THE SINNER'S FATE

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · May 2, 1878

THE SINNER'S FATE.

NOTHING is more reasonable than that the wicked should be utterly destroyed, and cease to be a curse to themselves and to others; and no doctrine is more plainly and pointedly taught in the Bible than this. We invite the reader's attention to the following condensed but comprehensive statements of the Bible upon this subject:

THEY SHALL DIE.

To die is thus defined by Webster: "To cease to live; to expire; to decease; to perish."

Death, then, is a loss of life, a cessation of existence. In this sense it is familiarly and repeatedly used in the Bible. Take four examples: Speaking of the flood it says: "And all flesh died that moved upon the earth." Gen. 7:21. Of his cattle Jacob said: "If men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die." Gen. 33:13.

Again: "And the fish that is in the river shall die." Ex. 7:18. Of Dorcas it says: "It came to pass in those days, that she was sick and died." Acts 9:37. The simple meaning in these instances cannot be misunderstood. It means an utter loss of life. And so it is used in hundreds of places all through the Scriptures. This familiar word is the one which the Lord has chosen more frequently than any other to describe the end of the wicked.

Take a few examples: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." "For his iniquity that he hath done shall he die." Eze. 18:3, 26. "When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die." Eze. 33:14. "He that hateth reproof shall die." Prov. 15:10. "He that despiseth his ways shall die." Prov. 19:16. "The end of those things is death." "For the wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:21, 23. "To be carnally minded is death." Rom. 8:6. "Shall save a soul from death." James 5:20. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1:15. We could quote scores of texts like these.

THEY SHALL BE DESTROYED.

Destroy: "To demolish; to pull down; to bring to naught; to annihilate."—Webster. Destruction, then, is utter ruin, complete annihilation; and so it is used in the Bible. At the flood the Lord said: "Every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth." Gen. 7:4. Wild beasts shall "destroy your cattle." Lev. 26:22. "The trees . . . thou shalt destroy." Deut. 20:20. "He sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers." Matt. 22:7.

With a Concordance, the reader can readily find scores of texts where the word destroy or destroyed is used as above, where there can be no question about its meaning. This strong but simple word the Lord has repeatedly used in naming the punishment of the wicked. Thus: "All the wicked will he destroy." Ps. 145:20. "I will early destroy all the wicked." Ps. 101:8. "Fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matt. 10:28. "The transgressors shall be destroyed together." Ps. 37:38. "All the workers of iniquity . . . shall be destroyed forever." Ps. 92:7. "Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed." Prov. 13:13. "Is not destruction to the wicked?" Job 31:3. "Destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity." Prov. 10:29. "The indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction." Isa. 10:25. "Vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." Rom. 9:22. "Whose end is destruction." Phil. 3:19. "Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction." 2 Thess. 1:9. "Which drown men in destruction and perdition." 1 Tim. 6:9.

THEY SHALL PERISH.

Perish: "To die; to lose life in any manner; to be destroyed; to come to nothing."—Webster. Here is another word, the very strongest that can be found to denote an utter destruction, used in a multitude of instances, to denote the end of the wicked.

Take a few passages to show its Bible usage: Of Saul, David said: "He shall descend into battle and perish." 1 Sam. 26:10. Of Jonah's gourd it is said, "Which came up in a night, and perished in a night." Jonah 4:10. "And the bottles perish." Matt. 9:17. The "swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished." Matt. 8:32.

So the Lord declares it shall be with the wicked. "Let the wicked perish at the presence of God." Ps. 68:2. "But the wicked shall perish." Ps. 37:20. "Whosoever believeth in him should not perish." John 3:15. "Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish." Acts 13:41. "The cross is to them that perish, foolishness." 1 Cor. 1:18. "In them that perish." 2 Cor. 2:15. "With all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish." 2 Thess. 2:10. "He that speaketh lies shall perish." Prov. 19:9. "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Luke 13:3. "As many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law." Rom. 2:12. "Shall utterly perish in their own corruption." 2 Pet. 2:12.

SHALL BE BURNED UP.

