The Great Hope (Condensed)

The End of Suffering

They who have been “accounted worthy” of the resurrection of life are “blessed and holy.” “On such the second death hath no power.” Luke 20:35; Revelation 20:6. But those who have not secured pardon through repentance and faith must receive “the wages of sin,” punishment “according to their works,” ending in the “second death.” GrH_c 17.6

Since it is impossible for God to save the sinner in his sins, He deprives him of the existence which his transgressions have forfeited and of which he has proved himself unworthy. “Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.” “They shall be as though they had not been.” Psalm 37:10; Obadiah 16. They sink into hopeless, eternal oblivion. GrH_c 17.7

Thus will be made an end of sin. “Thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name forever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end.” Psalm 9:5, 6. John, in the Revelation, hears a universal anthem of praise undisturbed by one note of discord. No lost souls blaspheme God as they writhe in never-ending torment. No wretched beings in hell will mingle their shrieks with the songs of the saved. GrH_c 18.1

Upon the error of natural immortality rests the doctrine of consciousness in death. Like eternal torment, it is opposed to Scripture, to reason, and to our feelings of humanity. GrH_c 18.2

According to popular belief, the redeemed in heaven are acquainted with all that takes place on earth. But how could it be happiness to the dead to know the troubles of the living, to see them enduring the sorrows, disappointments, and anguish of life? And how revolting the belief that as soon as the breath leaves the body the soul of the impenitent is consigned to the flames of hell! GrH_c 18.3

What say the Scriptures? Man is not conscious in death: “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” “The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything.... Their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.” “The grave 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.” “In death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?” Psalm 146:4; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6; Isaiah 38:18, 19; Psalm 6:5. GrH_c 18.4

Peter on the day of Pentecost declared that David “is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.” “For David is not ascended into the heavens.” Acts 2:29, 34. The fact that David remains in the grave until the resurrection proves that the righteous do not go to heaven at death. GrH_c 18.5