Does Death and all things? Or is there hope beyond the grave?

“Is Death the End?”

To most believers in God, whether Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhists etc, if you say “No” to this question, you are inclined to favour the common belief that man is immortal, and exists in death as much as in life.

If you say “Yes” you are supposed to deny all religious beliefs.

But there is to a true Bible believer, another understanding that is somewhere in the middle of these two answers. It is the understanding resulting from the acceptance of the Bible as the only teacher in the case. The believer of the Bible holds that man is mortal, and that, in the death state, he has ceased to exist for the time being, but that a future life will be brought about by the resurrection of those who are rendered responsible by knowledge of the Gospel at the return of Christ to the earth. Consequently, these believers could only answer the question by saying, “In some cases death ends all, and in some it does not; but in all cases, death is death while it lasts”.

1. Death ends all in some cases.

“I am like a man who has no strength, Adrift among the dead, Like the slain who lie in the grave,

Whom You remember no more,” (Psa. 88:4-5). “The army and the power (They shall lie down together, they shall not rise; They are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick):” (Isa. 43:14-17). “And they shall be as though they had never been.” (Obad. 16). “Like sheep they are laid in the grave; Death shall feed on them;” (Psa. 49:14).

2. Death does not end all in other cases.

“But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, For He shall receive me” (Psa.49:15). “And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God,” (Job 19:26). “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake” (Dan. 12:2). “He will swallow up death forever,” (Isa. 25:8). “the righteous has a refuge in his death” (Prov. 14:32).

3. But death is death in all cases while it lasts, because —

(a) Man is a creature of the dust, and not an immaterial entity dwelling in a body.

“The first man was of the earth, made of dust” (1 Cor. 15:47). “the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground” (Gen. 2:7). “For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” (Psa. 103:14). “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord” (Gen. 18:27).

(b) Death comes to all men because of sin.

“Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men” (Rom. 5:12). “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). “By man came death … In Adam all die” (1 Cor. 15:21, 22). “The sentence of death in ourselves” (2 Cor. 1:9). “. . . This corruptible . . . this mortal” (1 Cor. 15:53, 54).

(c) In death there is a suspension of all faculty and consciousness and of existence itself.

“For in death there is no remembrance of You; In the grave who will give You thanks?” (Psa. 6:5). “The grave cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth.”(Isa. 38:18). “His breath departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish” (Psa. 146:4).

“the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten.” (Eccl. 9:5, 6). “for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going” (Eccl. 9:10).

(d) The righteous dead have not entered upon their reward, and if there is no resurrection of the dead, they are perished for ever.

“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off” (Heb. 11:13). God gave Abraham “no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, He promised to give it to him for a possession” (Acts. 7: 5). “And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.” (Heb. 11:39-40). “Glorified together” (Rom. 8:17). “. . . And the time of the dead, that they should be judged,

And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great,” (Rev. 11:18). “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.” (1 Cor. 15:17-18). “what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise?” (1 Cor. 15:32).

So to the Atheist who says there is no God, we live, we die and thats it. You are right (For You).

And to those who believe we have a reward in heaven or hell.. Well there is a reward but according to the Bible it is on earth and is given to the faithful at their resurrection.

But what of an  immortal soul?

that my friends, we will discuss in our next episode of “Know Your Bible.”