kingdomready.org

…continued from previous post 

The issue at stake here touches on what has always been one of humanity’s most profound concerns:

What happens when we die?

There are many different beliefs about what death is. From the purely physical definition- the cessation of vital signs and the decomposition of the body- to the Pagan concepts of becoming an angel or living on in a disembodied ‘spirit’ or ‘soul’ form.

There are many different beliefs about what death is. From the purely physical definition- the cessation of vital signs and the decomposition of the body- to the Pagan concepts of becoming an angel or living on in a disembodied ‘spirit’ or ‘soul’ form.

(Note- These first of these has become the accepted, empirically based, scientific view here in the West. The second, via Neo-Platonism which has been the formative philosophical influence on Western culture, lives on in superstition and majority religion).

But what does the Bible say? Does man really have an immortal soul? The following texts make it clear:But what does the Bible say? Does man really have an immortal soul? The following texts make it clear:But what does the Bible say? Does man really have an immortal soul? The following texts make it clear:

But what does the Bible say? Does man really have an immortal soul? The following texts make it clear:

Ezekiel 18.4
“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.“

Matthew 10.28
“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

After all, if Adam had an immortal soul, why would he have needed the tree of life?

Man is mortal. When he dies his breath of life returns to God who gave it, to be restored at the resurrection. To argue otherwise, even from a non-biblical standpoint just doesn’t make any sense. Think about it- if your eyes are destroyed, you cannot see, if your ears are destroyed you cannot hear and if your brain is destroyed you cannot think. And yet, according to the myth of the immortal soul a person whose entire body is destroyed will go on seeing, hearing and thinking!

If the dead are actually alive in heaven, why does the New Testament pin all hope on the coming of Jesus to raise the dead?

The Bible does not tell us that Jesus’ death was according to philosophy, but according to the scriptures.  In other words, to understand what the Bible means when it says Christ died, our understanding of death must be defined according to the scriptures.

So what do they teach us about death?
Death is caused by the separation of body and spirit:

James 2:26
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

A dead person has no memory:

Psalms 6:5
For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

at death Thoughts cease:

Psalms 146:4
His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

Ecclesiastes 9:5
For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

because of this a dead person can do nothing:

Ecclesiastes 9:10
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

Psalms 88:10-12
10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.  11 Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?  12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

Isaiah 38:18
For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

Scripture teaches us that Jesus died:

Mark 15:34-37
34  And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?  35 And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias.  36 And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down.  37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.

The words ghost and spirit are synonymous. Jesus’ spirit separated from his body, and at that moment he died. And to say that he died from a Biblical standpoint means that not only did all his vital signs cease, but that all the other conditions which the Bible teaches about the dead, came upon him.

In the grave Christ was inactive. For 3 days he remembered nothing, thought nothing, did nothing.

To anyone who would redefine the Biblical concept of what death is in order to fit a theological model, I would sound a note of warning. It is gospel truth we are dealing with. We need to take our shoes off and tread carefully for this is holy ground.

In other words, to say that any of the scriptural symptoms of death did not apply to Christ is to call into question a key element of the very gospel of salvation- that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures

Understanding what the Bible means by hell is also necessary because, prior to his resurrection, that’s where the Messiah spent 3 days!

Acts 2:31-32
31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.  32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.

To begin with, let me make it crystal clear what hell is not. Hell is not, according to the scriptures, the kingdom of Satan. People speak of ‘demons from hell’, the ‘forces of hell’ and ‘all hell breaking loose’.

Such talk is unbiblical.
Nowhere in the Bible is the word hell used in this way- you go ahead and look it up! This is a cultural norm, a symptom of the paganism that pervades our society.

Instead, hell in the New Testament is the translation of 2 Greek words:

1 Hades
This was the word used to describe a temporary storage place for the dead. The metaphor of ’sleep’ is used to describe the way they await resurrection and judgement there. That is why Revelation 20.13-14 describes hades delivering up the dead which are in it and then being cast into the Lake of Fire.  It is here that the conditions of death described above apply. It is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word sheol.

2 Gehenna
This was the name of a place in the valley of Hinnom just south of Jerusalem. It was the place where rubbish and the dead bodies of criminals and animals were burned. It was a huge bonfire which burned day and night. Around its edges maggots fed on the rotting flesh of the corpses.  In his teaching Jesus used it to refer to the Lake of Fire prepared for the devil and his angels, where those who reject the gospel will suffer an everlasting, meaning irremediable and permanent, destruction. It is mentioned in scriptures such as: Matthew 5.22 & 29-30; 10.28; 18.9; 23.15 & 33; Mark 9.43.

When the Bible describes Jesus as being in ‘hell’ between his death and resurrection, the Old Testament passage which prophesies this (Psalm 16.9-11) uses the word used is ’sheol’;
and in the New Testament where Psalm 16 is quoted by Peter (Acts 2.27 & 31) it rendered ‘hades’.

So Jesus did not die and go to Gehenna. He died and went down into ‘hades’. There he ‘slept’ until the Father raised him 3 days later.

That is why on the cross Jesus cried out ‘It is finished!’ His work was done. His suffering was over. The onus was now on the Father to fulfil his promise and raise his Son to life again.