That at the appearing of Christ prior to the establishment of the Kingdom, the responsible (namely, those who know the revealed will of God, and have been called upon to submit to its dead and living—obedient and disobedient—will be summoned before his judgment seat “to he Judged according to their works”; and “receive in body according to what they have done, whether it be good or had.” Article XXI
Let us now turn our attention to those who shall he summoned to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. They are described as “those who know the resealed will of God, and have been called upon to submit to it.” Knowledge of the purpose of God, therefore, is the basis upon which they become resurrectionally responsible. This truth has been set forth many times and in many different ways in the Scriptures. The following attestations are only a sampling of what is revealed in the Holy Oracles.
“Sleep of Death”
Sleep is often used as a metaphor for death; appropriately so, since a sound sleep is a. time of unconsciousness and inactivity. When one awakens from a deep sleep, he has little or no consciousness of the elasping of time.
A good example of the use of this metaphor is found in the words of Jesus to His apostles when He had learned of the illness of Lazarus: “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.” On another occasion, when Christ was about to raise the daughter of Jairus from the dead, he said to the people, “Give place: for the maid is not dead, hut sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But hen the people were put forth, he went in. and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.”
The same figure is used by Paul in 1 Cor. 15:18 and 1 Thes. 4:13-15 to describe those who are dead in Christ. King David knew that someday he would “sleep the Veep of death” (Psa. 13:3). for the Lord “giveth his beloved sleep” (Psa. 127:2)
“Many of them that Sleep . . . Shall Awake”
Since sleep is a figure for death, it is quite natural that the restoring of life to the dead should be metaphorically spoken of as an awakening. The expression has already been illustrated in some of the examples just considered; i.e., the restoration of life to Lazarus, and to the daughter of Jairus.
King David expressed his confidence that some day God would redeem his soul from the power of the grave when he cried, “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness” (Psa. 17:15). That David expected a literal resurrection from the dead is quite evident from his voice of confidence as expressed in Psa. 71:20: “Thou which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.” The prophet, Isaiah, uses the same expression when he foretells the glorious day of promise when Jesus will show that He has lost nothing of which the Father has given Him: “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing. ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead” (Isa. 26:19).
No treatise on this subject would be complete without the uplifting and inspiring words of Daniel, who, towards the end of his ministry, and just prior to the assurance that he was to rest and stand in his lot at the end of days, announces, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that he wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever” (Dan. 12:2-3).
“They shall not Rise”
Though it is a very attractive thought to suppose that death is like a sleep because an awakening will follow, as outlined above, this is not always the case. For there are many who have experienced the “sleep of death” who will never be disturbed from their slumber. These are destined to forever remain in the dust to which they have returned.
The princes of Babylon who ruled over Israel during the captivity period are spoken of in the following texts as having no hope of a resurrection. “And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and an hissing, without an inhabitant. They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions’ whelps. In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake. saith the LORD” (Jer. 51:37-39): “A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldean’s . . And will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep. and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts” (VV54, 57).
Isaiah alludes to their destiny in much the same way, using many different phrases to give emphasis to his message: “0 LORD our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. They are dead. they shall not live: they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish” (26:13-14). These are to be contrasted with the dead spoken of in verse 19, who will indeed “awake and sing.”
So complete has been their destruction at the hand of the LORD that the prophet speaks of them as being “extinct”: “Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together. the) shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as you” (43:16-17).
‘Man that. . Understandeth not’
From the foregoing, it must be obvious that there is a divine principle in operation which demands the resurrection of some, while, at the same time prohibiting that of others. The answer is not to be found in the theory that only the righteous will be resurrected, inasmuch as the Scriptures teach that the wicked will be called forth from the gave to be judged and punished. We must rather look into the reason why certain of the dead will forever remain so, and discern there the principle governing resurrectional responsibility.
The solution to this problem is to found clearly expressed in the 49th Psalm, where David, with crystal-like clarity declares why many who have died will never be subjected to a resurrection. He first speak, of those who trust in themselves and in their accomplishments, and who feel within themselves that life shall go on forever: They that trust in their ,realth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth forever:) That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption” (Psa. 49:6-9). Though they might succeed in capturing the acclaim of the world, and heap upon themselves honor such as the world gives, the time will come when they will succumb to the inevitable and be like the beasts that perish: “Their inward though is that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names. Never theless. man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them: and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling” ( VV 11-14) . In this metaphor, employed by David, death is en a pseudo existence, whose continuance is dependent on those (who have died ) remaining dead! When the idea of resurrection is introduced, the figure is destroyed and the message stultified. In contrast to these, David gives expression to his own hope in V15, -But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me.” The contrast between David’s prospect and the ate of the others is due to the degree of understanding each possesses. The unawareness of the latter concerning God and His purpose is expressed in their belief that they shall live forever. They are preoccupied with mundane things. and trust only in themselves and in their achievements. They are, in fact ignorant of the purpose of God, as the Psalmist proclaims in verses 18 to 20; -Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men shall praise thee when thou doest well to thyself. He shall go to the generation of his fathers: they never light Man that is in honour, and understandeth not is like the beast that perish”. Here, then, is revealed the divine principle governing resurrectional responsibility. Since these of Psalm 49 were like beasts insofar as their understanding of the purpose of God was concerned. their destiny was identical to the beasts. “Like sheep they are laid in the grave” is affirmable of all living things when they are without spiritual enlightenment.
The principle is distinctly expounded by Solomon in Proy’. 21 :16; ‘The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.” Strong defines the word, “wandereth,” Heb. TAAH, “to reel or stray, seduce”; also “to be out of the way.” Solomon, thus depicts a man who wanders or strays in an area across which wisdom does not traverse. The same word is found in Gen. 21:14 to describe the wandering of Hagar in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. As long as man, who is naturally devoid of any comprehension of God and His purpose, remains in that state, he is destined upon decease, to “remain in the congregation of the dead.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One