Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jul 24, 1907
With Our Inquirers
By Editor
“If ye will inquire, inquire ye.”
[All questions to this department will be answered which to the editors will seem to minister to the good of the readers and to the mission of the paper. The same question can not be answered repeatedly in the same volume. The name and address must accompany question, not for publication, but as an evidence of good faith, and that answer may be made by letter if deemed advisable. It is well always to enclose a stamp for reply.]
2157.—Where the Moral Law Was Written.
Did Moses write a copy of the original law in the “book of the law” which was placed in the “side of the ark,” or did he give it to the people in some other form? If not, how were the people able to write them upon their doorposts and gates as they were commanded to do forty years later? Deut. 11:20. W. M. C.
The Decalogue was written on tables of stone by the finger of God. This is plainly declared. When those tables were broken by Moses, we are told that the Lord wrote the second table of Ten Commandments the same as the first. The Ten Commandments were spoken from heaven, and Moses tells us just what was spoken from heaven in Ex. 20:1-17. The book of Exodus is the book of Moses. It was written by Moses, and therefore the law which was written on the tables of stone was also written in the book. God does not give His laws that they may be hidden from us. They were kept in the ark in order that they might be preserved.
2158.—The Lord’s Supper and Baptism.
Why do we need the literal eating and drinking of the literal supper when we should by faith feast upon Christ alone, or why do we need literal baptism? Would not faith be greater if we should feast upon the word of God and manifest it to the world rather than depend upon those ordinances, and lack the evidences of faith in His word? C. F. H.
Really is this the right form of the question? Would not this be the better way to put the question, Would not our faith be more clear and strong if we should feast upon the word of God and manifest it in our life to the world and show by these ordinances which He has Himself ordained that we have simple faith in His word? Now one reason why those ordinances should be obeyed is because He who knew our frame, who knows all about us in every way, said that we should observe them. That ought to be sufficient. Peter said on one occasion, “Thou shalt never wash my feet;” and He closed the instruction given upon that occasion, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” All these Gospel ordinances ought to be open manifestations of a continual heart work; so God designed them. We have no right to hide behind the subterfuge that we will do these things in heart and in spirit, tho we neglect the outward form, any more than we have to hide behind the mere formality and let our heart run riot as it will. Jesus said, “Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you,” and our great, good Saviour and Friend knew and knows that we need the ordinances which He Himself left in the church.
2159.—The Christian’s Rest by Faith. Heb. 4: 8, 9.
Please explain the Christian’s rest as obtained by faith, revealed in Heb. 4:8, 9. E. C.
More than personal soul rest is presented before us in this scripture. It should be studied from the previous chapter. Note these facts and read the scriptures in the light of these facts:
1. It is God’s design to make His people like Himself, and give them a home fitted to that eternal righteous character.
2. When He called Israel out of Egypt, it was to give them just such a home as this, and to make their days as the days of heaven upon earth. Deut. 11:21.
3. As to what that rest shall be is witnessed in the very record of creation where God made the earth for man and pronounced it very good, the pledge of which was the completion of the work and the rest of the Sabbath. God’s Sabbath rest was a rest of delight and satisfaction at the work achieved for man.
4. Israel did not enter into that rest. They were disobedient, altho Joshua took them into the promised land (The word Jesus is the Greek for Joshua). He did not give them the eternal rest which the Lord made for His people in the very beginning, before sin entered.
5. There remaineth therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
6. That rest begins here when man gives up himself and his own works and rests in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
7. The eternal rest, however, will not be until men have been tested and fall not “after the same example of disobedience.”
Our inquirer truly says that the very churches that sing “Gloria Patri,” “As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen,” ought to be giving glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit in the keeping of the Lord’s Sabbath.
2160.—Cruelty to Animals.
Is there any scripture showing how Christians should treat dumb animals? When horses have been worked hard all day should they be driven long distances, and rapidly, at night? INQUIRER.
There is one text which every Christian who has to do with dumb animals ought to keep in mind, “A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast; but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.” Prov. 12:10. That is a text that will bear a great deal of thought. To regard the life of the beast is to regard its welfare. It is not regarding the life of the beast to deprive it of the necessities of life, to treat it cruelly, to beat it, or, unless actual emergency of human life demands it, drive it unreasonably. Many, many will do this and excuse themselves under the plea that, “I work just as hard as that myself.” They are doing it willingly, however, and not of necessity. God has not given us the dumb brutes for us to abuse in any way, and he who is lacking in the right treatment of his horses and cattle is to that extent lacking in the real true principles of Christianity. The psalmist in his song to God declares, “Thy gentleness hath made me great.” The truly great man is gentle and tender to the feeble and helpless.
