The doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul is very widespread throughout the world. The Red Indian looked forward to his happy hunting grounds. The ancient Viking expected to spend eternity in the Halls of Valhalla. The Grecian mythology was peopled with gods and goddesses who were amplifications of the Greeks’ ideals on earth, and the fields of Elysium were to them the ideal which they anticipated enjoying when mortal life was over. The Roman had his Jupiter and Mars and was never loth to add another one or two to the already numerous pantheon of gods and goddesses.
The Mohammedan considered eternity to consist of sensuous existence with dark-eyed houris, and so we could go on. The Egyptians believed in their Amenti and they reasoned that as the sun passed across the heavens and then appeared to continue its journey through the “underworld”, so the soul of man acted similarly. At death it entered “Amenti” and continued its journey, ultimately completing the circuit by coming out again just like the sun rising in the morning. They embalmed the body so that it was ready and waiting for this arising, so that the soul and body could be reunited. Some believed in the transmigration of souls, in some of the phases inhabiting beasts or birds. Others believed in successive incarnations, the quality and status of the next one being dependent upon the life lived in the present one. The fervent believer in this doctrine endeavoured to lead such a good life now, that the next incarnation would be higher up the scale, presumably in the hope that absorption into deity would be the final stage.
The Buddhist alone looked forward to his Nirvana—a peaceful extinction, when “Life’s fitful fever” (as Shakespeare calls it) is over.
All these fancies arose because of the serpent’s lie. Life is something we cannot understand, we can only experience it. In wrought in it are its mysteries and its capabilities. The more primitive the people—the more use they make of natural forces. Consider the use they make of telepathy. They can transmit messages with the speed of the telegraph, an ability they largely lose when they become civilized. Because of this and other similar abilities, they recognize that man consists of more than mere flesh and blood; there is a mental, an emotional, a religious side which has to, and does, find expression. But because it is mental and not material it is capable of being misunderstood and it is assumed that these immaterial forces do not cease at death, but rather death gives them fuller opportunities for expression.
Such thinking is not restricted to the uncivilised. The majority of the civilised believe it as well. The majority of sects believe in the immortality of the soul and a continuance of being after death, in some form or another. Perhaps the Spiritualists place more emphasis upon this than other sects, and they are confident they get manifestations from those whom they describe as “having passed over”. Despite all their claims, no satisfactory messages are ever received, and what messages they claim to get are often puerile in the extreme. Maskelyne and Devant, the famous conjurers, claimed they could get by trickery anything the Spiritualists could get by their methods.
How refreshing to leave all this and come back to the pure, unadulterated word of God. God forbade very emphatically any dealings with witches, wizards, necromancers, those with familiar spirits, etc., because while they often produced results they ascribed these results to contact with the dead, rather than recognising them as forces inherent in human nature. Because of this erroneous ascription God forbade their exercise, even to the point of putting to death those who practiced them.
It was a lie when the serpent told Eve “You shall not surely die”, a lie which has become more widespread than perhaps any other. God said plainly “You shall die”. Death was the punishment for sin, and it would have been a strange punishment had it consisted of a continuance of life under wider, better and fuller conditions than before! Death, as a punishment for sin, was and is a complete cessation of existence, temporary for some, permanent for others, dependent upon their relationship to the Creator.
We read numerous passages like “In death there is no remembrance of God”, “… his breath goeth forth, in that very day his thoughts perish …”, “… the dead know not anything …”, “… no knowledge in the grave whither thou goest …”, “… whosoever believeth should not perish …”, “whoso drinketh, it shall be a well … springing up unto life eternal …” (What happens if we do not drink of this well?), “… except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, ye have no life in you”, “… I am come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly …”. The sad fact emerges clearly: we are mortal, dying creatures, in a melancholy procession which terminates in the cemetery, or very often today in the crematorium.
This can be the end.
In the mercy of God, however, there is no reason why it should be the end. God has arranged that, if we wish, our relationship to Him can become such that death is no longer the end, but is rather a sleep which will be terminated, and if our conduct has given pleasure to the God of Heaven, then mortality will be changed to immortality, corruption to incorruption, and death will be swallowed up in victory. We are here and alive now. There is, therefore, if the God of Heaven desires it, no reason why He should not bring us here again and, if it be His will, for ever.
Before Agrippa Paul reasoned “Why should it be thought a thing incredible, that God should raise the dead?” No reason whatsoever. God can, and will do it. “Many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Note: Only “many that sleep”—not all that sleep.) This does not conflict at all with what Jesus said, “… all that are in the graves shall come forth …”. The word “graves” is from the same Greek word from which we get our word mnemonic, which is a verbal device for remembering something. The “graves” alluded to are “remembered places”, not forgotten ones, and being remembered God will call forth those who sleep therein.
It is impossible to have life without a body. Hence if we are to enjoy life again when death has taken place, then it is necessary for the body to be raised from the dead. Paul says emphatically “If there be no resurrection of the dead, then those who are fallen asleep in Christ are perished” and the word “perished” here used means absolute annihilation. Jesus said those who believe in him should not perish —the same word. Those who do not believe in Jesus are already perishing.
This Bible doctrine of the nature of man is satisfying and it is logical. There is nothing in it that outrages reason. It is something we can understand. No one can understand an immaterial soul winging its flight to some place for a disembodied existence, but we can understand that when we die we sink into absolute oblivion, and if the Lord wills he can, at some future time, by His power, raise us again from the dead.
Those who believe in the immortality of the soul are always embarrassed by the clear Scripture teaching of the resurrection of the body. Our bodies at times can be a nuisance to us—full of aches and pains. If then we can enjoy existence without a body, why must we have a resurrection of the body? It seems a needless complication! But if we cannot have life without a body, if life is only a function of the body, then all becomes clear.
Not only so, but the time when the resurrection takes place is also logical. It will be when the Lord returns to the earth. “… the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead at his appearing and kingdom. ..”, “.. . the Lord shall descend … and the dead in Christ shall rise first …”, “… in Christ shall all be made alive …”, “… those that are Christ’s at his coming”. That will be the greatest “takeover” of all time, when the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and he shall reign for ever. He will ask of God, and God will give him “the nations for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession” and those who are Christ’s at his coming will be equal to the angels, to die no more.
Is Pentecost Happening Today? (Part 7) – Tongues Shall Cease