SCRIPTURE
STUDIES
VOLUME FIVE - THE
ATONEMENT BETWEEN GOD AND MAN
STUDY
XIII
HOPES FOR LIFE EVERLASTING AND IMMORTALITY
SECURED BY THE ATONEMENT
The
Earnest Expectations or Hopes of the Groaning Creation — Are not Proofs
— The Promises and the Outworking of Atonement, as Proofs
— A Distinction and a Difference — Is the Human Soul
Immortal, or has it a
Hope of Becoming Immortal? — Are Angels Immortal? — Is Satan
Immortal? — The Life and Immortality Brought to Light Through the Gospel
— The Greek Words Rendered Immortal and Immortality in the Scriptures
— Wherein the Hope of the Church and the Hope for the Saved World Differ.
“If a man die shall he live again?
All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change
come.” Job 14:14
“Our Savior Jesus Christ...hath abolished death and brought life
[everlasting] and immortality to light through the Gospel.” 2 Tim. 1:10
THERE is a longing hope within men that death does not end
all existence. There is an
undefined hope that, somehow and somewhere, the life now begun will have a
continuation. In some this hope turns to fear.
Realizing their unworthiness of a future of pleasure, many fear a
future of woe; and the more they dread it for themselves and others the
more they believe in it.
This undefined hope of a future life and its counterpart, fear,
doubtless had their origin in the Lord’s condemnation of the serpent
after Adam’s fall into sin and death, that eventually the seed of the
woman should bruise the serpent’s head.
This was no doubt understood to mean that at [page 384]
least a portion of the Adamic family would finally
triumph over Satan, and over sin and death, into which he had inveigled
them. No doubt God encouraged
such a hope, even though but vaguely, speaking to and through Noah, and
through Enoch who prophesied, “Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand
of his saints.” But the gospel
(the good tidings) of a salvation from death, to be offered to all mankind
in God’s due time, seems to have been first clearly stated to Abraham.
The Apostle declares: “The gospel
was preached before to Abraham—saying, ‘In thy seed shall all the
families of the earth be blessed.’”
This at least was the basis of the Jewish hope of a resurrection;
for since many of the families of the earth were dead and dying, the
promised blessing of all implied a future life.
And when, centuries after, Israel was scattered among the nations
at the time of the Babylonian captivity, they undoubtedly carried
fragments of God’s promises and their hopes everywhere they went.
Sure it is, that whether it came as a result of an admixture of
Jewish thought, or because hope is an element of man’s nature, or both,
the whole world believes in a future life, and almost all believe that it
will be everlasting. This the
Apostle designates, “The earnest expectation of the creature”—the
groaning creation. But such hopes
are not proofs of the doctrine;
and the Old Testament promises, made to the Jews, are too vague to
constitute a groundwork for a clear faith, much less for a “dogmatic
theology,” on this subject.
It is not until we find, in the New Testament, the clear, positive
statements of our Lord, and afterwards the equally clear statements of the
apostles on this momentous subject of Everlasting
Life that we begin to exchange vague hopes for positive
convictions. In their words
we not only have positive statements to the effect that the possibilities
of a future life have been provided for all, but the philosophy of the
fact and how it is to be attained and maintained are set forth there as
nowhere else.
Many have not noticed these points, and hence are [page 385]
“weak in faith.”
Let us see what this philosophy is, and be more assured than ever
that future life, everlasting life, is by our great wise Creator’s
provision made a possibility for every member of the human family.
Beginning at the foundation of this New Testament assurance of Life
Everlasting, we find to our astonishment that it first of all admonishes
us that in and of ourselves we have nothing which would give us any hope
of everlasting life—that the life of our race was forfeited by the
disobedience of our father Adam; that although he was created perfect and
was adapted to live forever, his sin not only brought to him the wages of
sin—death—but that his children were born in a dying condition,
inheritors of the dying influences. God’s law, like himself, is perfect, and so was his
creature (Adam) before he sinned; for of God it is written, “His work is
perfect.” And God through
his law approves only that which is perfect, and condemns to destruction
everything imperfect. Hence
the race of Adam, “born in sin and shapen in iniquity,” has no hope of
everlasting life except upon the conditions held out in the New Testament
and called The
Gospel—the good tidings, that a way back from the fall, to
perfection, to divine favor and everlasting life, has been opened up
through Christ and for all of Adam’s family who will avail themselves of
it.
The key-note of this hope of reconciliation to God, and thus to a
fresh hope of life everlasting, is found in the statements (1) that
“Christ died for our sins” and (2) that he “rose again for our
justification”; for “the man Christ Jesus gave himself a ransom [a corresponding price] for all.”
