The State of The Dead
Many ways of death
5200 die daily in the US
Many beliefs about death
Heaven
Hell
Purgatory
Reincarnation
Death exists because of sin. Romans 6:23
The six day creation – a perfect world
Adam and Eve – OBEDIENCE is they chose to obey!
Gen. 2:17 “in the day that ye eat thereof, in dying you shall die.”
They sinned – “dust thou art, and toi dust thou shalt return. Genesis 3:19.
Romans 5:12
“wherefore as by one man sin enetered the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned.”
But what happens when we die?
Many believe that the soul is immortal
1600 times in the KJV – never once called “immortal.”
The word soul means person or mind as in Psalm 139:14
Ezekiel 18:4, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
The word “immortal” is used only once in the Bible, and it is applied to God.
“The King of Kings and Lord of Lords who only hath immortality.” 1 Tim. 6:15-16
Genesis 2:7 7And 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.
Man was not given a soul – he became a living soul.
Body + Breath = living soul
“For dust thou art, and to dust thou shale return.” Genesis 3:19
The Lord didn’t say, “you’ll join me in heven when your body dies.”
He said, “you’re going back in the ground till you’re resurrected.”
The Bible calls death sleep 50 times in the Bible
Like the blinking of an eye!
Jesus told us where the dead are:
28Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
Spirit and breath – never life or wisdom outside of the body.
4His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
Ecclesiastes 9: 5For 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.
6Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
10Whatsoever 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.
Sleep texts:
Job 7:21 21And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
Job 14:10-12 10But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
11As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:
12So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
Acts 7:59-60 59And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
60And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
1 Cor. 15:6 6After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
Psalm 13:3 3Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
David slept with his fathers and was buried. 1 King 2:10
John 11:11-14
11These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
12Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
13Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
14Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
When Lazarus came out of the grave – he had no story to tell about heaven because he was sleeping the sleep of death!
Psalm 115:17 17The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.
Isaiah 38:18 18For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
David! Acts 2:29 & 34
29Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
34For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
boards plus nails = box
Take away the nails – no more box
Bulb plus electricity = light
Take away the electricity – light vanishes
Illus. I am a sound sleeper. I know nothing. I am dead to the world
MaryAnn is a light sleeper – I can talk to her!
Jesus said death is a sleep – Lazareth sleepeth – he is dead!
Many of the reformers believed death was a sleep.
Martin Luther “We should learn to view our death in the right light, so that we need not become alarmed on account of it. Because in Christ is is indeed not death, but a fine, swet and brief sleep which brings us release from this vale of tears. Rest briefly for a brief moment till He shall call and awaken us together.” Compend of Luther’s Theology, page 242
William Tyndale
John Milton
John Tillotson
Dr. Emil Brunner – the late renowned Professor of Practical theology at the University of Zurich wrote:
“According to Platonism: the body is mortal, the soul immortal. The mortal husk conceals this eternal essence which in death is freed from its outer shell . . . But this solution to the problem of death stands in irreconcilable opposition to Christian thought.”
Luke 23:43 43And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
John 20:17 17Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
Jesus was not there the day when the thief died!
Hell – believe or burn!
Fire-escape religion based on fear
18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
Matt. 13:41-42 41The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 5:30 30And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
“whole body” goes into hell-fire, not some “spirit or soul.”
Matthew 10:28 28And 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.
The Rich Man and Lazarus – Luke 16:19-31
It is a parable – Abraham’s Bosom, a drop of water.
Josephos said that the Pharisees belief of the after-life were not scriptural – but came from the Greeks. –Discourse to the Greeks.
Jesus told the parable after telling four other parables – the Lost Sheep, The Lost coin, the Prodigal Son, and the unjust steward.
Jesus taught that a man’s destiny is decided in this life.
Beggar – Gentiles, Jews – Rich man the Jews
Lazarus Luke 16:3131And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
Is the Lake of Fire burning now? No
Revelation 20:7And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
8And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Psalm 37:9-10 9For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.
10For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.
Psalm 37:20 20But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.
Matthew 25:46 46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
2 Thess. 1:9 9Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
Jude 7 7Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire
2 Peter 2:6 6And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
These cities are not burning today!
Malachi 4:1-4 1For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
2But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
3And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.
FOREVER – Jonah said he was in the belly of the fish “forever.”
Onesimus was told by Paul to take back his runaway slave as a brother who would serve him “forever.”
Psalm 48: 14For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.
Isaiah 34 8For it is the day of the LORD's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.
9And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
10It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
11But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.
12They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
13And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. (how if the fire was still burning?)
14The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest
The Lake of fire after the 1000 years will cleanse the earth ands purify it!
Then Revelation 21:1-4
1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
No sorrow at the suffering of the unbelievers!
1 John 3:15 15Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
Jesus said Satan was a “murderer from the beginning.” John 8:44
Even Satan will eventually be destroyed after all others
Ezekiel 2812Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
14Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
15Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
16By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
17Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
18Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
19All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
John 14:1-3
God is love
He knows pain and would not prolong it!
“I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” Ezek. 33:11
Isaiah calls the destruction of the wicked Yahweh’s “strange act.” Isaiah 28L21-22
Nahum 1:9 Affliction will not rise up a second time.
Matthew 7:13-14
13Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Rev. 14:12 “Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
He that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out!
I am the way, the truth and trhe life!
He that hath the Son hath life!
1 John 5 12He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
13These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.