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and even of those upon whom his judgments are visited. He would
make them happy if he could do so in accordance with the laws of
his government and the justice of his character. He surrounds them
with the tokens of his love, he grants them a knowledge of his law,
and follows them with the offers of his mercy; but they despise his
love, make void his law, and reject his mercy. While constantly
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receiving his gifts, they dishonor the Giver; they hate God because
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they know that he abhors their sins. The Lord bears long with their
perversity; but the decisive hour will come at last, when their destiny
is to be decided. Will he then chain these rebels to his side? Will he
force them to do his will?
Those who have chosen Satan as their leader, and have been
controlled by his power, are not prepared to enter the presence of
God. Pride, deception, licentiousness, cruelty, have become fixed
in their characters. Can they enter Heaven to dwell forever with
those whom they despised and hated on earth? Truth will never be
agreeable to a liar; meekness will not satisfy self-esteem and pride;
purity is not acceptable to the corrupt; disinterested love does not
appear attractive to the selfish. The destiny of the wicked is fixed
by their own choice. Their exclusion from Heaven is voluntary; it is
just.
Like the waters of the flood, the fires of the great day declare
God’s verdict that the wicked are incurable. They have no dispo-
sition to submit to divine authority. Their will has been exercised
in revolt; and when life is ended, it is too late to turn the current
of their thoughts in the opposite direction,—too late to turn from
transgression to obedience, from hatred to love.
In mercy to the world, God blotted out its wicked inhabitants in
Noah’s time. In mercy he destroyed the corrupt dwellers in Sodom.
Through the deceptive power of Satan, the workers of iniquity obtain
sympathy and admiration, and are thus constantly leading others to
rebellion. It was so in Noah’s day, and in the time of Abraham and
Lot; it is so in our time. It is in mercy to the universe that God will
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finally destroy the rejecters of his grace.
But the doctrine of never-ending torment has no sanction in the
Bible. John in the Revelation, describing the future joy and glory
of the redeemed, declares that he heard every voice in Heaven and
earth, and under the earth, ascribing praise to God. There will be
no lost beings in hell to mingle their shrieks with the songs of the
saved.
“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [Romans 6:23.] While life is the inheritance of the righteous, death is the portion of the wicked.
The penalty threatened is not merely temporal death, for all must
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suffer this. It is the second death, the opposite of everlasting life.
God ca
wicked, having suffered the punishment of their guilt, shall be as
though they had not been. Says an inspired writer, “Thou shalt
diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.” [Psalm 37:10.] In consequence of Adam’s sin, death passed upon all mankind. All
alike go down into the grave. But through the provisions of the
plan of salvation, all are to be brought forth from their graves. Then
those who have not secured the pardon of their sins must receive
the penalty of transgression. They suffer punishment varying in
duration and intensity according to their works, but finally ending
in the second death. Covered with infamy, they sink into hopeless,
eternal oblivion.
Upon the fundamental error of natural immortality rests the
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doctrine of consciousness in death, a doctrine, like eternal torment,
opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures, to the dictates of reason,
and to our feelings of humanity. According to the popular belief, the
redeemed in Heaven are acquainted with all that takes place on the
earth, and especially with the lives of the friends whom they have
left behind. But how could it be a source of happiness to the dead
to know the troubles of the living, to witness the sins committed
by their own loved ones, and to see them enduring all the sorrows,
disappointments, and anguish of life? How much of Heaven’s bliss
would be enjoyed by those who were hovering over their friends on
earth? And how utterly revolting is the belief that as soon as the
breath leaves the body, the soul of the impenitent is consigned to the
flames of hell! To what depths of anguish must those be plunged
who see their friends passing to the grave unprepared, to enter upon
an eternity of woe and sin! Many have been driven to insanity by
this harrowing thought.
What say the Scriptures concerning these things? David declares
that man is not conscious in death. “His breath goeth forth, he
returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” [Psalm
146:4.] Solomon bears the same testimony: “The living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything.” “Their love, and their
hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a
portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.” “There is no
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work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither
thou goest.” [Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10.]
When, in answer to his prayer, Hezekiah’s life was prolonged
fifteen years, the grateful king rendered to God a tribute of praise for
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his great mercy. In this song he tells the reason why he thus rejoices:
“The grave ca
that go down into the pit ca
living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day. The father to the children
shall make known thy truth.” [Isaiah 38:18, 19.] Popular theology represents the righteous dead as in Heaven, entered into bliss, and
praising God with an immortal tongue; but Hezekiah could see no
such glorious prospect in death. With his words agrees the testimony
of the psalmist: “In death there is no remembrance of thee; in the
grave who shall give thee thanks?” “The dead praise not the Lord,
neither any that go down into silence.” [Psalm 6:5; 115:17.]
Peter, speaking through the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost,
said: “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the pa-
triarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is
with us unto this day.” “For David is not ascended into the heavens.”
[Acts 2:29, 34.] The fact that David remains in the grave until the resurrection proves that the righteous do not go to Heaven at death.
It is only through the resurrection, and by virtue of the fact that