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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Out of the World or Out of the Evil?, #6
I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength: Free among the dead, like the slain which lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. (Psalms 88:4,5)
Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. (Psalms 88:10)
There certainly is no emphasis in the above passages on the desirability of dying and going to Heaven. But we do find in the Old Testament some passages that speak of the resurrection from the dead and of fruitfulness and dominion to come at the end of the age. It is not life in the spirit realm that is the hope, but life once more on the earth.
The main emphasis of the Prophets, as later was true of John the Baptist, Jesus, and the early apostles, is on the Day of the Lord and the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth; never on dying and going to Heaven.
For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: (Job 19:25,26)
The above passage is not the hope of life in Heaven.
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)
But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. (Daniel 12:13)
Daniel was invited to rest until his life is renewed at the end of the age. This is pointing toward the resurrection from the dead, not toward Heaven, as being Daniel's goal.
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; (Genesis 22:17)
The above is one of the main promises of the Old Testament. Yet, it hardly could be construed as having anything to do with making Heaven our home.
The pilgrimage of the patriarchs, as they sought the fulfillment of the promises of God, was not to make their home in Heaven, it was to escape the evil of the present world system and to find rest in Divine glory, that is, in Christ. The goal was to "possess the gates of the enemy."
Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. (Isaiah 26:19)
Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. (Ezekiel 37:12)
These passages are typical of the "promises" the patriarchs were pursuing. Never is there so much as a suggestion that Heaven is the long-awaited home of the righteous.
To be continued.