After Death

A man once lived in the grave for 4 days by which Jesus spoke that he should be restored and by which he again walked among the living (Jn. 11:39-44). This was a living argument in favor of the divine power of the Savior. I am sure that many asked him what it was like, but as Paul said, “How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2 Cor. 12:4). Thus, Lazarus was also forbidden to reveal what he may have remembered from his death.

Now, in regards to where the spirit goes, some say that they cease to exists while others say that they sit in the ground for storage waiting for the resurrection . . . Which are we to believe, or it is neither? Well at death, the soul or spirit departs from the body and lives on while the physical body decays back into the ground. If this was not true, then the soul would simply be staring at worms and dirt because after a while, there is nothing of the physical body left for the spirit to cling to. So, we know this is not true. On the other hand, the soul does not die as some claim by the Scriptures because often the word soul means, “individual” as it does in Ezek 18:4, 20; as it does in 1 Pet 3:20 with the 8 souls saved by water, and many other places. Yet, if the soul does departs from the physical body, how do we know that the soul departs from the body? Well, let’s notice these evidences: James said, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (Jam. 2:26) Moses recorded that when Rachel was in labor, that, “it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin” (Gen. 35:18). Where did the life force within her go if it departed? Again, “And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.” (1 Kgs. 17:22) Thus, the soul returned and again the boy lived in the body. Remember that it was God who had Solomon write, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” (Eccl. 12:7) When speaking of the spirit departing the shell of man, Jesus told the penitent thief, “. . . Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” (Lk. 23:43). Jesus and the thief both died that day, yet both were together in spirit in the same place. Later Jesus said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” (Lk. 23:46). Jesus’ body was lifeless and there was something inside Jesus that departed and went into the hands of the Father. This does not mean into Heaven, but thy hands means into the father’s power, protection or security. Also notice that, Stephen cried out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” (Acts 7:59) His spirit was being forced from the body by the cruel stones hurled upon him by the mob. Then Paul said, “though our outward man perisheth, our inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4). Here Paul shows that one side of man’s nature is failing him while the other side of man’s nature is taking on new life and strength. Thus, while death means separation from living love ones, faithful companions, friends, parents, a child; while it is also the end of abilities and opportunities on earth, IT IS NOT THE END OF ALL THINGS!

Now, to further this study, where does the soul go because some claim that when one dies, he goes immediately to its eternal destiny. Thus, if it is a righteous spirit, it goes immediately to Heaven. But, if it is a wicked spirit, it goes immediately to Gehenna. However, the scriptures teach that the spirit goes into an intermediate place (the place between earth and heaven) and remains there until the great day of judgment. Now, while we often speak or put very little emphasis about judgment, Jesus teaches that “when he comes, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment” (Jn. 16:8) Luke said that God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world. (Acts 17:31) In Matt. 25, it states that all nations shall be gathered before Christ by which he separates the sheep and goats. Furthermore, Jesus said that “men of Nineveh” shall rise in judgment with the present generation which lived 500 years before them (Matt. 12:41). The Queen of the south shall rise in judgment with the present generation which lived 1,000 years before them (Matt. 12:42). Sodom and Gomorrah will be in the same judgment as those living during the days of Christ indicating the same judgment (Matt. 10:15). Both Peter and Jude declared that angels which have sinned have been cast down into pits reserved for judgment (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6). Therefore, men are not judged at death and sent onward to their final destination of Gehenna or Heaven. For, “God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and reserve the unjust until the day of judgment to be punished” (2 Pet. 2:9). Both are held until judgment, but if not in the ground, then where?

