THOU SHALT SURELY DIE by E. LANPHEAR

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 2, 1867

“THOU SHALT SURELY DIE.”

By E. LANPHEAR

God said, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” God thus addressed himself to Adam, after placing him in the garden, soon after his creation. Did God mean what he said? The serpent contradicts this saying by telling the woman, “Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened: and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Now the question arises, Which shall we believe? God or the serpent? Our orthodox, or professedly orthodox, friends say, that Adam did not die the day he ate thereof, consequently they decide that God was mistaken, and the Devil told the truth; and notwithstanding the plain teachings of the Bible, that “the soul that sinneth, it shall die,” they say, “the soul can never die.” It seems to me that if they really believe what they teach, to be consistent they should not profess to worship God, while they preach the doctrine of the Devil. What did God send his Son into the world for? Was it not that sinners might through him be saved from death, the penalty of sin? Paul says, Rom. vi, 22, 23, “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Shall we believe Paul? or shall we believe modern orthodoxy? Shall we believe the Bible, and that it is God’s truth and will concerning men? I have no reason to disbelieve it, but would rather say, “Let God be true and every man a liar.”

But men claim that if the righteous live through an endless existence in happiness, the wicked must necessarily have an endless existence in misery, or torment. To such I would ask, Is the gift of eternal life promised only to those that believe? Now if all men have eternal life in themselves, as you hold, how can it be a gift to them that believe? If we profess to take the word of God for the man of our counsel, let us be consistent with the teachings of that Word. The gospel plainly teaches that by the death and resurrection of our Saviour there is to be a final resurrection of all men, when all shall receive reward according to the deeds done here in the body, whether they are good or bad. “Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Many take it for granted that because the word everlasting is applied to both classes here they must necessarily exist equally as to time. I acknowledge that if there were no other terms applied to the righteous, you would have the argument, for the word everlasting in and of itself does not define any length of time in particular. This I think all Hebrew scholars will admit. By this and similar words, doubtless many are deceived, taking the word to mean endless time, while the word itself means no such thing, but derives its meaning as to time from the thing it is applied to. The Scriptures plainly teach us of a second death. Is this term applicable to the righteous? Certainly not, “for on such the second death hath no power.” Well then, if the righteous receive eternal life as a gift of God through Jesus Christ, and the second death can have no power over them, and there is no other provision made for that life to come, then it is self-evident that there will be no end to their existence. But how of the wicked? Is there any provision made for their existence after the second death has passed upon them? I have searched and found it not. But we find further evidence for the endless existence of the righteous; for they shall put on immortality. Is this term ever applied to the wicked? I think it cannot be found. I wait for light rather than disbelieve God’s word. E. LANPHEAR. Nile, N. Y.