2161.—Was Peter a Catholic?
Please tell me if Peter, one of Christ’s disciples, was a Catholic. Does it say anywhere in the Bible that Peter was a Catholic? J. S.
Nowhere in all the Bible does it say that Peter was a Catholic, or a Presbyterian, or a Congregationalist, or a member of any other denomination or sect. He was a disciple and an apostle of Jesus Christ, one of the leading ones among the apostles, one of the very first to confess Jesus as the Christ, as we learn from Matthew 16, in which Jesus said to him that flesh and blood had not revealed to him that great truth but the Father in heaven; and then Jesus tells him that he is Peter, a stone; and “upon this Rock [his confession in Christ Jesus the Rock] I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Not upon Peter was the church built, but upon Christ Jesus. See 1 Cor. 3:11; 1 Peter 2:6-8. Peter is one of the living stones built on Christ, the foundation.
Jesus further tells Peter that He would give unto him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and “whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.” The same power was given to all the apostles. John 20:23. The opening of the doors of the kingdom of heaven was fulfilled in the Lord’s first using Peter to preach to the Jews on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), and to the Gentiles (Acts 10). So Peter tells us in Acts 15:7: “Brethren, ye know that a good while ago God made choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the Gospel, and believe.” Now the binding or the loosing, the forgiving and the retaining of sin, is by the living word which they preach. This is shown by a parallel passage in Jeremiah in which God gives him His message to bear to Israel and the nations, and declares, “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” Jer. 1:10. How did he do this?—By declaring God’s word. Jer. 18:5-10. There is no evidence whatsoever in God’s word that Peter was the head of the Roman Catholic Church in the time of the apostles. They have chosen Peter since. The truly wise will choose the Lord Jesus Christ.
2162.—Rag-Time and Sentimental Music.
Are rag-time and sentimental music all right? And is it right to read the popular magazines of the present time? INQUIRER.
It depends on what the music is played for, who plays it, what the magazines are read for. It is conceivable that rag-time music might be better for some soul than the things he is doing. For instance, it would be better for a person to play rag-time music than spend the time in plotting evil against his fellow men, or doing that which is a great deal worse. There are sentiments that are right. Some of the grand hymns and glorious psalms take hold of the sentiment, using the term in the good sense, of man’s nature. But we suppose the questioner meant, Is it right for a Christian? We think the real standard by which to settle it is that given in 1 Cor. 10:31, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” Is the playing of rag-time music such as would glorify God? Let the Christian ask himself, and ask it of his own conscience, ask it as in the presence of the living God, ask it just as his conscience would ask it if he stood before the judgment-seat. There are songs of sentiment, which we suppose the questioner means, love songs, that might be right, that appeal to high and holy and tender sentiments, but there are a great many at the present day which are utter nonsense, that arouse no tender chords of the heart, touch no secret springs of sympathy or tenderness toward humanity, but which in themselves are utter foolishness. It seems as tho a Christian with the great, tremendous responsibility before him which these times bring could find something more profitable.
As to the popular magazines, that is another question. If we read them for the sensational love stories or for the other foolish things they contain, it would be better to put the time in reading good books, that are of worth and literature that is of worth, rather than spend the time on many articles which the magazines contain. Sometimes the magazines contain important articles, matters of interest, historically, politically, religiously. Of course such things as that it is proper to read. The only thing which can decide these questions at all is the conscience that is kept in tune with the great law of God and Christ Jesus.
2163.—Music on the Sabbath.
Is it wrong to play classic music and reveries on the Sabbath? E. H.
We suppose it is meant, Is it wrong for Christians to do this? There is music which might be called truly classic that is truly sacred, and would lift the soul heavenward. There are reveries which we could conceive were pure and holy, fitting us for pure worship of God. This is a question which the individual must settle for himself. Music which leads away from Christ and His word is certainly music which the Christian ought to reject.
The other question which is purely personal is not a proper question to be answered in this department.
Righteousness and Life
By Abdiel
MAN’S normal, or healthful, life is that of righteousness. God created man to do His will, and so glorify His name; for He created all things for His own pleasure (Rev. 4:11), and it is not God’s pleasure that man should sin and die (Eze. 33:11). If man from the beginning had obeyed God, he would have lived forever; for it was only in disobedience that death came. Gen. 2:17.
The perfect rule of man’s life was God’s holy law. "Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." Eccl. 12:13. The healthful, normal life, therefore, was that which was manifest in the observance of God’s commandments. This is also expressed in Rom. 10:5, and other scriptures, "That the man which doeth those things shall live by them."
