"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is
the fruit of my labor; yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt
two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better;
nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you." Phil.1:21-24.
WHAT did Paul mean by departing?
It is fair to answer this by his words to Timothy: "The time of my departure is
at hand." 2Tim.4:6. It was his death.
Could he be with Christ by dying?
That depends upon the place to which the dead go.
Where do the dead go?
To sheol or hades, the one of these names being the Hebrew, and the other
the Greek, term to designate the place of the dead.
How do you know that the dead go to sheol or hades? The psalmist asks
what man there is that can deliver his soul from death and sheol. Ps.89:48.
Jacob, at death, entered sheol. Gen.38:35; 43:38; 44:29,31. Korah and his
company went down into sheol. Num.16:30,33. Job was to be hid in sheol, and
wait there till the resurrection. Job14:13; 17:13. All the wicked go into sheol. Ps.
9:17; 31:17; 49:14. All mankind go there. Ps.89:48; Ecc.9:10. (N.B. These words
in our English version are sometimes translated grave, and sometimes hell.)
Have you any other proof that the dead are in hades? Yes. When the
resurrection occurs, all
2
the righteous being rescued from death and the place of the dead, triumph over
both in most exultant language. 1Cor.15:51-55. And at the second resurrection,
both death and hades give up the wicked dead. Rev.20:11-15. Paul did,
therefore, enter hades by departing this life.
Did Paul find Christ in hades?
No, indeed. Christ had been there before Paul, but was not there when Paul
entered the silent abode of the dead. We have express statements on this point.
Peter says that David spoke of Christ's resurrection when he said, "Thou wilt not
leave my soul in hell." (Greek, hades.) And he informs us that at the resurrection
of Christ, "his soul was not left in hell," or hades. Observe, this is not spoken of
his death that his soul was not left in hades; for then it might be evaded as
meaning that his soul should not be suffered to enter hades at all. But it is
spoken of his resurrection that his soul was not left there. And this proves,
beyond dispute, that his soul did enter this abode of the dead, but remained there
only till the morning of the third day. Compare Acts2:25-31; Ps.16:8-11.
But was not Paul grievously disappointed, on entering the place of the dead,
not to meet Jesus there?
There is no reason to believe that he expected to meet him in hades. In fact,
there is excellent testimony to show that he looked to a very different occasion
for the meeting with Christ. But there was no sadness, gloom, nor
disappointment, to Paul in hades. It is a place where there is no knowledge. Ecc.
9:10. Those who enter there have no thoughts. Ps.146:4.
All is silence, darkness, sleep, rest. The
3
wicked therein are silent in death. Ps.31:17. The righteous in sheol do not praise
God, and do not even remember him to whom they have given their lives to
honor. Ps.6:5; Is.37:10-19; Ps.115:17.
But how sad and gloomy such a prison-house to Paul, and how long and
dreary his confinement therein?
To the living the grave may be dark and cold, and the period of waiting may
seem long and tedious. But not so to the silent sleeper in his quiet rest. There is
no lapse of time to those whose thoughts have perished. There is no gloom to
those who "know not anything." Ecc.9:5. There can be nothing tedious, nor
distressing, nor unpleasant, to those in hades. In fact, there can be no time to
them at all. It is an atom of time, as the twinkling of an eye. Rather, it is simply a
blank. This is proved by facts of frequent occurrence. Men receive blows upon
the brain which destroy the power of thought. They remain in this condition
sometimes for months. When consciousness is restored, thought begins at the
very point where it was suspended.
An officer wounded in battle, and remaining months without a thought, when
relieved by surgical operation has arisen in bed and finished the order he was
giving when struck down. This shows that to those who have no power of thought
time is annihilated. To Stephen, who fell asleep while gazing upon the glory of
Heaven, it will ever be the same as though, without one moment's delay, he had
entered it. Acts7:55-60. And so of many Christians who have had rapturous views
of Heaven in the hour of their death. It will never seem to them as though Heaven
had
4
even disappeared from their view. In winking, we cease to gaze upon that which
is before us. It disappears from our view, yet we do not even notice the
disappearance of the object. Such is the sleep of death. To the sleeper, it is an
imperceptible atom of time, of which he can take no account.
