7. Life After Death

Do you know ? - Are the words “life” and “death” the same thing? Do they represent two phases of human existence - the first here on earth, which sooner or later ends, to start the second phase that endures forever in another part of the universe? Or...are “life” and “death” actually words of opposite meaning? How do the Holy Scriptures answer? The following study is the result of a search for that answer as given by the inspired writers of the Bible.

1. But despite mankind’s awareness of its steady march down the “broad way of destruction” (Matt. 7:13) for more than sixty-one centuries, ending in death for each passing generation, the great majority of still-living people of this world reject the divinely inspired assurance that the dead know not anything, choosing rather to believe a false belief and find comfort from their loss in the expectation of a conscious existence in another realm.

2. Except for those who hold sacred the Old Testament writings, the vast number of non-Christians and the majority of churchgoers who reject the precepts of the Bible and of the founder of true Christianity, Jesus Christ, are also at odds with science regarding the condition of the dead. It is the conclusion of scientific knowledge that death is the cessation of all life functions in the bodies of humans and animals; the end of conscious existence; the opposite of life in any form. Furthermore, true science can furnish no reliable information concerning any so-called death-proof spark of divinity, or immortal soul or ever-living disembodied spirit that supposedly survives endlessly after an assumed separation from the remains of the deceased. Long before learned men became interested in the search for accurate knowledge, which they identified by the term science, the Bible tells us: “...That which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts...as one dies, so dies the other; yea, they have all one (kind of ) breath...so that a man has no preeminence over a beast...ALL are of the dust, and ALL turn to dust again” (Eccl. 3:19, 20).

3. The sentence imposed on Adam was not that he would be sent to an imaginary fiery hell or purgatory. He was condemned to death (Gen. 3:17-19: Eccl. 3:19, 20). When he finally died at age 930 (Gen. 5:5), “in that very day his thoughts perished” (Psa. 146:3, 4), and like the others who have died since and who sleep in death, he “knows not anything” (Eccl. 9:5, 6). That state of oblivion shall endure until the time appointed by the Creator when the “many (billions) of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake...” (Dan. 12:2), “in the resurrection of the last day (John 6:40, 44; 11:24).

4. In sharp disagreement with traditional teachings, therefore, the Bible pictures death not as a friend or a gateway to another life of joy, but as an enemy, a penalty for sin, a curse, extinction - the opposite of God’s gift of life (Rom. 6:23). And living humanity, while on its march to eventual destruction, encounters the evil companion of that enemy of life in all forms of tribulation, fear, anxiety, pain, sorrow, the entire range of human sufferings, infirmities, aging, disabling injuries, blindness, deafness, mental disorders, alienation from their Creator. These are the destructive and misery-inflicting companions of death.

5. As the Apostle to the Gentiles briefly describes the state of the human race: “For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now” (Rom. 8:22). He summarizes the cause for and the resulting tragedy of death throughout past centuries of human history, writing: “By one man, sin entered the world and death by sin, and so death (not everlasting or eternal life) passed upon all men, for all have sinned.” “There is none righteous--no, not one” (Rom. 5:12; 3:10).

6. The Psalmist even makes known the condition of the new-born child: “Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psa. 51:5). From birth till its years of accountability, there is personal innocence from sin, but as an offspring of Adam, by inheritance is under the divine condemnation as a sinner, as are all other members of the human race. That is why infants die - some of them even before drawing a breath - the stillborn!

7. The Prophet Job reasons: “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one” (Job 14:4). But Moses foretold that in the last day - the time of the setting up of God’s Kingdom on earth, for which all true Christians pray - God Who IS Love shall recall from their graves to a new life those who died at a tender age with all too short an existence: “...Return, ye children of men” (Psa. 90:3). And to the mourning parents who “refused to be comforted for her (their) children, because they are not, thus saith the LORD...they shall come again from the land of the enemy” (the grave, the prison-house of death - Jer. 31:15-17). The innocent children who have died shall not return from heaven, where traditional theology teaches they are alive, but from “the land of the enemy”, sheol, Hades, the grave, oblivion - the sleep of death! “O grave (sheol), I will be thy destruction... ‘I will redeem them from death,’ saith the Lord” (Hosea 13:14).

8. “The sting of death is sin” (1 Cor. 15:56), committed by Adam, and passed on to his unborn descendants who were condemned in him, thus forfeiting their right to life also. But the supreme sacrifice of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, makes a peace between the Creator and all mankind, and restores back the right to life lost by Adam: “Jesus Christ, the righteous, is the satisfaction, the ransom price (Matt. 20:28; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6) for our sins (disciples of Jesus during the present Gospel age) ...also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1, 2). “For as all in Adam die, even so, all in Christ shall be made alive,” in due time, as God’s Divine Plan of Salvation unfolds. (See Hosea 13:14; 1 Cor. 15:22; Jn. 3:16; Acts 4:10-12; 1 Tim. 2:4-6; Heb. 2:9.)

