Despite erroneous teachings there are times when man feels this to be true. Some fearful impending danger, the dread of wasting pestilence, the ravages of a fatal disease, or the presence of death itself, often brings men to realize their frailty and mortality. At such times fanciful theories vanish; facts for the moment, at least, hold sway. Man is mortal. See Job 4:17; 2 Chron. 14:11, margin. God only hath immortality. 1 Tim. 6:16.
Man's Limited Knowledge.
Science can tell us nothing of man beyond what it can see, handle, analyze, etc. It knows naught of a life beyond, whether the beyond is life or nothingness. If any sentient being, or entity, lives when the form of flesh is cold in death, science does not know it. Experience tells us nothing concerning a future existence. A slight blow on the head, or a minimum dose of a narcotic drug, will cause a partial loss of sensation and derangement of mind. A harder blow, a medium dose of the drug, will for a time entirely suspend consciousness. A little harder blow still, an overdose of the drug, and consciousness is destroyed, life departs, and only the Master of life can restore the function of thought. This is a lesson from experience. Does it not seem folly to say that the hardest blow or the largest dose ushered the person into a higher life, caused him to live more? Truly said the prophet, "O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself."
The One Who Knows.
Man is still the same intricate problem to himself that he was six thousand years ago. The conflicting theories of the wise men of the world show man's utter failure to know or govern himself. How reasonable then it must be to go to the One who created man, for information concerning both here and hereafter! But what we should know is revealed in the Bible, the word of God. To the word of God, therefore, we turn.
Bible Statements.
Besides the many incidental references to man's mortality, there are positive statements to the same effect. Says the psalmist: "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth; he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. 146:3, 4. Says the wise preacher: "For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything. . . . Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished." Eccl. 9:5, 6. Again the psalmist declares, "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Ps. 115:17. Says the Idumean patriarch: "Man dieth, and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fall from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up; so man lieth down, and riseth not; till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep." Job 14:10-12. And then he asks not the question, "If a man die, where does he live? to what place has he gone?" but, "If a man die, shall he live again?" Verse 14. There is no question as to the fact of death; the man, the whole man, dies. The question is, Will he live again? This we will answer later.
The Cause of Death.
The cause of death is sin. "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. The Lord Jehovah is "the living God." His law is a living law; his word is a quick, or living, word. Heb. 4:12; John 6:63. To him that is in harmony with that law, it is a law of life. To him who feeds upon that word, it is the bread of life. Prov. 12:28; Job 6:50, 54, 63. God's law perverted lives still, but it works out death to the transgressor. Rom. 7:10. What it does for man depends on his attitude to the living law. To the holy angels it has meant perpetual life; for they "do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word." Ps. 103:20. To men the law has brought death. There is infinite wisdom in this. God did not design that sin should perpetuate itself. In the very nature of the case it cannot. It exists in perversion, and perversion is destruction. "Sin, when it is full grown, bringeth forth death." James 1:15, R. V. God gave man his choice,—to place himself in harmony with the divine will and live, or to disobey, to throw his will across the divine will, and die. Man rejected God's way and chose his own way, and died. Satan had said, "Ye shall not surely die;" God had said, "Thou shalt surely die." See Gen. 3:4; 2:17. Adam believed Satan, and died. It has been Satan's studied object to confirm the race in this falsehood. Whom shall we believe?
God in Christ.
But there is hope for mortal man. Righteousness is life; and Infinite Love has provided a way by which every fallen child of Adam may be restored to righteousness. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came in the likeness of sinful flesh for all the race. He, by the grace of God, overcame sin in the flesh, and so destroyed "the carnal mind," which "is enmity against God." Rom. 8:7. He by faith kept perfectly the holy law of God, and thus was God's character, God's righteousness, God's love and mercy, manifest in Christ, for God's character is all summed up in his holy law. Whatever attribute is used of the one is used of the other; and therefore when Jesus said, "I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love," he expresses the same truth as is expressed by the words of the apostle when he says that "God was in Christ," or, in other words, "God manifest in the flesh." It was God's character which was in the living law, but which sinful man could not obtain then because of the carnal heart, revealed to the world through Christ. It was the living, proper, normal operation of God's law. It was "the law of life" "in Christ Jesus," in spirit and truth.
Christ Our Righteousness.
