If dying isn't a punishment, but just a prelude to an instant eternal reward then why is dying at all such a big deal- other than the fact we leave behind people who love and miss us?
Death is not something we were intended to experience (death in all of its forms). God told the first couple that they would die if they disobeyed him. If death wasn't something detrimental, why would it be used as a punishment?
Satan lied and said we wouldn't really die and guess what, the majority of people believe him. That death is an end and not just a continuance of life is Biblical truth, God's truth.
The words- 'The living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything- Eccl 9:5) It is RIGHT THERE IN GOD'S WORD. I'm alive, I know I'll die… is that true? YES. Ergo 'the dead know not anything' must be true! If I KNOW not anything once I'm dead as the Bible says, then am I in heaven knowing things? NO!
Death- when we have a complete and utter end of our life- we think no more, we do nothing, we do not have a single thought after we die completely. I'm adding completely because a lot of people say they die when their life is interrupted temporarily - for medical reasons their hearts stop, their breathing stops but they are brought back to a living state. They say they died, but the truth is, they couldn't have died unless there is no coming back- without a miracle that is such as Lazarus. We have a lot of people who are considered brain dead all higher function ended, and so we believe what? All their ability to think is gone. There is no sense even trying to keep them alive because there is nothing of their brain to continue on giving them the thoughts they need to be considered living. We pull plugs, we take them off machines, we let them go- they are dead?
People have been deceived tragically and they don't even care when its pointed out to them. They don't want their cherished beliefs to end, they love those beliefs more than they love truth. They don't like those who bring them truth, they call them liars. They hold on so tightly to those beliefs nothing else matters to them.
Right now it may not seem like such a big deal, we say let them believe in their lies it hurts no one. They say everyone believes differently and God will sort it all out.
God has given us HIS WORD. God has given us HIS TRUTH. If we ignore His word and His truth do you think will be rewarded for that? If He has sorted it out already and we have access to the sorted out truth right now, do you truly believe that we aren't supposed to know that truth?
I'm waiting for my Savior to return and ONLY when that happens will those who are dead right now be raised up from the dead and given their thoughts back at the same time they are given their immortal bodies. This is salvation, this is our reward, this is our eternal life that Jesus is preparing for those who love Him.
Ask yourself this question- if you believed Lazarus was raised from the dead then you have to believe that Jesus took Lazarus out of heaven and put him back on earth, why in the world would Jesus EVER DO THAT?! Wouldn't it have been better for Jesus to have Lazarus come back in his spirit form and tell everyone how wonderful heaven is? Life immediately after death is NOT REAL! It's a lie!
The danger in believing lies is we no longer are believing truth and Jesus is the way, the truth, the life!
Jesus left His disciples, His apostles on earth and before leaving He did not reassure them by telling them not to worry, they'd see Him in a little bit when they die, He NEVER said that! He told them that HE WOULD RETURN and that was what their hope would be, in the return of JESUS!
Satan has GRAND delusions planned for the very end times and those delusions are going to include in a huge way the belief in going right to heaven after death and living on. Don't be surprised if Satan's evil demons impersonate your loved ones who have died, what better way than to do that to get you to hold fast to the lies of Satan? The evil spirits will be able to impersonate our loved ones perfectly because they know all the secret things of our lives, just as God's angels, our guardian angels know all our lives every bit of it, every sin and every praise we've given to God- they know it all. How easy it is going to be to cement the lie into the hearts of people who have rejected the truth. They are going to use the evil spirit impersonated loved ones to cry out that they were right, that they are the ones with the truth, but it is ALL just a huge deception of Satan's. Satan's net is ENORMOUS and he's filling it up with most of the earth's population, filling it up with his lies, his deceptions!
SEEK the truth please! I IMPLORE YOU! If you are reading this and you want the truth of the LORD seek it! Please! Don't believe my words, believe GOD'S words!
All through Jesus Christ our LORD, our SAVIOR now and forever!!!!!!! AMEN!
(Excerpt)
MAN IN PRISON
It is written in the Scriptures that "we must needs die." 2 Sam. 14:14. But this necessity was not according to God's original purpose or arrangement. God is the God of life. He has no pleasure in the death of any of His creatures. Eze. 18:23, 31, 32.
Eze 18:23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
Eze 18:31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
Eze 18:32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.
He pronounced the sentence of death on Adam, but He had warned him against incurring the guilt that would certainly bring it; He peremptorily forbade his pursuing a course that would result in death. Gen. 2:16, 17.
Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
That the Lord loved man, and had a strong desire that he should live and not die, is shown in the wonderful provision He made to recover man from death. "Sin entered into the world, and death by sin." Rom. 5:12. And "he that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning." 1 John 3:8. By his deception and falsehood he led our first parents to sin; but as death inevitably follows sin, he who introduced sin introduced death. Therefore also it is said that he that had power of death is the devil. Heb. 2:14
Concerning the children of Rachel, the Lord promised that they should come again from the land of the enemy. Jer. 31:16. These children were cruelly put to death. See Matt. 2:16-18. Paul says that death is the last enemy. 1 Cor. 15:26. It is the last enemy, for when death overtakes us, no other enemy can reach us. Life is the first and the greatest of all blessings; so death is the greatest and last of all evils.