1. For the last few days of His earthly ministry, Jesus stayed in Jerusalem, where His religious enemies asked Him difficult questions which He answered with marvelous skill and wisdom. Of special interest was one posed by a group of Sadducees, a minority Jewish sect, who rejected the Old Testament teaching of the resurrection of the dead. They and the Pharisees sought continually to upset and dishonor the Master.

2. They asked, “Master, Moses said, if a man die having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up seed unto his brother.” As a basis for their question, the Sadducees used a make-believe situation involving seven brothers and a woman who became the wife of each of them in turn. The first brother who married her died, leaving no children. Such also was the experience of each of the remaining six who, in turn, married the wife, all leaving her childless. Then the Sadducees asked, “And last of all, the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, for they all had her?”

3. The Master answered this non-believing Jewish group, “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But, as touching the resurrection of the dead, have you

not read that which was spoken to you by God, saying ‘I am the God of Abraham...of Isaac, and...of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead but of the living” (Matt. 22:23-32). “God, who quickens (makes alive) the dead and calls things which are not as though they were,” (Rom. 4:17; Isa. 55:11) will resurrect those mentioned by Jesus and all the other Faith heroes that lived before Christ, “in due time.” (See Heb. 11:1-40). They are still “asleep in death,” but will have a “better resurrection” than the rest of the world because of their faithful obedience to God and trust in His promises (vs. 35).

4. While visiting the Aegean seacoast communities on his second missionary tour, Paul stayed in Athens, where he engaged in discussions with idol-worshipping Epicurean and Stoic philosophers (two groups of people with specific beliefs) about their religious convictions. On Mars Hill, in Athens, idolaters displayed an altar with the inscription, “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD,” which began an exchange between them and the Apostle. But of special interest to this study is Paul’s recorded closing statement: “God (“the only true God” - John 17:3)....has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He has ordained; whereof He has given assurance unto all men, in that He raised him from the dead.”

5. The reaction of Jesus’ hearers was in these words: “when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; and others said, ‘We will hear you again of this matter’” (Acts 17:14-32). The philosophers were fervent preachers of the false doctrine that “there is no death,” which began in Eden by that great deceiver, Satan, whom Jesus accused of being a “liar and a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44). It was this adversary of truth who misled Eve, which brought about Adam’s willful sin against the law of their Creator by eating the fruit of which they were told not to eat. This disobedience cost our first parents, and all born after them, the right to life - Gen. 2:15-17; 3:11, 19).

6. Because of the false no death idea upon which Paul’s heathen listeners based their beliefs, the Apostle’s preaching about the resurrection aroused their antagonism, for, since as the philosophers believed there was no death, there was no need for a resurrection of the dead. This which took place in Athens bears close resemblance to the traditional teaching of those who reject Paul’s divinely-inspired statements about the unconscious state of the dead, the requirement of a resurrection to regain life, and the benevolence of the one true God toward all humanity, to come about through “that man whom he hath ordained,” His own Beloved Son, Jesus, whom God

7. From what the Apostle wrote to the church in Corinth, it is evident that the false thinking which denied the resurrection of the dead was infecting the early Christian church. In one epistle he countered these “doctrines of devils” (1 Tim. 4:1) with sound Christian logic. He wrote: “How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is vain. Yea, we are found false witnesses of God that he raised up Christ whom he raised not up, if the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is Christ not raised, your faith is vain, you are yet in your sins. Then they also which have fallen asleep in Christ are perished (forever extinct)....But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of those that slept (in death). For since by man (Adam) came death, by man (Christ, who died for every human being) came also the resurrection of the dead. For as all in Adam die, even so all in Christ shall be made alive” - in due time (1 Cor. 15:12-22; Heb. 2:9; 1 Tim. 2:4-6)).

1. Traditional beliefs relating to man’s origin on earth are in opposition to the divinely inspired account in the first book of the Bible, which clearly states that “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 soul” (Gen. 2:7). Nothing in this statement suggests that the Creator had added to the “fearfully and wonderfully made” body of the first man (Psa. 139:14) a separate, independent, intangible being identified as an indestructible immortal soul, when he gave life to his newly formed creature. The Genesis words simply are that “man BECAME a living soul” - not that he was given a soul. The Apostle Paul confirms that “the first man Adam was MADE a living soul” (1 Cor. 15:45).

