 33:19 To deliver their soul from death
and to keep them alive in famine.
Psa. 78:50 He made a way to his anger; he
spared not their soul from death.
Isa. 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because
he hath poured out his soul unto death.
Ezek. 13:10 And will ye pollute me among my
people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that
should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live.
Ezek. 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as
the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine; the soul that
sinneth, it shall die.
Verse 27 Again, when the wicked man turneth
away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful
and right, he shall save his soul alive.
Matt. 20:38 My soul is exceeding sorrowful,
even unto death.
Jas. 5:20 Let him know, that he which
converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death.
Rev. 16:3 And the second angel poured out
his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man; and every
living soul died in the sea.
SOULS DESTRUCTIBLE AND
DESTROYED.
Psa. 35:17 Lord how long wilt thou look on?
Rescue my soul from their destructions.
Psa. 63:0 But those that seek my soul to
destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
Acts 3:23 And it shall come to pass, that
every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the
people.
In the following testimonies the Hebrew
word nephesh and the Greek word psuche, which are so frequently rendered soul,
are rendered life. Substitute the word soul for life in the reading of these
and it will be seen that, instead of soul being indestructible and immortal, it
is the opposite.
Exo. 4:10 Go, return into Egypt; for all
the men are dead which sought thy life.
Matt. 2:20 For they are dead which sought
the young Child's life.
Mark 3:4 Is it lawful to do good on the
Sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill (life or soul)?
Rev. 8:9 And the third part of the
creatures which were in the sea, and had life (soul) died.
Rev. 12:11 And they overcome him by the
blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their
lives (souls) unto the death.
SOULS GO TO AND ARE
DELIVERED FROM
THE PIT, OR THE GRAVE
Job 33:18 He keepeth back his soul from the
pit (grave) and his life from perishing by the sword. Also verses 28, 30.
Psa. 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell (the grave), neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Psa. 30:3 0 Lord, thou has brought up my
soul from the grave; thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the
pit. The pit and the "grave" are here synonymous; also "my soul,
and "me" and "I"
Isa. 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from
the power of the grave; for he shall receive me.
Isa. 89:4S What man is he that liveth and
shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul (himself) from the hand of the
grave?
Isa. 38:17,18 Thou hast in love to my soul
delivered it from the pit of corruption; * * * for the grave cannot praise
thee, death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down to the pit cannot hope for
thy truth.
Act 2:31 He seeing this before spake of the
resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell (grave), ... same
word as is translated grave in I Cor. 15:55.
Now, dear reader, by these testimonies you
will see that the various ways in which the soul is spoken of in the Bible
leaves no room whatever for the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. Think
a moment. Is it not strange that in all the instances in which the word soul
occurs it is never once spoken of as immortal? To find the phrase
"immortal soul" you must close your Bible and open theological books;
and these will direct you to the words of heathen philosophers as the authors
from whom the phrase came. You do not hear popular teachers in our times
speaking of souls dying, being destroyed going to the grave and coming out of
,the grave. They say the soul is "never dying", immortal, does not go
to the grave and is not delivered from the grave. Take, for instance, the word
life in Matt. 6:25, where the Greek word is psuche – the word which in other
places is rendered soul – and try if you can make it suit the doctrine of the
immortality of the soul. It would read, "Take no thought for your
(immortal) "soul".
Try it again in Matt. 16:25,26, of which
Dr. Adam Clarks says: "On what authority many have translated the word
psuche in the 25th verse "life" and in this 26th verse
"soul" I know not." If, as is claimed, that the word psuche
means "immortal soul", then these verses would read, "For
whosoever will save his immortal soul shall lose it; and whosoever will lose
his immortal soul for my sake shall find it" etc.
Ponder over the following questions and see
the folly of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul:
Since the Bible speaks of a living man
(Gen. 2:7) as a living soul, and a dead man as a dead soul, (Num. 6:6; 9:10)
(the word body in these verses is from nephesh), and since Paul defines a
living soul to be a natural body (I Cor. 15:44,45), how can you speak of the
soul as immortal, deathless?
The phrase 'living soul" occurs
fourteen times in the original Scriptures and twice it is applied to man (Gen.
2:7:I Cor. 15:44); once to fish (Rev. 16:3) and eleven times to the beasts of
the field (Gen. 1:20,21,24,30; 2:19; 9:10,12,15,16; Lev. 11:10,46). In view of
this can you persuade yourself that living soul means "immortal
soul"?
If the word soul signifies immortality, why
is the word immortal added to it by those who use the phrase "immortal
soul"? This is the same as if they were to say immortal immortality.
If to have a soul is to have immortality,
then the beasts have immortality; for they are said to have souls, as you will
see by the verses already quoted and the following:
Num. 31:28; Job 12:10; Prov. 12:10. (The
word life is from nephesh, soul.)
Popular teachers say the soul is immortal.
They cannot give you their description of man without using the words
"immortal soul" and yet Moses, the prophets, Christ and His apostles
never used the words in all the nearly one thousand times they use the word
soul. Immortal was never a prefix to the word soul with them.
The Bible speaks of soul being born (Exo
12:19);of souls dying Rev. 16:3); of souls being in the grave (Psa. 89:48); of
souls being raised from the dead (Acts 2:31); of souls having blood (Jer.
2:34); of souls breathing (Josh. 11:11); of souls being slain with the sword
(Josh, 10:28,29); of souls eating and drinking (Lev. 7:20); Isa. 32:6); of
souls committing carnal abominations (Lev. 18:29); of souls expiring (Job 31:39
margin); of souls being burnt with fire (Isa. 47:14 margin); of souls fasting
(Psa. 35:13); of souls having flesh (Lev. 17:15,16); of souls having hands
(Lev. 22:6); of souls having mouths (Psa. 103:2,5); of souls having lips (Lev.
5:4); of beasts having souls (Deut. 12:23, Hebrew nephesho; of souls being put
in fetters of iron (Psa. 105:18, margin); and of fish having souls (Rev. 8:9,
Greek psuche, soul). In view of such Bible descriptions of souls, how is it
possible, nay, is it not preposterous, to talk about souls being immortal and
immaterial?
Dear reader, you may think that all
"great and good men" are against us upon this question, and this may
have weight on your mind, as it has with many; and they say, "O well, if
great men believe in the immortality of the soul it is no use for us to deny
it, for they ought to know." This is by no means a proper view to take. We
must allow God to be true though all may thereby be proved liars. However, to
show you that all "great men" have not believed in the doctrine and
that some have protested against it, I will reproduce a list of quotations from
the "Declaration".
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MANY
LEARNED MEN DENY THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, AND SHOW THAT IT CAME FROM A
HEATHEN SOURCE.
Herodotus, the oldest historian, writes as
follows:
The Egyptians say that Ceres (the goddess of corn). and Bacchus (the god of
wine), hold the chief sway in the infernal regions; and the Egyptians also were
the first who asserted the doctrine that the soul of man is immortal. –
Herodotus, page 144.
Mosheim says:
It's first promoters argued from that known doctrine of the Platonic school,
which was also accepted by Origen. and his disciples, that the divine nature
was diffused through all human souls. Ecclesiastical History, Volume 1, page
80.
Justin Martyr (150 A. D.) said:
For if you have conversed with some that are indeed called Christians and do
not maintain these opinions but even dare to blaspheme the God of Abraham and
the God Isaac and the God of Jacob, and say that there is no resurrection of
the dead, but that the souls, as soon as they leave the body, are received up
into heaven, TAKE CARE THAT YOU DO NOT LOOK UPON THESE. But I, and all those
Christians that are really orthodox in every respect, do know that there will
be a resurrection of the body and a thousand years in Jerusalem, when it is
built again and adorned and enlarged, as Ezekiel and Esaias and the rest of the
prophets declare. – Dialogue with Trypho, the Jew, section 80.
An extract from a canon which was passed
under Leo X. by the Council of Lateran shows that the doctrine of an
"immortal soul" that lives when the man is dead was supported in
those days, as it Generally has been since, by the authority of creeds rather
than the Word of God:
Some have dared to assert, concerning the nature of the reasonable soul, that
it is mortal; we, with the approbation of the sacred council, do condemn and
reprobate all such, seeing, according to the canon of Pope Clement the Fifth
(not according to the Bible) the soul is immortal; and we strictly inhibit all
from dogmatizing otherwise; and we decree that all who adhere to the like
erroneous assertions shall be shunned as heretics. – Caranga, page 412, 1081.
Martin Luther, ironically responding to the
decree of the Council of the Lateran held during the pontificate of Pope Leo,
says:
"I permit the pope to make articles of faith for himself and his faithful
– such as the soul is the substantial form of. the human body, the soul is
immortal, with all those monstrous opinions to be found in the Roman dunghill
of decretals." – Luther's Works, Volume 2 folio 107, Wittenberg, 1562.
In an old work printed in 1772, entitled
Historical View of the Intermediate State", on page 348, when speaking of
Martin Luther's. belief in relation to the state of the dead between death and
resurrection, it is said he held "that they lay in a profound sleep",
in which opinion he followed many of the fathers of the ancient church.
William Tyndall declares that –
In putting departed souls in heaven, hell and purgatory, you destroy the
arguments wherewith Christ and Paul prove the resurrection. * * * The true
faith putteth the resurrection, which we be warned to look for every hour. The
heathen philosophers, denying that, did put that the souls did ever live. And
the pope joineth the spiritual doctrine of Christ and the fleshly doctrine of
philosophers together – things so contrary that they cannot agree. * * * And
because the fleshly pope consenteth into HEATHEN DOCTRINE, therefore he
corrupteth the Scriptures to establish it. * * * If the souls be in heaven,
tell me why they be not in as good case as the angels be. And then what cause
it there for the resurrection? This translator of the Scriptures into English
suffered martyrdom in 1536.
Gibbon declares: "The doctrine of the
immortality of the soul is omitted in the law of Moses." – Gibbon, Volume
1, page 530-1.
George Combs says: "No idea can be
more erroneous than to suppose that man is an immortal being, on account of the
substance of which he is composed." – System of Phrenology, page 595-7.
Parkhurst says: "As a noun nephesh
hath been supposed to signify the spiritual part of man, or what we commonly
call his soul, I must confess that I can find no passage where it hath
undoubtedly this meaning." – Hebrew Lexicon.
Now we have given proof that even men
highly esteemed among men deny and give good reasons for denying the theory of
the souls immortality. Some, however, will turn to the word spirit, and claim
that the Scripture use of this word will sustain that which they are forced to
concede is not supported by the use of the word soul. So we will ask you to
accompany us while we examine the subject under this heading.
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THE
SPIRIT OF MAN IS NOT AN IMMORTAL ENTITY, BUT THE WORD IS USED FOR LIFE, MIND
AND DISPOSITION.
Now, reader, you may be under the
impression that spirit is only applied to man in the Scriptures; and truly, if
it is a word that signifies immortal entity, it ought never to apply to the
beasts in any sense. If we show you testimonies in which spirit is spoken of as
belonging to the beasts as well as to man, then you will see at once that it
cannot have the meaning commonly attached to it.
Now there are different words in the
original Scriptures that are rendered in our translation spirit. It will
therefore be well for me to give these and a brief statement of the facts as to
their meaning and use. To do this I will quote from the alphabetical appendix
of the Emphatic Diaglott a statement whose correctness you can, with little
trouble, test yourself.
THE DEFINITION AND USE OF
THE WORD
SPIRIT AS FOUND IN THE SCRIPTURES.
"The Hebrew world ruach occurs 400
times in the Old Testament, and is rendered spirit 240 times; breath 28 times;
wind 95 times; mind 6 times; and the balance in 18 different ways. The Greek
word pneuma has been chosen by the inspired writers of the New Testament as the
equivalent in meaning of ruach. It occurs 385 times, and is the only word
rendered spirit, (with two exceptions, Matt. 14:26; Mark 6:49). Pneuma, like
ruach of the Old Testament, has four significations: 1. It represents primarily
the air that we breathe. 2. It denotes a being, as angels. 3. It represents an
influence from a being. 4. It indicates a state of feeling. It is believed that
there is not a passage where these words rendered spirit occur but what may be
classified under one of these significations."
Now when it is said in Gen. 6:17, "I
do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh wherein is the
breath (ruach, the Hebrew word often rendered spirit) or life, we see that
"immortal soul" or "immortal spirit' is out of the question; for
"all flesh" included the beasts of the field.
When the wise man declares of man and
beasts in Ecc. 3:19, "For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth
beasts; even one thing befalleth them; as the one dieth so dieth the other; YEA
THEY HAVE ALL ONE BREATH (ruach), you would certainly not read, yea they have
all one "immortal spirit. So, also, when it is said in Jas. 2:26,
"For as the body without the spirit (pneuma) is dead, the meaning is, as
you will see by the word breath in the margin, "the body without the
breath (or life) is dead. And surely this is true of all flesh wherein is the
breath or spirit of life.
It was the breath of life that God breathed
into man to make him a living man. Before that he was a lifeless man. When God
takes away the breath of life or the spirit of life, which all creatures
possess, the man becomes as lifeless as he was before he received the breath of
life. Hence Solomon says in Ecc. 12:7, "Then shall the dust return to the
earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God who gave it." The word
rendered spirit here is the same as is rendered breath in chapter 3:19, where
it says of man and beasts, yea they have all one breath (ruach).
The fact that our translators have rendered
the same word (ruach) breath and spirit does not change the fact that the
inspired writers used the same word. A good way for you to test whether the
inspired writers believed as theologians do now – that spirit means
"immortal spirit" or soul – is to read "immortal spirit" in
the verses where the words rendered spirit, breath and wind occur. Try in the
following:
I Kings 2:9 And Elisha said, I pray thee,
let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
Job 9:18 He will not suffer me to take my
breath (ruach).
Job 12:10 In whose hand is the soul of
every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.
Job 27:3 All the while my breath is in me,
and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils.
Job 33:4 The spirit of God hath made me and
the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.
Eph. 4:23 Be renewed in the spirit of your
mind.
Col. 2:5 For though I be absent in flesh
yet am I with you in spirit.
Num. 16:22 O God, the God of the spirits of
all flesh.
Num. 27:16 Let the Lord, the God of the
spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation.
Josh. 5:1 Neither was there any spirit in
them any more because of the children of Israel.
I Kings 10:4,5 When the Queen of Sheba had
seen Solomon's wisdom there was no spirit in her.
Psa. 104:29,30 Thou takest away their
breath (spirit of the beasts, see context) they die and return to the dust.
We say, a proud spirit, a haughty spirit, a
rebellious spirit, a meek spirit, etc.; but we use the word for disposition or
state of mind, and not for immortal entity. We say a horse is in good spirits
or is a spirited creature; but we do not use the word as theologians do.
Understanding spirit to be used for life,
we can understand the words, "Lord Jesus receive my (not me) spirit and
Stephen fell asleep (Acts 7:59); and, Jesus, when he had cried with a loud
voice, yielded up the ghost," spirit or life (Matt. 27:50). But Jesus
died. The spirit was not Jesus; it was that which gave Him life. When He
yielded up the spirit He yielded up His life and then He – Jesus Himself –
died. If the spirit that He yielded up was Jesus, the Christ, then He did not
die, to claim which would imperil our salvation.
When you seek the meaning of a Scripture
word it is not safe to take the theological meaning; for Scripture words have
been made to serve in giving expression to heathen doctrines. If you take the
radical meaning of spirit as given in the dictionary you will find it accords
with the Scripture use in the primary sense. The meaning given by Webster for
spirit is breath. The meaning the lexicons give of the Greek and Hebrew words
pneuma and ruach – the words which stand for spirit – is breath. The noun in each
case is derived from a verb meaning to breathe. So when God formed man of the
dust of the ground He made him alive by causing him to breathe His spirit,
which all the creatures that went into the ark possessed (Gen. 7:14,15). When
man dies "his breath (ruach, spirit) goeth forth, he returneth to his
earth, and in that very day his thoughts perish" (Psa. 146:4). The spirit
of God is everywhere – in the air that surrounds us. That portion of it which
God enables us to appropriate to our use in respiration (by breathing) is
called breath; and as it is by this process of breathing that we live, it is
called the breath or spirit of life. It is the same with all creatures; for, as
we have seen, "they – man and beasts – have all one breath" (Ecc.
3:19). So our breath or spirit of life comes from God to make and keep us
alive; and when we die the breath or spirit of life returns to God who gave it.
The giving of it makes us alive, and the taking away of it leaves us dead.
With these facts before you, that man is
mortal, and that the soul and spirit of man are never spoken in the Scriptures
as immortal, we may now ask you to listen to the use of the word immortal, so
that you may more fully see that immortality is in no sense man's present
possession, and that therefore "immortal soul" and "immortal
spirit" are invented phrases – not scriptural.
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IMMORTALITY
IS GOD'S HOLY AND GLORIOUS NATURE, AND THE WORD IMMORTAL IS NEVER APPLIED TO
MAN IN HIS PRESENT STATE.
Now immortality is spoken of in the
Scriptures in various ways. We have already shown (Proposition 11.) that it is
a gift of God to the righteous only; but let us now look at the use the Bible
makes of the word. Following are all the instances where it is found:
I Tim. 1:17 Now unto the King eternal,
immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.
I Tim. 6:15,16 Which in his times he shall
show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of
lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light, etc.
II Tim. 1:10 But is now made manifest by
the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath
brought life and IMMORTALITY to light through the gospel.
Rom. 2:6,7 Who will render to every man
according to his deeds: tothem who by patient continuance in well doing seek
for glory, honor and immortality, eternal life.
I Cor. 15:53,54 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.
Now, dear reader, look at this without
prejudice, and see, first, that the word immortal or immortality is never
applied to man in his present state. Then consider that in the first verse
quoted immortality is God's nature. Do you think God would bestow His divine
and holy and indestructible nature upon wicked and depraved beings? Do you
think it is reasonable to believe that beings possessed of God's holy nature
could be tempted to sin and that God would torture eternally millions of beings
possessed of His own divine nature? Is not such a thought revolting to a mind
that regards God as being holy, just, wise and good, His nature being the very
essence of these attributes?
But now look at the four verses where the
word is used in relation to man. First, immortality is brought to light through
the gospel. Second, it is that which we must seek for by well doing. Third, we
shall put it on at the resurrection. Fourth, when it is put on death is
swallowed up in victory. Thus you will see that such a boon as to be made
partakers of the divine nature is only for those who prove themselves worthy of
it. (Remember that you never read in the Bible the words immortal soul" or
"immortal spirit"). The same is true of eternal life, as we shall
next proceed to show.
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ETERNAL
LIFE IS NOT A PRESENT ACTUAL POSSESSION, BUT IS PROMISED TO THE RIGHTEOUS ONLY.
I John 2:15 And this is the promise that he
hath promised us EVEN ETERNAL LIFE, through Jesus Christ.
II Tim. 1:1 Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God, according to the PROMISE OF LIFE which is in Christ Jesus.
Tit. 1:2 IN HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE, which God
that cannot lie promised before the world began.
Tit. 3:7 That being Justified by his grace,
we should be made heirs according to THE HOPE' OF ETERNAL LIFE.
Rom. 2:6,7 Who will render to every man
according to his deeds, to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek
for glory, honor and immortality. eternal life.
Col. 3:3,4 For ye are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God; and when Christ who is our life shall appear, THEN
shall ye also appear with him in glory.
John 5:28,29 All that are in the graves
shall hear his voice and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the
resurrection of life.
Gal. 6:8 He that soweth to the spirit shall
of the spirit reap life everlasting
Luke 20:35,36 They which shall be accounted
worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry,
nor are given in marriage; neither can they die any more; for they are equal
unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the
resurrection.
Your mind will possibly run to a few texts
which say, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life" (John
3:36). Many quote these to prove the immortality of the soul; but you will
notice that it is added, "He that hath not the Son, hath not life" (I
John 5:12). If the first means, He that hath the Son hath an immortal soul or
spirit, then the last part means, He that hath not the Son hath not an immortal
soul or spirit. Eternal life, therefore, whenever it is possessed, is possessed
by the righteous only. Now if you will compare scripture with scripture you
will see what is meant by the words hath life. Think of this: "He that
believeth on the Son hath the witness (not the thing witnessed) in himself; he
that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the
record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God hath given to
us eternal life and this life is in HIS SON" (I John 5:10,11) – not in us
yet. We have it in the Son so long as we have Him in our minds and hearts; but
the time when we shall have it in ourselves is seen in the words. "Ye are
dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life
SHALL APPEAR, THEN shall, ye also appear with him in glory" (Col. 3:3,4).
You will be told by theologians that
eternal life means eternal happiness – not eternal living existence. It is true
that all who shall be accounted worthy of eternal living existence will, as a
necessary result, enjoy eternal happiness. Hence by obtaining the former we
enjoy the latter: but "eternal life" means to live without end; and
"eternal happiness" means to be always happy.
Now if the wicked live without end, it
matters not where they live; they have eternal life. If you ask theologians,
Will the life of the wicked ever end? they will answer you, No; they will live
in torment as long as the righteous live in happiness; the difference is only
in the place and state where they live. So that you will see there is in this a
denial of the gospel of eternal life, which says, For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not,
perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:10). There is a "strait
gate" and a "narrow way" that "leadeth to life" – life
is at the farther end; not at this end, in us – and there is a "broad
gate" and a "wide way" that leadeth to destruction – not to life
in misery.
This will prepare your mind for the
reception of the Scripture teaching concerning the destiny of the wicked, which
we will now consider.
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THE
WICKED WILL NOT BE PRESERVED ALIVE ETERNALLY IN TORTURE, BUT WILL BE DESTROYED.
Job 20:5-8 The triumphing of the wicked is
short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment. He shall perish for ever
like his own dung; they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? He shall
fly away as a dream, and shall not be found, yea, he shall be chased away as a
vision of the night.
Psa. 37:38 But the transgressors shall be
destroyed together; the end of the wicked shall be cut off.
Psa. 37:10 For yet a little while and the
wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it
shall not be.
Psa. 37:20 But the wicked shall perish, and
the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs; their shall consume; INTO
SMOKE SHALL THEY CONSUME AWAY.
Psa. 145:20 The LORD preserveth all them
that love him; but all the wicked will he destroy.
Psa. 104:35 Let the sinners be consumed out
of the earth, and let the wicked be no more.
II Pet. 2:12 But these, as natural brute
beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they
understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption.
II Thes. 1:9,10 Who shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of
his power.
Those who cling to the terrible theory that
God will preserve the wicked eternally in torment try to evade these plain
statements of Scripture by saying that the meaning is not literal destruction;
but that the word destroy must be understood in the sense we speak of a man who
has become a reprobate – his character is destroyed, he is ruined. You will see
that this is not reasonable, because it is the wicked who are to be destroyed.
