THE ABODE OF THE DEAD by John G. Matteson

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 13, 1877

THE ABODE OF THE DEAD.

By John G. Matteson

BY ELD. JOHN G. MATTESON.

Many who style themselves orthodox will not admit that those who do not belong to their denomination, can labor to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. But even if we regard them as being the most intimate disciples of Christ on the earth at present, they do yet make a great mistake when they try to hinder others from doing good in the name of Jesus Christ. “And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us; and we forbade him; because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not; for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part.” Mark 9:38–40.

THE LIVELY ORACLES.

Some would confine the lively oracles (Danish, living word) to certain formulas which are read by the priest in a church. But according to the testimony of the Scriptures, they comprise both the law and the gospel, and the Scriptures cannot be gainsaid:—

“This is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received the lively oracles to give unto us.” Acts 7:38. Here we have a plain testimony that the ten commandments are lively oracles, and that they are given to us—to Stephen, the first Christian martyr, and to all other Christians. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Heb. 4:12. The whole word of God is therefore quick (Danish, a living word), and not a dead letter, as the Catholic Church would have people believe. Thus Stephen and Paul testify. We will now quote another witness, the apostle Peter; we have this point, therefore, made sure in the mouth of three good witnesses:—

“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” 1 Pet. 1:23–25. The word of God, which is contained in the gospel, is therefore a living and regenerating word. It can make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 2 Tim. 3:15.

If baptism be the chief means of regeneration, why does Paul write to the church in Corinth: “I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanas; besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.” 1 Cor. 1:14–17. Paul certainly understood and obeyed our Saviour’s injunction in Matt. 28:19, 20: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” But this testimony from the great apostle to the Gentiles shows clearly that the most important part of the work of the ministry is not to baptize, but to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God.

THE APOSTOLIC CREED.

The three Articles of Faith, as they are found in Luther’s smaller Catechism and in other places, have been styled the Apostolic Creed or Confession. But the Bible fails to show that the apostles have given a creed or confession exactly in this form. Paul says in his defense before the governor Felix and his Jewish accusers:—

“But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets; and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men.” Acts 24:14–16.

And the gospel which Paul preached, whereby we also can be saved if we keep it in memory according to the way in which he made it known, 1 Cor. 15:1, 2, reads as follows:—

“For I delivered unto you first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” 1 Cor. 15:3, 4.

This is certainly the great substance of the gospel of Christ, whereby we can be saved, and it does not say a single word about his descent into hell.

CHRIST’S PREACHING UNTO THE SPIRITS.

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit; by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water.” 1 Pet. 3: 18–20. In considering this text, we will notice the following points:—

1. The chronological order of the three principal events spoken of: a. Christ was put to death in the flesh. b. He was quickened by the Spirit, or, in other words, raised from the dead. c. He went and preached unto the spirits. This preaching is not mentioned as occurring between Christ’s death and resurrection. No argument can therefore be drawn from the chronological order of these events. Neither the word hades nor hell is used in this text at all, nor is anything said about ascending or descending.

2. Luther did not believe that we can know what Christ did while he was dead. In his “Exposition of Genesis,” vol. ii., chap. 42, he says:—

“321. But it is my belief that Christ at this beautiful place [Gethsemane] suffered the pains of hell. . . . Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, was therefore obliged to come to this valley, which plainly shows that he tasted death, which is hell.”

“322. Thus was Christ, our Lord and Redeemer, in hell itself for us; for he felt real death and hell in his body. What he did or felt when he was separated from his body, we cannot know; but alive and in his body he truly tasted hell.”

3. Christ could not while he was dead, preach to the spirits the gospel which Paul preached. He could not proclaim the glad tidings that he was risen from the dead and had gained the victory over the grave. He had not yet received the keys of death, nor opened the gates of hades. He was a prisoner himself there. He tasted death, and was laid away in the grave, for us. But Easter morn the gates of the grave burst open, and the Son of God could exclaim with joy: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” From that time has the joyful news sounded that Christ “rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

If it be said that Christ might have told the dead that he would rise again, we reply that he might have told them that twenty-five hundred years before, while they were living on the earth. The Spirit of God testified beforehand through the prophets in regard to the death and resurrection of Christ. And it would be of no avail to testify unto them, when the longsuffering of God did not wait any longer, and his Spirit would not operate upon them any more. Its operations upon them ceased at the end of the one hundred and twenty years, when the deluge came. Gen. 6:3: “And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” This proves that the Spirit of Christ is the Holy Spirit.

