SCRIPTURE STUDIES
VOLUME FIVE - THE ATONEMENT BETWEEN GOD AND MAN
STUDY XII
THE SUBJECT OF THE
ATONEMENT—MAN
What is Man? — The “Orthodox” Answer
— The Scientific Answer — The Bible Answer — Man’s Body — The Spirit
of Man — The Human Soul — Confusion Through Mistranslation — The
Propagation of Souls — What is “Sheol,” “Hades,” to which all Souls
Go, in the Interim Between Death and Resurrection? — The Scriptural
Statements Severally Considered.
“What is man, that thou
art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?
For thou madest him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned
him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the
works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all
sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the
air and the fish of the sea.” Psa. 8:4-8
WHAT great
being is man that the Creator of the universe has been so interested
in his welfare as to make so bountiful a provision for his
reconciliation — even through the sacrifice of his Son? We should
know thoroughly, this highest of God’s earthly creatures, so far as
possible: and yet, so limited are our powers of judgment, and so
circumscribed our knowledge, that on this subject we are dependent
almost entirely upon what our loving Creator has made known to us in
his Word. Although the saying has become proverbial that “The
greatest study of mankind is man,” yet, strange to say, there are
few subjects upon which mankind is more confused than this one—What
is man? There are two general views on the subject, neither of
which, we hold, is the correct, the Scriptural one. Though both
have certain elements of truth connected with them, both are
grievously wrong and misleading; so that even those who are not
wholly deluded by them are nevertheless so influenced
[page 302] and confused by these
errors that many truths are robbed of their force and weight, and
many fallacies are given an appearance of truth. Our subject,
therefore, is important to all who would know the truth, and have
the full benefit of the same in its influence upon their hearts and
lives. The subject is of special importance in connection with the
topic under discussion, the Atonement. He who has not a clear
conception of what man is, will find it difficult if not impossible,
to clearly comprehend the Scriptural teachings relative to the
atonement for man’s sin—its operation and results.
We will here consider the
general and so-called orthodox view of the question, What is man?
then the strictly scientific view, and finally the Bible view,
which, we hold, is different from both, much more reasonable than
either, and the only ground of proper harmony between the two.
Orthodoxy’s View of Man
The question, What is man?
if answered from a so-called “orthodox theological” standpoint
(which we dispute) would be about as follows: Man is a composite
being of three parts, body, spirit and soul; the body is born after
the usual manner of animal birth, except that at the time of birth
God interposes, and in some inscrutable manner implants in the body
a spirit and a soul, which are parts of himself, and being parts of
God are indestructible, and can never die. These two parts, spirit
and soul, “orthodoxy” is unable to separate and distinguish, and
hence uses the terms interchangeably at convenience. Both terms
(spirit and soul) are understood to mean the real man,
while the flesh is considered to be merely the outward clothing of
the real man, in which he dwells for the years of his earthly life,
as in a house. At death, they say, the real man is let out of this
prison-house of flesh, and finds himself in a condition much more
congenial.
In other words,
“orthodoxy” claims that the real man is not an earthly being, but a
spirit being wholly unadapted [page 303]
to the earth, except through its
experiences in the fleshly body. When set free from the body by
death it is theorized that a great blessing has been experienced,
although the man, while he lived, made every effort to continue to
live in the fleshly house, using medicines and travels and every
hygienic appliance and invention to prolong the life in the flesh,
which, theoretically, it is claimed is illy adapted to his uses and
enjoyments. The “liberation” called “death” is esteemed to be
another step in the evolutionary process: and in many minds such a
future evolution from earthly to heavenly conditions, from animal to
spiritual conditions, is regarded as a reasonable proposition and a
logical outcome of the scientific conclusion that man was not
created a man, but evolved, through long ages, from the protoplasm
of prehistoric times to the microbe, from the microbe, by various
long stages and journeys to the monkey, and from the monkey finally
to manhood. It is further claimed that manhood, in its earliest
stage, was very inferior to the manhood of the present time, that
evolution has been bringing mankind forward, and that the next step
for every human being is a transformation or evolution into spirit
conditions, as angels and gods or as devils.
All this is very
flattering to nineteenth century pride, for though, on one hand, it
acknowledges an ancestry of the very lowest intelligence, it claims
for itself today the very highest attainments, as well as a future
exaltation. Nor is this view confined to the people of civilized
lands: in a general way all heathen people, even savages, have
practically the same thought respecting man, except that they do not
usually trace back his origin so far. This view finds support in
all the heathen philosophies, and to a considerable extent it is
supported by the scientific theorizers of the present day, who,
although they define the subject quite differently, nevertheless
love to indulge in hopes of a future life along the lines of
evolution, and experience a gratification of their vanity along
lines which do not at all accord with their own scientific
deductions respecting the spark of life in man.
[page 304]
Man as Seen by Science
The scientific answer to
the question, What is man? stated in simple language, would be: Man
is an animal of the highest type yet developed and known. He has a
body which differs from the bodies of other animals, in that it is
the highest and noblest development. His brain structure
corresponds to that of the lower animals, but is of a better
developed and more refined order, with added and larger capacities,
which constitute man by nature the lord, the king of the lower
creation. Man’s breath or spirit of life is like that of other
animals. Man’s organism and spark of life are from his progenitors,
in the same manner that the beasts receive their life and bodies
from their progenitors.
Science recognizes every
man as a soul or sentient being; but as to the future, the eternity
of man’s being, science has no suggestion whatever to offer, finding
nothing whereon to base a conclusion, or even a reasonable
hypothesis. Science, however, while it does not speculate, hopes
for a future along the lines of evolution, which it believes it can
trace in the past. Science is proud of the said evolutionary steps
already accomplished by its god, natural law, and is hopeful that
the same operations of natural law will (without a personal God)
eventually bring mankind to still more godlike and masterful
conditions than at present.
Man from the Bible Standpoint
The Bible view, while
agreeing with both of the foregoing in some respects, controverts
both most absolutely along some of their most important lines. The
Bible does not speculate, but properly, as the voice or revelation
of God, it speaks with authority and emphasis, declaring the
beginning, the present and the future of man. The Bible view is the
only consistent one, and hence the only truly
scientific and orthodox view of this subject. But the Bible
presentation [page 305] does not
pander to human pride; it does not make of man his own evolutor, nor
does it commit this to a god of nature, which is no God. The Bible
view respecting man gives God the glory for his original creation
(Adam), in the divine likeness; and lays upon man the blame for
failure to maintain that likeness, and for a fall into sin, and all
the consequences of sin—mental and physical and moral impoverishment
unto death. The Bible view honors God again, in revealing to us his
mercy and magnanimity toward man in his fallen estate, in the
provision for man’s redemption and for his restitution to his
original condition, at the hands of his Redeemer, during the
Millennium.
A fruitful source of
confusion in the minds of Christian people, when studying the nature
of man, and particularly when attempting to obtain the Scriptural
views upon the subject, is their failure to distinguish between
mankind in general and the Church, the little flock, which God is
selecting from amongst men during the present age, and fitting and
preparing for new and superhuman conditions — spiritual conditions.
Failing to “rightly divide the word of truth,” they apply to all men
the statements and promises of the Scriptures, especially of the New
Testament, which are addressed only to the Church class, and which
have no bearing whatever upon the restitution hopes held out for all
mankind. These “exceeding great and precious promises” are
proportionately as untrue of the world as they are true of the
Church. Thus, for instance, the Apostle’s words, “The body is dead
because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness”
(Rom. 8:10), which apply only to the Church: thus the special and
peculiar conditions of the call of the Church during this Gospel
age, is interpreted to mean the same with respect to all humanity.
Here the words “dead” and “life” are used in a relative sense, of
those who after being justified through faith, by the grace of God,
are at once reckoned as freed from death-condemnation, to the intent
that they may present their bodies living sacrifices, reckoning
their bodies and treating them as dead, so
[page 306] far as earthly rights and interests are concerned:
and reckoning themselves as no longer fleshly or human beings, but
as “new creatures,” begotten to a new nature through the promises of
God. As such, justified and sanctified believers (the Church)
recognize themselves, from the divine standpoint, as having obtained
a new spirit of life through the operation of faith in Christ and
obedience to him. But such uses of the words “dead” and “life” in
respect to the world would be wholly improper, for the world has no
other nature than the one human nature; it has not, in any sense of
the word, been begotten again.
Another text frequently
misapplied to the world, which belongs to the Lord’s consecrated
people, says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the
excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” (2 Cor. 4:7)
Here the Church alone is referred to—those who have received the
treasure of the new mind, the new nature. They have this treasure,
or new nature, in the natural body, which is reckoned as dead, and
here denominated an “earthen vessel.” The illustration is quite a
correct one for the class to whom it is applied, the Church; but it
is wholly incorrect to apply it to mankind in general, and to
suppose that every human being has a heavenly treasure or new
nature, and that thus every human body is an earthen vessel or
receptacle for such new nature. The world has but one nature—the
human nature: it has no new nature, either as a treasure or in any
other sense; nor is there any promise that it will ever have. Quite
to the contrary, the highest possible aspiration ever to be opened
to humanity, according to the divine Word of promise, is “restitution”—to
be restored to the full perfection of the human nature, lost in
Eden, redeemed at Calvary. Acts 3:19-23
Similarly we might discuss
scores of statements of the New Testament, which are not applicable
to mankind in general, but merely to the consecrated Church,
begotten again by the holy Spirit to a new spirit nature. It will
be profitable for all to notice carefully the salutations by which
the apostles introduce their various epistles. They
[page 307] are not addressed, as is
supposed by many, to mankind in general, but to the Church, “the
saints,” the “household of faith.”
Be it remembered,
therefore, that in discussing, What is man? in this chapter, we are
not discussing what is the Church, the “new creature” in Christ
Jesus, nor what is the spirit nature to which the Church is already
begotten of the Spirit and if faithful shall be made partakers to
the fullest extent in the first resurrection. On the contrary, we
are discussing the first Adam and his children. We want to know who
and what we are by nature, as a race—What is man? Thus
we can best understand from what man fell, into
what man fell, from what man was redeemed, and
to what man shall be restored, and other cognate subjects.
Man—Body, Spirit, Soul
Accepting the standard
definition of the word “animal”—“a sentient living organism,” we
need have no hesitation in classing man as one of and the chief and
king over earth’s animals, and thus far the Scriptures are in full
accord with the deductions of science. Note the text which
introduces this chapter: in it the Prophet David particularly points
out that man, in his nature, is lower than the angels, and a king
and head over all earthly creatures, the representative of God to
all the lower orders of sentient beings.
The Scriptures nowhere
declare, either directly or by implication, that a piece, part or
spark of the divine being is communicated to every human creature.
This is a baseless assumption on the part of those who desire to
construct a theory, and are short of material for it. And this
baseless hypothesis, that there is a portion of God communicated to
every human creature at birth, has been made the basis of many false
doctrines, grossly derogatory to the divine character—disrespectful
to divine wisdom, justice, love and power.
It is this assumption,
that a spark of the divine being is [page
308] communicated at birth to every human creature, which
necessitated the theory of a hell of eternal torment. The
suggestion is that if man had been created as other animals were
created, he might have died as other animals die, without fear of an
eternity of torture; but that God having imparted to man a
spark of his own life, man is therefore eternal, because God
is eternal: and that hence it is impossible for God to destroy his
creature even though such destruction might become desirable. And
if man cannot be destroyed it is held that he must exist to all
eternity somewhere: and since the vast majority are admittedly evil,
and only a “little flock” saintly and pleasing to God, it is held
that the unsaintly must have a future of torment proportioned to the
future of bliss accorded to the saintly few. Otherwise, it is
admitted that it would be more to man’s interest, more to God’s
glory, and more to the peace and prosperity of the universe, if the
wicked could all be destroyed. The claim is that God,
having the power to create, has not the power to destroy man, his
own creation, because a spark of divine life was in some unexplained
manner connected with him. We hope to show that this entire
proposition is fallacious: that it is not only without Scriptural
support, but that it is a fabrication of the Dark Ages, most
positively contradicted by the Scriptures.
The Scriptures recognize
man as composed of two elements, body and spirit. These two produce
soul, sentient being, intelligence, the man himself, the being, or
soul. The term “body” applies merely to the physical organism. It
neither relates to the life which animates it, nor to the sentient
being which is the result of animation. A body is not a man,
although there could be no man without a body. The spirit of life
is not the man; although there could be no manhood without the
spirit of life. The word “spirit” is, in the Old Testament
Scriptures, from the Hebrew word ruach. Its
signification primarily is breath; and hence we have
the expression “breath of life,” or “spirit
of life,” because the spark of life once started is supported by
breathing. [page 309]
The words “spirit of
life,” however, signify more than merely breath; they relate to the
spark of life itself, without which breath would be an
impossibility. This spark of life we receive from our fathers, it
being nourished and developed through our mothers.*
It is quite untrue that the spark of human life is communicated in a
miraculous way, any more than is the spark of brute life. The lower
animals, the horse, the dog, cattle, etc., are begotten of the males
and born of the females of their respective genera, in precisely the
same manner as the human species is produced, nor does anything in
Scripture suggest the contrary. It is purely human invention,
designed to uphold a false theory, that claims divine interposition
in the birth of human offspring. To suppose that God is the direct
creator of every human infant born into the world is to suppose what
the Scriptures contradict, for thus he would be the author of sin
and of confusion and of imperfection, whereas the Scriptures
declare, “His work is perfect.” (Deut. 32:4) No, no! the mentally
and physically and morally blemished and deformed are not God’s
workmanship. They are far removed, far fallen from the condition of
their perfect progenitors, Adam and Eve, for whose creation alone
God takes the responsibility. Those who claim that God directly
creates every human being make out that God is responsible for all
the idiocy and insanity and imbecility in the world: but both
science and Scripture declare that the children inherit from their
progenitors their vices and their virtues, their weakness and their
talents. The Apostle most explicitly declares, “By one man’s
disobedience sin entered into the world and death by [as a result
of] sin: and thus death passed upon all men; because all men had [by
heredity] become sinners.” The Prophet refers to the same thing
when he declares, “The fathers ate a sour grape [sin] and the
children’s teeth are set on edge”—they are all depraved. Rom. 5:12;
Jer. 31:29,30; Ezek. 18:2
—————
*See page 98.
[page 310]
But some one will inquire,
Might it not be possible that God had implanted a spark of his
immortal divinity in our first parents, and that thus that spark
descends nolens volens to posterity? Let us examine
the Scriptural statement respecting this subject, and in so doing
let us remember that there is no other revelation than the account
of the Scriptures open to any one else, hence we may know all there
is to be known on the subject by anybody. What do we find in the
Genesis account? We find indeed that man’s creation is particularly
mentioned, while that of the brute creation is not so particularly
mentioned. We find, however, that the statements made are in very
simple language, and that they contain no suggestion whatever of the
impartation of some superhuman spark of being. Man’s superiority
over the beast, according to the account given in Genesis, consists
not in his having a different kind of breath or spirit, but in his
having a higher form, a superior body, a finer organism—endowed with
a brain organism which enables him to reason upon planes far above
and beyond the intelligence of the lower animals, the brute
creation. We find that it is in these respects that man was created
a fleshly likeness of his Creator, who is a spirit being. John 4:24
The Spirit of Man
As already seen*
the word “spirit” in our Common Version Bibles translates the Hebrew
word ruach and the Greek word pneuma;
and hence to rightly appreciate the word spirit in
God’s Word we must keep always in memory the meaning attached to the
originals, which it translates. As we have seen, “spirit” primarily
means wind, and secondarily was made to apply to any
invisible power. In connection with God we saw that
it signifies that he is powerful but invisible;
and used in reference to God’s influence and operation, it implies
that they are by an invisible power. It is applied to mind
because it is a power that is invisible, intangible; words
—————
*See page 172.
[page 311]
are also invisible, yet powerful;
life, although all-important and all pervading, is an
invisible power or quality, like electricity: hence the word
“spirit” is applied to all of these various things. As a result, we
have the Scriptures speaking of the spirit of our minds, the
invisible power of the mind; the spirit of a man, a man’s mental
powers and will; the spirit of life, the power of living, which
actuates our bodies and all creation; the Spirit of God, the power
or influence which God exerts, either upon animate or inanimate
things; the spirit of wisdom, a wise mind; the spirit of love, a
mind or disposition actuated by love; a spirit of evil and of
malice, a mind or disposition actuated by maliciousness; the spirit
of truth, the influence or power exerted by the truth; the spirit of
the world, the influence or power which the world exerts. Likewise,
heavenly beings are described as spirit beings, that is, invisible
beings, possessed of power, intelligence, etc. This is applicable,
not only to God, the Father, of whom our Lord Jesus said, “God is a
Spirit,” but it is applicable also to our Lord Jesus since his
resurrection, for of him it is declared, “Now the Lord is that
Spirit.” It is applied also to angels and to the Church, which is
assured that in the first resurrection each overcomer shall have a
spirit body. It is applied in the Scriptures also to Satan and his
associates, spirit beings, invisible, yet powerful.