The meaning of the word burn is too familiar to every reader to need a definition. Look a moment at its use in the Bible. Sampson's firebrands "burnt up both the shocks and also the standing corn." Judges 15:5. Job's servant said, "The fire of God is fallen from heaven and hath burned up the sheep." Job 1:16. "Our holy and beautiful house . . . is burned up with fire." Isa. 64:11. The king "burned up their city." Matt. 22:7.

And so in numerous places. A thing burned up is totally destroyed and reduced to ashes. The Lord says "he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Matt. 3:12. "Whose end is to be burned." Heb. 6:8. Gather together "the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them." Matt. 13:30. "For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Mal. 4:1.

THEY SHALL BE CONSUMED.

Consume: "To destroy by separating the parts of a thing by decomposition, as by fire; to destroy and annihilate the form of a substance."—Webster. When a thing is consumed it is reduced to ashes. "There came a fire out from before the Lord and consumed upon the altar, the burnt offering." Lev. 9:24. "And cast it into the fire that was on the hearth until all the roll was consumed in the fire." Jer. 36:23. "The gates thereof are consumed with fire." Neh. 2:3.

Knowing what the people would understand by this word, the Lord often tells them that the wicked shall be consumed. Thus: "They that forsake the Lord shall be consumed." Isa. 1:28. "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth." Ps. 104:35. "The enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume, into smoke shall they consume away." Ps. 37:20. "Consume them in wrath, consume them that they may not be." Ps. 59:13. "Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet; and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth." Zech. 14:12.

THEY SHALL BE DEVOURED.

Devour: "To eat up; to destroy; to consume with rapidity and violence."—Webster. The following passages will show its Bible use: "There went out fire from the Lord and devoured them." Lev. 10:2. "Some evil beast hath devoured him." Gen. 37:20. "This word the Lord again uses to describe the condition of the wicked. "Fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them." Rev. 20:9. "Fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries." Heb. 10:27. "The fire shall devour them." Ps. 21:9. "They shall be devoured as stubble fully dry." Nahum 1:10.

SHALL GO INTO PERDITION.

Perdition: "Entire loss or ruin; utter destruction."—Webster. This again is a very strong word to denote utter destruction. "Which drown men in destruction and perdition." 1 Tim. 6:9. "We are not of them who draw back unto perdition." Heb. 10:39. "Against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Pet. 3:7.

CUT ASUNDER.

"Shall cut him asunder." Matt. 24:51.

CUT DOWN.

"They shall soon be cut down like the grass." Ps. 37:2.

CUT UP.

"As thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire." Isa. 33:12.

CUT OFF.

"I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all the wicked doers from the city of the Lord." Ps. 101:8. "For evil doers shall be cut off." "The seed of the wicked shall be cut off." "They that be cursed of him shall be cut off." "When the wicked are cut off thou shalt see it." "The end of the wicked shall be cut off." Ps. 37:9, 22, 28, 34, 38. "The wicked shall be cut off from the earth." Prov. 2:22. "Every one that stealeth shall be cut off." Zech. 5:3.

CUT IN PIECES.

"Let them be as cut in pieces." Ps. 58:7.

ROOTED OUT.

"The transgressors shall be rooted out of it" (the earth). Prov. 2:22.

CHASED OUT.

"He shall be . . . chased out of the world." Job 18:18. "He shall be chased away as a vision of the night." Job 20:8. They "shall be chased as the chaff of the mountain before the wind." Isa. 17:13.

BLOTTED OUT.

"Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book." Ex. 32:33. "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living." Ps. 69:28. "Let their name be blotted out." Ps. 109:13.

PASS AWAY.

"As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away." Ps. 58:8.

COMPARED TO PERISHABLE MATERIALS.

They are to be dashed "in pieces like a potter's vessel," Ps. 2:9; to be consumed "as the fat of lambs," Ps. 37:20; to perish "like the beasts," Ps. 49:20; to pass away "as a snail which melteth," Ps. 58:8; to be driven away "as smoke is driven away," and to perish "as wax melteth before the fire," Ps. 68:2; to be no more, "as the whirlwind passeth," Prov. 10:25. They "shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water, and . . . as tow," Isa. 1:30, 31; "as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire," Isa. 33:12; like moth and worm-eaten garments, Isa. 51:8; and "as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust." Isa. 5:24. They shall be burned as tares, Matt. 13:30; as dry branches, John 15:6; as wood and hay, 1 Cor. 3:12; as thorns and briers, Heb. 6:8. "They shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away." Hosea 13:3. "They shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb." Ps. 37:2. "His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off," Job 18:16; and his light "shall be put out." Job 18:5.

