NATURE OF MAN, AND HIS STATE IN DEATH.
By Ida Hilliard
SINCE the fall of man ideas have been advocated which would lead one to believe in the natural immortality of the soul; but that this is erroneous seems plain when compared with the Scriptures. Job, in speaking of man, says, "Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his Maker?" Chapter 4:17. From this it appears that man is mortal, subject to death. The word "immortal" occurs in the Bible but once, and is found in 1 Tim. 1:17. It reads, "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever." Here it is applied to God. Again, in chapter 6:15, 16, we read, "Which in his time he shall show, who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting." Here we are plainly told that God only hath immortality. If God only has it, man is certainly not in possession of it. It is brought to light (to his knowledge) through the gospel, for 2 Tim. 1:10 plainly says that our Saviour, Jesus Christ, "hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." Although man does not naturally possess eternal life, it is not beyond his reach. It is possible for him to obtain it. "For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." John 5:26. Again, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23. Thus we learn that God has promised eternal life through his Son. It cannot be purchased, but is a gift. In Rom. 2:7 we read, "To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality [God will render], eternal life." Thus we see662that it is obtained by seeking for it through Christ, in welldoing. If man naturally possessed it, the Lord would not require him to seek for it. Now let us see when man is to obtain the gift of immortality. This is plainly shown from the following passage: "Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." 1 Cor. 15:51-54. Here, again, we are told that man is mortal, and that he puts on immortality when the last trumpet sounds. It would be inconsistent to tell a person to put on something that he already has on. When God created man, he was formed before he received life. In Gen. 2:7 we read, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." There is no proof that there was immortality in this breath given to man. If so, would not the animals also be in possession of immortality, as they received the same breath? "And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life [margin], of all that was in the dry land, died." The testimony of the wise man agrees with this. He says, "For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them; as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preëminence above a beast; for all is vanity." Eccl. 3:19. Thus we see, as far as the breath is concerned, man is on a level with the beast. Of course man has reasoning powers, which, in life, place him preëminently above the beast. He has also the promise of the gift of immortality, at the last trump, through Jesus Christ our Lord. But when man's or beast's breath goeth forth in death, the text teaches that man has no preëminence above the beast. The breath is called spirit in different passages, as already referred to in the margin of Gen. 7:21, 22. It is called the breath of the spirit of life in Job 27:3 and James 2:26. Job says, "All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils," and James says, "For as the body without the spirit [margin, "breath"] is dead, so faith without works is dead also." This breath, or spirit, returns to God at death, as is shown from Eccl. 12:7: "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." There is nothing to show that this refers to the righteous more than the wicked. The breath, or spirit, of both the righteous and unrighteous returns to God. Man, in death, is in a state of unconsciousness until the sound of the last trump. This is confirmed by Ps. 146:3, 4: "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." How much can one know when his thoughts have perished? Again we read: "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; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun." Here we are plainly told that the dead know not anything. The Scriptures in many places set forth man's state in death as a condition of sleep. We all have experienced the state of unconsciousness in sound sleep. Respecting death as a sleep, the Psalmist says, "Lest I sleep the sleep of death." Ps. 13:3. Also in Ps. 115:17 he says, "The dead praise not the Lord; neither any that go down into silence." How calm and silent is one in natural sleep, until the time comes when he is awakened! Exactly so with the Christian in death. He quietly awaits the voice of the Life-giver, which will call him forth to immortality. Our Saviour's words in John 5:28, 29, "Marvel not at this; for 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," show plainly that there will be a waking up of both good and evil. Paul says, in 1 Thess. 4:16, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first." Thus we see that it will not be an eternal sleep, as some think, but will be an unconscious rest until the trump of God sounds at the second coming of Christ. Let us be careful to take God at his word, and then we will avoid the errors extant. The above scriptural view of the subject is a safeguard against the Satanic delusion of Spiritualism. It is clear that only those who believe Satan's lie, "Thou shalt not surely die," can be led into this great deception. How diligently we should study the word of God, and, with his help, comply with all its conditions, that we may receive the gift of immortality when our last great change shall come!