Immortality of man was the devil’s first lie. – Genesis 3:4 – Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.”

The First False Sermon
The only one who promised Adam life in disobedience was the great deceiver. And the declaration of the serpent to Eve in Eden – “Ye shall not surely die” — was the first sermon ever preached upon the immortality of the soul. Yet this declaration resting solely upon the authority of Satan, is echoed from the pulpits of Christendom, and is received by the majority of mankind as readily as it was received by our first parents. GC 533

Man is mortal. – 1. – Job 4:17 – “Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?”

Man is mortal – 2. – Ezekiel 18:20 – The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

God only has immortality – 1 Timothy 6:15 & 16 – ¹⁵Which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.

In The Light of the Cross
When we study the divine character in the light of the cross, we see mercy, tenderness, and forgiveness blended with equity and justice. We see in the midst of the throne One bearing in hands and feet and side the marks of the suffering endured to reconcile man to God. We see a Father, infinite, dwelling in light unapproachable, yet receiving us to Himself through the merits of His Son. AA 333

God breathed into man, and he became a living soul (breath + dust = soul) – Genesis 2:27 – And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

At death, the process is reversed. – Ecclesiastes 12:7 – Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

Jesus called death sleep. – John 11:11-14 – ¹¹These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” ¹²Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” ¹³However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. ¹⁴Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.”

David called death sleep. – Psalm 13:3 – Consider and hear me, O Lord my God; enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.

Daniel also called death sleep. – Daniel 12:2 – And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Dead remember nothing and can’t give thanks. – Psalm 6:5 – For in death there is no remembrance of You; in the grave who will give You thanks?

The Bible Versus Popular Theology
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). GC 546

Dead do not praise God. – Psalm 115:17 – The dead do not praise the Lord, nor any who go down into silence.

No on can lay plans after death. – Psalm 146:3 & 4 – ³Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. ⁴His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; in that very day his plans perish.

Where to Place Our Trust
We are not to trust in princes, or to set men in the place of God. We are to remember that human beings are fallible and erring, and that He who has all power is our strong tower of defense. In every emergency we are to feel that the battle is His. His resources are limitless, and apparent impossibilities will make the victory all the greater. PK 202

A Damaging False Doctrine
The theory of the immortality of the soul was one of those false doctrines that Rome, borrowing from paganism, incorporated into the religion of Christendom. Martin Luther classed it with the “monstrous fables that form part of the Roman dunghill of decretals” (E. Petavel, The Problem of Immortality, page 255). Commenting on the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes, that the dead know not anything, the Reformer says: “Another place proving that the dead have no…feeling. There is, saith he, no duty, no science, no knowledge, no wisdom there. Solomon judgeth that the dead are asleep and feel nothing at all. For the dead lie there, accounting neither days nor years, but when they are awaked, they shall seem to have slept scarce on minute: (Martin Luther, Exposition of Solomon’s Booke Called Ecclesiastes, page 152). GC 546

Dead know nothing. – Ecclesiastes 9:5 & 6 – ⁵For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. ⁶Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun.

Dead remain in their graves – 1. – Job 7:9 & 10 – ⁹As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, so he who goes down to the grave does not come up. ¹⁰He shall never return to his house, nor shall his place know him anymore.

Dead remain in the graves – 2. – Job 21:32 – Yet he shall be brought to the grave, and a vigil kept over the tomb.

Dead are in their graves until the Second Coming. – John 5:28 & 29 – ²⁸Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice, ²⁹and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

Jesus did not go to heaven at death. – John 20:17 – Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’”

An In-Person Assurance
Jesus refused to receive the homage of His people until He had the assurance that His sacrifice was accepted by the Father. He ascended to the heavenly courts, and from God Himself heard the assurance that His atonement for the sins of men had been ample, that through His blood all might gain eternal life. The Father ratified the covenant made with Christ, that He would receive repentant and obedient men, and would love them even as He loves His Son. Christ was to complete His work, and fulfill His pledge to “make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir” (Isaiah 13:12). All power in heaven and on earth was given to the Prince of Life, and He returned to His followers in a world of sin, that He might impart to them of His power and glory. DA 790