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Signs of the Times, Vol. 3, No. 12.

THE BREAD OF LIFE

Signs of the Times

Mar 15, 1877

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Mar 15, 1877

THE BREAD OF LIFE.

By Ellen G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
This interview of Jesus with his disciples, in which they had received much precious instruction, was interrupted by those who had been searching for him. As the people began to flock about him bringing their sick and afflicted, he repaired to the synagogue. While he was teaching there, many others of those who had left him on the other side of the lake came to the synagogue, and were surprised to see Jesus and his disciples there before them, knowing that there was no boat by which he could pass to the other side. They began to inquire how and when he had crossed the sea. They were astonished when the disciples related to them the events of the preceding night. The fury of the storm and the many hours of fruitless rowing against the fury of adverse winds, the appearance of Christ walking upon the water, the fears thus aroused, his re-assuring words, the adventure of Peter and its result, with the sudden stilling of the tempest and landing of the boat, were all faithfully recounted to the wondering crowd, amid frequent interruptions and exclamations of amazement.
But their attention was now directed to the lessons of Jesus, so full of solemn interest. Many were deeply affected; but the minds of some were entirely engrossed with curiosity regarding the wonderful relation they had heard. As soon as the discourse was ended, they gathered around the Saviour, questioning him, hoping to receive from his own lips a fuller account of his mighty work of the previous night. But Jesus did not gratify their idle curiosity. He was also beset by the Pharisees, to show them a sign from Heaven that he was the Son of God. They asked an evidence of his miraculous power, such as had been given on the other side of the sea. They importuned him to repeat his wonderful works before them.
Jesus declared to them that they did not seek him from any worthy motive; that they did not desire to learn how to please God in their daily lives; but they asked him to work miracles, sometimes in a spirit of unbelief, and sometimes because they hoped to be benefited by temporal favors which he might thus bestow upon them. He bade them not to labor for the meat which perishes, but to seek for spiritual food, that wisdom which endures unto everlasting life. This the Son of God alone could give, for he has the seal of the Father. With solemn earnestness he sought to impress upon them that temporal favors are of little consequence compared with the heavenly grace offered by the Son of God.
“Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. They said therefore unto him, What sign showest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” It was Christ himself who conducted the Hebrews in their travels through the wilderness. It was he who had daily fed them manna from heaven; yet they blindly referred him to this miracle, wrought for their fathers, in a spirit of caviling unbelief. Jesus declared to them that as God had given them manna to preserve their lives, so he had sent to them this gift of his Son, that through him they might eat of the bread of life and become immortal.
“Then said Jesus unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from Heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from Heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.” Jesus used bread as a figure to illustrate the vitalizing power of his Spirit. The one sustains physical life, the other satisfies the heart, and strengthens the moral powers. Said he, “I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believed not.” Those who experience the spiritual union with Christ never hunger for higher enjoyment. All uncertainty is gone, the weary soul finds continual refreshment in the Saviour. The feverish thirst for wealth and honor is gone. He is to them a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Jesus assured the Jews that they had seen him and his works yet believed not. He did not refer to their seeing him with their natural eyes; but he meant that their understanding had been convinced, while their proud and stubborn hearts