4. These spirits were not Gentiles who had never heard the gospel; because they lived in the days of Noah, and he was “a preacher of righteousness.” 2 Pet. 2:5. Peter says that they sometime were disobedient. To what were they disobedient? To the preaching of Noah and to the strivings of the Spirit of God. This text does not therefore prove that the gospel was preached to those Gentiles who did not hear it on the earth; for it speaks of people who had heard the word of God before they died, but were disobedient thereto.

5. Many have the idea that the Gentiles are rather a privileged class of people. They are afraid that God will do them injustice if they cannot have an opportunity to be converted after death, or by some other unscriptural method be received into the kingdom of God. But by reading Lev. 18:21–24 and Rom. 1:23–32, it will be seen that they disregarded the knowledge of God, and gave themselves up to the most shameful vices. They were not only full of envy and murder, but they polluted themselves in the lowest and most unnatural manner.

6. God will judge every one according to his works, and the Gentiles will not receive greater punishment than they deserve. “For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen; as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; thy reward shall return upon thine own head. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.” Obad. 15, 16. They shall arise in the last day and acknowledge that the Lord will not be mocked. And then they will be burned up in the fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels, and they will not arise nor live any more. “Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.” “They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.” Isa. 26:11, 14. But in regard to those who believe, the prophet says: “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.” Verse 19. This harmonizes with the New Testament, which says that the wicked shall die “the second death.” Rev. 20:6, 14; 21:8.

7. What, then, does the text above quoted, 1 Pet. 3:18–20, teach us? a. Christ did not preach personally, but by his Spirit. b. The expression spirits sometimes refers to human beings. 1 John 4:1. They were kept in store to the time of the flood, just as the world which now is, is reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment. 2 Pet. 3:7. c. Christ testified by his Spirit through Noah, and Noah warned his fellow-men before the flood came, when the longsuffering of God waited; but the majority of them were disobedient to the word of God.

THE GRAVES IN THE EARTH ARE CALLED HADES, WHICH IS THE ABODE OF THE DEAD.

Soul and body go down into hades when the man dies, but the spirit goes 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. “Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the earth.” Ps. 104:29, 30. “If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath; all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.” Job 34:14, 15. God preserves the spirit of man till the resurrection. Man then receives life and breath again. Eze. 37:5, 9, 10. But that the soul goes to hades, or the grave, as well as the body, is clearly shown by the following texts:—

“But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave; for he shall receive me.” Ps. 49:15. “For great is thy mercy toward me; and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell [margin, grave].” Ps. 86:13. “For my soul is full of troubles; and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.” Ps. 88:3. “What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.” Ps. 89:48. “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [hades], neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” Acts 2:27. This was spoken of the resurrection of Christ, “that his soul was not left in hell.” Verse 31.

In hades no one can praise and thank God. There is no remembrance of the Lord there. All is dark and still. And there is neither work nor device there. “I [Hezekiah] said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave; I am deprived of the residue of my years.”

“For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee. They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.” Isa. 38:10, 18. “For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?” Ps. 6:5. “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.” Ps. 115:17. The soul and body go down into hades, where there is undisturbed silence. “There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest. There the prisoners rest together.” Job 3:17, 18. Hades is “the land of darkness, and the shadow of death; a land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.” Job 10:21, 22. “Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.” Ps. 31:17. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” Eccl. 9:10.

In the New Testament we have an account of Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary. He descended into hades, and the Lord called him up again. But he did not have anything to relate in regard to what he did or thought while there. John 11. That there is no work in hades is also clearly seen from 2 Cor. 5:10, and similar texts: “For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” God “hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness.” And this is the last day, or day of Judgment. Man would have to give account for more than that which is done in the body, if there be any work in hades.

That the abode of the dead is the grave, is seen clearly from the following text: “And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war; and they have laid their swords under their heads.” Eze. 32:27. Hell in this text is grave in the Danish. The grave is certainly the place where the mighty go down with their weapons of war, and where their swords are laid under their heads. Soldiers in ancient times were buried with their weapons. The fact that in a few places the dead are represented as speaking, does not destroy the force of all these clear testimonies.

THE DAY OF JUDGMENT IS THE TIME FOR PUNISHMENT AND REWARD.

“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matt. 25:31–34. “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Verse 41. “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great, and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” Rev. 11:18. “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word.” 2 Tim. 4:1, 2. “And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Rev. 22:12. “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” Col. 3:3, 4. “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” 1 Pet. 5:4. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2. These and many other texts plainly establish this great truth, and it rejoices our longing hearts to know that the great day of the Lord is fast approaching, when these glorious events will be fulfilled before our eyes.

Our dear Saviour who has the keys to the grave, will open its heavy gates, and those who have loved him will awake, and sing with gladness. And Jesus will take them home to the beautiful city above, where they will celebrate the marriage of the Lamb, and give to the Lord eternal praise and adoration.