gift of life – Page 4 – jeffersonvann

daring to say SLEEP

gift of life #8

daring to say “sleep”

Popping off, croaking, buying the farm, pushing up daisies, biting the big one, kicking the bucket, assuming room temperature, … these are some of the more colourful euphemisms for death. Not a one of them is found in the Bible. But, interestingly enough, there are a number of popular euphemisms for death that people think are in the Bible, but they are not: The Bible does not call death going home, going to be with the Lord, going to one’s reward, or going to heaven.

Instead, the Bible consistently uses a metaphor for death that is deemed neither socially or theologically appropriate among evangelicals. It calls death a sleep. But if a conditionalist slips up and actually refers to the dead as sleeping, judging from the reaction among traditionalists, you would think that he had shot God.

Nevertheless, it would do us all well to return to biblical terminology and jettison these traditions that keep us from using it. The biblical authors knew what they were talking about. The Holy Spirit inspired them to write words which expressed the way things really are. It is not their fault that the popular church has chosen to see and say things differently.

But in this current atmosphere where the biblical word “sleep” sparks such a response from otherwise biblically grounded saints, if conditionalists want to revive the term as a metaphor for death, we had better be prepared. Conditionalists need to know just where in the Bible the term is used for death, and what “sleep” means in the contexts of those passages.

In Job 14, death is described as lying down and sleeping.
In Psalm 13, David calls death a sleep.
Jeremiah 51 described Babylon’s ultimate destruction as a perpetual sleep.
Daniel 12:2-3 describes resurrection from sleep in the dust.
Jesus, in Luke 8 describes a dead girl as merely sleeping.
Matthew 27 describes saints who were raised from sleep when Christ was crucified.
Jesus, in John 11 says that his friend Lazarus had fallen asleep, and the disciples misunderstood Jesus’ description of death as sleep.
Luke, in Acts 7 described Stephen’s death by saying that he fell asleep.
Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 15 that most believers will sleep in death, but that those alive at Christ’s return will be made immortal without sleeping.

The Christian hope is not going somewhere at death, but a Saviour, who is coming to wake us up from death. That is why to “fall asleep” is a statement of faith for the believing Christian. It says that we have put our trust in a Saviour who cares for us, and will not let our defeat by the enemy death be the last word. We dare to call death a sleep, not because we deny its reality, but because we deny its permanence. When we say someone is asleep, we imply that we expect that someone to wake up.

If you have any questions about this teaching, you can ask me at jeffersonvann@yahoo.com. Join me for this entire series as we search the scriptures to learn about the gift of life.

listen to the audio file at Afterlife.

death is not the answer

gift of life #7

death is not the answer

The Old Testament saints looked for a resurrection because they did not believe that death was the answer to their problems.

• Job said “If (the dead person’s) sons are honoured, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he does not see it” (Job 14:21 NET).

• Solomon said “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom” (Ecclesiastes 9:10 NIV).

• He said “For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything. They no longer have a reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten” (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 LEB).

• David said “For the dead do not remember you. Who can praise you from the grave?” (Psalm 6:5 NLT).

• Another psalmist said “The dead cannot sing praises to the LORD, for they have gone into the silence of the grave” (Psalm 115:17 NLT).

• Heman the Ezrahite asked “Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead? Do the dead rise up and praise you? … Can those in the grave declare your unfailing love? Can they proclaim your faithfulness in the place of destruction? Can the darkness speak of your wonderful deeds? Can anyone in the land of forgetfulness talk about your righteousness?” (Psalm 88:10-12 NLT).

• Another psalmist described death by saying “His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts perish” (Psalm 146:4 NASB).

• Isaiah said “For Sheol cannot thank you; Death cannot praise you. Those who go down to the Pit cannot hope for your faithfulness” (Isaiah 38:18 HCSB).

So, for these Old Testament believers, death may not have been the end of all existence, but it was not the eternal life that they wanted. They trusted God for hope after death, but they did not find that hope in death itself.

But a lot of Christians have rejected that outlook. They choose the doctrine of human nature that was borrowed from teachers of Greek philosophy. That doctrine taught that death really is the answer to our problems – that we don’t really need a resurrection because some part of us will continue to think and praise God in the intermediate state. Popular theology seems content with a combination of the resurrection to eternal life that the Bible teaches, and the continued conscious life that Plato taught.

The modern world laughs at the idea that death is a release to a better life, and rightfully so, because there is no evidence for that belief. But there is evidence for a resurrection. His name is Jesus. He is the answer. Death is not.

