Life beyond the grave

Here's an excerpt from Discover Bible Lessons:

What does the Bible say about death?

What happens when you die? It’s a question that has crossed everyone’s mind, because death happens to everyone, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, or status. It is the unconquerable foe that has taken over the likes of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. Postulates or theories by minds like Einstein or Stephen Hawking can never be proved upon this subject. So what does the Bible say?
One of Jesus’ most significant miracles recorded in the Bible was the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead (John 11). There are other instances of people who had been raised from the dead, but unlike those mentioned before in the Bible, Lazarus had been dead for an entire period of four days. When Lazarus died, Jesus said, “ ‘Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.’ Then His disciples said, ‘Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.’ However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.” (John 11:11-13, NKJV).
The Bible compares death to sleep more than fifty times. When we are asleep, we are unconscious; we are not aware of the passing of time or of what is going on around us. That is what death is like as well. The Bible says, “for the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing… their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished” (Ecclesiastes 9:5, NKJV, see also Psalm 146:4; 115:17). It makes sense that after Lazarus was raised from the dead, he doesn’t share what he saw or experienced. He didn’t have anything to tell, except that once he was dead, and now he is alive! He didn’t experience hell or heaven. He was simply “sleeping” in his tomb. Peter on the Day of Pentecost said the same of King David. “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day…For David did not ascend into the heavens…(Acts 2:29, 34).
Many Christians think of the soul as an immortal entity within us that goes on living after death. What does the Bible say? Describing the creation of human beings in the beginning, the Bible says, “And 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” (Genesis 2:7, KJV). Other Bible translations say, “. . . and man became a living being” (NKJV; NIV). God did not put a soul into man. He formed the body from the dust of the ground, and then He breathed His life-giving spirit into the lifeless body—and the result was a soul, or a living being. When a person dies, the reverse takes place. The breath of life departs from the body, and the soul no longer exists. That’s what the Bible says. “The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7, NIV). At the resurrection, God reunites the body and His life-giving spirit—and the person lives again.
If souls existed as separate entities that lived on after we died, that would mean we have immortality. However, the Bible says human beings do not have immortality. Only God is immortal (see 1 Timothy 6:15, 16). Paul says that the righteous “seek for glory, honor, and immortality” (Romans 2:7). If we had immortal souls, why would the righteous seek after something they already have?
Though we may die, Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” (John 11:25). We will receive immortality when Jesus comes again (see 1 Corinthians 15:51-54). The Bible says that all those who have died—both righteous and wicked—will be raised to life in one of two resurrections. The righteous will be raised to life at Jesus’ second coming. “ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16, NKJV). According to this verse, the righteous do not to go heaven when they die. They remain asleep in the grave until Jesus returns and raises them to immortal life (see 1 Corinthians 15:50-57).
The wicked are raised to life in a separate resurrection—the resurrection of condemnation. Jesus said, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” (John 5:28, 29, NKJV).
The prophets never mention in the Bible that the righteous immediately go to heaven or the wicked go to hell when they die. Neither did Jesus and His apostles teach it. When Jesus was about to leave His disciples, He did not tell them they would soon come to Him. “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-3, NKJV).
When He returns, our loved ones asleep in Christ will awake from their tombs. No matter how long the time has passed, be it long or short, will be but a moment to them. By the trump of God, they are called forth from their deep slumber they will begin to think just where they ceased, awakening to a glorious immortality.
“For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible…So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’”
The last sensation was the pang of death, the last thought, that they were falling beneath the power of the grave, but then, imagine, when they arise from the tomb, to the shout,
“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).

Ajax, don't fall into the trap of false doctrine! The bible is very clear about what happens to us when we die. The problem is, it's the answer that many of us don't want to hear. Just remember, we will be judged to the extent of the light that we were given- that is, if you know you are doing wrong, it will be held against you. If you truely don't know that you are doing wrong, God will extend his mercy and grace because it was He that gives light to begin with.

 

1John 5:11-12

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

 

I'm not really sure why you are calling me out? Because I said something about the spirit and soul? The Bible is pretty clear about there being an experience after death, specifically after the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 

Not trying to call you out! Just trying to clarify the issue, that there is no experience after death- until Jesus returns. Not before, or Lazarus and the little girl that Jesus reeusrected would have told everyone what they saw or experienced. They didn't, because they knew nothing after dying. We as christians have to be careful to not spread false doctrine, or we will pay the price later, in various ways.

 

Luke 16:19 - There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

Luke 16:20 - And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,

Luke 16:21 - And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

Luke 16:22 - And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

Luke 16:23 - And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

Luke 16:24 - And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

Luke 16:25 - But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

Luke 16:26 - And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that [would come] from thence.

Luke 16:27 - Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house:

Luke 16:28 - For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

Luke 16:29 - Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.

Luke 16:30 - And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

Luke 16:31 - And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

 

Luke 16 is a parable. Jesus was describing a situation of where a rich man would not help others while he was alive, yet would ask for help and comfort when the situation was reversed.

It is also about faith; the rich man wanted to warn his brothers so they wouldn't have to suffer the same fate as him, but was told that if they didn't believe the patriarchs, they wouldn't believe him even if he came back from the dead to tell them. They have to make their OWN decisions.

Don't get confused by others trying to justify their weak positions that are not based on scripture, or misinterpretation of such. I'm not a scholar, I just ask for guidance from the Lord. He will lead you to true understanding if you just ask.

 

I honestly don't know how you can just disregard these verses.

You would be wise to follow your own advice. The entire Bible is the word of God, every letter, every dot, it's all important, we can't pick and choose what suites our ideas.

 

You all need to read Ephesians 4:29-32 before you post anymore. Just a thought.