Spirit in Re the New Nature in the New Testament
In considering the use of
the word spirit in connection with man, we remark:
(1) The words “spirit” and
“spiritual” in the New Testament are often used to refer to (a) the
will, especially to the new mind of the
“saints,” begotten by the Word and Spirit of God. The “new
creatures in Christ” are called to a change of nature, from human to
spiritual, and are promised that if faithful they shall in the
resurrection have (b) spirit bodies like unto Christ’s
resurrection body, and like unto the heavenly Father’s glorious
person. In view of this, their future prospect, the hope of the
Church is designated as [page 312]
(c) spiritual and heavenly, in contrast
with the hopes and promises to which the world of mankind will
become heirs during the Millennium. Spirit is also used (d) in
referring to angels, who by nature are spirit
beings—not flesh beings. But the thought of
invisibility always attaches to the words “spirit” and
“spiritual” whenever and wherever used.
A few illustrations of
such uses of these words follow:
(a) “Paul purposed in the
spirit [pneuma—mind, will]... to go to
Jerusalem.” Acts 19:21
(a) “Paul’s spirit
[pneuma—mind, feelings] was stirred in him when he saw
the city wholly given to idolatry.” Acts 17:16
(a) “Paul was pressed in
spirit [pneuma—in mind, he was mentally
energized] and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.” Acts
18:5
(a) “[Apollos] was
instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit
[pneuma—of ardent mind] he spake and taught
diligently.” Acts 18:25
(a) “God is my witness
whom I serve with my spirit [pneuma—my
new mind, my new heart, my renewed will] in the gospel of his Son.”
Rom. 1:9
(a) “Glorify God in your
body and in your spirit [pneuma—mind]
which are God’s.” 1 Cor. 6:20
(a) “I verily as absent in
body but present in spirit [pneuma—mentally]
have judged already as though I were present.” 1 Cor. 5:3
(a) “A meek and quiet
spirit [pneuma—mind, disposition].” 1 Pet.
3:4
(b) “It is sown an animal
body, it is raised a spiritual [pneumatikos]
body.” 1 Cor. 15:44
(b) “There is an animal
body and there is a spiritual [pneumatikos]
body.” 1 Cor. 15:44
(b) “That was not first
which is spiritual [pneumatikos].” 1
Cor. 15:46
(b) “Afterward that which
is spiritual [pneumatikos].” 1 Cor.
15:46
[page 313]
(c) “To be
spiritually minded [pneuma—to have a mind
controlled by God’s holy Spirit or will] is life and peace.” Rom.
8:6
(c) “Ye which are
spiritual [pneumatikos—spirit begotten and
possessed of the new mind] restore such an one in the spirit
[pneuma—disposition] of meekness.” Gal. 6:1
(c) “The God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings [pneumatikos—blessings of a spirit kind] in
heavenly privileges in Christ.” Eph. 1:3
(c) “Be filled with the
spirit [pneuma—the holy Spirit of God]
speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs [pneumatikos—songs in accord with your new
spirit].” Eph. 5:18,19
(c) “That ye might be
filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and
spiritual understanding [pneumatikos—understanding
of all matters connected with your new spiritual relationship to God
and his plan].” Col. 1:9
(c) “Ye are built up a
spiritual household [pneumatikos—a family
or household of a spirit order or kind].” 1 Pet. 2:5
(d) “A damsel possessed of
a spirit [pneuma—an invisible power] of
divination”—through fellowship with the fallen spirit-beings. Acts
16:16
(d) “Paul...turned and
said to the spirit [pneuma—the evil
spirit-being possessing the woman] I command thee... to come out of
her.” Acts 16:18
(d) “The evil
spirits [pneuma] went out of them.” Acts
19:12,13
(d) “And the evil
spirit [pneuma] answered and said.” Acts
19:15
(d) “The Sadducees say
that there is...neither angel nor spirit [pneuma—spirit
being].” Acts 23:8
(d) “If a spirit
[pneuma] or an angel hath spoken to him let us not
fight against God.” Acts 23:9
[page 314]
Spirit in the Old Testament
(2) The word “spirit” is
used of mankind in general, especially in the Old Testament; but
always either with reference to (e) the spirit of life,
the animating spark which God first enkindled in Adam and which
thence (impaired) descended to all his posterity—which is an
invisible power or quality; or (f) the spirit of the
mind, the will—an invisible power which controls the life.
Ruach, Pneuma—an Animating Power
When speaking of man’s
creation it is the spirit of life that is
understood—the breath of life. The Scriptures clearly show that
this spirit of life is common to all God’s creatures, and is not
possessed exclusively by man, as the following Scripture quotations
will clearly demonstrate.
(e) “All flesh wherein is
the breath of life [ruach—the
spirit or breath of life of all flesh].” Gen.
6:17; 7:15
(e) “All in whose nostrils
was the breath of the spirit of life [margin,
ruach—the spirit or power of
life].” Gen. 7:22
(e) “The spirit
of Jacob their father revived [ruach—the vital or
life powers of Jacob revived].” Gen. 45:27
(e) “And when he [Samson]
had drunk, his spirit [ruach] came again
and he revived [his strength, vigor, energy returned to him].”
Judges 15:19
(e) “In whose hand is...the
breath [ruach] of all mankind. [The
spirit of life of all mankind is in the divine power].” Job
12:10
(e) “O God, the God of the
spirits [ruach—life-power, spirit of
life] of ALL FLESH, shall one man sin and wilt thou be wroth with
all the congregation?” Num. 16:22
The theory that the
distinction between man and beast consisted in a different spirit of
life, a different kind of life, and that at death the one went up
and the other down [page 315] seems
to have been very old amongst the world’s philosophers; for we find
Solomon, the wise man, querying:
(e) “Who knoweth [who can
prove] that the spirit [ruach—spirit of
life] of man goeth upward and that the spirit [ruach—spirit
of life] of the beast goeth downward to the earth?” (Eccl. 3:19-21)
Solomon’s own understanding he gives just previously, saying:
(e) “That which befalleth
the sons of men [death] befalleth beasts; even one [the same] thing
befalleth them: as the one dieth so dieth the other; yea they have
all one breath [ruach—spirit of life,
breath of life]; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a
beast”—in this respect, in the matter of having a different kind of
life—his pre-eminence must be sought and found elsewhere, as we
shall see.
(e) “Into thine hand I
commit my spirit [ruach—spirit of life
or vital energy].” Psa. 31:5
This was the prophetic
declaration of our Lord Jesus’ dying words. He had received the
spirit of life from the Father as a gift: he had, in obedience to
the Father’s plan, become a man to be man’s Redeemer: and when
yielding up his spirit of life or vital energy, he
declared his reliance upon God’s promise to give the spirit of
life again, by a resurrection.
Mankind received the
spirit of life from God, the fountain of life, through
father Adam. Adam forfeited his right to the power or spirit of
life by disobedience, and gradually relinquished his hold upon
it—dying slowly for nine hundred and thirty years. Then the body
returned to the dust as it was before creation, and the spirit of
life, the privilege of living, the power or permission of living,
returned to God who gave that privilege or power: just as any
contingent privilege or favor returns to the giver if its conditions
are not complied with. (Eccl. 12:7) Nothing in this text implies
that the spirit of life “wings its flight back to God,” as some
would represent; for the spirit of life is not an intelligence, nor
a person, but merely a power or privilege
which has been [page 316] forfeited
and hence reverts to the original giver of that power or privilege.
The thought is that man having sinned has no further life-rights:
the return of his forfeited life-rights to God, and the return of
his flesh to dust, reduces his condition to exactly what it was
before he was created.
But as our Lord Jesus had
hope in the divine promise for a return of his “spirit of life” or
life powers and rights under divine arrangement, so by reason of our
Lord’s redemptive sacrifice certain hopes and promises are opened to
all mankind through “Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant.” (Heb.
12:24) Hence believers “sorrow not as others who have no hope.”
Our Redeemer purchased the spirit of life-rights which
father Adam had forfeited for himself and all his family. Now,
therefore, believers can for themselves (and, by a knowledge of
God’s plan, for others also) commit their spirits (their powers of
life) to God’s hand also, as did our Lord and as did Stephen—full of
faith that God’s promise of a resurrection would be
fulfilled. A resurrection will mean to the world a reorganization
of a human body, and its vivifying or quickening with life-energy,
the spirit of life (Hebrew, ruach; Greek, pneuma).
To the Gospel Church, sharers in the “first [chief] resurrection,”
it will mean the impartation of the spirit of life or life-energy
(Hebrew, ruach; Greek, pneuma) to a
spirit body. 1 Cor. 15:42-45
In that graphic picture of
earthly resurrection furnished us in Ezekiel’s prophecy
(37:5-10,13,14) the relationship of the body and the spirit of life,
“the breath,” is clearly presented. It matters not
that the prophet uses this merely as a symbol, it
nevertheless shows (proves) that a human organism has no life until
it receives the ruach—the breath of life—which, as
elsewhere shown, is common to all animals, none of whom can live
without it. Let us notice Ezekiel’s statements very critically, as
follows:
(e) “I will cause
breath [ruach—spirit of life, life-energy] to
enter into you, and ye shall live.”
(e) “And I will...bring up
flesh upon you, and cover [page 31]
you with skin, and put breath [ruach—spirit
of life, life-energy] in you, and ye shall live.”
(e) “And when I beheld,
lo, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered
them above: but there was no breath [ruach—spirit
of life, life- energy] in them.”
(e) “And he said unto me,
Prophesy unto the wind [ruach—spirit of
life, life-energy—margin, breath] and say unto the wind
[ruach—spirit of life, breath of life], Thus saith the
Lord God, Come from the four winds [ruach]
O breath [ruach—breath or spirit of
life], and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.”
(e) “So I prophesied as he
commanded me, and the breath [ruach—spirit
of life, breath of life, living energy] came into them, and they
lived.”
(e) “And ye shall know
that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and
brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my spirit
[ruach—spirit of life, breath of life] in you, and ye
shall live.”
This spirit
of life or power of life given to Adam by his Creator
he was privileged to keep forever if obedient. He
forfeited this right by disobedience, and the right to life
reverted to the great Giver; not as a person, nor as a thing, but as
a right or privilege, the spirit of life returns or reverts to God,
who gave that right or privilege conditionally, and whose conditions
were violated. Eccl. 12:7
(e) “No man hath power
over the spirit [ruach—spirit of life,
spark of life] to retain the spirit [ruach—spirit
of life], breath of life.” Eccl. 8:8
By God’s grace those
forfeited life-rights or privileges which each man surrenders to God
in death have all been purchased with the precious blood, and the
purchaser is announced as the new Life-giver, regenerator or father
for the race, who will give life, and that more abundantly, to all
who will ultimately receive him.
We will give but one
instance from the New Testament:
(e) “The body without the
spirit [pneuma—life-spark, breath of
lives] is dead.” Jas. 2:26
[page 318]
Ruach, Pneuma—the Mind, the Will
Since the mind or will is
an invisible power or influence, it is represented by
the same words in the Hebrew and Greek languages, as the following
examples will show:
(f) “Hannah answered and
said, No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit [ruach—mind,
disposition].” 1 Sam. 1:15
(f) “A fool uttereth all
his mind [ruach—plans, thoughts, mind,
purpose].” Prov. 29:11
(f) “My spirit
[ruach—mind, courage] was overwhelmed.” Psa. 77:3
(f) “My spirit
[ruach—mind] made diligent search.” Psa. 77:6
(f) “He that is of a
faithful spirit [ruach—disposition,
mind].” Prov. 11:13
(f) “All the ways of a man
are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits
[ruach—the mind, thoughts, motives].” Prov. 16:2
(f) “Pride goeth before
destruction, a haughty spirit [ruach—disposition,
will, mind] before a fall.” Prov. 16:18
(f) “Better to be of an
humble spirit [ruach—mind,
disposition].” Prov. 16:19
(f) “Vanity and vexation
of spirit [ruach—mind].” Eccl. 6:9
(f) “Patient in
spirit [ruach—mind, disposition]...proud in
spirit [ruach—mind, disposition]...hasty in
thy spirit [ruach—mind, disposition].”
Eccl. 7:8,9
A few illustrations from
the New Testament:
(f) “The child [John] grew
and waxed strong in spirit [pneuma—mind,
character].” Luke 1:80
(f) “Not slothful in
business, fervent in spirit [pneuma—mind,
disposition, character] serving the Lord.” Rom. 12:11
(f) “Now you have received
not the spirit [pneuma—disposition,
mind] of the world.” 1 Cor. 2:12
(f) “I had no rest in my
spirit [pneuma—mind].” 2 Cor. 2:13
[page 319]
(f) “Be renewed in the
spirit [pneuma—character, disposition] of
your mind.” Eph. 4:23
(f) “The ornament of a
meek and quiet spirit [pneuma—mind,
disposition].” 1 Pet. 3:4
These Scriptural uses of
these original words show that our English word spirit
is a good equivalent, for we not only speak of the spirit of life,
but also of a gentle spirit, a good spirit, an angry spirit or mood,
a bitter spirit and a fiery spirit: and we also use these
expressions in respect to the lower animals as well as man. The
fact we are proving is abundantly demonstrated—namely, that the
spirit is not the real man, nor another man, but that
this word, when used in reference to man’s creation, signifies
simply the life-spark or life-power, which is common to all animals.
Neshamah—the Breath of Lives
Although the word
ruach is sometimes translated “breath,” the Hebrews had
another word for breath, viz., neshamah. It occurs
twenty-six times, and in nineteen of these it is translated
“breath”—“inspiration” once, “spirit” twice, “souls” once, “blast”
three times. As samples of the meaning of this word, and as proving
that the word simply signifies life power, and in no sense of the
word conveys any thought of everlasting life, or immortality, note
the following uses of the word:
“The Lord God formed man
of the dust of the ground, and breathed [naphach—inflated,
blew] into his nostrils the breath [neshamah]
of lives [caiyah].” Gen. 2:7
“All flesh died that moved
upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beasts, and of
everything that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose
nostrils was the breath [neshamah] of
life [caiyah] of all that was in the dry
land died.” Gen. 7:21,22
These first two
occurrences of the word neshamah in the Bible are
abundantly sufficient to prove our contention that the word has no
reference to immortality, nor to an immortal
[page 320] principle, but simply refers to vitality, life
power. This life power, we are told, was given to Adam, and the same
life power, by the second text quoted, is declared to have been in
all the dry land animals, fowl, cattle, beast and creeping things,
as well as in man, and when deprived of this breath of life, the
declaration is that all these souls or beings died as a result—man
as well as the lower creatures. They died alike, except that there
is a divine purpose respecting man, which in due time provided a
ransom, and will in further due time provide the deliverance
promised from the power of death by a resurrection of the being, of
the soul.
A Human Soul
Many in reading the
account of creation in Genesis have noted the fact stated that when
God had formed man of the dust of the ground, and had communicated
to him the breath (spirit) of life, the record is, “Man became a
living soul.” This statement to the
average reader taken in connection with his general misconception of
the meaning of the word “soul,” as misrepresented to him by those
who should have instructed him properly, and should have understood
the subject themselves, is sufficient to bewilder him and leads him
to think that somehow there is some basis for the prevalent error
which he does not comprehend, but which he supposes his chosen
theological teachers have investigated and proven beyond
peradventure.
Not comprehending the
meaning of the word soul, many feel at liberty to use
it in a reckless manner, and hence they reverse the Scriptural
statement and instead of speaking of man as being a
soul, they speak of man as having a soul, which is a
very different thought. It is necessary, therefore, that each
truth-seeker should, so far as possible, divest his mind of
prejudice on the subject, and especially with respect to things and
features which he admits he does not understand;
because it is the natural tendency to give attributes
[page 321] and powers to that which
is mysterious and not comprehended. Thus the general idea of a soul
is that it is wonderfully intelligent, possessed of wonderful
powers, that it is indestructible, intangible, and
incomprehensible.
A Methodist bishop is
credited with having given the following definition of a soul, which
certainly accords well with so-called “orthodox” theories, even if
it is absurd when closely analyzed—“It is without interior or
exterior, without body, shape, or parts, and you could put a million
of them in a nutshell.” These various things are predicated of a
soul, to help fill out a theory which is wholly erroneous. The
theory is that the soul is the real being, a spark of divinity,
possessed of divine quality and intelligent life, etc., separate and
apart from the body; and that it inhabits the human body for a time,
and uses it for a house, and when the body is worn out or disabled
abandons it. Inasmuch as no one ever saw a soul enter a body, and
inasmuch as a soul cannot be found while it is in the body, by the
most critical examination, and with all the improved appliances of
the microscope, photograph and “X” rays, therefore it is supposed
that it is “without a body, without shape, and without parts”; and
since it is supposed to be so small that it cannot be distinguished
by a microscope, it might as well be said that you could put fifty
millions of them in a nutshell. Really, the bishop gave an excellent
definition of nothing; and all will agree that a
hundred millions of nothings could be put into the smallest kind of
a nutshell and have room to spare.