If you have any questions about this teaching, you can ask me at jeffersonvann@yahoo.com. Join me for this entire series as we search the scriptures to learn about the gift of life.

listen to the audio file at Afterlife.

what little boys are made of

gift of life #6

what little boys are made of

The nursery rhyme asks “What are little boys made of?” — and answers “Snips & snails & puppy dogs tails and such are little boys made of.” Little girls fare slightly better. They are made of “sugar and spice and everything nice.” No one believes that these statements reflect the actual chemical makeup of boys and girls. But anyone who watches these little darlings play can understand what the original author was getting at.

The Bible gives us a much more scientifically accurate description of what little boys and girls are made of – and their parents too. In Genesis 2:7, Moses, describing the creation of Adam, says that God formed him “from the dust of the ground” or “of dust from the ground.” Our bodies are composed of the same elements found elsewhere in nature. In 1 Cor. 15:47, Paul tells us that our ancestor Adam was “a man of dust” and we share his nature.”

But what about the soul? Well, the Bible’s actual use of the word shows that it does not refer to a separate spiritual element. “When Moses first used the Hebrew term nephesh, he was referring to animals. In Gen. 1:20, Moses records “And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living souls, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” The phrase in Hebrew is nephesh chayah (souls of life). It is obvious from the context that Moses refers to fish and sea mammals, and birds, not people. This first use of nephesh highlights a contrast with the Greek philosopher Plato’s teaching that only human beings have souls.” Then, just a few verses later, that same Moses, describing the creation of Adam, 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)” He uses that exact same phrase nephesh chayah that he had used to describe the final product of the creation of animals. Just like the animals, human beings are made of the elements of nature, and given life from God. So, our souls are us, when we are alive. Our souls are bodies with breath in them.

The New Testament tells us something about our soul that does not fit the popular idea either. In Matthew 6:25, Jesus says “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Lot’s of Christians know that verse. What lots of Christians do not know is that the word for “life” in that verse is psuché, the New Testament Greek word that corresponds to the Old Testament Hebrew nephesh. So, Jesus is saying that bodies wear clothing (which seems logical) but he also says that souls eat and drink. Now, that does not fit our theology, so Bible translators are quick to rescue us from the embarrassment of having to recheck our theology, and simply translate the word psuché as life. But there is no reason to hold to two contradictory terms for translating the same word here. The soul is the life of a living breathing creature. If that is the only possible meaning in Matthew 6, it makes sense to interpret it that way elsewhere as well.

And the Bible does not teach that anyone’s soul is immortal. In fact, it implies that souls can die. For example, the psalms contain many pleas for deliverance, and 119:175 is one of them. It says “Let my soul live, that it may praise you…” The word nephesh has cognates in at least two other ancient near eastern languages that mean “throat.” That at least suggests that a soul may simply be the word for the body with breath in it. As such, it makes sense that animals have souls as well. They are living creatures, bodies with breath in them.

If you have any questions about this teaching, you can ask me at jeffersonvann@yahoo.com. Join me for this entire series as we search the scriptures to learn about the gift of life.

listen to the audio file at Afterlife.

not a better place

gift of life #5

not a better place

I overheard two men talking the other day, and caught the last bit of a conversation they were having. I do not really know what they were talking about, but based on what I heard, I can hazard a guess. They concluded their talk with “she’s in a better place.” My guess is that they were talking about a loved one who is now dead. Perhaps they were consoling themselves with thoughts that their loved one was no longer suffering and in Jesus’ protection until his return. But I wonder if those men knew what they were talking about. Does the Bible describe death – even the death of a believer – as “a better place”?

When Jesus faced the death of his friend Lazarus, he wept. He knew that death was not a better place for Lazarus. He did not console Lazarus’ sister Martha with the notion that her brother was not really dead. Instead, he told her that “your brother will rise again.” He had told his disciples “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him”. If Lazarus had gone to a better place, it would have been cruelty to bring him back.

We really need eternal life because we are all going to die, and death is not a friend. The Bible calls death three things for all human beings, no exception:

An enemy: Paul says “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:26).
A prison: Jesus says that death is locked, but that he has the keys (Revelation 1:18).
A curse. Moses said that life is a blessing, but death is a curse (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Death is the absence of life and breath and consciousness. It is not a good thing, and not a better place.

