Life and Death by Joseph Clarke

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 4, 1865

Life and Death.

By Joseph Clarke

“And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” John xi, 26.

Says one, “This passage alone establishes the doctrine that at death the soul enters upon eternal life.”

In order to understand this passage, we must get at the previously-expressed views of Christ himself on this point, and next see how he applies this assertion, and when, and where.

First, we find that the Lord was at this time on a visit of condolence and sympathy with his disciples to the afflicted sisters of Lazarus, who was dead; and by reading the preceding verses, we see that Jesus had expressed himself fully upon the subject of the resurrection, preparing the way for the above-quoted text, thus: “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live;” so that the passage, “he that believeth in me shall never die,” is qualified by the preceding clause, “though he were dead;” and all the prospect of life in the future is predicated upon the assertion, “I am the resurrection and the life.” The time, therefore, when the clause, “shall never die,” applies, must be at the resurrection, and the resurrection is made necessary in consequence of death. Of course the interim between death and the resurrection is here a blank, no allusion is made to it, because it is evident from Martha’s language in verse 24, “I know that he shall rise again at the resurrection, at the last day,” that her only hope of a conscious state of existence for her lamented brother Lazarus, was in the resurrection of the dead, which harmonizes, on this point, with the expressed views of Jesus Christ; and the interspace between death and the resurrection is not alluded to here by any one, either Jesus, or the sisters, Mary and Martha, or by the disciples.

This being the case, the application of the clause, “shall never die,” to the intermediate space between the first death and the resurrection, is not only unnecessary, but ungrammatical, unphilosophical, and incorrect; and carries a meaning not to be found in a fair interpretation of the language used by the different individuals who took part in the conversation on this interesting, solemn, and important occasion; and it will be found upon a minute and searching investigation that those passages which are adduced in favor of conscious and intelligent existence during the time from death to the resurrection, do not at all apply to this period, but are made to appear so in many instances, by a forced interpretation.

The term death as it is used in the Bible, when used literally, covers the whole period of time elapsing from the death of a human being till the resurrection; and it is evident that the inspired writers never dreamed of any other meaning being given to the word.

Hence, Paul proceeds directly after speaking of the resurrection, to describe the triumphant language the resurrected righteous would use as they in glad surprise awake to the realities of the last day, and as they in astonishment and rapture contrast the feelings which they experienced while death was taking them into his fearful embrace, with the glory they behold, and the delight and rapture of the resurrection morning; for to them the death-scenes and associations are

but an instant of time previous to the brightness of the coming of Jesus: then in their minds blending the two scenes so widely different, they cry out, O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave where is thy victory? Then will death be swallowed up in victory.

JOSEPH CLARKE.