refused to acknowledge him as the Messiah. The Saviour had been doing in their midst works that no man had ever done. The living evidences of his divine power had been before them day after day; yet their hard and caviling hearts asked for still another sign of his divinity before they would believe. Had this been given them they would still have remained as unbelieving as before. If they were not already convinced of his Messiahship by what they had seen and heard, it was useless to show them more marvelous works. The dignity of God’s holy Son was not to be compromised to gratify a questioning crowd. Said Jesus, “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” Unbelief will ever find cause to doubt and reason away the most positive proof. The Jews stood constantly upon guard, lest they should be forced by overwhelming evidence to yield their prejudice and unbelief. Though their understanding was convinced, they refused to surrender their pride and self-righteousness, admitting that they, who had boasted of their wisdom over all the rest of the world, themselves needed a teacher.
The Jews had assembled to celebrate the passover. In eating the flesh of the lamb, they were to remember that it represented the Lamb of God, and their protection when the first-born of their enemies were slain in Egypt. The blood that the Hebrews were commanded to have upon their door-posts, and which was a sign of safety to them, also represented the blood of Christ, which was to be shed for the sins of the world. The Saviour has power to finally raise from the dead all those, who by faith, eat of his flesh and drink of his blood. This spiritual food gives to the believers a well-founded hope of the resurrection to immortal life in the kingdom of God.
These precious truths Jesus declared to the incredulous multitude, saying, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from Heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
He spoke of his future sacrifice in these words: “And the bread which I will give you, is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” He offered his salvation to all who would accept him, clothed in humanity, as their Redeemer, having access to the Father, and being invested by him with divine authority.
But the Jews were displeased that Jesus should claim to be the bread of life come down from Heaven. “And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it, then, that he saith, I came down from Heaven?” They so clung to their bigotry and pride that it now seemed impossible for them to believe evidence that was plain as the noonday sun. Their jealousy was aroused that this man of humble birth was able to work wonders that they could not explain away, and teach truths that could not be contradicted. So they endeavored to awaken the prejudice and unbelief of the people by referring scornfully to the lowly origin of Jesus, and by reason of his mysterious birth, insinuating that he was of doubtful parentage. They contemptuously alluded to his life as a Galilean laborer, and to his family as being poor and lowly. They declared that the lofty claims of this uneducated carpenter should be at once repudiated.
But Jesus heard their murmurings and reproved them. He again, in more forcible language, declared his connection with the Father, and the necessity for the heart to be enlightened by the Spirit of God before it can feel the need of a Saviour. “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” He here refers to the prophecy of Isaiah: “And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children.”
This was not a new doctrine which Jesus taught, it was the fulfillment of prophecy, which as expounders of the word, the priests and elders should have thoroughly understood. In declaring that none come to him unless the Father draws them, the Saviour wished them to understand that God would never appear in person to teach them concerning the way of life. Humanity could not endure the vision of his glory for a moment; only through the Son could they come to him. In seeing and hearing the Son, they saw and heard the Father. He is the Mediator between God and his disobedient children. The Jews claimed God as their teacher, but Christ declared such profession vain, for, said he, “Every man, therefore, that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.”