This law, which expressed the whole of man’s duty, is the reflect of God’s character or the expression of His righteousness. Two or three passages will make this plain. Says the psalmist, "All Thy [God’s] commandments are righteousness." Ps. 119:172. The Lord, thru the prophet Isaiah (51:6), says, "My salvation shall be forever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished;" and what this righteousness is He reveals in the next verse: "Harken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law."
Sin Defined.
On the other hand, it is declared that "all unrighteousness is sin" (1 John 5:17), and "sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4), the Decalogue, the law which says, "Thou shalt not covet" (Rom. 7:7). As, therefore, all unrighteousness is sin, and sin is the transgression of the law, it follows that the law comprehends all righteousness and prohibits and condemns all sin. And this the apostle declares when he says, "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Rom. 3:20. As the law condemns all flesh (see also Rom. 3:9, 10, 19, 23), it therefore follows (1) that it prohibits all the sins that all have committed; and (2) that none are living in harmony with the normal, or healthful, law of their being. And as in the way of righteousness alone is life (Prov. 10:16, 17; 12:28), so in the ways of sin, or unrighteousness, must be opposite of life, or death. If man could start in life a perfect physical being, live according to a perfect law, with perfect surroundings, he would live on indefinitely; but the moment he transgressed the law of his physical being, he would become diseased, and the legitimate end of disease is death.
The Cause of Death.
It was just so with Adam. He transgressed or perverted the higher law of his being, that which included in it all lower laws. He sinned against God. The perfect rule of his life was broken, and spiritual disease took its place, the inevitable and logical result of which is death. And so the scripture declares: "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. 18:4. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1:15. This is the inevitable law, or tendency, of sin. Its beginnings may seem to the uninstructed and careless like righteousness, but they are simply death in embryo. "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death." Prov. 16:25.
But this sinful, diseased condition is the inheritance of all men. What Isaiah says of Israel may be said of all: "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the soul of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores." Isa. 1:5, 6. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:23. All, therefore, in sin have death; all, in their natural state, are tending to death.
The Salvation.
How can man be saved from this inevitable death? How may he become a living creature instead of a dying creature? He can not accomplish this of himself, for he is a sinner, sick, and doomed to death. All that he could do were he to render perfect obedience to the law, would be present duty. His whole past remains uncanceled; and, further, the normal law of his being has been transgressed; he is below his primal level, and his perverted faculties and powers can not fulfil the law, any more than his conscience, benumbed by sin, can appreciate its holiness. He has but one hope, and that is thru Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Repentance toward God, or, in other words, renunciation of all sin, complete submission to God’s will, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, reconciles us to God and gives us peace. Acts 20:21; Rom. 5:1. God no longer counts us as enemies, but as friends. He not only takes away the sins of the past, but He takes away also that from which the sins sprang, which caused the enmity, the carnal mind, and the unregenerate heart. Eze. 36:26; Rom. 8:4-9. We are no longer4at enmity with the law of God; we love it. We are no longer condemned, but justified. But how is this done?—That we do not know; it is one of the mysteries of the power of God. We do know, however, by what means. Faith in the promise of God clothes us with the righteousness of Christ, without works on our part; for of ourselves we could do no works acceptable to God. Springing from a sinful heart, the works would be sinful. The infinite fulness of Christ supplements man’s infinite need. "But now the righteousness of God without [the deeds of] the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference; for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God [and all believing], being justified freely by His grace thru the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Rom. 3:21-24.
Perfection of God Restored.
The believer is no longer a sinner in God’s sight; the eye of Infinite Perception sees upon him only His own perfect righteousness. He looks not upon a heart which hates His holy law, but a heart which loves it, even as did his Lord, in whose heart was God’s law. Ps. 40:7, 8. For notice that the righteousness with which God invests the believing sinner is the righteousness which the law approves or witnesses to. It is the righteousness of God, found abstractly in His holy law, and concretely in our Lord Jesus Christ. The law is the rule, and Christ is the Example, of God’s infinite righteousness. And the law of life in Christ Jesus makes the sinner free from the law of sin and death. See Rom. 8:1-3. Will he then keep God’s law?—He can not do otherwise. The5transgression of any precept of that law would cause him intense pain and sorrow of heart. The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Rom. 8:4.
But what does this righteousness bring him?—Life; for "by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Rom. 5:18. This is the purpose and power of God’s free grace, "that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign thru righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Verse 21. Having righteousness, therefore, man has life. That righteousness is wrought in him thru the power of the word and the Spirit of God. 1 Peter 1:23; John 3:5; Rom. 8:11. And that "Spirit is life because of righteousness." Rom. 8:10. It was for the reason that Christ was righteous that death could not hold Him in bondage. Acts 2:24.
