Lesson 98: The Reality of Death
When we see a cemetery, we are reminded that here, beneath the headstones, are men and women who once lived, loved, hated, worked, and partied just like we do. Now all there exists is their remains. The same end awaits us, and for many if not most people, thinking about it brings on feelings of dread and fear.
Death is separation from life as we know it, and separation from fellowship from God, the creator and sustainer of life. We are separated from God and life because of our sin. God is perfect and holy in every way and cannot be in the presence of sin.
The first death, that of our physical bodies, is inevitable because every human is corrupt, and death is the penalty that everyone has to face, because of the sins we have committed while in the flesh.
The second death, that of our eternal soul, is being separated from God, the author of life, for eternity. Because the core of our being, the soul, is also corrupt, this is the fate that awaits all of us. The physical death we can do nothing about, but spirit death we can avoid.
From the beginning God, being rich in mercy, saw our dilemma and provided us a way out. He sent Jesus, his perfect, pure, holy son, himself God, to earth to live in the flesh like us. The difference was that he was also God and pure and sinless both in body and soul. And so, God allows everyone who will believe in Jesus as their personal savior, to have their sins commuted to Jesus and his righteousness to them. He is able to take on our sin debt because he has none of his own, like an unused credit card. On the other hand, our sin debt is like a credit card that has been maxed out.
Anyone who confesses that Jesus is the son of God who died in our place as punishment for our sins and was raised to new life by God and accepts him as savior, has been given a pure soul totally acceptable to God.
So now that which separated us from God and life, our sinful bodies and souls, have been replaced by that which enables us to have eternal fellowship with God, a pure soul, and He will also give us a pure, sinless body made to last for eternity. There will be no second death for the Christian because his soul has been made pure and acceptable to God.
And so, the death our bodies will undergo will not separate us from the creator of life, God himself. The death of this body will instead unite our pure soul with God, the author of life.
As a guarantee and down payment, God has given everyone who has accepted Jesus as savior the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, in addition, works with us to help us be obedient to God’s commands.
If our family members and friends are Christians, we will see them in God’s kingdom, and our loss of fellowship will be temporary.
We need to pray for the souls of those haven’t accepted God’s only salvation, his son Jesus as their savior.
Jesus demonstrated his complete control over death in the company of about 400 witnesses who saw him raise Lazarus from the dead, though he had been dead for four days. During his ministry on earth he also raised several others who had died.
Jesus said “He who believes in me will not see the second death”, which is eternal separation from God in hell.
And so, as we contemplate death, we can be comforted in knowing that Jesus overcame it. He is the only being to have died in the flesh and be resurrected to new life, his soul and new eternal body never to see death again. This was witnessed by some 400 people who saw the Crucifixion and then the same people saw him in his resurrection body.
We, who identify with Jesus through faith in him, have the same guarantee. Death to our bodies brings us to full union with God, the creator and sustainer of life.