BRIEF THOUGHTS CONCERNING LIFE AND DEATH.
THE DEAD CANNOT PRAISE THE LORD.
Such is indeed a necessary conclusion from those texts which tell us that knowledge and thought cease—as well they may—when life is extinct. We may well say with Hezekiah, “The grave [i. e., sheol, the place containing all the dead] cannot praise Thee, [for there is no knowledge in sheol. Eccl. ix, 10.] Death cannot celebrate thee; [for in death there is no remembrance of God; Ps. vi, 5.] 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.” Isa. xxxviii, 18, 19. These are excellent reasons for believing that the dead are not now engaged in the praise and worship of God. The psalmist presents this, however, in express language: Ps. cxv, 17, 18: “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence. But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord.” But does not this mean the wicked dead? And are not the righteous dead to praise God? In fact, does not the “we” who are to praise him henceforth, mean the righteous? There is no sense in such a position. 1. The wicked living do not praise God. The wicked dead, if in the flames of hell, will not do more toward his praise than in their lifetime. 2. The testimony does not discriminate relative to the righteous and wicked in death. They all go to sheol, the place of darkness and silence, where there is no knowledge. 3. Finally, the “we” who continue his praise, while the dead sleep in silence, are the living. See Hezekiah’s language quoted above. Also see the same “we” as distinguished from those who are asleep, in 1 Thess. iv, 15, 17. “EVEN SO THEN ALSO WHICH SLEEP IN JESUS WILL GOD BRING WITH HIM.” 1 THESS. IV, 14. Does not this passage prove that the righteous dead are already with Christ? Such is the interpretation quite often given this text. According to this view, our Lord brings back from Heaven to earth, all those that sleep in him, when he, himself, returns. If this be the true meaning of the Holy Spirit, it is important that we understand it. Let us inquire into this subject. 1. Who are those that God brings with Jesus? Answer. Those “which sleep in Jesus.” 2. Where do they sleep in Jesus? Two answers are returned. (1) In the dust of the earth. (2) In Paradise, or Heaven. If the first answer be correct, then it is evident that Jesus does not bring the sleeping saints from Heaven to earth, for they are here asleep in its dust. But if the second answer is correct, then it appears that the saints are with Christ from their death to their resurrection, but they are fast asleep! Our friends who call us soul-sleepers, because we believe that the whole man falls asleep, are proved out of their own mouths, to be the best entitled to this name; for they have the disembodied, immortal soul, fast asleep in the midst of Paradise. This view of saints asleep in the third Heaven, will hardly answer; but if we abandon it, and acknowledge that they sleep in the dust of the earth, then we cannot very well retain the doctrine that Jesus brings the sleeping ones to earth when he comes. 3. What do the words “even so” in this text designate? The manner of doing this very work. 4. How do they designate the manner of this work? Simply by declaring that it shall be wrought in the same manner as that of the example given. 5. What does he make use of to illustrate this bringing of the sleeping ones? THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. Thus he says: “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, EVEN SO them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him.” (1) The work shall be done for the saints just as it was for Jesus. They shall be resurrected. (2) It is as certain to take place as it is that that has taken place. 6. But is there any place where Paul speaks in this very manner concerning the resurrection of Christ? There is. See Heb. xiii, 25. “Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,” etc. 7. Who is it that brings the sleeping ones? It is God, the Father, who does it by our Lord Jesus Christ. 8. Where does he bring them from? From the same place that he brought the Lord Jesus, i. e., from the dead. 9. Where does he bring them to? Either from Heaven to earth, or from earth to Heaven. 10. But which of the two is it? If he brings them to earth, he must come himself, otherwise he would not bring, but send them. 11. When Jesus comes the second time, does the Father come also, or does he remain in Heaven and send his Son after the saints? (1) There is no text which represents God the Father as coming to our earth at the second coming of Jesus the Son of Man. (2) He comes in the Father’s glory with all the holy angels, but the Father is not with him. (3) The testimony is explicit that God the Father is to SEND his Son, the very language used also with reference to the first advent. Acts iii, 20, 26; John iii, 17, 34; Gal. iv, 4; 1 John iv, 9, 10. The Father therefore remains in Heaven when the Son, being sent by him, returns to our earth to bring the saints. 12. How then does God the Father bring the sleeping saints by Jesus? He sends Jesus after them to bring them to himself. Jesus descends to our earth, where he finds them sleeping109in the silent dust. Dan. xii, 2; Isa. xxvi, 19; Job vii, 21. He wakes them with his voice. Job xiv, 12–15; John v, 28, 29. They stand up upon their feet an exceeding great army. Eze. xxxvii, 10. The angels of God being all present, he says to them, “Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” Ps. l, 6. And the angels thus commissioned, gather together his elect from the four corners of the earth. Matt. xxiv, 31. The saints are thus caught up to meet their Lord in the air, and so to be forever with him. This is the gathering together of the saints to Christ. 1 Thess. iv, 16–18; 2 Thess. ii, 1. Our Lord having met his saints in mid air, and received them unto himself, now bears them to the mansions which he has prepared for them in the Father’s house according to the promise in John xiv, 1–3. And thus our Lord presents his people to his Father, unblamable in holiness. And thus God the Father brings to his own presence, with his beloved Son, all those redeemed by his blood. 2 Cor. iv, 14. 13. But did not Paul believe that the sleeping saints should reach the Father first? No indeed. He expressly says that the living, i. e., the translated saints, should “be caught up together with them,” i. e., the resurrected saints, “to meet the Lord in the air.” So far from giving the idea that the sleeping saints shall reach the presence of the Father first, he stops to prove that the living ones shall not get there first! Thus he says: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not PREVENT them which are asleep.” 1 Thess. iv, 15. The word “prevent” in the time that our translation was made signified, “go before,” or to anticipate; a sense which it everywhere has in our common English Bible. It thus exactly expresses the Greek word φθάσωμεν, of which it is here a translation, and which signifies “to come or be before.” And so the Bible Union renders the passage, “Shall not precede those who fell asleep.” Sawyer’s version renders it, “Shall not anticipate those that have fallen asleep.” MacKnight renders it, “Shall not anticipate them who are asleep.” Whiting renders the sentence, “Shall not outstrip those who are sleeping.” Paul even thought it necessary to say that the living should not enter glory in advance of those who were asleep. The whole company of the redeemed shall be made perfect together. And God the Father shall receive them as the purchase of the Redeemer’s blood.