But what foundation is
there for such wild speculation? We answer, It is wholly
unwarranted. It is the result of man’s taking his own theory of a
future life, and rejecting the divine theory and plan. Human theory
says, There must be something which never dies, else there can be no
future life. The divine theory says, The same God who created in
the beginning is able to resurrect the dead. This is the conflict
between the Word of God and all the human theories of earth amongst
the civilized as well as amongst [page 322]
the barbarians: all human theories teach that man does not
die, and hence has no need of a Life-giver and a resurrection. The
Bible theory is that man does die, and that without the Life-giver,
and without a resurrection, death would indeed end all, and there
would be no future life.
It is to support its
theory that the world, and all its religious books (including, we
are sorry to say, the majority of works on eschatology written by
professed Christians), teach the doctrine of the immortality of the
soul—that there is a soul in man, possessed of a separate life from
his body, and that it is immortal, indestructible, and therefore
destined to an eternity of pain or pleasure. We come then to the
inquiry:
What Is a Soul?
Examining this question
from the Bible standpoint we will find that man has a
body and has a spirit, but is a soul.
Science concurs with the Scriptures in this. Indeed, one of the
sciences, Phrenology, undertakes to treat the skulls of men and the
lower animals as indexes and to read therefrom the natural traits
and characteristics of the owners: and do not all men find
themselves possessed of some ability in judging character
physiologically? All can discern between the intellectual and the
idiotic, between the kindly benevolent and the viciously brutal.
Those who have not learned that organism (bodily form)
is indissolubly connected with nature, character and disposition
have made poor use of life’s lessons and are unprepared to pass
judgment on our topic or any other.
The word “soul,” as found
in the Scriptures, signifies sentient being;
that is, a being possessed of powers of sense, sense-perception.
With minds freed from prejudice, let us go with this definition to
the Genesis account of man’s creation, and note that (1) the
organism or body was formed; (2) the spirit
of life, called “breath of life,” was communicated; (3) living
[page 323] soul, or
sentient being, resulted. This is very simple, and easily
understood. It shows that the body is not the soul, nor is the
spirit or breath of life the soul; but that when these two were
united by the Lord, the resultant quality or condition was living
man, living being—a living soul, possessed of perceptive powers.
There is nothing mysterious about this—no intimation that a spark of
divinity was infused into humanity, any more than into the lower
animals. Indeed, while the creation of the lower animals is passed
over and not particularly described, we may know that with them, as
well, the process must have been somewhat similar. We know that
there could be no dog without a dog organism or body, nor without
spirit or breath of life in that body. The body of the dog that had
never been animated would not be a dog; it requires first the
infusion of the spark of life, the breath of life, then doghood
begins. The same would apply to all animals.
In full accord with this,
we now call attention to a fact which will surprise many; viz., that
according to the Scriptural account every dog is a soul, every horse
is a soul, every cow is a soul, every bird and every fish are
souls. That is to say, these are all sentient
creatures, possessed of powers of sense-perception. True, some of
them are on a higher and some on a lower plane than others; but the
word soul properly and Scripturally applies to
creatures on the lower planes as well as to man, the highest and
noblest—to fish, reptiles, birds, beasts, man. They are all souls.
Mark, we do not say that they have souls, in the
ordinary and mistaken sense of that term, yet they all do have
souls, in the sense of having life, being, existence—they
are living souls. Let us prove this:
In the first, second and
ninth chapters of Genesis the words “living soul” are applied in the
Hebrew language to the lower animals nine times, but the translators
(as though careful to protect the false but common vagary respecting
a soul, derived from Platonic philosophy) sedulously guarded their
work, so that, so far as possible, the English
[page 324] reader is kept in
ignorance of this fact—that the word soul is common to
the lower creatures, and as applicable to them as to man in inspired
Scripture usage. How else could it happen that in all of these
cases, and in many other instances throughout the Scriptures, they
have carefully covered the thought, by using another English word to
translate the Hebrew word, which, in the case of man, is rendered
“soul”? So carefully have they guarded this point that only in one
place in the Bible is this word translated “soul,” in connection
with the lower creatures, viz., in Num. 31:28, and there, very
evidently, they were compelled to show the matter, by reason of the
peculiar construction of the sentence—no other translation being
reasonably possible. The passage reads:
“Levy a tribute unto the
Lord of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five
hundred, both of the persons and of the beeves and of the asses and
of the sheep.” Here it will be noticed that the word “soul” is used
respecting the lower creatures as well as in reference to man; and
so it would appear elsewhere in the Scriptures, had the translators
been free from the warp and twist of their false theories on this
subject.
Let us now notice the nine
texts in Genesis in which the Hebrew original of the word soul
(neh-phesh) occurs in connection with the lower
animals:
“God said, Let the waters
bring forth abundantly the moving [creeping] creature that
hath life [Heb., neh-phesh—soul].” (Gen.
1:20) Note that the marginal reading is soul; and
that this was on the fifth creative day or period, long before man’s
creation.
“God created great whales,
and every living creature [Heb., neh-phesh—living
soul] that moveth, which the waters brought forth
abundantly.” (Gen. 1:21) This also was in the fifth “day,” before
man’s creation. These were fish-souls.
“God said, Let the earth
bring forth the living creature [Heb., neh-phesh—living
soul] after his kind—cattle and creeping thing and
beast.” (Gen. 1:24) These were dry-land [page 325] souls, higher than the fishes—but man, human soul or
being, had not yet been created.
“And God said...To every
beast of the earth and to every fowl of the air, and to everything
that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life
[living soul—neh-phesh] I have given every green herb
for meat.” (Gen. 1:30) Here the lower animals are specified, and it
is distinctly declared that they are all living souls—in exactly the
same terms that refer to man.
“Out of the ground the
Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the
air;...and whatever Adam called every living creature
[Heb., living soul—neh-phesh], that was the name
thereof.” (Gen. 2:19) Comment here is unnecessary: there can be no
question that soul is not exclusively a human
part or quality, but rightly understood is applicable to all
sentient creatures from the lowest to the highest—all
creatures possessed of sensibilities.
“Every moving thing that
liveth shall be meat for you... but flesh with the life
thereof [Heb., flesh, soul—neh-phesh] which is
the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.” (Gen. 9:3,4) Here the animals
which man may eat are not only declared to possess soul or
being, but their blood is said to represent
their existence, being or soul,
and hence man is forbidden to use blood as food—forbidden to
cultivate blood-thirstiness.
“Behold I establish my
covenant with you [Noah] and with your seed after you; and with
every living creature [Heb., living soul—neh-phesh]
that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of
the earth.” (Gen. 9:9,10) A very plain statement that all living
creatures are souls as well as man—though inferior to him in nature,
organism, etc.
“This is the token of the
covenant which I make between me and you and every living
creature [Heb., living soul—neh-phesh].” (Gen.
9:12) What could be more explicit than this?
“I will remember my
covenant which is between me and you and every living creature
[Heb., every living soul—neh-phesh] of all flesh.”
Gen. 9:15
[page 326]
The same expression
exactly is repeated in verse 16. And there is no room for cavil as
to the meaning when the veil of mistranslation is lifted and we
catch the thought God wished us to receive from his Word.
We might similarly proceed
through other books of the Bible, but we have quoted sufficient to
establish our contention before any reasonable mind—that soul in
Scriptural usage as properly applies to the lower animals as to man;
and hence that all claims or theories built upon the idea that man’s
hopes of a future life and his present superiority over lower
animals result from his being a soul and they not, is
a false theory and needs radical reconstruction if we would see
matters from the true standpoint of divine revelation.
But let no one
misunderstand us to teach that because all living, moving creatures,
from a mite to an elephant and from a tadpole to a whale are
living souls, therefore all these must have a future life,
either by a transfer to spirit conditions or by a resurrection
future. Such a thought would be arrant nonsense — insanity —
without a shadow of reason. Billions of living souls
on these lowest planes of animal nature are born every minute, while
other billions die every minute.
Our argument is that man
is a soul or being of the highest
order—the king and lord over the lower orders of souls or sentient
beings, yet one of them—an earthly, human animal soul; and yet so
grandly constituted originally (Adam) that he was properly described
as in the likeness of God—the image of him that
created him.
Man as a soul is
differentiated from the lower animals or souls by reason of his
higher organism: not merely is his superiority
indicated by his upright form; it is witnessed to by his superior
mental endowments, which are Godlike and are reflected in his
countenance. It is in his mental and moral endowments rather than
in physical form that man was created in divine likeness. While
many of the lower orders of animal soul or being possess
reasoning powers and demonstrate them in thousands of ways,
yet each has a level [page 327]
beyond which no progress can be made; but man’s reasoning powers are
almost unlimited, because he was created an “image of
God,” “the likeness of him that created him.” And notwithstanding
man’s fall into sin and his thousands of years of gross darkness and
degradation we can still see Godlikeness—especially in those who
have accepted Christ’s ministry of reconciliation to God, and have
again become “sons of God,” and who are seeking to be conformed to
the image of God’s dear Son.
To illustrate: horses,
dogs and birds may be taught the meaning of many words so as to be
able to understand many things pertaining to life’s affairs. They
often demonstrate their reasoning powers, and some are able to
count—as high as twenty: but who would attempt to teach a horse or a
dog or a bird algebra or geometry or astronomy? The highest of the
lower animals can be taught a certain degree of moral honesty and
obligation to their masters—not to kill sheep, not to bite, kick,
etc., but who would attempt to teach his dumb brutes the Decalogue?
They may be taught a certain kind of love for their master and his
friends, but who would think of teaching them to love or worship
God, or more than mere endurance of enemies who had despitefully
used them.
The point to be noticed is
that all these differences are not by reason of the lower animals
having a different kind of breath or spirit of life,
for as we have seen, “they have all one breath” (Eccl.
3:19); nor because man is a soul and the brute beast is not, for as
we have seen they are all souls. But as we have found, and as all
men are witnesses, each has a different bodily
organism which gives to each his different characteristics, and
which alone constitutes one higher and the other lower in the scale
of intelligence. Notice, too, that not size and weight give
excellence and superiority, else the elephant and whale would be the
lords of earth; the excellence is in the “organic quality”
represented chiefly in brain-structure and functions.
Man, therefore, is the
highest type of earthly creature—“of the earth, earthy”—and his
excellence consists in the superiority [page
328] of his mental endowment—not a development, but a gift
from his Creator.
“The Soul That Sinneth, It Shall Die”
It is quite in harmony
with the foregoing, but quite out of harmony with the usual thought
on the subject, that we find the Scriptures declaring repeatedly the
death of the soul, which human philosophy and hymn-book theology
most emphatically declare to be indestructible. We read, for
instance, that our Lord, when he became our ransom-price, “poured
out his soul [being] unto death.” “He made his
soul an offering for sin.” (Isa. 53:10,12) This was
necessary, because it was Adam’s soul that was
sentenced to death, and the promise to mankind is a redemption of
soul or being from the power of death. “God will redeem
my soul from the grave [sheol—the
condition of death].” (Psa. 49:15) And, as we have seen, it is
because all souls are thus redeemed in the one redemption that all
our friends—all mankind—are said to “sleep in Jesus.” 1 Thess. 4:14
We remark here that the
Apostle could not, in this expression, refer merely to the saints,
as when he speaks of those who are “in Christ”; for those referred
to as “new creatures” are those only who are begotten of God through
the Spirit, to joint-heirship with Christ, as his Church, the
members of his body. But “those who sleep in Jesus” include the
entire race, for our Lord Jesus was a propitiation for our sins, and
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world, and he
is by virtue of that sacrifice our Life-giver, and not only ours,
but also the Life-giver for the whole world—the testimony and the
opportunity for acceptance being, with the majority, still future. 1
John 2:2; 1 Tim. 2:4-6
That the Apostle has this
thought in mind is manifest from this context: he is here exhorting
believers to sorrow not as others who have no hope; and gives as the
reason of [page 329] the hope this
fact, that Jesus died for man’s sin, and rose again to be man’s
justifier, and hence that all “sleep in Jesus,” or are legally freed
from the death sentence, and amenable to Jesus, to be brought from
the dead by the divine power. Had the Apostle said or been
understood to mean that merely the saints would be thus blessed
through Jesus, we can readily see that believers then and since
would have very little consolation in his words, because the vast
majority of the friends of believers, then and since, cannot be
termed saints: and if the awakening from the sleep of death is a
blessing intended only for the saints, the thought, instead of being
a consolation, would be the reverse, an anguish, a distress. But
the Apostle refers to the whole world as being thus asleep
in Jesus, although none knows it from this standpoint except the
heavenly Father and his consecrated people, whom he has instructed
respecting his future gracious plans, through the Word of truth,
that they may rejoice in the lengths and breadths and heights and
depths of divine goodness, and “sorrow not, even as others that have
no [such substantial] hope.”
As the natural sleep, if
sound, implies total unconsciousness, so with death, the figurative
sleep—it is a period of absolute unconsciousness—more than that, it
is a period of absolute non-existence, except as preserved in the
Father’s purpose and power. Hence the awakening from death, to
those restored, will mean a revival of consciousness from the exact
moment and standpoint where consciousness was lost in death. There
will be no appreciation of time, as respects the interim. The
moment of awakening will be the next moment after the moment of
death, so far as conscious appreciation is concerned.
This same condition has
been noted in connection with persons who have sustained injuries
which have caused pressure upon the brain, and thus temporarily
suspended consciousness, without extinguishing life. In cases of
this kind, when the pressure upon the brain has been removed by
trepanning, the subject suddenly coming to consciousness
[page 330] has in numerous instances
been known to complete a sentence which had been interrupted by the
concussion which interrupted thought: for divine power will
thoroughly duplicate every convolution of every brain and vivify
them. Thus in the awakening-time the world of mankind in general
will revive with the same words and thoughts with which they
expired. But let it not be forgotten that we here refer to the
world in general, not to the elect and special class selected out of
the world, namely, the Church, the body of Christ, which will have
part in the first resurrection, and in many respects know a
different experience.
But while, as the Adamic
death has been turned, by reason of the divine plan and the ransom,
from being a destruction to a suspension
of existence, called sleep, nevertheless we find that the Scriptures
very distinctly assert that after the revival or awakening from the
death-sleep, it will depend upon each individual whether he shall go
on unto perfection and life, under the guidance, government and
tutelage of the glorious Christ, or whether he will wilfully,
deliberately and stubbornly choose the way of sin. If he choose the
latter he will get the punishment originally designated for father
Adam, viz., death, but no longer Adamic death, the penalty of Adam’s
sin: this is styled Second Death. This Second Death is nowhere
spoken of as a sleep, nor is there the slightest
intimation anywhere given that there will be any awakening from it.
On the contrary, it is designated “everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord.” 2 Thess. 1:9
Of this redeemed and
awakened class, which in general shall have its trial during the
Millennial age, the Scriptures declare, “The soul that sinneth it
shall die.” (Ezek. 18:20) That this scripture is not generally
applicable at the present time is evident from three
considerations:
(1) It would be
meaningless, at the present time, when all die—saints and sinners.
(2) It is expressed in the
form of a second sentence, and [page 331]
based upon the individual action, and this could not be
applicable in the present time, because now we all die because of
“one man’s disobedience,” and the sentence of death which came upon
him, and indirectly affects all his race. Rom. 5:12
(3) The context shows that
this passage refers particularly to those who have gotten free from
Adamic sin which prevails in general today. Its special
applicability, therefore, must belong to the next age, the
Millennial age. Note the connections, not forgetting that the law
covenant of the Jewish age was analogous to the covenant of the
Millennial age, except that the latter will have a better Mediator,
able and willing to succor and to help all who shall seek to walk
righteously, not imputing unintentional short-comings.
The context declares: This
shall no more be a proverb in Israel, The fathers have eaten sour
grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But, on the
contrary, each soul shall be responsible to God for itself, and “the
soul that sinneth it shall die. The son shall not
bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the
iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be
upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”
(Ezek. 18:2,4,20) It is evident that this time has not yet come.
The children still have their “teeth set on edge,” by reason of the
sour grapes of sin which their fathers have eaten; we are still
under the law of heredity; all still die for Adam’s sin, and not for
individual sin. In proof of this note the indisputable fact that
nearly one-half of the human family die in infancy, without having
reached years of discretion or responsibility on their own account.
Who cannot see that the agonizing and dying infant of a few days or
a few months old is not dying for its own sins, but
that it is dying because it is a member of the Adamic race, which is
still under the curse pronounced against our father Adam, “Dying
thou shalt die”? It has inherited a share of the curse, and will
also inherit a share of God’s blessing through Christ in the coming
[page 332] awakening, secured through
the merit of the great Atonement finished at Calvary.
