The state of the dead and the destiny of the wickedSmith, Uriah
Religion
The state of the dead and the destiny of the wicked
Smith, Uriah
Annihilationism; Death -- Biblical teaching; Intermediate state; Seventh-Day Adventists -- Doctrinal and controversial works
1 Thess. 4:14. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even
so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”
Yes, says the objector, bring them from Heaven; so they must now be with
him there in a conscious state. Not quite so fast. The text speaks of
those who sleep in Jesus. Do you believe those who have gone to Heaven
are asleep? We always supposed that Heaven was a place of unceasing
activity, and of uninterrupted joy. And, again, are all these persons
going to be brought from Heaven asleep! What a theological incongruity!
But, from what place are they brought, if not from Heaven? The same
place, we answer, from which God brought our Lord Jesus Christ. And what
place was that? See Heb. 13:20: “Now the God of peace, that brought
again _from the dead_ our Lord Jesus,” &c. We may then read the text in
Thessalonians, as follows: “For if we believe that Jesus died and God
brought him from the dead, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will
God bring with him from the dead.” Simply this the text affirms, and
nothing more. It is a glorious pledge of the resurrection, and so far
diametrically opposed to the conscious-state theory.
2 Tim. 4:6. “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my
departure is at hand.”
It is claimed that the departure here referred to is death, with which
we agree. We take no exceptions to the remark so often made, “Departed
this life,” &c. But as Paul does not here intimate that his departure
was to be to Heaven, or even to any conscious intermediate state, we
have no right to infer this.
2 Pet. 1:14. “Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle,
even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me.”
It is here claimed that the “I” that speaks, and the “my” that is in
possession of a tabernacle, is Peter’s soul, the man proper, and the
tabernacle, is the body which he was going to lay off. That Peter here
has reference to death, we doubt not; but it was to be as the Lord Jesus
Christ had showed him. How had he shown him it would be? See John 21:18,
19: “But when _thou_ shalt be old, _thou_ shalt stretch forth thy hands,
and another shall gird _thee_, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
This spake he, signifying by what death _he_ should glorify God.” Here
we are shown that the “thou” and the “he,” claimed on 1 Pet. 1:14, to be
Peter’s soul, the man proper, was going to die, and by death, glorify
God. And Peter himself says in the next verse, “Moreover, I will
endeavor that ye may be able after _my_ decease to have these things
always in remembrance.” Here, then, the same “my,” Peter’s soul, the man
proper, recollect, which in the verse before is in the possessive case,
and governed by tabernacle, is again in the possessive case, and
governed by decease, or _death_! Yes, Peter _himself_ was going to die.
We find no proof of a double entity here.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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