They were under the power of death, under the dominion of Satan, for Satan, in introducing sin and death, opened the gates of the grave, that great prison house of mankind.
Sheol, the place of all the dead, is always spoken of as a realm of darkness, gloominess, and terrors; its inhabitants have neither light nor knowledge; all their hopes, their fears, their joys, their sorrows, their thoughts have perished. Let us hear the word of the Lord on this subject:-
"For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished." Eccl. 9:5, 6. "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." Verse 10.
Job, speaking of the condition of those who fall under the power of death, says: "Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." Job 14:20, 21. The Psalmist gives a striking illustration of the realms of death, as follows: "Wilt Thou show wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise Thee? shall Thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? or Thy faithfulness in destruction? shall Thy wonders be known in the dark? and Thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? "Ps. 88:10-12. And again; "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish" Ps. 146:4. And it is not merely their knowledge and thoughts of, and interest in, temporal things that have perished; they have lost their knowledge of God and their power to praise Him. "For in death there is no remembrance of Thee; in the grave who shall give Thee thanks?" Ps. 6:5. This does not refer to the grave as we consider that term; it speaks of sheol, the place of the dead in general; as Lange says, it refers to that place in which the soul of Christ was not left. Compare Ps. 16:10 and Acts 2:27, 31. We read again; "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Ps. 115:17. And yet again, where the contrast between the condition and the power of the dead and the living is shown in the most emphatic terms: "For the grave cannot praise Thee, death cannot celebrate Thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day." Isa. 38:18, 19.
It was not in the order of God that man should come to such a condition as that described by these texts, or descend to such a state of darkness, gloom, and forgetfulness. It was all the work of the enemy, whose object it was to mar the perfect work of the Creator. Man in the grave is represented as being shut up in its darkness and gloom, as prisoners are shut up in a prison or dungeon. "There the prisoners rest together." Job. 3:18.
Speaking of punishing the kings and high ones of the earth, the Lord says: "And they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit [or dungeon], and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited." Isa. 24:22. Such is the condition of all who go into the grave.
But many, in all sincerity, believe that only a part of man dies; that a part of him returns to dust, and another part evades the penalty, and continues to live somewhere else, or in some other condition. Of this we find no intimation in the law, nor in the penalty, nor in the sentence pronounced upon the sin. "The wages of sin is death." "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Rom. 6:23; Eze. 18:4. This being so, the whole question turns on this point, as to how much of man, or what part of man, committed the sin.
All that sinned must die. Recognizing the fact that man is constituted of parts, we cannot say that a part of him sinned, and a part did not sin.
While it is true that the wages of sin is death, it cannot be true that the real man, the truly responsible part of man, does not die.
If any part escapes the penalty, it ought to be that part which is the least responsible. But the Scriptures do not countenance such a theory. They, indeed, teach that man is constituted of different parts, but it takes the different parts to constitute the man. The man-the whole man-was involved in the sin, in the fall, and the whole man must suffer the penalty.
No other doctrine than this is consistent with the scriptures we have quoted. In death there is no remembrance of God, no thanksgiving to Him. Death is the land of darkness and forgetfulness. In sheol there is no device, no knowledge, no affections. When man dies, his thoughts perish. All this we have read in plain terms in the Bible, and we must either believe it or deny it. Which will we do?
It is this fact which makes the doctrine of the resurrection of such immense importance. Says Paul: "But if there be 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 also vain; . . . for if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." 1 Cor. 15:13-19.
Here it is plainly shown that without a resurrection we have no hope beyond this life; and, with out a resurrection, they who are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. This is not according to the most popular view, that the dead are already in glory, which makes their salvation and happiness independent of the resurrection.
And again the apostle says, in verse 32:- "If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what doth it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die."
On this text Dr. Clarke makes a very appropriate and truthful comment, as follows:- "What the apostle says here is a regular and legitimate conclusion from the doctrine that there is no resurrection; for if there be no resurrection, then there can be no judgment-no future state or rewards and punishments; why, therefore, should we bear crosses, and keep ourselves under continual discipline? Let us eat and drink, take all the pleasure we can, for tomorrow we die; and that is the end of us forever." In this Dr. Clarke is quite correct. It is, indeed, the legitimate conclusion from the doctrine that there is no resurrection, but it is not the legitimate conclusion from that doctrine according to the more popular view that the dead are already saved in heaven, and glorified without the resurrection. According to the Scriptures man is truly in prison.
Angels: Their Nature and Ministry- (Excerpt - for continuing study) Revised by J.H. Waggoner. 1891 by Pacific Press Publishing Co.)
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