Man in Death by Charles L. Taylor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 16, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 16.

Man in Death

By Charles L. Taylor

"In Adam all die." 1 Cor. 15: 22. "Death passed upon all men." Rom. 5: 12.

We are all deeply and sadly conscious that death reigns. In every land, in every clime, among every people, and in every home, it does its ruthless work of destruction, proving itself the master of all conditions, and finding none who can for long stay its progress.

By the human race as a whole it has ever been regarded as an enemy. Its visits have been and are to-day unwelcome, even as they are often unexpected. It robs man of his dearest and best. The old and the young, the rich and the poor, the wise and the ignorant, the stoic and the epicurean, all alike are made to feel its iron hand.

To the most of mankind, death has been a tremendous mystery. The grave has given back no word of reply to the tearful inquiries of earth’s multitudes of mourners. The realm of death has proved, indeed, a land of "silence" (Ps. 115: 17), a place of "forgetfulness." Ps. 88: 12. Its inhabitants have never returned to declare its secrets to those who shall come after.

Not a Mystery

To him, however, who has learned of God’s beautiful system and plan of life as revealed in the Book of books, the grave has no mystery, and King Death has no terrors. God’s Word makes all plain.

Let the reader once more step back and consider God’s plan of life as that plan was revealed in creation; for an understanding of life is the only and true understanding of death, which is the absence of life.

Man was made from the dust (Gen. 2: 7), made "upright" (Eccl. 7: 29), made "in the image of God" (Gen. 1: 27), made a "son of God," to have dominion over all God’s earthly works. His life was simply "the breath of life" from God (Gen. 2: 7), not inherent, but only borrowed, and held in trust during his time of character-building, and subject to loss in case of disobedience. Gen. 2: 16, 17. He could continue to live only through an unbroken connection with God, who alone is the Possessor of everlasting life and immortality.

The story shows, also, and shows conclusively, that the Tree of Life was absolutely essential to man’s existence; for when he had sinned, and was shut away from the tree, then death came. Gen. 3: 22, 24. The everlasting life which he was permitted to enjoy was perpetuated through the blessed life of the tree.

What Is Death?

Such was life. Now what is death? No argument is needed, dear reader, to enable one to see that death is simply a withdrawing from man, by the Creator, of the life-giving power which comes from Him. Like Adam, all men are of the dust. Eccl. 3: 20. By the gift of "the breath [or power] of life" from God they became "living souls." The power of God keeps them alive. Ps. 66: 9. Their life is only a leased life, subject to God’s recall. It is God’s life current flowing through them, but never as an inherent, absolute quantity, nor as a conscious, independent entity.

Man is a great mechanism, the masterpiece of God’s creation, "fearfully and wonderfully made." In a sense, he is like the mighty engine of man’s invention, which is made "alive" and operated by the power of

steam, but which is utterly helpless and "dead" so soon as the fire is extinguished and the water cooled. The throbbing, the pulsating, the action of various parts, are all the result of power applied, but they cease when the power is withdrawn. So with the man. God’s great life force, spoken into his being, causes him to live and to move, to love and to serve, to operate all the various organs of his person. The heart throbs, the brain thinks, the tongue speaks, the hands act, so long as God’s quickening power is applied. But when that power is withdrawn, then all activity ceases, and man is dead.

The Source of Life

Note that this is exactly the thought which the inspired Word brings to us. "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Job 33: 4. But "if He [the Almighty] 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. The bestowal of the power of God, in the breath of life, causes man to live; the withdrawal of the power, the breath of life, causes him to die.

This is stated, in a brief word, by the wise man. He says, "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Eccl. 12: 7. The man, the whole man, goes back to dust, when the life power, the spirit, the breath, goes back to God.

Death, then, is simply inaction. The life force having been withdrawn by the Creator, taken back to Himself, man’s faculties all are gone. The great Player has left the organ forever, and its music has been stilled. The brain no longer responds to the dictation of the will. Thought has ceased. Likewise love and hate, joy and sorrow, interest and indifference, have perished.

When the Breath Is Gone

Ah, this is so plain that even a child can comprehend. And turning again to the blessed Word, we find the same truth iterated and reiterated. Says the psalmist, speaking of man, "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. 146: 4. And the wise man adds, "The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything. . . . Their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished." Eccl. 9: 5, 6. Yes; and this, too, he would have us know,—that "there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Verse 10.

The grave is the resting-place of our dead. Said Job, "If I wait, the grave is mine house." Job 17: 13. It was not dreaded by that child of God, because he understood the work of the Christ. He regarded it as a place where for a little while — not for long — he would be hidden away from the troubles and distresses of time. "There the wicked cease from troubling," said he; "and there the weary be at rest. There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor." Job 3: 17, 18. In the grave he expected to wait till the final day of Jesus’ coming, the day of the trumpet-call to immortality. Job 14: 14, 15; 19: 25-27.

The grave is, indeed, all that could be inferred. It is a place of darkness (Job 10: 21, 22); a land of forgetfulness (Ps. 88: 12); a place where there is no remembrance (Ps. 6: 5), no praise (Ps. 115: 17), no hope (Isa. 38: 18).

An Open Door from the Grave

We should not forget, however, that the grave has an open door. Jesus has passed through its portals. And while it opens not to us — while the door of its tent "never outward swings" — it does open into the great beyond. The day will surely come when upon the sea of glass, before God’s throne, the redeemed host of all ages will celebrate a final and complete triumph over its power. "O grave, where is thy victory?" will be the great finale to the blessed Gospel song of victory which, under the tutorship of angel beings, they have learned in part and begun to sing here on earth.

No Gloom Attached

No gloom attaches to truth. The thought that our dead must go to the grave may appear gloomy, but only to him who has not by faith followed the Master closely, and who has not yet discovered the light of Him whose presence shines through it from portal to portal, and whose hand has fully unlocked and opened the door on the other side.

Thank God that we may know the truth that death’s mystery is solved and the grave’s power broken.