It seems to me that it is a far more comforting thought that our dear ones have gone to be with the Lord, than that they are sleeping, knowing nothing. Is not this a gloomy doctrine? I should be glad of any light that you can give me.
There is nothing gloomy about the Gospel. That is the "good news" of the: "power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes." (Romans 1:16)
It is all brightness and glory. (2 Corinthians 4:4) "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5)
Therefore nothing but light can emanate from Him. "His word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path." (Psalm 119:105)
When any doctrine set forth in that word is said to be gloomy, it simply shows that there are some persons whose spiritual eyesight does not enable them to distinguish light from darkness. They do not stand where they can see God in the light that proceeds from Him.
The Bible declares that the dead "sleep;" that they are unconscious, and "know not anything;" (Ecclesiastes 9:5) that their thoughts have perished. (Psalm 146:3-4) Theology, on the other hand, declares that they are conscious and exist in heaven as disembodied spirits, having greater power and knowledge than before death. The majority of people choose to believe the latter doctrine, as being a bright and cheerful one, and reject the former as something too gloomy and dark to be entertained by any mind but one that repudiates Christianity. But an examination of the two doctrines in the light of Scripture shows that such a view is entirely superficial.
The teaching of theology upon this point is expressed in these words of the poet Longfellow,
There is no death; what seems so in transition,
This life of mortal breath
Is but the suburb of the life Elysian,
Whose portal we call death;
and again in the lines of the familiar hymn, "Death is the gate to endless joy."
But Christ himself said that He was the gate to endless joy, and the portals through which all men must enter into the life beyond. The record is found in the 10th chapter of John. "Then said Jesus unto them [the Pharisees], Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. ... I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." (John 10:7,9)
To those who love the Lord, who see in Him the One "altogether lovely," (Song of Solomon 5:16) the perfection of glory and beauty and majesty, the thought that He is the portal to the life beyond, is far brighter than the thought that that portal is death. Death is the "King of terrors;" (Job 18:14) but Jesus Christ is the Lord of life, the Prince of Peace, the eternal fountain of love and joy. He is the most glorious portal to everlasting life that could possibly be provided or imagined. And no one who loves Him would be glad to believe He had not told the truth.
Theology declares that men go to their reward at death. But while this idea would place some amidst the joys of Heaven, it would consign the great majority who have died to a very different place; for we read that "wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: But strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)
And certainly, between the thought that some of our dead relatives and friends are in torment, and the thought that they are resting, quiet and unconscious, in their graves, there can be no hesitation in choosing. The popular belief that "there is no death," but only a transition from one state of life to another, contains much that appeals to the natural desires and imaginations of mankind; but it is far surpassed in grandeur by the Bible doctrine of "the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has abolished death, and has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel." (2 Timothy 1:10)
This is no figure of speech, but a statement of actual fact. Our Saviour has abolished death, by passing through the grave himself, and taking away with Him the keys of death. (Revelation 1:18) So that to all those who believe in Him, the close of this earthly life is but the beginning of "a sleep," during which they "rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." (Revelation 14:13)
Nor does the Bible use a figure of speech when it speaks of the death of the saints as a sleep. Sleep and death are two very different things. In the one case there is life, and the other there is no life. In sleep there is a quick awakening to a renewal of the activities of life, but in death there is no awakening. So it is with those who "sleep in Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 4:14)
They have life, even that life which God has prepared for those that shall live and dwell with Him, and which has been brought to light in the Gospel. (2 Timothy 1:10) Those who believe on His name have not to wait until death before they can enter the portal of eternal life, as would be necessary were death the gate to that life, but enter in the moment they have faith in Jesus as Redeemer. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection, and the life." (John 11:25)
Christ dwells in the heart of the believer by faith, (Ephesians 3:17) and wherever Christ is, there is the resurrection and the fountain of life. "He that believes on the Son, has everlasting life." (John 3:33) "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on Him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death until life." (John 5:25)
Such a one has already entered the portal to eternal life and happiness, and no power can draw him back, for there is nothing that is able to separate the soul from Him. (Romans 7:38-39)
In this doctrine there is no gloom, but the brightness of hope and comfort which sustains the soul in the hour of separation from those whom it loves. It is the doctrine of Jesus Christ as the Life-giver, without which power He would not be the Saviour of sinners. It exalts Him, and in this all those who love Him will rejoice. It is no misfortune to any person to "sleep in Jesus," any more than to sleep at night during his natural life. On the contrary, we read that: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints," (Psalm 116:15) and that, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." (Revelation 14:13)
While theology may set forth our dead friends as teachers and comforters to us while we remain here, the word of God presents the far more glorious doctrine that our comfort is none other than "the God of all comfort;" (2 Corinthians 1:3) that Jesus is himself our Comforter, (John 14:18) and that we have "another Comforter," which is the Spirit, (John 14:16-17) and that the Spirit is our Teacher, who is able to guide us into all truth. (John 16:13) Every true Christian must infinitely prefer this comfort and guidance to all others.
Thus the Bible doctrine of eternal life through Christ far outshines the man-made doctrine of life through the portals of the tomb. That, and that alone, is the gloomy doctrine which interposes the tomb between us and the life which we need, which Jesus Christ, through the Gospel, offers freely now to all, and bestows upon all them that believe on Him.--Present Truth, May 28, 1903.