The Forgotten Prayer.

By The Rainbow

Place on his head the royal crown, His right let every nation own, Let kings before him bend the knee, And worship in humility! Until he comes to claim his throne, Creation cannot cease its groan; And men will suffer, mourn, and die, Whilst God's Anointed waits on high, This is the word, most clearly given, By holy men inspired of Heaven, And all the facts of life combine To prove that word a truth divine. The church, whilst in her virgin youth, And ere tradition darkened truth, Talked much about her absent Lord, And dwelt with joy upon his word. She knew his presence would be “home,” And prayed, “Lord Jesus, quickly come!”
Who prays thus now? Alas, how few! The prayer is old. A doctrine new, Which neither Paul nor John proclaimed, Is welcomed by “the church,” so named. She is the great Instructress, she Will bring the world to bend the knee, To God in Christ, the first and last! She is the great Iconoclast! The idols of the nations fall, Rejected, at her queenly call! And swords transformed to ploughshares tell That she has done her work right well! She needs no king with royal sway, Would rather he remain away; And so the church, of modern fold, Forgets the prayer she prayed of old! —The Rainbow.

Pray Without Ceasing.

A NUMBER of ministers were assembled for the discussion of difficult questions, and among others, it was asked how the command, Pray without ceasing, could be complied with. Various suppositions were stated, and at length one of their number was appointed to write upon the subject, and read it at the next meeting, which being overheard by a plain, sensible girl, she exclaimed, “What, a whole month to tell the meaning of that text; it is one of the easiest and best texts in the whole Bible.”
“Well, well,” said an old minister, “Mary, what can you say about it? Can you pray all the time?” “Oh! yes, sir.” “What, when you have so many things to do?” “Why, sir, the more I have to do, the more I can pray.” “Indeed, Mary, do let us know how it is; for most people think otherwise.” “Well, sir,” said the girl, “when I first open my eyes in the morning I pray, ‘Lord, open the eyes of my understanding, to behold wondrous things out of thy law.’ And when I am washing, I pray that I may be washed and sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when I am dressing, I pray that I may be clothed with humility. And as I begin my work, I pray that I may have strength equal to my day. When I begin to kindle the fire, I pray that the love of God may burn in my heart; and as I sweep the house, I pray that my heart may be cleansed from iniquity. And while I am preparing and partaking of breakfast, I desire to be fed with hidden manna and sincere milk of the word. And when I am busy with the children, I look up to God as my Father, and pray for the spirit of adoption, and that I may be his child. And so all the day, everything I do furnishes me with something for prayer.”

How Many Would be Left?

A WRITER in the Church Union asks the following pungent questions:—
When the following classes are taken out of our churches, how many would be left?
All who will not pay their just debts?
All who are hypocritical?
All who are deceitful, and talk about others behind their backs?
All who go in debt without the prospect of paying the same?
All who are proud and scornful, holding themselves above their fellow-men and shunning those less fortunate than themselves?
All who worship money more than they do their Creator?
All who speculate off of the ignorance of others?
All who are tattlers?
All who sell intoxicating liquors to make money?
All who think more of a wicked rich man than they do of a pious poor one?
All who oppress the poor?
All who are vain and self-conceited?
All who make long prayers for the sake of being seen and heard of men?
When these, and a good many others that could be mentioned, are taken out, the “church” will be left almost without members. The religion of Jesus does not have any of the foregoing effects. It makes the true convert cheerful, hopeful, and charitable, disposed to visit the widow and orphan, and to keep unspotted from the world. It does not make one proud and scornful, but on the contrary, makes one desirous to do good, to be meek and humble, and to be kind to all, as opportunity may offer. Oh, that we had less pretension in our churches, and more genuine Christianity!

CONCEIT.—

There is one thing worse than ignorance, and that is conceit. Of all intractable fools, an over-wise man is the worst. You may cause idiots to philosophize; you may coax donkeys to forgo thistle; but don't think of ever driving common sense into the head of a conceited person.

A Poor Man’s Purse

A poor man's purse may be empty, but he has as much gold in the sunset, and as much silver in the moon, as anybody.

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS.