Jesus is the way to God. John 14:6. Unregenerate man has no hope in himself. The living law proves his death because of the carnal mind. Rom. 7:10, 24. But he who willingly submits himself to God, who takes Christ's death on the cross for sins, for his death, by giving up all sin, who takes Christ's righteousness,—the perfect obedience to God's law,—for his righteousness, and wholly submits to do that law, that man is counted righteous by faith, and the law of God proves that the righteousness is perfect. Rom. 3:20-24; 8:1-4. God counts that man as though he had never sinned; Christ's righteousness, the perfect righteousness of the law through him, has freed the sinner from the carnal mind, and hence from the law of sin and death.
Christ Our Life.
But all this is not a mere book transaction. God's plan contemplates not only forgiveness, but regeneration. He not only desires to take away the sins of the past for every one, but he desires to take away the carnal mind, which loves sin. Consequently with the righteousness which he bestows he gives his life (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 5:17), his Spirit (Rom. 8:9), a new heart, spirit, and mind (Eze. 36:26), an understanding (1 John 5:20), that we may know, love, and do. Christ is therefore our life. If we believe not on him we perish eternally. John 3:16. He came that we might have life (John 10:10); but if we will not come unto him, we cannot have life (John 5:40). He that believes on Christ will have life, but he that believes not will never see or know the eternal life which Christ gives.
Life and Immortality.
God gives life, everlasting life, for the life of the everlasting God is everlasting life to all who believe; but we hold it by faith even as we so obtain it. 1 John 5:10-12; Gal. 2:20. By the power of God's life, or Spirit, we live God's righteousness. Rom. 8:4, 9, 10. If faithful to the end, the everlasting life will be confirmed, and immortality, incorruptibility, will be bestowed. Then at Christ's coming, at the resurrection of the dead, shall we live again. Job 14:14, 15; John 6:40, 54. Those who are Christ's will be immortal; those who are not will die the second death, from which there is no resurrection. "Then shall this mortal put on immortality," and not till then. 1 Cor. 15:51-55.
The Blessed Hope.
This, the glorious consummation and revelation of the righteousness of God by faith in Christ, is the blessed hope which cheered all the saints of God in all time. It is the resurrection of the dead; it is the bestowal of immortality; it is the coming and personal presence of our Lord; it is the beginning of the eternal kingdom of peace; it is life forevermore. See Titus 2:13; Matt. 16:27; 25:31, 34; 2 Tim. 4:1, and many others. Reader, do you not desire this life, this righteousness? You may have it by believing in our Lord Jesus Christ.
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
By Editor
Editorial.
Proving the Lord...........................................................................1
The Last-day Reformation (Development and Progress, Its Present Phase, What the Message Has Done, The Unity of the Spirit, How Supported, Its Progress).........................................................................................1-7
General Articles.—The Only Effective Law—The Master's Touch (verse)—Christ Our Complete Salvation—The Coming of Christ—The Sabbath....................................................................................................7-10
Home and Health.—Sup with Me—(verse)—True Story of a Little Saint—Importance of Family Discipline—True Temperance—Eight Reasons Why I Gave up Smoking..................................................................................................11, 12
News from Missions.—Trust (verse)—Statistical Notes.......................................................................................................................13
International Sabbath School Lesson.—The Time of the Judgment (Lesson 11, Sabbath, June 15, 1895)...............................................................................................................................................13, 14
International Sunday School Lesson.—Peter and the Risen Lord (Lesson 11, Sunday, June 16, 1895)...............................................................................................................................................14
News and Notes.—Foreign—Domestic..........................................................................................................15
Seventh-day Adventist Principles and Progress
By Editor
In this issue we have, for the benefit of the public, set forth in a brief way the principles and progress of Seventh-day Adventists, who have been so prominently brought before the public during the last few years, in connection with prosecutions for Sunday labor. Of course it has been impossible to give anything like a just idea of the principles which Seventh-day Adventists hold, with scriptural reasons therefor; but this is solely for lack of space. Salvation through Christ, the Sabbath, the Coming of Christ, and Christ Our Life, are briefly discussed. There are many other subjects which are worthy, such as Christ's Priesthood, the Work of the Holy Spirit, etc. Other publications are mentioned in this paper which treat these subjects more fully. To these the reader is referred.
Extra Copies of This Number
By Editor
This number of the Signs is electrotyped, and we are prepared to furnish extra numbers at $1.00 per 100 copies. We now have orders for 30,000 copies, and more are continually coming in. The matter is not such as will grow old, but is mostly of permanent value.
Changes in This Week’s Departments
By Editor
Our Home and Health and News from Missions departments are somewhat circumscribed this week in order to give more room for other articles in keeping with the general tenor of the paper. The Question Corner and Outlook are also omitted.
The Growing Subscription List
By Editor
The subscription list of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES now numbers 15,000, and is still rising. We expect that it will reach the 100,000 mark before the year closes.