Life and Death by J. O. Corliss

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jul 24, 1907

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 30.

Life and Death

By J. O. Corliss

THE greatest of all problems with which the human race has struggled for a satisfactory solution is that of the hereafter. In sheer hopelessness some have given up the contest with the assertion that man has no future beyond the present life. Others have adopted weird notions regarding the object of man's creation that have landed them on the platform of Eastern occultism. These results are to be deplored, more so because there is a Fountain of knowledge at which all may "watered, satisfied" in all things relating to man's creation and future prospects.

This Fountain being the only infallible source of true knowledge, may we not for the time being let all tradition rest in the shadow of forgetfulness, and so be able to give ourselves wholly to an unbiased study of the subject from an original source? In the first place, it is safe to affirm that man, being the highest order of earthly intelligence, must have been designed for some preeminent position, which could not be properly met in a mere temporal existence.

In the Image of God.

So when man was to be created, Jehovah (the Self-existent, and who is infinite in all His attributes) said, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness." Gen. 1:26. After the model of clay was duly formed, Jehovah God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Gen. 2:7. As this breathing of life from God into the inanimate "earthy" form was essential to its prospective design, so its withdrawal must prove fatal to that purpose.

We can not for a moment suppose that God bestowed in that first "breathing" a gift which was beyond His power to withdraw, especially in view of His foreknowledge of man's temptation to become disloyal to the divine plan. Man himself was made to understand the condition upon which he might retain this breathing of life in his being. Upon being placed in Eden he was permitted to eat from every tree in the garden, except one. Concerning that tree Jehovah said, "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Gen. 2:7.

The Result of Disobedience.

Nothing could be plainer than this instruction. To disobey God meant to Adam utter dissolution. That is to say, should man antagonize his Creator and Benefactor, and thus withdraw himself from the divine presence, God would withdraw from the man His divine inbreathing, which otherwise would have retained him in the image and likeness of Jehovah. This would permit the part which had been divinely animated to return to its native element. This condition is clearly stated thus by the wise man: "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Eccl. 12:7.

This was indeed just what did transpire in the case of the first pair. Being found guilty of opposing God's will, the Lord pronounced this sentence upon them: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Gen. 3:19. Inasmuch as the inbreathing of God's Spirit was that which changed the lifeless clay to a living soul, or being, it goes without saying that the withdrawal of that living essence of the Divine put the man back to his original condition—a lifeless form of earthy matter.

To live, then, is to be animated with the life of Jehovah. As He loaned to the first pair His own life, that they might do and be like Him, so every human being has probation for the same purpose. Should any use that life to further selfish and wicked designs, Heaven's decree is, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. 18:4. This statement is renewed by the great apostle as follows: "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life thru Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.

What Is Death?

Death is, in plain words, the simple cessation of life. This was brought to all men by the death of our first parents (Rom. 5:12), and so means to all men the same that it did to those who introduced death by sin. The penalty for disloyalty to Heaven having been visited upon Adam and Eve, there would have been no remedy, but for the gift of Jesus Christ. Thus we read: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. The gift of Christ, then, was to prevent men from perishing, which comes by sin. So, to receive death as "wages" for sin is to perish.

But redemption from this penalty is promised only to those who believe in Christ. This leaves all of the incorrigibly wicked to remain under the sentence of death. This conclusion must seem entirely logical to all, except, perhaps, those who have been trained from infancy to accept the traditions of the Dark Ages, concerning man's condition after death. On the other hand, He who speaks with authority, and not as the scribes, He who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, has said emphatically, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Luke 13:3. This statement has been greatly emphasized by one of the three disciples who had the honor of dwelling in the inner circle

of our Lord's acquaintance. Speaking of certain classes of wicked men, he said, "These, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption." 2 Peter 2:12.

They Shall Utterly Perish.

These are direct and strong words. Not only do they make the wicked to perish, but to perish "utterly," that is, completely. But the inspired writer is even more emphatic than this. He says they shall utterly perish in their own corruption. Separated from the life of God, and its controlling influence (Eph. 4:18, 19), they had given themselves over to work all manner of evil, until the original image of God in them had been defiled unto putrescence, only to be despised of the infinite One whose image they had at first received. In such a state, man is fit only to perish utterly, which the inspired word assures that he will.

The psalmist, also, is made to see the end of the finally wicked, by being permitted to enter God's sanctuary on high. Ps. 73:17-20. At another time, when considering the contrast between the righteous and the wicked, he said, "The wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away." Ps. 37:20.

In the Day of Burning.

No language could be more emphatic than the expressions already cited, and yet these are not all that might be given on the same point, and after the same tenor. Here is one which only tends to corroborate the testimonies already adduced: "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.

Thus man returns to the state from whence he was taken in the beginning, without any injustice being done him. He might have retained the life of God with which he had been imbued, and which had been loaned for strength to glorify its Author. But he chose to use that life for his own gratification without regard to the wishes of its real Owner, and by so doing virtually said, I care nothing for this life but to gratify my senses temporarily. As I can not be permitted to do this forever, without accepting Christ, I am now done with it; so return it to its Author. In depriving such of life altogether, and letting them utterly perish, God does for them just what, by their actions, they have really declared that they desired to have. In this He is just, as in all His dealings with the race, and even those who are thus dealt with will be obliged to acknowledge at last that "Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil. 2:11.