Adam and his race, which when he sinned was yet in him and shared
his sentence naturally, have been “redeemed [bought] by the
precious blood [death] of Christ.” 1 Pet. 1:19
But although the Lord’s provision is abundant for
all, it is not applicable to
any except on certain conditions; namely, (1) that they accept
Christ as their Redeemer; and (2) that they strive to avoid sin and to
thenceforth live in harmony with God and righteousness.
Hence we are told that “Eternal [page 386]
Life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our
Lord.” (Rom. 6:23) The
following Scriptural statements are very clear on this subject:
“He that hath the Son hath life [a right or privilege or grant of
life as God’s gift]; but he that hath not the Son shall not see
[perfect] life.” John 3:36; 1 John 5:12
None can obtain everlasting life except from Christ the Redeemer
and appointed Life-giver;
and the truth which brings to us the privilege of manifesting faith and
obedience, and thus “laying
hold on eternal life,” is called the “water of life” and the
“bread of life.” John 4:14; 6:40,54
This everlasting life will be granted only to those who, when they
learn of it and the terms upon which it will be granted as a gift, seek
for it, by living according to the spirit of holiness.
They shall reap it as a gift-reward. Rom. 6:23; Gal. 6:8
To gain this everlasting life we must become the Lord’s
“sheep” and follow the voice, the instructions, of the Shepherd. John
10:26-28; 17:2,3
The gift of everlasting life will not be forced upon any. On the
contrary, it must be desired and sought and laid hold upon by all who
would gain it. 1 Tim. 6:12,19
It is thus a hope, rather than the real life, that God gives us now: the hope
that we may ultimately attain it, because God has provided a way by which
he can be just and yet be the justifier of all truly believing in and
accepting Christ.
By God’s grace our Lord Jesus not only bought us by the sacrifice
of his life for ours, but he became our great High Priest, and as such he
is now the “author [source] of eternal salvation to all that obey
him.” (Heb. 5:9) “And
this is the promise which he hath promised us, even eternal life.” 1 John 2:25
“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life
[now by faith and hope, and by and by actually, ‘when he who is our life
shall appear’], and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath
life: and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5:11,12
[page 387]
This everlasting life, made possible to Adam and all his race by
our Creator through our Redeemer, but intended for, and promised to, only
the faithful and obedient, and which at present is given to these only as
a hope, will be actually
given to the faithful in the “resurrection.”
It will be noticed that the explicit promises of God’s Word
differ widely from the worldly philosophies on this subject.
They claim that man must have a future everlasting life because
he hopes for it, or in most cases fears it. But hopes and fears are not reasonable grounds for belief on
any subject. Neither is there
basis for the claim that there is something in man which must live on and on forever—no such
part of the human organism is known, or can be proved or located.
But the Scriptural view of the subject is open to no such
objections: it is thoroughly reasonable to consider our existence, soul,
being, as therein presented—as a “gift of God,” and not an
inalienable possession of our own. Furthermore,
it avoids a great and serious difficulty to which the idea of the heathen
philosophies is open; for when the heathen philosopher states that man
cannot perish, that he must
live forever, that eternal life is not a gift
of God, as the Bible declares, but a natural quality possessed by every
man, he claims too much. Such
a philosophy not only gives everlasting existence to those who would use
it well and to whom it would be a blessing, but to others also who would
not use it well and to whom it would be a curse.
The Scriptural teaching, on the contrary, as we have already shown,
declares that this great and inestimably precious gift
(Life- Everlasting) will be bestowed upon those only who believe and obey
the Redeemer and Life-giver. Others,
to whom it would be an injury, not only do not possess it now, but can
never get it. “The wages of
sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord.” (Rom. 6:23) The wicked (all who, after coming to a clear
knowledge of the truth, still wilfully disobey it) shall be cut off from
among God’s people in the Second Death.
They “shall be as [page 388]
though they had not been.” “They shall utterly perish.” “Everlasting
destruction” shall be their doom—a destruction which will last
forever, from which there will be no recovery, no resurrection.
They will suffer the loss of everlasting life, and all of its
privileges, joys and blessings—the loss of all that the faithful will gain. Acts 3:23; Psa.
37:9,20; Job 10:19; 2 Thess. 1:9
God’s gift of life eternal is precious to all his people, and a
firm grasp of it by the hand of faith is quite essential to a
well-balanced and consistent life. Only
those who have thus “laid hold on eternal life,” by an acceptance of
Christ and consecration to his service, are able to properly and
profitably combat the tempests of life now raging.