They are already ruined in the sense referred to, from the fact that they are
the wicked; and it is the destruction of these that the Scriptures are speaking
of.
Then, again, there is a play upon the words
"from among the people" (Acts 3:23), as if they did not mean absolute
destruction, but banishment to another region. A comparison of scripture with
scripture will show you how unreasonable this is. Notice the application of the
word "destroyed" in these texts: "And every living substance was
DESTROYED which was upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle and the
creeping things, and the fowl of heaven; and they were DESTROYED FROM THE
EARTH" Gen. 7:23). If "destroyed" here as applied to man means
"banished to another region," then it must mean the same for all the
creatures named, for the one word is made to serve for what happened to them
all.
From force of education you will now
possibly wonder, in view of the foregoing, what is the meaning of 'hell in the
Bible. For if the wicked are to be destroyed, such a place as have been taught
to believe to be will not be needed. If the wicked are not to be preserved
alive the popular hell will be of no use. So let us examine this subject next.
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HELL,
AS EMPLOYED IN THE BIBLE, DOES NOT MEAN A PLACE OF ETERNAL TORTURE, BUT THE
GRAVE AND GEHENNA.
The use the inspired writers make of the
Hebrew and Greek words rendered in our translation '`hell" must be allowed
to determine what they mean by these words. You must remember that in the Greek
there are two words in the original Scriptures – hades and Gehenna that are
translated by the one word hell. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word answering
to hades is sheol. Now this word is often rendered grave; and it's use in such
cases shows that the prophets never understood it to mean a place of torment
for "disembodied spirits".
SHEOL – GRAVE OR STATE OF
THE DEAD.
Gen. 37:35 He (Jacob) refused to be
comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave (sheol) unto my son
mourning.
Gen. 42:38 If mischief befall him in the
way by which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the
grave (sheol).
I Sam. 2:6 The LORD killeth and maketh
alive; he bringeth down to the grave (sheol) and bringeth up,
I Kings 2:6 Do therefore according to thy
wisdom, and let not his hoary head go down to the grave (sheol) in peace.
Job 14:13 O that thou wouldest hide me in
the grave (sheol), that wouldest keep me secret until thy wrath be past.
Job 17:13 If I wait the grave (sheol) is
mine house; I have made my bed in the darkness.
Psa. 30:3 0 LORD, thou has brought up my
soul from the grave (sheol); thou has kept me alive that I should not go down
to the pit.
Psa. 49:14 Like sheep they are laid in the
grave (sheol), death shall feed on them.
Hos. 13:14 I will ransom them from the
power of the grave (sheol); 0 grave I will be thy destruction. (Compare with I
Cor. 15:55).
Ecc. 9:10 There is no work nor device, nor
knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave (sheol), whither thou goest.
Psa. 31:17 Let them be silent in the grave
(sheol).
Ezek. 32:27 And they shall not lie with the
mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell
(sheol) with their weapons of war; and they have laid their swords under their
heads. (Hell here is shown to be the grave, by the fact that the mighty lie
there with their swords under their heads, it being a custom to bury warriors
with their swords under their heads).
Psa. 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell (sheol), neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
(Peter uses this to prove that Christ was raised from the grave. – Acts
2:27,30-32).
From these testimonies it is clear that the
inspired writers had no idea of a place of eternal torment being represented by
the word sheol. Just substitute "the place of eternal torment" for
the word sheol in these texts and you will see how absurd is the theory of
modern theology. It would make Jacob say, "I refuse to be comforted; and I
will go down to the place of eternal torment to my son mourning." It would
make David say, :Let not his hoary head go down to the place of eternal torment
in peace." as though it were possible to go to such a place in peace. It
would make Job say, "O that thou wouldest hide me in the place of eternal
torment until thy wrath be past, which would be praying to be taken from bad to
worse. It would make David and Peter say that Christ went to the place of
torment but was not left there. Now if you keep in view that the final end of
the wicked is to be punished with eternal death – to be cast into the darkness
of death and the grave – then you will easily understand the use of the word
sheol when the translators have rendered it "hell"; such, for
instance, as "The wicked shall be turned into hell (sheol), ,and all
nations that forget God (Psa. 9:17).
The word that the writers of the New
Testament used as meaning the same as sheol is hades.
HADES – GRAVE OR STATE OF
THE DEAD.
The Septuagint (the Greek translation of
the Old Testament) uses the word hades as the equivalent of sheol. Therefore
the texts quoted above apply to the use of the word hades in the Greek in the
same way as they do to sheol in the Hebrew. The word hades only occurs eleven
times in the New Testament. As to it's meaning and whether or not it is
properly translated by the word hell we submit the following:
"The Hebrew word sheol is translated
HELL, properly as a general thing, if intended to mean the same as the old
Saxon word hell, the covered receptacle of all the dead, where the good and bad
repose together in a state of UNCONSCIOUSNESS; but very improperly and
SHAMEFULLY IF intended to be a symbol of the 'orthodox' and traditionary hell
as a place of conscious torment for the wicked only. But we, without the slightest
reservation, condemn the translators; for they have evidently endeavored to
observe the true sense of the word Sheol, and to uphold the traditional meaning
of hell at the expense of truth and uniformity. Had sheol been uniformly
translated pit or grave or the state of the dead, or even the mansions of the
dead, no such absurd idea as that of a place of conscious torment could ever
have been associated with it." Bible versus Tradition, page 188.
"Hades means literally that which is
darkness. A careful examination will lead to the conclusion that no sanction to
the intermediate state is afforded by these passages where hades occurs; but
they denote the grave, both of the righteous and wicked. Dr. Kitto, Cyclopedia.
"The original word hades, from a, not,
and idien, to see – the invisible receptacle or mansion of the dead, answering
to sheol in Hebrew. The word hell, used in the common translations conveys now
an improper meaning of the original word, because hell is only used to signify
the place of the damned. But as the word hell comes from the Anglo-Saxon helan,
to cover or hide, hence the tiling or slating of a house in some parts of
England (particularly Cornwall): heIing to this day, and the covers of books
(in Lancashire), by the same name; so the literal import of the original word
hades: was formerly well expressed by it. – Dr. Adam Clarke, Commentary.
"The gates of hades may always
allusive to the form of the Jewish sepulchres, which were large caves with a
narrow mouth or entrance, many of which are found in Judea." – Parkhurst,
Lexicon.
Following are the passages where the word
hades occurs in · the New Testament:
Matt. 11:23 And thou Capernaum which art
exalted unto heaven, shaIt be brought down to hell (hades).
Upon this Dr. Adam Clarke says:
This prediction of our Lord was literally
fulfilled; for in the wars with the Romans and the Jews these cities were
totally destroyed, so that no traces are now found of Bethsaida, Chorazin or
Capernaum Commentary.
To be brought down to hell, the grave, was
therefore to be destroyed.
Matt. 16:18 And I say unto thee, thou art
Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church; and the gates of hell (hades,
the grave) shall not prevail against it.
"The gates of hades," says
Parkhurst, may always be allusive to the form of Jewish sepulchres."
The gates of the grave will not prevail,
because the church will be delivered, and exclaim: "O grave (hades), where
is thy victory?" (I Cor. 15:55).
Luke 10:15 Same as already referred to in
Matt. 11:23.
Luke 16:23 And in hell (hades) he lifted up
his eyes.
Acts 2:27,31 Because thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell (hades), neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption.
I Cor. 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O
grave (hades), where is thy victory?
Rev. 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was
dead; and. behold, I am alive for evermore, amen; and have the keys of hell
(hades) and of death.
Rev. 6:8 And I looked and behold, a pale
horse; and his name that sat upon him was Death. and Hell (hades) followed with
him.
Rev. 20:13,14 And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it; and death and hell (hades) delivered up the dead which were
in them; and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and
hell (hades) were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
These passages will all be clear to you as
applying to the grave, except, perhaps, one – that in which the rich man is
said to lift up his eyes in hell (hades). We purpose devoting a chapter to this
further along, but will say here, that the parable of the rich man and Lazarus
was addressed to the Pharisees (Luke 16:14), who, having received traditions
which made the Word of God of none effect, had become believers in the heathen
dogma of the conscious existence of disembodied souls. To find a receptacle for
these after death they invented a place where good and bad souls were preserved
awaiting the judgment day; and to that place they gave the name of hades. In
this parable our Lord used their theory to represent the national calamity
shortly to come upon them in the destruction of Jerusalem and their torment at
the hands of the Roman and other nations among whom they would suffer. The fact
that the Saviour used their theory in parable no more commits Him to that
theory than His use of the word Beelzebub (Matt. 19.:9.7) committed Him to the
pagan fiction of the god of the fly. It must be remembered that our Lord made
no attempt to instruct the Pharisees and show them the fallacy of the heathen
dogmas they had espoused. He knew they were self-righteous, and ironically said
to them, I am not come to call the righteous" (Matt. 9:13). It is said
that, "without a, parable spake he not unto them" (Matt. 13:34); and
the reason He gave for this was, "because it is given to you" (the
disciples) "to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it
is not" (Matt. 13:11).
GEHENNA – WHAT AND WHERE
IS IT?
Gehenna, the other word translated hell in
the New Testament, has an entirely different meaning from hades, and never
ought to have been translated by the word hell. The following from the Emphatic
Diaglott is a good explanation:
"Gehenna, the Greek word translated
hell in the common version occurs 19. times. It is the Grecian mode of spelling
the Hebrew words which are translated "The Valley of Hinnom" This
valley was also called Tophet, a detestation, an abomination. Into this place
were cast all kinds of filth, with the carcasses of beasts and the unburied
bodies of criminals who had been executed. Continual fires were kept to consume
these. Sennacherib's army of 185,000 were slain here in one night. Here
children were burnt to death in sacrifice to Moloch. Gehenna, then, as
occurring in the New Testament, symbolizes death and utter destruction, but in
no place symbolizes a place of eternal torment."
The Jews having come to look upon Gehenna
as a place of horror, it was associated by our Lord with the destiny which
awaited those who shall be the victims of the wrath of God in the day of just
retribution. The testimonies in which the word is used indicate that, not only
was Gehenna a place of judicial punishment in the past, but in that same place
will the righteous judgments of God be poured upon the transgressors. The worms
that preyed upon the carcasses in the past have long since devoured them; the unquenchable
fire that burned has devoured it's victims. So when the worms shall again prey
upon the bodies of the wicked and the fire burn, destruction will be the
inevitable result. You will see, dear reader, that the meaning of the words
"The worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched" is not that the
bodies upon which the worms prey are preserved alive – not that they will burn
and yet never burn. The fact that worms are represented as preying is proof
that their victims have been put to death and that to be totally devoured is
the certain end; and the fact that the fire is not quenched is proof, not that
it's victims will be preserved, but that they will be devoured.
Following are the passages where the word
hell in the common version is from Gehenna:
Matt. 5:22 But I say, That whosoever is
angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Judgment; and
whosoever shah say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but
whosoever shall say, Thou fool. shall be in danger of hell (Gehenna) fire.
Matt. 5:29 And if thy right eye offend
thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that
one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be east
into hell (Gehenna).
Matt. 10:28 And fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able
to destroy both body and soul in hell (Gehenna).
Matt. 18:9 And if thine eye offend thee,
pluck it out and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life
with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell (Gehenna) fire.
Matt. 23:15 Woe unto you scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and
when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell (Gehenna) than
yourselves.
Matt. 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of
vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell (Gehenna)?
Mark 9:43,45,47; Luke 12:5. These are the
same as given from Matthew.
Jas. 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world
of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole
body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell
(Gehenna).
Now you will see from these testimonies
that no support is given by them to the theory of eternal preservation in hell
fire as popularly believed. The Jews knew that to be "in danger of
Gehenna" was to be in danger of an ignoble death, a devouring of worms or
a consuming of fire in the detested valley of Gehenna, instead of even after
death being allowed a burial. They were assured that God would destroy the
wicked, both soul and body in Gehenna; and that it was better for them to enter
into life maimed than to suffer death and the destruction of Gehenna. If you
notice the use of the word life in some of the quotations you will see that it
is not a question of their going to live in a place of happiness on the one
hand and to live in a place of misery on the other. It is a question of
"entering into life" or of being destroyed.
Dr. Parkhurst remarks on Mark 9:43:
"Our Lord seems to allude to the worms which continually preyed on dead
carcasses that were cast into the valley of Hinnom (Gehenna), and to the
perpetual fire kept up to consume them; a place of abominable filthiness and
pollution. Greek Lexicon.
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THE
DEVIL IS NOT A PERSONAL MONSTER DWELLING IN "HELL", AND YET
EVERYWHERE PRESENT TEMPTING ALL MEN, BUT IS SIN IN THE FLESH.
Now, dear reader, we come to the question
of the devil – a question that you may think of trivial importance, but which
we must insist is of great importance. It is very important that we believe no
doctrine that will dishonor and blaspheme God. If there is such a personal
monster as is popularly believed in – one that is immortal and possessed of
power to tempt weak humanity in all parts of the world at the same time, and
that has the power of an endless life to continue his rebellion against God –
the question is, Where did such a being come from? Did God create him? Did God
give him immortality – His own nature and the nature we are commanded to seek
for by well-doing? Did God give him power to be everywhere present performing
his wicked work? Is it God's purpose to allow such a monster of wickedness to
live eternally in open rebellion against Him? If so, why so? Can you believe
these things without dishonoring God, who is wise, just, all-powerful and good?
If we believe that the devil is immortal
and has eternal life, how can we believe that "the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life" (Rom. 6:23)? If we believe that the
devil is to be an eternal enemy of God and man, how can we believe that Christ
through death will "destroy him that hath the power of death, that is the
devil" (Heb. 2:14)? and that Christ will destroy the last enemy (I Cor.
15:26)? Is not man naturally weak enough in resisting the enticements of the
carnal mind? Why should God create, or even allow to exist, a being possessed
of such a tempting power over man who is already so weak? Why should there be a
"hell" larger and more thickly populated than "heaven," and
why should there be a devil more powerful for mischief than God is for good? Is
it not blasphemy against God to believe such things?
DAIMON – DEMON.
Now, the word devil, like that of
"hell", is quite deceiving in the manner of it's use in the New
Testament, for it is made to represent two different words in the original
Scriptures. These Words are, in the Greek, daimon and diabolos. The first is a
word which the heathen applied to supposed departed spirits. With them, when a
person was afflicted with a disease of any kind, especially disease affecting
the mind, it was a disembodied spirit, or, as it would now be called by their
disciples, an "immortal soul", had entered the body of the person to
punish him. To cure the disease was to cast out the demon, spirit or soul.
Thus, if one was affected with seven different diseases and was healed it was
the casting out of seven spirits or immortal souls. Religious people who have
given heed to doctrines of devils (demons) still hold the heathen dogma of
disembodied spirits, but they have abandoned the ancient theory of
transmigration. The language of Scriptures is the language of the times in
which they were written; but it does not commit our Lord and His apostles to
the heathen theory, any more than our use of the word lunatic commits us to the
belief that an insane person has been 'moonstruck', or that our use of
erysipelas means that we believe in "St. Anthony's fire".
The following from Yate's "History of
Egypt, which we quote from Diabolism, will illustrate how the use of words and
phrases may mean one thing to a heathen and another thing to one who has
escaped the darkness of heathenism:
"It would seem that the same diseases
prevailed then in Syria and Egypt as now. and the various practices adopted by
the people concerning them have very little changed during a period of nearly
two thousand years. Nothing is more common in the present day in the East than
to be told that a person has a devil or is possessed of a devil; and the
expression is applied more or less to every complaint. I had occasion to notice
this immediately on my arrival in the country.
"I have known the Rev. Mr. Wolff
ridiculed for stating that one evening when he was passing between Jerusalem
and Cairo he east out a devil in the wilderness; but I can only suppose he used
the expression in the sense alluded to, and that he merely employed the native
idiom. I have often been applied to myself in Syria and other parts to east out
a devil; by which I merely understood that I was to cure the bodily ailments of
the individuals – not that I was expected to perform a miracle on the occasion,
further than that the cure of every disease is ascribed by the natives to
talismanic influence.
The work of the Saviour and His apostles in
this particular was the miraculous cure of disease, the account being given in
the idiom of the times. The heathen and those who believed their doctrines of
demons took a heathen view of the matter; just as a religious heathen in our
day would look upon a ease of erysipelas as a fire from St. Anthony, while a
rational mind would know better.
DIABOLOS.
The word which most concerns us is
diabolos; because a failure to understand the meaning of this word will hinder
one from comprehending the plan of salvation. Christ came to destroy the
diabolos and his works; therefore a wrong view of diabolos interferes with a
correct view of the mission of Christ.
The meaning of diabolos as given by Dr.
Young is accuser, calumniator. The word is rendered devil in the New Testament
thirty times, where it's use sustains the meaning above given. It does not
stand for one supernatural being, as is commonly supposed; for in three
instances it is used in the plural. In these cases, however, the translators of
the common version, seeing, no doubt, that the word could not mean the supposed
supernatural being, have not used the word devil. It would not do to make Paul
say. "Even so must their wives be grave, not "supernatural
devils". So they gave us a correct translation, which furnishes a key to
the true meaning of the word. Hence it is:
I Tim. 3:11 Even so must their wives be
grave, not slanderers (diaboloi).
II Tim. 3:3 Men shall be * * * without
natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers (diaboloi).
Tit. 2:3 The aged women, likewise, that
they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers (diaboloi).
If they had been slanderers or false
accusers they would have been devils in the sense that "devil' is used in
the New Testament from diabolos.
Literally the word diabolos means that
which causes to cross over. Hence that which tempts men to cross the line from
right to wrong, or to sin. That which causes man to sin, as well as sin itself
in all it's various phases is personified in the Scriptures in the same way
that riches are called the god this world and mammon; and this principle of
human nature is what tempts to do wrong. Hence it is the diabolos which causes
men to cross over the line. There are what we call riches; there are what we
call sins. Take the Scripture personification of these and call the first
Mammon and the second Diabolos. Then we can say Mammon tempts us; Mammon is our
enemy, Mammon will destroy us. And we can substitute Diabolos and say the same
things. No one would be foolish enough to think mammon a supernatural, personal
monster because we use the word in this personal sense. Why should not the use
of the word diabolos be allowed in the same way? Obedience and sin are
personified: "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to
obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of
obedience unto righteousness" (Rom. 6:16)? Here are two masters
represented by the pronoun his; but nobody supposes they are really two persons.
Sin is either a wicked thought or act of a person, obedience is a good thought
or act of a person. And it probably is because neither can exist without a
person that they are personified. It was diabolos that put it into the heart of
Judas to betray Christ (John 13:2); and thus he became a devil (diabolos) –
John 6:70)
Now Christ came to take away the sin of the
world – that is, to ultimately remove sin and all it's effects from the earth.
When this is done the diabolos will be no more.
CHRIST TO TAKE AWAY SIN.
John 1:29 Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world.
I John 3:5 He was manifested to take away
our sins.
Rom. 8:3 God sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.
CHRIST TO DESTROY THE
DEVIL AND HIS WORKS.
Heb. 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the
same; that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death,
that is the devil (diabolos).
I John 3:8 For this purpose the Son of God
was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil (diabolos).
When the devil and his works are destroyed,
all evil will be removed from the earth, paradise will be restored and
everything will again be very good. To believe, therefore, that the devil is a
supernatural being that is to live as long as God lives, and whose works in a
supposed "hell" are to continue as long as "heaven"
continues, is to deny the truth concerning the work of redemption through
Christ.
Think not, then, that God maintains the
existence of such a monster and that our temptations come from him. "Every
man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed". (Jas.
1:14)
SATAN.
Satan is frequently used in the same sense
as diabolos. Indeed, diabolos is the word which the Septuagint employs for the
Hebrew word satan. While the word mostly means the same as diabolos, there is
this difference – that satan does not always stand for an opposer of right. It
is frequently rendered adversary; and the angel of the Lord that stood in the
way of Balaam is called a satan. On the whole, however, what has been said
under the heading of diabolos will apply to the word satan. Any person who is
an opposer of right is a satan. Hence our Lord's words to the Apostle Peter,
"Get thee behind me, satan"; from which no reasonable person would
infer that Peter was the being superstition supposes the devil to be.
When the grand mission of Christ is
completed there will be no satan, diabolos nor demon, for he must reign till he
hath put all enemies under his feet; the last enemy shall be destroyed – death.
Sin, the transgression of law, made man a
satan – an adversary of right. Lust conceived and brought forth sin; and sin,
when completed, brought forth death. To bring forth death sin took effect in
man's nature in the form of disease or mortality; disease multiplied into
various forms, and these forms were by the heathen called demons. When our
Redeemer brings the time when there will be no sickness or pain there will be
no "demons." When our "vile body is changed and fashioned like
unto his glorious body", "mortality will be swallowed up of life and
there will be no more lust in our natures; hence no more diabolos or satan in
us. Being free from lust, we shall not sin and therefore not become diabolos or
satan. Then Christ will have fulfilled His mission in "destroying him that
hath the power of death, that is the devil". There being ,no more death,
no more demon, no more diabolos, no more satan, the LAST enemy will have been
destroyed. Yes, DESTROYED; and then "God shall be all IN ALL". In
this, dear reader, you have a prospect that exalts and honors Jehovah's name,
in that it shows us that, while He has permitted man to sin and thus blight and
curse the earth for a time, His wisdom, power and glory will put an end to all
evil. Such a God – honoring, glorious prospect is shut out from your view by
the heathenism that would perpetuate the existence of a personal, omniscient,
omnipresent, immortal, fire-proof devil, with countless millions of hopeless
and helpless victims.
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TO obtain the great salvation it is necessary that we
understand and believe the things concerning the kingdom of God. Now, dear reader,
do not persuade yourself that it is not necessary to have a correct view of
this matter; for the things we are now to treat of are part of the gospel our
Lord sent His apostles to preach, of which He said, "He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be condemned."
Remember that to hold a false view of the gospel is to believe another gospel,
or doing which some in the church at Galatia were said by the Apostle Paul to
be bewitched (Gal. 3:1). If the gospel promises us an everlasting inheritance
on the earth, and we persist in refusing to believe it and hold to the theory
that our eternal abode is in heaven, we shall believe in "another
gospel" and shall therefore lose the great salvation. Read Gal. 1:6-9 and
see how important a matter this is.
It is the general
belief that this earth is to be burnt up, and that all good men and women will
finally be taken to heaven to enjoy eternity. This theory represents God's
work, so far as the earth is concerned, as a failure; for if there is not a
future for it better than the past--if the evils of the earth's past and
present are not to be made to yield ultimate good--what else is it but a
failure?