Have you any evidence that Paul did not expect to be with Christ till the
resurrection?
Judge for yourself in the light of such words as the following: "If after the
manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me IF
THE DEAD RISE NOT? let us eat and drink, for TO-MORROW WE DIE." 1Cor.
15:32. If Paul entered Heaven by dying, and by that event was taken to be with
Christ, where there is fullness of joy, was not this of some advantage to him?
Suppose there never should be a resurrection, would not Paul's immortal soul - if
he had one - in the felicity of Heaven find something to compensate his cross-
bearing life? Indeed, he would, were he to enter Christ's presence at death, even
though there were no resurrection. But he plainly indicates that if there was to be
no resurrection, there would be no reward; a decisive proof that he knew nothing
of the entrance into the heavenly city by the gate of death. In fact, had he
entertained such an idea, instead of speaking of immediate death as a sad thing
if there were no resurrection beyond it, he would have said, "Courage, brethren,
to-morrow we die, and that will usher us into our Lord's presence." His words
convey, in every respect, the opposite idea.
Was there not some point of time to which Paul looked for deliverance and
reward? Was this the day of death, or of the coming of Jesus?
5
There is a certain day which he has emphasized very remarkably. It bears the
designation in his epistles of "THAT DAY." It is thus presented:
1Thess.5:2,4: "For yourselves know perfectly that THE DAY OF THE LORD
so cometh as a thief in the night.... But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that
THAT DAY should overtake you as a thief."
2Thess.1:10: "When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be
admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was
believed) in THAT DAY."
2Thess.2:1-3: "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken
in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as
that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that
day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be
revealed, the son of perdition."
2Tim.1:12: "For the which cause I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am
not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I have committed unto him against THAT DAY."
2Tim.1:18: "The Lord grant unto him [Onesiphorus] that he may find mercy of
the Lord in THAT DAY; and in how many things he ministered unto me at
Ephesus, thou knowest very well."
2Tim.4:6-8: "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is
at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the
faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous Judge, shall give me at
6
THAT DAY; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."
These scriptures do plainly teach the fact that the advent of Jesus was the
time to which Paul looked for the deliverance of the saints, for the gathering of
himself and all the others to Christ's presence, and for the placing of the crown
upon his own head, and upon the heads of all that really love the appearing of
Jesus. He refers to the time of this great reward as "THAT DAY." But he marks it
over and over in such a manner that we cannot mistake the point of time. It is not
the day of his death, but it is the day of the Lord Jesus.
But can you give a text from Paul's writings in which both the time and the
manner of the taking of the saints to be with Christ are presented?
The following text is exactly to the point:
1Thess.4:16,17: "For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God; and the dead in
Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and SO shall we ever be with the
Lord."
The word "so" (Greek, ovw) signifies "in this manner," or "thus." This text
shows with distinctness the time and the manner of meeting the Lord, and being
received into his presence. It is indeed a testimony of the same character as that
in 2Thess.2:1, where the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is made the point for
the gathering together of Paul and his brethren to him.
There can be no doubt that this was Paul's hope, but can you confirm it by the
words of the Lord Jesus?
7
If a direct statement of the Saviour will answer, here it is:
John14:2,3: "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I
would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you; and if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am,
there ye may be also."
Now observe, 1. Jesus was going away personally. 2. While absent, he was
to prepare a place for his people. 3. Then he was to come back and receive
them. 4. That thus they might be where he was. Then it follows that they cannot
be with him till he comes after them. He will not come after them till he has
completed the preparation of the place for them. And observe this fact, if they
could go to him before he comes after them, they would find the place
unprepared for their reception. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared
people. Our Lord has fixed the time and the manner of the saints' being received
to be with Christ. It is at his glorious advent.
