p. 375 | What Are the Spirits? by Rufus A. Underwood

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jun 13, 1916

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 43, No. 24.

What Are the Spirits?

By Rufus A. Underwood

Are They Ghosts, or Real Beings?

THE word "spirit" has a wide range of meaning, but in no instance in the Bible is the term applied to man as possessing an entity with inherent immortality, or a never dying attribute, prior to the resurrection of the dead.

This word is often used to show the temper or character of a person's mind. The following text will illustrate this: "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Ps. 51: 10.

Of the prophet Daniel it is said, "Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel." Dan. 5: 12. "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matt. 26: 41. "What an excellent spirit such and such an individual possesses!" we say, when referring to the amiability or character of the individual.

Are There Spirit Bodies?

BUT apart from this and other uses of the word, the Bible clearly shows that "there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." These spiritual bodies are called "spirits." I will give several texts of Scripture which are so clear that no question can be raised as to their meaning, and what constitutes a spirit in the general acceptation of that term.

First, God the Father is called a Spirit. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." This text illustrates how the word "spirit" may be used with two meanings in the same verse. The statement that "God is a Spirit" has a different meaning from the statement that "they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

Second, Christ is called a "quickening spirit," and is set forth as an example of a spiritual body after His resurrection. "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. . . . The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven." 1 Cor. 15: 45, 47.

Are Angels Spirits?

THIRD, the Holy Ghost, the third person of the Godhead, is many times called, in the Bible, a Comforter, and also a spirit. "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. . . . I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are Mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you." John 14: 26; 16: 7-15.

Fourth, angels also are called spirits. "And of the angels He saith, Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire. . . . But to which of the angels said He at any time, Sit on My right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Heb. 1: 7, 13, 14.

Fifth, the redeemed become spiritual beings after they receive the gift of immortality at the resurrection. They will each possess a spiritual body. In speaking of the body at death, Paul said: "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. . . . As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. . . . 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: 44-54.

Then will be fulfilled the statement of the apostle John, when he said: "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.

Are Spirits Merely Ghosts?

LOOKING forward to the time when all the faithful of the past will receive the gift of immortality at the coming of Christ, and also the faithful who will be alive will be changed to immortality, the apostle Paul speaks in no uncertain manner of the events that are to take place when this spiritual body is received. He refers to the loyal line of the faithful servants of God who have suffered and died in honor of His name. "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Heb. 11: 39, 40.

The redeemed will ultimately unite in forming one vast family. All will have spiritual bodies, and will be clothed with immortality. These spiritual beings, like their Lord after His resurrection, will be capable of being seen and handled, and of going away from this earth to other worlds, and returning to the earth. The Bible does not deal in myths, phantoms, or ghosts, when speaking of real spiritual beings.

Is the Devil a Spirit?

SATAN, or Lucifer, and the fallen angels, are also called spirits; yet they are real, intelligent beings. "And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." Eph. 2: 1, 2. Fallen angels are called unclean spirits, devils, etc. "They are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." Rev. 16: 14.

The purpose of Christ's advent to this world as the Son of man, was to redeem man, and to destroy the devil, and all who cherish sin, including the fallen angels. "Forasmuch 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." Heb. 2: 14.

The prophet Ezekiel gives a graphic description of Lucifer as he once was in his purity, and also his final destruction, thus: "Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. . . . Thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. . . . And I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more." Ezek. 28: 12-19.

Reaping the Wages of Sin

THIS is a description of none other than Lucifer, the son of the morning, who was once an exalted angel, but was cast out of heaven because of his sin. He, and all those who follow in sin, will reap the wages of sin, which is eternal death. The lake of fire was not prepared for man, but for the devil and his angels, as the following statement of Christ clearly shows: "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." Matt. 25: 41. It is sad to know that some will choose sin, and hence will share the fate of Satan and his angels. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power. . . . And the devil that deceived them [the wicked] was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. . . . And another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell [the grave] delivered up the dead which were in them. . . . And death and hell [the grave] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."