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GOD
HAS PROMISED TO BLESS AND FILL THE EARTH WITH HIS GLORY.
Numb.
14:21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of
the Lord.
Psa.
72:l7-19 His name shall endure for ever; his name shall be continued as long as
the sun; and men shall be blessed in him; all nations shall call him blessed.
Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And
blessed be his glorious name for ever; and let the whole earth be filled with
his glory.
Isa.
11:9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
Hab.
2:14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea.
Matt.
6:9, 10 After this manner pray ye: * * * Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in
earth as it is in heaven.
Luke
2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
You
will see that these promises have never been fulfilled. In these testimonies we
have God's Word concerning the future of the earth. Can His Word fail? Listen
to what He says:
Isa.
55:10-13 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth
not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, · so
shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me
void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the
thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with
peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn
shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle
tree; and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that
shall not be cut off.
According
to these promises the earth is to be restored to the beautiful state it enjoyed
before sin cursed it; and in that restored beauty and fertility will be an
everlasting sign that shall not be cut off --- a sign of the wisdom, goodness
and power of God in removing the curse and giving blessings without end.
THE EARTH IS
TO ABIDE FOREVER.
It is
by failing to observe the different ways in which the earth is spoken of that
the mistake is made in believing in the destruction of the literal earth. That
it is not to be destroyed is not only clearly implied in the above testimonies,
but is declared in the following:
Ecc.
1:4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh but the earth
abideth for ever
Isa.
104:1-5 Blessed be the LORD. * * * who laid the foundation of the earth, that
it should not be removed for ever.
Psa.
119:90 Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the
earth, and it abideth.
Now
those Scriptures that speak of the earth passing away also include heaven. If
the destruction of the literal earth and the literal heaven is meant we may
well ask:
"When
heaven and earth are fled and gone, Oh! where shall I appear?"
The
following passages will show you that the earth sometimes represents the
inhabitants of the earth and the heaven the rulers, a figurative use of these
words drawn from the fact that the literal heaven rules the literal earth.
HEAVEN AND
EARTH, FIGURATIVE AND SYMBOLIC.
Deut.
32:1 Give ear O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of
my mouth.
Deut.
33:28 Israel then shall dwell in safety alone; the fountain of Jacob shall be
upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew.
Isa.
1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD hath spoken.
Isa.
49:13 Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth
Jer.
22:29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD
Hab.
2:20 Let all the earth keep silence before him.
These
testimonies will show that the words heaven and earth frequently apply to the
rulers and ruled upon the earth; and they enable us to see that the Scriptures
that speak of the passing away of the heavens and the earth are not a
contradiction of those which declare that the heavens and the earth are never
to be removed
You
may find a difficulty, however, as some have, in the fact that the Apostle
Peter says that the earth and the works therein shall be burned up (II Pet.
3:10). The question is sometimes asked, What are the works therein, if the word
earth refers to the people? The answer is, The earth represents the social
system as a whole, and the works are the various productions of the people
which feed their vanity and pride.
The
figurative and symbolic use of terms in relation to the heavens and earth finds
a good explanation in the following from Dr. Adam Clarke's introduction to
Isaiah's prophecy:
"By
images borrowed from the world natural, the prophets frequently understand
something analogous in the world politic. Thus the sun, moon and stars and
heavenly bodies denote kings, queens, rulers, and persons in great power; their
increase of splendor denotes increase of prosperity; their darkening, setting
or falling denotes a reverse of fortune, or the entire ceasing of that power or
kingdom to which they refer. Great earthquakes and the shaking of heaven and
earth denote the commotion and overthrow of kingdoms; and the beginning or end
of the world their rise or ruin.
"The
cedars of Lebanon, oaks of Bashan, fir trees and other stately trees of the
forest denote kings, princes, potentates and persons of the highest rank.
Briars and thorns the common people or those of the meanest order. High
mountains and lofty hills in like manner denote kingdoms, republics, states and
cities; towns and fortresses signify defenders and protectors; ships of
Tarshish merchants or commercial people; and the daughter of any capital or
mother city the lesser cities or suburbs around it. Cities never conquered are
further styled virgins."
Sir
Isaac Newton also says:
"In
attempting to understand the prophecies, we are in the first place to acquaint
ourselves with the figurative language of the prophets. This language is taken
from analogy between the world natural and an empire or kingdom as a world
politic. Accordingly the whole world natural, consisting of heavens and earth,
signifies the whole world politic, consisting of thrones and people, or so much
of it as is considered in the prophecy. Great earthquakes and the shaking of
heaven and earth are put for the shaking of kingdoms, so as to distract or
overthrow them; creating a new heaven and earth and the passing away of the old
one, or the beginning and end of the world for the rise and wane of the body
politic signified thereby. The sun and moon are by the interpreters of dreams
put for the persons of kings and queens; but in sacred prophecy, which regards
not single persons, the sun is put for- the whole series and race of kings in
the kingdoms of the world politic, shining with regal power and glory; the moon
considered as the king's wife; the stars for subordinate princes and great men.
Now
with these explanations we shall escape the folly of believing that God will
destroy the heavens and the earth, which declare his glory and show forth his
handiwork (Psa. 19:1), and shall be able to see in such texts of Scripture as
speak of heaven and earth passing away and the creating of new heavens and
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness (II Pet. 3:4-13; Isa. 65:17-19) the
destruction of the kingdoms of men and the establishment in their place of the
kingdom of God, in the former of which there is unrighteousness---hence the
reason they pass away--and in the latter ,of which "dwelleth
righteousness; hence the reason they represent a kingdom that shall never be
destroyed (Dan. 2:44).
Now
that we have seen that the earth is to abide for ever, we can safely proceed,
feeling we are on solid ground.
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THE
EARTH IS TO BE THE EVERLASTING INHERITANCE OF THE RIGHTEOUS – NOT HEAVEN.
Gen.
1315 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed
for ever.
Rom.
4:13 For the promise that he (Abraham) should be the heir of the world was not
to Abraham, or to his seed through the law, but (it was) through the
righteousness of faith.
Psa.
37:9 For evil doers shall be cut off; but those that wait upon the LORD, they
shall inherit the earth.
Verse
11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the
abundance of peace.
Verse 22
For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed
of him shall be cut off.
Verse
29 The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell therein for ever.
Verse
34 Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the
land; when the wicked are cut off thou shalt see it.
Psa.
115:10 The heaven, even the heavens are the LORD'S; but the earth hath he given
to the children of men.
Prov.
11:31 Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth; much more tile
wicked and the sinner.
Dan.
7:27 And the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the
whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High.
Matt.
5:5 Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.
Rev.
5:9, 10 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and
to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by
thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast
made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth.
Now,
dear reader, it is impossible for testimony to be clearer than this. Where is
there room now for the theory that finds expression in the following fanciful
words?
"Beyond
the bounds of time and space, Look forward to that heavenly place, the saints
secure abode."
How
can heaven be the eternal abode of the righteous, when it is so positively said
that the meek shall inherit the earth and dwell therein for ever? If good men
go to heaven at death why did not David go there? If he did not go there why
should we expect to go? He did not; for the Apostle Peter declares: "For
David is not ascended into the heavens" (Acts 2:34); and it is said
further, "And no man hath ascended into heaven, but he that came down from
heaven" (John 3:13).
Now
the everlasting inheritance in the earth, when God shall have blessed it and
all nations upon it is the one gospel, which gospel was preached to Abraham:
"And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through
faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all
nations be blessed." Hence we may safely take another step.
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THE
GOSPEL, AS EMBRACED IN THE PROMISES TO ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB IS THAT THE
RIGHTEOUS THROUGH CHRIST SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH FOR EVER.
In
regard to the covenants of promise in the gospel the Apostle Paul says:
Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, * * *
that at that time ye were without Christ, BEING ALIENS FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OF
ISRAEL AND STRANGERS FROM THE COVENANTS OF PROMISE, HAVING NO HOPE, AND WITHOUT
GOD IN THE WORLD" (Eph. 2:11, 12).
You
will certainly see from this that whatever the commonwealth of Israel is and
the covenants of promise are it is of vital importance that, instead of being
aliens to them, we should become "fellowcitizens'' (verse 19). Let the
Word of God now decide what they are.
THE PROMISES
TO ABRAHAM.
Gen.
12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy
kindred, and from thy father'shouse, unto a land that I will show thee.
Verse
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy
name great; and thou shall be a blessing.
Verse 5
And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their
substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran;
and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan
they came.
Verse
7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this
land.
Gen.
13:14 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift
up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art northward, and
southward, and eastward, and westward.
Verse
15: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed
for ever.
Verse
16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can
number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.
Verse
17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it;
for I will give it unto thee.
Gen.
15:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy
seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the
river Euphrates.
Gen.
17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine; the LORD appeared to Abram
and said unto him, I am the Almighty GOD; walk before me and be thou perfect.
Verse
2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee
exceedingly.
Verse
4 As for me behold my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many
nations.
Verse
5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be
Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
Verse
6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and
kings shall come out of thee.
Verse
7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee
in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to
thy seed after thee.
Verse
8 And I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou
art a stranger, all the land of Canaan tot an everlasting possession, and I
will be their God.
Gen.
22:15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second
time,
Verse
16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done
this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son.
Verse
17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy
seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and
thy seed shall possess the gate of HIS enemies.
Verse
18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.
The
same promises were made to Isaac and to Jacob, as you will see by the following
references: Gen. 26:2 - 4:28:3, 4, 13, 14.
Now
you cannot fail to see that these promises assure to the fathers an inheritance
in the earth --not a word in them of a promise of heaven. There is no use to
deny these promises and you cannot misunderstand them. God made oath that He
would fulfill them. Has he fulfilled them?
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THE
PROMISES TO ABRAHAM HAVE NEVER BEEN FULFILLED.
Since
God has made oath that He will give Abraham and his seed the land of Canaan for
an everlasting inheritance and since He has not fulfilled it, it follows that
the fulfillment is yet future; for God's promise cannot fail. You, dear reader,
will probably imagine that the possession of the land by the twelve tribes was
a fulfillment of the promise so far as the land was concerned; but remember
that the words are, "To thee and to thy seed." Now that Abraham never
received it you will see--you cannot help but see--by the following proof:
Micah
7:20 Thou wilt (not thou didst) perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to
Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
Rom.
4:13 For the promise that he (Abraham) should be the heir of the world was not
to Abraham, or to his seed through the law; but THROUGH THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF
FAITH.
Rom.
15:8 Now I, Paul, say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for
the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers (the fact that
Christ confirmed them proves they were not fulfilled).
Luke
1:54, 55 He hath (prospectively) holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of
his mercy; * * * as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for
ever.
Luke
1:68, 73 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed
his people. And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his
servant David; As he spake by the month of his holy prophets, which have been
since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, end from the
hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to
remember his holy covenant; The oath which he aware to Abraham.
Heb.
11:13 These all died in the faith, not having received the promises, but having
seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and
confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Heb.
11:8, 9 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he
should afterwards receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not
knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a
strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with
him of the same promise.
Acts
7:5 And he (God) gave him (Abraham) none inheritance in it, no not so much as
to set his foot on, yet HE PROMISED THAT HE WOULD GlVE IT TO him for a
possession.
We
have shown that the promises made to Abraham are called the gospel (Gal. 3:8).
The gospel cannot be preached unless Christ is preached. In what sense was
Christ preached in these promises to Abraham? Is it not Christ that is to
possess all nations of the earth"? Is it not to Christ that the
"uttermost parts of the earth are to be given (Isa. 2:8)? But let us be
sure that Christ is the very essence, as it were, of the promises made to the
fathers; then, since He is the very essence of the gospel of the great
salvation, we shall see that the covenant with Abraham and the gospel are
identical.
Now
read carefully Gen. 22:17, and you will see that we can safely make the
following proposition:
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THE
SEED IN WHOM THE ABRAHAMlC PROMISES ARE TO BE FULFILLED IS CHRIST.
This
is proved beyond a doubt by the words, Thy seed shall possess the gate of
"his enemies." Who else but Christ can be represented by this
singular pronoun His? No one else, for inspiration says:
Gal.
3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to
seeds, as of many; but as of ONE, And to thy seed, WHICH IS CHRIST.
Gal.
3:17 And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before (the law) of
God in Christ ( typically in the offering of Isaac), the law which was four
hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the
promise of none effect.
Gal
3:18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise; but God
gave it to Abraham BY PROMISE.
Gal.
3:19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added (to the promises) because of
transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made.
Gal
3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.
You
will remember that Paul, in declaring that while we are aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise we are
without hope (Eph. 2:12), speaks of covenants - plural. Now the covenant with
Abraham we have seen provides for an everlasting inheritance of the earth by
Christ and all who shall be worthy to share the inheritance with Him. The
nations are to be given Him for His inheritance and the uttermost parts of the
earth for His possession (Psa. 2:8) in order that He might bless all nations.
How may all nations be blessed? May we not safely say, by the establishment of
a kingdom that will insure righteousness, peace and good will universally. It
is to this end that God has made a covenant with David.
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GOD
COVENANTED WITH DAVID TO ESTABLISH A UNIVERSAL, GLORIOUS AND EVERLASTING
KINGDOM ON THE EARTH.
II
Sam. 7:12 And when thy days shall be fulfilled, and thou shall sleep with thy
fathers) I will set up thy seed after thee which shell proceed out of thy
bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
II
Sam. 7:13 He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne
of his kingdom for ever.
II
Sam. 7:16 And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before
thee; thy throne shall be established for ever.
II
Sam. 23:3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that
ruleth over men must be ruling in the fear of God.
II
Sam. 23:4 And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth,
even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth
by clear shining after rain.
II
Sam. 23:5 Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure; and this is ALL MY
SALVATION AND ALL MY DESIRE although he make it not to grow.
Psa.
132:11 The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; of
the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.
Now
these promises were not fulfilled in the days of David and Solomon. They remain
yet to be fulfilled after the resurrection of David and all the faithful. This
you will see by the fact that it was when David should "sleep with his
fathers (II Sam. 7:12 ) that the promised king would be raised up; and yet it
says, "Thy house and thy kingdom will I establish for ever before
thee," or in thy presence (verse 16); so that it would be subsequent to
David's resurrection. In this light David understood it; for he says: But thou
hast spoken also of thy servants, house for a great while to come (verse 19).
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THE
COVENANT WITH DAVID WILL BE FULFILLED IN CHRIST'S POSSESSION OF DAVID'S
RESTORED THRONE.
Ezek.
21:25-27 And thou profane and wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come when
iniquity shall have an end. Thus saith the LORD God; remove the diadem, and
take off the crown; this shall not be the same; exalt him that is low and abase
him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no
more until HE COME WHOSE RIGHT IT IS, AND I WILL GIVE IT HIM.
Jer.
33:15 In those days, and at that time will I cause the BRANCH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
to grow up unto David and he shall execute Judgment and righteousness in the
land.
Zech.
6:12, 13 Behold the man whose name is the Branch; and he shall grow up out of
his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD; Even he shall build the
temple of the LORD; and he shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be
a priest upon his throne, and the counselor peace shall be between them both.
Isa.
9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the
throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with
judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD
of hosts will perform this.
Luke
1:31-33 And, behold thou shall conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and
shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the
Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the THRONE OF HIS FATHER DAVID;
and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there
shall be no end.
Matt.
10:28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have
followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne
of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes
of Israel.
Matt.
25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory and all his holy angels with
him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.
Acts
15:16 After this (the visiting of the Gentiles) I will return, and will build
again the tabernacle of David WHICH IS FALLEN DOWN; and I will build again the
ruins thereof, and I will set it up.
Acts
2:30, 31 Therefore (David) being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with
an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh he would
raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spake of the
resurrection of Christ.
Now
from these testimonies you will see that the restoration of Israel is to take
place under Christ. We may therefore safely state:
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THE
FULFILLMENT OF THE COVENANTS WITH ABRAHAM AND DAVID INVOLVES THE RESTORATION OF
THE TWELVE TRIBES UNDER CHRIST.
Jer.
31:27, 28 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will sow the house of
Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.
And it shall come to pass that like as I have watched over them to pluck up,
and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict, so will I
watch over them to build, and to plant, saith the LORD.
Jer.
33:4 Behold the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing
which I have promised unto THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, AND TO THE HOUSE OF JUDAH. In
those days and at that time will I cause the Branch of Righteousness to grow up
unto David, and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In
those days Judah shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely, and this is
the name whereby she shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Jer.
31:0 Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar
off, and say, He that scattered Israel WILL GATHER HIM, and keep him, as a
shepherd doth his flock.
Isa.
11:12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the
outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four
corners of the earth.
Ezek.
37:21, 22 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel
from among the heathen, whither they have gone, and will gather them on every
side, and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in
the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and they shall be no more two nations,
neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.
Ezek.
36:22 Thus saith the Lord GOD: I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel,
but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen whither
ye went.
Ezek.
36:24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all
countries, and will bring you into your own land. See also verses 31-38.
Micah
4:7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast off a
strong nation; and the LORD shall reign over them in Mount Zion, from
henceforth even for ever.
Rom.
11:26 And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out
of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
Now,
dear reader, we are well along in our search for the truth in relation to the
things concerning the kingdom of God It will be well for us to remember now,
that in preaching the gospel to the Samaritans Philip preached Christ (Acts
8:5). So that to preach the gospel is to preach Christ. The result of preaching
Christ was that they believed the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the
name of Jesus Christ, and were baptized (verse 12). Now to preach these things
was to make known the purpose of God in relation, not to the moon or any of the
planets we are not so specially concerned about, but to the earth. We may therefore
briefly summarize the matter as follows:
THE FUTURE
ABODE OF RIGHTEOUS IS NOT HEAVEN, BUT THE EARTH.
Isa.
115:16 The heavens, even the heavens are the LORD's; but the earth hath he
given to the children of men.
Prov.
11:31 Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in THE EARTH; much more the
wicked and the sinner.
Matt.
5:5 Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.
Psa.
37:11 But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the
abundance of peace.
Rom.
4:13 For the promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to
Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
Rev.
5:10 And has made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the
earth.
Dan.
7:27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom UNDER THE
WHOLE HEAVEN shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High
WHEN THESE
PROMISES ARE FULFILLED THE KINGDOM OF GOD WILL BE ESTABLISHED IN THE EARTH.
II
Tim. 4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who
shall judge the quick and the dead at tab appearing AND his KlNGDOM.
Matt.
6:l0 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Rev.
11:15 The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of
his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
THE KINGDOM OF
GOD WILL CONSIST, FIRST, OF THE WHOLE EARTH AS IT'S TERRITORY.
Num.
14:21 But as truly as I live all the earth shall be filed with the glory of the
LORD.
Psa.
72:19 And let the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Psa.
2:8 Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the
uttermost parts of THE EARTH for thy possession.
SECOND, THE
JEWS RESTORED TO THE HOLY LAND AS THE SUBJECTS.
Micah
4:8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion,
unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the
daughter of Jerusalem.
Ezek.
37:21, 22 Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen,
whither they be gone, and will gather them on avert side, and bring them INTO
THEIR OWN LAND; and I will make them one nation in the LAND, UPON THE MOUNTAINS
OF ISRAEL; and one king shall he king to them all, and they shall be no more
two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.
THIRD, ALL
NATIONS AS THE SUBJECTS OF THE DOMINION.
Isa.
2:4, 5 ..And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into
pruninghooks; nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more.
Psa.
72:8, 17 He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the
ends of the earth * * * all nations shall call him blessed.
FOURTH,
JERUSALEM AS THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.
Matt.
5:34, 35 Swear not by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
Zech.
2:12 And the LORD shall inherit Judah, his portion in the holy land, and shall
choose Jerusalem again.
Micah
4:2 For the law shall go of Zion, and the word of the FROM JERUSALEM.
Isa.
62:1 For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will
not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the
salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
Isa.
62:4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be
termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for
the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
FIFTH, CHRIST
AS THE KING.
Zech.
14:9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth; in that day there shall be
one LORD and his name one.
Rev.
11:15 The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our LORD and of his
Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Dan.
7:13, 14 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came
with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought
him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a
kingdom, THAT ALL PEOPLES, NATIONS, AND LANGUAGES, SHOULD SERVE HIM: his
dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom
that which shall not be destroyed.
SIXTH, THE
REDEEMED SAINTS AS THE ASSOCIATES OF THE KING.
Dan.
7:18, 22, 27 But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom and possess
the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. And the time came that the saints
possessed the kingdom. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the
kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of
the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdoms and all dominions shall
serve and obey him.
Rev.
5:9, 10 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and
to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by
thy blood out of every kindreds and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast
made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.
THE KINGDOM OF
GOD WILL DESTROY ALL THE KINGDOMS OF MEN FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH.
Dan.
2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,
which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be Left to other
people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it
shall stand for ever.
Psa.
2:8, 9 Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen (nations) for thine
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou
shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a
potter's vessel.
Isa. 149:2
Let Israel rejoice in him that made him; let the children of Zion be joyful In
their king.
Isa.
149:8 Let the saints be Joyful in glory; let them sing aloud upon their beds.
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their
hand, to execute vengeance upon the heathen (nations) and punishments upon the
people; to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron.
THE CURSE WILL
REMOVED FROM THE EARTH AND IT WILL YIELD IT'S BOUNTIFUL INCREASE
Isa.
55:12, 13 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the
mountains and the hills shall break forth before yon into singing, and all the
trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up
the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree; and it
shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut
off.
BLESSEDNESS,
PEACE AND PROSPERITY WILL BE THE GRAND RESULT.
Gen.
12:3; Gal. 3:8 And in thee (Abraham) shall all families of the earth be
blessed.
Psa.
72:17 HIS name shall endure for ever; * * * and men shall be blessed in him.
Zech.
9:10 And he shall speak peace unto the heathen; and his dominion shall be from
sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.
Luke
2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Psa.
85:10 Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed
each other;
Psa.
85:12 yea the LORD shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her
increase.
It
will be seen from the numerous testimonies on the various subjects treated that
the return of Christ to the earth is a necessity in the fulfillment of the
promises that compose the gospel. Hence we submit irresistible evidence of this
truth.
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THERE
WILL BE A PERSONAL AND LITERAL RETURN OF CHRIST TO REIGN ON THE EARTH.
Matt.
25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all his holy angels with
him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.
Luke
19:l2-15 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to
receive for himself a kingdom and to return. And he called his ten servants,
and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. And it
came to pass that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he
commanded these servants to be called unto him.
John
13:33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me; and
as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come.
John
14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you
(here, not there) unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also.
Acts
1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and
a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly
toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,
which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This
same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen him go.
I Cor.
1:7, 8 So that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who shall confirm you (at his coming; not at their going) unto
the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I Cor.
