PROPOSITION 8.
Man, Who Is Mortal, Dies, and Is Dead After He Has Died
Job 30:13 For I know that thou bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
Job 7:1 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
Psa. 89:48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul (himself) from the hand of the grave?
Eccl. 3:19, 20 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them. as the one dieth so dieth the other; * * *· all go to one place; all are of the dust and all turn to dust again.
Isa. 40:6 All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth; because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass.
9. In death man is unconscious
PROPOSITION 9.
In Death Man Is Unconscious
Eccl 9:10 Whatsoever 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.
Isa. 6:5 In death there is no remembrance of thee, in the grave who shall give thee thanks?
Eccl. 9:5 For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not any thing.
Psa. 146:3, 4 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.
Isa. 38.18, 19 The grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
Now, you see, the Bible having taught us that, instead of death being a continuation of life somewhere off the earth, it is the cessation of life; and instead of men going to happiness or misery when they die, they go to the grave, we are helped out of the absurdity of believing that good and bad are rewarded and punished before they are judged. It is clear now that, instead of the faithful dead having gone to heaven to continue to live, these all died in the faith, not having received the promises (Heb. 11:13).
Now, dear reader, do not, like many, get angry and denounce this as "materialism", and say, "If a man in death is no better than the beasts--is as dead as the beasts are--there can be no future life;" for that is just what some in Corinth said; and Paul said they were fools for doing so.
Paul argued with the Corinthians that the dead were dead, and proved that if there was no resurrection even those who had died in Christ had perished (I Cor. 15:18), gone for ever--an impossibility if they had gone to a heaven of happiness.
Now if there is to be a resurrection of the dead and a "gathering", of those who are alive at Christ’s return to judge the quick and the dead, then our difficulty is gone, the wisdom of God shines brightly and the Bible is a book of consistency and beautiful harmony.
10. Resurrection the means of future life for the dead
PROPOSITION 10.
Resurrection Is the Means of a Future Life for the Dead
Job 14:14 If a man die shall he live again?
Job 19:25, 26 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.
Psa. 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave.
Isa. 26:19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall their arise. Awake and sing) ye that dwell in dust.
Dan. 12:2 And many of them that deep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Phil. 3:10, 11 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, * * * if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
I Cor. 15:16, 18 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; * * * then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ ARE PERISHED.
While it is clear from the testimonies given that man is mortal and absolutely destitute of immortality, and that in death he is dead and therefore unconscious, our hope of immortality must be through the resurrection, and immortality is therefore a matter of hope for the righteous only, and not an inherent possession of saint and sinner alike. Immortality is Gods nature. He is "The King eternal, immortal, invisible" (I Tim. 1:17), "who only hath immortality" (I Tim. 6:16). It is therefore a holy nature befitting righteous beings only; for God would surely not impart His own holy nature to wicked and depraved
11. Immortality the gift of God to the righteous only
PROPOSITION 11.
Immortality Is the Gift of God to the Righteous Only
II Pet. 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the DIVINE NATURE, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
I John 3:2 Beloved now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Phil. 3:20, 21 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned ONTO HIS GLORIOUS BODY.
Luke 20:35, 36 But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage; neither can they die any more; for they are equal unto the angels and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
Rom. 2:6, 7 Who (God) will render to every man according to his deeds; to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life.
I Cor. 15:51–54 Behold I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
Now the word "immortality" is found only six times in the Bible, and never once is used as a prefix to the word soul in the oft-repeated form we hear from men–"immortal soul". First, it is said that God is immortal (I Tim, 1:17). Second, that God only hath immortality (I Tim. 6:16). Third, that Christ abolished death (in Himself), and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (II Tim. 1:10). Fourth, that we must by well doing seek for immortality (Rom. 2:7). Fifth, that immortality will be put on at the resurrection. And, sixth, that when it is put on death will be swallowed up in victory (I Cor. 15:53–57).
12. Life as now possessed is not