Pt. 5 The Immortality of the Soul, Is it a Scriptural Doctrine?

 Pt. 5 The Immortality of the Soul, Is it a Scriptural Doctrine?

Continued 

'II. THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST

There is another doctrine of the Bible which holds just as important a place in the divine scheme as does that of the resurrection; and that is, the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

This likewise is subverted by a belief in the doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul. The subversion of this truth is, in a measure, involved in that of the resurrection, because without the second coming of Christ there would be no resurrection, and anything that destroys belief in the resurrection of the dead, by that means destroys faith and hope in the second coming of the Lord.

That the event of the resurrection of the dead depends wholly upon the second coming of Christ, is easily shown by the Scripture, which, of course, in these things is the only authority. 

We have before shown that the righteous are rewarded only at the resurrection; and to show plainly the connection, we will repeat a verse before quoted:

"When thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." Luke 14:13, 14. 

And of his own coming, Jesus says: 

"Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:12. '

(End Excerpt)

The Immortality of the Soul, Is it a Scriptural Doctrine?

BY A. T. JONES.

((My thoughts))

The Lord is going to return and when He does, He's going to raise the dead. 

The dead are not risen already! He is going to raise them when He returns, He says so! He's going to reward them with eternal life at THE resurrection.

He doesn't say He's going to put people back into their bodies so He can raise them. He's not going to form my Dad's body from the dust and then tell him he's taking his spirit form and putting it back in there, how ludicrous. The dead know nothing, the Bible tells us that. There doesn't have to be a resurrection at all if the dead are already living, already rewarded- it makes no sense.

Death's sleep is exactly like any sleep, you don't know anything while you're sleeping, the next thing you know is waking up in the morning. You don't recall the world around you at all while you are sleeping- you know nothing.

I will go to sleep tonight and there will be hours I won't be able to account for. Why do you think it is so disconcerting for sleep walkers to wake up and find themselves doing something they had no clue they were doing?  When we have a good night's sleep, we are refreshed and revived from the tiredness that caused us to fall asleep. We all love having a good night's sleep, why because it's undisturbed. Hours with our conscious brain not knowing a thing going on anywhere.

Death's sleep is a blessing. Our loved ones aren't in heaven waiting on us and able to see us suffer down here on earth. They are sleeping death's sleep and when Christ comes they will be raised up, just like we will be. Abraham, David, Isaac, Joseph….all the Apostles, all of them are sleeping death's sleep and they'll be raised from their graves when Christ returns. What a glorious day that will be!  They won't lament not being in heaven for thousands of years, to them that time is nothing. Lamenting something that isn't reality wouldn't happen. They aren't being cheated out of heaven time. Their conscious is suspended by God in a miraculous way so that we are all resurrected when Christ comes, and it is the day they've waited for when they were alive.  

Enoch and Elijah were special, blessed, miracles, not the norm! For that matter, having Enoch and Elijah die painlessly in their sleep so they could get right to heaven would have been simple, why go to all the trouble of just bringing them where they'd already go sooner or later? We surely can't believe that Enoch and Elijah are going to make us feel subservient to them in any way- such a thing won't exist in heaven! The pecking order of translated vs. who died won't ever happen. 

May we be among the dead who rise, or the living who are changed when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ returns for us! 

All through His amazing love, now and forever!!!  Amen!!!!!!!