15:23 But every man in his own order; Christ the first fruits; afterward they
that are Christ's at his coming.
Phil.
3:20 For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Col.
3:4 When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
him in glory.
I
Thes. 1:9, 10 Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and
to wait for his Son from heaven.
II
Thes. 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and by our gathering together unto him.
II
Thes. 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume
with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his
coming.
II
Tim. 4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who
shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the
word.
II
Tim. 4:7, 8 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept
the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which
the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that (not this) day; and not to
me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
Tit.
2:12, 13 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should
live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that
blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus
Christ.
Heb.
9:28 Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto whom that look
for him shall he appear THE SECOND TIME without sin unto salvation.
I Pet.
1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
I John
3:2 Behold now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is.
Rev.
1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and every eye
shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him
Rev.
16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth.
Rev.
22:7 Behold, I come quickly; blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of this
book.
Rev.
22:12 And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man
according as his work shall be.
Rev.
22:20 He that testifieth these things saith, Surely, I come quickly. Amen. Even
so, Come, Lord Jesus.
Not
only do these testimonies prove clearly that Christ is personally to return to
the earth, but they show that there is no reward for the righteous till He does
come. What a blessing it will he, dear reader, to be among those to whom the
invitation will then be extended, " to you who are troubled rest with us,
when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in
flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (II Thes. 1:7, 8). Remember that it is to
them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation" (Heb. 9:28).
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WHAT MUST I DO TO BE
SAVED?
NOW, dear reader, it will be evident to you from the
Scriptures we have presented that man is mortal--a perishing creature, as the
result of sin. That, by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin;
and so death passed upon all men (Rom. 5:12). Sin having taken effect in the
nature of our first parents, and that nature having been transmitted to us, we
are dying creatures, and are therefore by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3).
Our first parents having been cast out of Eden and from all it's blessings, and
having become alienated from God by sin, they have left us outcasts from
paradise and aliens from the glorious promises of God which we have been
reading about: Hence the Apostle Paul says, "Wherefore remember, that ye being
in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that
which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time
ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the
world "(Eph. 2:11, 12).
Our need of the
great salvation is now apparent, and the question arises, To whom shall we go
to obtain it?
In the Bible we
read of the first Adam and the second Adam. In the first there is death; in the
second there is eternal life. Our birth of the flesh gives us relation to the
first only; but God in His goodness has opened up a way by which we may change
our relationship from Adam the first to Adam the second, and thereby become now
heirs of eternal life, and in the future possessors of that boon with all it's
glorious consequences.
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IN
CHRIST ONLY CAN WE OBTAIN REDEMPTION AND ATONEMENT.
John
3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Acts
4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Matt.
20:28 The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to
give his life a ransom for many.
Rom.
5:6 For when we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom.
5:8 God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
Rom.
10:11 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of
his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not
only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have
now received the atonement.
Eph.
l:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of his grace.
Eph.
2:13 But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by
the blood of Christ.
Col.
1:14 1n whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of
sins.
Tit.
2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and
purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
From
these testimonies it will be seen that out of Christ there is no reconciliation
with God and consequently no salvation. The question therefore is, How may we
pass out of Adam into Christ? This will lead us to the subject of baptism.
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BAPTISM
IS ONE OF THE CONDITIONS OF SALVATION.
Mark
10:15, 10 And he (Jesus) said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;
but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Acts
2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you for the
remission of sin.
Acts
10:47, 48 Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized, seeing
they have received the Holy Spirit as well as we. And he commanded them to be
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
John
3:5 Jesus answered, Verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and
of the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
ALL BELIEVERS
OF THE GOSPEL WERE BAPTIZED.
Acts
2:41 Then they that gladly received his (Peter's) words were baptized.
Acts
18:8 And many of the Corinthians hearing, believed and were baptized.
Acts
8:12 And when they believed Philip * * * they were baptized, both men and women.
Acts
8:38 Phillip baptized the eunuch.
Acts
16:15 Lydia was baptized and her household.
Acts
16:33 The keeper of the prison was baptized, he and all his family straightway.
Acts
19:5 When they (twelve men at Ephesus) heard this, they were immediately
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
BAPTISM IS FOR
THE REMISSION OF SINS.
Acts
2:38 Be baptized for the re mission of your sins.
Acts
22:16 Be baptized and wash away thy sins.
I Pet.
3:21 Baptism doth also now save us by the answer of a good conscience.
II
Pet. 1:9 Purged from his old sins.
Eph.
5:26 The washing of water by the word.
BAPTISM INTO
CHRIST REQUIRES WATER.
Acts
8:30 See here is water: what doth hinder me to be baptized?
Acts
10. 47 Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized?
John
3:23 John was baptizing in enon near to Salim, because there was much water
there.
BAPTISM IN
WATER IS TO BE BURIED OR IMMERSED THEREIN
Rom.
6:3-5 We are buried with him by baptism into death * * * planted together in
the likeness of his death.
CoL
2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen him.
John
3:5 Born of (Greek, out of) water.
In
other cases where the word baptism is used, it is with the idea of complete
covering over with the thing or element it is related to.
Proof:
Acts 1:5; 2:2 Baptized with the Holy Spirit * * * it filled all the house where
they were sitting.
I Cor.
10:2 Israel baptized in the cloud and in the sea.
Luke
12:50 Christ's baptism of suffering: it overwhelmed him.
WHAT GOOD WILL
WATER DO ME?
None
in the sense of your inquiry. It is a question of conforming to the ordinances
and appointments of God. He has appointed and commanded baptism. It is part of
His will, and we know what Jesus has said: He that doeth the will of my Father,
the same is my brother and sister and mother."
Much
has been written on the meanings of the word baptize, while really there is no
room for dispute. If religious people were not wedded to hoary tradition and
unscriptural practices, the texts that speak of baptism as a burial and a birth
would be sufficient to decide the meaning the inspired writers attached to the
word. If it were seen that, in stead of going to heaven or hell at death we go
to the grave, and that resurrection is necessary to a future life, and that baptism
is a symbol of death, burial and resurrection, the idea of sprinkling would be
seen in it's real absurdity and immersion in it's true and beautiful
significance. Since, however, there has been so much play upon the word we will
produce the evidence of scholars.
THE WORD
BAPTIZE MEANS TO IMMERSE.
Emphatic
Diaglott---"Baptize, bapto, baptizo. Bopto occurs 3 times (Luke 16:24;
John 13:26; Rev. 19:13), and is always translated dip in the common version.
Baptizo occurs 79 times; of these 77 is not translated at all, but transferred;
and twice (Mark 7:4; Luke 11:38) it is translated wash without regard to the
manner in which it was done. All lexicographers translate it by the word to
immerse, dip or plunge, not one by sprinkle or pour. No translator has ever to
render these words by sprinkle or pour in any version. In the Septuagint
version we have pour, dip and sprinkle occurring in Lev. 14:15, 16 He shall
pour the oil, he shall dip his finger in it, and he shall sprinkle the oil.
Here we have cheo, to pour; raino, to sprinkle, and bapto, to dip. Baptisma,
baptismos. These words are never translated sprinkling or pouring in any
version. Baptisrma occurs 22 times and baptismos 4 times."
Dr.
Adam Clarke (Commentary) on Col. 2:12 "Buried with him by baptism, alluding
to the immersion practiced in the case of adults, wherein the person appeared
to be buried under the water as Christ was buried in the heart of the earth.
His rising again the third day, and their emerging from the water was an emblem
of the resurrection of the body, and in them of a total change of life."
Now,
dear reader, you will see that it is not possible for us to enter the only name
given whereby we can be saved in any way except by baptism. Baptism only will
introduce a believer into the one name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Christ, having over come sin and gained the victory over death and the grave,
became the manifestation of the Father by the Spirit, and therefore the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. He is therefore the name of the Lord which is a
strong tower, into which the righteous may enter and be saved (Prov. 18:10).
You
will remember that we found that the Apostle Paul called the promises made to
Abraham the gospel. The promises all centered in Christ; They were confined to
Abraham's seed, which Paul says is Christ and all who form part of His body. We
are not the seed by nature. How may we become such? Note the answer: "For
ye are all the children of God y faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as
have been baptized into Christ have put on, Christ." * * * And if ye be
Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise (Gal.
3:26, 27, 29). If you are led by the Spirit, which we now have expressed in the
word, to thus believe and obey, you will then have the one faith, without which
it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6); which faith cometh by hearing and
hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17); and then will you be a child of God
and be able to cry, "Abba Father", the Spirit itself as now expressed
in the word, bearing witness with our spirit (mind) that we are the children of
God; and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus
Christ (Rom. 8:14-17. Then, dear reader, will your heart be filled with the
love of God and your whole being be thrilled with the hope that will at last
bloom into the glow of immortality, and in the words of the Apostle John you
will exclaim, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us, that we would be called the sons of God (I John 3:1).
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IT
IS OUR DUTY AFTER BAPTISM TO OBEY THE COMMANDMENTS OF OUR LORD.
Luke
19:13 And he called his ten servants and delivered them ten pounds, and said,
Occupy till I come.
John
14:15 If ye love me keep my commandments.
John
14:23 If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and
we will come in unto him, and make our abode with him.
John
15:13-19 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
his friends. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I
call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I
have called you friends; for all things that I haw heard of the Father 1 have
made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained
you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit; and that your fruit should
remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it
you. These things I command you, that ye love one another. * * * Ye are not of
this world, but I have chosen you out of this world, therefore the world hateth
you.
Rom.
2:7 To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory, honor and
immortality (God will render) eternal life.
I Cor.
11:23-27 For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you,
That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread; and
when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take eat; this is my body,
which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner
also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament
in my blood; this do ye as often as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as
often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till
he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup
unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
Heb.
10:23-25 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering (for he
is faithful that promised); and let us consider one another to provoke unto
love and to good works; not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as
the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more as ye
see the day approaching.
II
Pet. 1:3-11 – (God) hath called us to glory and virtue; whereby are given unto
us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world
through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue;
and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance
patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and
to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound * * *
ye shall never fall; for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly
into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
We
have now before us the way of the great salvation. You will conclude that if
this is the only salvation and the only way of salvation set forth in the
Bible, then Christendom has gone far astray; and you will possibly stagger
before the question, How can so many be wrong? Remember that the same question
might have been asked by Noah and by the faithful in the days of Jesus. But the
many were wrong and only few were right. Truth is truth regardless of whether
few or many believe it. It is your privilege to believe and obey the Truth and
then to walk worthy of it's glorious end. You have been shown "what is
good", and now what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?".
Should
you, dear reader, feel that the flesh is weak, do not despair if the mind is
willing; for the God of Israel loves mercy. In His great mercy He has provided
for us a high priest who has been touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
and was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15). In
that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that
are tempted (Heb. 2:18); and he ever Iiveth to make intercession for us.
Affectionately we are addressed in the words, "My little children these
things I write unto you, that ye sin not.
And if
any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness". Thus we find that God is the God of
truth, righteousness, love and mercy. Let us therefore respond to His gracious
appeal, "Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that
hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea buy wine and milk without money and
without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and
your labor for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me. * * *
Incline your ear and come unto me; hear and your soul shall live; and I will
make an everlasting covenant with you;, even the sure mercies of David (Isa.
55:1-3).
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OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
NOW, dear reader, it is very probable that you, like
the writer, have been trained up from infancy in the popular belief; and, after
reading what we have written and the many Scripture proofs given, you will
probably say to yourself, "Well, this appears clear enough and it seems to
be well sustained by testimony from the Scriptures, but there are some passages
that occur to me that seem to teach the opposite view. What is to be done with
these?" Now come let us reason together a little further.
You cannot help
but see from the numerous texts we have given that the general tenor of the
Scriptures is set forth in what we have placed before you. This being the case,
if there are a few texts that seem to you to contradict the evident teaching of
the many texts given, what would be a wise course for you to pursue? Of course
you are not prepared to believe that the Bible contradicts itself. If it has
the appearance of doing so, you may depend upon It the reason is to be found in
taking a wrong view of the few passages that seem to oppose the many. In
solving the difficulty it would be very unwise to ignore the general tenor of
Scripture teaching and risk your eternal destiny upon a superficial view of a
few texts. I have heard some foolishly say, "Well: I cannot decide this
question; but the old belief was good enough for my forefathers, and what was
good enough for them is good enough for me." The folly of this you will
easily see; for if we go back farther in the line of our
"forefathers" we shall not go very far till we find them all in a
wild, barbarous state; and surely no sane person will seriously say, What was
good enough for them is good enough for me." Beside, the prophet, in
speaking, of the latter days, says that "in the days of affliction the
Gentiles shall come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our
fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no
profit" --Jer. 16:19.
Now just pause and
think and ask yourself the question, How many passages are there that seem to
oppose the multitude of testimonies quoted in this little book? to which,
remember, many more might be added. You will find that they can all be counted
on your fingers. Here they are: Elijah restoring the soul of the child,
"Her soul was in departing", the "spirit shall return to God who
gave it", "cannot kill the soul", "souls under the
altar", the rich man and Lazarus, the thief on the cross, Paul's desire to
depart, Stephen's prayer.
Now when you come
to read these just as they are you will be surprised to find how far they are
from teaching the popular notions of "immortal soul" and "heaven
going at death". But even if they were as strongly in favor of these
notions as some think them to be it would not do to risk our eternal destiny
upon these nine cases in an utter disregard of the general tenor of the Bible.
Let us therefore
examine the few texts that are supposed to teach opposite vlbws from those we
have set forth.
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ELIJAH RESTORES THE SOUL OF THE CHILD.
I Kings 17:21-And
he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and
said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again.
You will see from
what we have said on pages 10 and 15 that the Word nephesh, which is in this
text rendered soul, is frequently used for life. The word is translated life in
the following places: Gen. 9:4; Lev. 17:11; Deut. 19:93, where you will see it
cannot have any other meaning. The Greek word psuche, which means the same as
nephesh in the Hebrew, occurs in Matt. 9:20, where it is said, "They are
dead which sought the young child's life to destroy lt." The word life Is
from psuche also in Matt. 6:25-"Take no thought for your life." In
these cases, as in all others, the context shows how absurd it is to attach the
meaning of "immortal soul" to the words. Just imagine the Saviour
saying, "Take no thought for your immortal soul", and you will at
once see that believers in the popular notions have not thought out the
subject. Soul in these texts clearly means life.
Now let us return
to Elijah and the child with this Scripture information on the use of the word
soul, and by comparing Scripture with Scripture a proper conclusion -- the only
possible conclusion the premises admit of -- will be easily reached. What was
the trouble with this child? It was dead. What had caused it to be-come dead?
The loss of it's life. How might it be made alive again? By restoring it's life
to it. Was this what Elijah did? Yes; for he prayed that the child's soul
(life) might "come into him again", and "the soul of the child
came unto him again, and he" -- the child - "revived". Now
remember that it was not the child that had departed; neither was it the child
that returned. The child was there all the time, but it's life had gone out,
and in answer to the prophet's prayer the child's life was restored. So here we
have a child that was once alive, then dead, then alive again.
Now another
thought. Did the prophet do a good thing or a bad thing in restoring, life to
this child? Popular tradition strangely claims that when a child dies it does
not die, but leaves it's body and is sure to go directly to a place of bliss.
According to this it is a fortunate thing for a child to die and a very
unfortunate thing to compel it to come back to life again. If this child had,
by death, escaped the mortal coil at a time when It was sure of eternal bliss,
how can we regard the prophet as doing a good thing in calling back the child
from it's blissful home and compelling it to re-inhabit it's "mortal
coil", in which it might, grow up to years of accountability and thus
place in jeopardy the possibility of ever getting back to those realms of joy
it had only had a taste of? You must see, dear reader, there is no soundness in
this theory. The case simply stands thus, as expressed in the Septuagint
rendering of the verse: "And when he had breathed on the child three times
* * * he said, Let this child's life be restored to him."
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Gen.
35:18 is sometimes quoted for the same purpose as the text we have just
considered; but what we have said applies also to this text. You have only to
remember that it is said, "for she died".
Some,
however, will ask the question, Where does the life when it departs? as if it
must be a conscious entity after it has gone. To see that because it speaks of
the life departing it does not follow that it is an entity, you have only to ask,
Where did our life come from when it entered our being? Was it an entity before
it entered? If not, then why should it be an entity after it has gone out into
life's great ocean whence it came? Life is a condition of being; when that
condition is destroyed we say the life is gone. The light of a candle is a
condition. Blow out the light and you destroy the condition; and when you say
the light is gone out you do not suppose that it exists as a light separate and
independent of the candle. So in the use of such terms as "my sight is
gone", "my hearing is gone".
ILLUSTRATION
OF HOW SOUL IS USED.
It may
be well for me to illustrate here how the meaning of the word soul in the Bible
can be determined by the context. We find it says: "And levy a tribute
unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to battle, one soul of five
hundred, of the persons and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the
sheep" (Num. 31:28). Here the reader is bound to see that the word means
creature or being, both man and beast. In Job. 12:10 it says: "In whose
hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind." In
this case it must be seen that soul applies to the life of the beasts; so that
in one instance it stands for the animal itself and in the other for the life
of the animal, it being impossible to misunderstand it's application; and no
one thinks of attaching the meaning of immortal entity to the word. Now carry
the same reason to cases where the word stands some-times for the man and at
other times for the life of the man and the texts are clear to a mind willing
to be reasonable and scriptural that immortal entity is out of the question. It
is said that Zilpah bare unto Jacob sixteen souls (Gen. 46:18); and here
"souls stands for the persons, while in Exo. 4:19, where it says,
"All the men are dead which sought thy life" (nephesh, soul) it is
clear that it means life, and the translators so rendered it, as they did also
the Greek word psuche in Matt. 2:20, where it says, "They are dead which
sought the young child's life." If the translators had given soul here, as
they have in many places, the reader would have seen by the very nature of the
case that the word stood for life.
In
Matt 16:26 we have a striking case where the translators have shown their bias
in favor of this theory, and yet it only exposes the fallacy of it: What Is a
man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what
shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Many quote this in support the
great value of the soul in view of it's supposed immortality. A little thought,
however, will show that such a theory was far removed from the Saviour's mind,
and make clear that the word psuche here rendered soul means life.
The
context in this case enables us to easily see this: for the fact that in verse
25 the same word as is rendered soul in verse 26 is rendered life. The way
those who contend for the popular theory would like to read the 26th verse is
this: For what shall a man profit if he shall gain the whole world and lose his
own immortal soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his immortal soul?
To suit this contention they have to add the word "immortal". Now
since the Saviour used the very same word in verse 26 that He did in verse 26,
and since the theorist is determined to have "immortal soul" in verse
26 we have only to read it the same way in both verses to see the fallacy of
the popular view. This is how it would read: "For whosoever shall save his
immortal soul shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his immortal soul for my
sake shall find it."
This
at once condemns the popular meaning of soul and shows that the Saviour uses it
here for life.
It
happens that the famous commentator, Dr. Adam Clarke, bears testimony to the
truth upon this portion of Scripture. He says: "On what authority many
have translated the word psuche in the 25th verse life, and in this verse
(26th) soul I know not; but I am certain it means life in both cases."
In the
Revised Version, too, life is used in both verses.
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Of all
the texts in which the word soul occurs, Matt. 10:28 is the one most
confidently relied upon in support of the immortality of the soul. It is
thought that this text fully refutes the idea of the soul being destructible
and sustains the theory of it's never dying and indestructible nature. The
phrase "cannot kill the soul" is seized and loaded down, as it were,
with the claim that it is not only out of the power of man to kill the soul,
but that it is, by reason of it's nature, absolutely indestructible and must
live for ever. Now, dear reader, you have only to take heed to one word in this
verse to see that since the soul here is not the supposed immortal,
indestructible soul of popular belief. That word is destroy. "Fear him
that is able to destroy both body and soul in hell" (Gehenna). Please
notice that the one word destroy is used to describe what God will do with the
body in Gehenna and what He will do with the soul in the same place. Gehenna
was known by the Jews to be a place of destruction--destruction of life and
destruction of carcasses or bodies after, they had been deprived of life. When
the great day of God's judgments and wrath comes Gehenna will again be a valley
of slaughter, where God will destroy His enemies and those who are unworthy.
The life that will be given to those who are raised from the dead to appear
before Christ as the Judge of the quick and the dead will not be in the power
of men to take. The life of the condemned will be in the hands of the judicial
power of God who will administer "few or many stripes" according to
deserts, and at the last destroy totally and eternally every vestige of the
life of the unworthy and every particle of the body in Gehenna, when the words
of the Psalmist will be fulfilled, "The wicked shall not be; yea thou
shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be" - Psa. 37:10.
Different
views are taken of the sense in which soul is used in this verse; but even if
the real sense in which our Saviour used it is never known, we can be sure that
a soul that is as destructible as the body, as this is, is not the
"immortal soul" of the Platonic theory.
We
think a careful observance of the context in this case, with an understanding
of the meaning of the two words in the verse in question---"kill" and
"destroy"--will disclose the true meaning of our Saviour's
encouragement to His disciples. He had been foretelling them of the
persecutions His true followers would suffer at the hands of enemies. They
would be as "sheep" in the midst of wolves; they would be delivered
up to the councils and be scourged." "The brother," he says,
"shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child; and the
children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death.
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake; but he that endureth to
the end shall be saved" (verses 18-22). Read also verses 23-27. From this
it will be seen that our Lord was preparing His disciples for the ordeal they
were to pass through, so that in the persecution and to torment they would,
endure they might keep their minds stedfastly fixed upon God and the hope set
before them. In other words, that though they would be subjected to great
bodily pain and suffering they must maintain that composure of mind that can be
sustained only by a strong and unswerving faith.
Now
with these thoughts let us examine the two words "kill" and
"destroy". The word "kill" is from the Greek word
apokteino, which Donnegan's Lexicon defines to kill, torture, torment, render
miserable or wretched, to destroy, condemn to death. The word
"destroy" in the verse is from apollumi, and this word is defined by
the same author to mean to destroy totally, to be lost, to perish; and by some
authors the word annihilated Is added as a meaning. The word destroy is
therefore from a word which is much stronger than that from which the word kill
comes.