Then how do you reconcile all these testimonies with the language of Paul,
quoted at the head of this article, in which he says, "Having a desire to depart,
and to be with Christ, which is far better?" The reconciliation is not a matter of
difficulty. The departure is by death; the being with Christ is by the resurrection.
These are two events, and not one and the same thing. "To depart, AND to be
with Christ, which is far better." We may illustrate this by a supposition. We will
say that Paul, when at Miletus, being very anxious to see the brethren in
Jerusalem, and to find rest from the severe labors of the field he had, in the face
of bitter opposition, so long cultivated, used this language:
8
"Having a desire to depart, and to be with James at Jerusalem." No one would
misunderstand that language. The departing was one thing; the being with
James, another thing at some distance in the future.
Can you illustrate this out of Paul's language relative to the death and
appearing of Jesus?
I can give an illustration that meets the point exactly, and that uses one of the
very terms of the disputed text. Here is the passage:
2Tim.4:6,8: "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is
at hand.... Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto
all them also that love his appearing."
Paul's "departure" was at hand. This was his violent death by the ax of the
executioner. But his reward was laid up for him till the day of Christ's appearing.
The word "henceforth" covers the period between his departure and his being
with Christ.
But might not Paul be with Christ before the appearing of Jesus, though he
received not his crown till that time?
No. If being with Christ would be any "advantage" to Paul, it follows from his
own words that he could not be with him till the resurrection. 1Cor.15:32. He
could not be with Christ on his own showing, as we have seen, until Christ comes
after him. "So shall we ever be with the Lord." Besides, this text relative to the
crown must not be set aside too summarily. A crown implies a throne, a kingdom,
and a reign. Paul will not have these things withheld after entering
9
his Lord's presence. But the time to reward the saints, small and great, does not
come till after the sounding of the seventh angel. Rev.11:15,18. We say,
therefore, that 2Tim.4:6-8, is a good illustration of Phil.1:23.
But why should Paul speak of these two events, death, and the entrance into
Christ's presence, in so closely connected a manner if they are really separated
by a long space of time?
Several reasons may be assigned:
1. The Scriptures often speak of events widely separated in such a manner
that the careless reader would suppose them one and the same thing; or at least
that they were both to transpire at the same point, or very near to each other.
Heb.9:27: "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the
Judgment." But with most men there is a very long space between.
Rev.2:10: "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."
Jam.1:12: "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried,
he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love
him." But we do know from plain testimony that the crown is not given as soon as
man falls in death, but when he rises in the resurrection of the just. 2Tim.4:8;
1Pet.5:4. As a further illustration of the fact that there is need of care in reading
the Bible, that we may give everything its proper place, take this text:
Luke2:39: "And when they had performed all things according to the law of
the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth." Now who would
suppose that between this performance of all things required by the law when our
Lord was eight days of age (see verse 21), and
10
their return into Nazareth, occurred the flight into Egypt? Yet such was the case.
Matt.2. It appears that they returned unto Bethlehem, and were there found of the
wise men. Then, at the warning of God, Joseph fled into Egypt, and staid till
Herod's death, then returning out of Egypt he was afraid to stop in Bethlehem,
and so retired to his old home in Nazareth. But all these things Luke passes over.
2. A second reason for Paul's manner of expression is found in the fact that
his death would close his probation, and make it certain that he should be with
Christ when Christ comes after his saints.
3. A third reason is that to him it would be the same thing as though death did
usher him into Christ's presence. For there would not be even a moment to him
between departing and being with Christ.
Paul was in a strait betwixt two. He was now an aged man, and a prisoner of
Jesus Christ. He had borne the burden in the heat of the day. Being bowed to the
earth with burdens, cares, toils, labors, and sufferings, he felt that for himself it
was better to die; but when he saw the flock of God contending with Satan, and
wrestling for life, he felt that it was needful that he should live yet for a season for
their furtherance and joy of faith.
