Being on my holidays, I have met with a few friends, who have given me certain numbers of Present Truth to read, in which, among other questions, you have answered a question concerning the nature and destiny of man. I am greatly interested in the subject, and as an earnest seeker for truth I humbly ask you to oblige me with answers to the following questions:
Is natural death, or what we term the first death, the result of sin? If it is, why could not belief in Christ remove it, since it removes the second death, or what we term eternal death? I shall be obliged for help out of the difficulty.
Your question goes to the root of the matter, and touches the very heart of the Gospel, and I am glad to help you with the testimony of God's Word. Let us start with the apostle's statement that: "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Romans 5:12)
This is sufficient to establish the fact that death is indeed the fruit of sin. But for sin, there never would have been any death in the world. Just here you may perhaps ask the question that so often is asked, "What kind of death is it that is the result of sin?"
The answer is simply, death. There are not two kinds of death, any more than there are two kinds of life. True, the Bible speaks of the first death, and the second death; but these are not two kinds of death, but death at two different times.
What is life? No answer can be given to this question, except the words of Christ, recorded in: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." (John 14:6)
Or, "The Spirit is life because of righteousness." (Romans 8:10)
Life is the being of God, and is manifested through Christ the Son. "He that has the Son has the life; and he that has not the Son of God has not the life." (1 John 5:12,RV)
From Romans 8:10, just quoted, we might derive the definition that righteousness is life. So it is. There is no righteousness but God's righteousness; and His righteousness is everlasting. Perfect righteousness is invulnerable; from its very nature--perfect purity--it is incorruptible; it can never know anything of decay or death. It was because Christ maintained perfect integrity, absolute holiness, that no man could take His life from Him, and that He laid it down of His own free will (John 5:17-18); and it was because of this that God raised Him up, "having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that He should be held of it." (Acts 2:24)
It was "according to the Spirit of holiness" that He was raised from the dead. (Romans 1:4) The conclusion of the statement that "As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," (Romans 5:12) is that: "Even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." (Romans 5:18-19)
This righteousness of One,--Christ,--by which we are made righteous, is the righteous life of Christ in us; for we are "saved by His life." (Romans 5:8) "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ" (Romans 8:2) is that which makes us "free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:2) "[Christ is] a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people;" (Hebrews 2:17) and His priesthood is "after the power of an endless life." (Hebrews 7:14)
Thus we see that it is only by the power of an endless life,--a life that is endless because sinless,--that we are saved from sin. Now there is but "one Lord," as there is but "one faith" (Ephesians 4:5); and Christ is not divided. (1 Corinthians 1:13) He gives the whole of himself to everyone who receives Him. "Unto everyone of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." (Ephesians 4:7)
Therefore it follows that, having received Christ for salvation from sin, which is accomplished by His life, we can just as well as not have the full benefit of His sacrifice, appropriating, if we will, all that there is in His life. He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us, in order "that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Even so, "himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses," (Matthew 8:16) in order that we might be delivered from them. The life of Jesus may be manifest "in our mortal flesh," (2 Corinthians 4:11) and that can be only by its power over mortality. Let us now read a few passages bearing directly on this subject. The first will be the familiar call to bless the Lord, "Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfies your mouth with good things; so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." (Psalm 103:3-5)
Next let us compare Acts 3:26 and Psalm 133:3. The first tells us that God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless us, in turning away everyone of us from his iniquities. The blessing of God is salvation from sin, and the blessing which He has commanded is "life for evermore." (Psalm 133:3) "His commandment is life everlasting." (John 12:50) "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning," (Lamentations 3:22-23) and are "from everlasting to everlasting." (Psalm 103:17) "The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon, them that hope in His mercy; To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine;" (Psalm 33:18-19) and we receive this mercy just to the extent that we hope in God, and appropriate it.
And now let us have some practical examples of this truth,--some illustrations of the working of it. The most noted is that of Enoch. "By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death." (Hebrews 11:5)
Note that it was not by accident, but by faith. He was translated by faith, because He lived wholly by faith. "Before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." (Hebrews 11:5)
Elijah also was taken to heaven without dying. Now God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34); and what He did for those men, He is certainly willing to do for all who have their faith. We know that there will be many who at the coming of Christ will be taken to heaven without dying. "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump." (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)
Read also 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17. There are no accidents in God's dealing with men. Those who are taken to heaven without dying, when Christ comes, will not be translated simply because they happen to be living at that time; but they will be living at that time simply because their faith in Christ, and their knowledge of His life, and so their appropriation of it, will be so great, disease or death will have no power over them. Thus we read of that terrible time of trouble, when "the seven last plagues" devastate the earth: "He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God,in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers and under His wings shall you trust; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flies by day; Nor for the pestilence that walks in darkness; nor for the destruction that wastes at noon day. A thousand shall fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come nigh you. Only with your eyes shall you behold, and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, your habitation, There shall no evil befall you, neither shall any plague come nigh your dwelling." (Psalm 91:1-10)
Nothing could be plainer than this. There is such a thing as victory over disease and death, through Christ. The flesh is corrupt and sinful; but Christ has "power over all flesh," (John 17:2) so that His life can repress sin even in "sinful flesh," (Romans 8:3) and by the same power He can resist the encroachments of disease even in our mortal flesh.
But we must have a wide and deep and intelligent faith in Christ. We must have our eyes open to see the life, and give ourselves diligently to study its manifestations, and then yield to it in every particular. It is just for this reason that now, as we are approaching the time when the end cannot be delayed, God is giving a flood of light upon how to live. "This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." (Matthew 24:14)
And it must not be overlooked nor forgotten that it was by the healing of all diseases and all weaknesses, that Christ demonstrated the kingdom of God at hand.
This is the special message for this time and next week we shall, God willing, present a few additional thoughts, which may clear away some difficulties that will possibly present themselves to the mind of some readers. [The next issue of Present Truth, which was August 21, 1902, did not have any "Editor's Private Corner" articles. The next edition after that, August 28, did have an article on the state of the dead, "Saul and the Witch of Endor" (which is the next article). As well, over the next year, there were a number of other "Editor's Private Corner" articles dealing with the state of the dead. So perhaps one of these was the article Waggoner was referring to.]--Present Truth, August 14, 1902.