Death by J.
At a recent meeting of the brethren, I was reminded of the two deaths that are described in the Bible. As a child, I assumed good people went to heaven, bad people went to hell.
When a loved one died such as a grandparent, it was confusing. Papa was a decent person but was he good enough to go straight to heaven? And if he was up there floating in heaven, could he see me down on earth? Creepy.
Thankfully I understand now that everyone who has ever lived and died, except for Christ, has no consciousness and is awaiting a resurrection. So many people believe passed loved ones are angels above watching down on them. Sorry to put a damper on that sentiment but human beings don't sprout halos or grow wings after death.
Humans and angels are two entirely different beings by our Creator. But back to my original thought - the two deaths described in scripture.
In the garden of Eden, the serpent deceived Eve into eating the fruit from the tree of good and evil. "You will not surely die", the serpent said to Eve. We all know the story how she took the fruit, ate, and gave it to Adam who also ate the forbidden fruit.
Their eyes were opened but did they keel over dead? No. So did that make God a liar and the serpent the hero? Far from it. The serpent, being a crafty and cunning being, knew the death mankind would face from disobeying God is an everlasting death. A permanent, no chance for salvation, and the ultimate consequence for sinning. One would cease to exist forever.
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A different death is physical death. Physical death is the separation of our spirit from our fleshly body. The body is of the earth. It returns to dust. Our human spirit is of the breathe of life from God. It returns to our Creator. Plainly stated in Ecclesiastes 12:7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. Hebrews 9:27 tells us, it is appointed unto all men once to die, but after this the judgement. Can't be a permanent death if judgement is to follow.
In the garden, Adam and Eve did not experience a physical death, but because of disobedience, they and everyone since faces an everlasting death because of sin. BUT, God in his mercy sent his son as the sacrificial lamb slain from the foundation of the world so that with repentance, we can escape the 2nd or everlasting death. Noah, Moses, Abraham and all the other saints of old are not floating around in heaven.
They experienced the 1st death and are asleep awaiting the first resurrection. Their bodies returned to dust and their spirit is safe and secure with God. They have no consciousness - Psalms 6:5 for in death there is no remembrance. Ecclesiastes 9:5 The dead know nothing. Those saints who are alive at the time of Christ's return will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, 1 Corinthians 15:52. This will be their physical death as the fleshly body will no longer be. They will have a spirit body as flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, 1 Corinthians 15:50.
Two very different types of death. One being temporary (even if in the grave for hundreds of years) that all humans must encounter because of our flesh and blood nature, and the other, everlasting for those names not written in the Book of Life.
Good to hear from you J . I do hope that you Will contribute more in the future. Your words are from the heart and your personal experience in life. There are now 6 contributing writers for NO LIE IS OF THE TRUTH.
ReplyDeleteWho are the spirits in prison that Jesus preached to in 1 Peter 3:19 ?
ReplyDeleteScripture itself does not explain everything to us. There are many questions left unanswered until God gives them too us. Looking back in scripture history, we can see that there were the days of Noah and the world, except for Noah and the chosen family, the flood removed the others from the earth. Those people had spirits from God as well. Did God put them in a prison? I don't know, and I also don't know if they were kept differently than those people who died after the days of Noah - but I do think it is possible. Those spirits in a prison before the time that God announced His plan for salvation in a covenant, since God desired that all people to be saved, those imprisoned spirits needed to be told the coming Gospel message. This is my own view put out only as a conversation and not provable truth from scripture. Perhaps someone else can offer more thoughts to this.
DeleteWell written, clear understanding of the first and second death, Thank you.
ReplyDeleteIsaiah 61:1 Luke 4:18 Isaiah 42:6-7 Isaiah 49:8-9 The spirits in prison are all humanity imprisoned by Satan and trapped in sin and death. Psalm 102:19-22 Through Jesus the saints have been released from prison but the rest of the world is still in prison and will in the future be released. 1 Peter 3:19 By which (the spirit of GOD) Jesus went and preached the gospel to human spirits imprisoned in sin and death. 1 Peter 4:6 explains that the gospel was preached long ago to people like Abraham, Galatians 3:8, and these people have died. Everyone in Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, knew the gospel and had the same faith that we do. The spirits in prison are human beings.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the replies. I wrote my reply before the others posted, I just didn’t get to post it early on. I will post as originally intended.
ReplyDeleteVery good question. One that I am not completely confident in my answer, but I will make an honest attempt. First, I need to read before and after the verse in question to get some context. Verse 18- For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God. This informs me that our Messiah had one death, one resurrection for all people, regardless of time, regardless of their nature. In verse 20… Because they formerly did not obey, when Gods patience waited in the days of Noah… Anytime I see or hear “the days of Noah”, I think we can all agree it was a wicked time. There was a total disregard for Gods warnings. Mankind was quickly heading towards self destruction with their corruption. Circle back to the verse in question - after being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits. I interpret this as that his resurrection is for all people, but Peter specifically called out the wicked souls during Noah’s time. Figuratively speaking they are in prison. They did not accept God during their lifetime. They are still dead. Still imprisoned with their corrupt and evil ways until resurrected, and taught the truth .
Yes, all those who died in the flood died in ignorance and as a prisoner of sin and death, they died in their sins. These people are second resurrection people. We know that when Jesus died his death was just like any human being, he lost consciousness for 3 days and 3 nights then the FATHER raised him from the dead a human being again. Jesus was not glorified until he ascended. Since he was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world his sacrifice covers all humanity regardless of time. In the second resurrection the dead from all time that never were converted will receive the Holy Spirit and hear the gospel of salvation.
ReplyDelete