7. No Greater Truth than Death

There is no greater truth than that death came by sin, and that in death there is no consciousness

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23

“Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Romans 5:12

Death is the greatest fact in human experience, considered in its relation to the individual. Its occurrence is universal and inevitable: its gloomy shadow, sooner or later, darkens every house. Who has not felt its iron hand? Death brings grief to the living. It overwhelms them with a sorrow that refuses consolation. The Bible has the only true and comforting answer to this in its teaching on the resurrection which is to be covered in Topic 10 of this series.

Current Beliefs

Human beings’ response to the finality of death is varied in the attempt to lessen the sense of loss and finality. The majority of those bearing the name ‘Christian’ have concluded that man has an ‘immortal soul’ or some element of immortality within him which survives death, going on to some place of reward or punishment afterwards. (The term ‘immortal soul’ is not to be found in the Bible but more on this in Topic 9 of this series.)

We challenge this view in stating that if the dead have “gone before”, if they are “praising God among the ransomed above,” they are alive, and not dead. Therefore, they have merely changed their place of abode from this temporal one to an eternal one – they have simply shifted out of the body from earth to heaven, or to hell, as the case may be. The word “death” in its original meaning, has, therefore, no application to man. It no longer means the cessation of living existence, but simply means a change of habitation. “Can a man die? No. impossible! He may go out of the body, but he CANNOT DIE.”

There is something inconsistent with the popular theory in that if our friends are really gone to “glory” we ought to feel as thankful as we do when they are promoted to honour “here below”; but we do not; and why? The evidence will justify the answer. Because the strength of natural instinct can never be overcome by theological fiction. Humans will never practically believe the occurrence of death to be the commencement of life, when they see it to be the extinction of all they ever knew or felt of life. This false theory concerning death must be tested against the Bible in order to find the real truth about this vital topic.

Bible Teaching

The Bible teaches that in the death state, a man, instead of having “gone to another world,” is simply a body deprived of life, and as utterly unconscious as if he had never existed. Death comes to him and undoes what birth did for him. The one gave him existence: the other takes it away.

“Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return.” Genesis 3:19

Corruption will destroy his dead body, and he will pass away like a dream. Hence, the necessity for “resurrection”

It should be remembered that the very first lie recorded in the Bible is that of the serpent in the garden of Eden. Contrary to God’s plain statement that man would “surely die” if he sinned (Gen 2:17), the serpent asserted, “Ye shall not surely die” (Gen 3:4). This attempt to negate the finality and totality of death has become a characteristic of all false religions and it is evident that in this area especially, one false doctrine has lead to another, and another, and another.

Whilst the actions of those responsible to God will be remembered by Him (Malachi 3:16, Rev 20:12, Heb 6:10), there is nothing in the Bible to suggest that we have any consciousness during the death state. It is hard to argue with the following clear statements concerning this subject:

• “Man’s breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Psalm 146:4
• “The dead know not anything…their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished” Ecclesiastes 9:5,6
• There is no “wisdom in the grave” (Eccl 9:10) – no thinking and therefore no consciousness and total lack of existence which we had before we were born.
• Job says that on death, he would be “as though he had not been” (Job 10;18-19); he saw death as the oblivion, unconsciousness and total lack of existence which we had before we were born.
• Man dies as the animals do (Eccl 3:18), if man consciously survives death somewhere, so must they, yet both Scripture and science are silent about this.
• God “remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth…it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more” Psalm 103:14-16
• “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Psalm 146:3-4
• “Why died I not from the womb?…For now should I have lain still and been quiet. I should have slept: then had I been at rest with kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves; there the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest.” Job 3:11-17; 14:10-12.
• “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry..O spare me (David) that I may receive strength before I go hence and be no more.” Psalm 39:12-13
• “For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.” Isaiah 38:18
• “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption, but he whom God raised again (Christ) saw no corruption.” Acts 13:36, also 2:29-34

That death is truly unconsciousness, even for the righteous, is demonstrated by the repeated pleas of God’s servants to allow their lives to be lengthened, because they knew that after death they would be unable to praise and glorify God, seeing that death was a state of unconsciousness. Read the following examples of Hezekiah and David:

• “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 the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.” Isaiah 38:17-19
• “For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?” Psalm 6:4-5
• “What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?” Psalm 30:9
• “O spare me that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.” Psalm 39:13
• “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.” Psalm 115:17

Death a state of sleep or rest

Death is repeatedly referred to as a sleep or rest, both for the righteous and the wicked (Job 3:11, 13, 17; Daniel 12:13).

• “He (Jesus) saith unto them, 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 he had spoken of taking rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly. Lazarus is dead.” John 11:11-14
• “And when he (Stephen) had said this, he fell asleep.” Acts 7:60
• “I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them (deceased Christians) which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13

There are no exceptions to these cases in Bible narrative. All Bible allusion to the subject of death is as unlike modern sentiment as it is possible to conceive. The Bible speaks of death as the ending of life, and never as the commencement of another state. Not once does it tell us of a dead man having gone to heaven. Not once, except by an allowable poetical figure (Isaiah 14:4) or for purposes of parable (Luke 16:19-31), are the dead represented as conscious. They are always pictured in language that accords with experience – always spoken of as in the land of darkness, and silence, and unconsciousness. Solomon says:

“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might: for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” Ecclesiastes 9:10

This array of Bible testimony must be conclusive with those with whom Bible authority carries weight. If there is anything decisive in the verdict of Scripture, the state of the dead ought no longer to be a debatable question. The Bible settles it against all philosophical speculation. It teaches that death is a total eclipse of being – a complete obliteration of our conscious selves from God’s universe. This will do no violence to the feelings of those who are governed by wisdom of the type inculcated in the Bible. They will bow in the presence of God’s appointment, whatever it is. It accords with our experience and our instincts. And still better, it frees all Bible doctrine from obscurity.

The Resurrection

The Bible establishes the doctrine of the resurrection on the firm foundation of necessity; for in this view, a future life is only attainable by resurrection. More on this in Topic 10 but here’s a sneak preview!

• “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.” Daniel 12:2
• “Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?” 1 Corinthians 15:12
• “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.” 1 Corinthians 15:21

Immortal Soul

The specific topic of “Immortality of the soul” is to be considered in Topic 9 of this series.

Further reading

Common Concerns re: no greater truth than death