Another thought is that God is omnipotent and time is irrelevant to God. We all think of time as linear, and for us, while we are alive on earth it is. But for God, time is not a constraint or even a factor, 2 Peter 3:8.

My point is stop arguing or even worrying about the technical processes God uses to give us eternal life. The only fact that matters is God has given us eternal life. How many bus stops we pass through or how long it will or will not take is irrelevant to the lessons God is trying to teach us in the bible.

 

I agree completely. It's easy to get too caught up in little differences in beliefs and stop focusing on what matters. There are several different Christian groups and denominations and they usually have a few differences in what they believe. We are all brothers and sisters in the Lord, we all love Jesus Christ and the word of God, that's whats important. Squabbling over little differences is a waste of time when we all believe the same core principles and truths that the Bible teaches.


You mentioned this earlier in the thread.

This is a great point. Who God really is is beyond our comprehension, he gave us exactly what we need to know now through Jesus Christ and the word of God.

Stuff happens all the time and I don't know why God would allow it to happen but I know God is in control, God is love and God has a master plan and thank God I don't have the ability to completely know what God's plan is. Who am I, nobody, God is all powerful and all knowing so to me it makes sense that the entirety of reality is beyond my comprehension.

One of the things that's been taught in the Church I attend that has saved my life is realizing that God is in control of all things and accepting his headship over every detail in my life. Instead of getting mad and complaining when things don't go my way, I try to remember to thank God for it and accept how things are and accept his headship in my life.

 

Its one thing to realize that God is in control, it's another thing to put it into practice, and that is where I fall short (OK not the only place I fall short, but one of them).

Sometimes we are own worst enemies, we know the path and refuse to take it. People have been studying the bible for thousands of years and we still can't agree on what every part means. Some are so sure they are right and everyone else is wrong, and you know that will go on for another few thousand years if God wills it.

Here is what I know, God has a plan and he will let me know what it is when he is darn good and ready. Until then its my job to do my best to live my life in a way that honors his will, even though I will fail miserably, but that is OK with him as long as I keep trying.

Please don't take my above posts wrong, there is nothing wrong with a good discussion of the bible, and what fun is a discussion if everyone agrees. We just need to remember that there is no way any of us can say "I am 100% correct and you are wrong", when talking about issues like this.

 

I know exactly what you mean. The Lord has been faithful to let me see just how desperate and desolate I am without his guiding light, like the Bible says there is nothing good in us apart from him. When I look at my sinful nature and then start to get a glimpse of the Lord's loving nature and how different I am apart from him it's truly shocking and I don't know the half of it.

Going on for God is a process and some things can take many years to really learn and overcome, sometimes we can overcome things overnight with the Lord's help but we will always sin and always fail in some way or another until we are in eternity with the Lord. I mess up many times every day if I look in the mirror honestly. Overcoming problems in our life with God's help is important but the main thing is we must continue to confess and repent for our sins every day all through the day and get cleansed anew and not get discourage because we falter. We will never be perfect this side of eternity but Jesus Christ is perfect, thank God for his saving grace and mercy, we would truly be lost without it.

 

I wasn't disreguarding it, I was pointing out that this parable has does not pertain to this conversation.

I'm trying to help you- trying to spread some of the light that I've so graciously been given. I'm not trying to split hairs here; the time is rapidly approaching where we are going to be tested for our faith. If any one of us messes up, that's it and the jig is up. Grace will be coming to an end, and if you are not sealed in God, you are going to be out in the cold. That's why the little things matter- that's why the words NO COMPROMISE should be added to the front of our bibles- because once we start to make peace deals with Babylon, we are basically telling God we don't trust him.

Again, I'm not singling any one person out, as we ALL make compromises in order to feel better, maybe not anger or upset someone, whatever. Maybe we should compromise so we can bring in more people to the church? NO NO NO- if they don't accept the message for what it is, then it's all on them. Pray for them, that the Holy Spirit will work on their hearts and get them to repent. Like the olf saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water..."

Selah, Brothers!

 

1 John 5: 11-12.

It is not any more complicated than that. No compromise needed, nothing to misunderstand.

We all fall short of Gods glory and we always will, and God knows that.

Salvation can not be achieved by our own actions.

 

I most definately am NOT talking about salvation through works! Holding steady to what the light dictates to us is NOT works- it's an outward manifestation of our love for Jesus.

I John 5:12 "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."

Good verse for this discussion. Let's break it down some. "He that hath the Son hath life..." We know that if we "hath the Son" we will "hath life". So just how do we "hath the Son"?

1 John 5:1-3 "1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth Him that begat loveth Him also that is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous."

According to John, it's "whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ" That sounds pretty reasonable. But what about the next verse? How do we know that we love God? John answers that pretty plainly: "when we love God, and keep His commandments."

So yeah, those commandments are still in play. To keep us from falling into the legalistic trap once again, like anchient Israel, we not only have to keep the commandments, but "His commandments are not grievous." That means that we must follow the commandments out of love, not out of a sense of obligation that becomes a burden. That would be an example of works.

I have to admit, following the commandments is impossible on my own. I ask Jesus for guidance every day. At first I thought I had to, because I had to. That was the wrong answer, and the Lord made sure I understood that- sermons were strategically placed for me to "get the idea" so to speak. (That's just another example of His love and tremendous patients.)

God doesn't want us to be unhappy. If following the commandments makes us unhappy, God would rather us not do it, until we gain a better understanding of their true meaning. When we come around, He is there with open arms. That my friends, is following His commandments out of love. It is so much NOT works.

 

IMHO faith is what make christianity work in this life , if absolute proof was provided even the evolutionist's missing link would hit his knees.