Death is nearly as old as life itself on this planet, and
its roots are from even earlier. The Bible records the origin of death on earth
and also the events that happened elsewhere that allowed for death to exist in
the first place. The Scriptures are perfectly clear that death is an
abnormality and was never meant to exist at all.
To understand why everyone on this planet is subject to the strange mystery of death, we must first travel elsewhere in the universe, to a place the Bible calls heaven.
Heaven is where God dwells. It is the headquarters of the universe. Long before there was life on earth, there was life in heaven. The Bible tells us that creatures we know as angels existed there. There were many angels, “ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands and thousands” of them, a number so high they are essentially “innumerable” (Revelation 5:11; Hebrews 12:22). These beings lived in perfect harmony with each other. They served God and each other. There was no death. God’s perfect creatures were made to live forever, living ever more abundantly as time went on.
But something went wrong in this heavenly paradise. The Bible tells us of one of these angels who was “perfect in [his] ways from the day [he was] created, till iniquity was found in [him]” (Ezekiel 28:15). In other words, the seed of sin festered in this angel’s heart until it finally erupted into a full rebellion.
Unfortunately, this was no ordinary angel. He was the “anointed cherub who covers;” he ministered “on the holy mountain of God,” walking “back and forth in the midst of fiery stones” (Ezekiel 28:14). He had the highest position of all the angels, ministering directly to God. As such, there was no one in heaven with more power, authority, or influence than this angel, except for God Himself.
What was the nature of this angel’s sin? The Bible says: “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor” (Ezekiel 28:17). His sin was pride. As a perfect creature made by God, his beauty was remarkable and his wisdom was splendid. However, rather than give glory to God for these gifts, he became proud because of them. He saw them not as gifts but as self-earned attributes.
“13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.'"
(Isaiah 14:13, 14).
Because Lucifer could not declare open rebellion against God without help, he gathered the support of many of the other angels and, eventually, a “war broke out in heaven” (Revelation 12:7). Lucifer, now renamed Satan (the accuser) because of his rebellion, lost this war, and he and his followers were banished. “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:9).
And so this sinful angel came to earth. We can reasonably infer from the Bible that this drama occurred before God created life on earth, because Satan was already present on the earth at the beginning. God gave the first man and the first woman free reign to explore, to do and eat anything they desired in their original, perfect home … except for a single thing. God made one tree off-limits to them as a test of their loyalty, and Satan was ready to do what was necessary to make them fail that test.
Let’s stop for a moment to consider something important: Why did God not destroy Satan in the beginning? That would have prevented him from coming to Earth and spared all of us from sin and death. Why did God permit Satan to live when the rest of us must die? This question is of the greatest significance, and it gets right to the heart of who God is and why we should learn about Him.
The Bible tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). The Bible also says that love is not provoked but rejoices in the truth (1 Corinthians 13:4-6). Just as we are free to make our own decisions each day, so too are the angels. Satan accused God of being unfair, of hoarding to Himself power and worship that rightly belonged to others including Satan himself. If God destroyed Satan immediately as a result of his rebellion, the remaining angels would see that God was easily provoked and might be afraid of Him. They might serve Him out of fear and not love. In order for God to demonstrate the truth about His character of love, He must allow Satan’s rebellion to reveal its own results. God wants His angels and people to serve Him because His way is righteous, just, and leads to life, happiness, and prosperity—not out of fear of destruction if they rebel. When Satan’s rebellion in heaven and on earth reveals that its results are death, disease, destruction, heartache, divorce, starvation, torture, war, homicide, suicide, genocide, and “all kinds of evil,” all created beings will see for themselves that God deserves our worship and is, truly, love (1 Timothy 6:10).
“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 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.’”The instruction was plain. Eating from the forbidden tree would result in death. Death did not exist at that time, and would not have ever existed on earth if the man and woman had obeyed this simple command.
We must ask ourselves why the penalty for this small infraction was so severe. The answer is simple. The Bible is clear that God “alone has immortality” and that “the gift of God is eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:16; Romans 6:23). So, immortality can only exist through a connection with God. If that connection is severed, immortality ceases and death ensues. The Bible uses the word “sin” to describe this separation from God; though it is used to label specific actions that are contrary to God’s will, such as adultery and murder, God sees sin as a much bigger problem because it severs His children from Himself and makes them subject to death. Sin is a state of being apart from God. Therefore, even a small act of rebellion separates the sinner from God and results in death.
