“FOR I am in a strait betwixt two; having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.” Phil. i, 23. This passage is used by many teachers of divinity so-called, at the present day, to prove the consciousness of the dead, and that the righteous dead, or their immortal, conscious souls, go immediately to Heaven, are with Christ, and enter upon a life of happiness and felicity, unbroken, save when at the day of judgment, they are brought before the judgment seat of Christ, trembling perhaps, for fear they may have been enjoying that which they were not entitled to enjoy; for they have then to be judged of the deeds done in the body, say these theologians. But I think this position is easily shown to be unsound. In the context, Paul shows that he is truly satisfied that all things that should befall him would turn to the glory of God. His “bonds in Christ, increased the confidence of the brethren, so that they were much more bold to speak the word without fear.” Even the contentious, disputing with those who proclaimed the gospel, were announcing Christ. Though thinking to add to Paul’s bonds, they were adding to the cause by awaking inquiry in honest minds, and leading such to investigate, and bringing them to a knowledge of the truth, even as the work of opponents now is resulting. Says Paul, “I therein rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.” And seeing the same results to-day, we may, like the beloved Paul, rejoice thereat. He continues, “So now, also, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or death.” It would advance the cause any way, whether he suffered death at the hands of his accusers and the authorities at Rome, where he then was a prisoner, or, as he soon expectd to be, he should be released, and live. Chap. ii, 24. “For to me to live is Christ, (for Christ—Griesbach) and to die is gain” (to the cause of Christ). He, by his readiness to seal his strong faith in the gospel which he preached, even with his life, led many to believe on the Lord. Were life and death placed before him, he knew not which he would choose, were he to consult his own wishes in the matter, “Yet what I should choose I know not.” But looking at the wants of the churches and the needs of the cause, the Spirit of the Lord told him that it was necessary that he should remain with them still. “Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more useful for you.”
But says the objector, “He was very anxious to depart and be with Christ, which was far better than to stay. And it seems to me that he plainly teaches here that when he departed this life he would immediately be with Christ in Heaven.” We agree that to be with Christ is far better than to live in a sinful world. But that he here teaches that he should go to Christ the moment he died, we deny. “God has provided some better thing for us, that he without us should not be made perfect.” For this would not harmonize with what Christ told his disciples, “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.” This teaches that we are with Christ by his coming again to earth to receive us; and Paul teaches the same in I Thess. iv, 16, 17. “For the Lord himself shall descend with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Paul then, does not teach anything differently in the text under consideration.
But says the objector, Christ’s second coming is death, and Paul desired to die that he might be with him. We object to this for the following reasons:
1. Were this true, it would not be his coming to us, but our going to him. Jesus says himself, to all his disciples, “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 cannot come; so now I say unto you.” Peter wanted to know “whither goest thou?” Wanted to go right after him I suppose. But the reply is : “Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterward.” Peter slept and still sleeps in Jesus, but he will rise. “Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the grave 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.” Jno. v, 28, 29. “He that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live.” When? At the last trump, when the Saviour comes and the dead in Christ rise first. When shouting victory, victory over death and the grave, they shall meet the heavenly train in the air, and then,
> “Together to their Father’s house,
> With joyful hearts they go,
> And dwell forever with the Lord,
> Beyond the reach of woe.”
2. It would make death to be the “Lord of love” instead of the “king of terrors.”
3. At the death of any person, the Lord does not descend with a shout (a loud burst of voice ). The voice of the Archangel, and the trump of God, are not heard; silently the life departs. The dead in Christ do not rise, and what is still more evident to the eyes of all mankind, those who are living Christians, on the earth, are not “changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” and caught up into the clouds, and disappear to be seen no more.
4. Were it true, it would make Christ’s second coming, his first coming to all who lived and died prior to his birth in Bethlehem, which is ridiculous and absurd.
5. It would bring salvation to all men irrespective of faith and obedience. Proof: “Unto them that look for (are expecting,—Griesbach’s translation) him, shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” All are expecting death, all look for it to overtake them sometime, hence all are looking for Him, if death is the second coming of Christ. Unto them that look for him, he appears, without sin unto salvation. All are looking, hence he appears to all without sin unto salvation; therefore all are saved, and my orthodox objector comes out a Universalist. H. C. MILLER.