Death

[Isaiah 6:8]

I felt the Lord was prompting me to write on the subject of Death. It has been on my heart and mind for some time, and I was about to write this when one of my friends was killed leaving behind his wife and two small children. This set back my writing of this for months but I believe the Lord was preparing me for that news.

I have seen also some blame the Lord for death, and even for causing death.

So what is death, do we need to fear it, is God evil because he allows it or in some instances apparently causes it. Is it the end, or only the beginning?

First where did death enter into the world? It did with Adam. When Adam ate the fruit he died spiritually and brought physical death into the world. (Genesis 3)

You see God did not want death, he not only gave us the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he gave us the tree of life. The tree was to give us a choice to love him. That is another story altogether but the point is this. God wanted us to have life, and eternal life. Because of this he then brought forth a plan to redeem our spirit to eternal life through Christ. Whom the Bible calls the second Adam.

We seem to have a fear of physical death. But why should we?

Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

You see, we all die physically, One thing I have noticed, more then one person in the Bible were raised from the dead. They all died again! Not one of them, at least to my knowledge is alive and kicking on earth to this day. So why worry about our physical death. The when and how we die is not as important as how we lived, and if we have chosen Jesus or not.

As Paul says in Philippians 1:2

21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

So if we have chosen Christ, then our physical death is only the beginning of a new and eternal life with Christ. This then makes it clear why the word says

Psalm 116:15 (New King James Version)

15 Precious in the sight of the LORD

Is the death of His saints.

This means we get to be with the Lord with 100% of our being.

So does this mean that we should seek to die? To become self destructive, to become depressed and not to try to live? No!

Lets look at what Paul says.

To Live Is Christ

19 For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20 according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. 25 And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, 26 that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again.

For we can be fruitful in our life, as he says to live is Christ! We are to live for Christ and yet look forward to heaven.

As C.S. Lewis put it

Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal

world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the

things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you

read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who

thought most of the next The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman

Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the

Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven.

It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so

ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth "thrown in": aim at earth and you will get neither." C.S. Lewis, "Mere Christianity"

Now there is hope when you are in Christ. How ever if you reject him, you have chosen the spiritual second death, known as hell. You chose this while on earth.

Now to address the question of God killing or ordering the killing of people in the old testament. If its only the physical death, which we all face anyway then I do not see an issue. You see since we all die and go to the judgment seat of God, then as I stated before, its not as important how/when we die but how we lived. If we lived an evil life on earth, and God takes us off to prevent us from causing more harm, is that not up to him?

If God killed a child molester who had molested several children and kept doing it unrepentantly, would anyone call God evil, or cruel, for taking a danger off the earth to the final judgment? You see when ever God did order or cause the death of people in the Bible, there was a good reason. He took them to the Judgment, where he judged them by there life on earth.

So in a nutshell its this.

If you don't know Christ, he wants to give you life, and life eternal. He made the way so you can join him!

If you know Christ, then do not forget to think about heavenly things, to life for Christ not for yourself. I know to many people who professing Christ, seem to forget this. They only focus on selfish things and do not live for Christ but for themselves. They miss the whole point!

And for those who are struggling remember we have Hope!

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (New King James Version)

The Comfort of Christ's Coming

13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 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. 17 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. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

[childeye]

name='Isaiah 6:8' timestamp='1301676921' post='1663798']

First where did death enter into the world? It did with Adam. When Adam ate the fruit he died spiritually and brought physical death into the world. (Genesis 3)

You are one of few who recognize that it is the eating of the fruit that brought death, for most would say it was disobedience without equating the two. Well done.

You see God did not want death, he not only gave us the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he gave us the tree of life. The tree was to give us a choice to love him. That is another story altogether but the point is this. God wanted us to have life,

Now I have a problem here. For the semantics of words obscures these statements. You say God did not want death for us , which I agree. However, then you say He gave us the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as well as the tree of life. These statements do not reconcile according to my understanding. You then say that God gave us a choice to Love Him through the tree. This does not reconcile either. While I would agree that through the knowledge of good and evil comes an understanding of what is the absence of God, this goes against the prospect of a personal choice to Love God. The walk with God is a betrothal since He is all there is. One learns to love Him therefore through seeing who He is. To know Him is to Love Him.