Righteousness and Power.
God’s infinite righteousness is a manifestation of His infinite power. This infinite power, manifest thru His Spirit, works in us the same righteousness thru faith. This righteousness being ours, eternal life is ours. "The Spirit is life [in us] because of righteousness." "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 1 John 5:12. See John 3:36, and many other texts. This life is the life of the indwelling Spirit of God. Man may die, but his Lord has passed the portals before him. As death could not hold the all-righteous One, so it can not hold him on whom Christ’s all-righteousness rests. His righteous character before the throne of God is a check for eternal life at the resurrection, signed and sealed with the blood of the everlasting covenant.
For what should we seek—the righteousness or the life?—The righteousness. Having this, we have all. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." "O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in Him."
Everlasting Strength.
By Eliza H. Morton
O LET us trust no more in flesh,
No more in human arm,
O let us tremble not with fear,
Nor feel the least alarm;
The Lord is strong, tho we are weak,
He guides our feet below,
The wonders of His righteousness
He would His children show.
The tempest fierce and dark may fall,
The floods may overflow,
The storm may beat about our heads
In awful gusts of wo;
But there's a refuge, sure and safe,
The "shadow of a Rock,"
The Shepherd has a tender care
For all His weary flock.
My heart in rapture bows with joy
To worship at Thy shrine,
O strength that's strong, O wondrous Love,
O Saviour, Saviour mine!
Secure I rest, for mighty arms
Are underneath my head,
A nail-pierced hand is raised on high
To hold life's slender thread.
ELIZA H. MORTON.
No. Deering, Me.
"Choose You This Day."
By Max Hill
WHEN the people of Israel were settled in the land of promise, they were called together to hear the last words of Joshua, now a feeble old man, ready to die. In the hearing of all, the leader of the mighty hosts of Israel recounted to them the wonderful works of God, His promises, and His commandments, comparing all these with the perishing idols and achievements of the heathen whose destruction had been so signally the result of their course of evil. "Choose you this day whom ye will serve."
"Choose." Never in the history of the world has God arbitrarily demanded obedience. Man in Eden was a free moral agent; he might partake of the tree of life and live forever; he might by so doing become immortal and his life of innocent purity and righteousness measure with the life of sinless angels. Again, he might, with just the same effort, partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and by that single act forfeit all that lay before him, the garden home, comfort and happiness, purity and life, and the association of heavenly intelligences. Which choice he made is only too evident. But he had his choice, his own choice. The God of the universe recognized that created beings had the right to obey or to disobey, and He granted it to the first man, as well as to every man.
"You." The power of choice rests, and5can only rest, with the individual. Not all the powers of earth can make the final choice for man, for good or ill; nor can another assume the responsibility or answer in any wise for man's actions. The most insidious flattery, the most ingenious guile, the bitterest persecution, need not shake the one whose hope is fixed on the Source of power. "Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God." Realizing this, the man of God may exclaim, "Jehovah is my Light and my Salvation; whom shall I fear? Jehovah is the Strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"
"This day." "To-day, O that ye would hear His voice! Harden not your heart." "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation."
The first man Adam chose to eat of the forbidden fruit, and his choice brought death upon the race; the second Man Adam met the tempter in the same strength that the first man might have grasped, and His obedience brought life. Saul chose to walk in the way of the world, and ignominious defeat was the result; David was a man after the heart of God, obedient, tho sometimes failing, coming down to the close of an eventful life with the charge to his son to walk in the way of righteousness. Israel as a nation illustrates the results of obedience and disobedience. In all cases the individual's own course determined his reward.
By nature man is prone to sin and subject to death; "the gift of God is eternal life." "The soul that sinneth, it shall die;" "he that hath the Son hath life." "Choose you this day whom ye will serve."
MAX HILL.
Man From the Hand of His Divine Creator
By A. O. Tait
By A. O. Tait
As the Lord viewed His finished work in the morning of the creation, the record says, "God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." Gen. 1:31. The late Professor Harper used to say to his classes in Hebrew that the words rendered "very good" in this text have an intenser meaning than this English rendering would signify. He rendered the text "good exceedingly," but said that this still fell short of giving the strong meaning of the original words.
The statement that everything that He had made was "very good" applies to all of God's creation, inanimate as well as animate. But speaking of the creation of man himself, the record says, "And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." Gen. 1:26, 27.
In the Image of God.