A
Distinction and a Difference
But now, having examined the hope of immortality from the ordinary
understanding of that word (everlasting life), and having found that
everlasting life is God’s provision for all those of Adam’s race who
will accept it in “due time” under the terms of the New Covenant, we
are prepared to go a step further and to note that everlasting life and
immortality are not
synonymous terms, as people in general suppose.
The word “immortal” means more than power to live
everlastingly; and, according to the Scriptures, millions may ultimately
enjoy everlasting
life, but only a very limited “little flock” will be made immortal.
Immortality is an element or quality of the divine nature, but not
of human or angelic or any other nature than the divine.
And it is because Christ and his “little flock,” his
“bride,” are to be “partakers
of the divine nature” that they will be exceptions to all other
creatures either in heaven or on earth. 2 Pet. 1:4
Is
the Human Soul Immortal, or Has It a Hope
of
Becoming Immortal?
We have seen that a human soul (sentient being) results [page 389]
from a union of breath of life (ruach—pneuma) with a
human organism or body; exactly the same as in the cases of lower animal
souls (sentient beings) except as man is endowed with a higher organism, a
superior body possessed of superior powers and qualities. Our present inquiry then is, Are all animals immortal?
And if this be answered negatively, we must inquire, What does man
possess above the lower animals which gives hope for his immortality?
Solomon’s declaration as well as our own observations attest that
man like the lower animals is subject to death—“As the one dieth so
dieth the other. Yea, they
have all one [kind of] breath
[spirit of life—ruach].” (Eccl. 3:19) On
every hand the crape, the casket, the hearse, the cemetery, all testify
that man does die and hence that he is not immortal, for the word
“immortal” signifies death-proof, that which cannot die.
Whatever man’s hope of immortality, it is
not a present possession and can at very most be a hope in some divine
provision, future.
Before probing this question further it will be profitable for us
to consider the meaning of the words “mortal” and “immortal,” for
a gross misunderstanding of the significance of these words is very
prevalent and often leads to confusion of thought.
The word Immortal
signifies not mortal—death-proof, incorruptible, indestructible,
imperishable. Any being whose
existence is dependent in any manner upon another, or upon conditions such
as food, light, air, etc., is not immortal. This quality originally
inhered in Jehovah God alone, as it is written—“The Father hath life in himself” (John 5:26);
i.e., his existence is not a derived one, nor a sustained one.
He is the King eternal, immortal, invisible. (1 Tim. 1:17) These
scriptures being decisive authority on the subject, we may know beyond
peradventure that men, angels, archangels, or even the Son of God, before
and during the time he “was made flesh and dwelt among us”—were not
immortal—all were mortal. [page 390]
But the word “mortal” does not signify dying,
but merely die-able
— possessing
life dependent upon God for its continuance. For instance, angels not
being immortal are mortal and could die, could be destroyed by God if they
became rebels against his wise, just and loving government. In him (in his providence) they live and move and have their
being. Indeed, of Satan, who
was such an angel of light, and who did become a rebel, it is distinctly
declared that in due time he will be destroyed. (Heb. 2:14)
This not only proves that Satan is mortal,
but it proves that angelic nature is a mortal nature—one which could be destroyed by its Creator. As
for man, he is a “little lower than the angels” (Psa. 8:5), and
consequently mortal
also, as is abundantly attested by the fact that our race has been dying
for six thousand years and that even the saints in Christ are exhorted to seek
immortality. Rom. 2:7
The common definition of mortal is dying,
and of immortal everlasting—both
wrong. To demonstrate the
falsity of these general definitions let us propound a simple question—
Was
Adam Created Mortal or Immortal?
If the answer be—“Adam was created immortal,”
we respond, How then was he threatened with, and afterward sentenced to,
death: and how could he die if he were death-proof? And why did God in
punishing him drive him out of the Garden of Eden away from the
life-sustaining grove or trees of life, lest he by
eating live forever? Gen. 3:22
If the answer be that man was created mortal
(according to the erroneous common definition, dying) we inquire, How could God sentence man to death after his
disobedience if he were already a dying
creature and never had been otherwise? And if Adam was created dying
how could God declare that his death came by his sin? [page 391]
Confusion is unavoidable unless the true definitions of mortal and
immortal be clearly recognized as follows:
Immortal—the
state or condition in which death is impossible—a death-proof condition.
Mortal—a
state or condition in which death is possible—a condition of liability
to death, but not necessarily a dying condition unless a death sentence
has been incurred.