2. The English word soul is translated from the Hebrew nephesh and the Greek word psyche. It is the same thing as the terms living being and sentient being, meaning a human or animal creation capable of feeling by the senses. On the occasion of goods gained by Israel at the conclusion of its war with the Midianites, the Lord instructed Moses to “levy a tribute unto the Lord of men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of persons...cattle...donkeys...sheep or goats” (Num. 31:28). This passage proves that both humans and the lower animals are living souls or feeling (sentient) beings” - none are immortal! At the death of a man or a beast, the entire being or soul dies. (Eccl. 3:19, 20). The living soul ceases to exist - just as water ceases to exist when subjected to electric current which decomposes it into its two component elements (the gases: hydrogen and oxygen). In Bible language: “Then shall the dust (the human body) return to the earth and the spirit (“breath of life”--not a separate entity, but the life principle, exclusively in the power of the Creator to give) shall return to GOD who gave it.” (Eccl. 12:7; Rom. 6:23; Psa. 146:3, 4).

3. The Bible thus shows that the process of death is the reverse of God’s work in creating a living soul, and contrary to traditional teachings, the Bible provides its believers with the understanding that the human soul or being is mortal - not indestructible: ”The soul that sins it shall die.” (Ezek. 18:4, 20). “...Fear him (God) who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28). Hell in this text is translated from the Greek gehenna, which is a picture of the “second death” - the symbolic lake of fire of Rev. 21:8 and Matt. 25:41 - the everlasting destruction of the incorrigible who refuse to obey the laws of righteousness in the Millennial Kingdom. (Rev. 20:7-9). The Adamic death suffered by the human race for six thousand years is referred to as sleep. For examples, see 1 Kings 2:10; Acts 2:29, 23; John 3:13: 2 Kings 8:24; 2 Chron. 9:31,32, 33; Acts 7:59, 60; Luke 8:41, 42, 49-56; John 11:11-14. But the second death means the same as such biblical expressions as perdition, everlasting destruction, perish,”...These are “twice dead, plucked out by the roots.” (See Heb. 10:39; 2 Pet. 3:7; John 3:16; 2 Thes. 1:9; Jude 12).

4. Until He raised his Beloved Son from death nearly two thousand years ago, the Supreme Being, Jehovah, was the only immortal soul in existence. In a number of Old Testament passages are instances where the Creator refers to his own Being as my soul (Isa. 1:14, 42:1; Jer. 9:9, 32:41). All of His creatures, including His Only Begotten Son, were created mortal (i.e., capable of dying -- as Jesus did on the cross). The Father always has been immortal, death-proof, - from everlasting to everlasting. (Psa. 90:2). At the moment of His resurrection from death, Jesus gained immortality, as prophesied by the Savior before He died: “As the Father has life in Himself, so has he given the Son to have life in himself” (Jn. 5:26; Eph. 1:17-23; Phil. 2:5-11; Heb. 1:2-4, 9).

5. Because the holy angels of God and also the evil, fallen angels (devils, demons) have had a continued existence for long ages, it is almost universally concluded among religious people that these spirit beings are immortal. But the Bible does not so teach. Christ’s pre-human existence was as The Word or Logos. Later, when that life was transferred to Mary’s womb, The Word was known as Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus sacrificed His pure, unblemished human life to redeem mankind from the curse of eternal death. He died, “the just for the unjust” - not because He in any manner transgressed divine law, but to give His humanity as a ransom price for every human being. (See John 6:51; 1 Tim. 2:6; Heb. 2:9; 1 Pet. 3:18.) “Whom God has raised up, having loosed the bonds of DEATH; because it was not possible that He should be held by it” (Acts 2:24).

6. Further evidence that the angelic nature is mortal (not immune from death) is the divine sentence of “eternal destruction” to be executed upon Satan, “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4) - the adversary of the Creator - and also upon all his incorrigible (unable to be changed for better) associated angelic rebels. (See Matt. 25:41; 2 Thess. 1:7-10; Heb. 2:14; Psa. 145:20.)

7. Contrary to the belief that every human being is immortal, the Bible teaches that the total number of those to be saved from the earth of all nations who will attain immortality is limited. These are they who during the Gospel age have been “called” out of the world (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2) to a dedication of lifelong faithful service to God, as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Savior (now divine) admonishes each of this “little flock” (Luke 12:32): “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life ... He that overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death”, a promised reward of immortality, deathlessness, the divine nature - (Rev. 2:10, 11; James 1:12; 2 Peter 1:4).