If we turn to Jeremiah
31:29-34, we find another reference to exactly the same conditions
mentioned by Ezekiel, only that in Jeremiah we are furnished with
more explicit details, which show that this condition belongs not to
the present age, but to a future age. Jeremiah declares:
“In those days
they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the
children’s teeth are set on edge. But every one [who dies] shall die
for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape his teeth
shall be set on edge.”
The words “In those days”
clearly refer to the future times of restitution, under the reign of
Christ, and not to the present time of the reign of sin and death.
Notice that the Prophet proceeds to describe other features of the
Millennial age, telling about the New Covenant which is to be
confirmed to Israel and Judah, the everlasting covenant, under which
they shall obtain their long-looked-for portion of the Abrahamic
blessings and promises. Compare Rom. 11:26-31
This same thought, that
death will again be the penalty for sin, to all redeemed from the
Adamic death, if after they come to a knowledge of the grace of God,
they receive that grace in vain, is shown by our Lord’s own words,
“Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul
[fear not them which take away the present life, which is already
under sentence of death, anyway; but remember that you have been
redeemed, and that a future life is a possibility to you, and that
no man can rob you of that which God has provided for you through
the redemption in Christ Jesus], but fear him that can destroy both
soul and body in Gehenna.” (Matt. 10:28) Here the power of God to
destroy the soul is positively asserted, and that by an
unquestionable authority. We are aware that a crooked theology has
sought to wrest the Scriptures, and therefore asserts that this
signifies that God is able to destroy the happiness of
the soul in Gehenna, but that he is unable to destroy the soul
[page 333] itself. We reply, that
this is a wresting of the Scriptures, and their perversion in a
manner which cannot fail to bring evil consequences upon those who
“handle the word of God deceitfully.” We elsewhere show*
that the word “Gehenna” here used signifies “the Second Death”—utter
destruction—to all souls which will not hear God’s great Prophet,
when, in due time, he shall speak plainly unto all the people, as he
now is speaking under parables and dark sayings, expounded only to
the Church. Acts 3:23; Matt. 13:11
—————
*“What Say the
Scriptures About Hell?” Address the publishers.
We claim, therefore, that
the Scriptures unquestionably declare that man is a
soul or being; that his right to existence under divine arrangement
was forfeited by sin, and that he is now under the curse or penalty
of the divine sentence, death; that man’s privileges
and rights were all purchased by the man Christ Jesus, who gave
himself a ransom for all; that as a consequence death is not to be
accounted as death, utter destruction, but merely as a temporary
“sleep,” from which the world of mankind will be awakened by their
Redeemer in the resurrection morning of the Millennial age.
Confusion Through Mistranslations
It should not surprise us
when we find that, holding grossly erroneous views respecting what
is the soul, what is the spirit, what is the real man, the
translators of our Common Version English Bible have been sorely
perplexed: and in their endeavor to force the translation into
harmony with their preconceived ideas on this subject, they have
confused the ordinary English reader tenfold. They have so covered
and twisted the meaning of words as to make it extremely difficult
for the English reader to see through the now double difficulty, (1)
the false teaching on the subject, and (2) the mistranslations which
support that false teaching.
[page 334]
However, in divine
providence, we are now living in a day provided with helps of every
kind, so that man or woman of even ordinary education, with the
helps before him, can get a better view of the entire subject than
the translators themselves had. There are now three works which
give the English reader a tolerably clear insight into the Common
Version English Bible, and show exactly how it has translated the
Hebrew and Greek originals. (1) The
Englishman’s Hebrew and Greek Concordance of the Holy Scriptures
[unsectarian]. (2) Professor Young’s Analytical Concordance
to the Bible [Presbyterian]. (3) Dr. Strong’s
Exhaustive Concordance [Methodist]. All three of
these give each word of the Scriptures, and show the original from
which it is derived. And although we have mentioned the
denominations represented in these different Concordances, it is but
fair to say that, so far as we have yet observed, denominational
prejudices have not been permitted to interfere with the accuracy of
any of them. Although gotten up on somewhat different lines, their
testimony is harmonious and accurate, the differences between them
being those of convenience and utility.
Examining these standard
works what do we find? This: that the Hebrew word neh-phesh,
which is generally rendered “soul” (436 times) throughout the Old
Testament, and which has the signification of “sentient being,” is
translated in thirty-six different ways, as follows: “any,” 4 times;
“appetite,” 2; “beast,” 1; “body,” 4; “breath,” 1; “creature,” 9
[see Gen. 1:21,24; 2:19; 9:10,12,15,16; Lev. 11:46, twice]; “dead,”
5; “deadly,” 1; “desire,” 3; “discontented,” 1; “fish,” 1 (Isa.
19:10); “ghost,” 2; “greedy,” 1; “hath,” 1; “he,” 1; (Psa. 105:18);
“heart,” 15; “hearty,” 1; “herself,” 1; “her,” 1; “himself,” 4;
“life,” 100; “lust,” 2; “man,” 2; “me,” 3 (Num. 23:10; Judges 16:30;
1 Kings 20:32); “mind,” 15; “mortally,” 1; “myself,” 1 (Psa. 131:2);
“one,” 1 (Lev. 4:27); “own,” 1 (Prov. 14:10); “person,” 24 (Gen.
14:21; 36:6; Num. 31:19; 35:11,15,30; Deut. 10:22; 27:25; Josh.
20:3,9); “pleasure,” 3; “self,” 21; “slay,” 1;
[page 335] “thing,” 2 (Lev. 11:10;
Ezek. 47:9); “will,” 3; “your,” 3.
The Greek word,
psuche [sentient being], of the New Testament corresponding
to neh-phesh, is translated “soul,” fifty-six times;
is also translated “mind,” three times (Acts 14:2; Phil. 1:27; Heb.
12:3); “heart,” once (Eph. 6:6); “life,” forty-one times.
Amongst these variations
in translation none has served to obscure the truth more than the
last. It has tended to give the impression that the life
is one thing, and soul or being another thing; and has
fostered the idea that a man might lose his life, without losing his
soul, his being. The following are the instances in which the word
psuche is translated life, but would
better have prevented confusion if translated being or
soul:
“Which sought the young
child’s life [psuche—soul, being].”
Matt. 2:20
“Take no thought for your
life [psuche—soul, being], what ye shall
eat.” Matt. 6:25
“Is not the life
[psuche—soul, being] more than meat?” Matt. 6:25
“He that findeth his
life [psuche—soul, being] shall lose it,
and he that loseth his life [psuche—soul,
being] for my sake shall find it.” Matt. 10:39
“Whosoever will save his
life [psuche—soul, being] shall lose it,
and whosoever will lose his life [psuche—soul,
being], for my sake shall find it.” Matt. 16:25
“The Son of man came...to
give his life [psuche—soul, being] a
ransom for many.” Matt. 20:28
“Is it lawful to save
life [psuche—soul, being], or to kill?”
Mark 3:4
“Whosoever will save his
life [psuche—soul, being] shall lose it,
but whosoever shall lose his life [psuche—soul,
being] for my sake and the Gospel’s, the same shall save it. For
what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his
own soul [psuche—life, being], or what
shall a man give in exchange for his soul [psuche—life,
being]?” [How few English readers are aware that “life” and “soul,”
each used [page 336] twice in this
scripture, are from the same Greek word psuche.] Mark
8:35-37
“The Son of Man came to
give his life [psuche—soul, being] a
ransom for many.” Mark 10:45
“Is it lawful to save
life [psuche—soul, being] or to destroy
it?” Luke 6:9
“Whosoever will save his
life [psuche—soul, being] shall lose it,
but whosoever will lose his life [psuche—soul,
being] for my sake the same shall save it. For what is a man
advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose himself, or be cast
away?” Luke 9:24
“The Son of Man is not
come to destroy men’s lives [psuche—souls,
beings], but to save them.” Luke 9:56
“Take no thought for your
life [psuche—soul, being] what ye shall
eat, neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more
than meat, and the body is more than raiment.” Luke 12:22,23
“If any man come to me,
and hate not [love not less] his father and mother and wife and
children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life
[psuche—soul, being] also, he cannot be my disciple.”
Luke 14:26
“Whosoever shall seek to
save his life [psuche—soul, being] shall
lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life [psuche—soul,
being] shall preserve it.” Luke 17:33
The thought in this last
text, and in several preceding it, is that the Lord’s people are to
remember that their present existence or being is under sentence of
death anyway; but that divine grace has provided redemption—not a
continuance of being, but a resuscitation, a resurrection, a living
again. The call of this Gospel age is to lay down our lives in the
Lord’s service, as living sacrifices, following the example of our
Redeemer—the promise being that all believers in Christ who so do,
faithfully, shall be granted a share with him in the divine nature,
through the operation of the first resurrection. Thus they will get
back again their soul, being, existence—with “life [zoee]
more abundantly.” John 10:10
“The good Shepherd giveth
his life [psuche—soul, being]
[page 337] for the sheep [our Lord
“poured out his soul unto death; he made his
soul an offering for sin.” Isa. 53:10,12].” John 10:11
“I lay down my life
[psuche—soul, being] for the sheep.” John 10:15
“I lay down my life
[psuche—soul, being] that I might receive it again
[according to the divine promise and power, through the
resurrection].” John 10:17
“He that loveth his
life [psuche—soul, being] shall lose it; and
he that hateth his life [psuche—soul,
being] in this world shall preserve it unto life eternal.” John
12:25
The thought here is, that
faithfulness to God under present evil conditions necessarily means
dissatisfaction with present conditions, and a willingness to
sacrifice them all in the service of God and righteousness and our
fellow creatures—and thus, according to the divine provision, to be
accounted worthy of existence [soul, being] under the
more favorable conditions of the dispensation to come. He who loves
the present conditions of things, and who values the enjoyments and
pleasures of the present time higher than he values righteousness
and obedience to God, will thus be proving himself unworthy of the
future existence God has proffered us, unworthy to have his soul,
his being, restored in the first resurrection.
“Wilt thou lay down thy
life [psuche—soul, being] for my sake?”
John 13:38
“Greater love hath no man
than this, that a man lay down his life [psuche—soul,
being] for his friends.” John 15:13
“Men that have hazarded
their lives [psuche—souls, beings].”
Acts 15:26
“Trouble not yourselves,
for his life [psuche—soul, being] is in
him [he has not expired, or breathed out existence].” Acts 20:10
“Neither count I my
life [psuche—soul, being, existence] dear unto
myself, so that I might finish my course with joy.” Acts 20:24
The Apostle had learned to
rightly view the present existence
[page 338] as of small value in
comparison to the future one promised in the resurrection. He did
not count it “dear,” precious, in the sense of valuing it more than
the Lord and the Lord’s favor, and the opportunities for serving the
Lord’s cause. He was willing to spend and be spent in the Master’s
service, in hope of attaining to the first resurrection, as he
explicitly tells us in Phil. 3:8-11.
“Sirs, I perceive that
this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the
lading and ship, but also of our lives [psuche—souls,
beings].” Acts 27:10
“There shall be no loss of
any man’s life [psuche—soul, being].”
Acts 27:22
“I am left alone, and they
seek my life [psuche—soul, being].” Rom.
11:3
“Who have for my
life [psuche—soul, being] laid down their own
necks.” Rom. 16:4
“Because for the work of
Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life
[psuche—soul, being], supplying your lack of service
toward me.” Phil. 2:30
“Because he laid down his
life [psuche—soul, being—“he poured out
his soul unto death; he made his soul an offering for sin”] for us;
and we ought to lay down our lives [psuche—souls,
beings] for the brethren.” 1 John 3:16
“The third part of the
creatures which were in the sea, and had life [psuche—soul,
being] died.” Rev. 8:9
“They loved not their
lives [psuche—souls, beings] unto death.”
Rev. 12:11
Once we get our minds
clear upon this subject of the soul and obtain a clear understanding
of just how the words neh-phesh and psuche
are used throughout the Scriptures, by the inspired writers, it
removes all the mystery that has heretofore been shrouded under the
obscure words, soul and ghost, which,
not only to the ignorant, but also to many of the educated, have
meant something indefinite, indescribable and incomprehensible.
But let none get the
thought that the body is the soul: this
[page 339] is an error, as our Lord’s
words clearly show—“God is able to destroy both soul
and body.” But on the other hand there can be no soul, no sentient
being without a body—heavenly or earthly, spiritual or animal.
Going to the Genesis
record of man’s creation we see that the body was formed first, but
it was not a man, soul or being, until animated. It
had eyes, but saw nothing; ears, but heard nothing; a mouth, but
spoke nothing; a tongue, but no taste; nostrils, but no sense of
smell; a heart, but it pulsated not; blood, but it was cold,
lifeless; lungs, but they moved not. It was not a man, but a
corpse, an inanimate body.
The second step in the
process of man’s creation was to give vitality to the properly
“formed” and in every way prepared body; and this is described by
the words “blew into his nostrils the breath of life.” When a
healthy person has been drowned and animation is wholly suspended,
resuscitation has, it is said, been effected by working the arms and
thus the lungs as a bellows, and so gradually establishing the
breath in the nostrils. In Adam’s case it of course required no
labored effort on the part of the Creator to cause the perfect
organism which he had made to breathe the life-giving oxygen of the
atmosphere.
As the vitalizing breath
entered, the lungs expanded, the blood corpuscles were oxygenized
and passed to the heart, which in turn propelled them to every part
of the body, awakening all the prepared but hitherto dormant nerves
to sensation and energy. In an instant the energy reached the
brain, and thought perception, reasoning, looking, touching,
smelling, feeling and tasting commenced. That which was a lifeless
human organism had become a man, a
sentient being: the “living soul” condition mentioned
in the text had been reached. In other words, the term “living
soul” means neither more nor less than the term “sentient being”;
i.e., a being capable of sensation, perception, thought.
Moreover, even though Adam
was perfect in his organism, it was necessary for him to
sustain life, soul or sentient
[page 340] being, by partaking of the
fruits of the trees of life. And when he sinned, God drove him from
the garden, “lest he put forth his hand, and take also
of the tree [plural trees or grove] of
life, and eat, and live forever [i.e., by eating
continuously].” (Gen. 3:22) How the fogs and mysteries scatter
before the light of truth which shines from God’s Word!
Although, because of his
fall into sin and death, man’s condition is far from what it was in
its original perfection when pronounced “very good” by the highest
Judge, so that some, by the cultivation of the lower organs of
thought and a failure to use the higher intellectual faculties, have
dwarfed the organs of the brain representing these higher faculties,
yet the organs are still there, and are capable of
development, which is not the case with the most nearly perfect
specimens of the brute creation. So then it is in that the Creator
has endowed man with a higher and finer organism, that
he has made him to differ from the brute. They have similar flesh
and bones, breathe the same air, drink the same water, and eat
similar food, and all are souls or creatures possessing
intelligence; but man, in his better body, possesses
capacity for higher intelligence and is treated by the Creator as on
an entirely different plane. It is in proportion as sin degrades
man from his original likeness of his Creator that he is said to be
“brutish”—more nearly resembling the brutes, destitute of the higher
and finer sensibilities.
Those whose eyes of
understanding begin to open to this subject, so that they see that
the word “soul” signifies intelligence, being, and the word “breath”
or “spirit of life” signifies the divine power to live, can readily
see, from the foregoing, that every creature which possesses
life-consciousness has, first of all, a body or organism; secondly,
the spirit of life animating it, and thirdly, existence, being,
soul, as a result. An illustration which helps some to grasp the
proposition is the similarity between heat and soul. If a lump of
coal is placed under favorable conditions, giving access to the
oxygen of the air, and then ignited, a new thing will be produced—heat.
The coal is not heat, though it [page 341]
possesses some of the qualities which, under favorable
conditions, would produce heat; neither is the oxygen heat, yet it
also, under favorable conditions, may be an element in producing
heat. So, to carry the analogy, the body is not the soul, though
the body possesses the qualifications necessary to soul; neither is
the breath or spirit of life the soul—it is the power which came
from God, and which is necessary to the production of the sentient
creature. The body, when properly united with the breath or spirit
of life, produces a new thing—a being, a soul, a sentient creature.
And the process of
dissolution, death, is in harmony with these facts. If the breath
or spirit of life be withdrawn, death results. Now the question is,
what dies? Does the breath or spirit of life die? Surely not; it
never had sentient being, it is a principle or power, like
electricity; it has no thought, no feeling; it could not die. Does
the body die? We answer, No. The body may lose the life with which
the Father animates it, but the body of itself, apart from the
breath or spirit of life, had no consciousness, no feeling, no
sense, and could not, therefore, be said to die; it was
inanimate before the breath or spirit of life came into it;
it was animate while the breath or spirit of life was
in it; it becomes inanimate again, or dead, when the
spirit of life is withdrawn.
