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immortality to light,” II Tim. 1:10. But while all this is true, it cannot be denied that the Old
Testament implies the continued conscious existence of man, either in the sense of a bare
immortality or survival of the soul, or of a blessed future life, in several ways. This is implied:
a. In its doctrine of God and man. The very root of Israel’s hope of immortality was found in its
belief in God as its Creator and Redeemer, its covenant God, who would never fail them. He
was to them the living, the eternal, the faithful God, in whose fellowship they found joy, life,
peace, and perfect satisfaction. Would they have panted after Him as they did, have entrusted
themselves to Him completely in life and death, and have sung of Him as their portion forever,
if they felt that all He offered them was but for a brief span of time? How could they derive real
comfort from the promised redemption of God, if they regarded death as the end of their
existence? Moreover, the Old Testament represents man as created in the image of God,
created for life and not for mortality. In distinction from the brute, he possesses a life that
transcends time and already contains within itself a pledge of immortality. He is made for
communion with God, is but little lower than the angels, and God has set eternity in his heart,
Eccl. 3:11.
b. In its doctrine of sheol. We are taught in the Old Testament that the dead descend into sheol.
The discussion of this doctrine belongs to the following chapter. But whatever may be the
proper interpretation of the Old Testament sheol, and whatever may be said of the condition of
those who have descended into it, this is certainly represented as a state of more or less
conscious existence, though not one of bliss. Man enters upon the state of perfect bliss only by
a deliverance from sheol. In this deliverance we reach the real core of the Old Testament hope
of a blessed immortality. This is clearly taught in several passages, such as Ps. 16:10; 49:14,15.
c. In its frequent warnings against consulting the dead or “familiar spirits,” that is, persons who
were able to summon the spirits of the dead and to convey their messages to the inquirers, Lev.
19:31; 20:27; Deut. 18:11; Isa. 8:19; 29:4. Scripture does not say that it is impossible to consult
the dead, but rather seems to presuppose the possibility while it condemns the practice.
d. In its teachings respecting the resurrection of the dead. This doctrine is not explicitly taught
in the earlier books of the Old Testament. Christ points out, however, that it was taught by
implication in the statement, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob,” Matt. 22:32, cf. Ex. 3:6, and chides the Jews for not understanding the Scriptures on this
point. Moreover, the doctrine of the resurrection is explicitly taught in such passages as Job
19:23-27; Ps. 16:9-11; 17:15; 49:15; 73:24; Isa. 26:19; Dan. 12:2.
e. In certain striking Old Testament passages which speak of the believer’s enjoyment in
communion with God after death. These are in the main identical with the passages referred to