Satan succeeded in tricking the first woman into disobeying God, and she in turn caused the man to disobey as well. Taking the form of a talking serpent (which would baffle and amaze just about anybody, wouldn’t it?), Satan claimed that disobeying God would not result in death, but would instead give them powers and understanding beyond what they currently possessed. The Bible records this deception in Genesis 3:1–5, which reads:
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden”?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.”’ Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”Satan told the woman that her disobedience would cause her to be like God. This, we remember, was Lucifer’s original sin. Like Lucifer, the woman fell victim to this temptation and ate the forbidden fruit. Genesis 3:6 tells us, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.”
Since the man and the woman had sinned, they now knew the nature of evil. God is good; God is love. To be separate from goodness and love is to be joined with badness and evil. Evil cannot inherit immortality, for God alone is immortal and God is not evil. God declares, in Genesis 3:22, 23,
“‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’— therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.”The man and woman eventually had children, and every person ever born is ultimately descended from this original pair. Everyone born since that time has been subject to death.
This sad tale has affected everyone who has ever lived. Through no fault of our own, we were born into a world that is separated from the God who created it, and as such we all must face the day we must eventually die. But there is hope! The same God who made mankind “in His own image” cares too much to allow us to die in despair (Genesis 1:27). Through Jesus Christ, we have the hope of immortality restored to us.
To all who understand this, God freely imparts the promise of eternal life in paradise, where they will never be subject to death again. The Bible declares triumphantly, “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54). The mystery of death will become the memory of death, and its horror will disappear from reality forever.
Until that time, however, we must live with the reality of death, and there has been much confusion and misunderstanding over the issue. Even Christian churches throughout time have stumbled over this topic. We believe, however, that a thorough and honest study of the Scriptures reveals the true nature of death and the beauty of God’s solution to it.
So what, exactly, happens when we die? Heaven? Hell?
Reincarnation? Nothing?
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me,” and also, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 14:6; John 11:25). Because of these bold claims, followers of Jesus’ teachings have often claimed to know the “truth about death,” claiming the Bible as their authority on the matter.
Yet how can this approach be foolproof when the “truth about death” varies even between Christian churches? How can we be confident in our Bible study technique so that we are also confident in the result it yields?
The answer lies in the Bible itself, offering a prescription for finding God’s truth:
So let’s begin at the beginning and see if the message we find there remains consistent as the rest of the Bible unfolds.
The first chapter of Genesis says that the heavens and the Earth were all created by God as He spoke them into existence.
God’s words create matter and energy. He is so powerful that He must merely say
something for it to become reality.
Yet the Bible tells us that God did not speak mankind into existence. Rather, He molded the first man with His own hands. “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 being” (Genesis 2:7). God cares for mankind so much that He used His own hands to make man perfect. Then, because the body must be animated to become alive, God breathed the “breath of life” into the body, and the man lived.
It is important to recognize this formula for life. The body without the breath is not alive; neither is the breath alive without a body. Only when the two elements are joined together does life occur. When we look at the same passage in the King James translation, it says, “Man became a living soul.” The word “soul” has been used to describe an intangible part of the human that is separate from the body and lives on after death, but the Bible defines a “soul” as the combination of a body and the breath, or spirit, from God. A person does not HAVE a soul; a person IS a soul, according to the Word of God.
Life, then, comes from God as a gift. The Old Testament patriarch Job understood this when he said, “As long as my breath is in me, And the breath of God in my nostrils,” he would not commit sin (Job 27:3). He knew that the breath inside of him was truly the breath from God.
The author of the book of Ecclesiastes, most likely King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, demonstrated this equation in reverse. He wrote, describing death, “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).
Therefore, we acknowledge that there is an invisible, intangible part of human life that exists apart from the body. However, the Bible tells us that it is not an immortal human soul, but rather a spirit from God. God lends us a part of Himself while we are alive, but that part returns to God when we die because it was always on loan from God to begin with.
The Bible records this same truth in the Christian era. The apostle James declares that “the body without the spirit is dead,” and thus recognizes that life is a combination of those two elements and ceases to exist when they are separated.
This concept is easy to understand when we consider the elements of artificial light. We create light by starting with a light bulb and adding an electric current to it. The product of those two elements is light. When we break the bulb or stop the electricity, the light ceases to exist. The light, like our lives, cannot exist in the absence of either of the two components that make it up.