What, then, dies? We
answer that it is the soul that dies—the sentient being ceases. Let
us remember that the sentient being was produced by the union of the
breath or spirit of life with an organism, and that the separation
or dissolution of these two causes the cessation of the being, the
soul—death. That this is true of the lower animals, none would for
a moment question; but is it not equally true of man, the highest
animal, created in the intellectual image and moral likeness of
God? It is no less true, and should be equally evident to every
reasoning mind. We are aware that some few scriptures might be
twisted and misunderstood to contradict this proposition, but in due
course they will have consideration and will be found in most
absolute accord with these presentations.
[page 342]
Take another illustration
of the relationship between the human or animal body, spirit and
soul: an unlighted candle would correspond to an inanimate human
body or corpse; the lighting of the candle would correspond to the
spark of life originally imparted by the Creator; the flame or light
corresponds to sentient being, or intelligence, or soul quality; the
oxygenized atmosphere which unites with the carbon of the candle in
supporting the flame corresponds to the breath of life
or spirit of life which unites with the physical organism in
producing soul or intelligent existence. If an accident should occur
which would destroy the candle, the flame, of course, would cease;
so if a human or animal body be destroyed, as by disease or
accident, the soul, the being,
intelligence, personality, ceases. Or if the supply
of air were cut off from the candle flame, as by an extinguisher or
snuffer, or by submerging the candle in water, the light would be
extinguished even though the candle remained unimpaired. So the
soul, life, existence, of man or animal would cease if
the breath of life were cut off by drowning or asphyxiation, while
the body might be comparatively sound.
As the lighted candle
might be used under favorable conditions to light other candles, but
the flame once extinguished the candle could neither relight itself
nor other candles, so the human or animal body while alive, as a
living soul or being can, under divine arrangement, start or
propagate other souls or beings—offspring: but so soon as
the spark of life is gone, soul or being has ceased, and all power
to think, feel and propagate has ceased. In harmony with this we
read in the Scriptures of Jacob’s children: “All the souls
that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls.”
(Exod. 1:5) Jacob received his spark of life as well as his
physical organism, and hence the united product of these, his soul
or intelligent being, from Isaac, and hence from Adam,
to whom alone God ever directly imparted life. And Jacob passed on
the life and organism and soul to his posterity, and so with all
humanity. [page 343]
A candle might be
relighted by any one having the ability; but by divine arrangement
the human body bereft of the spark of life, “wasteth away,” returns
to the dust from which it was taken, and the spark of life cannot be
re-enkindled except by divine power, a miracle. The promise of
resurrection is therefore a promise of a relighting, a
re-enkindling of animal existence or soul; and since there can be no
being or soul without a body and restored life-power or spirit, it
follows that a promised resurrection or restoration of soul or being
implies new bodies, new organisms. Thus the
Scriptures assure us that human bodies, which return to dust will
not be restored, but that in the resurrection God will
give such new bodies as it may please him to give. 1 Cor. 15:37-40
The Apostle here declares
that in the resurrection there will be a special class accounted
worthy of a new nature, spiritual instead of human or fleshly: and,
as we should expect, he shows that this great change of nature will
be effected by giving these a different kind of body.
The candle may here again serve to illustrate: suppose the fleshly
or human nature to be illustrated by a tallow candle, the new body
might be illustrated by a wax candle of a brighter flame, or indeed
by an electric arc-light apparatus.
With any power and wisdom
less than that of our Creator guaranteeing the resurrection, we
might justly fear some break or slip by which the identity
would be lost, especially with those granted the great change of
nature by a share in the first (chief) resurrection to
spirit being. But we can securely trust this and all
things to him with whom we have to do in this matter. He who knows
our very thoughts can reproduce them in the new brains so that not
one valuable lesson or precious experience shall be lost. He is too
wise to err and too good to be unkind; and all that he has promised
he will fulfil in a manner exceedingly abundantly better than we can
ask or think.
Many suppose that the
bodies buried are to be restored atom for atom, but, on the
contrary, the Apostle declares, [page 344]
“Thou sowest [in death] not that body which shall be.” It is
the soul, the sentient being, that God proposes to
restore by resurrection power; and in the resurrection he
will give to each person (to each soul or sentient being) such a
body as his infinite wisdom has been pleased to provide; to the
Church, the “bride” selected in this age, spirit
bodies; to the restitution class, human bodies, but not the ones
lost in death. 1 Cor. 15:37,38
As in Adam’s creation, the
bringing together of an organism and the breath
of life produced a sentient being or
soul, so the dissolution of these, from any cause, puts an
end to sentient being—stopping thoughts and feelings of every kind.
The soul (i.e., sentient being) ceases; the body returns to dust as
it was; while the spirit or breath of life returns to God, who
imparted it to Adam, and to his race through him. (Eccl. 12:7) It
returns to God in the sense that it is no longer amenable to human
control, as in procreation, and can never be recovered except by
divine power. Recognizing this fact, the Lord’s instructed ones
commit their hope of future life by resurrection to God and to
Christ, his now exalted representative. (Luke 23:46; Acts 7:59) So,
then, had God made no provision for man’s future life by a ransom
and a promised resurrection, death would have been the end of all
hope for humanity. 1 Cor. 15:14-18
But God has thus made
provision for our living again; and ever since he made known his
gracious plan, those who speak and write intelligently upon the
subject (for instance, the inspired Scripture writers), as if by
common consent, speak of the unconscious interim between death and
the resurrection morning, in which sensibility (sentient being) is
suspended, as a “sleep.” Indeed, the illustration is
an excellent one; for the moment of awakening will seem to them like
the moment after the moment of their dissolution. For instance, we
read that speaking of Lazarus’ death our Lord said, “Our friend
Lazarus sleepeth, I go that I may awake him out
of sleep.” Afterward, because the disciples were slow to
comprehend, he said, “Lazarus is dead.” (John 11:11-14)
[page 345] Were the theory of
consciousness in death correct, is it not remarkable that Lazarus
gave no account of his experience during those four days? None will
claim that he was in a “hell” of torment, for our Lord called him
his “friend”; and if he had been in heavenly bliss our Lord would
not have called him from it, for that would have been an unfriendly
act. But as our Lord expressed it, Lazarus slept, and
he awakened him to life, to consciousness, to his sentient
being, or soul returned or revived; and all
this was evidently a favor greatly appreciated by Lazarus and his
friends.
The thought pervades the
Scriptures that we are now in the night of dying and sleeping as
compared with the morning of awakening and resurrection. “Weeping
may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the
morning” (Psa. 30:5)—the resurrection morning, when the
sleepers shall come forth from the tomb, as expressed by the
Prophet: “Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust [of the earth].”
Isa. 26:19
The apostles also
frequently used this appropriate, hopeful and peaceful figure of
speech. For instance: Luke says of Stephen, the first martyr, “he
fell asleep”; and in recording Paul’s speech at Antioch he
used the same expression, “David fell on sleep.” (Acts
7:60; 13:36) Peter uses the same expression, saying, “The fathers
fell asleep.” (2 Pet. 3:4) And Paul used it many
times as the following quotations show:
“If her husband be dead
[Greek, fall asleep].” 1 Cor. 7:39
“The greater part remain
unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.” 1 Cor.
15:6
“If there be no
resurrection,...then they also which are fallen asleep
in Christ are perished.” 1 Cor. 15:13-18
“Christ is risen from the
dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” 1
Cor. 15:20
“Behold, I show you a
mystery, we shall not all sleep.” 1 Cor. 15:51
[page 346]
“I would not have you to
be ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep.”
1 Thess. 4:13
“Them that sleep
in Jesus, will God bring [from the dead] with [by] him.” 1 Thess.
4:14
When the Kingdom, the
resurrection time, comes, “we who are alive and remain unto the
presence of the Lord shall not precede them
that are asleep.” 1 Thess. 4:15
The same thought is
presented by the Prophet Daniel: describing the resurrection he
says—“Many that sleep in the dust shall awake”—and the
description shows that these sleepers include both the good and bad.
(Dan. 12:2) They “fell asleep” in peace, to await the Lord’s
day—the day of Christ, the Millennial Day—fully persuaded that he
(Christ) is able to keep that which they committed unto him against
that day. (2 Tim. 1:12) This same thought runs through the Old
Testament as well—from the time that God first preached to Abraham
the Gospel of a resurrection: the expression, “He slept with his
fathers,” is very common in the Old Testament. But Job puts the
matter in very forcible language, saying, “Oh that thou wouldest
hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret until thy
wrath be [over] past!” The present dying time is the time of God’s
wrath—the curse of death being upon all, because of the original
transgression. However, we are promised that in due time the curse
will be lifted and a blessing will come through the Redeemer to all
the families of the earth; and so Job continues, “All the days of my
appointed time will I wait, until my change come; [then] thou shalt
call (John 5:25) and I will answer thee; thou shalt have a desire to
the work of thine hands.” (Job 14:14,15) And we of the New
Testament times read our Lord’s response, “All that are in the
graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God [calling them to awake
and come to a full knowledge of God and to a full opportunity of
everlasting life].” John 5:25,28,29
This death-”sleep” is so
absolutely a period of unconsciousness [page
347] that the awakened ones will have no knowledge of the
lapse of time. Indeed, “sleep” is merely an accommodated term, for
really the dead are dead, utterly destroyed, except as God’s wisdom
preserves their identity, and has decreed through Christ their
awakening—their reorganization and resuscitation. And this, indeed,
will be a re-creation—a still greater manifestation of
divine power than was the original creation of Adam and Eve. It
will be the re-creation of fifty billions instead of two persons.
It will be the reproduction of infinite varieties instead of one.
Only our God possesses such omnipotent wisdom and power; he is both
able and willing to perform. It is to be one of the benefits
resulting from the permission of evil that its eradication will
manifest all the features of divine character as they could not
otherwise be manifested and known. Before both angels and men
divine justice will shine, so will divine love,
so will divine power, and finally the divine
wisdom in preparing and permitting such an exhibition of
God’s character will be seen and owned by all his creatures also.
The Scriptural testimony
regarding the necessity for a resurrection of the dead is most clear
and explicit—and how could there be a resurrection of the dead
if none are dead, but, as some maintain, “all who seem
to die are more alive than they ever were”; thus contradicting the
five senses of every intelligent being as well as the positive
declaration of Scripture that “To all the living there is hope: for
a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living [even the
least intelligent] know that they shall die, but the dead know
not anything, neither have they any more a
reward; for the memory of them is [very generally] forgotten. Also
their love, and their hatred and their envy, is now perished;
neither have they any more a portion [interest] forever [Hebrew,
olam—for a long indefinite period] in anything that is
done under the sun...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
[the soul, the sentient being] goest.” Eccl. 9:4-10;
Isa. 26:14
—————
*Sheol—the
state or condition of death as respects the soul, in
contrast with grave, a tomb for a dead body which in
the Hebrew is qeber. See Psa. 30:3; 49:15; 89:48;
where sheol is rendered grave. See 2 Chron. 34:28;
Job 10:19; Psa. 88:5; where qeber is grave. Our
Lord’s soul went to sheol the condition
of death (Psa. 16:10; Acts 2:27), but “he made his grave [qeber,
tomb] with the wicked and rich.” Isa. 53:9
[page 348]
“Thou destroyest the hope
of man [in himself]. Thou prevailest forever against him, and he
passeth: thou changest his countenance and sendest him away. His
sons come to honor and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low,
but he perceiveth it not of them.” Job 14:19-21; Isa. 63:16
Note the significance of
the Apostle’s words in his celebrated treatise on the resurrection
in 1 Cor. 15:12-54. He says:
“If Christ be preached
that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no
resurrection of the dead?”
If the dead are not dead,
but more alive than ever, then none are dead, and surely there could
be no resurrection of the dead. The Apostle held no such theory,
but the very contrary, that the dead are perished like
brute beasts unless God will resurrect them; and that our hopes for
them are vain hopes except they be resurrection hopes. Mark well
every word of this forceful argument by one of earth’s greatest
logicians. He says:
“If there be no
resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen [but is still
dead]: And if Christ be not risen [but still dead], then is our
preaching vain, and your faith is also vain [because a dead Christ
could know nothing and could help nobody]. Yea, and we are found
false witnesses of God [we are wicked deceivers instead of divinely
appointed ambassadors]; because we have testified of God that he
raised up Christ: whom he raised not up—if so be [if it be true]
that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not then is Christ not
raised.”
[page 349]
It should be observed that
the Apostle is not pressing his argument as respecting a
resurrection of the body, but as respects a
resurrection of being, or soul; “that his soul
was not left in sheol, hades.” (Acts
2:31,32) Had Paul the popular theory of our day respecting
resurrection, he would have said something like this: Some of you
speak of a resurrection of the body as though it were
a matter of importance; but really the body is a “clog,” a
hindrance, a “prison house” for the soul, which is far better off
when “set free.” The resurrection of the body, whenever it comes,
will be a calamity and imply the “re-fettering” of the soul and a
limitation of its powers.
The Apostle said nothing
of the kind because it would have been the reverse of the truth. He
taught a resurrection of the soul or sentient being from
unconsciousness, from death; but denied the resurrection of the body
which died, saying, “Thou sowest not that body which
shall be:...[in the resurrection of the soul or being] God giveth it
a [new] body, as it hath pleased him, and to every [kind of] seed
his own [appropriate kind of] body.” (1 Cor. 15:37,38) The masses
of mankind of human seed or kind will receive human bodies; but not
the same bodies which mouldered to dust and whose fragments or atoms
have passed into vegetable and animal organisms infinitesimal. The
Church will receive spirit bodies like to that of their risen Lord
and wholly unlike their earthly bodies—so much so that the Apostle
declares, “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”—not as he was. 1 John 3:2
But let us follow the
Apostle’s argument further. He declares:
“If Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain: ye are yet in your sins. Then they also that
are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” Verses
17,18
Those who claim that the
soul cannot die and therefore does not die and who therefore deny
the resurrection of the [page 350]
soul or sentient being, and who in consequence are forced by their
argument to claim that Scriptural references to resurrection refer
merely to the body, are in a quandary what to do with these words of
the inspired Apostle. If they claim that our Lord was alive, “more
alive than ever,” during the three days the Scriptures declare he
was dead, and think of his resurrection body as the one that lay in
Joseph’s tomb wounded and scarred, how could they claim that faith
in a Christ who did not die (but who merely shed off his body for
three days) is a “vain” faith? How can they
acknowledge that such a faith does not release from condemnation?
How could they claim that the “more-alive-than-ever” Christ “freed”
from his body of flesh could not save sinners and hence that all
that have fallen asleep in Christ have “perished?”
Their entire theory
is in conflict with the Scriptural presentation of the facts.
They deny that any soul could perish [Greek
apolloomee—be destroyed] while the Apostle says it could;
and so says our Lord—“God is able to destroy both soul and body.”
They deny also that any “are fallen asleep in Christ”
denying that death is a sleep, awaiting a resurrection morn
awakening, while the apostles, our Lord and all the holy prophets
unitedly declare it to be a “sleep” from which God’s power alone can
awaken to consciousness, soul, sentient being, on any plane of
existence. For be it noted that those who experience the “change”
of the first resurrection to the divine nature will be souls
as truly as they were in their earthly nature. God is declared to
be a soul, the same word psuche being
used—“If any man draw back, my soul [psuche—sentient
being] shall have no pleasure in him.” Heb. 10:38
The Platonic philosophy
(that man does not and cannot die, but merely appears to do so)
prevailed throughout Greece at the time of the first advent, and
constituted the great obstacle to the progress of the gospel among
the Gentiles. For instance, we read that when Paul preached at
Athens he was listened to as a great teacher by the philosophers
[page 351] until he touched on the
resurrection of the dead—that was enough; they had no further
interest; they considered themselves far in advance of the Jewish
idea that the dead can have no future existence except by a
resurrection. “And when they heard of the resurrection of the
dead [and thus discerned that Paul disagreed with their
theory that the dead are more alive than ever] some mocked” and
others said, That’s enough at present. Acts 17:32
The heathen idea, that
death is not death, but a step into broader conditions of life, had
not to any extent permeated Jewish thought up to the time of the
first advent. The Pharisees were the principal sect of the Jews,
and our Lord declares them the successors and representatives of the
Mosaic law, saying, “The scribes [writers] and Pharisees sit in
Moses’ seat.” (Matt. 23:2) The Sadducees, much less numerous than
the Pharisees, were next as a sect in point of influence: they were
really unbelievers, infidels. They denied entirely a future life,
holding that man dies exactly as does the brute, and that there will
be no resurrection of the dead. They were disbelievers in all the
Messianic promises, deniers also of the superhuman intelligences,
such as angels, etc. True, Josephus does call attention to a sect
called the Essenes, which he declares held the Platonic theory
prevalent amongst the Gentiles, to the effect that man never really
dies, but merely takes a progressive step in life development, at
the crisis termed death. But we are to remember that Josephus wrote
his history of the Jews while at the Roman court, and that he wrote
it with a view of influencing the minds of the emperor and his court
in favor of the Jews. The Romans had come to regard the Jews, as the
Scriptures declare them to have been, “a stiff-necked and rebellious
people,” and naturally had concluded that the cause of this
rebellious disposition lay somehow or other in their religion. This
was a true supposition; it is undoubtedly a fact that the truths of
divine revelation tend to produce a spirit of liberty wherever they
are applied—breaking down the wide distinctions as between priests
and people, kings and [page 352
subjects, teaching that all are amenable to one great Judge and
King. But Josephus wished to counteract this correct estimate of
the Jewish people, and the Jewish religion; and hence he stretched
the truth in his endeavor to make out a case, and to show the Roman
court that the Jews’ religion was practically the same as the
various heathen religions, (1) in respect to consciousness of the
dead, and (2) a belief in eternal torment.*
To make out his case, he cites the sect of the Essenes, as though
they were the chief religious sect amongst the Jews. On the
contrary, they were so insignificant that they are not so much as
mentioned in the New Testament, and evidently never came in conflict
with either the Lord or the apostles, whereas the Pharisees and the
Sadducees are continually and frequently referred to.
