p. 357 | Where Are the Dead? by Albert M. Dart

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jun 8, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 23.

Where Are the Dead?

By Albert M. Dart

Is the Soul in One Place and the Body in Another? Did Christ Really Die?

By Albert M. Dart

“I WILL ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.” Hosea 13:14. Here is Christ’s answer to this momentous question; for Christ speaks through the prophets. 1 Peter 1:10, 11.

THEY ARE IN THEIR GRAVES

The dead are in their graves, where they were placed at death — held there under the power of death, unconscious of anything under the sun till ransomed from its power at the resurrection. For “the dead know not anything.” Eccl. 9:5.

Where they are, and their condition, is again plainly stated in Ps. 6:5: “For in death there is no remembrance of Thee: in the grave who shall give Thee thanks?”

But in the minds of many, there prevails the idea that only the body goes to the grave, while the soul escapes conscious and free. If we treated the language of the Bible as we treat other languages, we could not hold to such an idea; for does it not say, “I will ransom them from the . . . grave”? This could not be said if they were somewhere else.

WHERE IS THE SOUL?

They entered the grave because of death, and death came as the result of sin. And now listen: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Eze. 18:4. Where, then, is the soul? — Where sin took it — in the grave.

“What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?” Ps. 89:48. The term “soul,” in such connections, is used to indicate the man. He is in the grave, and cannot deliver himself. “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave.” Ps. 49:15.

These plain statements should cause the believer in the immortality of the soul to stop and think.

THE GOSPEL TEST AGAIN

Let it be remembered that the gospel reveals Christ dead, buried, and risen again. 1 Cor. 15:1-4. But did Christ have an immortal soul that escaped death? If so, then we must admit that He did not really die. And if He did not really die, how shall we view the plan of salvation, which is based upon the great fact of His death and resurrection?

But Christ did not have an immortal soul that escaped death. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, discussing a prophecy of the resurrection of Christ, said, “He [the prophet David] seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell [the grave], neither His flesh did see corruption.” Acts 2:31. Now really, dear reader, would it be said that the soul of Christ was not left in the grave, if it did not go there?

Christ, the God-man, died; and there is no evading the issue by the claim that He had an immortal soul which did not die. He was in the grave from death till the resurrection. He passed through this experience to deliver man from death and the grave. Could this be true if man did not die and go to the grave?

“For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh, and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death; that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Heb. 2:14, 15. Again the gospel test leaves no room for an immortal soul escaping the grave.

THE SPIRIT TO GOD WHO GAVE IT

“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” Eccl. 12:7. That the spirit here mentioned is not a separate, conscious entity, is easily proved. The word “spirit” used here is derived from the Hebrew root word ruach, and is translated “breath” in Ps. 146:4, where the statement is made that the breath which God breathed into man’s nostrils goes forth, and his thoughts perish.

Job uses the two words, “breath” and “spirit,” in a connection which makes the matter plain: “All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils.” Job 27:3. The margin says, for “spirit,” “the breath which God gave him.” Thus the spirit — breath — returns to God; but one would hardly claim that this is the man who God said should die because of disobedience.

AUTHOR OF IMMORTAL SOUL THEORY

It is very evident that belief in the immortality of the soul springs from the idea that man does not die. The first record in the Bible of such teaching is found in Gen. 3:4: “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.”

The falsity of the doctrine is seen in the connection in which it is found. Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil God had said, “Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

But the source of the teaching alone is sufficient to put the seeker after truth on his guard. It is a well directed blow, by the enemy of all righteousness, at the very fountainhead of the plan of salvation. If man did not die, there would be no need of Christ’s death; and thus attention would be directed away from the only possibility of salvation from sin; “and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” James 1:15.

Now the question naturally arises, If man is mortal, and unconscious in death, what about the fate of the wicked? The Bible teaching on this point will be considered next week.