From this standpoint we can see at a glance that Adam was created mortal—in
a condition in which death was a possibility or everlasting life a
possibility; according as he pleased or displeased his wise, just, and
loving Creator. Had he
remained obedient he would have continued living until now—and
forever—and yet all the while he would have been mortal,
liable to death if disobedient. Nor
would such a condition be one of uncertainty; for God with whom he had to
do is unchangeable: hence Adam would have had full
assurance of everlasting life so long as he continued loyal and
obedient to his Creator. And
more than this could not reasonably be asked.
Adam’s life condition previous to his disobedience was similar to
that now enjoyed by the holy angels: he had life in full measure—lasting
life—which he might have retained forever by remaining obedient to God.
But because he was not death-proof,
because he did not have “life in himself” but was dependent for
continuance upon conditions subject to his Creator’s pleasure, therefore
God’s threat that if he disobeyed he should die, meant something.
It meant the loss of the spark of life, “the breath of life,”
without which the body would moulder into dust and the living soul
or sentient being
would cease. Had Adam been immortal,
undieable, death-proof, God’s sentence would have been an empty threat.
But because Adam was mortal, die-able,
liable to death except as sustained by his Creator’s provisions,
therefore, as declared, he died “in the day” of his disobedience. See
2 Pet. 3:8.
[page 392]
To those who think that the Bible abounds with such expressions as immortal
soul, undying soul, never-dying soul, etc., we can offer no better
advice than that they take a Bible concordance and look for these words
and others of similar import. They will find none; and thus the sincere
truth-seekers will most quickly convince themselves that Christian people
in general have for centuries, in thought at least, been adding
to the Word of God, much to their own confusion.
According to the Scriptures the angels are enjoying
life-everlasting but are mortal:
that is to say, the everlastingness of their angelic existence is not
because they are immortal or death-proof and so could not be destroyed by
their Creator; but because he desires that they shall live so long as they
will use their lives in accord with his just and loving arrangement.
This is easy of demonstration; for was not Satan one of the holy
angels before he by pride and ambition sinned?
And did he not thus become one of the wicked (willingly,
intentionally opposing God) of whom it is written, “All the wicked will
God destroy”—“who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction”? (Psa. 145:20; 2 Thess. 1:9) Note the explicit declaration
respecting Satan’s destruction, applicable in principle to all who
follow his evil way and reject divine arrangements knowingly,
intentionally. Heb. 2:14
While the Scriptures do speak of the mortality of man, and indeed
in nearly all particulars confine themselves to man’s relationship to
God, yet they no less positively teach in another way the mortality of
angels, by declaring that Christ “only hath immortality” (1 Tim.
6:16)—the Father as always being excepted. (1 Cor. 15:27)
And as we have already seen, our Lord Jesus received immortality
(which is an element or quality of “divine nature,” only) at his
resurrection, and as a reward for his faithful obedience to the Father’s
will to the extent of self-sacrifice—“unto death, even the death of
the cross—wherefore him hath God highly
[page 393] exalted.” Although
always superior to all others as “the only Begotten,” this exaltation raised him, as
the Apostle declares, far
above angels and principalities and powers and every name that is
named in heaven and in earth. Eph. 1:21
Thus it appears clear, from God’s own revelation on the subject,
that only himself and his Only Begotten Son possessed this quality of
immortality at the time the apostles wrote their epistles.
Indeed, had the Only Begotten been immortal
sooner than at the time of his exaltation he could not have been the
Savior of the world—because he could
not have died; and under divine arrangement to be our Redeemer he must
die: the record is, “Christ died for our sins” and was exalted to
immortality afterward.
Hopes of a future everlasting life are held out vaguely in the Old
Testament; but immortality is not so much as mentioned. Indeed, the
inspired Apostle declares of our Lord Jesus, that he “abolished death
[broke its hold on man] and brought life
and immortality
to light through the gospel.” (2 Tim. 1:10) This shows two things: (1)
That life
in perfection, lasting life, is separate and distinct from immortality,
indestructibility. (2) It
shows that neither of these great blessings had been disclosed or made
accessible previous to the gospel—the “great salvation which began
to be preached by our Lord.” Heb. 2:3
And what did our Lord’s gospel bring to “light” respecting
these two great blessings—life and immortality?
