The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 547
thoughts perish.” Psalm 146:4. Solomon bears the same testimony:
“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.” “There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the
grave, whither thou goest.” Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10.
When, in answer to his prayer, Hezekiah’s life was prolonged fifteen
years, the grateful king rendered to God a tribute of praise for His great
mercy. In this song he tells the reason why he thus rejoices: “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.” Isaiah 38:18, 19. Popular theology represents the
righteous dead as in heaven, entered into bliss and praising God with an
immortal tongue; but Hezekiah could see no such glorious prospect in
death. With his words agrees the testimony of the psalmist: “In death
there is no remembrance of Thee: in the grave who shall give Thee
thanks?” “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into
silence.” Psalm 6:5; 115:17.
Peter on the Day of Pentecost declared that the patriarch 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 t he resurrection proves that the
righteous do not go to heaven at death. It is only through the resurrection,
and by virtue of the fact that Christ has risen, that David can at last sit at
the right hand of God.
And said Paul: “If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and
if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then
they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” 1 Corinthians
15:16-18. If for four thousand years the righteous had gone directly to
heaven at death, how could Paul have said that if there is no resurrection,
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