—————
*Eternal torment never was the Jewish
belief except of the very few; but the Roman Emperors favored this
theory, for it increased the imperial influence over the common
people. Later the Emperors adopted the title, “Pontifex Maximus,”
chief religious ruler—later still adopted by Papacy for the popes.
“All Live unto Him”—Luke 20:37,38
It was after our Lord had
answered the doctors of the law and the scribes and Pharisees, and
had discomfited them, that the Sadducees put in an appearance,
thinking that they could show the superiority of their infidel
position, by refuting our Lord’s doctrines. To these Sadducees, who
claimed that the dead were forever dead, our Lord said, “And now
that the dead are [to be] raised, even Moses showed at the bush,
when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the
living: for all live unto him.” Luke 20:37,38
Our Lord suggests that
this of itself is a proof “that the dead are [to be] raised,”
because God would surely not refer thus to beings totally and
forever blotted out of existence. He then shows that God’s plan for
a resurrection is fixed, [page 353]
and that those whom men call “dead”
“all live unto Him”—from God’s standpoint they only “sleep.” God’s
Word, therefore, speaks of these as “asleep” and not as destroyed.
Though the original sentence was to destruction it is now offset by
the ransom. So Moses says: “Thou turnest man to destruction, and
sayest [in resurrection], Return, ye children of men.” (Psa. 90:3;
103:4) In saying, “I am the God of Abraham,” God speaks not only of
things past as still present, but also of things to come as if
already come to pass. Rom. 4:17
The Body, Spirit and Soul
of the Church
—1 Thess. 5:23—
The terms body, soul and
spirit are figuratively used of the Church collectively. For
instance, the Apostle says: “I pray God [that] your whole spirit,
soul and body be preserved blameless, unto the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ.” This prayer must be understood to apply to the
Church as a whole—the elect Church whose names are written in
heaven. The true spirit has been preserved in the
little flock. Its body is discernible today, also, notwithstanding
the multitude of tares that would hide as well as choke it. And its
soul, its activity, its intelligence, its sentient
being, is in evidence everywhere, lifting up the standard for the
people—the cross, the ransom.
In no other way could we
apply the Apostle’s words; for, however much people may differ
respecting the preservation of the individual spirits and souls of
the people addressed, all will agree that their bodies have
not been preserved, but have returned to dust, like those of
others. Besides, the words body, soul and spirit are in the
singular, not in the plural.
What Is Signified by
“Sheol” or “Hades”
to Which All Souls Go?
It is held that since
souls are said to go to sheol,
hades, [page 354] therefore
the soul of man must be something tangible and conscious after
dissolution—after the separation of the spirit of life from the
organism or body. It is therefore proper that we examine the Word
of the Lord on this line, and see—What is sheol,
hades?
The Hebrew word
sheol occurs sixty-five times in the Old Testament
Scriptures. It is three times translated pit,
thirty-one times translated grave, and thirty-one
times translated hell. These are all faulty
translations, if measured by the present general use of the words,
hell, grave and pit.
The meaning of the Hebrew
word sheol (hades is its Greek
equivalent) can scarcely be expressed by any one English word: it
signifies hidden or extinguished, or
obscure—the condition or state of death: it is not a
place but a condition, and perhaps the word oblivion
would more nearly than any other in our language correspond with the
word sheol of the Hebrew and hades of
the Greek. Nothing in the word sheol signifies joy or
misery, or any feeling; the connections must guide us in this. Let
us therefore examine uses of the words sheol and
hades and ascertain from the connection all we can
respecting “hell.” We will find it clearly stated in the Scriptures
that sheol, hades, oblivion,
receives all mankind, good and bad alike; that it has no light, no
knowledge, no wisdom, no device; that no tongue there praises the
Lord, neither blasphemes his name; that it is a condition of
absolute silence, and in every way an undesirable condition, except
that it has attached to it a hope of resurrection.
It will be noticed also
that it is “souls,” both good and bad, that go to this condition—sheol,
oblivion—to await the summons of the Life-giver in the
morning of the Millennial age. It cannot be denied that the
translators of our Common Version English Bible have been at times
inconsistent, but we urge that this be not charged wholly to
dishonesty, even though in many instances it may appear to be little
short of this: rather let us believe that it was the result of a
confusion of mind on this subject, superinduced by long centuries of
false teaching, handed down from the “dark
[page 355] ages.” Another thing that can be said in
extenuation of the work of the translators is, that in the “old
English” the word hell had no such meaning as it has
in modern English language. It, in no sense of the word, signified
or implied a place of flames or torture or trouble or pain, but more
the thought of grave—hidden condition, oblivion. The
translators in using the word hell probably partially
justified themselves, on the ground of its ancient significance, its
primary meaning, as given in unabridged English dictionaries.
In examining the following
occurrences of the word sheol, the reader is urged to
note what would be the sense of the passage, if the word sheol
were translated in each case “hell fire,” or “place of torment,” and
then also to note how, in every instance, the translation would be
thoroughly smooth and consistent with the context if it were
translated oblivion. These prove conclusively that
“souls” go to sheol, oblivion, and that
they are not in torment there, nor have they any knowledge or wisdom
or work or joy or pain or feeling of any kind, but simply wait in
oblivion for “the voice of the archangel and the trump of
God.”
“I will go down into
the grave [into sheol, into oblivion]
unto my son, mourning.” Gen. 37:35
Thus did Jacob mourn for
his son Joseph, whom he supposed had died a violent death.
“If mischief shall befall
him [Benjamin] by the way in which ye go, then shall ye bring down
my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave [to sheol,
to oblivion].” Gen. 42:38
These were the words of
Jacob, when parting with Benjamin, and fearful lest he should be
killed, as he supposed Joseph had been.
The same words identically
are repeated under similar circumstances, in chapter 44:29, when the
brethren of Joseph are relating to him the parting injunction of
their father respecting Benjamin. And in the 31st verse the
[page 356] brethren again state the
matter as for themselves, saying, “Thy servants shall bring down the
gray hairs of thy servant our father to the grave [to
sheol, to oblivion].”
Here are four instances in
which the word sheol has been translated “grave,” and
we invite all to consider how inappropriate it would have been to
have used the word hell, attaching to it the usual,
ordinary thought of fire, torment and anguish. The translators were
evidently quite positive that the word hell, as
ordinarily understood, would give very false ideas of the
expectation of Jacob for himself, and of his sons respecting him:
hence they here translated the word “grave.” Nevertheless, they did
not believe, nor do the majority of people believe, that Jacob went
into the grave, or had any thought of going into the grave. Nor was
the patriarch thinking of the burial of his body in a tomb, for then
doubtless he would have used the same Hebrew word for grave which he
used in speaking of Rachel’s grave, viz., qeburah
(Gen. 35:20), or else he would have used the same word which his son
Joseph used (qeber), when speaking of Jacob’s grave,
which Jacob himself had already caused to be prepared before he
died. (Gen. 50:5) On the contrary, we see that Jacob was speaking
about himself, as a soul or being—that the
disappointment of the loss of Benjamin would bring him
down to oblivion, to the state of death, in his now
old age and feeble health.
“If the Lord make a new
thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up...and they
go down quick into the pit [into sheol,
into oblivion].” Num. 16:30
“They...went down alive
into the pit [sheol, oblivion], and the
earth closed upon them and they perished from among the
congregation.” Num. 16:33
These two texts referring
to Korah, Dathan and Abiram, showing how they were destroyed, could
not have been consistently translated “into hell,” for
fear of proving that the claimed place of torture is under the
surface of this earth. But how simple the statement when rightly
understood: the [page 357] earth
opened her mouth and swallowed them up and they went down from the
midst of life’s activities into oblivion, unconsciousness.
“A fire is kindled in mine
anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell
[sheol, oblivion], and shall consume the earth with
her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.”
Deut. 32:22
Here certainly is a
mention of fire, but not of literal fire. The entire context shows
that it is the fire of God’s jealousy, and the statement follows,
“They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and
bitter destruction ...the sword without and terror within shall
destroy.” We are not left to conjecture respecting how this
prophecy was fulfilled; for the Apostle Paul, speaking under the
inspiration of the holy Spirit, refers to this passage, and applies
it to fleshly Israel, and to the trouble which came upon them as a
nation, when they rejected the Lord Jesus, and in turn were
themselves rejected of the Lord. The Apostle declares that wrath
came upon them to the uttermost (1 Thess. 2:16): divine anger burned
against them and did continue to burn against them until, as a
people, they had suffered for their national sins. After divine
wrath has burned out their national transgression, even searching
them out to the very lowest oblivion (sheol) he will
then speak peaceably toward them, saying to the Church, “Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people; speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry
unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is
pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord’s hands double for all
her sins.” (Isa. 40:1,2) Then also shall come the deliverance of
Jacob predicted by the Apostle Paul, on the strength of the divine
statement, “For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take
away their sins.” (Rom. 11:26,27) The same thought that this
burning of divine wrath against Israel, to the very lowest oblivion,
will be followed by divine blessing, is shown in the context. See
Deut. 32:26-43.
“The Lord killeth and
maketh alive: he bringeth down to [page 358]
the grave [to sheol, to
oblivion], and bringeth up [by a resurrection out of
oblivion, out of sheol].” 1 Sam. 2:6
“The sorrows of hell
[sheol, oblivion] compassed me about.” 2 Sam. 22:6
The prophet David here
expressed the fact that his life was in jeopardy, but that God
delivered him from the hand of Saul. The context, however, shows
quite clearly that the Psalmist speaks prophetically of the Christ,
and the time of the full deliverance of the body of Christ, which is
the Church, from the present evil world, into the glories of the
world to come, showing (verses 8-18) that the deliverance of the
body of Christ would be just before a great time of trouble, and
manifestation of divine power and indignation against wickedness.
“Let not his hoar head go
down to the grave [sheol, oblivion] in
peace...but his hoar head bring thou down to the grave
[sheol, oblivion] with blood.” 1 Kings 2:6,9
David was the speaker,
pointing out to Solomon his son that Joab was a dangerous man, a man
of blood, justly deserving of some retribution before he died. The
translators evidently thought that, although Joab was a bad man, it
would not do here to translate the word sheol by the
word hell, because the context speaks of gray hairs,
while their theory asserts that the hairs and all the remainder of
the physical body are buried, and that the naked soul or spirit goes
to hell. Hence they preferred here to render sheol by
the English word grave. But with the proper thought
in mind, there is no difficulty about having Joab’s gray hairs and
also Jacob’s gray hairs go down into sheol, oblivion,
the state of death, together. The words “gray hairs” and “hoar
head” are simply figures of speech signifying aged.
“As a cloud is consumed
and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down to the grave
[sheol, oblivion] shall come up no more.” Job 7:9
Job here points out the
utter destruction of man’s soul, or [page
359] being, in death. Nevertheless in verse 21 he concludes
the argument with the declaration, “I shall sleep and thou shalt
seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.” Here the interim of
death is referred to as a sleep, as the Millennial age is referred
to as the morning, and the present age as the night of weeping and
trouble, dying and crying. The Lord will seek Job in the morning,
in resurrection power, and though he shall not be, though death
shall have worked utter destruction, nevertheless the case is not
beyond divine power, and hence, when the Lord’s time shall come “he
shall have a desire unto the work of his hands,” when the day of the
Lord’s vengeance shall have passed, and the times of refreshing
shall have come—then he shall call, and Job and all others will
answer him. See Chap. 14:14,15.
“It is as high as heaven;
what canst thou do? Deeper than hell [sheol,
oblivion]; what canst thou know?” Job 11:8
These words are by Zophar,
one of Job’s mistaken comforters, whom the Lord reproved. By this
statement he is attempting to show Job that the divine principles of
government are inscrutable to humanity: as an illustration of man’s
utter lack of knowledge of God he refers to sheol, and
compares the two; as there is no knowledge in sheol,
equally, he claims, there can be no knowledge of the divine wisdom
and plan.
“O that thou wouldst hide
me in the grave [sheol, oblivion], that
thou wouldst keep me in secret until thy wrath be past, that thou
wouldst appoint me a set time and remember me.” Job 14:13
Here is the most simple
and most explicit statement of Job’s hope. He was not anxious for a
perpetuation of the present conditions of sin and sorrow and trouble
and pain; he was quite willing to be hidden in oblivion until the
time when the curse, “wrath,” shall be lifted from the earth, and
the times of refreshing instead shall come. But he does not wish to
be blotted out forever. Oh no! having confidence in the divine
provision for a future life, through a resurrection,
[page 360] he prays that God in due
time, after the curse of sin has been rolled away, will remember
him, and call him out of oblivion into being again, by the
restitution powers then to be exercised through the Christ. See
Acts 3:19-21.
“If I wait, the
grave [sheol, oblivion] is my house: I shall
make my bed in the darkness. I have cried to corruption, Thou art
my father; to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister.” Job
17:13,14
How expressive this
language! Oblivion is the house or is the bed, and it is full of
darkness—Job’s soul, his being, sleeps, is inanimate, waiting for
the morning of the resurrection, while his body turns to
corruption.
“Where is now my hope? As
for my hope, who shall see it? They shall go down to the bars
of the pit [to sheol, oblivion, separately].
Truly in the dust alone there is rest for all.” Job 17:15,16
The servant of God
expresses his own hope or confidence, but questions how many can
have such a confidence. He has already expressed the hope that his
death will be merely a sleep, from which he shall awake in the
morning. But although each separately goes down to sheol,
to oblivion, whether they have this hope or not, all find rest in
the dust.
“They spend their days in
wealth and in a moment go down into the grave [sheol,
oblivion].” Job 21:13
Job is here describing the
prosperous course of some who are not the Lord’s people—contrasting
the same with the tribulations experienced by some who are the
Lord’s people, and come under the rod of divine correction, to fit
and prepare them for better things hereafter.
“Drought and heat consume
the snow waters: so doth the grave [sheol,
oblivion] those which have sinned.” Job 24:19
All mankind has sinned,
and hence all mankind is subject to death, and goes down to
oblivion. The only hope is in him who redeemed us from death, and
who, “in the [page 361] morning,”
will bring us out of oblivion, according to his own gracious
promise. Job, however, in this instance is specially referring to
evildoers, who hasten their death by an evil course.
“Hell [sheol,
oblivion] is naked before him, and destruction hath no
covering.” Job 26:6
Here Job points out the
all-wisdom of the Creator, who not only knows the end from the
beginning, but every secret thing of oblivion is open to his
inscrutable gaze.
“For in death there is no
remembrance of thee; in the grave [sheol,
oblivion] who shall give thee thanks?” Psa. 6:5
What a clear, positive
statement we have here, proving the unconsciousness of man in
death! It should be noticed also that the statement is not with
reference to the wicked, but with reference to God’s servants who
desire to thank and to praise him for his mercies. Note also that
the reference is not to the dead flesh which is buried
in qeber, but to the soul which goes to
sheol, oblivion.
“The wicked shall be [re-]
turned into hell [sheol, oblivion] and
all nations that forget God.” Psa. 9:17
The Hebrew word shub
in this text is properly translated “returned.” This gives the
thought of one recovered from sheol, oblivion, and
that some thus recovered will be returned to oblivion on account of
wickedness and forgetfulness of God. The deliverance of mankind in
general from sheol will occur during the Millennial
age, as a result of the ransom price finished at Calvary. However,
those once awakened and brought to a knowledge of the truth, who
then are wilfully perverse, will be returned again to oblivion—“the
Second Death,” from which there is to be no ransom and no
restitution. That this passage is not applicable to the masses of
mankind (the heathen) who have never known God, is very evident —
from its own statement it refers to those who forget
God after they have been brought to clear knowledge of him, and to
corresponding responsibility. [page 362]
“Thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell [sheol, oblivion]; neither
wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” Psa. 16:10
The Apostle Peter,
speaking on the day of Pentecost, under the plenary influence of the
holy Spirit, expounds to us the true significance of this statement,
pointing out that it could not possibly be true of David himself;
because David’s soul was left in sheol, and his flesh
did see corruption. He declares of David, “He is both dead
and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.” “David is
not ascended into the heavens.” Acts 2:27-34
The Apostle’s words are
emphatic and thoroughly convincing on two points, (1) that the soul
of David went to sheol, oblivion, and still remained
there and up to the time of Peter’s discourse had not gone to
heaven; (2) that the soul of Christ Jesus went to sheol,
oblivion, also, but did not remain because resurrected the third
day—and subsequently ascended to heaven.