(a) It shows that by divine grace our Lord purchased the whole
world of Adam’s posterity and thus secured for each and every member of
the race an opportunity to return
from death
to life—in
other words it declares coming “times of restitution
of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets
since the world began.” Restitution
in its highest and ultimate sense will be the bringing of the restored
ones not only out of the tomb, but out of the various degrees of death
(represented in sickness and imperfection) [page 394]
up to life—lasting
life as Adam enjoyed it before his disobedience. The gospel of Christ
assures us that a full opportunity to attain this life
blessing shall be granted to all under the reasonable terms of the New
Covenant—“in due time.” 1 Tim. 2:6
(b) The “light” of Christ’s gospel shows a special provision
in the divine plan for a special calling, testing and preparing of a small
number of his creatures to more than a moral and rational likeness to
himself—an invitation so to conform themselves to the Father’s will
and so to prove their loyal obedience to him, that he might make of them,
“new
creatures,” “the express image of his person,” and “partakers of
the divine nature”—a prominent constituent element of which is immortality. This
our Lord Jesus broached, brought to light, in his gospel of God’s grace.
With amazement we inquire—To whom of God’s holy ones—angels,
cherubim or seraphim—is so high a call extended? The reply of the gospel
of Christ is that it is not extended to the angels at all, but to the Son
of Man and his “bride” to be chosen from among those whom he redeemed
with his own precious blood.
Consider him, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is now in consequence set down at the right hand
(place of favor) of the throne of God.
He was rich, but for our sakes he became poor.
Inasmuch as the man and race to be redeemed were human, it was
needful that he become human so as to give the ransom or corresponding
price. He therefore humbled
himself and took the bondman’s form; and after he found himself in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself even unto death—even unto the most
ignominious form of death—the death of the cross.
“Wherefore, God hath highly exalted him [to the promised divine
nature, at his resurrection], and given him a name that is above every
name [Jehovah’s name excepted—1 Cor. 15:27].” Heb. 12:3,2; 2 Cor.
8:9; Phil. 2:8,9 [page 395]
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to
receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor,
and glory, and blessing.” Rev. 5:9-12
The opulence of divine favor might well have stopped with the
exaltation of this great and worthy One: but no; God, the Father, has
arranged that Christ Jesus, as the Captain, shall lead a company of Sons
of God to “glory, honor and immortality” (Heb. 2:10; Rom. 2:7), each
of whom, however, must be a spiritual “copy” or likeness of the
“First Begotten.” As a
grand lesson of the divine sovereignty, and as a sublime contradiction to
all evolution theories, God elected to call to this place of honor (as
“the bride, the Lamb’s wife and joint-heir”—Rev. 21:2,9; Rom.
8:17), not angels and cherubs, but some from among the sinners redeemed by
the precious blood of the Lamb. God
elected
the number to be thus exalted (Rev. 7:4), and predestinated what must be
their
characteristics if they would make their calling and election sure
to a place in that company to be so highly honored; and all the rest is
left to Christ, who worketh now as the Father worked hitherto. John 5:17
The Gospel age, from Pentecost to the setting up of the Kingdom at
the second advent, is the time for the selection of this elect Bride of
Christ class, variously termed “the Church,” “the body of Christ,”
the “royal priesthood,” the “seed of Abraham” (Gal. 3:29), etc.;
and the continued permission of evil is for the purpose of developing
these “members of the body of Christ” and to furnish them the
opportunity of sacrificing their little and redeemed all,
in the service of him who bought them with his precious blood; and thus of
developing in their hearts his spiritual likeness, that when, at the end
of the age, they are presented by their Lord and Redeemer before the
Father, God may see in them “the image of his Son.” Col. 1:22; Rom.
8:29
As the reward of “glory, honor and immortality,” and all the
features of the divine nature, were not conferred upon the “First
Begotten” until he had finished his course by [page 396]
completing his sacrifice and obedience in death, so
with the Church, his “bride”—counted as one and treated
collectively. Our Lord, the First Born and Captain, “entered into his
glory” at his resurrection: he there became partaker of the divine
nature fully, by being “born from the dead,” “born of the Spirit”:
he there was highly exalted to the throne and highest favor (“right
hand” of God); and so he has promised that his Church, his “bride,”
shall in resurrection be changed, by divine power, from human nature to
the glory, honor and immortality of the divine nature. Heb. 13:20; 2 Pet.
1:4
And so it is written respecting “the
resurrection” of the Church: “It is sown in corruption; it is raised
in incorruption [immortality]: it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in
glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural
[animal] body; it is raised a spiritual body.” 1 Cor. 15:42-44,49
The conditions imposed upon all who would make their calling and
election sure to this favored position are exacting,
though nevertheless “a reasonable service”; and in offset the faithful
are promised the “glory, honor and immortality”
of “the divine nature”—that thus they shall share the Redeemer’s
high exaltation “far above angels,” if they share his ignominy by
walking in his footsteps, following his example in this present time while
evil is permitted to triumph.