“The world needs honest Christians. It needs people who do not hide behind fairy tales, and deny the existence of death. It needs people who will tell them that death is real, but that Jesus is real too. The world needs hope that extends beyond the cemetery. Believers can offer that hope, but we have to do so with integrity. It is wrong to say that death is a friend when the Bible calls it an enemy. It is wrong to imply that the blessed hope is a better place at death. Titus 2:13 says we are now “waiting for our blessed hope,” and that blessed hope is “ the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” It is the second coming, not death, which is the focal point of the New Testament promises.

So, let’s be biblically honest and mature. Let’s stop telling people that death is a release, or a homecoming, or a graduation, or any such thing. Death is death, and it is not a better place. We Christians are looking forward to being in a better place, but that place is coming down from the sky when our king returns. The gospel only offers one blessed hope, and we owe it to the world to get that message right.

If you have any questions about this teaching, you can ask me at jeffersonvann@yahoo.com. Join me for this entire series as we search the scriptures to learn about the gift of life.

(listen to the audio file at Afterlife)

the curse of immortality

gift of life #4

the curse of immortality

— “And the LORD God said, ‘Nowthat the man has become like one of us,knowinggood and evil, he must not be allowedto stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever. ’” Genesis 3:22 (NET)

Some translations of this text (like the NET) have God forbidding sinful humanity the tree of life, therefore making us mortal. The literal text has God saying it more emphatically: “lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever” (KJV). The idea is that such a thing would be the worst imaginable fate: immortality is a curse to sinful man. So, until God takes care of our sin problem, eternal life is off limits.

For God to have not driven us out of Eden would have been to condemn us to an eternity of sin. God is not irresponsible. He would not curse us with immortality in our fallen state. He allowed death so that we would return to him for redemption and deliverance from sin. I. C. Agagbor says He ‘mercifully drove (Adam and Eve)… out of the Garden of Eden because if they had eaten of the fruit of life, they would have become immortal without the opportunity for repentance and salvation.’

The fall in the Garden is the bad news with which God wants us to compare his good news. There is a new tree that he wants us to partake of. It is Calvary’s tree. God in his grace wants us to look at that symbol of life that became death to us all, and see his Son dying on it as a sign of his grace. The loss of the tree of life symbolized our lost relationship with God, and mortality was one of the many repercussions of that loss. The death of Christ on the cross by God’s grace allows us another chance at the tree of life in the holy city, after sin and its consequences are a thing of the past.

Until then, only God has immortality, because only God is free from the sin that makes immortality into a curse instead of a blessing. Our Lord Jesus Christ conquered sin and death by his death, and brought life and immortality to light.

The gospel is this good news, entrusted to us as its messengers. It offers a new chance to gain immortality, the right way. As Witness Lee puts it, “It was God’s original intention that man should eat of the tree of life. But due to the fall of man the tree of life was closed to him. Through the redemption of Christ, the way to touch the tree of life, which is God himself in Christ as life to man, has been opened again.” The tree of life was lost to us in Eden, but reappears in the New Jerusalem, after sin is destroyed. This tells us that God wants us to live forever, but not in our present sinful state.

That is why Plato was wrong. He imagined that immortality was everyone’s birthright. He ignored what Moses said in Genesis, and suggested that immortality was an innate endowment from our creator, rather than a curse that our creator prevented us from obtaining. Augustine believed in Plato’s version of human nature, and Calvin, Wesley and numerous other theologians went along with Augustine. Who would not want to believe that death is an illusion?

However, the cost that comes with accepting Plato’s version of reality over that of Moses is that it necessitates us rewriting the gospel as well. Since the goal of the gospel is eternal life, and Plato argued that we already have eternal life, theologians who accepted Plato had to find some other objective. Enter, the new solution: getting our immortal souls to heaven when our bodies die. Suddenly heaven ceased to be the place where Christ was returning from. It became a place where the immortal souls of believers are going to. Suddenly, hell ceased to be the second death on Judgment Day, where Christ finally will take care of sin and sinners for good. It became a place for God to torture immortal souls forever, without a chance of ever getting rid of sin.

It is time for believers to take back the gospel from the pagan traditions that have supplanted it. We need to show the world that God is not guilty of cursing sinners with immortality. He promises immortality only to the redeemed. Only the saved are capable of living eternal lives to his glory.

If you have any questions about this teaching, you can ask me at jeffersonvann@yahoo.com. Join me for this entire series as we search the scriptures to learn about the gift of life.

(listen to the audio file at Afterlife)