Those who have chosen Satan as their leader, and have been controlled by his power, are not prepared to enter the presence of God. Pride, deception, licentiousness, cruelty, have become fixed in their characters. Can they enter Heaven to dwell forever with those whom they despised and hated on earth? Truth will never be agreeable to a liar; meekness will not satisfy self-esteem and pride; purity is not acceptable to the corrupt; disinterested love does not appear attractive to the selfish. The destiny of the wicked is fixed by their own choice. Their exclusion from Heaven is voluntary; it is just. p. 363, Para. 1, [4SP]. Like the waters of the flood, the fires of the great day declare Gods verdict that the wicked are incurable. They have no disposition to submit to divine authority. Their will has been exercised in revolt; and when life is ended, it is too late to turn the current of their thoughts in the opposite direction,--too late to turn from transgression to obedience, from hatred to love. p. 363, Para. 2, [4SP]. In mercy to the world, God blotted out its wicked inhabitants in Noahs time. In mercy he destroyed the corrupt dwellers in Sodom. Through the deceptive power of Satan, the workers of iniquity obtain sympathy and admiration, and are thus constantly leading others to rebellion. It was so in Noahs day, and in the time of Abraham and Lot; it is so in our time. It is in mercy to the universe that God will finally destroy the rejecters of his grace. p. 363, Para. 3, [4SP]. But the doctrine of never-ending torment has no sanction in the Bible. John in the Revelation, describing the future joy and glory of the redeemed, declares that he heard every voice in Heaven and earth, and under the earth, ascribing praise to God. There will be no lost beings in hell to mingle their shrieks with the songs of the saved. p. 364, Para. 1, [4SP]. The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. While life is the inheritance of the righteous, death is the portion of the wicked. The penalty threatened is not merely temporal death, for all must suffer this. It is the second death, the opposite of everlasting life. God cannot save the sinner in his sins; but he declares that the wicked, having suffered the punishment of their guilt, shall be as though they had not been. Says an inspired writer, Thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. In consequence of Adams sin, death passed upon all mankind. All alike go down into the grave. But through the provisions of the plan of salvation, all are to be brought forth from their graves. Then those who have not secured the pardon of their sins must receive the penalty of transgression. They suffer punishment varying in duration and intensity according to their works, but finally ending in the second death. Covered with infamy, they sink into hopeless, eternal oblivion. p. 364, Para. 2, [4SP]. Upon the fundamental error of natural immortality rests the doctrine of consciousness in death, a doctrine, like eternal torment, opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures, to the dictates of reason, and to our feelings of humanity. According to the popular belief, the redeemed in Heaven are acquainted with all that takes place on the earth, and especially with the lives of the friends whom they have left behind. But how could it be a source of happiness to the dead to know the troubles of the living, to witness the sins committed by their own loved ones, and to see them enduring all the sorrows, disappointments, and anguish of life? How much of Heavens bliss would be enjoyed by those who were hovering over their friends on earth? And how utterly revolting is the belief that as soon as the breath leaves the body, the soul of the impenitent is consigned to the flames of hell! To what depths of anguish must those be plunged who see their friends passing to the grave unprepared, to enter upon an eternity of woe and sin! Many have been driven to insanity by this harrowing thought. p. 364, Para. 3, [4SP]. Paul declares: If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If for four thousand years the righteous had gone directly to Heaven at death, how could they be said to perish, even though there should never be a resurrection? p. 366, Para. 2, [4SP]. When about to leave his disciples, Jesus did not tell them that they would soon come to him. I go to prepare a place for you, he said. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself. And Paul tells us, further, that the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And he adds, Comfort one another with these words. How wide the contrast between these words of comfort and those of the minister previously quoted. The latter consoled the bereaved friends with the assurance, that, however sinful the dead might have been, he was received among the angels as soon as he breathed out his life here. Paul points his brethren to the future coming of the Lord, when the fetters of the tomb shall be broken, and the dead in Christ shall be raised to eternal life. p. 367, Para. 1, [4SP]. Before any can enter the mansions of the blest, their cases must be investigated, and their characters and their deeds must pass in review before God. All are to be judged according to the things written in the books, and to be rewarded as their works have been. This Judgment does not take place at death. Mark the words of Paul: He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. Here the apostle plainly stated that a specified time, then future, had been fixed upon for the Judgment of the world. p. 367, Para. 2, [4SP]. Jude refers to the same period: The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the Judgment of the great day. And again he quotes the words of Enoch: Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of concerning these things? David declares that man is not conscious in death. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Solomon bears the same testimony: The living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything. Their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun. There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. p. 365, Para. 1, [4SP]. When, in answer to his prayer, Hezekiahs life was prolonged fifteen years, the grateful king rendered to God a tribute of praise for his great mercy. In this song he tells the reason why he thus rejoices: The grave cannot praise thee; death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day. The father to the children shall make known thy truth. Popular theology represents the righteous dead as in Heaven, entered into bliss, and praising God with an immortal tongue; but Hezekiah could see no such glorious prospect in death. With his words agrees the testimony of the psalmist: In death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave who shall give thee thanks? The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence. p. 365, Para. 2, [4SP]. Peter, speaking through the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, said: Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. For David is not ascended into the heavens. The fact that David remains in the grave until the resurrection proves that the righteous do not go to Heaven at death. It is only through the resurrection, and by virtue of the fact that Christ has risen, that David can at last sit at the right hand of God. p. 366, Para. 1, [4SP
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 19:15:41 +0000
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