"Whither I Go, Ye Can Not Come"
By T. E. Bowen
The Master's Word Should Not Be Reversed—Purpose of the Tree of Life—No Immortal Sinners
It is Satan's purpose to turn every statement of Jesus' into a lie. Just before Jesus died on Calvary, He told His disciples — Peter, James, and John, and all the rest — that where He was about to go they could not come. Notice His words: "Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek Me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye can not come; so now I say to you." Where was He to go? "I go unto My Father." His Father was, and is, in heaven. After His resurrection Jesus went to heaven. The disciples saw Him go. But Jesus expressly told them that where He went they could not go. That is, they could not go to His Father in heaven as they would see Him go. No man can of his own will go there. Heaven must come for him. And so while Jesus told His beloved disciples they could not then go where He was going, but that they should come later, He said that He Himself would come and get them. This certainly precludes the widespread idea that saints can go to heaven when they die, or before Jesus Himself comes to get them. "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Any word, therefore, contrary to this, any hope held out to believers or unbelievers, of going to heaven before this time set by Jesus Himself, is the fabrication of that enemy who from the beginning has tried to turn God's word into a lie. Believe it not. THE WAITING CONGREGATION OF THE DEAD
How much better it is to believe what the Lord says than to trust in some theory, however hoary with age, that has no foundation in the word of God! It is commonly believed and taught that as soon as people die they either go to heaven, or else go to some other place, to begin some sort of expiation for their sins. Neither is true. The dusty bed of the grave is the place of waiting. See Job 14: 13, 14. This is clearly here upon the earth. With our own eyes we see our beloved ones laid away in the silent tomb. There they remain until Jesus comes, a great congregation of the dead, the righteous and the wicked together. But a separation takes place in this congregation. Some are taken by Jesus as belonging to Him, and are made alive, and go to heaven with Him. The others are left, still silent in death. Hear what the wise man says: "It is a joy to the just to do judgment: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity. The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding [wilfully chooses the paths of sin] shall remain in the congregation of the dead." Prov. 21: 15, 16. And this congregation of the dead never leave the earth at all; for another scripture makes plain that their punishment is also meted out right here in the earth: "Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the55earth: much more the wicked and the sinner." Prov. 11: 31. KEPT FROM THE TREE OF LIFE
If man by some natural inheritance had immortality, why did God drive Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, away from the tree of life? The Bible says He drove them from the garden to keep them away from the tree of life. Certainly the Lord must have had a good reason for doing this. "Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." Gen. 3: 23, 24. Why? — So that nowhere in God's great universe there should ever be an immortal sinner. God did not purpose to perpetuate sin to all eternity, to continue it as long as He Himself should exist. He had placed in the tree of life the properties of life, so that as long as man partook of that tree, he might live. When man disobeyed, he forfeited his right to life, and was driven from that tree. Hence there is not an immortal sinner, nor ever can be. Eternal life for us is hidden in the Son of God. By believing on Him we have life everlasting, and only so. "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 1 John 5: 11, 12.