(Concluded.)
Hades, the New Testament term for the sheol of the Old Testament, is used eleven times, and in ten of these it is rendered hell: Matt. 11:23; 16:18; Luke 10:15; 16:23; Acts 2:27, 31; Rev. 1:18; 6:8; 20:13, 14. It is once rendered grave: 1 Cor. 15:55.
12. Moses and the prophets were indeed divinely inspired on every point concerning which they wrote; but on the point respecting which we seek light, they have the special endorsement of our Lord. We may therefore confide in their teaching concerning hades, or sheol, assured that the great facts revealed through them by the Spirit of God, will be found in divine harmony with the teachings of Christ and the apostles.
13. The texts quoted above, relating to hades, or sheol, reveal to us many important facts. We learn that sheol is the common receptacle of the dead, whether they are righteous or wicked. Thus Jacob expressed his faith in what should be his state in death when he said, “I will go down into sheol unto my son mourning.” Gen. 37:35; 42:38; 44:29, 31. Korah and his company went down into sheol. Num. 16:30, 33. Joab went down into sheol. 1 Kings 2:6, 9. Job was to be hid in sheol, and wait there till the resurrection. Job 14:13; 17:13. All the wicked go into sheol. Ps. 9:17; 31:17; 49:14. All mankind go there. Ps. 89:48; Eccl. 9:10.
14. Sheol, or hades, receives the whole man at death. Jacob expected to go down with his gray hairs to sheol. Gen. 42:38. Korah, Dathan and Abiram, went into sheol bodily. Num. 16:30, 33. The soul of the Saviour left sheol at his resurrection. Ps. 16:10; Acts 2:27, 31. The psalmist, being restored from dangerous sickness, testified that his soul was saved from going into sheol. Thus he says, “O Lord, my God, I cried unto thee and thou hast healed me. O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave [Hebrew, sheol]; thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.” Ps. 30:2, 3; see also 86:13; Prov. 23:14. He also shows that all men must die, and that no man can deliver his soul from sheol. Ps. 89:48.
15. The sorrows of hell, three times mentioned by the psalmist, are, as shown by the connection, the pangs which precede or lead to death. 2 Sam. 22:5–7; Ps. 18:4–6; 116:1–9. They are, in each case, experienced by the righteous. The cruelty of sheol is the remorseless power with which it swallows up all mankind. Cant. 8:6; Ps. 89:48.
16. Those who go down to sheol must remain there till their resurrection. At the coming of Christ all the righteous are delivered from sheol. All the living wicked are then “turned into sheol,” and for one thousand years sheol holds all wicked men in its dread embrace. Then death and sheol, or hades, deliver up the wicked dead, and the judgment is executed upon them in the lake of fire. Compare Job 7:9, 10; 14:12–14; 17:13; 19:25–27; Rev. 20:4–6; 1 Cor. 15:51–55; Ps. 9:17; Rev. 20:11–15.
17. Sheol, the invisible place or state of the dead, is IN THE EARTH BENEATH. Though it is rendered grave thirty-one times, it is not the word usually so rendered in the Old Testament; for it embraces the interior of the earth as the region of the dead and the place of every grave. Eze. 32:18–32. All the passages which speak of the location of sheol, or hades, represent it as beneath. It is always in the interior of the earth; sometimes it is in the nether parts of the earth. Num. 16:30, 33; Ps. 141:7; Isa. 5:14; 14:9–20; Eze. 31:15–18; 32:18–32. Referring to the fire now burning, in the heart of the earth, which shall at the last day swallow up the earth in its fiery gulf, Moses represents the Almighty as saying, “For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn into the lowest sheol, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.” Deut. 32:22. Jonah went down into sheol when, in the belly of the whale, he descended into the depths of the mighty waters, where none but dead men had ever been. Jonah 2:2. Korah and his company went into sheol alive; that is, the earth swallowed them up while yet alive. Num. 16:18.
18. The righteous do not praise God in sheol. Thus David testifies: “In death there is no remembrance of thee; in sheol who shall give thee thanks?” Ps. 6:5. And Hezekiah, when delivered from death in answer to prayer, expresses the same great truth: “I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of sheol; I am deprived of the residue of my years. * Behold, for peace I had great bitterness; but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For sheol cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day; the father to the children shall make known thy truth.” Isa. 38:10–19; Ps. 115:17; 146:1–4. 19. The wicked in sheol are silent in death. Thus David prays: “Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in sheol.” Ps. 31:17. See also 1 Sam. 2:9; Ps. 115:17, last clause.