Again
let me remind you that the word psuche, rendered soul in this verse, is
sometimes rendered mind. For example: Acts 14:2; Phil. 1:27; Heb. 12:3. And
now, with these facts in mind, we hear the Saviour saying: Fear not them which
torture, torment, render miserable the body (as the persecutors did by
thumbscrews, etc.), but are not able to torture, torment, render miserable, the
psuche, mind. For the mind would be fixed upon the hope of the gospel even when
the body was being tortured by the many wicked devices the tormentors of the
Christians invented. The case of Polycarp is an illustration of this, when he
assured his persecutors they need not tie him to the stake, for he could stand
there to be burned and yet maintain that composure of mind that a faith such as
his only could exemplify. It was a mind such as this, burning with confidence,
hope and joy in the promises of God, whose fiery zeal could not be quenched by
all the bodily torture they might inflict. Therefore fear not them who will
torture the body but cannot torture or harass the mind. Fear not men in the
sufferings you will be called upon to receive at their hands. Be faithful, be
calm and steadfast. Then He tells them whom they should fear. "Fear him
who is able to destroy"---here is the stronger word, meaning to destroy
totally, to be lost, to perish, to be annihilated. Fear Him who is able to thus
destroy both body and mind--the entire being --in Gehenna.
This
view of the matter brings out in full the encouragement and the warning of our
Saviour's words to those whom He knew stood in need of much fortitude to
withstand the terrible sufferings they were to pass through.
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Rev.
6:9, l0 are the only texts that remain to be examined as a stronghold of the
popular theory of the immortality of the soul--that is, of those texts in which
the word soul is found; others we shall examine under their proper headings.
Superficial, indeed, must be the mind that cannot see that, instead of this
portion of Scripture favoring the immortality and immateriality of the soul, it
is directly opposed to such a theory. One would think that the fact of these
souls being under an altar, and of them having blood would be sufficient to
show that they are not immortal or immaterial. Suppose the words are taken in
the most literal sense, we should, standing beside the Apostle John, see a
heathen priest place a person on an altar, slay the person or soul, who In the
struggles with death falls from the altar and under it cries out, "How
long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge, our blood (which
we see running from the wounded soul) on them that dwell on the earth?"
What? Slay a soull cries out the astonished immaterialist. How can you slay
that which is immaterial? If it has no size, weight or dimension; if it cannot
be seen or felt, how can it be put on an altar and slain and how can it be said
to have blood? We grant the force of the questions; but they are all based upon
"if the soul is immortal or immaterial;" and if that were true the
texts would be inexplicable. But that is just where the evil is--in reading the
verse with the preconceived dogma in the mind, and therefore allowing a
distorted imagination to take the place of reason and Scripture. The apostle
was not speaking of immortal bloodless souls. Such souls were only found in the
myths of those who slew upon the altar souls that were real and substantial.
Why be astonished at the idea of souls being slain, when it is said that
"Joshua took Makkedah, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the
king thereof he utterly destroyed, them and all the souls that were
therein" (Josh. 10:28, 39)? Why should It be thought incredible that souls
have blood when the prophet Jeremiah says: "In thy skirts is found the
blood of the souls of the poor innocents" (chapter 2:34)? To a mind in
harmony with and familiarized with the Word of God the texts in question
present no difficulty whatever in the way of the materiality, and mortality of
the soul. Neither is there anything in the fact of their crying out to prove
that they were disembodied entities. We would ask the immaterialist, Have the
souls of your theory blood? Can they be slain upon an altar? and the answer is,
No. Then you have nothing to do with Rev. 6:9, 10--in fact you have nothing to
do with the souls, of the Scriptures. Your sphere is in the realms of pagan and
Roman myths, whose heavens are filled with imaginary dead men's ghosts.
Now as
to the real meaning of the verses in question, we have to take our stand along
with the Apostle John before we can discern it. We must remember that that the
John is seeing are "signified' to him--that is, they are shown by signs.
In this way he is shown things before they actually come to pass. "I will
show thee things which must be hereafter", says the Spirit to John (chapter
4:1). In this way he saw the resurrection of the dead, and heard the redeemed
sing the song of Moses and the Lamb after they had been raised; and he saw them
live and reign on the earth with Christ for one thousand years (chapters
5:7-12; 20:4). So in the verses in question he is relating the signs of what
was to take place under the fifth seal, when the Roman persecution and
martyrdom of the saints filled to overflowing the pit, as it were, under the
altar with the blood of the innocents and faithful. John himself knew from
experience that the cruel hand of persecution and death would be imbrued in the
blood of his brethren, and his anxiety was to know the outcome. He first sees
the scroll sealed with seven seals; and when he hears that no man is worthy to
open the book, he says: "I wept much, because no man was found worthy to
open and to read the book" (chapter 5:1-4). Now the actual breaking of the
seals and unrolling of the scroll are to be seen in the actual events that have
transpired and will yet transpire in the world from John's time down to the
fulfillment of the promise, "Behold; I come quickly and my reward is with
me, to give every man according as his work shall be" (chapter 22:12).
John, hoping to be one of those to be rewarded, and knowing that the reward could
not be received till the coming of the Lord, it is no wonder he was so anxious
to know the course of events during the interval. His anxiety is soon ended by
the information that the "Lion of the tribe of Judah, the · Root of David,
had prevailed to open the book and to loose the seals thereof" (chapter
5:5). Thus by signs he is shown what would take place--not in heaven, God's
holy habitation, but in the earth and the political heavens thereof. To signify
what would be the treatment his brethren would receive at the hands of Roman
persecution, of whose cruelty he was himself a victim, the Spirit causes a
panoramic view to pass before his vision, showing lm that faithful souls would
be slain upon the altars of Romish superstition, whose blood would cry to
heaven for just vengeance upon the enemies of God, His truth and His people. To
show John that there would be a grand sequel to the dreadful drama that was
being performed before his eyes, as the canvas, as it were, passes a vision
appears of those souls being given white robes, indicative of the glorious
reward of immortality, to be bestowed upon them by Him who declared,
"Behold; I come quickly and my reward is with me, to give every man (or
every soul) as his work shall be."
The
only shadow at which the believer in the immortality of the soul can snatch in
this case is, that the souls are represented as crying out. "Can dead
souls speak?", they triumphantly ask. To which it would be excusable to
retort, "Can blood speak" (Gen. 4:10; Heb. 12:24)? Can the earth
sing? Can fir trees and cedar trees rejoice (Isa. 14:7, 8)? The common sense
that can see in a parable or a symbol how blood can speak, the earth sing,
trees rejoice and clap their hands, will have no difficulty in understanding
how souls, though dead, can be represented as crying out for to be justly
avenged of the cruelty of which they have been the victims.
There
are some however, who are possessed of common sense in common things, but who
seem to be destitute of it when their cherished myths are in question. So long
as men allow themselves to be intoxicated with the spirits of pagan and Roman
beverages they can see nothing in this Scripture except disembodied souls in a
conscious state -- alive and conscious because they are represented as speaking.
But when the attention is called to the fact that John saw the "dead,
small and great, stand before God" at the judgment day; and that he heard
them sing the song of Moses and the Lamb (Rev. 20:12; 5:9), they are able to
see that men can be represented as having real bodily existence and as singing
while they are dead--some of them, too, before they are born; for in the view
that John had of the resurrection there must have been a representation of all
that would die up to the time when the resurrection takes place.
Those
who so stubbornly resist Truth and so tenaciously cling to hoary superstition
may be asked, Where Is this altar under which these souls are seen? If you say
heaven, then we ask, Is there an altar in heaven upon which souls are slain and
under which they cry for vengeance? Perhaps, if reason and Scripture will not
persuade you of the folly of such a foolish thing, the prestige of a famous
"orthodox" commentator might have some weight. Dr. Adam Clarke, in
commenting upon this text, says: "A symbolical vision was exhibited in
which he saw an altar, and under it the souls of those who had been slain for
the Word of God, martyred, for their attachment to Christianity, are
represented as being newly slain as victims to idolatry and superstition. The
altar is upon earth, not in heaven."
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THE SPIRIT
SHALL RETURN TO GOD WHO GAVE IT.
The
words of Ecc. 12:7 are relied upon to sustain the belief in the flight of the
spirit to heaven at death, where it is supposed to enter upon it's eternal
inheritance; although it seems always to be forgotten that "we must all
appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things
done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether good or bad" (II
Cor. 5:10). What such a judgment could be for if men go to their rewards and
punishments at death is inconceivable to a rational mind.
Now
the first thing we would call the reader's attention to in the verse in
question is the fact that Solomon makes no difference between good and bad men,
but speaks without qualification of the spirit returning at death to God who
gave it. Whatever the spirit here spoken of is, all will agree that all men
good and bad, are in possession of it, and that at death the same spirit
forsakes, the good and the bad alike; and since it is said it returns to God
who gave it, it follows that it came from God.
The
fact that the spirit here spoken of is given to all men alike and that at death
it returns to God whence it came, clearly shows that it is not the man himself,
good or bad; for no believer in the popular theory will admit that the supposed
spirit entity of bad men goes to God at death. For this text to be made to suit
the theory of disembodied conscious existence and heaven-going at death it must
be changed considerably. Solomon must be reminded that he made quite a mistake
in not guarding his words so as to say that at death the spirit of the good man
only goes to God, while that of the bad man goes in an opposite direction --not
to God, but to the devil.
You,
dear reader, will not be willing to allow that Solomon made a mistake. You will
rather be disposed to conclude that the popular theory is so much out of
harmony with inspiration that Scripture words, must undergo much changing in
order to make them appear to suit the dogmas of theological schools.
Please
take notice, that the spirit here spoken of returns to God who gave it. God
gave it. It is an "it" that God gave to something or some being. It
Is that which was given to the being, and it is not the being to whom it was
therefore not the man but something that was given to the man, which at death
leaves the man to whom it was given and returns to Him who gave it. Now let me
ask you, dear reader, to read again what we have said and the texts we have
given on the question of the spirit on pages 15, 16, 17. You will then see that
the word spirit is frequently used for life--both with reference to man and
beasts. The word spirit in the verse in question is from the Hebrew word ruach.
Solomon used this same word in this same book in chapter 3:19; but our
translators gave us "breath" there and "spirit" here. There
it is said of man and beasts, "Yea, they have all one breath"
(ruach). Now what did God give to man when He made him alive? The answer is
given in Gen. 2:7: He "breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life." What takes place when a man dies? "His breath goeth forth; he
returneth to his earth; and in that very day his thoughts perish"-- Psa.
146:4. When we breathe we inhale the air that surrounds us, which God has, in
his mysterious ways, impregnated with the principle of life. When by disease or
accident, we are prevented from breathing, our breath goes out, life goes out
and we are left as lifeless as Adam was before God breathed the breath of life
into his nostrils. God is the only source of life--the life of all living
creatures. Life came from Him. When death takes place it returns to Him. The
life that God gave to Adam was not an immortal entity. Surely it was not a
conscious entity that God breathed into Adams nostrils. Neither is it a
conscious entity when it returns to God who gave it.
Moreover,
the spirit or life of all men and all animals comes from God; but man came out
of the dust. "The LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground" Gen.
2:7). "The first man is (out) of the earth, earthy" (I Cor. 15:47).
The man came out of the dust; his life, or spirit of life or breath of life
came from God. When death takes place there is a returning of things. The man
that came out of the ground returns to the ground, and the life that was given
to make him a living man returns to God who gave it. To make a living man,
formation and impartation of life took place. For that same man to die is for
the life to be withdrawn and for the man to be left for dissolution.
This
is what our text says of death: "The dust returns to the earth as it was,
and the spirit (life) returns to God who gave it." And what is true in
this respect of man is true of the beasts; for Solomon says of both: "As
the one dieth so dieth the other; * * * all are of the dust and all turn to
dust again" (chapter 3:19, 20). Men that are no better than the beasts
"are like the beasts that perish; like sheep they are laid in the grave"
(Psa. 49:12, 13, 20). But the man that ascends above the beasts in the
intellectual and moral scale and becomes responsible to God will come forth to
life again--a resurrection (anastasis - standing again) will take place to
"receive the things in body according to that he hath done, whether good
or bad" (II Cor. 5:10).
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What
we have said in the foregoing will fully prepare the reader's mind to
understand the words of Stephen as regarded in Acts 7:59. Under this heading
therefore little need be said.
Suppose
we read this verse as theorists would have it, it would be: "Lord Jesus,
receive my immortal entity." This would not suit the theory, for it would
not prove that Stephen continued to live after he was dead, since the next
verse says: "He (Stephen) fell asleep. Reading the verse just as it is,
with the mind freed from false tradition, it is very easy to understand. When
Stephen's spirit had left him he was a dead man; but he is in the resurrection
to be made a living man again. To make him a living man his spirit will be
returned to him. Left without the spirit he is a dead man; because the body
without the spirit (breath, see margin) is dead' (Jas. 2:26). In the possession
of the spirit he will be a living man again.
Now,
to state the same facts in other words, when Stephen's life returned to God who
gave it he died. When the time arrives to raise him from the dead to live again
his life will be returned to him. Stephen, therefore, in the hour of death,
with the hope of living again, commended his life into the hands of Him who is
the resurrection and the life, and who said, "He that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live.
From
God the spirits of all flesh come (Num. 10:22; Job 34:14), and in death to God
they all return; for it is in Him all creatures "live and move and have
their being." Spirit, therefore, in the text under consideration stands
for life, without which thought the words cannot be properly understood.
"INTO THY
HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT."
The
same is true also of our Saviour's dying words, "Father, into thy hands I
commend my spirit" (Luke 23:46). Having uttered these words it is said,
"He gave up the ghost." To give up the ghost is defined by
lexicographers as to "breath out", to "gasp out", or
"to expire". When Jesus had given up His spirit or life He was dead,
having "poured out his soul unto death". But God raised Jesus from
the dead (Acts 3:15), and therefore returned to Him His spirit or life.
With
the understanding that the word spirit in the Bible represents, influence,
disposition, mind, state of feeling, air, breath and life, it's meaning in any
particular text can readily be seen by keeping in view the context; and in
those we have been considering it is clear that life is meant.
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Phil.
1:21-23-"For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in
the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor; yet what I shall choose I wot not.
For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with
Christ, which is far better."
With
the sense in which the word "depart" is used by those who view death
as a release of the person from the body, this verse, as it appears in the
Authorized Version, seems to support the theory of heaven-going at death. Since
there is so much dependence put upon the word "depart", let us, dear
reader, consider it's use in connection with other words related to it. I need
not tell you that no language has a separate word for each thought. Thoughts
are so numerous and of such various shades and degrees that it is impossible to
have a separate word for each thought, shade or degree of thought. One
illustration will suffice to impress this fact upon our minds. Take the word
raise. You sometimes say, Raise that chair, raise that stove, raise the carpet.
The act represented by the word raise in these cases would be capable of
instant literal performance and would not be misunderstood. Now suppose you
were to say to a person, You shall go on my farm and raise a crop this year,
would not the word convey quite a different thought? So with the phrases,
"raise a garden", "raise a family", "raise
stock", etc.
In the
first use of the word you have the chair right before your eyes before it is
raised the same as it is after it is raised; but not so with a crop, a family,
etc. In these cases the raising involves bringing them into existence.
Now
suppose you say, That comfortable chair I used to have is gone--some one stole
it. In this case the word "gone" represents the fact that the chair
has been taken from one place to another and it may still exist as a chair. But
suppose when your crop is ripe a cyclone or a fire destroys it, and you say, O
dear, my fine crop is all gone! would not the thought here be quite different?
If you were asked of the chair, Gone where? you might be able to say gone to
such a place; but if asked the same question in relation to the crop you could
only answer, Gone to destruction, or ceased to be.
Now we
speak of ourselves as having come into this world! but we do not thereby mean
that we existed in some other world and literally and bodily came into this. If
we were asked the question, Where were you before you came into this world, we
could only answer, Nowhere. The meaning of the phrase "came into this
world" is that we were begotten, formed and born--a process that took
place in this world; but we as conscious beings are the result, and of this we
say, We came into this world. Now suppose we reverse this and contemplate
death, in which we lose our life, dissolve or waste away and thus cease to be,
is there not a return to non-being? and in such a case, since we say we came
into this life, may we not say that in death or dissolution we go out of this
world or out of life and still not mean that we exist after we have gone, any
more than we mean that we existed before we came.
Now
instead of the word gone we may use the word departed; to go out of life might
be expressed by the words depart out of life. This thought is expressed in the
words of Job, when he says, "Naked came I out of my mothers womb, and
naked shall I return thither." The original "womb" of the race
of Adam is the dust, and this is the womb to which we return in death, which
fact is expressed in the words, "Out of it (the dust) wast thou taken and
unto dust shalt thou return." Before we came out of the dust we had no
personal existence in the dust, and when we have returned to the dust we shall
have no personal existence; the one is our coming, the other is our going. Thus
we come and thus we depart. Literally speaking the coming, of Adam. into the
world was his formation and animation, causing him to become a being; and his
going out was the dissolution of his being. He thus came and departed, and many
of his descendants came and have departed for ever. ''They are dead, they shall
not live; they are deceased and they shall not rise, therefore hast thou
visited and destroyed them and made all their memory to perish" --Isa. 26:14.
On the other hand, some of Adam's descendants who have departed will return;
for the same prophet exclaims: " Thy dead men shall live, together with my
dead body shall they arise; * * * the earth shall cast out the dead"-
verse 19. When Abraham was gathered to his fathers" he departed out of
life into death; but he will return to life again when resurrection takes
place. So we may say to depart from life is to go into death, and to depart
from death is to return to life.
With
this in view we can understand the words of Paul when he says, "For I am
now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand"--II Tim.
4:6. When the apostle would be a subject of this "departure"
dissolution would take place, and, indeed, dissolution is the word used in the
Diaglott instead of departure. That Paul did not use the word here in the sense
it is used by those who believe in departing from earth to heaven at death is
clear, from the fact that he says in the same connection, "Henceforth
there is laid up for me. a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous judge, shall give me at that day" (not this day, the day of my
death); "and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his
appearing"--II Tim. 4:8. You will see, dear reader, that Paul expected no
reward before the appearing of Christ as the righteous Judge, of which he had
made mention in the first verse in the words, "I charge thee therefore
before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead
at his appearing and his kingdom." At this appearing the Lord would find
some dead - not "quick" or alive and others he would find
"quick" or alive. When Paul would take his departure (verse 6) he
would pass from the "quick" to the "dead", knowing which he
said his desire was to be "found in him (Christ), * * * that I might know
him, and the power of his resurrection, * * * if by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection from among the dead"'--Phil. 3:10, 11.
Now
let us return to Phil. 1:23. Supposing that the word "depart" here is
a proper rendering; if Paul means the same here that he does by the word
"departure" in II Tim. 4:6, it would only express his desire to
depart, from life (with it's extreme suffering he was then experiencing) and.
go into death, to await his desired resurrection from among the dead in which
he expresses his hope in this same (chapter 3:10,11). That Paul's hope was not
in death, but in the coming of Christ, you will clearly see from these
testimonies; the first of which is in this very letter
Phil.
3:20, 21 "'For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for
the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body that it may
be, fashioned like unto his glorious body etc.
Col.
3:3, 4 "Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ
who is your life SHALL APPEAR, THEN shall ye also appear with him in
glory."
To
these testimonies many more might be added; but as we have shown from II Tim.
4, that when Paul was about to die the coming of the righteous judge to give
him his crown of righteousness was his only. hope through resurrection, this is
sufficient.
But
perhaps the reader will ask, Why did Paul say he desired to depart and be with
Christ? It would seem that the being with Christ would immediately follow his departure,
it will be urged. In what we have said so far we are admitting that
"depart" is the proper word in this text; but this admission is only
for the sake of showing that even making such allowance the words do not
sustain the theory that Paul expected to go to heaven when he died. When Paul
said he desired to depart, that was one thing; and that he desired to be with
Christ, that was another thing; for, as we have seen, many have departed never,
to return, being dead, never to live, and deceased, and gone into the depths of
eternal oblivion never to rise. Though the two things are spoken of together,
it does not follow that the one immediately follows the other. This same
apostle says: "It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment'';
but he shows elsewhere that the judgment in some cases is hundreds of years
after the death. When we depart from life and pass into death our
"thoughts perish" (Psa. 146:4), ,and "the dead know not
anything" (Ecc. 9:5). Knowing not anything thousands of years is to them
but the flash of a moment. So far as their experience goes they close their
eyes in death and the same moment open them in life, though as an actual fact
thousands of years pass between the death and the life. Had Paul meant, then, a
desire to die and to be with Christ, the two events would be to his
consciousness facts of a moment, while in reality they are facts separated by
hundreds of years.
From
Paul's general teaching we may therefore paraphrase his words in the text in
question thus: I have a desire to depart out of this life into death; for such
would be gain to me, since I am a prisoner in bonds and continually suffering
almost beyond endurance. My desire is, too, to be with Christ when He shall
appear as "the resurrection and the life" and cause me with others
who shall then have departed out of life into death to return out of death into
life.
While
what we have here said explains the meaning of depart as applied to death, and
leaves no room for the popular theory of heaven-going in the verses in
question, we do not believe that depart is the proper word here, and we will
give our reasons; for without a good reason our opinion would be worthless.
Now,
dear reader, let us go to the verse and see whether this word
"depart" is the proper word here. The Greek word of which this
purports to be a translation is only found in one other place in the New
Testament, and by comparing the two places we shall be able to decide it's
meaning. The word is analusia, and the other place where it is found is in Luke
12:36 -- "And (be) ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord,
when he shall return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they
may open unto him immediately. Here our translators have given us tile word return
for the analusia, while in the text under consideration they have given us
depart.
Let it
not be forgotten that the translators of the Authorized Version were believers
in the popular theory, and in many instances they have shown a strong bias in
their translations, so much so that even men of their own school have been
compelled to condemn their work in many cases. Now in Luke 12:36 it was
impossible for them to use the word depart, for the context would in no way
allow of it. The word return is the most important word in the text. Substitute
the word depart and you make the Saviour's command ridiculous. Look, dear
reader, at the situation. The lord of the servants has gone from home to marry
and return with the bride of his choice. What could possibly escape the eye of
his lordship when approaching and entering his home in company for the first
time with her whom he delighted to honor and please? This return of the lord Is
the most extraordinary return, and what servant would be lax in preparing for
such an event as this? Now what is the point of the Saviour's words? Was it not
that, since He was to "call his servants together" and as "the
nobleman" take leave of them and go "into the far country to receive
for himself a kingdom and to return", He wished them to obey His command,
"Occupy till I come (Luke 19)? Was it not that, since He, their lord,
would return and call His servants to account, He wished them. to prepare for
His return as faithfully and as anxiously as servants would prepare for the return
of their lord from the wedding in company with his bride? Are not the two most
important thoughts of the command expressed in the words "return" and
"be ye like"? which mean, "Be ye ready; for in such an hour as
ye think not the Son of man cometh." "Return" (analusia), then,
can mean nothing else here but return--the return of Christ, which, as we have
seen, was Paul's inspiring hope.
Now It
would be strange, indeed, if the word analusia had two opposite meanings one
depart and the other return; and is it not much more in harmony with Paul's
general teaching to view him in the text in question as desiring the return of
Christ rather than death?