Most people decry being forced to love someone, which is why many will reject what I am saying here. They misrepresent love. Love is always forced because it is a self-sacrifice. Love is a force, for it is the Spirit of God Himself in us. We must embrace those things we do not wish to embrace so as to deny ourselves, and this is done in faith. For this reason we are to count ourselves already dead with Christ, so as to not be ruled by the desires of our flesh.

Edited April 1, 2011 by childeye

[Isaiah 6:8]

First off you are putting words into my mouth.

I just mentioned the act of eating the fruit.

I never said it was the tree that was magical.

You are putting words into my mouth, Adam's dissobedince is what caused death. The act of disobendance was eating of the fruit. That was my intent, if you want to go further with this, I have started another thread.

I knew that some would disagree with the choice thing, Noticed what I said

he tree was to give us a choice to love him. That is another story altogether but the point is this.

I did not want to debate nor am I going to debate with you weather or not love is a choice, if you want we can debate that elsewhere, please do not derail the meaning of this post on the first reply!

[childeye]

I knew that some would disagree with the choice thing, I know your stance on that. I did even mention that that was another story altogether, and you miss the overall point of the post.

I am not going to debate with you your point on whether love is a choice or not, at least not in this thread. Lets not derail what I was writing about on the first reply please and thank you.

I understand your position as well, I simply wished to point out my inability to comprehend your use of the term choice verses coming to the knowledge of God through experiencing good and evil. I do believe it is applicable to this thread since whether one trusts God is in direct proportion to whether one fears death or not. For this reason I mentioned to be dead in Christ is to vanquish the fear of death according to the things of this world. I apologize if this response is not appropriate to your intentions.

[Isaiah 6:8]

I knew that some would disagree with the choice thing, I know your stance on that. I did even mention that that was another story altogether, and you miss the overall point of the post.

I am not going to debate with you your point on whether love is a choice or not, at least not in this thread. Lets not derail what I was writing about on the first reply please and thank you.

I understand your position as well, I simply wished to point out my inability to comprehend your use of the term choice verses coming to the knowledge of God through experiencing good and evil. I do believe it is applicable to this thread since whether one trusts God is in direct proportion to whether one fears death or not. For this reason I mentioned to be dead in Christ is to vanquish the fear of death according to the things of this world. I apologize if this response is not appropriate to your intentions.

I even stated that was another thread. I do not belive you lack comprehension but you lack belief in the aforementioned statements. As I have seen you argue about them before. You even started a whole post about semantics, but then play the semantic game.

You also did not mentioned to be dead in Christ is to vanquish the fear of death. That was not mentioned.

Again it is not relevant to this thread. The point is this. If you have Christ you have no reason to fear death. If you do not have Christ you have every reason to fear death. Also that our physical death is going to come, so even if God had caused it, it is not as important as what happens with your soul on the day of judgement.

[wyguy]

The point is this. If you have Christ you have no reason to fear death. If you do not have Christ you have every reason to fear death.

Amen Bro!

Here's one of my favorite verses:

"Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death

[nebula]

Am I afraid to die? No.

The process though . . . not so much.

[Fez]

Am I afraid to die? No.

The process though . . . not so much.

On that we agree Neb

Me? How would I like to go?

Boots on, under a blue sky. Preferably without a rhino, leopard, buffalo or elephant involved. Oh, or a crocodile......(my worst fear in the environment I work in...)

[nebula]

Preferably without a rhino, leopard, buffalo or elephant involved. Oh, or a crocodile......(my worst fear in the environment I work in...)

Or snakes?

[wyguy]

Am I afraid to die? No.

The process though . . . not so much.

Me? How would I like to go?

Boots on, under a blue sky. Preferably without a rhino, leopard, buffalo or elephant involved. Oh, or a crocodile......(my worst fear in the environment I work in...)

When I go, I want it to involve huge explosions, guns, an awesome car chase, and bug-like aliens bent on world domination.