20. Sheol is a place of silence, secrecy, sleep, rest, darkness, corruption and worms. “So man lieth down, and riseth not; till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. O that thou wouldest hide me in sheol, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee; thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.” Job 14:12–15. “If I wait, sheol is mine house; I have made my bed in the darkness. I have said to corruption, thou art my father; to the worm, thou art my mother, and my sister. And where is now my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it? They shall go down to the bars of sheol, when our rest together is in the dust.” Job 17:13–16; 4:11–19; Ps. 88:10–12.
21. There is no knowledge in sheol. Thus writes the wise man, the Spirit of inspiration bearing testimony through him: “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in sheol, whither thou goest.” Eccl. 9:10.
22. Such are the great facts concerning sheol, or hades, as revealed to us in the books of “Moses and the prophets.” Yet we have the following cases in these same writings in which the dead in sheol, in the nether parts of the earth, converse together, and are comforted or taunted by each other, or in which they weep bitterly, refusing comfort. The case of the king of Babylon is a noted instance of this. When he is overthrown, and goes down to sheol, the dead (for sheol has no others in its dark abode) are stirred up to meet him. The kings that had been conquered and destroyed by the king of Babylon in the days of his prosperity now rise up from their thrones in that dark abode, and mock him with feigned obeisance as in life they had rendered real homage. Now they taunt him, saying, “Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us?” Those that see him shall narrowly look upon him, saying, “Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms?” Isa. 14:9–20.
23. Pharaoh and his army, slaughtered in battle with the king of Babylon, are set forth in the same manner. The slain upon the field of battle being buried indiscriminately, and friend and foe cast down together into pits, into the “nether parts of the earth,” into sheol, “the strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of sheol.” And this sheol, in the nether parts of the earth, full of the dead, is contrasted with “the land of the living.” These slaughtered soldiers went down to sheol with their weapons of war, and their swords they “laid under their heads.” Pharaoh, lying among them, and seeing the multitude of his enemies that were slain, is “comforted” at the sight. See this remarkable prophecy, Eze. 32:17–32; 31:15–18.
24. Perhaps the case of Rachel is even more remarkable than these. Long ages after her decease and entrance into sheol a dreadful slaughter of her posterity takes place. Upon this, Rachel breaks forth into lamentation and bitter weeping, and refuses to be comforted, because her children are not. Then the Lord says to her, “Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord.” Jer. 31:16; Matt. 2:17, 18; Gen. 35:18–20.
25. That Rachel did literally weep and shed bitter tears at the murder of her children nearly two thousand years after her entrance into sheol, no one will assert. Nor will it be maintained that the slaughtered Egyptians and Chaldeans lying in sheol with their swords under their heads were able to converse together in the nether parts of the earth; and that one was literally “comforted,” or the other literally “ashamed.” Equally difficult is it to believe that the kings who had been overthrown by the king of Babylon were literally seated on thrones in sheol, deep in the earth, and that when he was cast down to sheol they arose from their thrones and mocked him, declaring that he was now become weak as they. Please compare the following texts on the king of Babylon: Jer. 51:39, 57; Dan. 5:1–4, 30; Isa. 14:4–30.
26. Taking our leave of “Moses and the prophets,” whose testimony on this subject has the direct endorsement of our Lord, let us now return to the case of Dives and Lazarus. Luke 16:19–31. Lazarus lived in the deepest poverty; too helpless to walk, or even to stand, he was laid at the rich man’s gate; he had no other food than the crumbs, perhaps grudgingly bestowed, from the table of the rich man; and no other nurses than the dogs which licked his sores. In process of time, death comes to his relief; but his burial is not mentioned, though that of the rich man who died soon after, is distinctly named. It is likely that the dead beggar, covered with sores, was disposed of with as little trouble as possible; in the sight of man, he had the burial of a dog; but this poor man, forsaken of all earthly friends, and apparently unnoticed of Heaven, had, unseen to mortal eye, such a burial as the wealth of the whole world could not command. The angels of God took part as his bearers to that quiet resting place from which, by-and-by, when hades gives up the righteous dead, at the sound of the last trumpet, they shall take him up through the air, to meet his triumphant Redeemer. Till that time, we leave him asleep in Jesus, resting in hope, with Abraham the father of the faithful, and all the ancient worthies who have not yet received the promises. Heb. 11:8–16, 39, 40.