This teaching obviously differs from what most Christian churches teach. While we respect their views and their faith, we encourage every person to take an honest look at what the Scriptures say about the subject of death. Not only is its formula for life clear, as we’ve demonstrated, but it has an abundance to say about the human experience after death as well. Consider these few thoughts on the matter:
“The dead do not praise the LORD, Nor any who go down into silence” (Psalm 115:17).
This tells us that death brings silence, and not praise, for God. Wouldn’t you praise God if you were in His presence in heaven?
“[A man’s] spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his
plans perish” (Psalm 146:4).
Our plans do not continue beyond the grave because death means the cessation of life. Life stops at death.
“For in death there is no remembrance of [God]; In the grave who will give
You thanks?” (Psalm 6:5).
How can we not remember God if we are with Him each day?
“For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to
the pit cannot hope for Your truth” (Isaiah 38:18).
Death holds no thanks, praise, or hope for God.
“Yet he shall be brought to the grave, And a vigil kept over the tomb” (Job 21:32).
The dead go to the grave and stay there.
“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. Also their love,
their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a
share In anything done under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6).
This speaks for itself, doesn’t it?
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work
or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
The Bible is overwhelmingly clear that death means death. When we die, we return to the same state of consciousness we had before we were born: none.
It is understandable why pagan religions and cultures often immortalize their dead and why this doctrine crept into both the Jewish and, eventually, Christian religions over time. The grief that survivors must endure after a loved one dies can be unbearable, and the thought of this loved one in a perfect paradise looking down upon the survivors can bring a sense of relief and comfort. If this were the story the Bible gave us, we would believe it. However, the Bible tells us plainly that death means a loss of consciousness and a loss of life.
Though this understanding highlights how horrible death really is, it also should alleviate our fears about it. No matter how painful a method of death is, no matter how many unresolved issues you leave behind, no matter how scared of the dark you are, at the moment of death you will cease to be aware of anything, even your own death. Just as you can never tell the moment you fall asleep, so too is death. There is nothing to fear, because there is nothing at all.
Consider the alternative for a moment. If you could actually look down upon the
remaining earthlings from your divine heavenly paradise, you would see that the
people you love continue to struggle, get sick, and die. You would witness
their lies and their hurts. You would see the secret things they never wanted
you to see when you were alive. If they rebel against God, you would know ahead
of time that they would not join you in heaven. It is hard to imagine paradise
including those things.
Also consider that the idea that death brings an immediate reward that includes greater knowledge and abilities than you had before is the same lie that Satan told the first woman to get her to rebel against God in the garden of Eden! He told her, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4, 5). The devil made sin, which leads to death, seem like an attractive thing; death seemed like a reward. The devil has been telling this lie since the beginning. He has told the same story all throughout time.
Another Bible text confirms that the dead go to sleep when they die, but it also gives a hint as to how God will eventually correct this problem. Consider Job 14:10–12:
At that time, the dead will be roused from their sleep. God loves His children too much to allow them to die forever. Jesus Christ makes a promise to everyone who will believe it and accept it regarding the time when the dead will wake up. He says:
Death might be a sleep of unconsciousness, but it is only temporary. For those who trust in God to keep His promises, eternal life without death awaits.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me,” and also, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 14:6; John 11:25). Because of these bold claims, followers of Jesus’ teachings have often claimed to know the “truth about death,” claiming the Bible as their authority on the matter.
Yet how can this approach be foolproof when the “truth about death” varies even between Christian churches? How can we be confident in our Bible study technique so that we are also confident in the result it yields?
The answer lies in the Bible itself, offering a prescription for finding God’s truth:
“Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little” (Isaiah 28:9, 10).In other words, a mature study of God’s message (one that contains more than just the “milk” of the Scriptures) demands that each passage about a subject must be compared to every other passage on the subject in the Bible. If we fail to do this, we might look at only part of the message and declare it to be the entire truth. Worse yet, we might misunderstand the message and declare blatant falsehood as truth.
So let’s begin at the beginning and see if the message we find there remains consistent as the rest of the Bible unfolds.
The first chapter of Genesis says that the heavens and the Earth were all created by God as He spoke them into existence.
“Then God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear’; and it was so” (Genesis 1:9).
Yet the Bible tells us that God did not speak mankind into existence. Rather, He molded the first man with His own hands. “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 being” (Genesis 2:7). God cares for mankind so much that He used His own hands to make man perfect. Then, because the body must be animated to become alive, God breathed the “breath of life” into the body, and the man lived.