How could the utter destruction of the wicked be more clearly stated or more forcibly illustrated than in the above scriptures? Added to these are the declarations, made again and again, that the soul itself shall die, and that the wicked shall be no more. Thus: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. 18:4. "And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body." Isa. 10:18. "Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matt. 10:28. Equivalent to this is the declaration that the day that cometh shall burn up the wicked, so "that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Mal. 4:1.

It is directly stated that the wicked shall be as nothing. See Isa. 41:11, 12. And that "they shall be as though they had not been." Obad. 16. And the Psalmist says, "For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be." Ps. 37:10. Again he exclaims, "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more." Ps. 104:35.

Such an array of positive testimony as there is for the utter destruction of the wicked, can hardly be produced for any other doctrine of the Bible.

--- # THE SLEEP OF THE DEAD.

TEXT: "For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished." Eccl. 9:5-6.

DEAR READER: We have usually been taught that when the body dies the real man does not die, but lives right on, thinks, acts, loves, and hates, in heaven or hell, just as actually as while in the body upon earth. But is this true? Many false doctrines have been taught in the world; may not this be one of them? What proof do we have that a man lives after we have seen him die? Observation teaches us all that he is really dead. Every day we see him die. Did any person ever see anything leave the body at death? No, not in a single case. Has a human soul or spirit, separate from the body, ever been seen by any one? No, never. So far, then, as actual sight and observation go, all the evidence is against this popular doctrine.

Reason is against it. How can a man think without brains, walk without feet, see without eyes, hear without ears? It is absurd and contrary to all reason. But does not the Bible teach that the dead are conscious? No, not in a single text; but it every where teaches just the reverse, as I can readily show you. If the dead live right on and go to heaven or hell as soon as they die, then what sense is there in a future judgment? Is it reasonable to believe that God would send a man to hell before he was judged, and after he had been there a thousand years in torment, then bring him out and judge him? See 2 Pet. 2:9. Would you hang a man and then judge him? Is it not absurd to believe that God would take a man to heaven for thousands of years, and then bring him down from heaven and judge him to see if he ought to go there? This is too absurd to be believed. See Rev. 11:18.

Again, if the soul or spirit can live just as well out of the body as in the body, or perhaps even better; if it can be like an angel, can fly rapidly from one place to another, can live, and think, and act, and be so exceedingly happy without the body; and if the body, as many preach, is only a prison house, a cage and a clog to the soul, then what is the use of a resurrection of this body? See 1 Cor. 15:32. Why raise the body and put the soul back into it again? or, why was the soul ever put into the body at all, if it could do better without it? Yet no doctrine of the scriptures is plainer than that of the resurrection of the dead at the last day. See 1 Cor. 15.

Then, again, if the saints as soon as they die go up to heaven, where Jesus is, and where they can enjoy all the glory and happiness of heaven, what will they care for the second coming of Christ? Yet all the Bible writers were constantly wishing for it, longing for it, and praying for it. See Heb. 9:28. These fundamental doctrines of the Bible, the judgment, the resurrection, and the second advent, are all set aside and destroyed by the doctrine of the conscious state of the dead.

The Bible directly asserts that the wicked are reserved unto the day of judgment to be punished. "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." 2 Pet. 2:9. See also Job 21:28-32. Rev. 20:12, 13. Now, if the wicked are reserved till the judgment to be punished, they certainly are not being punished in hell before that time. This is so plain that any child can see it, and so reasonable that everybody ought to believe it.

Another plain fact which clearly shows that the righteous do not go to heaven when they die, is that they are not to be rewarded till the second advent, the resurrection and the judgment. If they went to heaven at death they would have thousands of years of reward before the judgment. But now see how plainly this doctrine is everywhere taught, that the time of reward is not at death, but at the judgment. "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." Matt. 16:27. When will every man be rewarded? At the coming of Christ. "For thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." Luke 14:14. When will you be recompensed? At the resurrection. No promise of it before. "And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." 1 Pet. 5:4. When will you get your crown? When the great Shepherd comes—not till then.

