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
But with Moses the case is different; for we have in the Bible a plain
account of his death and burial; yet here he appeared on the mount,
alive, active, and conscious; for he talked with Christ. And so with an
air of triumph, perhaps sincere, Landis asks (p. 181), “What then have
our opponents to say to this argument? for they must meet it or renounce
their theory.”
Were we Sadducees, denying the resurrection, and any future life beyond
the grave, this case would lie as an insuperable barrier across our
pathway; but so long as the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is
taught in the Bible, the incident is not necessarily against those who
deny the existence of any such thing as a conscious, disembodied human
spirit, since the presence of Moses on the mount can be accounted for
otherwise than through such a medium.
This scene was either a representation, made to pass before the minds of
the disciples, or it was a reality as it appeared. The view that it was
merely a representation receives some countenance from the fact that it
is called a vision. “Tell the vision to no man,” said Christ; and, while
the word, vision, is sometimes applied to real appearances, as in Luke
24:43, it also is taken to represent things that do not yet exist, as in
John’s vision of the new heavens and new earth. Again, Luke says that
they (Moses and Elias) “appeared in glory.” Our Lord himself has not yet
attained unto the full measure of glory that is to result to him from
his work of redemption, 1 Pet. 1:11; Isa. 53:11; and it may well be
doubted likewise if any of his followers have reached their full state
of glory. If, then, the expression quoted from Luke refers to the future
perfected glory of the redeemed, we have another evidence that this was
only a representation, like John’s visions of future scenes of bliss,
and not then a reality. But, if this was only a vision, no argument can
be drawn from it for the intermediate existence of the soul; for, in
that case, Moses and Elias need not have been even immaterially present.
But let us consider it a reality. Then the presence of Moses can be
accounted for by supposing his resurrection from the dead. Against this
hypothesis our opponents have nothing to offer but their own assertions;
and they seem determined to make up in the amount of this commodity what
it lacks in conclusiveness. Thus Landis says, “Moses had died and was
buried, and as his body had never been raised from the dead, he of
course appeared as a disembodied spirit.” And Luther Lee says, “So far
as Moses is concerned, the argument is conclusive.” But against these
authorities, we bring forth another on the other side, as weighty, at
least, as both of them together. Dr. Adam Clarke says, on the same
passage, “The body of Moses was probably raised again, as a pledge of
the resurrection.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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