Paul rests in the silence of hades. He is not yet with Christ. But Christ has
been in hades, and when he left it, took away the key. Acts2:31; Rev.1:18. If the
dead should not rise, Paul would have no advantage from all his labor. But Christ
shall call, and Paul shall answer. He shall stand up an immortal being. He shall
ascend
11
to meet the Lord in the air. The crown shall be placed on his head. And "so" shall
he "ever be with the Lord."
THE RETURN OF THE SPIRIT TO GOD
"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return
unto God who gave it." Ecc.12:7.
This text is the exact counterpart of Gen.2:7: "And the Lord God formed man
of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and
man became a living soul."
One text teaches how man was first formed. The other text makes known the
process of his dissolution. What God did in creating, death undoes by dissolving.
How did death get the power to step in and undo the Creator's work? Man
forfeited his right to live by sinning against God. Death entered by sin. Rom.5:12.
Death, then, has an evil parentage. In fact, it has a bad character in the book of
God; it is not a friend, but an enemy; and so serious and formidable a foe is it
that its destruction is made the subject of special promise to the people of God.
1Cor.15:26. The power of death Satan himself has controlled. Heb.2:14. Death
came from the devil, just as life came from God.
God gave to man life, and instructed him that if he would obey him, he should
continue to live. Gen.2. The devil, telling Eve that she should, by sinning, be
introduced to a higher life, brought death upon our race. Milton's idea that death
is the child of sin and Satan, is strictly true.
But many at the present time believe death to be the gate to endless joys!
Death, as they imagine, is the door whereby the Christian enters Heaven! By
what means was this door created?
12
By man's rebellion against God. Who was the chief agent in promoting this
transaction? The devil! What does Jesus call him because of this work? A
murderer. John 8:44. If death is the door of Heaven, Satan has acted the part of
door-keeper of Heaven, for he has had the power of death.
One of the principal proofs that men reach Heaven by dying, is found in our
text which is so often quoted: "The spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Does
this prove that death ushers men into Heaven? Please consider before you
answer. If so, please observe that this text is not descriptive of the case of the
righteous only; it is spoken of death as the common lot of man. Then we get all
men into Heaven by dying, whatever may become of them afterward. Can it be
true that every wicked man is to enter the gates of the holy city when he dies?
See Rev.21:27; 22:14,15.
But does not this text really teach the entrance of the righteous into Heaven at
death? Not unless it does that of the wicked also; for the text is descriptive of the
common portion of mankind. The infirmities of old age are first described, and
then the dissolution of man in death. The fact is, Solomon is admonishing the
young men to attend to the service of God before these infirmities come on which
lead to final dissolution. If it were only one class spoken of, it would be rather the
wicked than the righteous, for Solomon would not have a young man grow up to
these infirmities and consequent dissolution unprepared.
It is the unbuilding of the man after the infirmities of old age have worn out all
his strength, that Solomon describes; it is not his translation
13
to Heaven. The Lord God formed the man out of the dust of the ground. Death
causes that dust to return to the earth as it was before it formed the man. If God
does the first work, it is not God that destroys it. No; indeed. An enemy is the
doer of all this.
"The spirit shall return unto God who gave it." There is a record of the giving
of the spirit by God. When he had formed the man from the dust, he breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Now when death
dissolves the man, this very thing which God gave to man, returns. What comes
from God returns to God, just as what comes from earth returns to earth. Then
what better proof can we have that men are happy with God when they die? Who
can deny a blissful existence to the spirits of men in the presence of God? And
what will you do now with all the texts that you adduce to show that in death
there is no remembrance of God; that the thoughts of men perish in death; that
they sleep in silence till the heavens pass away; that they are to be satisfied
when they wake in Christ's likeness; and that if there were no resurrection, there
would be no advantage obtained, even by faithful Paul? Do not set these ideas
aside too hastily; they are all ideas of men inspired of God. See Ps.6:5; Isa.
38:18,19; Ps.146:4; Job14:12,13; Ps.17:15; 1Cor.15:32.
