DEATH — SLEEP Since God has made provision for the awakening of the dead to the resurrection, the Bible frequently speaks of death as sleep. Sleep is a symbol of death, and the word is used in that sense. A man lies down to sleep and we say he will wake again. And so we say with reference to the dead — ‘He shall awake and come again.’ As the Prophet Jeremiah beautifully states the matter (Jer 31:15-16), “Thus says…
WHY MEN DIE It is a principle of God’s law that every perfect, righteous creature is entitled to life. It follows that every unrighteous creature has no legal right to life. God enforced his judgment against Adam in a gradual manner, viz. — by forcing Adam out of Eden, where the food was perfect, and forcing him to obtain his food or sustenance from the unfinished earth, which brought forth or produced poisonous foods. As he partook of these poisonous…
THE PENALTY OF THE LAW “God said to Adam, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen 2:17) If the soul is immortal, then God did not mean what he said, because an immortal creature could not be put to death. Was this announced penalty of the law to apply to the body only, or to the soul? Some…
It is our position that, the scriptures clearly teach that the dead are unconscious between the moment of death and the moment of awakening to the resurrection. If this proposition is not affirmatively true, as stated, then we must conclude: That man, after death, continues mentally active; that is to say — possesses knowledge and continues to exercise his mental functions, therefore conscious. We must find that there can be no awakening, for the reason that a conscious person must…
This study was raised due to some erroneous assumptions being made into the whereabouts of the dead following death, with some believing they go immediately to heaven or to hell. Excerpts for this study came from a debate entitled “Where are the Dead?” Now both the heathen and agnostic alike have their opinions as to the whereabouts of the dead, but here we are more interested in the Christian viewpoint. Christians are divided upon the issue with two-thirds holding to…
Will the ancient worthies be in relationship with God during the millennial age? “Yes, the ancient worthies will be in covenant relationship with God through the New Covenant, through the Mediator of the New Covenant, throughout the millennial age; but they will not be in any personal, direct relationship with God until the end of the millennial age. All those who receive the blessings of the millennial kingdom must obtain them through the great Mediator, and through the New Covenant…
Several interesting question concerning the Ancient Worthies were asked of the Pastor and I believe might prove beneficial to all. Were the Ancient Worthies on trial for life? “The Ancient Worthies were not on trial for life or death; they were never brought to that condition of intelligent opportunity for eternal life which would make them amenable to a sentence of death. Such a condition of knowledge and opportunity did not exist in the world until our Lord came. “Grace…
Now from our previous post we understand that the nation of Israel is to be God’s specially chosen agency through whom the rest of the world may receive restituional blessings, but whom precisely will govern? Who will be the Lord’s earthly representatives, the ones speaking for the Lord? What kind of government will it be? Possibly sometime during or shortly following the “Time of Jacob’s Trouble” and AFTER the establishment of the kingdom (the spiritual phase of the kingdom) we…
How exactly will the other nations who survived Armageddon receive the same blessing as the “holy remnant” of Israel is receiving? “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘IN THOSE DAYS (when the earthly phase of the kingdom is established) ten men (representing all other nations of the earth that will gather about Israel at that time) from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man (in other words in the restitution work, fleshly Israel shall…
As you recall in Part 6 of our study it was suggested that: “Restitution blessings (the restoring of all things, Acts 3:19-21) will begin with the generation living at the time of the inauguration of the Mediator’s Kingdom. Who specifically will these consist of? This would encompass all who survived Armageddon, BEGINNING FIRST with the “holy remnant” of Israel. As we read: “At that time Michael shall stand up (assume control), the great prince who stands watch over the sons…