Let us
examine the apostle's words carefully and see if this is not his meaning. Mark
you, dear reader, there are two things between which he is "in a
strait", and of which he says, "what I shall choose I wot not".
Whatever these two things are they cannot be the thing he says he desired; for
he is in no strait about the desired thing which he says "is far
better". There are therefore three things in contemplation. First, to live
and continue to preach Christ, second, to die and thus be freed from his
sufferings; and third, the thing, whatever it was, that he desired. So far as a
comparison between the first and second was concerned it would be gain to him
to die and be relieved of his bonds and affliction; "nevertheless to abide
in the flesh was more needful for them". But about the third thing he was
in no strait; it was "far better' than anything else and it was his
"desire. What was it? It was the re turn of Christ, when Paul hoped to be
with him; yes, with Him in the highest sense of the term. To admit of this
meaning, however, we must give analusia the same rendering here it has in Luke,
and this is what is done in the Emphatic Diaglott, which translation is as
follows:
Phil.
1:19-24 "And I know that this will result in my deliverance, through your
entreaty, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest
expectation and hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed; but with all
confidence, as at all times, also now Christ will be magnified in my body,
whether it be by life or by death. Therefore for me to live is Christ and to
die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is to me a fruit of my labor and
what I shall choose I do not know. I am, indeed, hard-pressed by the two things
(I have a desire for the returning, and being with Christ, since it is very
much to be preferred); but to remain in the flesh is more needful for
you."
This
makes the matter clear and saves us from making Paul contradict himself and the
general teachings of the Scriptures. How strange, you will. say, that the
translators should give us the word depart instead of it's opposite, return! In
answer to which we may remark that the literal meaning of analusia is said to
be "loose again"; and it was a word employed in reference to ships
loosing anchor and in this somewhat of an apology is offered for the apparent
anomaly of rendering the same word depart and return. If the ship is in the
harbor of the speaker's standpoint analusia would mean to "loose
anchor" that it might depart and go; if it is in a harbor of a foreign
land away from the stand-point of the speaker, the word would mean "loose
anchor" in order that it might return home; to do which it must depart
from the harbor in which it is anchored. Now Paul's hope was in
Christ--"anchored within the veil". He was hoping for Him to be
"loosed again" from heaven, which would be His departure from heaven
and His return to the earth, of which the same apostle says: "To them that
look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."
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The
Scriptures clearly teach that man had no existence before he was "formed
of the dust of the ground". That when formed that which was formed was the
man. That when the breath of life was breathed into the nostrils of the
dust-formed man that man, that form became a living soul, a living man, a
living form. This is the man and not the house in which the man lives, and
which he may vacate and live somewhere else without. It is not the body of man
as something separate from the man that the apostle Paul says was "out of
the earth, earthy"; but he is very emphatic in saying. "The first man
is of the earth, earthy" (I Cor. 15:47). When this man who "is formed
out of the earth, earthy" is dissolved in death, he is said to return to
the dust: "For out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art and unto dust
shalt thou return" (Gen. 3:19). In other words, "His breath (that was
breathed into his nostrils) goeth forth; he (who was formed of the dust of the
ground) returneth to his earth, and in that very day h/s thoughts perish"
(Psa. 146:4). In this state it is said of him that he has no power for
"work, nor device, no knowledge, nor wisdom"; for there is no power
to perform any of these "in tho grave whither thou goest" (Ecc.
9:10). The fact is man in death has returned to the dust from whence he was
taken; and while "the living know that they shall die, the dead know not
anything" (Ecc. 9.5). Man had none of the powers or functions above named
before he was a formed, living being. Therefore when he goes back into the
formlessness and lifelessness that preceded his creation there is nothing --
there are no organs--from which "work, device, knowledge and wisdom can be
manifested. So that man in death has no more personal, conscious existence than
he had before he was formed. All that remains of him is the memory his friends
may have of him; and, if he was responsible to the law that shall judge the
just and the unjust, there remains an impress, as it were, of his character in
the Divine memory, which, when re-formation, or resurrection takes place, will
be re-impressed upon him, which will either prove him to be worthy of eternal
life or of eternal death. Disembodied existence, then, finds no room in
Scripture nor in reason.
But
what shall we do with II Cor. 12:1-4, where Paul speaks of not knowing whether
he was "in the body or out of the body"? the reader will ask. Well,
what would you do with it? You certainly would not make a matter about which
even Paul himself says, "I cannot tell" (verse 3) of so much
importance as to establish you in the belief of a theory that is found in direct
opposition to the general teachings of Scripture. Even if you were. compelled
to say of the meaning of this small portion of the Word "I cannot
tell" you would not repudiate the many clear statements concerning, man,
his nature, his condition in life and in death. You may examine the writings of
this apostle, in which he speaks in unmistakable terms, and see what he sets
forth on the subject of man's nature and the state of the dead. That should
settle the chief question, even if you have to conclude that there are a few
obscure statements which, as the apostle Peter says, "are hard to be
understood. Now we have seen that the apostle Paul teaches that man is out of
the earth, earthy. In the same chapter he tells us that, instead of there
being. inside this corruptible body an incorruptible soul, as popularly taught,
corruption does not inherit incorruption" (I Cor. 15:50). He clearly shows
that man's nature is not part spirit from heaven and part flesh from the dust
now in this life; but that he is first (in this life) a natural, earthy or
flesh and blood being; and afterward (in the future life) he will be "that
which is spiritual", that is, when he in the resurrection is "raised
a spiritual body". Of those who are dead he says, in verses 17, 18 that if
there is no resurrection through Christ all are perished. This shows that he
did not believe they were living "out of their bodies" in happiness
or misery; for if he had believed that, the non-resurrection of their bodies as
houses they could live without just as well as--yea better than--within would
in no way cause them to perish. So we see that Paul held no such idea as
disembodied existence.
Now
the words "in the body or out of the body" to believers in
disembodied existence must mean that Paul did not know whether he left his body
and went away from his body or not. From their point of view what would it have
been if Paul had literally gone out of his body and left it in one place while
he was in another place? In other words, by what means could he have left his
body? What happens when one leaves his body? The only answer is, Death. Death,
according to. popular tradition, is the only thing that can take a man out of
his body; and when he is out of his body that is death, they say.
Here
is how they express their theory of death in poetry:
"Burdened with this weight of. clay
We groan beneath the load,
Waiting the hour that sets us free
And brings us home to God.
"Know that when the soul unclothed
Shall from the body fly,
'Twill animate a purer frame
With life that cannot die."
Now is
it seriously to be supposed for a moment that Paul when he said, "I knew a
man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body I cannot tell; God
knoweth)" meant that he could not tell whether he died "above fourteen
years ago"? Was it death he had in view when he used the words ''in the
body" and "out of the body"? Absurd, you will say. Yes indeed,
absurd I say too. But if he meant by "out of the body" what this text
is quoted to prove by theologians, then the absurdity is charged to Paul.
Whatever the apostle meant by these phrases it is clear from his expressed view
of death and from all reason in the case that he did not mean that he did not
know whether or not he died "above fourteen years ago" and therefore
might have been literally out of his body.
Now
this is not the only place where Paul used phraseology of this kind. For
instance, in Col. 2:5 he says, "For though I be absent in the flesh, yet
am I with you in spirit, joying and beholding your order." Who would
suppose that the apostle meant by these words that his "flesh" was
absent from them; but he--the spirit, as is claimed--was actually present? For
this to have been the case literally Paul would have had to forsake his body
and go to Colesse bodiless; and since "the body without the spirit is
dead" (James 2:26.), Paul would have been dead in the sense of popular
tradition. What Paul meant by these words is clear to common sense, namely,
that although he was not actually present, in mind or thought he was with them,
which literally means that he was thinking about them. He was picturing their
conduct, as it were, in his mind. Similar phraseology is in common use among us
in these days. When we write friends at a distance, "I am far away from
you in body, but I am with you in mind," we are never supposed by
reasonable, people to mean that we are literally out of our bodies.
Now
that the apostle is not speaking literally in the verses in question is evident
from his prefacing his remarks by "I will come to visions and revelations
of God." On account of some having spoken evil of him and tried to
belittle him it was necessary for him to defend himself and claim what honor
was justly due him. He did not like to boast of himself in a direct way, and to
maintain his rights with as much modesty as possible he spoke, of him-self as
another man--a man he knew above fourteen years ago". "Of such an one
will I glory", he says (verse 5). In a sense he left himself, and talked
about a man he knew; and yet he was the man. That enemies of Paul were at work
in the body at Corinth will be seen from chap. 11:4, 13. Some of these had
evidently gone to the extent of trying to make him out a "fool", as
will be seen by his remarks in verse 16: "I say again, Let no man think me
a fool." Also in chap: 12:6, "For though I would desire to glory, I
shall not be a fool." Also verse 11, "I am become a fool in glorying;
ye have compelled me."
Now it
is very often said of a foolish person that "he is beside himself".
If this were literally construed it would be that he is outside of himself, an
impossible thing in the literal sense. Of the prodigal son coming to his senses
it is said, "And when he came to himself he said, I will arise and go to
my father." Not that he had literally been away from himself; that no one
is absurd enough to believe now, although these phrases may have had their
origin in the old Egyptian and Grecian theory of transmigration of souls. The
words "came to himself" imply that, as we sometimes say, "he was
not himself". "He was out of his head." Now it so happens that
Paul uses the words "beside ourselves" in this very letter; and that
too in reference to the attempt that had been made to make him appear a
"fool". He says, in chap. 5:13, "For whether we be beside ourselves,
it is to God; or whether we be sober, it is for your cause." Now put these
words altogether: "fools", "beside ourselves", "out of
the body",. "in the body", and the one will explain the other.
What the apostle says in chap. 12:-6 is in substance this: Some have belittled
me and said I am a "fool", "beside myself",. "out of
my body", etc. Well, it is not expedient for me to glory. "I will
come to visions and revelations of the Lord." I will show you a man who
can glory, because, he has been favored with visions and revelations of the
Lord". I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, whether beside
himself, as you say, whether a fool, as you say--whether beside himself or not
beside himself, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell,- God
knoweth. I won t argue that question with you. You have said I was beside
myself, out of the body; that I will leave to God. This, how ever, I will glory
in, that such an one was so favored of God as to be caught up to the third
heaven - to paradise, and was favored with a revelation of God's grand purpose
to restore paradise, and with a view, in vision, of what that paradise will be
in all it's glory. Of such an one as that I will glory, leaving you to judge
from these favors bestowed upon him whether the recipient was a fool, beside
himself, or out of the body. Here was a home thrust, a powerful argument in
Paul's own behalf that was calculated most effectually to put to silence his
enemies and bring those to their senses who were wavering and inclining toward
the troublers in their midst. Marvelous tact is manifested in the method Paul
adopted in throwing himself, as it were, in the third person and then
proceeding to show how that person was favored of God. A destructive blow was
masterfully dealt his enemies when he left them to determine whether such a
favored person was a "fool", "beside himself", or "out
of his body". "God knoweth", he says. As much as to say, It is
not likely that God, who knoweth, would so favor one that was a
"fool", "beside himself", or "out of his body".
In all this we have the work of a master in polemics, one who could justly
boast and yet be modest; who could maintain his honor and due justice and yet
use cutting irony on those who deserved it; who, in short, could slay his
enemies with the very sword they had sharpened for him.
Now,
dear reader, you will see that by comparing scripture with scripture a
difficult passage becomes clear and wonderfully forcible. And you will now see
that the words that tradition uses, or rather misuses, to prove disembodied
existence have no reference whatever to such a theory. The words, indeed,
"out of the body" and "beside himself" may be fitly applied
to the delusive state of popular theologians, evidence of which is not wanting
in the fact that they seriously apply such words to a fabulous disembodied
state.
You
may ask, What about being caught up to the third heaven -- to paradise? Heaven
and earth are used in the Scriptures to represent political and social
conditions. "Hear, O heavens and give ear O earth" are words
addressed to rulers and ruled. "How art thou fallen from heaven?" are
words addressed to the King of Babylon upon the occasion of his fall from power
and dominion. Now the Apostle Peter divides the history of man on the earth
into three parts -- first the antediluvian; second the Jewish and Gentile down
to the millennium; third the glorious reign of Christ on the earth, when
righteousness will be the stability of the times. The first he calls "the
world" (Greek, kosmos, or order of things) that then was," consisting
of "the heavens that were of old, and the earth", that by the waters
of the flood perished (II Pet. 3:4-6). The second he calls "the heavens
and the earth which are now" (verse 7). This world, or order of things political,
religious and social, is to pass away with a great noise. The system, with all
the works that are therein -- all the details of evils that go to make up the
combustible aggregation are to pass away, melt with a fervent heat--the heat of
God's just vengeance upon a wicked world; and then will come the third, which
Peter says "we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness". The first was an unrighteous world
and was swept away with the flood of God's anger; the second is unrighteous and
will be burned up with the fervent heat of God'swrath; but the third will be a
righteous ,world wherein everything will be "very good as in paradise
before sin cursed and blighted it; and that third heaven will be paradise
restored.
In
"vision" and "by revelation of the Lord" (II Cor. 12:1)
Paul was caught up, or, as the Diaglott better renders it, "conveyed
away" and was permitted to see a drama, as it were, of what this glorious
future will be. It's glory and splendor were so great that it was, in it's
intensity, "unspeakable" and "not possible for a man to
utter" (see margin verse 4). That glorious state is so overwhelmingly
grand, that, as another apostle writes, "It doth not yet appear what we
shall be; but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him; for we
shall see him as he is" (I John 3:2).
This
third heaven or paradise is what will obtain in the "Lord's day" into
which John, when on the isle that is called Patmos, was also caught away in
spirit, and which he was allowed to give a revelation of so far as it was
possible to reveal to mortal man the effulgent glory of. such transcendant
beauty as will bless the day in which the earth will be full of the glory of
the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
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ABSENT FROM THE
BODY AND PRESENT WITH THE LORD.
The
words of the Apostle Paul in II Cor. 5:1-9 are supposed to teach that the
apostle expected that when he died he would go into the presence of the Lord in
a disembodied state. To those who have the idea rooted in their minds from
infancy that every man exists as a conscious entity bodiless after death a
superficial view of this scripture would seem to be a support. In determining
what the apostle meant in this chapter we must be governed by his general
teachings; it will not do to array one part of his writings against all others.
If Paul here expected to go to Christ when he died his other teachings ought to
show the same expectation. What are the facts in the case? Instead of hoping
and striving to go to Christ at death he strove to be worthy of a resurrection
from among the dead. He gives expression to his hope as follows: "I count
all things but loss, * * * that I may know him and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his sufferings being be made conformable unto his death,
if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of (or from among) the
dead"---Phil. 3:8-11. It is evident from this that Paul had no idea of
disembodied bliss in the presence of Christ as soon as he died. Indeed,
disembodied existence with Paul was out of the question; for he says that if
there is no resurrection of the dead his faith is vain(I Cor. 15:3, 14, showing
that he predicated all upon me resurrection and therefore ignored the Platonic
theory of a happy state for disembodied ghosts independent of resurrection. Of
those who had died he said: "If the dead rise not, then is Christ not
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"--I
Cor. 15:16-18. From II Tim. 4:1-8 it will be seen that the apostle expected no
reward till Christ would appear to judge the quick and the dead; and that from
the time of his death till that appearing Paul's "crown of
righteousness" would be "laid up" (verse 8). Having now Paul's
own words as to when he expected to be present with the Lord, we shall have
little difficulty in under-standing him in the chapter in question.
In
this present state of things, "which is temporal" or temporary
(chapter 4:18) and in this mortal body we groan; and the desire is for that
state to be ushered in that shall be eternal, when we shall be delivered from
this "wretched body of death" (Rom. 7:24) by a change into likeness
to Christ's "glorious body" (Phil, 3:21). So long as we are "at
home in the body"--in our present mortal state--we are absent from the
Lord"; and the desire of all who have Paul's hope is to be "absent
from the body" --this mortality in which "we groan"---"and
to be present with the Lord", when we shall "be like him"; for
we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as
he is" (I John 3:2).
To be
"absent from the body" and to be present with the Lord is therefore not
be absent from bodily existence, it is, to be absent from the vile body and
present with the Lord in the glorious body" like His (Phil. 3:21). This
will be realized when "mortality is swallowed up of life" (verse 4).
For the present "we walk by faith and not by sight" (verse 7).
Wherefore we labor that, whether present or absent (whether now or then, here
or there, at the judgment-seat) we may be accepted of him (acceptable to him.
Diaglott).
The
words "not that I would be unclothed" and "we shall not be found
naked" are made to serve the purpose of those who teach disembodied
existence. They never stop to think that if the apostle used the word in the
sense they do, he said "Not that I would go to Christ's presence in
heaven." To be unclothed with them is to "shuffle off this mortal
coil" and go to heaven, a thing to be desired, surely. Whatever Paul meant
by "unclothed" and "naked" it was a condition he did not
desire. If he used these terms in the physical sense they represent death; if
in the moral sense they represent a sinful state --nakedness being used
frequently as a figure of sinfulness (Rev. 16:15; 3:4, 18). In either case it
was a thing Paul desired not. The words may apply in the physical sense and yet
not imply a disembodied state. Our Saviour speaks of God "clothing the
grass of the field (Matt. 6:30). If He could speak of grass being clothed He
could also speak of it being unclothed; for the former implies the latter. Who
is there foolish enough to think of a disembodied state of grass because the
word clothed is applied to it in fact and "unclothed" by implication?
For the grass to be clothed is for it to have life; for it to be unclothed is
for it to die. Apply this to life and death in relation to man and common sense
will readily see the conclusion.
It is
not impossible that the apostle used the word in both a physical and moral
sense; for physical nakedness, in the sense explained is the direct result of
sin. Hence the following paraphrase from the pen of Dr. Thomas seems to embrace
what the apostle means:
"For
we know that if our mortal body be dissolved in the dust we are to receive a
new body and a new habitation, a building from God, a home not made with hands,
enduring in the new heavens. For in the midst of the things which are seen we
groan, earnestly desiring that our habitation which is from heaven may be
clothed upon us; if so be that being raised and appearing before the tribunal
of Christ we shall not be found naked or destitute of the wedding-garment. For
we that are surrounded by the things seen and temporal do groan, being
burdened; not that we desire to enter the death state by being unclothed or
divested even of mortal life, but clothed upon by putting on immortality, that
mortality may be swallowed up of life. Now he that has begotten in us this
earnest hope is God, who has given us the spirit as the earnest of what we
shall receive at the coming of the Lord. We are therefore always confident,
having full assurance of faith, knowing that whilst we who believe are mortal we
are absent from the Lord (for whilst absent we walk by faith, not by sight); we
are full of hope, I say, and rejoice rather to be delivered from mortality and
to be present, with the Lord.
Wherefore
we labor that whether present at His tribunal or absent from it, we may be
accepted of Him. For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ,
that everyone may receive the things in body, according to that he hath done,
whether good or bad."
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THE SPIRITS IN
PRISON –
I Pet. 3:18-20.
This
is a portion of Scripture used, or rather misused, for two purposes: First, to
prove the existence of disembodied conscious spirits; and, second, the personal
preexistence of Christ. The mistake in regard to the first case grows out of
the preconceived idea that the word "spirits" means bodiless entities
commonly called "immortal souls". In I John 4:1 the word
"spirits" is used as the equivalent, of "prophets":
"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are
of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world." Now it
must be clear to an unprejudiced mind that the word here means persons assuming
to be prophets. It is a warning against evil persons; and the same thought is
conveyed if we substitute person for spirit in the verse. If Christ had
preached to these "spirits" He would have preached to persons of
bodily forms, not to disembodied ghosts. Now this understanding of the use of
the word "spirits" will enable us to see that "the spirits in
prison" who were preached to were real persons. How absurd it must seem to
thinking people that Christ would go to the fictitious hell of popular theory
to preach to immortal soul! How could poor creatures maddened by indescribable
torture and writhing in the pangs and pains of such a place be expected to
listen to preaching that would require sober thought and calm obedience? Then
again, if this passage is made to apply to such a view, why was the preaching
confined to the disobedient of the "days of Noah"? Why not allow all
the supposed unfortunate inhabitants of the so-called "infernal
regions" to be preached to? If some must be followed even into a horrid
hell after this life and be given an opportunity of hearing the gospel, why not
follow all? It is only a mind bewildered by pagan delusions of departed ghosts
that reads such folly into this passage of Scripture.
The
"spirits" or persons who were preached to were the antediluvians, and
the time they were preached to was "when once the long-suffering of God
waited IN THE DAYS OF NOAH" (verse 20). It does not say that Christ
personally visited them, but that He by the Spirit -- "quickened by the
Spirit, by which also he went and preached. The Spirit here is the Spirit of
God; and since Christ is the offspring of that Spirit by direct begettal, and
was filled with it, raised from the dead and "quickened by it" into
immortality it is called the "Spirit of Christ, which was in the prophets
(chapter 1:11). This Spirit was in Noah when he preached to the disobedient of
his time.
Some
find a difficulty in understanding the phrase "in prison" but the
prison in which the antediluvians were when Peter wrote was the grave. Chapter
4:6 explains the matter: "For this cause preached also to them that were
dead." Not that they were dead when the gospel, was preached to them; for
"dead know not anything"- Ecc. 9.5. The gospel was preached to them
that are now dead and in the "prison" of death--the grave. But should
this view be objected to and it be claimed that they were dead and in prison
when they were preached to, it would only follow that they were dead in
trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1); and in this sense all men are prisoners till
the "law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes them free from the
law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2). First, we know that the gospel was
preached to the antediluvians when they were alive, in the days of Noah, and we
know they were dead, and not alive, when Peter wrote. With this knowledge we
can read chapter 4:6 thus: "For this cause was the gospel preached to them
that are (now) dead." And we can ,also read chapter 3:19 thus: "By
which (Spirit) also he went (in the days of Noah) and preached unto the spirits
(now) in prison." With this view we can feel sure that we are in harmony, with
truth; for the facts sustain us. If, in the second case, they are viewed as
"dead in trespasses and sins", and in this sense are in
"prison" or bondage, we know that this sense will scripturally apply
to those who. were preached to, and that in this view we are in no danger of
violating Scripture rules of interpretation. On the other hand, there is
nothing to warrant us in accepting the absurd idea that Jesus when he was dead
went into hell to preach to spirits who - if they were in such a place at all
as hell is supposed to be - were there as a punishment for disobedience in this
life, their destiny therefore having determined as exemplified in the fact that
they were there. With this view we should contradict the plainest testimony on
all important phases of fundamental truth. We should deny that Christ was dead
when the Scriptures say He was dead and buried. We should deny that the
antediluvians were dead and that the "dead know not any-thing". These
dangerous consequences would follow such unwarranted and assumed premises, to
say nothing of the consequent erroneous positions such a view would lead us
into on the question of what and where "hell" is and on the baseless
theory of probation after death.