But if the spirit goes back to God, must it not be happy in his presence? And
must it not know infinitely more than while the man lived? Those who ask such
questions overlook one point in the text, and that point is the key to the whole
subject. That which goes to God once came from him. 14
You infer that in returning to God the spirit enters upon a blissful existence in his
presence. Have you well considered the point? It exists in God's presence after it
has returned, with just as conscious an existence as it had before it came from
him. No more goes back than came. It is no more exalted when it leaves man to
go back to God than when it left God to come to man.
Did the spirits of the dead once live with God, then leave him and come and
live with men, and then return to live again with God? It would be very absurd to
affirm it. Somebody ought to remember something about living once in the
presence of God before living in this world of sorrows. Why not some one
recollect about this?
But if that be so, how much better off to have allowed us to stay in Heaven
when we were there, than to send us into this world of sorrow, pollution, and
crime. To be sure, if this text be rightly expounded by the popular interpretation,
everybody gets back to Heaven when they die; but even then how much better is
dissolution than creation? How much more beneficent the work of Satan in
introducing death, which returns us all to Heaven, than the work of the Creator
which took our happy spirits all out of Heaven to live in sorrow, sin, and pain!
The reader will see that there is just as much of blissful existence for the spirit
after this life as before it. What came from God to enable the man to live, returns
to God when he ceases to live.
There has been one grand act of the Creator in which he bestowed that upon
man which at death he takes from him. God gave to Adam, when he formed him,
the breath of life, and man, thus formed, became a living soul. It even says, God
15
breathed this into man's nostrils. This was what gave Adam life. Elihu tells us that
"the breath of the Almighty" gave to him "LIFE;" i.e., by giving it to the common
father of mankind. Job 33:4.
What God gave to Adam was not an angel of glory to dwell in his body formed
of dust. If it had been, what a misfortune to that heavenly being! No; it was simply
"LIFE." Having made the man, God gave him life. When man had forfeited his
right to live, God told him he must return to the ground out of which he was
taken. Gen.3. And so when Adam closed his eyes in death, the great Creator
took again to his own keeping that life which Adam gave up. God designs that
men shall live again. He holds all in his hand till the hour shall arrive to give them
life the second time. Jesus said that he laid down his life that he might take it up
again. John 10. And so when dying, commended his spirit, or life, to his Father's
hands.
Adam had his life from God. We have ours from Adam. Adam forfeited his
right to live or God would never have taken from him that breath of life by which
he was made alive. That being taken from him, he had just as much life as he
had before it was given him, which was none at all. That which God breathed into
his nostrils being taken from him by the Author of his existence, has just as much
thought and knowledge as before being given to Adam, which was no knowledge
at all.
He did not put within Adam a living, conscious, organized being from glory,
but the man being organized out of dust, God put the principle of life in him, i.e.,
he made him alive.
Our life is from Adam. It is not immortal life.
16
The facts are too palpable to believe thus of ourselves. Life is transmitted from
parents to children. What vast multitudes of living beings perish without ever
seeing the light, i.e., without ever being born. Yet they had life. And so life exists
in that which precedes embryotic existence. But in all this there is no immortality.
We cannot take from the first Adam what he had not to give. Nor can we find in
death, which is the fruit of sin, the door back into that Paradise from which sin
caused us to be expelled. But, thank God, the second Adam can give us a life
that shall never end. "For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to
the Son to have life in himself." John 5:26. Death cannot convey us to the
presence of God; but the resurrection shall show us the path of life, and "so shall
we ever be with the Lord."
SHALL OUR EARTH BURN ETERNALLY?
By no means. The fire shall melt it. Every part of it shall be subjected to the
refining heat. The fire shall devour the earth; but its elements shall all remain.
When it has answered the great purpose of furnishing the fiery oven, or furnace
of fire where the wicked shall receive their dreadful doom, the second death, it
shall, like Sodom, be reduced to ashes by the eternal fire, and cease longer to
burn. Then, by the power of the great Author of its existence, it shall be recreated.
New heavens and earth shall exist, formed out of the elements of the old
thus purged of sin and sinners, and therein shall the righteous have the prom