8. God’s promised gift to angels and mankind, other than to those who are “called” by God is everlasting life, not immortality. (John 6:40; Rom6:23). Though mortal in nature, these are assured of endless joyful life from nourishment provided by their Creator and when perfected, by their absolute obedience to divine law. Though not possessing immortality, the angels of heaven have been enjoying God’s precious gift of life for countless ages. On this planet, our first parents could have had similar joys of their God-given existence and favor had they not been disobedient. As a consequence of their rebellion, they were put out of their perfect Edenic home which they occupied from the time they were created, and thenceforth were denied access to the “trees of life” which would have provided perfect sustenance to enable them to live forever (Gen. 3:22, 23). All who have died from Adam on down to our day have all returned to “the dust of the earth,” awaiting the “resur- rection of the last day”, to again inhabit the earth everlastingly. The Lord has promised to make their future home glorious. “...The earth is my footstool” ...”and I will make the place of my feet glorious” (Isa. 66:1; 60:13; Ch. 35).

9. The prophecies and records of the Bible - including the personal testimony of the Son of God - indicate, without a doubt, that Jesus Christ died on the Cross over nineteen centuries ago and remained DEAD (in total oblivion) in the tomb provided by Joseph of Arimathea until resurrected by His Father on the “third day” (Acts 10:38-41). Yes, “He was cut off out of the land of the living” and “He made his SOUL an offering for sin” and “poured out His SOUL unto DEATH” (Isa. 53:8, 10 & 12). Praise God!

10. David wrote of the Savior’s foreknowledge regarding His own resurrection from death by the almighty power of His Father (Matt. 16:26; Rom. 8:11). With unfailing trust in his God, it was said of him: “...You will not leave my soul in hell” (Psa. 16:8-10). “Hell” is the English equivalent of the Hebrew “sheol,” as earlier cited in this study, signifying the death state, i.e., unconsciousness, the grave! Ten days after His ascension into heaven, the Apostle Peter, referring to this Psalm, interpreted it as a forecast of the “resurrection of Christ,” and then clearly states that “This Jesus has God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses” (Acts 2:22-23; 10:38:5-41). The Apostle Paul’s confirmation of the reality of the Master’s death is in his epistle to the Romans: “Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more; death has no more dominion over Him”(Rom. 6:9, 8:11).

1. In the last book of the Bible of which God is the stated Divine Author (Rev. 1:1). Jesus Christ identifies Himself as “the first born of the dead” (RSV), also as “I am He that lives and was dead, and, behold, I am alive forevermore” - a personal testimony of His present immortality since His resurrection (Rev. 1:5, 18, 2:8; Acts 26:23; I Cor. 15:20; Col. 1:18). “Death has no more dominion over him” (Rom. 6:4).

2. The passages of Scripture examined in this study assure us that death is the direct opposite of life, not a continuation of consciousness. For sixty centuries, because of the transgression in Eden, all mankind has been under the dominion of death. As indicated in the Bible, sooner or later the living become aware “that they shall die” (Eccl. 9:5). But as to what awaits them beyond the grave is of profound concern and anxiety to the vast majority of individuals who are influenced by false theories, widely set forth through the doctrines of various religions that reject the precepts of the written Word of God, the Holy Bible. Some well-intentioned persons who accept the inspired scriptural teaching about death, appalled by the grim history of dying humanity, might reason that the Creator rightfully could have started all over again by permanently replacing the transgressing first parents with newly-created human beings instead of providing a ransom from death. However, it is evident that the Almighty, in His wisdom and love, holds firmly to His own plans. (See Isa. 55:8, 9).

3. The entire population alive on earth at the end of sixteen centuries after the creation of the first man and woman - except for eight persons - died in the flood of Noah’s time (1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5). By means of the divinely designed ark, only Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives survived, as did the lower animals on board (Gen. 6:17, 18; 7:7-23). This small remnant of Adam’s descendants who were spared became the ancestors of all mankind that now live on earth since the destruction of human life in that great flood of the “world that was” (Gen. 9:1, 18, 19). But they in due time also experienced death.

4. The Creator has never forced His intelligent creatures to do His will. He allows them freedom of choice to obey or oppose the divine rules of conduct, promising a reward of everlasting life to those who obey His law, and warning of the result of death (extinction) as the penalty for disobedience (Psa. 145:20; Rom. 6:23). Satan, the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4) - the spirit being who is the chief adversary of God of all righteousness - together with his rebel angels chose to defy divine authority, which will end finally in their destruction! (See Matt. 25:41; Heb. 2:14.)

