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The Immortality of the Soul

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 8, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 6.

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The Immortality of the Soul

By MRS. M. E. STEWARD

MRS. M. E. STEWARD
THREE passages of Scripture are cited to prove that a person is conscious in death, and that the soul never dies:—
1. The rich man and Lazarus. Luke 16:19-31.
a. This is, without doubt, a parable; it is connected with a series of parables, spoken to the Jews, whose favorite method of teaching was by parables. They would listen to figurative instruction, when they would not for a moment endure the literal.
The Saviour had a way of proving a point by assuming the standpoint or belief of the one with whom he was talking; as in the case of the unfaithful servant. You say I am an austere man; why, then, did you not put my money out to usury? Christ did not attempt to prove that he was not an austere man. History informs us that the Jews obtained this belief of the immortality of the soul from the heathen.
b. The Pharisees were covetous; just before giving the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Christ had reproved them for covetousness. The parable struck directly at this wicked root. The Jews believed that if any one were ill, poor, or suffering, it was a sign that God had forsaken him, or was at least displeased with him. This belief nurtured self-righteousness, and consequent heartlessness.
c. This parable is an appeal not alone to the rich and the selfish, but also to Christians, to make every effort possible to save the perishing!
2. “These shall go away into everlasting punishment.” Matt. 25:46.
a. Punishment is not always suffering; the loss of a cherished object, may be a most severe affliction. The loss of eternal life, with its “eternal weight of glory” would surely be a punishment.
b. “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction.” 2 Thess. 1:9. When anything is destroyed, it ceases to exist. This scripture agrees with Ps. 37:10: “Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.” To be is to exist.
c. Everlasting destruction is destruction that lasts forever, knowing no salvation, no resurrection.
3. “He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone: . . . the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night.” Rev. 14:10, 11. The view of the three worlds of 2 Peter 3:5-10 harmonizes the above scripture with the plain statements of the Bible which deny the immortality of the soul.
a. The first world “perished” at the flood, in Noah’s time.
b. The second world, the one which is now, is “reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens [atmospheric heavens] shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat,”—the “unquenchable fire” of Matt. 3:12,—a fire so terrific that no man’s device can quench it; this fire, uniting with the fire that is now inside the earth (Job 28:5), and the fire and brimstone which God declares he will rain upon the wicked (Ps. 4:6), will melt the whole earth, causing it to become “a lake of fire.” In this lake of fire, the wicked receive their doom. Rev. 20:15. Peter calls it the “perdition of ungodly men.” The burning, melted earth is therefore the lake of fire.
c. This is not the end of the earth. The revelator saw “a new heaven and a new earth.” Speaking of the second earth, God says, “Behold, I make all things new;” not all new things. Rev. 21:5.
“The righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.” Prov. 11:31. The righteous will be in heaven during the thousand years; they will have the privilege also of visiting other worlds during eternity; the wicked never leave this earth.
When the lake of fire gives place to the new earth,—the “new things” which the Lord creates,—all life in it will have become extinct; for “death and hell,” the grave, have been cast into the lake of fire. “Forever and ever” has lasted while the lake of fire continued. “Forever and ever” is not, then, a term signifying endless duration; it is always determined by the length of duration of that to which it relates.