"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." Rev. 11:18. When will the Lord's saints, great and small, be rewarded? When the time comes to judge the dead. How plain this doctrine is. Scores of texts all through the Bible might be given, teaching the same thing. But if this be true, then it cannot be true that the righteous go to heaven when they die. Well, if men do not go to heaven or hell at death, where do they go? Let the Bible answer this question, and it will do it in very plain terms.

1. It says that they are dead. Death is thus defined by Webster: "The extinction of life." Notice the following plain declarations: "For Naboth is not alive, but dead;" 1 Kings 21:15; "Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead;" John 6:49; "David . . . is both dead and buried;" Acts 2:29; "The dead in Christ shall rise first;" 1 Thess. 4:16; "He being dead yet speaketh;" Heb. 11:4; "Moses my servant is dead;" Josh. 1:2; "Abraham is dead, and the prophets;" John 8:52; "Lazarus is dead." John 11:14. How plain these declarations are—Moses is dead, David is dead, Lazarus is dead. And death is an extinction of life. Then all these men are dead, and not alive.

2. They are in the grave. Nothing is more plainly stated than this. We will quote several scriptures upon this point. The reader will notice that it does not say simply that the body is in the grave, but it says that the man, the person himself is there. It does not say that a part of man goes there, or that the house that the man lived in goes there, but it says that he himself, the man proper, is there. Notice carefully these scriptures: "Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return." Gen. 3:19. Who was to return to dust? The conscious, intelligent, responsible man Adam. To Abraham God said, "And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age." Gen. 15:15. "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. What is going into the grave? That part of man which is capable of having knowledge, wisdom, devices, etc. "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise." Isa. 26:19. Notice it is men who are dead as well as bodies. "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake." Dan. 12:2. "The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5:28, 29. Who are in the grave? They that have done evil and they that have done good—the intelligent, responsible man. "And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him." Acts 8:2. Who was buried? The martyr Stephen—not simply Stephen's body, but Stephen himself. The reader will readily remember scores of texts through the Bible making the same statements.

3. The dead know nothing—have no thoughts. This is an important proposition which we wish the reader to distinctly notice. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. 146:3, 4. In the very day a man dies, his thoughts perish. Can a man be in heaven or hell alive, and have no thoughts? "For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished." Eccl. 9:5, 6. What do the dead know? The declaration is positive, they "know not anything." But, says one, this is the body. No, it is not; for the next verse says, "Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished." Men love and hate with the mind; hence it is the mind of man to which he refers. "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Ps. 115:17. "For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" Ps. 6:5. "Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave." Ps. 31:17. "For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee." Isa. 38:18. All these scriptures plainly state that after death men have no thoughts, know nothing, are not intelligent anywhere, or in any manner.

4. The dead are asleep. We all know that in perfect, sound sleep there is no thought, not even a dream. We are simply unconscious. It is a well-known fact that the Lord every where uses sleep to describe the state of the dead. A person in sound sleep is peacefully, quietly resting, with no sorrow, no trouble. Carefully read the following scriptures:

"So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David." 1 Kings 2:10. "And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father." 1 Kings 11:43. "And Hezekiah slept with his fathers." 2 Kings 20:21. "For now shall I sleep in the dust." Job 7:21. "So man lieth down, and riseth not; till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep." Job 14:12. "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Dan. 12:2. "And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth." Mark 5:39. "These things said he; and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. . . . Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead." John 11:11, 14. "After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. . . . Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. . . . But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. . . . Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." 1 Cor. 15:6, 18, 20, 51. "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 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. 4:13-15.

If the saint are dead, they are not alive. If they are in the grave, they are not in heaven. If they have no thoughts, then they are not thinking. If they know nothing, then they are not intelligent. If they are asleep, then they are not awake. If they are to be rewarded at the judgment, they are not being rewarded now. Dear reader, this is the doctrine we believe and teach. Is it not the doctrine of the Bible?

D. M. C.