anead VLE of the greatest questions
A ¥ puzzling the minds of men and
gd women today 1s, “What happens
to us immediately after death?”
Where are the dead? Can the dead talk,
and 1f so can they come back and converse
with the living?” There are a great many
people who believe that we go to our re-
ward at death. If good, say they, we go to
heaven: if wicked, we are consigned to
hell. This kind of religion has made infidels
of many. So we will examine this question
in the light of the Bible in order to find
the truth.
The first question for which we shall en-
deavor to find the answer 1x, “What is
death?” Webster tells us that death 1x
“cessation of life.” Turn with me while
we read Romans 6:23, *‘The wages of sin
is death; but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.” In
Romans 3:23 we learn that “all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of
God.” Hence, we must conclude that every
person born nto this world 1s subject to
death. We are wholly mortal. (See Job
4:17: 1 Timothy 6: 16: Romans 2:7.)
James 1:15 tells us that “sin, when it 12
finished, bringeth forth death.” At this
point we remember the word of the angel
Gabriel. Speaking to Joseph, Gabriel said,
“Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He
shall save His people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:21. Associating with this text
the one found in Luke 19:10 and the
familiar text in John 3: 16, we learn that it
was God’s plan not only to save men from
sin but from its penalty also.
The plan of salvation, as explained to
Adam and Eve, included a resurrection
from death, otherwise death would be the
end of our existence. As a pledge of this
resurrection promise, Christ offered to die
in our stead. That this was really under-
stood we read in Job 19: 25-27, “For 1
know that my Redeemer liveth, and that
He shall stand at the latter day upon the
earth: and though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see
God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine
eyes shall behold, and not another; though
my reins be consumed within me.”
The second question or problem which
we shall consider 1s, “What 1s man’s con-
dition in death?” Psalm 6: 5 answers: “In
death there 1s no remembrance of Thee: in
the grave who shall give Thee thanks?”
We will read with this text another one
found in Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, “The living
know that they shall die: but the dead
know not anything, also their love,
and their hatred, and their envy, 1s now
perished: neither have thev any more a
portion forever in anything that is done
under the sun.” Possibly we should read
one other verse right here, the first part of
which 1s very familiar. It is this, ““ What-
soever thy hand findeth to do, do it with
thy might; for there is no work, nor device,
nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave,
whither thou goest.” Ecclesiastes 9: 10.
It 1s evident from the above Scriptures
DECEMBER, 1942
X¥ [s the spirit
which hovers over
this grief-stricken
husband the dis-
embodied soul of
his dead wife, or
1s it an intelli-
gency of the spirit
world which 1s
decetving ham?
Let Mr. Mitchell
answer the ques-
tion tn his en-
lightening article,
“Can the Dead
Tall:?”’
FREI, THOS EON, Woy
THE DEAD TALK?
By J. G.
that man 1s wholly mortal, which means
that he 1s subject to death. If man is
mortal, he cannot be immortal. We read
in 1 Timothy 6: 16 that God only has im-
mortality. Immortality 1s a gift of God to
man, to be given to the overcomers at the
second coming of Christ. Being subject to
death, and death being the cessation of
life, we ponder those words, “The dead
know not anything.” “In death there is no
remembrance of Thee.” And in another
text we read, “ Put not your trust in princes,
nor in the son of man, in whom there is no
help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth
to his earth; in that very day his thoughts
perish.” Psalm 146: 3, 4. Again, in Psalm
115: 17 we read, “The dead praise not the
Lord, neither any that go down into
silence.” All these scriptures testify that in
death there is no knowledge of what is
going on. Death brings cessation of life,
actions, thought, and knowledge. So we
conclude that the dead do not, and are not
able to, talk with the living. They are
truly dead.
The next problem that we shall study is,
“Just what is death?’ When Jesus was
walking with His disciples beyond Jordan
one day, a messenger brought Him word
that His friend Lazarus was sick. Jesus
“sald this sickness was for the glory of God.
After waiting two days, Jesus with His dis-
ciples started to Bethany. Christ spoke of
the death of Lazarus as a sleep. Said He,
Mitchell
“Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that
I may awake him out of sleep.” John 11:11.
When the disciples chided Him for His
thoughtlessness in awaking a sick man,
Jesus said plainly, “Lazarus is dead.”
John 11:14. From these verses we con-
clude that Jesus likened death to sleep.
Read again in Acts 7:60, “And he
kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice,
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And
when he had said this, he fell asleep.” It
was the Apostle Luke who wrote the Book
of Acts. (Luke was not one of the original
twelve apostles, but was made an apostle
later.) Luke, with Christ, looked upon this
death that we all die as sleep. We read
again in Acts 13:36, “For David, after he
had served his own generation by the will of
God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his
fathers and saw corruption.” This was a
portion of Paul's sermon at Antioch. Paul
thus tells us that he believes also that this
death, common to all, is likened to sleep.
Let us turn to the Old Testament. In
1 Kings 2:2, 10 we read, “I go the way of
all the earth. So David slept with his
fathers, and was buried in the city of
Dawid.”
The prophet Nathan was sent to David
with this message: © And when thy days be
fulfilled, and thou shall sleep with thy
fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee.”
2 Samuel 7:12. When Moses committed
(Continued on page 13)
SEVEN
Page