Note well the fact that every promise or suggestion of hope of
immortality in the Lord’s Word is to this special elect Church.
This is the inherent life referred to by our Lord, saying—“As
the Father hath life
in himself [a life not requiring sustenance—immortality] so hath he
given unto the Son that he should have life
in himself [immortality]” and that he should give it unto
whomsoever he would—his bride, his Church—“members of his body.”
John 5:26; Eph. 3:6
Two Greek words are translated immortality:
(1) Athanasia,
which Strong defines as “deathlessness.”
This [page 397] word is found in the following scriptures only:
“This mortal must put on immortality [athanasia—deathlessness]”—referring
to the first resurrection shared in only by the Church. 1 Cor. 15:53
“When this mortal shall have put on immortality
[athanasia
— deathlessness]” — referring
to the same first resurrection of the Church. 1 Cor. 15:54
“Who only hath immortality [athanasia—deathlessness]”—referring
to our Lord Jesus and excepting the Father from comparison, as always. 1
Tim. 6:16
(2) Aphtharsia
and aphthartos
(from the same root) are rendered immortality
twice and immortal
once, but would more properly be rendered incorruption
and incorruptible,
and are generally so rendered by lexicographers. All the occurrences of these words in the Bible follow:
“To those who seek for glory, honor and immortality
[aphtharsia—incorruption].”
Rom. 2:7
“It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption
[aphtharsia].” 1 Cor.
15:42
“Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; neither doth
corruption inherit incorruption
[aphtharsia].”
1 Cor. 15:50
“This corruptible must put on incorruption
[aphtharsia].” 1 Cor.
15:53
“When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption
[aphtharsia].” 1 Cor.
15:54
“Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity [aphtharsia
— incorruptly].”
Eph. 6:24
“Jesus Christ who hath brought life and immortality
[aphtharsia
— incorruption]
to light through the gospel.” 2 Tim. 1:10
“In doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity
[aphtharsia
— incorruption].”
Titus 2:7
“The glory of the uncorruptible [aphthartos
— incorruptible]
God.” Rom. 1:23
“They do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible [aphthartos].”
1 Cor. 9:25
[page 398]
“The dead [Church] shall be raised incorruptible
[aphthartos].” 1 Cor.
15:52
“The King eternal, immortal [aphthartos—incorruptible],
the only wise God.” 1 Tim. 1:17
“An inheritance incorruptible [aphthartos],
undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.” 1 Pet.
1:4
“Being born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible
[aphthartos].” 1 Pet.
1:23
“That which is not corruptible [aphthartos]
even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit.” 1 Pet. 3:4
The thought in this word is—that which cannot corrupt, cannot
decay, cannot lose value: aphtharsia is thus in many respects the equivalent of athanasia
or deathlessness
when applied to sentient beings; for that which having life is
death-proof, may truly be styled incorruptible.
Mankind’s
Hope for Everlasting Life
The boldest and ablest scientists and evolutionists have attempted
to show that man’s life was not a gift from the Creator.
Theoretically they have brought man and all the lower animals up,
by evolution process, from a microscopic germ; yea, from protoplasm, which
Prof. Huxley called “the physical basis of life”; and they fain would
in some way ignore the Creator and Life-giver entirely: but, as a matter
of fact, they have been unable to suggest any way that even protoplasm
could get life from inert matter. To
this extent, therefore, they are obliged to recognize a first great cause
of life. But the reverent Bible student should not have the slightest
difficulty in accepting the statement of the Scriptures that God himself
alone is the First Great Cause, the fountain of life, from whom has
proceeded all life on every plane; as says the Apostle, All things are of the Father, and all
things are by the Son, and we by him. (1 Cor. 8:6) The Christian not only
finds the evidences of a Creator [page 399] in the book of Nature, but he finds in the Bible the
express and particular revelation of that Creator, and of that creation.
He accepts as a fact the statement that God created our first parents, and
bestowed life upon them, and provided for their propagation of a race of
sentient beings, souls, of their own kind, just as he provided for a
similar process in the brute creation.
Looking back to Eden we see Adam and Eve in their perfection,
possessed of moral and intellectual powers, in the likeness of their
Creator, and therefore far superior to their subjects, the brute
creation—souls of a higher order, the result of a higher and finer
organism; and we inquire, What was the purpose of God respecting man in
his creation? We see that so
far as the brute creation is concerned, the Lord’s evident design was
that they should live a few years and then die, giving place to others of
the species; and that thus they should minister as servants to the
pleasure and convenience of man, their master, who in his perfection was a
gracious master. But how
about man? Was man born to
die like the beasts? We have
just seen that he had no undying quality bestowed upon him, but we find
abundant testimony of God’s provision for the everlasting life of all who attain to approved conditions: that
provision consisted not in the bestowment of immortal powers and
qualities, but in the good will and purpose of his Creator, under which
alone he “lives, moves and has his being.”