Thus, while all of God's creation is pronounced by divine Perfection to be "very good," still man is exalted above everything else, and is made in the image of the Creator Himself. What must have been the sublime beauty of perfection presented in man when he stood in his innocency and power of both mind and body in creation's happy springtime! When the foundations of God's creation were thus laid in such infinite perfection is it any wonder that we hear Jehovah saying, in speaking of that time in His challenge to Job, "The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy!"
Man was "very good." So good was he that he was in the image of his God. Then he was perfect in every way. He was perfect in health and physical strength and bearing, as well as perfect in mind and heart. His character was stamped with the perfection of righteousness. The perfectly natural thing for him was to do right. He was in the image of the God of righteousness, and there was imparted to him along with the divine image the impulses of right-doing.
Man Clothes Himself with Wrong-Doing.
But man did not choose to remain in this happy state. He listened, and then yielded, to the voice of the tempter. And when he committed sin, he passed under the dominion of sin, and in this way by his own voluntary act he changed his entire nature. He was clothed in the beginning by his God with the attributes and nature of right-doing. But now he clothes himself by his own voluntary act with the nature and attributes of wrong and of wrong-doing. And since he had become possessed with the evil nature, with all its tendencies to do wrong, he could not transmit to his posterity any other nature than the one he had taken upon himself. Hence the character and history of the entire human race is turned from its divinely bequeathed course. Utter ruin for the whole human family would have been the only result that could have followed had it not been for the redemption that was given in Jesus Christ.
"Behold, this only have I found: that God made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions." Eccl. 7:29. These words from the writings of the wise man, Solomon, state in a sentence the facts already shown in the foregoing paragraphs. Man was made righteous and perfect in the beginning, but he did not choose to remain in that good way, but yielded his perfect nature for the imperfections of sin. And by this surrender to sin, not only was mankind itself thrown under the ruin of decay, but all the created world was made to suffer with him. But from this apparently hopeless condition the Lord provides a rescue. The Son of God Himself is given freely to save man, and the plan for a new creation is made. But in this new creation only those who choose to be created anew will enjoy its benefits. Those who do not make the choice will not have the advantages and blessings of the renewed life forced upon them.
The Promised New Creation.
"Wherefore if any man is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new." 2 Cor. 5:17. Such is the marginal reading of the American Standard Revised Version of the foregoing text, and it expresses quite clearly the Gospel plan for the regeneration of mankind. Conversion takes the man as we find him, lost in sin thru the transgression of Adam, and creates him anew. It makes him a new creation. And man is not all that is benefited in this "new creation." All that was lost thru Adam's fall will be restored to those who accept Christ and His righteousness. One of the scriptures that tell of this new creation reads as follows:
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God: and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away. And He that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He saith, Write: for these words are faithful and true." Rev. 21:1-5.
The beautiful earth, as it was given to man in all its perfection in the beginning, is to be redeemed; it is to be recreated, and given back to the redeemed of mankind. This is the direct purpose of God, as shown by His abundant promises. And when the time for this new creation is reached, every bit of sin, together with every unrepentant, unregenerate sinner will be destroyed forever. That unforsaken and unforgiven sin is finally to meet the fate of destruction, is hinted at in other articles in this issue, and will be more abundantly shown in other articles next week. And when sin and sinner are thus destroyed, this new earth, o'erspread with all the indescribable splendors of the glorious Eden, will be given to those who have accepted the ways of righteousness, and will be their everlasting home.
The promise is that we are to be ushered into the joys of this new creation and this eternal existence at the second coming of Christ. Then can we be reasonably blamed for rejoicing because the evidence is so clear that His coming is right at hand? Let the good news be heralded that there is to be a new creation, in which there will be even a greater glory and a greater joy than in the Eden of old. And let it also be heralded to the ends of the earth that the time is right at hand for the realization of the soul-enrapturing prospect.
Life and Death
By J. O. Corliss
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 circle6of 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.
Separation from Christ.
By Hugh Macmillan
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors thru Him that loved us." No dark trials, no grievous judgment can cross our sky without leaving some spot of heavenly blue in the midst of it; or, if concealed for a moment, breaking forth again with greater brightness and beauty. No mysterious dispensation can ruffle the surface of our peace, and raise up agitating doubts and fears, without leaving behind a purer joy, a calmer and deeper satisfaction, that best and truest peace which is born of conflict and trouble. Behind every storm of trial and every cloud of sorrow is the heavenly blue of Christ's unchangeable love—a love stronger than death, a love that follows us amid all our changes of heart and of circumstances, and remains steadfast and unwavering, even when our love is suspicious and cold. "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee," and every mutation of earth passes away from before that love, as the cloud from the sky and the wave from the ocean.—Hugh Macmillan.