It is important to recognize this formula for life. The body without the breath is not alive; neither is the breath alive without a body. Only when the two elements are joined together does life occur. When we look at the same passage in the King James translation, it says, “Man became a living soul.” The word “soul” has been used to describe an intangible part of the human that is separate from the body and lives on after death, but the Bible defines a “soul” as the combination of a body and the breath, or spirit, from God. A person does not HAVE a soul; a person IS a soul, according to the Word of God.
Life, then, comes from God as a gift. The Old Testament patriarch Job understood this when he said, “As long as my breath is in me, And the breath of God in my nostrils,” he would not commit sin (Job 27:3). He knew that the breath inside of him was truly the breath from God.
The author of the book of Ecclesiastes, most likely King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, demonstrated this equation in reverse. He wrote, describing death, “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).
Therefore, we acknowledge that there is an invisible, intangible part of human life that exists apart from the body. However, the Bible tells us that it is not an immortal human soul, but rather a spirit from God. God lends us a part of Himself while we are alive, but that part returns to God when we die because it was always on loan from God to begin with.
The Bible records this same truth in the Christian era. The apostle James declares that “the body without the spirit is dead,” and thus recognizes that life is a combination of those two elements and ceases to exist when they are separated.
This concept is easy to understand when we consider the elements of artificial light. We create light by starting with a light bulb and adding an electric current to it. The product of those two elements is light. When we break the bulb or stop the electricity, the light ceases to exist. The light, like our lives, cannot exist in the absence of either of the two components that make it up.
This teaching obviously differs from what most Christian churches teach. While we respect their views and their faith, we encourage every person to take an honest look at what the Scriptures say about the subject of death. Not only is its formula for life clear, as we’ve demonstrated, but it has an abundance to say about the human experience after death as well. Consider these few thoughts on the matter:
This tells us that death brings silence, and not praise, for God. Wouldn’t you praise God if you were in His presence in heaven?
Our plans do not continue beyond the grave because death means the cessation of life. Life stops at death.
How can we not remember God if we are with Him each day?
Death holds no thanks, praise, or hope for God.
The dead go to the grave and stay there.
This speaks for itself, doesn’t it?
The Bible is overwhelmingly clear that death means death. When we die, we return to the same state of consciousness we had before we were born: none.
It is understandable why pagan religions and cultures often immortalize their dead and why this doctrine crept into both the Jewish and, eventually, Christian religions over time. The grief that survivors must endure after a loved one dies can be unbearable, and the thought of this loved one in a perfect paradise looking down upon the survivors can bring a sense of relief and comfort. If this were the story the Bible gave us, we would believe it. However, the Bible tells us plainly that death means a loss of consciousness and a loss of life.
Though this understanding highlights how horrible death really is, it also should alleviate our fears about it. No matter how painful a method of death is, no matter how many unresolved issues you leave behind, no matter how scared of the dark you are, at the moment of death you will cease to be aware of anything, even your own death. Just as you can never tell the moment you fall asleep, so too is death. There is nothing to fear, because there is nothing at all.
Also consider that the idea that death brings an immediate reward that includes greater knowledge and abilities than you had before is the same lie that Satan told the first woman to get her to rebel against God in the garden of Eden! He told her, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4, 5). The devil made sin, which leads to death, seem like an attractive thing; death seemed like a reward. The devil has been telling this lie since the beginning. He has told the same story all throughout time.
Another Bible text confirms that the dead go to sleep when they die, but it also gives a hint as to how God will eventually correct this problem. Consider Job 14:10–12:
This text tells us that a man’s death is like a river drying up and promises that the sleep of death will not be disturbed until “the heavens are no more.” Did you know that the Bible talks about a time when the heavens will, indeed, be no more?“But man dies and is laid away; Indeed he breathes his last And where is he? As water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up, So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, They will not awake Nor be roused from their sleep.”
At that time, the dead will be roused from their sleep. God loves His children too much to allow them to die forever. Jesus Christ makes a promise to everyone who will believe it and accept it regarding the time when the dead will wake up. He says:
“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).So Christ tells us that when He returns to Earth, He will raise the dead and bring them to heaven with Him, so everyone can be together in a land with no more death. The Bible describes Christ’s return by saying, “The stars of heaven fell to the earth, and the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up” (Revelation 6:13, 14). The heavens, as we know them, will be no more, and life will never be the same again.
Death might be a sleep of unconsciousness, but it is only temporary. For those who trust in God to keep His promises, eternal life without death awaits.
Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate, came to earth to live a
sinless life and die bearing the sins of every man, woman, and child throughout
time, thus redeeming the fallen race from the plague of death and offering
eternal life to anyone who is willing to accept it. But how, exactly, will this
solution come about? Christ lived nearly two millennia ago, and we are still
living in a world with death and sin.
Clearly, the controversy is not over yet … but it will be soon. Jesus Christ promised to return and told us about many signs in the world that act as indicators that His return is drawing near. Every single one of those signs is being fulfilled in today’s world.
But what do we have to look forward to when Jesus comes back?
We find an amazing Bible promise in 1 Thessalonians 4:16. “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.”
When Jesus returns, everyone will know it. It will not be a secret. God’s voice is so loud that even the dead hear it (John 5:28). Just as God’s voice created the earth and all that is in it in the first place, His voice recreates life for the dead throughout time who hoped for a better life in heaven someday. The “dead in Christ” will come out of their graves into eternal life without end.
The promise continues in verse 17, saying, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
God’s people who remain alive until the moment Christ returns are not left out of this amazing event. They will join the risen dead to meet Jesus in the air and will enjoy eternal life without ever experiencing death. We hope to be part of that group. We hope you are too.
But what will this new life be like? Will we exist as spirit beings, playing harps on clouds for eternity? Or does God have something else in store?
First Corinthians 15:51, 52, describes the great resurrection day by saying,
“We shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
The new body we will receive at Christ’s return will not be the same as the one we have now. The author continues his description in verse 53: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”
The new body will not be subject to corruption. It will never die. It will not grow old, diseased, or decrepit. We will live forever in the presence of God in bodies that reflect His goodness and glory. Never again will our bodies be separated from the breath of life. Never again will our souls die.
Much more can be said about the resurrection body and a life without death, but that is a topic for another time.
We know from the Bible that death is an abnormality. It was never part of God’s plan; it exists due to rebellion against God; death is the cessation of life, and it holds nothing but silence and unconsciousness; God paid the ultimate price for sin and death in the person of Jesus Christ; and one day … soon … all who accept God’s free gift of eternal life will be changed and will never experience death again.
Jesus paid the price for you to receive eternal life without death, but you have the power to accept or reject that gift. It is our sincere hope that you accept that gift today and set your heart on the life to come, when death, disease, and all misery will be things of the past. We hope to see you in heaven someday. Won’t you join us? Won’t you make a decision for God today?
Clearly, the controversy is not over yet … but it will be soon. Jesus Christ promised to return and told us about many signs in the world that act as indicators that His return is drawing near. Every single one of those signs is being fulfilled in today’s world.
We find an amazing Bible promise in 1 Thessalonians 4:16. “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.”
When Jesus returns, everyone will know it. It will not be a secret. God’s voice is so loud that even the dead hear it (John 5:28). Just as God’s voice created the earth and all that is in it in the first place, His voice recreates life for the dead throughout time who hoped for a better life in heaven someday. The “dead in Christ” will come out of their graves into eternal life without end.
The promise continues in verse 17, saying, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
God’s people who remain alive until the moment Christ returns are not left out of this amazing event. They will join the risen dead to meet Jesus in the air and will enjoy eternal life without ever experiencing death. We hope to be part of that group. We hope you are too.
But what will this new life be like? Will we exist as spirit beings, playing harps on clouds for eternity? Or does God have something else in store?
First Corinthians 15:51, 52, describes the great resurrection day by saying,
“We shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
The new body we will receive at Christ’s return will not be the same as the one we have now. The author continues his description in verse 53: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”
The new body will not be subject to corruption. It will never die. It will not grow old, diseased, or decrepit. We will live forever in the presence of God in bodies that reflect His goodness and glory. Never again will our bodies be separated from the breath of life. Never again will our souls die.
Much more can be said about the resurrection body and a life without death, but that is a topic for another time.
We know from the Bible that death is an abnormality. It was never part of God’s plan; it exists due to rebellion against God; death is the cessation of life, and it holds nothing but silence and unconsciousness; God paid the ultimate price for sin and death in the person of Jesus Christ; and one day … soon … all who accept God’s free gift of eternal life will be changed and will never experience death again.
Jesus paid the price for you to receive eternal life without death, but you have the power to accept or reject that gift. It is our sincere hope that you accept that gift today and set your heart on the life to come, when death, disease, and all misery will be things of the past. We hope to see you in heaven someday. Won’t you join us? Won’t you make a decision for God today?
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