Is Death the Entrance to Life?
Dearly beloved of God, every religion of the world teaches that there is life after death. They teach that a person does not really die, the person lives on in a different form. Some say that you can communicate with the dead in a séance, while others say you can pray to the dead for guidance.
There are only two sources of all spiritual information: the One True and Living God, or Satan. All religion has a common origin; it is inspired by Satan, the prince of this world. Although there may appear to be a number of spiritual kingdoms, in reality there are only two: the kingdom of the One True God, and the kingdom of Satan.
The One True and Living God declares in His Word that when a person dies that he is dead, and that he will remain in the state of death until God sends the Lord Jesus Christ to resurrect them from the dead.
The Word of God teaches that death is the loss of life. The Scriptures teach that there is no remembering in death. The day a person dies his or her thoughts perish. God reveals that the dead do not know anything. Their love, their hatred and their envy is now perished. God says there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave.
If there is no mental activity of any kind, how can there be any communication with the dead? There is none.
Death is the loss of life; not a change of life from one form to another. Death is not an entrance into life of any kind. Death is antithetical to life.
At the time of death life ceases; it is the end of life. The body corrupts and deteriorates. Death is not a better state, it is a worse state.
Death has been the same from Abel’s death to Jesus Christ’s, from Peter’s death to the death of people today, and it will remain the same until God destroys this enemy.
Ever since Genesis 3, Satan, the old serpent, the devil, has been the spirit being behind the lie that man does not surely die.
He is behind the lies expressed by traditions, philosophies, myths, and religions that teach that man does not die, he just “crosses the bar” and goes on to live in another realm. The form may differ from one religion to the next, but it is the same lie.
The devil is a liar, in fact he is the father of lies. His words cannot be trusted. He is a deceiver, and he seduces people and leads them away from God and the truth of His Word.
To hear that one dies and does not immediately go to heaven or “hell” must sound strange to those who have not consulted the Word of God to find out what God says about our hope in Christ.
The belief that one dies and immediately goes to heaven or “hell” gained popularity in western thought from the Greek philosopher Plato who lived six centuries before Christ. The Greeks got it from the Egyptians, who got it from the Babylonians, etc., all the way back to the garden, when the old serpent said, “You shall not surely die.”
Since human beings are not capable of seeing beyond death we ought to believe the truth that God reveals about it in His Word. He is trustworthy, and He does not lie.
When a person dies, they are dead. They have lost life, not gained it. They are in a worse state, not a better one.
If God had not determined to provide a release from death by resurrection, those who have died would have perished forever.
God has determined that there will be a time when the dead will be resurrected. He has given the Lord Jesus Christ the authority to resurrect the dead. All that are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
God made Jesus Christ Lord of the living and the dead. Jesus Christ is the first fruits of those who are dead. He is the only man today that is alive from the dead, and will never die again. He was dead for three days and three nights, but God raised him from the dead. Death does not have any dominion over him.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the only man to ascend up to heaven thus far, and God has seated him at His right side in the heavenly realm.
God has given him the keys that will open the graves and bring release from the state of death. The dead will come forth from their graves at his command.
Those who confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead will be saved. When the Lord Jesus Christ returns for the Church he will first raise the dead in Christ, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. We are to comfort one another with these words.
When the Lord Jesus Christ comes to redeem us from death, he will raise us with glorious bodies like his glorious body by the power he is able to subdue all things to himself. He will transform those who will yet be living to have a glorious body like his, also.
Sometime later, in the Lord’s Day the Lord will again come to the earth. This coming will follow the great tribulation. He will make war with the beast and his followers. He will send the angels to gather those from Israel who were scattered among the nations as captives and slaves, and he will resurrect those who were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast.
They will live and reign with Christ a thousand years; this is the first of two resurrections that Revelation 20 mentions.
The rest of the dead will not live again until the thousand years are finished. After the thousand years, at the great white throne, the dead will be raised and stand before the throne. There will be a separation of the just from the unjust. The just will be raised from death unto life, and the unjust will be sentenced to damnation, and will be destroyed in the lake of fire; they will die the second death. Then, death will be destroyed.
God will then make all things new again in the new heaven and new earth.
Dearly beloved, since we have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ we have good hope through grace. God has not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. He has justified us, and judged us as righteous, and we will never again come into condemnation. We will be glorified together with Christ as joint heirs. We will be saved and redeemed from death, and live with the Lord forever when he comes.
Jesus Christ conquered death, and he is the only one with the power and authority to redeem from the state of death and the grave. The Lord Jesus Christ has given us the victory over sin and death, dearly beloved.
Since there is no mental activity of any kind in death, as far as the awareness of time is concerned, the next thing we will know when we die will be to rise from the dead with a glorious new body like Christ’s and see him face to face. It will be like rising from sleep; we will wake up to resurrection life. We will see him as he is and be like him as well. That will be the moment we enter eternal life.
Dearly beloved, rejoice forevermore, he is coming!