These plain statements
from an inspired source should clarify this subject to all genuine
truth seekers. They set before us the following facts: (1) The soul
(being) of our Lord Jesus went to oblivion, to sheol,
at death. (2) He was dead parts of three days. (3) He arose, was
quickened, brought out of oblivion, to the divine nature, on the
third day, by the power of the holy Spirit of God, and became “the
first fruits of them that slept.” Our Lord’s being or
soul was non-existent during the period of death: “He poured out his
soul unto death; he made his soul an offering for sin.” But his
soul [being] was revived in resurrection, being granted a new
spiritual body.*
—————
*Vol. II, p. 109.
“The bonds of hell
[sheol, oblivion] encircled me: the snares of death
seized on me.” Psa. 18:5 (Leeser, 18:6)
A figurative expression of
deep anguish and fear of death.
“O Lord, thou hast brought
up my soul from the grave
[page 363] [sheol, oblivion]; thou hast kept me
alive.” Psa. 30:3
This is a thanksgiving for
recovery from severe illness, which threatened death.
“Let the wicked be
ashamed, let them be silent in the grave [sheol,
oblivion]; let the lying lips be put to silence.” Psa.
31:17,18
Here, as elsewhere, the
Psalmist longs for the cleansing of the earth from those who love
and practice wickedness. This has no reference whatever to a future
life, nor does it imply a hope of resurrection. When the Kingdom is
the Lord’s and he is the governor amongst the nations, and the laws
of righteousness and truth are established, and when mercy and love
shall bring to every creature fullest opportunity of knowledge and
recovery from sin, it may be that some who are now wicked will seek
righteousness, seek justice, and be hidden under the mercy of
Christ’s righteousness, and eventually attain to eternal life
through him. Neither the prophet David nor any one else could offer
objections to such a reformation, nor to the giving of eternal life
to those thoroughly reformed and brought back to harmony with God.
“Like sheep they are laid
in the grave [sheol, oblivion]; death
shall feed upon them, and the upright shall have dominion over them
in the morning; and their strength shall consume, the grave
[sheol, oblivion] being an habitation to every one of
them. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave
[sheol, oblivion].” Psa. 49:14,15
That sheol
does not signify grave in the ordinary sense, but as we translate
it, oblivion, is clearly manifested from this text; for sheep are
not buried in graves, though all sheep go into oblivion, are
forgotten, are as though they had not been. The Prophet is here
pointing out his own confidence in the resurrection, that God would
redeem his soul from sheol, oblivion. This is in full
harmony with the Apostle Peter’s statement that “David is not
ascended into the heavens.” David’s soul went to sheol,
to oblivion, and [page 364] David’s
only hope is in the redemption of his soul from sheol,
from oblivion, to life, by the Redeemer in the resurrection.
Moreover, even those who go into oblivion like the sheep are to come
out of oblivion again, for this passage distinctly declares that “in
the morning” of the resurrection, the Millennial morning, the
righteous shall “have dominion” over these, shall rule them, shall
control them, shall judge them in righteousness. So also saith the
Apostle, “The saints shall judge the world.” 1 Cor. 6:2
“Let death seize them, and
let them go down quick into hell [sheol,
oblivion]: for wickedness is in their dwellings.” Psa.
55:15
This scripture, as
ordinarily misunderstood, has been a great stumbling block to many
of God’s people. They have said, how could it be that a good man
like David should pray for his enemies to go down into hell—into
everlasting torture. A good man would not so pray, nor was this the
tenor of David’s prayer. As we have seen, and are seeing, the word
sheol contains no thought whatever of fire or blaze or
torment or anything of the kind, but simply signifies oblivion, the
extinguishment of life. It follows, then that David’s prayer or
desire for his enemies, the opponents of righteousness, was a
perfectly proper desire, in fullest harmony with the laws of the
most civilized peoples in this day of greatest enlightenment. Today
the laws of civilized nations declare that all murderers shall be
executed, and they generally stipulate the supposedly easiest and
least painful methods of execution. The law is thus saying, as did
David, Let these culprits go to sheol, oblivion—let
them die. Nevertheless, God in his mercy, has redeemed, by the
precious blood of Christ, the vilest sinner as well as the least
vile, for “Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death for every
man.” “He gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due
time.” If some of our fellow-creatures are more perverse than
ourselves, it may, for aught we know to the contrary, be because of
the specially blinding influences of the Adversary upon them (2 Cor.
4:4); or because of a more evil heredity.
[page 365] In any case, God’s provision is that each
individual of the race shall have a full, fair, impartial
opportunity of deciding his choice for righteousness
and life, or for unrighteousness and the Second Death—to be returned
to sheol. All this is fully guaranteed to us in the
New Covenant secured and sealed to us through the merit of the
precious blood of Christ.
“Great is thy mercy toward
me: thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell [sheol,
oblivion].” Psa. 86:13
The words “lowest hell”
here would signify depth of oblivion. We may not improperly
consider that the Prophet is here personating the Lord Jesus, as he
does in many of his Psalms. If so, the words “depth of oblivion”
would have a peculiar applicability. In the case of the world of
mankind death is but a sleep, and its oblivion but a temporary one,
from which there shall come an awakening in the resurrection, as a
result of the redemption. But in the case of our Lord Jesus it was
different: inasmuch as he took the place of the sinner (Adam), death
to him must have meant the extreme penalty of sin, viz., a perpetual
oblivion, except as, by the Father’s grace and power, he should be
raised from the dead, and become the Deliverer of those whom he
redeemed.
“My soul is full of
troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave [sheol,
oblivion].” Psa. 88:3
Here, again, sorrow nigh
unto death is briefly and poetically described.
“What man is he that
liveth and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the
hand [power] of the grave [sheol, oblivion]?”
Psa. 89:48
How consistent this
inquiry and its implied answer, with all the facts of the case as we
have thus far seen them, and how inharmonious are these words with
the common thought upon the subject discussed! The common thought
is that no man, no soul, experiences death; that the
moment of dying is the moment of an increase of life; hence that the
soul is quite superior to the powers of sheol,
oblivion—that [page 366] the soul
cannot die: so far from it being a question whether it could deliver
itself from the power of sheol, it passes unquestioned
that sheol has no power whatever to touch the soul.
How consistent the Scriptures and the truth! How inconsistent the
commonly accepted Platonic philosophy!
“The sorrows of death
compassed me, and the pains of hell [sheol,
oblivion] gat hold upon me; I found trouble and sorrow.”
Psa. 116:3
Here, again, fear of death
is graphically portrayed.
“Whither shall I go from
thy spirit [power—to escape or be hidden from divine power], or
whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven,
thou art there: if I make my bed in hell [sheol,
oblivion] behold, thou art there.” Psa. 139:7,8
According to the prevalent
idea, this would mean that God is a permanent resident of the awful
torture chamber which sheol is represented to be. On
the contrary, the Prophet is taking a large view of the divine
power, and telling us the result of his researches, that there is no
place in all the universe that is not accessible to divine power.
Even the oblivion of death is subject to our Lord who declares, “I
have the keys of death and of hades [oblivion].” It
is our confidence in God—in his omnipotence—that constitutes the
basis of our faith in a resurrection of the dead.
“Our bones are scattered
at the grave’s [sheol, oblivion] mouth,
as when one cutteth and cleaveth upon the earth.” Psa. 141:7
The significance of this
passage is very obscure, but in any event, it has nothing in it
favorable to the common idea of a hell of torment. Young’s
translation renders this verse—“As one tilling and ripping up the
land, have our bones been scattered at the command of Saul.”
“Let us swallow them up
alive, as the grave [sheol, oblivion].”
Prov. 1:12
This purports to be the
language of murderers, who would destroy their victims quickly, and
have them lost from sight and from memory—in oblivion.
[page 367]
“Her feet go down to
death; her steps take hold on hell [sheol,
oblivion].” Prov. 5:5
Here the temptations of an
evil woman, and their baneful results, are poetically set forth: her
ways lead to destruction, to death, to oblivion.
“Her house is the way to
hell [sheol, oblivion], going down to
the chambers of death.” Prov. 7:27
A similar expression to
the one preceding, but giving evidence that the hell referred to is
not ablaze; not a place of torment, but the dark chambers of death,
nonentity, oblivion.
“Her guests are in the
depths of hell [sheol, oblivion].” Prov.
9:18
Here, in hyperbolic
language, the harlot’s guests are represented as dead, as having
lost self-respect, and all the dignity of manhood—undoubtedly they
are in the way of death, for the way of licentiousness hastens
disease and death. They are in the way of oblivion, not only in the
physical sense, but also in the sense of losing their respect and
influence amongst men.
“Hell [sheol,
oblivion] and destruction are before the Lord: how much
more, then, the hearts of the children of men?” Prov. 15:11
It should be noted that
there is no intimation here of torture, but quite the reverse,
sheol, oblivion, is associated with destruction.
“The way of life is above
to the wise, that he may depart from hell [sheol,
oblivion] beneath.” Prov. 15:24
Our translators have very
nearly made this text favor their theory that the righteous go
up to heaven, and the unrighteous go down
to hell. Notice the Revised Version’s rendering—“To the wise the
way of life goeth upward that he may depart from sheol [margin, the
grave] beneath.” The correct thought might properly be rendered
thus—The path of life for the wise is an upward one toward
righteousness, that they may be delivered by resurrection power from
oblivion.
“Thou shalt beat him with
the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell [sheol,
oblivion].” Prov. 23:14
[page 368]
It is, perhaps,
unnecessary to explain that this passage does not teach that after
death the corpse should be beaten, in order that the soul might be
gotten out of a hell of torment. The meaning is clearly indicated by
the context. The injunction is that the child shall not be spared
the rod, if it needs it, for in so doing years of usefulness may be
added to its life—its soul (being) shall be kept back from a
premature oblivion, and possibly be saved from the Second Death—from
being returned to oblivion.
“Hell [sheol,
oblivion] and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man
are never satisfied.” Prov. 27:20
So far from this
signifying a burning hell, of so immense proportions that it never
can be filled, it merely signifies that there is no limit to the
capacity of death—oblivion and destruction cannot be overcrowded.
“There are three things
that are never satisfied; yea, four things say not, It is enough:
the grave [sheol, oblivion]; the barren
womb; the earth that is not filled with water, and the fire that
saith not, It is enough.” Prov. 30:15,16
In this text, as in the
one preceding it, death, oblivion, is said to have no end of
capacity, and cannot be over-filled.
“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 [sheol,
oblivion] whither thou goest.” Eccl. 9:10
Here is a most positive
statement respecting hell, sheol, oblivion. It is
applicable not merely to the wicked, but also to the righteous—to
all who enter death. There is neither good work nor bad work,
neither praising God nor cursing God, neither thinking good nor
thinking ill, neither holy knowledge nor unholy knowledge, neither
heavenly wisdom nor other wisdom, in sheol, in the
oblivion of death. How could the matter be more clearly or more
emphatically stated?
“Jealousy is cruel as
the grave [sheol, oblivion].” Sol. Song,
8:6
[page 369]
Here the death state,
oblivion, is represented as the very personification of
relentlessness. It swallows up the entire human family, making no
exceptions, either of character or condition.
“Therefore hell
[sheol, oblivion] hath enlarged herself and opened her
mouth without measure.” Isa. 5:14
The Prophet here uses the
word sheol, oblivion, to describe the loss of
prestige, the ignominy, the dishonor upon Israel. They had become
as though dead, they had passed into oblivion in large numbers. The
passage has no reference to a literal grave, nor to a lake of fire.
“Hell [sheol,
oblivion] from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy
coming.” Isa. 14:9
This is highly symbolic
language. It is applied to Babylon. Its fulfilment, we believe, is
still future, and is now close at hand. Great Babylon is to be
swallowed up; as a stone cast into the sea, it shall be utterly lost
sight of and forgotten—it will go to oblivion, sheol.
(Rev. 18:21) This is shown by the context, which declares, “How
hath the oppressor ceased, the golden city ceased!” See verses
4-8.
“Thy pomp is brought down
to the grave [sheol, oblivion].” Isa.
14:11
This is a continuation of
the same symbolical picture of the destruction of
mystic Babylon, whose greatness will soon be a thing of the
past—buried in oblivion, not in a burning hell.
“Ye have said, We have
made a covenant with death, and with hell [sheol,
oblivion] are we at agreement.” Isa. 28:15
Here the Lord predicts
direful trouble, stumbling, and falling amongst those who, through
false doctrines, have come to disregard the Scriptural teaching that
death is the wages of sin. This time of retribution upon those who
have handled the Word of God deceitfully, and who, instead of being
sanctified by the truth, are preferring the error, is near at hand.
Our great adversary, Satan, is taking advantage of the prevalent
misbelief on this subject to ensnare the
[page 370] world with various false doctrines presented upon
this false premise. Already he has misled the Papists and the
entire heathen world into prayers and masses for the dead, who are
believed to be not dead, but very much alive in the torments of
purgatory. And now, through Spiritualism, Theosophy and Christian
Science, the same Adversary is making special attacks upon
Protestants, who because of their belief that the dead are not dead,
are very susceptible to these deceiving influences.
Christians of various
denominations have “made a league with death,” and declare that it
is a friend, whereas the Scriptures declare that it is man’s
greatest enemy, and the wages of his sin. With the grave nominal
Christians are in agreement; they consider it to be nothing but a
storehouse for the earthly body, which they declare themselves well
rid of. Failing to see that death (oblivion) is the wages of sin,
they are ready to believe Satan’s falsehood, that eternal torment is
the wages of sin. Failing to believe that death is the wages of
sin, they are ready to deny that the death of Christ was the remedy,
the corresponding price, for man’s release, and thus all the
gracious features of the divine plan of the ransom and restitution
are more or less obscured from their view, and made
difficult of apprehension.
“Your covenant with death
shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell [sheol,
oblivion] shall not stand.” Isa. 28:18
Thus the Lord declares
that he will ultimately convince the world of the truth of the
Scripture statements respecting death and the oblivion condition;
but it shall be through a great time of trouble and confusion to
those who are under this deception, and who refuse to hearken to the
voice of the Word of the Lord on this subject.
“I said, in the cutting
off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave [sheol,
oblivion]. I am deprived of the residue of my years.” Isa.
38:10
These are the words of
Hezekiah, the good king of Judah, [page 371]
on whose behalf a miracle was wrought, prolonging his days.
In these words he is telling what were his thoughts at the time of
his sickness. He certainly did not mean that he expected to have
gone down to a hell of eternal torment, and the translators were
wise enough to see that if in this instance they had translated
sheol with the word hell, it would have
aroused questionings and investigations on the part of the readers,
which would the sooner have brought the truth on this subject to
general attention. The king simply declares that he felt himself
near to death, to oblivion, and that he was about to be deprived of
the residue of his days, that he might reasonably have expected to
enjoy.
“The grave [sheol,
oblivion] cannot praise thee: death cannot celebrate thee.”
Isa. 38:18
These are the words of
Hezekiah, a part of the same description of his sickness, his fear
of death, his record of the Lord’s goodness and mercy in prolonging
his life, and his thanksgiving to the Lord. He declares, “Thou hast
in love of my soul [being] delivered it from the pit of corruption.”
The translators did not render this, “Hell cannot praise thee,” else
those of inquiring mind would have been asking what kind of a hell
would be referred to. Hezekiah associates the thought of death,
with oblivion, sheol, and uses them synonymously, and
then he declares, “The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as
I do this day.” In other words, a living man can praise the Lord,
but if a man be dead, if his soul be gone to
sheol, to oblivion, he cannot praise the Lord, nor in any
sense recount his mercies—until, in the morning of the resurrection,
as Job declares, the Lord will call, and all will answer him.
“Thou wentest to the king
with ointment...and didst debase thyself even unto hell
[sheol, oblivion].” Isa. 57:9
This is a figurative
expression. It does not refer to a hell of torment, nor to a
literal grave. It represents Israel as a woman, negligent of her
husband, the Lord, seeking alliance [page
372] with the kings of the earth, to oblivion—to the extent
of becoming figuratively dead, oblivious to the Lord and to the
principles of his truth and the righteousness which is of faith.
