What is death? What does the Bible teach us about death? What happens when we die? Do we have a hope of living again even after we died? The Bible contains the inspired words of God. God wants you to understand what life really is and what happens to us when we die.
What is death?
Death is the cessation of life. After death, our body start to decay or decompose and we eventually turn to dust.
Is there any consciousness at death?
Since life is ceased at death, there is no consciousness at death. This is the truth. Any other story you may hear of people seen living their lives elsewhere is a hoax or a deceptive false story. The Bible said:
4 But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Ecclesiastes 9:4-6
5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.
What is the origin of death?
The first time we read of death is in Genesis:
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
Genesis 2:16,17
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
After God created mankind and placed them in the Garden of Eden, He gave them a simple commandment as you can see above. There, God clearly told Adam that the consequence of them disobeying his commandment is death! This principle is repeated in the epistle to the Romans:
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23
Unfortunately, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and the verdict of death was passed on them and their posterity. After their disobedience, God told Adam:
19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:19
Once again, death is the consequence of sin or disobedience of the commandment of God. The first death was introduced after Adam and Eve sinned. That death has passed on to all of us and it is well deserving punishment because we all have also sinned.
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
Romans 5:12
James explains the relationship between sin and death using the imagery of conception, pregnancy and birth:
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.
James 1:13-15
14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
In summary, man is mortal and sinful. Our nature which is flesh and blood is subject to sin, death and decay. We have been condemned to die because of our sins and our nature which we inherited from our first parents – Adam and Eve.
What about soul and reincarnation?
Unfortunately, people believe that that man is not really mortal but lives forever after death. But we have shown that nothing in man lives forever. Even the soul can dies:
20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
Ezekiel 18:20
In the Hebrew and Greek language, the soul is nothing but our whole being or the life in us. As you can see, the soul is not immortal. The doctrine of an immortal soul is heretic.
Also, we do not reincarnate or take up another body of a new born baby after we die. We are all unique individuals before god and we all will be judged according to the life we lived at the last day.
Is there a hope of life and death?
There is only one hope of life after death, that is only in Christ Jesus. God basically sentenced Adam and Eve to death because of their disobedience. God is just and right in doing that since He is our creator and man is aware that sin leads to death and we yet to choose to sin. But in Christ Jesus, God has given us a way of redemption and salvation. This show us that God, the only living God is actually full of love and mercy for us.
It is not God’s desire for you and I to die. He wants us to live forever in His kingdom. Jesus Christ said:
32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Luke 12:32
The resurrection of the dead
Glory be to God! The death of Jesus Christ has given us victory over sin and death! As many that believe in Jesus Christ the son of God – in his death, resurrection and follow his teachings, God will give them everlasting life at the last day and even if they died, God will make them to live again at the day of resurrection which will happen only when Jesus comes again! Glory be to God!
10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Romans 8:10,11
It is true that every human die today, but the special promise of God to only those that are in Jesus Christ is that they will rise again to live forever. Death will not always have victory over us! We will be victorious in Christ Jesus, glory and praise be to the living God!
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
1Corinthians 15:52-58
Those who died in Christ sleep
This is the reason the scriptures say that the believers sleep when they die. Because those who sleep, sleep at night and hope to wake up at the rising of the sun in the morning. That rising sun figuratively points to the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, to resurrect the dead and reward the righteous with eternal life in the kingdom.
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
How can you live forever?
You have such a precious offer of living forever before you! Guess what? It is free! All you have to do is to confess your sins and repent. Believe in Jesus Christ and his message of the kingdom of God. Ask to be baptised and you will be saved! Contact us, we will help you get baptised.
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
John 11:25
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