p. 131 | SOUL-SLEEPING by D. G. M.

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, February 26, 1880

FromThe Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 55, No. 9

SOUL-SLEEPING

By D. G. M.

The term “soul-sleeper” is used to-day only as a term of reproach; and those who are so called would do well to carefully examine the Scriptures, and see if they teach the doctrine.

First, we believe there are few thinking people who are not soul-sleepers.

Answer candidly and thoughtfully the following questions: What part of a man sleeps when he retires at night, and sleeps an unconscious, unbroken sleep? “The mind,” says one. True, it cannot be the body; for every member of the body is at work at its proper functions. The heart is forcing the blood to the extremities; the veins carry the blood in the proper amount; the pulse pulsates; the arteries beat; the lungs inhale and exhale the air; the stomach digests its food; and all members of the body are busily engaged. But when man at night sleeps and dreams, what part sleeps? We say the soul. Are we wrong? If not, then soul-sleepers have reason and common sense on their side. But give a “thus saith the Lord” for your doctrine. To the law and to the testimony. Let us search the Scriptures only for the purpose of learning the truth; and may the Spirit guide us in our investigation.

Our first position is, the soul is in the grave. In Ps. 49:15 we read, “God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave.” I ask, Will God redeem anything else from the power of the grave except the soul? A queer place this for “an immaterial, thinking substance” (Dwight’s Theology), an immortal soul. When will God redeem “my soul” from the power of the grave? Read the whole verse: “For he shall receive me.” Now if we can find when we are to be received, we can decide this point. “I will come again, and receive you unto myself.” John 14:3. Then we see that the soul lies in the grave until the coming of Christ the second time. Again, in Ps. 89:48 we find this question: “What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death?” There have been only two exceptions in the history of the race, from the time of Adam to the present. “Death [is] passed upon all men.” Rom. 5:12. “In Adam all die.” 1 Cor. 15:22. Then we can all agree in our answer to the question asked by the psalmist, and say, without a dissenting voice, “There is no man that liveth, and shall not see death.” But how about the next question, Ps. 89:48: “Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?” Would the psalmist speak correctly if death (spoken of in the preceding question) did not deliver the soul to the grave? Strange doctrine, this; for theology of modern times says that the soul is before the throne or wailing in torment. Again, in Ps. 30:3 we have this declaration in prayer: “O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave; thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.” This can only refer to the resurrection; for then the righteous shall be kept alive, “live forever,” and not go down to the pit.

Again, in Isa. 38:17 we read, “Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption.” Here was good king Hezekiah, who had been very sick, and was now sound and well. He was a perfect man; and now God in love to his soul delivers it from the grave. Bible writers were surely very ignorant of modern theology; for they seem to weep bitterly, and not to understand that “death is the gate to endless joys,” or “the voice that Jesus sends to call us to his arms.” In Ps. 16:10 we read, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.” If modern theology is true, either David’s or some other person’s soul went to hell, and was not left there. Can any one suppose that at the general Judgment some immortal soul, who to-day gnashes its teeth, will be taken out of hell, and not left there? But what says the Bible? Peter explains that it is the soul of Christ which was not left in hell (hades, the grave). Acts 2:25–33. The soul of Christ was offered for sin, Isa. 53:10, and was not left in the grave.

Our second position is, the soul is said to die. “They [Israel] smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them.” Josh. 11:11. This does not look as though “death is the kindly frost that cracks the shell, and leaves the kernel room to germinate.” These souls were utterly destroyed. Was the body only destroyed, and the immortal soul only released from its prison-house? “Utterly destroyed.” No room for mistake here. God declares that the souls were smitten by the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed. The people in those days surely had no idea of a “never-dying soul to save,” for they utterly destroyed them all. “My soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.” Job 7:15. How would you go to work to kill an immaterial soul? How could an immortal soul choose death, when that which is immortal cannot alter, since it has not the principle of alteration? “As I live” [here is an oath], saith the Lord God, . . . the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Eze. 18:34. Will it? “None can keep alive his own soul.” Ps. 22:29. Then it surely will die. How strangely the Bible talks! But, thank God, Christ has once for all conquered death, and against the church “the gates of hell [the grave] shall not prevail.”

Thirdly, that which goes to the grave is said to be asleep. “And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers.” Deut. 31:16. This is a good witness; for it is he of whom it is written, “It is impossible for God to lie.” We have seen that the soul goes to the grave, and now death is referred to as a sleep. This begins to look like soul-sleeping in the Bible. The prophet Nathan, speaking “the word of the Lord” to David, says, “And when thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers,” etc. Are David’s fathers in Heaven? If so, they are asleep, and David is sleeping with them. Let us see. In Acts 2:29 Peter says that David “is both dead and buried,” and in verse 34, he “is not ascended into the heavens.” Where is David, then? Dead and buried. And Acts 13:36: “David . . . fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption.” Then sleeping with his fathers means death and corruption, “the sleep of death.” Ps. 13:3. No mistake here. “Some are fallen asleep.” 1 Cor. 15:6. And we learn that they also “which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished,” “if Christ be not raised.” If they were in Heaven or paradise, they would not have perished in any sense; but all depends on the resurrection

of Christ, and so the apostle shouts the victor’s song: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.” Mark the language—the first-fruits. Christ’s soul was not left in the grave, and the harvest will follow in due time. But “we shall not all sleep,” or die. There will be some alive at the coming of Christ, and these “shall be changed.” There will then be no more sleeping, for “death is swallowed up in victory.”

How long must men sleep in the grave? “As for me, . . . I shall be satisfied, when I awake with [in] thy likeness.” Ps. 17:15. The awakening time is the resurrection at the advent of Christ.

And now we have seen from our investigation that the Bible teaches soul-sleeping. “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep; . . . Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.” John 11:11–14. Let us rejoice when we are counted worthy to bear a name given in reproach because we believe a Bible doctrine.—D. G. M., in the Rainbow.