Occasionally a shallow thinker will argue that man is immortal,
indestructible, because science has determined that “matter
is indestructible.” But,
as already pointed out, matter
is not man, nor is the soul, or being, matter.
The body is matter, but to be the body of a man matter must have a
special peculiar organization, and then spirit of life must be added
before it becomes man or soul. No
one will argue that an organism
is indestructible, and hence any one of reasoning ability can see that the
being or soul
based upon and dependent on organism can be destroyed.
Besides, this absurd reasoning or rather failure to reason would be
forced by [page 400]
analogy to claim that all insects and creeping things
have immortality, are indestructible.
There is an immense difference between destroying inert matter and
destroying being.
God declared to our father Adam, according to the record, that his
life was secure, and would be continuous so long as he continued an
obedient son of God; that only disobedience would expose him
(the being, the soul) to death. The same Scriptures tell us of the
disobedience of our first parents, and of the divine pronouncement of the
sentence of death, as the penalty for sin.
And we should notice carefully the language of our Lord, in respect
to this sentence. God did not address his language to the senseless body,
before it had been vitalized; neither did God address himself to the
breath or spirit of life, which is an unintelligent vitalizing power
merely. He addressed Adam,
the soul,
the intelligent or sentient being,
after he had been fully created. And we all agree that this was the
reasonable and only proper course—that the soul or being alone should be
addressed. Now mark the Lord’s words: “In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou
shalt surely die.”
When Adam transgressed the divine law and came under the sentence
thereof, that his soul should die, the Lord might have executed his
penalty in an instantaneous death; but instead he merely withdrew his
special provision for his continuance of life, and thus let Adam die
gradually. The conditions of
life are explained to us as having been a special grove of life-giving
trees, by the eating of which man’s life would have continued, making
good daily its wastes, and suffering no decay.
As soon as man became a transgressor, he was restrained from access
to these trees of life, or orchard of life, and thus, like the lower
animals of his dominion, became subject to death.
In man’s case, however, death is said to be a “curse,”
because it came as a result of the violation of the divine regulations,
and incidentally, through the curse upon earth’s king, a curse rests
upon his dominion and upon all his subjects, the lower animals; for [page 401]
the king having lost his perfection, the entire
dominion fell into disorder.
Moreover, the children of Adam could not obtain from him, as their
progenitor, rights or privileges or physical perfections, which he had
forfeited and was losing; hence, as the Scriptures show, the entire race
of Adam fell with him under the curse—into death, and hence, as
creatures in the image of God, possessed of powers of intelligence
appreciative of everlasting life, we look up to God to see whether or not
infinite wisdom, infinite love, infinite justice and infinite power can
unitedly produce a plan of salvation for man, under which God can be just,
and yet be the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. Rom. 3:26
Nor is the hope a vain one. God’s
provision, through Christ, as revealed in the Scriptures, is for a
resurrection of the dead, a restitution of man to his former estate.
True, there are limitations and conditions, and not all shall
return to the divine favor, but an opportunity to return shall be granted
to all, with the strong probability, we believe, that a majority of
Adam’s posterity shall, when they know the truth, gratefully accept of
God’s grace through Christ, and conform their lives to the law of the
New Covenant, through faith in the Redeemer.
It is not, however, for us or anyone to answer the query which our
Lord refused to answer, viz., “Are there few that be saved?” (Luke
13:23) The most we are
privileged to do is to point out that “a ransom for all”
has been given by our Lord and the promise that in “due time” all
shall come to a knowledge of this great truth and to opportunity to attain
everlasting life from him, the great Light who shall yet “lighten every
man that cometh into the world.” (1 Tim. 2:4-6; John 1:9)
We should and do repeat during this age to all who have “ears to
hear” the Master’s words: “Strive to enter in at the straight gate:
for many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able, when once the
Master of the house has risen up and shut the door.” (Luke 13:24,25)
In other words the call, the only call of this Gospel age, is to
the narrow [page 402]
way of self-sacrifice: and no distraction of interest
should slack our running for the great prize of immortality now offered.
When the number of the “elect” is filled full and the great
tribulation of the end of this age gives notice that the Church is
completed and glorified, there will be many to take a different view of
the worldly trifles which now hinder their fulfilment of their
consecration pledges.