27. The rich man lived in luxury, faring sumptuously every day. To the eye of all beholders, his lot was to be envied, and that of the beggar to be despised. But he dies also, and of him it is recorded that he was buried. All that wealth could purchase, all that pride could exhibit of earthly pomp and grandeur, were, no doubt, displayed at his funeral. But there were no angels of God to participate in it. He had lived for himself, neglecting the great preparation for the future. He goes down to hades a lost man, there to wait until the resurrection to damnation. As the Douay Bible reads, “He was buried in hell,” i. e., in hades, or sheol. There he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then, as though calling to mind the littleness of the favors he had bestowed on Lazarus, he asks a favor at the hands of the despised beggar—the smallest indeed that he could ask—that Lazarus should dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue. This being denied, he asks that Lazarus may be sent to warn his brethren. And this also was refused, because they had Moses and the prophets whose testimony was sufficient.
28. This scene transpires in hades, or sheol, which, as we have seen, is in the nether parts of the earth. The place is one of darkness and silence, where there is neither wisdom nor knowledge. It is the place of the dead, and those who are therein are called “the congregation of the dead.” Prov. 21:16. In the utter darkness of hades, how can men see each other? “In the land of forgetfulness,” how can they remember the events of their past lives? In a place where there is no knowledge, how could Dives know Abraham, whom he had never seen? Where there is no work, nor device, how could he devise a plan to warn his wicked brethren? And in hades, where there is no wisdom, how could Abraham give such wise answers? In hades, where the wicked are silent in death, how could Dives converse? As the righteous cannot praise God in hades, and do not even remember his name, how does it happen that they can so well understand and converse on everything else?
29. We answer these questions precisely as we do those which arise from the testimony of “Moses and the prophets,” to which we are in this parable referred. When Rachel, long dead, is represented as shedding tears and lamenting the murder of her children; when the mighty dead converse with Pharaoh in hades, and he is “comforted” with what he sees in the nether parts of the earth; and when the king of Babylon is mocked by dead kings who rise up from their thrones in hades and taunt him with his overthrow; when we read all this of that place where all is darkness, silence, secrecy, and death—a place within the earth itself, and when we consider that this parable relates to this very place, and cites us to these very testimonies for information on the subject, it becomes evident that one common answer pertains to all these questions.
30. The dead are personified, and made to speak and act in reference to the facts of their respective cases as though they were alive. Why should not the Spirit of God do this when it has seen fit to personify every kind of inanimate thing? Thus the blood of Abel cries to God. Gen. 4. And thus in Job, the depth and the sea are made to speak, and even destruction and death are represented as saying that they have heard the fame of wisdom with their ears. Job 28:14–22. The stone of the sanctuary heard all the words of Israel. Josh. 24. The trees held an election and made speeches. Judges 9. The thistle proposes a matrimonial alliance with the cedar. 2 Kings 14; 2 Chron. 25. All the trees sing out at the presence of God. 1 Chron. 16. The stone cries out of the wall, and the beam answers it. Hab. 2. The hire of the laborers, kept back by fraud, cries to God. James 5. Dead Abel yet speaketh. Heb. 11. The souls under the altar, slain for their testimony, and who do not live till the first resurrection, cry to God for vengeance. Rev. 6:9, 10. And, finally, death and hades are both personified—the one riding a pale horse, the other following, and both cutting down mankind. And this personification is still further carried out, when both, as though living enemies, are at last cast into the fire of gehenna. Rev. 6:8; 20:14; 1 Cor. 15; Hosea 13:14.
31. The apostle Paul has given us the key to all this, when he says of God that he “quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” Rom. 4:17. And our Lord, in that remarkable discussion with the Sadducees, in which he proved the resurrection of the dead by the fact that God spoke of dead Abraham as though he were alive, gives us this same key, thus: “For all live unto him.” Luke 20:38. Abraham, though dead, is spoken of as alive, because in the purpose of God he is to live again.