In
showing how the text speaks of Christ's preaching to the antediluvians--that
is, that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, etc., we have shown that,
since He did not visit them and preach to them in person, the theory of His
pre-existence as a person is in no way supported by the passage. On account of
Christ being the Alpha and Omega of God's plan in relation to the human race on
the earth, all things are said to be done by Him or on account of Him. The
Spirit that caused Noah and all the prophets to preach the Truth was the Spirit
of God which was to overshadow the virgin, beget the Son of God and dwell in
Him, manifesting God in and through Him mentally and morally and by wonderful
works performed. Everything that was done in the world before He was begotten
had direct relation to Him and centered in Him. He, as the purpose of God was,
as it. were, the power that operated in and through all things. His personal
existence is no more proven by this than the personal existence of Levi is
proven, by his being represented as having paid tithes in Abraham before he was
born. In this case what was done by Abraham is shown to have been done, in a
sense, by Levi. Yet no one supposes from this that Levi personally pre-existed.
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When
the fact that the Scriptures teach the unconsciousness of man in death is shown
to those who believe in the immortality of the soul, they generally ask,
"What about the thief on the cross?" On account of their preconceived
idea of heaven going at death they conclude, without investigation, that the
words, "Verily I say unto thee to-day, thou shalt thou be with me in
paradise,'' mean that that very day the thief would be with Christ in heaven.
It is
very necessary for us to guard against the power of prejudice; it is very apt
to influence us to infer that certain texts mean so and so, when upon close
investigation they are found to have no such meaning. Remove from the mind the
prejudice in favor of the popular theory of man's disembodied conscious
existence in death, and then, before a conclusion would be reached as to the
meaning of the words of our Lord to the thief, a thoughtful mind would ask,
What was the request of the thief? Did the thief die inside that very day? Did
our Saviour go to heaven that very day, or did He really die? If his soul is
considered apart from Himself, did His soul go to heaven, and if so, how shall
I understand the scripture that says "He poured out His soul unto
death." (Isa. 53:12)? How could His soul be in heaven, or, supposing paradise
to be some other place than heaven, how could. His soul be in paradise, when it
is declared that His soul was not left in hell (hades or the grave)? -- Acts
2:31. All these questions would arise before a thoughtful mind would be
satisfied on the meaning of the text.
The
Scriptures teach that Christ died, that He was buried, and that He rose from
the dead (I Cor. 15:3, 4); that His soul was "poured out unto death";
that His soul was in hell (hades; the same word is rendered grave in I Cor
15:55). In view of this, how could He be in heaven on the day He spake the
words in question to the thief? Consider, dear reader, Did Christ die? To this
question the popular teachers of the people, who "cause them to err",
answer, "His soul did not die", thus denying declares that "He
poured out his soul unto death." Press the question, Did Christ die? and
the answer you will receive will be, "His body died"; an answer that
means, No, Christ did not die, only his body --the house He dwelt in died, but
He did not. This is a denial of the death of Christ; for to say that the body
He inhabited died is to say that something else other than Himself died.
It
will be seen therefore that the theory that would send Christ to heaven, or to
any other place of conscious existence with the thief the very day He uttered
the promise necessitates a denial of His death. So that the matter resolves
itself into the question. Which is wrong; the theory that says Christ that very
day was alive with the thief in paradise, or the Scriptures that declare that
He died? The Scripture cannot be broken; therefore the theory must be wrong.
Nothing that nullifies the plain statements of God's Word, that Christ really
died, and that the same Christ that died was buried, and that if He had not
been raised there would have been no living Christ (see I Cor. 15) -- nothing,
I say, that nullifies these positive facts can be entertained by a thoughtful,
God-fearing person.
That
Christ did not go to heaven the day He uttered the promise to the thief is a subject
of positive proof. Three days afterwards, upon His resurrection from the tomb,
He met Mary, and said: "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my
Father" (John 20:17). The reader will readily see that the theory that
sends Christ to heaven with the thief the day of His death is a flat
contradiction of the Lord's words uttered at His resurrection three days after
His death. The "I" who spoke to the thief is surely the same
"I" who addressed Mary. How could this "I" say on one day I
will be in heaven this day, and three days after say I am not yet ascended to
heaven? The theory that so misrepresents the Saviour, whose word are infallible
is, of course, wrong; and now with that theory weighed in the balances and
found wanting'', what can we do with it but cast it aside. Free from it's
deceptive influence, let us carefully examine the narrative of 'the thief on
the cross", and see whether it is not fully in harmony with man's
unconsciousness between death and resurrection, and with the teaching that the
reward of the righteous is not at death, but at the resurrection from the dead.
To
understand the Saviour's answer to the thief we must keep in view the letter's
request. He did not say, Lord remember me when thou goest to heaven; but
"Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." Was this
request in accord with what our Lord had taught His disciples to hope for? It
certainly was; for in the parable of the nobleman (Luke 19) He had shown that
He would go. to heaven and return; that during His absence the duty of His
disciples would be, not to expect to follow Him, but to "Occupy till I
come"; and that it would be when He would return; "having received
the kingdom, he would call His servants before Him for judgment, reward and
punishment according to their works. In unmistakable language he declared,
"When the son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy. angels with
him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory" (Matt. 25:31); and to
those on His right hand at that time he will say, "Come, ye blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared", etc. Referring to this time, and in
full accord with this teaching, the thief asked, "Lord, remember me when
thou comest into thy kingdom" -- the very time when, as the Apostle Paul,
says, "Christ shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his
kingdom (II Tim. 4:1).
Now is
it not reasonable to believe that our Saviour's answer to this dying penitent
man was in accord with the request and with His teachings as shown above? What
is the kingdom but paradise restored? When "the kingdoms of this world are
become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ" (Rev. 11:15) the earth
will be paradise restored. The prophet has said, "The LORD shall comfort
Zion; he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness
like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD"--(Isa. 51:3) The
fulfillment of this will be when the kingdom of God is fully established in the
earth and "the LORD shall be King over all the earth"--(Zech. 14:9).
Christ will then have come into his kingdom and His promise to the thief will
be fulfilled.
Now as
to the form of the words in the promise as it appears in our translation, It
must not be forgotten that the translators were biased in favor of the popular
theory, and may therefore sincerely but mistakenly have placed the words in the
form in which we find them in the A. V. Punctuation is of comparatively recent
date, and translators often differ in their use of it, as well as in the
positions of the various words composing a sentence. In the word-for-word
translation in the Diaglott the promise to the thief reads as follows:
"Indeed I say to thee, today with me thou shalt be in the paradise."
In the text of the same translation it reads, "Indeed I say to thee, This
day thou shalt be with me in paradise." That is, this day referred to by
the thief's request, namely, the day when Christ would come into His kingdom.
We would particularly call attention to the fact that here it is "thou
shalt" instead of "shalt thou", as in the King James
translation. The text therefore is in perfect harmony with the facts and truths
of Scripture we have called attention to when read thus: "Verily I say
unto thee today, Thou shalt be with me in paradise." It was a hearty and
emphatic reply to the request of penitence in a most trying and solemn moment.
Hence the "verily" and "to-day", as if one in our times
would say ""Mark you - I tell you this moment, that measure will
prove disastrous to the nation." The "mark you" and the
"this moment" give emphasis to the statement. So with the
"verily" and the "to-day". The time when the promise is to
be fulfilled is defined by the words in the request, "when thou comest
into thy kingdom".
A case
very similar to this are the words of Zech. 9:12--"Turn you to the
stronghold, ye prisoners of hope; even to-day do I declare I wall render double
unto you." The "even" and the "to-day" give emphasis;
and instead of "today defining the time when the promise would be fulfilled,
it defines the day the promise was made. The "rendering double" would
be long afterwards.
Some
excuse their disregard of baptism upon the assumption that the case of the
thief was one of salvation without baptism; but the inference is all the other
way. There is no statement to the effect that he was or was not baptized; but
his understanding of the gospel is shown by his request: for in that is implied
a knowledge of the resurrection, ascension and return of Christ into His
kingdom who will be bold enough to affirm that such a degree of intelligence in
the gospel had not yielded obedience in baptism? The blessing of being in the
kingdom with Christ is predicated upon baptism based upon belief of the Truth;
and since our Lord promised the thief he should be with him in paradise, or the
kingdom, it follows that baptism had been submitted to. "But he was a
thief!" Some exclaim. Yes; that is against him, his crime being a very
grievous one. But, God's "merciful kindness is great towards us". If
it were not so, hopeless would be our case. In this matter it is not in
evidence that the man was habitually a thief. As to the degree of his crime the
Saviour was a better judge than the Roman government that was and than we can
be. In any event there was penitence in the case, and what could be a more
beautiful finish to the natural life of the "man of sorrows" than an
extraordinary manifestation and exercise of Divine mercy of which He was and is
the very embodiment?
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In the
parable of the rich man and Lazarus, recorded in Luke 16:19-31, the believer in
disembodied existence after death in torture or happiness - "heaven or
hell"-thinks he finds positive proof of his theory. It is with this
passage of Scripture the same as with the few others that seem, superficially
viewed, to sustain the popular dogmas. There are preconceived notions that
cause readers to read into the Scriptures what is in their minds but what is
not in the texts themselves. Instead of reading the words of the text there is
a reading "between the lines". To avoid this mistake - a mistake that
many make unconsciously - it is necessary to have in mind the general teachings
of the Scriptures upon the subjects involved. One with the popular theory of the
nature of man and the state of the dead in his mind will read into this parable
"immortal soul" and "never-dying spirit", without
perceiving that no such words are there. "The rich man died", they
will read in their minds, "The body of the rich man died." "In
hell he lifted up his eyes" to them is, "In hell his immortal soul
lifted up it's eyes," forgetting that their theory says the soul is
immaterial without parts, and therefore has no eyes to "lift up".
Throughout the entire parable there is this same reading in of terms and
phrases that are only in the mind of the reader, and thus a false conclusion is
reached by a false method of reading. If it were remembered that "immortal
soul" is a phrase of pagan invention and not found in the Bible the folly
of supplying it in the text would be seen. With the Scripture definition of
death in the mind and Platonic fiction out of the mind the words, "The
rich man died" and "The beggar died", would be accepted in
harmony with the fact that when a man dies "his breath goes forth, he
returneth to his earth and in that very day his thoughts perish" (Psa.
146:4) and "the dead know not anything" (Ecc. 9:5)
Feeling
very confident that this parable supports their theory, some are very bold to
demand that it "be read just as it is, literally", as a statement of
facts and not as a parable. To satisfy such that they are mistaken we
frequently have to respond, "Come along then and let us read it literally
in the light of positive Scripture definitions of the words employed." We
will begin with the statement, "The beggar died." Do you believe
this? O, it means that his body died, is the answer we receive. It says
"the beggar died." Do you believe it? Here we have a beggar who died.
Is he dead now or is he alive? Stick to the words literally. Before this beggar
died he was alive and not dead; now he is dead and not alive. If he is alive
now, what is the difference between his condition now, after he has died, and
his condition then, before he died? O, the difference is that before he died he
was alive in his body; now he is alive out of his body. Indeed, then he was
alive and is still alive, and therefore you deny the first statement we read,
"The beggar died." Come, come, stick to your proposition to read this
literally, "The beggar died." If you want to define what it is to die
you must do it scripturally, not theologically. Here is a Scripture definition
of death for you: "His breath goeth forth; he returneth to his earth; and
in that very day his thoughts perish" (Psa. 146:4). Now then with this
definition let us again read, "The beggar died" - that is, "his
breath went forth; he returneth to his earth; and in that very day (the day he
died) his thoughts perish." Do you believe this?
Now of
man after he is dead the Scriptures say, "The dead know not anything"
(Ecc. 9:5). The first statement we have read "literally" is,
"The beggar died"; and inspiration says "the dead know not
anything". So we have before us a dead man that knows not anything. But
you are trying to go beyond the testimony to make out your theory that the man
is not dead, only his body; that instead of not knowing anything, he knows more
when he is dead than he did when he was alive. Stick to the text, "The
beggar died."
Now in
the same scriptural manner we may also read, "The rich man also
died." Keeping inside of the boundary lines of what is literally said in
these two statements, we have before us two dead men, who "know not
anything"; and we must not assume the right to break over these lines for
the sake of sustaining a theory we may have in our minds and not in the texts.
Now
what is the next statement concerning this dead man? It is, "and was
buried". Do not add again that "only his body was buried", and
deny the statement that the man died and was buried. Stick to the text, and we
then have a dead man buried, not a living man in torture. Yes, you will say,
but it says he was in torment. While he was dead and buried? It is literally
true that death closes our eyes, destroys the power of sight. When the rich man
died he closed his eyes in death. And does it not say that after he was dead
and buried he "lifted up his eyes"? And what would that be for a dead
and buried man but resurrection, an opening of his eyes in life after having
closed them in death? Now keep this fact before your mind, and you will see
that if you take this scripture literally you have death, burial and
resurrection; and it is in the resurrection that "there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob and all
the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you (those addressed) thrust out."
Abraham will be there then. And they shall come from the east and from the west
and from the north and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of
God" (Luke 13:28, 29). It is then that the righteous will "sit down
with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 8:11);
and therefore it is then, if you must have it literal, that Lazarus and his
class will be "carried by angels into Abraham's bosom".
"But
the rich man lifted up his eyes in hell," some exclaim. Well, what of
that? Was not Christ in hell -- even His soul (Acts 9.:31)? Will not all those
redeemed from death and hades -- the grave -- "lift up their eyes in hell
(hades) before they will exclaim, "O grave! where is thy victory" (I
Cor. 15:55)? In the margin of this text you have "hell" from the
Greek word hades, which is properly translated grave in the text. Since Christ
was in hell, but "was not left" there, could it not be said of Him
that when raised from the dead "He lifted up His eyes in hell"; and
would that be another way of speaking of His resurrection? It is a mistaken,
preconceived idea of what hades is that causes the trouble with the words. The
dead are all, good and bad, in sheol, or hades until they are raised; and
resurrection means a standing again in life of men who have been dead and
buried. With the truth and the facts thus before us there is no trouble, and we
may put the matter in the form of questions that the Scriptures will clearly
answer.
1. The
beggar and the rich man died. What is death?
Ans.
"His breath goeth forth; he returneth to his earth; and in that very day
his thoughts perish" -- Psa. 146:4.
2.
After they died they were dead. Is man conscious when dead?
Ans. "The
dead know not anything" - Ecc. 9:5.
3. .
The beggar, after he died, was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. When
will angels gather the righteous?
Ans.
"And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with
power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a
trumpet, and they shall gather his elect"--Matt. 24:30, 31.
4.
When will the. righteous be with Abraham, or "in Abraham's bosom?"
and when will the wicked suffer torment?
Ans.
"There shall be weeping of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac,
and Jacob , and all the prophets in the kingdom of God" - Luke 13:28
5.
When will Abraham and all the righteous be in the kingdom of God?
Ans.
"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all his holy angels with
him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. * * * Then shall the King
say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you, from the foundation of the world--Matt. 25:31, 34.
From
this it will be seen that if we take the scripture in question literally we
shall have death and burial, and after that, at the time appointed, there will
be resurrection, and then the rich man will be punished and Lazarus will be
with Abraham In a happy state. As to how long the torment'' of the rich man
will last that must be determined by other scripture, since in the account of
the rich man's case no time is given. That it will not be endless we may be
sure, from the fact that many proofs are given of the utter destruction of the
wicked.
Now if
we take this scripture literally and try to make it fit the popular theory, we
shall find it will not do. It would represent the "damned in hell" as
penitent and prayerful; whereas it is claimed that they continue to curse God
every moment of eternity. And this supposed continuous rebellion is what is
relied on as an excuse for the eternity of the torture. It would bring
"heaven" and "hell" into such close proximity that
conversation could be had between the "damned" and the
"blessed". It would put tender mothers in eternal bliss and yet in
sight of the wretchedness of their children, and within hearing of their groans
and moans and hopeless prayers for release. It would therefore represent them
in "heaven" as possessed of natures that could take sweet and eternal
enjoyment, with their children before their eyes writhing in the most terrible
torture, a spectacle no sane person could in this life look upon for a moment
without being pained and horrified. How long, my friend, would you enjoy the
sight of a spectacle not one thousandth part as bad in this life? Could you
enjoy it at all? No, is your answer. Then is your nature in the future to be
such as will be capable of enjoying what now is the most horrifying ? Away with
such a savage fiction. Hurl it back to the dark recesses of the savage heart of
heathenism, whence it came, and "come and let us reason together" on
this parable; for a parable it is, as we shall now prove.
We
have dealt with the subject upon the supposition of it's laterality simply to
show that even when so viewed it in no sense sustains the popular theory. But
that it is a parable cannot be questioned. In chapter 15:3 we have the parable
of the lost sheep; verse 8 of the lost piece of silver; verse 11 of the
prodigal son. Chapter 16:1 of the steward; then follows the one in question.
Some offer as an objection the fact that the first words are: "There was a
certain rich man", claiming that the form of words shows the sense to be a
literal narrative; but the objection vanishes when it is remembered that the
parable of the steward begins in precisely the same words, and that of the
prodigal in nearly the same.
The
audience addressed is shown in chapter 15:1, 2 to be publicans, sinners,
Pharisees and scribes. That which directly called forth the words in question
is shown in chapter 16:14 -- "And the Pharisees also, who were covetous,
heard all these things, and they derided him.: To the multitude composed of
those named He spoke; and of this fact it is said, "And without a parable
spake he not unto them" (Matt. 13:34). The Pharisees who derided Him came
not to seek information, but to try and entangle Him. He did not, therefore,
trouble to enlighten them as He did His disciples. Hence He says to the latter,
It is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them
it is not given" -- (Matt. 13:11). And when they were alone he expounded
all things to his disciples" (Mark 4:34). The deriding Pharisees were a
self-righteous class who considered themselves "not as other men"
(Luke 18:9-13), but as being "whole" and "righteous". Our
Lord did not always take the time to tell them what they were, but for the sake
of argument granted them their claims and gave them an ironical answer. Hence,
perceiving their thoughts when they said, Who is this that speaketh
blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God? and when they found fault because He
ate with "publicans and sinners", He said: "They that are whole
need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance"---(Luke 5:31, 32). The reason why He so
answered them and spake to them in parables He said was because "in them
was fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear and
shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive. For this
people's heart is waxed gross and their ears are dull off hearing, and their
eyes they have closed," etc.--( Matt. 13:14, 15).
The
Pharisees had departed from the Truth and accepted the Platonic and Egyptian
theory of the immortality of the soul and of the existence of disembodied souls
in hades, which they believed to be a place of torment, and in Abraham's bosom,
a place they supposed to be one of happiness. When denouncing them for their
departure from the Truth our Saviour said: "Ye are of your father the
devil;" * * * he abode not in the Truth, because there is no truth in him.
When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar and the father
of it"--- ( John 8:44, 45). 'He was a murderer from the beginning"
are words,, no doubt referring to the first he ever told, which caused the
death of our first parents, ,and through them became the "murderer"
of the whole race, in that by the first lie told "death passed men".
Now to be children of the devil in the sense our Saviour speaks when He says,
Ye are of your father the devil", is to be the "seed of the
serpent" in a spiritual sense--that is, to believe the lie the serpent
told. What was that lie? It was, Ye shall not surely die", the very thing
the Pharisees believed that made them of their father the devil. They having
accepted the doctrine that men are, as gods (angels), immortal, or
"immortal souls"; believed that "There is no death, but change";
that men do not die, but go to a place of eternal life of either misery or
happiness. For the reasons given our Lord did not, when He spake the parable in
question, stop to show them the fallacy of their belief, but used it against
them, in showing what their destiny as a nation was to be. Should it be claimed
that He committed Himself to their belief by using it as a parable, it has only
to be remembered that when He was charged with casting out demons by Beelzebub,
He did not stop to show them that there was no such a heathen, deity as the
"lord of the fly, which they supposed to be supreme over evil spirits. He
left them in the superstition and retorted: "If I by Beelzebub cast out
demons, by whom do your children cast them out?" If our Lord could use the
terms "Beelzebub", "whole" and "righteous"
without indorsing their views represented by these terms, He could also use
their theory of departed spirits in "hades" and "Abraham's
bosom" without indorsing it. If a man well known to be a non-believer in
the same popular theory in our day were to use that theory as a parable of some
thought he wished to impress he could not reasonably be charged with believing
the theory; he would only be indorsing that which he would be illustrating, not
the thing used to illustrate. Here then are the very religious Pharisees
deriding the Saviour. They represent the nation of Israel as it then existed in
Judea. They were puffed up over having Abraham, as their father and as being
God'sfavored people, having "no dealings with thee Samaritans" nor with
the Gentiles. All such to them were "dogs". They alone were the great
and the mighty, the holy and favored people. Inflated with a degree of pride
and vanity unbearable they derided the Son of God. He turns upon them and
proceeds, to paint a picture of them, using familiar national colors to
identify them, and seizing upon their theory of a future, state to show them
that "pride cometh before destruction and a haughty spirit before a
fall". A rich man is pictured upon the canvas, as it were, clothed with
purple and fine linen, the priestly robe of the nation they represented (Ex.
25:5; 39:27-29). He is faring sumptuously every day, representing the nation
that had been "blessed in basket and store", in things temporal and
spiritual, and separated from all other nations. He is a son of Abraham, and
prides himself in being so, and cries out, "Father Abraham!": Who can
this peculiar man be? One who can recognize in the familiar picture of
"Uncle Sam" a representation of the American republic will not fail
to see that this rich man is a fitting symbol of the nation of Israel, or at
part of it represented by the rulers of the Jews, the Pharisees whom our
Saviour is addressing.
In
contrast with this a poor beggar is painted as being outside the rich man's
gate ("outer court of the Gentiles") full of sores (not "whole
needing not a physician"), associated with dogs. This is a striking symbol
of how the Jews regarded the Gentiles. Dogs they were to them, a fact that is
shown in the conversation our Saviour had with the Syrophenecian woman when He
said, in answer to her entreaty that her daughter be healed, "It is not
meet to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs." The woman
knowing that His words expressed the Jews' estimation of Gentiles, replied,
beseechingly, "Yes, Lord; yet the dogs under the table "eat of the
children's crumbs". Then He granted her request. In the parable, then, the
beggar associated with dogs Is a symbol of the Gentiles.