“In the day when he went
down to the grave, [sheol, oblivion] I
caused a mourning...I made the nations to shake at the sound of his
fall, when I cast him down to hell [sheol,
oblivion] ...they also went down into hell [sheol,
oblivion] unto them that were slain with the sword.” Ezek.
31:15-17
Here the Lord, through the
Prophet, is in figurative language describing the fall of Babylon.
As heretofore seen, the fall of Babylon, and the extravagant
descriptions of it, were in part applicable to literal Babylon, and
in greater part are yet to be applied in the complete fall and
collapse of mystic Babylon. The old-time nation of Babylon was
overthrown by the Medes and Persians, and went down into oblivion,
into the death state as a nation: modern mystic Babylon is similarly
to fall into oblivion, to rise no more.
“The strong among the
mighty shall speak to him, and them that help him, out of the midst
of hell, [sheol, oblivion].” Ezek.
32:21
Here the passing of the
nation of Egypt into oblivion, and the other strong nations which
went down into oblivion prior to the fall of Egypt, are represented
as speaking to Egypt in respect to its fall. Thus we say that
history tells us certain things—that history repeats
her lessons.
“They shall not lie with
the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised which are gone down
to hell [sheol, oblivion] with their
weapons of war.” Ezek. 32:27
The Prophet is here
foretelling the destruction of Meshech and Tubal, how they also will
go down to oblivion with their weapons of war. The weapons of war
can, indeed, go down into oblivion, and we thank the Lord that no
provision has been made for their restoration, in the glorious age
that is to come, when Emmanuel shall have established
[page 373] his Kingdom, for the
positive promise is, “He shall make wars to cease unto the ends of
the earth.” Psa. 46:9
“I will ransom them from
the power of the grave [sheol, oblivion];
I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues, O
grave [sheol, oblivion] I will be thy
destruction: repentance shall be hid from my eyes.” Hos. 13:14
Whoever has not already
been convinced that sheol does not signify a place of
torture can at least take comfort from this text, in which the Lord
declares unqualifiedly that sheol shall be
destroyed. If, therefore, anyone still believes and
contends that it is a place of torture, let him also at least admit
that it will not endure to all eternity, because the Lord himself
has decreed its destruction.
But how beautifully clear
and harmonious is this entire statement from the true standpoint!
The ransom price has already been paid by our dear Redeemer, and the
work of delivering mankind from sheol, from the
oblivion of death, merely waits until the Church, the Body of
Christ, has been selected from amongst mankind, and glorified with
her Lord and Head, Christ Jesus. As soon as the resurrection of the
Church is complete (the chief or first resurrection) then,
declares the Apostle, “shall be brought to pass the saying that is
written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy
sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” 1 Cor. 15:54,55
The swallowing up of death
in victory will be the work of the Millennial age, and a gradual
one, just as the swallowing up of mankind by death has been a
gradual one. Eventually the death sentence which now rests upon
mankind, and sheol, the oblivion which it enforces
upon mankind, shall completely pass away, because all have been
redeemed from its power. Under the new conditions, under the New
Covenant, with its abundant provision, no one shall enter death
(oblivion) again, except such as will be intentional sinners on
their own behalf. This will be the Second Death, from which there
will be no hope of recovery. [page 374]
“Though they dig into
hell [sheol, oblivion] thence shall my hand
[power] take them.” Amos 9:2
In this strongly
figurative language the Lord declares the completeness of his power
and control over mankind, referring in particular to Israel. As a
nation, no more than as individuals, could they escape from the
divine judgments, and though they should go down into death,
individually and nationally, still all of God’s promises, and
threats as well, shall be fulfilled. Nevertheless, after declaring
their utter overthrow and scattering amongst all nations of earth,
as we see it fulfilled today, the Lord’s promise is (verses 11-15),
“In that day [in the dawning of the Millennial day] I will raise up
the tabernacle of David that is fallen...and I will bring again the
captivity of my people, Israel...and they shall no more be pulled
out of the land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.”
None would think of digging his way into a place of eternal torment;
but Israel as a nation did dig its way toward national oblivion.
Yet God shall prevent this.
“Out of the belly of
hell [sheol, oblivion] cried I, and thou
heardest my voice.” Jonah 2:2
The belly of hell, in
which Jonah was, and from which he cried to the Lord, and from which
he was delivered, was the belly of the great fish which had
swallowed him. It was the belly of oblivion, destruction, death, to
him, had he not been delivered from it.
“Yea also, because he
transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home,
who enlargeth his desire as hell [sheol,
oblivion], and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but
gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people.”
Hab. 2:5
Here, apparently, an
ambitious nation is referred to, an aggressive nation. It might be
very fitly applied to the nations of the present time, which are
scouring the world to bring smaller and less civilized nations under
their control [page 375] and
patronage. Or it might refer to the Man of Sin, and his world-wide
influence, through which he draws his revenues from all nations
under the sun. In any case, the thought is that covetousness is
like death (oblivion), in that it never has enough; its capacity
cannot be satisfied.
“Hades” in the New Testament
In the New Testament the
Greek word hades is the exact equivalent of the Hebrew
word sheol. We have the most absolute proof of this
from the fact that the apostles, in quotations from the Old
Testament, render sheol by the word hades.
The following are all the instances in the New Testament in which
the word hades occurs:
“Thou, Capernaum, which
art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell
[hades, oblivion].” Matt. 11:23
It certainly was not true
that the city of Capernaum went into eternal torment, neither was it
true that it went into a grave, in the ordinary sense of that word,
but it was most absolutely true that Capernaum did go into oblivion,
into destruction.
“I say unto thee, Thou art
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of
hell [hades, oblivion] shall not prevail
against it.” Matt. 16:18
Peter had just made
confession of the Lord Jesus as being the Anointed, the Son of the
living God, the Messiah. This truth is the mighty rock upon which
the entire Church of Christ, as living stones, must be built, for
there is no other name given whereby we must be saved. Our Lord
declares Peter to be one of these living stones, and
Peter declares (1 Pet. 2:5), that all consecrated believers are
similarly living stones, built upon this
great foundation rock, Christ, the Anointed. These living stones
are being built up for a habitation of God, through the spirit, to
be a glorious temple for his indwelling, and through which he will
bless all the families [page 376] of
the earth. Notwithstanding this fact, that God has accepted
believers in Christ and is counting them as members of this future
temple, he is permitting death to prevail against his people now:
they go down into death (oblivion), apparently as do others: they
therefore have need of the Lord’s encouraging assurance that death
shall not prevail against them, that the doors of oblivion shall not
forever remain closed; that as he symbolically burst the bars of
death, and came forth in resurrection through the Father’s power, so
also his Church shall be delivered from the power of death—from
oblivion, and shall have share in his resurrection, “the first
resurrection.” Surely this is in harmony with all Scriptural
testimony, and surely no other interpretation of our Lord’s words
would make the least sense.
“Thou, Capernaum, which
art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell [hades,
oblivion].” Luke 10:15
Capernaum was highly
exalted, highly privileged, in that it had our Lord as a resident
for some time, enjoyed the privileges of his teaching, and witnessed
many of his mighty works; and this hyperbolically is termed
exaltation to heaven. But in consequence of a
failure to rightly use these high privileges and opportunities, our
Lord declares that the city would suffer corresponding depression,
overthrow, death, as a city—be cast down to oblivion. And this has
been fulfilled.
“In hell [hades,
oblivion] he lifted up his eyes being in torments.” Luke
16:23
This is the only passage
of the Scriptures in which there is the slightest intimation of the
possibility of thought, feeling, torture or happiness in hades
or sheol. At first it seems to be opposed to the
declaration that there is no work, nor knowledge, nor device in
sheol, and it can only be understood from the one
standpoint, viz., that it is a parable. Elsewhere we discuss it in
its details,* and show that the rich
man who went into oblivion, and yet was tortured
[page 377] while in oblivion, is the
Jewish nation. Israel certainly has gone into oblivion; as a nation
it is dead, yet as a people scattered amongst all the nations,
Israel lives and has suffered torments since the rejection of
Messiah, and will so continue to do until having filled her measure
of tribulation she shall be restored to divine favor, according to
the conditions of the divine covenant. Rom. 11:26-29
—————
*See “What Say
the Scriptures About Hell?” Address the publishers.
“Thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell [hades, oblivion].” Acts
2:27
This is the quotation from
the Psalms with which we started our present examination—to
ascertain whether it is the soul, or merely the body, that goes to
hades, to sheol, to oblivion. This text
most emphatically teaches that our Lord’s soul went to hades,
oblivion, and that it was delivered therefrom by a resurrection.
The context proves that David’s soul also went to sheol,
but that it has not yet been delivered from sheol—nor
can it be delivered, according to the divine arrangement, until
after all the Church, which is the body of Christ, has first been
delivered, and until the first resurrection is complete. See vss.
29,34; Heb. 11:32,39,40.
“David, seeing this
before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not
left in hell [hades, oblivion].” Acts
2:31
This positive statement is
a further confirmation of what we have just seen.
“O death, where is thy
sting? O grave [hades, oblivion] where
is thy victory?” 1 Cor. 15:55
The Apostle gives this as
a quotation from the Old Testament, in corroboration of his argument
that the only hope for the dead is a resurrection—not in a
resurrection of the body, for he distinctly states that the body
buried will not be the one resurrected—(see verses 37,38): the
resurrection hope is for the soul, the being,
regardless of what kind of body God may be pleased to give it. It
is not, “If your body rise not ...your faith is vain,”
but “If the dead rise not...your faith is vain...then
they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” (Verses
16-18) It is that which falls asleep, [page
378] not that which turns to corruption, that is to be
awakened, resurrected.
“I am he that liveth and
was dead; and behold I am alive forevermore, amen; and have the keys
of hell [hades, oblivion] and of death.”
Rev. 1:18
This passage is given as
an encouragement to God’s people, hence surely hell,
hades, here cannot mean a place of torment: otherwise,
what would be the force of this expression? These words imply that
the Lord’s people go to hades (oblivion), whoever else
may go there, and that the hope of the Lord’s people, when going
down to hades, to oblivion, is that in due time our
great Redeemer shall unlock this figurative prison-house of death,
and bring forth the captives from the tomb, from sheol,
hades, oblivion. This is the significance of the
statement that he has the keys, that is, the power, the authority—he
can open and he can shut; all power is given into his hand.
In preaching at his first
advent, he quoted the prophecy of Isaiah respecting himself, which
declares that he will open the prison-house, and set at liberty the
captives, and declared this to be the Gospel. (Isa. 61:1; Luke
4:18) It is the Gospel of the resurrection, the message, the good
tidings of deliverance of all the captives from the oblivion of
death, from the power of the Adversary, “him that hath the power of
death, that is, the devil.” How full of meaning are these
scriptures, when viewed from the proper standpoint; how confusing
and absurd when viewed from any other standpoint, except when the
ignorance is so dense as to cover and hide the inconsistencies!
“And his name that sat on
him was death, and hell [hades,
oblivion] followed with him: and power was given unto them
over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with
hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” Rev. 6:8
It would require a very
strong imagination to harmonize this statement with the commonly
accepted view that hades [page
379] is a place of torment of such immense size as to be
capable of receiving and torturing the fifty thousand millions of
the earth’s population. Nor could any one see the slightest
consistency in using a symbol representing such a place of torment
riding on horseback. But the reasonableness of the symbols, death
and the state of death, destruction, oblivion,
unconsciousness, stalking through the earth and sweeping off
large proportions of the human family, is entirely consistent. We
content ourselves here with merely showing this reasonableness,
without offering any explanation of the symbols.
“Death and hell
[hades, oblivion] delivered up the dead which were in
them: and they were judged, every man according to their works.”
Rev. 20:13
As a result of the first
trial in Eden, the death sentence passed upon all men. Probably
fifty thousand millions have already gone into sheol,
hades, oblivion; and hundreds of
millions whom we still call alive are not, in the true sense of the
word, alive, but are nine-tenths dead, under the operation of the
death sentence. As a result of the ransom price paid at Calvary, an
opportunity for a new trial is to be granted to each member of the
human family; and only a favored minority get such opportunity and
trial during this age appointed for the selection of the Church.
This means the rolling back of the original sentence of death, and
the bringing of all mankind into a condition of judgment or trial
for eternal life, on the basis of his own works of obedience or
disobedience. This scripture shows us that at the proper time not
only will the dead (those under sentence of death, who have not yet
gone into the tomb) be granted a full trial or judgment, to
determine their worthiness or unworthiness of life everlasting, but
also all of those who have gone into sheol,
hades, oblivion, shall also come forth from
unconsciousness, from the sleep of death, to be judged. This scene
of judgment is located in the Millennial age, which is the “day of
judgment” for the world, as the Gospel age is the day of judgment
for the Church.
[page 380]
“And death and hell
[hades, oblivion] were cast into the lake of fire—this
is the Second Death.” Rev. 20:14
Great confusion must
necessarily come to all who would attempt to interpret hades
as meaning a place of eternal torment, when considering this passage
of Scripture, but how reasonable and harmonious it is from the
correct standpoint! The lake of fire (gehenna)
represents utter destruction, the Second Death, which shall utterly
destroy all evil things. The “death and hades” here
pictured as destroyed in the Second Death are the same as we have
just described in connection with the preceding 13th verse. The
present state of condemnation, the result of Adam’s transgression,
is styled “death and hades”—the dying condition of
those now called the living and the oblivious sleep of the fully
dead.
As the 13th verse declares
that all men shall be brought out of these conditions in due time
for trial, so this verse declares that Adamic death, and the sleep
in oblivion, consequent to it, shall be no more, after the
Millennial age; and it explains why, viz., because they shall be
merged into or swallowed up by the Second Death condition. In the
future no one will die for Adam’s sin: it will be out of
consideration as a factor in the trial of the future. The only
death thereafter will be the Second Death, which will affect only
the sinner who commits the sin, not the parents, not the children.
In that day he that dies shall die for his own sin. “The soul that
sinneth it shall die.” Although such will have weakness of the
Adamic nature from which they will never recover, because of refusal
to use the means and opportunities placed within their reach during
the Millennium by the Mediator of the New Covenant, yet under that
New Covenant those inherited weaknesses will not be reckoned against
them, being fully offset by their Redeemer’s sacrifice. Hence from
and after the time when this full opportunity of the Millennial age
is offered to each individual, although Adamic weaknesses and
imperfections will still be upon them, their death will not be
counted as being a part of Adamic death, but as being a part of the
Second [page 381] Death—because their
failure to make progress will be the result of their own
wilfulness, and not the result of Adam’s transgression, nor of their
own heredity to its weaknesses.
We have now examined every
text of Scripture containing the words sheol and
hades, and have ascertained that it is the souls of men
that at death pass into this condition, and that it is a state or
condition, and not a place, although sometimes figuratively spoken
of as a place, a prison-house, from which all prisoners shall come
forth in the resurrection morning. We have found that it is
figuratively described as dark, silent, and the statement freely
made that there is no knowledge, nor device, nor wisdom, nor work,
nor cursing, nor praise to God on the part of any who enter this
state or condition of oblivion. Their only hope is in the Lord—that
having redeemed their souls (beings) from destruction by the
sacrifice of his own soul, he shall in due time deliver them, call
them forth from oblivion, in such bodies as may please him, and to
more favorable conditions than the present, when his wrath, the
curse, is passed away and the Millennial era of blessing has been
ushered in.
It is not surprising that
the translators of our Common Version English Bible, and most
commentators, being influenced by erroneous views respecting the
nature of man, and the time and place of his reward and punishment,
and misapprehending his condition in the interim of death, have
rendered and glossed certain passages of the Scriptures, in harmony
with their misconceptions, which are to some extent stumbling blocks
to those seeking the truth. It is proper, therefore, that we
consider some of these stumbling blocks, and remove them from our
path; but as we must not interrupt our subject proper, these will be
left for examination, with other popular misconceptions of
Scripture, in our next volume of the SCRIPTURE STUDIES series.
[page 382]
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A LITTLE
LIGHT
‘Twas but a little light she bore,
While standing at the open door;
A little light, a feeble spark,
And yet it shone out through the dark
With cheerful ray, and gleamed afar
As brightly as the polar star.
A
little light, a gentle hint,
That falls upon the page of print,
May clear the vision, and reveal
The precious treasures doubts conceal.
And guide men to an open door,
Where they new regions may explore.
A
little light dispels the gloom
That gathers in the shadowed room,
Where want and sickness find their prey,
And night seems longer than the day,
And hearts with many troubles cope
And feebler glows the spark of hope.
O,
sore the need that some must know
While journeying through this vale of woe!
Dismayed, disheartened, gone astray,
Caught in the thickets by the way,
For lack of just a little light
To guide their wandering steps aright.
It
may be little we can do
To help another, it is true;
But better is a little spark
Of kindness, when the way is dark,
Than one should walk in paths forbidden,
For lack of light we might have given. |
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