5. Our gracious Heavenly Father allowed our first human parents free access to the life-sustaining groves of trees in Eden, to provide for their perfect nourishment - with one exception: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it, for in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16, 17). The occupants of that beautiful garden did not heed the divine restriction and warning, and in consequence they and their descendants, to this day, have been experiencing the effects of their disobedience - death. (See Rom. 5:12.) In harmony with His limitless wisdom, and matchless love for His creatures, as well as His knowledge beforehand of the outcome, our Creator has permitted evil on earth. This has been an education by experience (something Adam and Eve did not have before they sinned) to promote an everlasting appreciation for the rewards of righteousness

(in contrast to an evil course which will end finally in destruction - Psa. 145:20), when mankind returns to life “in the resurrection of the last day” (John 11:24). The Bible states that the earth “abides forever” and that it was “formed to be inhabited” - as the eternal home of the human race - not as traditionally claimed that humans at the end of the present life on earth are destined to live eternally in heaven or in some imagined horrible location in the universe. (Eccl. 1:4; Isa. 45:18). With great interest, the heavenly angelic host have been observing the experience of mankind in the continuing drama on this planet. (Rom. 6:23). What Paul wrote of the Apostles is likewise applicable to all true disciples of Jesus Christ: “We are made a spectacle unto the world and angels” (1 Cor. 4:9).

6. Because of God’s gracious plan of salvation (Rom. 5:10-21; John 3:16), the human race will be released from death’s dominion. Jesus told the Sadducees during the last week of His earthly ministry that “God is not the God of the dead but of the living” (Matt. 22:32). He was referring to the Resurrection of the dead (vs. 31), not that the dead are at present alive, as some may erroneously misinterpret His statement. Not only the faithful ones mentioned in the 32nd verse are to be restored to life but, as Daniel wrote: “Many (billions!) of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake...” (Dan. 12:2); and the Apostle Paul declared that “...There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust” (Acts 24:15). The Savior foretold that “The hour is coming ... when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live...” (John 5:25).

7. Rather than accept the teachings of the uninspired philosophies and theologies, it is the responsibility of every true disciple and follower of Jesus Christ to heed the words of their Good Shepherd. (See John 10:11; Heb. 13:20.) Jesus said....“I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE: he that believes in Me....shall never die...” (the second death, final extinction - John 11:25, 26). “...Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all that are in the tombs (not in heaven, hell-fire or purgatory, but in the tombs or graves) will hear His voice and come forth, those who have done good to a resurrection of life and those who have done evil to a resurrection by judgment” (John 5:28, 29). And Isaiah tells us, “When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants will learn righteousness” (Isa. 26:9).

8. The Son of God was given the power by His Father to demonstrate divine ability in restoring the dead to life - as promised in the Old Testament (Hosea 13:14). The record of three such performances by Jesus should not be regarded as resurrections in the sense of the Bible teaching, because the individuals restored to LIFE by Him died again in the course of their re-animated existence. At the time of these miracles, the Master had not yet “by the grace of God tasted death for every man (woman and child)” (Heb. 2:9) as “a ransom for all (mankind) to be testified in due time” - that due time, according to Jesus himself, being “the last day” - the time of the established Millennial Kingdom on earth. (See John 6:33, 40-44; 1 Tim. 2:3-6). In Galilee, He raised the son of the widow of Nain and also Jairus’ daughter. In Bethany, Lazarus had lain lifeless in a cave four days (not alive in heaven or anywhere else). Jesus told His disciples plainly, “Lazarus is dead” (John 11:14). But Jesus restored him to life to the ecstatic joy of his relatives and friends. (See Luke 7:11-15; 8:41, 42, 49-56; John 11:40-44).

9. When God’s promised Kingdom is come “on earth,” His will shall be done there as it is now done in heaven. It will then be the due time for restoration of life and health to the redeemed human race on earth. The Apostle wrote that Christ “must reign till he has put ALL enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (1 Cor. 15:25,26; Rev. 20:14). All incorrigible evil-doers and all evil will be done away with forever. (Psa. 145:20; Rev. 21:8).

10. Isaiah prophesied: “The ransomed of the Lord shall return (from sheol - the sleep of death), and come to Zion (the established Kingdom of God on earth) with songs of everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isa. 35:10; 51:11). “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord will wipe away tears from off all faces...For the LORD hath spoken it!.” (This is the divine guarantee of fulfillment.) And all mankind will say, “This is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: This is the LORD; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation” (Isa. 25:8, 9).

11. At that time, when mankind and the Creator will have become fully reconciled (at peace with each other, with the same love and goals), the Son of God, author of the last book of the Bible, concludes, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there will be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. And He (the Father) that sat upon the throne said,

“BEHOLD ... I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW...” (Rev. 21:4, 5).

End of Study 7 Lessons