Now to
show these Pharisees that their days of feasting were soon to end and the favor
that belonged to Abraham's children was to be bestowed upon the Gentiles, the
two men are, as it were, transported into the fictitious future state of the
Pharisees, where the rich man is represented as in torment, while the beggar is
in "Abraham's bosom". As the rich man of the parable died, so the
nation represented by him died as a nation. It is to this national death the
Apostle Paul alludes when he says: "For if the casting away of them be the
reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the
dead'--(Rom. 11:15)? As, according to the belief of the Pharisees--a belief
that made them the children of the devil in wicked men when they died went to
"hades", to them a place of torment, so the nation of Israel, upon
it's death, was fearfully tormented in the siege of Jerusalem and have been in
torment ever since. Lazarus died and was carried by angels (messengers) into
Abraham's bosom, a fitting representation of the death that Gentiles must die
when they pass out of Adam into Christ by baptism and thus become children of
Abraham (Gal. 3:7). Being Christ's they are "Abraham's seed and heirs
according to the promise" (verse 29), are, in the words of the parable, in
Abraham's bosom, a phrase expressing the favored position in the reclining
posture of Eastern custom, as shown in the case of John (John 13:23). Also in I
John 1:18 * * * "the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the
Father."
Since
the revolt of the ten tribes under Jeroboam Israel has been divided; and in the
days of our Saviour only the two tribes --Judah and Benjamin-were represented
by "the rulers of the Jews". These two tribes only are represented by
the rich man; and of them It is said concerning their return from captivity in
Babylon, that the children of Israel gathered themselves together as one man to
Jerusalem (Ezra 3:1). When, therefore, the "one man" is represented
as crying to "Father Abraham" to send Lazarus to his five brethren,
reference, no doubt, is had to the ten tribes. The fitness of things require
that, since two tribes are represented in the parable by one man; in the same
ratio ten tribes would be represented by five brethren. To the Jews, Paul says,
"were committed the oracles of God;" and Abraham's reply to the rich man's
entreaties in behalf of his five brethren is, "They have Moses and the
prophets, let them hear them." His words, "If they hear not Moses and
the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the
dead," were a home thrust at the Pharisees and the rich man class in
general; for not withstanding that one was raised from the dead, even Christ
Himself--and in this they had the sign of the Prophet Jonah--they refused to
hear or believe.
It was
not long after this parable was spoken till the rich man nation realized it's
dreadful truth in the most horrible experience that history records: and ever
since then they have been tormented and kept continually calling out for water
to cool the parched tongue; for what has Israel not suffered since the
"measure of their fathers was filled" in killing the Prince of Life?
After the measure had been filled up the angels or messengers of the gospel,
were sent to the Gentile "dogs; and the Apostle Paul, who was specially an
apostle to the Gentiles, exclaimed: "Seeing ye put it from you and judge
yourselves unworthy of everlasting, life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles" --
(Acts 13:46). Thus the words of John, "God is able of these stones to
raise up children to Abraham" (Luke 3. 8) in a sense found exemplification.
As a nation Israel are now "cast away", and between them and the
Gentiles, of whom Paul speaks when he says, "Ye died (Revised Version) and
your life is hid with Christ in God", and who are children of Abraham by
adoption, there is a "great gulf fixed" -- the gulf of unbelief in
Israel, to whom "blindness in part hath happened till the fullness of the
Gentiles be come in" --- (Rom. 11:25).
Taking
this view of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, instead of limiting it's
scope to a supposed individual destiny of two men, and of forcing the Saviour
into a oneness of belief with men who, because of their acceptance of the
Platonic fiction of the "immortality of the soul" and the serpent's
falsehood that "there is no death", were "of their father the devil",
we have a volume of truth condensed into a few words -- a characteristic of the
Bible that to the diligent student is seen to be an indelible stamp of
divinity.
Back to Contents
WHO WILL "MEET THE
LORD IN THE AIR?"
BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE GREAT SALVATION"
THE question which forms the heading of our address
this morning is based upon the words, "caught up in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air", found in the chapter read - I Thes. 4. Let me read from
verses 13-18 in order to get the question clearly before us:
"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. 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."
Whatever the
meaning is of this scripture there is comfort in it, for those to whom it was
addressed were told this in the last words given. To derive comfort in the true
sense, it is necessary that the words be fully understood, for how can one
comfort himself with words he does not understand? The apostle says, we would
not have you to be ignorant, brethren." He wished them to fully realize
the import of what he was about to say, so that the deepest comfort might be
derived therefrom.
The apostle's
words are "concerning them which are asleep", about whom, it seems,
some were sorrowing. It is evident that the popular theory of heaven-going at
death was not in any sense considered here, either by the writer or those to
whom he wrote. They all believed that those for whom some sorrowed were asleep
in the sleep of death, none of them entertaining the idea for a moment that
they were alive and better off in realms of bliss beyond the stars. Members of
a modem orthodox'' church would have been viewing the sleep as pertaining to
the body only, a trivial matter to them in view of their belief that their dead
friends are better off disembodied than they were embodied; and a modern
"orthodox'' preacher would be considered a very poor comforter if he did
not, in similar circumstance, eloquently dilate upon the rapturous bliss their
departed friends were enjoying in or beyond the sky. Death-bed and funeral
comfort now, as prepared and administered in the religions of Christendom, is a
very different article from that of the apostles. The doctors of divinity have
a very different theory as to the nature of the case and they have consequently
changed their pills of comfort to suit their changed diagnosis of the case. It
is often the case in the domain of physics that disease is an abnormal
condition of the mind, and doctors deal with it accordingly, allowing the
patient to be deluded. In the religious world it is worse than in the medical;
for in the latter there is an effort to restore the mentally affected to a
normal state, while in the former the delusion is pampered and comforted in a
manner to increase the religious insanity of the afflicted.
What would be
thought of a popular preacher appealing to his people on behalf of their
deceased friends, in a way to imply that their friends were really asleep in
death--really dead and not alive? The people would wonder what had happened to
the preacher, and they would inquire of each other, "Do you think our
pastor really meant that our departed ones are dead? He tried to console us
that they will have a resurrection, but would he have us believe that they lie
dormant in death till the resurrection? That's what those people known as
Christadelphians believe, and does our pastor propose to impose such a doctrine
as that upon us? We must see about this, and if he really does believe that our
friends are dead and not 'gone before', and if he has no comfort to give us but
a resurrection way in the future, we had better ask for his resignation."
This is how matters would run in such a case, and so "like people like
priest". The people have been taught and trained to "love to have it
so" and the preachers are hired to proclaim it so. Hence the words of the
apostle in the verses read would fare in the mouth of a popular preacher
something like this: "But I would not have you ignorant, brethren,
concerning them which are 'gone before', that ye sorrow not, even as others who
have no hope. For those you sorrow for are not dead, not asleep. They have read
their title clear to mansions in the sky, and bid farewell to every fear and
wiped their weeping eyes. They are now basking in the bliss of heaven and when
you die you shall join the happy band above, mount triumphant there, while
those who have no hope devils drag their souls away in infinite despair."
Wherefore comfort one another with these words?" In this we have
"another gospel which is not another", but a perversion of the gospel
of Christ, the preacher of which, even if he be an angel from heaven, we are
commanded "let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:6, 8).
Now let us see
What real comfort is afforded by the words of the apostle in the case we are
considering. Verse 13 -- Your friends are asleep in death. I would not have you
ignorant and sorrowful as others without hope. Verse 14 -- Jesus died and rose
again, and became "the resurrection and the life". God "raised
Jesus of Nazareth from the grave", and in this you have assurance that,
since those for whom you sorrow sleep in Jesus, God will bring them forth also.
Verse 15 --- Do not suppose that those who are alive remain unto the coming of
the Lord shall prevent them that are not alive when the Lord comes, that are
dead--asleep in the dust of the earth. They shall not remain dead like those
who died without hope. Verse 16 -- For the Lord himself, not by messenger, nor
in a "spiritual" unreal manner, but the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven, the trump shall sound and the dead in Christ shall rise first --
before those who are alive when the Lord comes shall be caught away. Verse 17
-- Then those who are alive shall be caught up, or away, with those who are
previously raised, in clouds, or companies, to meet the Lord in the air; and
so, in the state to which you shall ascend when you meet the Lord in the air,
or firmament of his new heaven, "wherein dwelleth righteousness", so
in that state shall we ever be with the Lord. Here is your salvation and that
of those for whom you sorrow. Now do not sorrow any more, as those may well do
who have no hope, but (verse 18) comfort one another with these words.
Some have
erroneously concluded from this passage that there will be no resurrection of
the unjust, because all who are the subjects of the apostle's discourse here
are to "be ever with the Lord". This error arises from a
short-sighted view, a failure to realize, the fitness of things. There is a
time for everything, a time to warn and a time to comfort. At the death-bed
side and at the open mouth of the grave are not the places to address
sorrow-stricken people upon judgement and punishment. When one calls to comfort
the distressed it is not the time to bestow a look of wrath nor to utter words
of vengeance. It is a time to speak words of consolation and to give expression
to a heart-felt sympathy -- so far as truth and facts will allow, of course.
The man who has nothing but vengeance and wrath in his words and looks has no
business in the house of mourning. When one is addressing his friends in the
language of hope he does not stop to mar it's beauty by interjections of words
of judgment and punishment. The apostle Paul "spurned not to declare the
whole counsel of God," but no one knew better than he how to speak
according to the "eternal fitness of things"--the right words in the
right place. This was a time for words of hope and comfort, and because for the
time being he drew the curtain and kept out of sight the possibility of some he
was writing to and of some of their mourned friends failing of the glorious
triumph he held aloft, we must not conclude that he denied what he taught at
other times - appropriate -- that "there shall be a resurrection of the
dead, both of the just and of the unjust."
Now the question
is how shall we derive comfort from the words "meet the Lord in the air",
"caught up", and "clouds". Our Lord gives us comfort in the
words, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth"
(Matt. 5:5) The Psalmist declares that such as be blessed of the Lord shall
inherit the earth". "The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell
therein for ever (Psa. 37:22-30). The wise man also declares that the righteous
shall be recompensed in the earth. All of the redeemed unite in the song of
salvation, in which they sing, "Thou hast made us unto our God kings and
priests; and we shall reign on the earth" (Rev. 5:10). Then again, Christ
himself is to return to the earth in like manner as he ascended (Acts 1:11) and
"his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is
before Jerusalem on the east, and the Lord shall be king over all the
earth" (Zech. 14:4-9). How then are we to understand that we are to
"meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall ever be with the Lord"?
And in view of the promises that we are to be blessed in the earth and that Lord
is to reign on the earth, how can we derive comfort from these words?
It is in sundry
times and divers manners that God speaks through prophets, Christ. and
apostles. To receive instruction and comfort from His words we must learn to
discriminate between the "divers manners" in which he speaks. Literal
language must not be confounded with symbolical, figurative and spiritual. With
the ordinary care exercised in reading good secular books we shall not find it
difficult to determine when we are reading figurative or symbolic language. The
context along with a knowledge of the first principles of the oracles of God
will guide us in the only channel that will lead to a proper conclusion.
Every book has a
right to claim that the reader shall be governed by It's own meaning of the
technical terms it employs, and surely the Bible has the same right. It is but
reasonable that we should compare scripture with scripture to arrive at the
sense in which certain words and phraseology are employed therein. The literal
is, of course, the foundation of all figurative language. There is a literal
earth, but the word earth is used for the people of the earth --- "Hear, O
earth." There are literal heavens, but the word heavens is also used for
exalted position or political power. There are literal clouds, but the word
cloud is used for a company of people, threatening trouble, and so on. If we
read in ours newspapers that there is a cloud in the political heavens we do
not look up to the sky expecting to see it there. If we read "there is war
in the air", we do not understand that the writer is referring to the
literal atmosphere. In the world natural there are sun, moon, stars, cloud,
air, etc. When we use a figure of speech drawn from the world natural we must
be consistent. Hence, if we employ the word heavens to represent a kingdom we
must, to be consistent, allow for sun, moon, stars, clouds, air or firmament in
the heaven of which we are speaking. The sun, moon and eleven stars of Joseph's
dream were in the heaven or rulership of the little family kingdom of Jacob;
and Jacob had no trouble in seeing the meaning of the words and their
application to himself--the father was the sun, the mother as the moon, and the
eleven brethren of Joseph as the stars, with all their servants and belongings
as the earth ruled.
Now the apostle
Peter speaks of the coming kingdom of God as a "new heaven and a new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (II Pet. 3:13). In this new heaven
Christ will be the sun. "Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness
arise with healing in his wings" (Mal. 4:2). The saints aggregately as the
bride will be the moon. Speaking of the resurrection the apostle says,
"There is one glory of the moon (I Cor. 15:41). The saints, individually,
will be the stars. "There is an other glory of the stars," and
"they that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever
and ever" (Dan. 12:3). This heaven must necessarily have expanse,
firmament or air; for consistency requires that the figure drawn from the
natural world must admit of all the elements in the world or kosmos of which we
are speaking. Of course, if we are asked to point out to the natural eye the
heaven of which we are speaking we cannot point to a literal thing that can be
seen as a heaven. We can only point to the kingdom of God, which can now only
be seen in thought, or, as we may say, with the mind's eye. While the natural
eye beholds the literal, the eye of thought or reason can look through it and
beyond and see the new heavens wherein will dwell righteousness which will, in
a higher sense than the natural, declare the glory of God and show forth his
handiwork. It is as if we were reading characters clearly visible upon the
surface of this paper, and then hold up the paper and let the light shine
through it, and the watermarks will be visible, beneath the surface, as it
were. The most sublime aspects of Divine truth are only visible to the
spiritually minded by letting the light shine and straining, the eyes of the
new man to look intensely down to it's depths, up to it's heights and away into
the vast expanse of it's illimitable breadths.
Now it would be
difficult for one taught in the Scriptures to receive comfort from the
contemplation of going up into the literal air. May we not venture, therefore,
to look through the mere literal and try to find that the apostle in the
passage in question is applying the words clouds and air to something that has
to do with the resurrection of the dead and their change with the living at the
Lord's coming, when they shall become elements of the "new heaven" or
rulership of the glorious kingdom of God for which they now seek? If anything
of this sort can be found in the words by holding the paper, as it were, up to
the light and reading the Divine watermarks, then shall we taste the sweetness
of the closing sentence -- "Therefore comfort one another with these
words."
This same apostle
says, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places" or, as in the margin, heavenly
places, or heavenlies. Reference here Is to the civil and religious wickedness
in the Roman and Jewish heavens, the powers which antagonized the truth and
martyred many of it's proclaimers. Now the Roman heaven would have the elements
of the natural heaven, and therefore the word air would be applicable to it. In
the political aerial of that heaven were the sun, moon and stars, which ruled
the Roman kosmos or world. Hence the apostle says that when the saints at
Ephesus were morally unquickened, dead in trespasses and in sins, they walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air --- "the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience." (Eph. 2:2) The prince of the power of the Roman air, or
expanse, was the emperor, the leading spirit of the empire, both civil and
religious. Following the dictates of that prince, as administered by the
magistrates and clergy of his pagan, God-dishonoring system the saints had in
times past walked with the children of disobedience, moved by the same
"spirit of the power of the air". For one to "meet" this
prince "in the air" would be exaltation to be a star in one of the
heavens wherein dwelt unrighteousness; and for one "so to be with
him" would be to occupy, a position of wicked and tyrannical power. In a
prospect of such an exaltation a worldling might take comfort; but not so with
a saint. But "to the meet the Lord", the Prince of Peace, in the
heaven wherein dwelleth righteousness would be exaltation the most glorious,
and "so to be ever with the Lord" would be immortality and power,
that which should never end. Where is the man who cannot comfort himself and
others with words so full of meaning as these? He is easily found. He is the
man who can only judge after the flesh, and who has no eye to discern the
hidden treasures of truth lying beneath the surface of truth lying beneath the
surface of literal language. But where, we repeat, is the man instructed in the
truth who cannot drink deep of the sweet comfort of these words?
It is true that
when the Saracenic hosts arose out of the Arabian pit, or abyss, the smoke of
their warfare literally ascended in clouds and darkened the air, but the object
the Spirit had in stating this to John (Rev. 9:2) cannot be limited to this
comparatively trivial fact. The object was to show, in symbolic language, the
effect the war of the Saracens would have upon the Roman apostasy. Therefore,
when it is said, "And the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the
smoke of the pit;" the Roman sun and air, politically and
ecclesiastically, are undoubtedly meant. Then, again, when 'the seventh angel
shall pour out his vial into the air (Rev. 16:7), "and there shall come
out of the temple of heaven from the throne a voice saying, "it is
done", the consequent thunders and lightnings will clear the political air
of the heavens that are now, in which dwelleth unrighteousness to give place to
"new heavens wherein dwelleth righteousness."
From these
testimonies we see that the word air is used for the expanse of political
heavens, and now we can better understand the apostle's meaning in the verse in
question, and see how the saints in Thessalonica could derive comfort from his
words. To be "caught up to meet the Lord in the air is to be exalted as
kings and priests to reign with Christ on the earth. It is worthy of note that
the apostle does not say "there shall we ever be with the Lord", as
if he were referring to a place; but so, in the condition implied by being
"caught up to meet the Lord in the air" -- "so shall we ever be
with the Lord". Many will meet the Lord to be condemned, cast out, and to
be commanded to "depart"; but these do not meet him in the air of the
new heaven; for when the door is opened in that heaven only the worthy will be
invited to "come up hither' (Rev; 4:1); and such only will be permitted or
fitted to "shine in the kingdom of their Father" (Matt. 13:43) as
"stars for ever and ever (Dan. 12:3).
These are to meet
the Lord in a higher sense than will those who meet him and be commanded to
"depart". When it was said to Moses, "And in the ark thou shalt
put the testimony that I shall give thee, and there I will meet with thee"
(Exo. 25:21, 22), the meaning of the word "meet" is very different
from that of the words "a lion met him by the way and slew him" (I
Kings 13:24): There is a deeper meaning. It signifies a oneness, a communion.
So to meet the Lord in the air is to become one with him in nature, to be
"like him, for we shall see him as he is" (I John 3:2). Those,
therefore, who shall meet the Lord in the air are the faithful children of God
of whom the apostle John says, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world
knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God,
and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall
appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that
hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure I John 3:1-3)
As there are
clouds in the natural heaven, so are there in the political; and so there will
be in the new heaven of righteousness. A company of people is called by the
apostle Paul a cloud - "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with
so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which
doth so easily beset us (Heb. 12:1). The word cloud is used figuratively in various
ways, the thoughts conveyed being derived from the natural heavens, in which
there are thunder clouds, clouds without rain and clouds with rain. In time of
drought clouds that contain no rain inspire hope and then tantalize with bitter
disappointment. When the earth is dried up, vegetation scorched and burned and
man and beast are parched for water, how anxiously men will wait and watch for
a cloud, and if they can catch a glimpse of one, even though it be but
"like a man's hand", what hope and joy it brings. Now we speak of
"clouds of sorrow", clouds of darkness", "clouds of
war", etc.; and the book of Jude (verse 12) speaks of deceptive men as
clouds without water, carried about of winds". The groaning millions of
our time are looking into the political heavens and watching the clouds, hoping
for a rain that will bring relief to a thirsty world; but alas! the clouds have
no water to quench their burning thirst, no rain to give life to the withered
and blighted fields that are ready for the sickle of the swiftly coming harvest
of wrath. But after this clouds will appear in the new heavens, from which
there shall come down "rain upon the mown grass and showers to water the
earth" (Psa. 72:6).
The goodness of
natural Israel has been as a morning cloud, and "as the early dew it goeth
away" (Hos. 6:4); but when spiritual Israel's goodness shall appear as the
morning, cloud and as the early dew "it shall not pass away." It will
not be a cloud without water; but it shall be a "cloud of dew in the heat
of the harvest" (Isa. 18:4), that shall rain down heaven's blessings to
make "the wilderness to blossom as the rose and the forests to clap their
hands". These are the clouds of saints that are to "meet the Lord in
the air", composed of that company that will have been redeemed out of
every nation and kindred, and "in the light of the king's, countenance
they have found life", and now they are to the world "his favour as a
cloud of the latter rain" (Prov. 16:15). The Lord will make these
"clouds his chariots", "ride upon them as a swift cloud",
and in this cloud will appear his glory (Exod. 16:10), the glory that shall
fill the earth as the waters cover the deep.
This passage in
the epistle to the Thessalonians has special reference to the morning of the
resurrection, and it is in connection with this these figures of speech are
used, used to adorn and beautify a glorious subject -- one, the one, with whose
words we can truly "comfort one another". The prophet Isaiah treats
of this subject in the grand words, "Thy dead men shall live, together
with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for
thy dew is as of the dew of the dawn, and the earth shall cast out the
dead" (Isa. 26:19). The dew of the morning comes from the womb of the night,
and under the rays of the rising sun is drawn into the air to be formed into
clouds to give rain upon the earth. So are the true saints to be the dew of the
dawn of millennial glory, upon whom the Sun of righteousness shall shine and
draw up into the new heavens as clouds to give the latter rain of blessing, and
as showers to water the earth.
When thus this
cloud is in the air or new heaven, and the glory of the Lord appears therein to
the joy of "all families of the earth" whom the Abrahamic covenant
promised to bless, it ii then that there will be the glorious fulfillment of
the words, "I will set my bow in the cloud" (Gen. 9:13), and the
everlasting covenant shall find it's full, glorious and sublime exemplification
- it is then that it will appear and be a reality in the sense that "eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard". It is then that these things that are now
matters of hope and promise will "materialize" and be a gladsome and
gladdening, glorious reality. O, the beauty and transcendency of our hope! what
gladness it brings even now in this cloudy and dark day; but "what will it
be there" to experience the rapturous joy of realization.
Conditions are
necessary for the appearance of the rainbow with all it's prismatic beauty.
There must be the shining sun, the cloud and descending rain. For the
appearance of the rainbow of the everlasting covenant the Sun of Righteousness
is ready, but as yet the dew of the coming dawn is enveloped in the womb of the
darkness of death and the grave. The morning is about to dawn, the dew appear,
the sun to arise; and then, when "we are caught up in clouds to meet the
Lord in the air", the shining sun, the cloud from the morning dew and the
descending rain of heaven's blessing will show that God has filled full His promise,
"I will set my bow in the cloud", and to the joy of the whole earth
the everlasting covenant will shine forth as the sun, pour down blessings as
the rain and the appearance of the bow in the new heaven will command the
astonishment and admiration of "all families of the earth" blessed in
Abraham's seed. If we are worthy, brethren, if you, friends, prepare yourselves
for this great and high calling, we shall all be able to say "so shall we
ever be with the Lord" and in reality "comfort one another with these
words".
May this be our
comfort now in measure and then in it's full fruition. Amen.
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