Unconsciousness in Death.
“And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord, my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again! And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.” 1 Kings xvii, 22, 23. Here, it is contended, it is clear that the soul is something distinct from the body, was out of the body, and came in again. Suppose we were to admit all that; that would not prove the soul conscious out of the body; and there is nothing in the text or context to show that it was. The 17th verse shows what was out of the body. “His sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.” The same word translated soul is also translated breath—life. It was the child’s breath that was out of him, and when it came into him again “he revived.” In 1 Sam. xxx, 11, 12, we have a case where a man was found in a state of exhaustion, after having been fed, it is said “his spirit came again to him.” What are we to understand by such an expression? The same as, he revived. So the child’s soul came into him again—his life, his breath—came into him, and he revived. Nothing, then, can be made of this case to sustain the conscious state of the dead. If the doctrine of an immediate entrance into a conscious delight at death, is taught in the Old Testament, why did men of God deprecate death? Let us note two or three examples. See the case of Hezekiah, Isa. xxxviii, 1–5. “In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, came unto him and said, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die and not live. Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, and said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight; and Hezekiah wept sore. Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying, Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold I will add unto thy days fifteen years.” What does Hezekiah weep and pray for? Is he distressed at the prospect of so soon “going to Heaven?” or, “to paradise?” Strange, truly, that he should be! Afraid of glory! But, perhaps he is afraid of going to the bad place. No, that cannot be; for, he pleads the fact that he had “walked before” God “in truth and with a perfect heart, and” of having “done that which is good in the sight” of God, as a reason for having his life prolonged. Strange procedure, truly, if he had arrived so near to Heaven, and was assured he was now to go immediately to the company of angels and glorified spirits, that he should weep, mourn and beg to stay longer in this wicked world! But, “fifteen years were added to his life, surely that was some gain,” says the immortal-soul theorist. If he gained fifteen years on earth, he lost fifteen out of Heaven! The immortal-soulist must think time on earth is better than time in Heaven; or that earth is more desirable than Heaven. But on the common theory, nothing was added to Hezekiah’s life; nor, was it possible to add anything. All that was done was simply to transfer fifteen years from Heaven to earth! A poor gain did he get for his prayers and tears. Such a gain as a man would get for changing a palace for a prison—or, health for sickness—or, peace and comfort for trouble and sorrow. If he was actually to remain unconscious in death, then there is some meaning in saying fifteen years are added to thy life. The word of God that communicated the mournful message to Hezekiah of his death, was not equivocal; it was explicit; “Thou shalt die.” Is that all? No. What else? “And not live.” But modern theology says, “he would have lived in a higher and much better state!” Indeed! and he “wept sore” because he had heard such bad news! After Hezekiah recovered, he praises God for his mercy. Mercy for what! If the common theorists are right, the mercy of being kept out of Heaven fifteen years! Such theorists, one would suppose, think it a great hardship to go to Heaven. Hezekiah, however, understood the matter in another light. He says: “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness; for thou hast in love to my soul [done what? kept it out of Heaven! No, but] delivered it from the pit of corruption; for thou hast cast all my sins behind my back. For the grave cannot praise thee; and death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down to the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee as I do this day.” David is another example of the same kind. He says, Psa. vi, 5,—“For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave who shall give thee thanks?” Again, Psa. lxxxviii, 10–12,—“Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee? Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?” And Psa. cxv, 17.—“The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.” These expressions show distinctly the writer’s view of the state of the dead. Could he have said these things had he believed that “the dead know more than all the world,” and enter into the presence of God? Could he have said these things if he had believed the modern poetic effusions—
“I’ll praise my Maker with my breath,
And when my voice is lost in death,
Praise shall employ my nobler powers,” &c. Such poetry contradicts the poetry of the Spirit of God, which declares,—“The dead praise not the Lord.” Thus “the sweet Psalmist of Israel” sung; but, modern songsters clash with it, and assert the contrary with a boldness that would defy David himself, if not David’s Lord, by whose inspiration he spoke and sung. Again David says, Psa. xvii, 15,—“As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.”—When he should awake in his Lord’s likeness, he would be satisfied—not before; hence he could not have believed that he should immediately enter into the presence of God; because he says, Psa. xvi, 11,—“Thou wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” Now, if Christians enter at death into the presence of God, in conscious enjoyment, then David is represented as looking to the resurrection for satisfaction, and yet as declaring there was fullness of joy before; or in other words, he could be in the presence of God, where there is fullness of joy, and not be satisfied. But so far as David is concerned, Peter settles that point, Acts ii, 24. He says: “For David is not ascended into the heavens.” But where is David? Peter says, Acts ii, 29. “The patriarch David is both dead and buried.” When he awakes, as he will, “at the last day,” with all the saints, then he will “be satisfied.”—Herald of Life.