“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others, which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this I say unto you, by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are…
“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell, for I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.” (Phil 1:21-23 NKJV) “In no way was the apostle saying here that immediately at his death he would be changed into a spirit to be…
Once again take a look at the preceding verse (Phil 1:20), “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or death.” Mark the expression whether it be by life or death. Then follows this utterance, which is but the repetition of the same sentiment in another form viz. Emoi gar to…
We continue once again with our look at the comments made by one of our forum members who believes that when a Christian dies he (apart from his body) does not sleep in death to await the resurrection, but goes immediately to be with the Lord. As proof of his position he supplied the following texts which he believes supports this theory: “To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the…
Now what about our friend’s reference to James 2:26, that “the body without the spirit is dead”, does this not prove his point? He states, “The body is the only part of man that dies at physical death. The reason it dies is because the inner man, the life of the body, leaves the body. It then goes back to dust and is spoken of as being asleep.” Let us begin by first clearing up what precisely James meant when…
The following comments were made by one of our forum members under the thread “No-one has gone to heaven?” and are typical of the beliefs held by many believers. Note it is not our intention of selectively pointing out this particular individual, but are merely presenting his viewpoint as it representative of the same or similar thoughts of many others. Now in an earlier post he had asked the question: Where in scripture does it say anyone is asleep in…
THE PROPOSITION “The proposition under discussion as stated is a clear admission that the dead are unconscious for the reason it assumes — that there is to be an awakening. Mark the words thereof, ‘that the dead are unconscious from the moment of death until the moment of awakening to the resurrection of the dead.’ If the dead were already conscious it follows that they would already be awake and therefore there could be no awakening. Jesus points out that…
DEATH — SLEEP Since God has made provision for the awakening of the dead to the resurrection, the Bible frequently speaks of death as sleep. Sleep is a symbol of death, and the word is used in that sense. A man lies down to sleep and we say he will wake again. And so we say with reference to the dead — ‘He shall awake and come again.’ As the Prophet Jeremiah beautifully states the matter (Jer 31:15-16), “Thus says…
WHY MEN DIE It is a principle of God’s law that every perfect, righteous creature is entitled to life. It follows that every unrighteous creature has no legal right to life. God enforced his judgment against Adam in a gradual manner, viz. — by forcing Adam out of Eden, where the food was perfect, and forcing him to obtain his food or sustenance from the unfinished earth, which brought forth or produced poisonous foods. As he partook of these poisonous…
THE PENALTY OF THE LAW “God said to Adam, “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.” (Gen 2:17) If the soul is immortal, then God did not mean what he said, because an immortal creature could not be put to death. Was this announced penalty of the law to apply to the body only, or to the soul? Some…