32. By this parable our Lord illustrates several great truths: 1. The folly and vanity of riches. 2. The worth of true piety, though attended by the deepest poverty. 3. The importance of that great lesson inculcated in the previous parable, to make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness. Luke 16:9; 1 Tim. 6:17–19. The rich man had neglected this, wasting all on himself, though wretched, suffering Lazarus lay at his gate. The folly of this criminal neglect is shown in that part of this parable in which the rich man in his distress, as if remembering the past, is represented as asking of Lazarus that water that could be brought on the tip of his finger, and even this is denied. 4. The certainty of future recompense, and the great contrast that it will make with the present state of things. 5. The sufficiency of the Scriptures to instruct and warn mankind. 6. But to make this text teach that the righteous dead are now recompensed, would be to array a parable against our Lord’s plain statement that the recompense of the righteous is at the resurrection of the just. Luke 14:14. 7. Or, to make the passage teach that the wicked dead are now in the lake of fire, is to make one of the Saviour’s parables conflict in its teaching with his own grand description of the final judgment, in which the wicked enter the everlasting fire at the dreadful mandate, “Depart from me, ye cursed.” Matt. 25:41; Rev. 20:11–15.
33. Lazarus died a beggar. But he rests in hope, an heir to the inheritance promised Abraham. Eternal life and endless felicity are his, and by personification it is said that he is “comforted.” Dives lives in the greatest splendor, and dies an impenitent man. The lake of fire is to be his portion. By personification, he is represented as in it already. This is in accordance with the teaching of Paul, when he says of God that he calleth things that be not as though they were. That is, God speaks of things that exist only in his purpose just as though they had a present existence; because they shall surely exist; even as he called Abraham the father of many nations, when as yet he had no son. Gen. 17; Rom. 4:16, 17. This is the more clearly seen when we consider that to Lazarus, in the silence of hades, there will not be a moment between his death, at the gate of the rich man, and his resurrection to eternal life, and not a moment to the rich man between the closing of his eyes in death, and his opening them in the resurrection to damnation.
34. That we have done right in hearing the testimony of “Moses and the prophets” on this subject, we have the authority of the parable itself to show. And we have this further evidence of the truth of this exposition that, without doing violence to a single text, we have a divine harmony on the subject of the dead in hades, in all that is said by Moses and the prophets and by Christ and the apostles. That those who conversed together are not disembodied spirits, but personified dead men, is further proved by the following facts: 1. Not one word is said of the spirit of any person named. 2. This conversation takes place in hades, which the sacred writers affirm to be in the depths of the earth. 3. The persons named are men that had lived, the one clothed in purple, the other covered with sores, and both were then dead. But these dead men have bodily organs, as eyes, fingers, tongues, etc. But the truth on this point is settled by the fact that Lazarus could only return to warn the rich man’s brethren by being raised from the dead. “Neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead”—Gr., ean tis ek nekron anaste. It was not whether the spirit of Lazarus should descend from the third Heaven, but whether Lazarus himself should be raised from among the dead ones. This shows that the conversation did not relate to the coming back of disembodied spirits; and in fact that they were not disembodied spirits that there conversed. The parable of Dives and Lazarus does not therefore teach the present punishment of the wicked dead. And as there is nothing else on which to rest the doctrine, it must be given up as having no foundation in the Bible. The testimony shows that the wicked dead are asleep in sheol, where they await the resurrection to damnation. The following texts show that the resurrection and judgment of the wicked take place before they are punished; a doctrine in the highest degree reasonable, and sustained by many plain testimonies. 1. “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of Judgment to be punished.” 2 Pet. 2:9. The day of Judgment must arrive before the retribution of the ungodly. 2. “The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Pet. 3:7. The perdition of ungodly men comes at the Judgment. 3. “The wicked is RESERVED to the day of destruction; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.” Job 21:30. The next scripture will explain this. 4. “Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” John 5:28, 29.
5. The wicked are first raised and judged, then afterward cast into the lake of fire. Rev. 20:11–15. 6. Vengeance is taken upon all the ungodly together when the Lord comes with his saints. Jude 14, 15. 7. The wicked are cast into the furnace of fire at the end, and not before. Matt. 13:30, 39–43, 49, 50. 8. The burning day is the time when the wicked meet their fate. Mal. 4; Ps. 21:9. 9. The wrath of God waits till the day of wrath. Rom. 2:5–9. 10. Tribulation to the ungodly comes in connection with the advent of the Saviour. 2 Thess. 1. 11. The wicked dead are not punished till after the seventh trumpet. Rev. 11:15, 18. 12. The Judge says, “Depart from me, ye cursed,” and then, for the first time, the ungodly enter the furnace of fire. Matt. 25:41.
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