God’s plan of salvation for the general race of Adam is to extend
to each member of it, during the Millennium, the offer
of eternal life upon the
terms of the New Covenant sealed for all with the precious blood of the
Lamb. But there is no
suggestion anywhere that immortality, the Divine Nature, will ever be
offered or granted to any except the “elect” Church of the Gospel
age—the “little flock,” “the Bride, the Lamb’s wife.”
For the others of Adam’s race the offer will be “restitution”
(Acts 3:19-21) to life and health and perfection of human
nature—the same that Adam possessed as the earthly image of God before
his fall from grace into sin and death.
And when at the close of the Millennial age all the obedient of
mankind shall have attained all that was lost
in Adam and redeemed by Christ
— then all, armed with complete
knowledge and experience, and hence fully able to stand the test, will be
tested severely (as was Adam), but individually (Rev. 20:7-10), and only
those found in fullest heart-sympathy, as well as in outward harmony, with
God and his righteous arrangements, will be permitted to go beyond the
Millennium into the everlasting future or “world [age] without end.” All others will be destroyed in the Second
Death—“destroyed from among the people.” Acts 3:23
But although there shall be no more death, neither sighing nor
crying, it will not be because the victors of the Millennial age will be
crowned with immortality, but because, having learned to judge between
right and wrong and their effects, they shall have formed characters in
full accord with God and righteousness; and because they will have stood
tests which will demonstrate that they would not wish to sin if the way
were opened and no penalties attached. [page 403]
They will not have life in themselves, but will still
be dependent upon God’s provision of food, etc., for the sustenance of
life. Compare Rev. 21:4,6,8;
7:16; Matt. 5:6.
As the curse brought the death of mankind, so the removal of the
curse means the removal of all legal objections to man’s return to all
the original blessings bestowed upon him in Eden.
But man, now degraded and imperfect mentally, morally and
physically, is not fit, as Adam was, to enjoy the perfections of an Eden
or Paradise condition; hence the divine purpose is that in the
“restitution times,” during the Millennial age, mankind, whose sins
have been atoned for by the death of the Lord Jesus, may be brought back
by him, the Life-Giver and Deliverer, from the bondage of sin and death,
to all the fulness of the perfection of the original likeness of God.
Not only so, but the divine plan we find is that man’s experience
with sin shall constitute a lesson which will have an everlasting
influence upon some, giving them to know, by personal experience,
something of the “exceeding sinfulness of sin,” and of its sure reward
or penalty, death: so that when, during the Millennial age, these shall be
brought to a knowledge of righteousness, truth, goodness, love, and all
the graces and qualities of divine character, the willing and obedient
shall know and appreciate the privilege of eternal life in a way that
Father Adam never would have known it, and never could have appreciated
it.
To this end the dying has been a gradual
process with the race in general, and to the same end the resurrection is
to be a gradual process: inch by inch, as it were, mankind will be raised
up, up, up out of the mire of sin, out of the terrible pit of degradation
and death, to the grand height of perfection and life from which he fell
in the person of father Adam. The only exception to this general program
for the world, as presented to us in the Scriptures, being the few brought
into harmony with God in advance, the seed of Abraham, natural and
spiritual. Gal. 3:29; Heb. 11:39,40
Seen in this, the Scriptural light, the subject of immortality
shines resplendently. It
leaves the way clear for the general [page 404]
“gift of God, eternal life,” to be extended to
all whom the Redeemer shall find willing to accept it upon the only terms
upon which it could be a blessing; and it leaves the unworthy subject to
the just penalty always enunciated by the great judge of all, viz.:
“The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23
“The soul
that sinneth it shall die.”
Ezek. 18:4,20
“He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath
of God [the curse, death]
abideth on him.” John 3:36
Thus we find, on this subject as on others, that the philosophy of
the Word of God is deeper as well as clearer, and more rational by far,
than the heathen systems and theories. Praise God for his Word of Truth
and for hearts disposed to accept it as the revelation of the wisdom and
power of God!
But does doubt cry out, How could God in resurrection reproduce the
millions of earth completely so that each will know himself and profit by
the memory of present life experiences? We answer that in the phonograph
cylinder even man is able to preserve his own words and reproduce them;
much more is our Creator able to reproduce for the entire race such brain
organisms as will perfectly reproduce every sentiment, thought and
experience. David seems to refer to the power of God in a manner that
might be applicable either prophetically to the resurrection or
reflectively to the first birth. He
says:
“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
My substance [organism] was not hid from thee when I was made in
secret, curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance being yet imperfect; and in thy
book all my members were written which in continuance [gradually] were
fashioned when as yet there was none of them.” Psa. 139:14-16
