A friend having shown me a number of your paper, I am very much taken up with it, and like the way in which you explain the Scriptures. My friend and I have long talks on the state of the dead, and we have got to your way of thinking.
I may say that there has been some trouble between my friend and her parents over this subject, for they believe we are judged as soon as we die. Of course, the church teaches that belief, and in the Confession of Faith they explain it, by referring to Ecclesiastes 11:7, and Luke 23:43.
My friend's father is an elder in the Congregational Church, and he says we are judged as soon as we die, and points out to us Matthew 17:3, "And behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with Him," also in Luke 16, about the rich man and Lazarus.
Now I am taking the liberty of asking you, if you will be so kind as to explain those verses, as I am not able to do so.
You have laid out a good deal of work for one small "corner," for it obviously takes much more space to give a clear exposition of a text than merely to refer to it, and say that it proves a certain thing; and here I have several texts to deal with. Moreover, the consideration of them must be to a certain extent negative, which is never so satisfactory as to deal with a subject from the foundation. However, we shall see what can be done in brief.
Both Scripture and our own observation teach us that the dead are unconscious. Nobody ever saw a dead man make a single voluntary movement, and nobody ever heard one utter a sound, no matter how earnestly he was addressed. The Bible also says that: "The dead know not anything," (Ecclesiastes 9:5) and that: "There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave." (Ecclesiastes 9:10)
It is plain, therefore, that, in the face of this evidence, whoever claims that the dead are actually alive and conscious, is bound in reason to offer positive proof of the fact. But that would be a thankless task; for if one could produce such evidence, it would prove the Bible untrue, which is impossible.
Let us first deal with the account of the transfiguration, as given in Matthew 17. Jesus was in the mount with His disciples, "And there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with Him." (Matthew 17:3)
This, you say, is offered you as proof that men are judged as soon as they die; but it is no proof at all. For in the first place, Elijah never died, but was taken to heaven without dying. (See 2 Kings 2) It is strange, but I have noticed that most people seem never to have observed this fact.
Now as to Moses in the mount with Jesus. We know that Moses died, and that the Lord buried him. (Deuteronomy 34) What shall we then conclude? why, knowing that the Bible is the Word of God, we will show our confidence in it by believing it; and since it says that Moses died; that the dead know not anything; and yet that Moses was seen fifteen hundred years afterwards talking with the Lord, we shall draw the obvious conclusion that he had been raised from the dead.
That this is the case, is corroborated by two portions of Scripture. One is Jude 9, which says that Michael the Archangel, the one whose voice will call the dead to life at the last day, (Jude 9; See 1 Thessalonians 4:16; John 5:26-29) when contending with the devil, He disputed about the body of Moses.
Now the devil is the one "that had the power of death," (Hebrews 2:14) and Christ is the one who has broken his power, and who has the keys of death and the grave. (Revelation 1:18) The only thing which they could dispute about over the body of Moses, would be the right of Christ to take him from the grave, the devil's prison; for if Jesus did not intend to raise him, He would have no occasion of dispute with the devil; but since they did dispute, we may be sure that Christ gained His point. Thus we have one further evidence that Moses was raised from the dead.
Again, the Apostle Peter refers to the transfiguration scene as an illustration of "the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:16)
Jesus also, just six days before the transfiguration, said, "Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom." (Matthew 16:28)
Now when Christ comes "with power and great glory," (Matthew 24:30) "the dead in Christ shall rise first," (1 Thessalonians 4:16) and then the living saints will be changed to immortality, and caught up with the others, thus ever to be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) Therefore, in order for the transfiguration to be a perfect representation of the coming of the Lord, there must have been present a representative of those who are raised from the dead, and also of those who are taken to be with Christ without dying. This last we have in the person of Elijah, and is it plain that Moses must have represented the other class. So much for that.
The conclusion of a series of figures indicating death, and if says, "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." (Ecclesiastes 12:7)
That is a simple description of the unmaking of man, just as Genesis 2:7 is of the making of man; but it affords not the remotest intimation that man is judged at death, or is conscious in death. Indeed, it teaches exactly the opposite, for it shows that in death, man's condition is the same as it was before he was created.
Luke 23:43 may be disposed of as easily as the case of Moses and Elijah. Jesus was on the cross, on which He died. He did not go to heaven that day, but, on the contrary, went into the grave. On the third day afterward, angels came from heaven, and rolled away the shone, and "He rose from the dead." (Acts 10:41)
Mark well, He "rose," and appeared unto His disciples. He did not come down from heaven and appear to them. Moreover He said to Mary, who would have embraced Him, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father;" (John 20:17) yet later the same day He allowed the disciples to touch Him, showing that immediately after appearing to Mary, on the morning of His resurrection, Jesus ascended to heaven, to the Father, and returned.
Thus we see that Jesus did not go to Paradise three days before; for Paradise is in the highest heaven. Therefore the thief could not possibly have been with Him in Paradise that day. The thief did not ask or expect to be in Paradise with Jesus on the day of the crucifixion, nor did Jesus say that he would be.
What the thief asked was that Jesus should remember him when He came in His kingdom, and we know that He will; for He assured him even that day,
• although He was nailed to a cross, and mocked and derided;
• although all men had forsaken Him;
• although most thought He was a deceiver, and even His own disciples thought that He was deceived;
• although all appearances seemed to be against Him, yet even that day, in that darkest hour, Jesus declared with all confidence that the thief should be with Him in Paradise. One knows not which to wonder at most-the faith of Jesus, or that of the thief.
As to the comma before the word "today," instead of after it, it need only be said that the punctuation of the Bible is not a matter of inspiration. There were no marks of punctuation when the Bible was written. When punctuation marks were invented, and men punctuated the Bible, they naturally made it read according to their understanding of the text. All that is necessary is to think of the text without any punctuation, and then read it in the light of its surroundings and the rest of Scripture. 1 Thessalonians 4:1318 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 show when and how those who believe in Christ, and die in faith in Him, will be with Him.
It might also be mentioned in this connection, that Jesus has not yet come in His kingdom. He has gone to heaven to receive it, and when it is given to Him He will return, sitting on the throne of His glory. (Matthew 21:31)
We have only the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16) remaining, out of your list of texts; and inasmuch as that is a parable, we need not tarry long over it. It is not that we should treat parables slightingly; but unless a parable is explained by the One who gave it, as with most of those in Matthew 22, it is plain that no doctrine can be based on it; and this one has no explanation.
However, the context plainly indicates that it was spoken for the special benefit of the Pharisees who were covetous, and who thought that riches were a sign of God's favor, and poverty of His displeasure; and by it Jesus teaches that a man's wealth or social position in this world does not indicate his position in the world to come.
If it be claimed that the parable must nevertheless teach what is true about the state of death, note that Abraham is represented as telling the rich man what took place in his lifetime. Note, also, that Lazarus is said to have been carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. That shows that it is but a figure, unless one would have us believe that all good men are actually reposing in Abraham's bosom!
Judges 9:7-15 is another instance of things personified in a parable. In the one in Luke we have dead men represented as speaking, just as in Judges the trees are holding a conversation.
And now I must leave you with the Bible, to meditate upon the great truth that life comes only through our Lord Jesus Christ, even as righteousness does, and that justification by faith is inseparably bound up with life only for the righteous.--Present Truth, February 12, 1903.