Hades has often been mislabeled as the final torment place for the sinner. But in actuality, Hades is the unseen world or the spirit world. Every single soul that dies goes into hades. Hades is broken into two realms: First, Tartarus is the place where the wicked are held until the day of judgment. This is where the angels that God cast out are being held or reserved (2 Pet. 2:4). Tartarus means a dungeon or a prison house where one is held captive. Yet, it is not the place where one goes after judgment because that word is Gehenna (Matt. 5:22, 29; Lk. 12:5). The second area of Hades is Paradise where Jesus and the thief went into when they died. Now, we know that this is not heaven, because while Jesus was there 3 days, he tells Mary that he had not yet ascended to the Father meaning that the Father does not dwell in Paradise (Jn. 20:17). The word Paradise means a pleasure garden or Eden. So while there are two sections of Hades: Tartarus and Paradise, there is also a great gulf (gap or chasm) that separates the two which one can read about in the story of Lazarus and the rich man (Lk. 16). It was a division of the two areas by which nothing passed between them. Lazarus paid no attention to the rich man after death and we read that Abraham told the rich man that his opportunities were all gone meaning that his doom was sealed. So, Lazarus was in Abraham’s bosom (Paradise) which is another way of speaking where the righteous go (Matt. 8:11). The rich man was by no means happy after his death living in torment (Lk. 16:24). Thus, the spirit does live on after the physical body is no more and the Bible proves that we do not stay with our physical bodies, but that, we go to the hadean realm either in torment or in peace until God brings forth the great day of judgment.

Posted in Robert Notgrass | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on After Death

And Time Goes On: Electronic Media

Each day that we live here in the world we are continually exposed to all that goes on in our world.  The good, the bad, the disgusting, etc. are all show to us via the electronic media.  Nothing happens in our world that we do not know about almost immediately.  For some strange reason the electronic media and the printed media show mostly the awful, evil, side of events that occur.  Perhaps these media moguls are convinced that sensationalism is the way to build ratings for their shows, apparently they believe horror, mayhem, sex, and violence sells anything.

As we consider these things let us always be aware of the potential danger that exposure to this type of media exposure may bring us.  It is not too great an exaggeration to suggest that whatever we allow ourselves to imbibe within our mind will eventually influence our character.  Read Matthew 15:17-20 17         Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? 18           

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20  These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashed hands defiles not a man.  We are all products of whatever we allow to enter our heart (i.e., seat of intellect) through our eyes and through our hearing.  Because our character is established by whatever we see and hear, we must be very careful of those things that we hear and see.

Each day that we live we will occupy our time doing something.  We would be ill advised to spend too much time observing media programming that is designed for our viewing, it will surely have an effect upon our character eventually.   There may be some programs that will not adversely affect our character but at this particular point in time I know of no such program.

Time goes on!  That is a fact for all of us to deal with day after day.  Dealing with spare time may become a problem for those who have an abundance of it.  Remember this:  nothing is valuable if it is does not increase our faith in God, Christ, and spiritual things in general;    Ecclesiastes 10:18, “By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.  (KJV) — 1 Timothy 4:13, “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.”

Posted in Garreth L. Clair | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on And Time Goes On: Electronic Media

God Knows

God Sees and God Knows

I heard a story on the radio one day of a man who was flying over Ellis Island in a helicopter when he looked down in wonder upon the Statue of Liberty. His interest was sparked when he noticed the great detail in the very top of the head of Lady Liberty. It appeared that the sculptor took great care in detailing every single wave of hair. My interest in this story led me to search out a picture of the top of the Statue of Liberty and I found some beautiful pictures of the very site mentioned in the story that the man in the helicopter had seen. And he was right. The workmanship is beautiful.

But why did the sculptor expend so much time and energy to this particular part of the statue? He certainly couldn’t have conceived that human eyes would ever see it. The sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, was commissioned to design the sculpture with the year 1876 in mind for its completion and began construction in 1875. Yet, due to financial obstacles in both the United States and France, he was unable to complete the great monument till June of 1884. Once delivered and erected upon the foundation and base the top of the head stands nearly 270 feet in the air. It was not until December 1903, on the sands of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, that the Wright brothers achieved the milestone of manned, controlled, powered flight.

So why did Bartholdi go to such great lengths certainly never contemplating that it would be looked down upon my human eyes? Possibly an honorable sense of pride in his workmanship. Who knows? But this one thought struck me, whether men see the work we do or not, whether or not our labors here are ever appreciated or scrutinized, God sees and knows everything!

“The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry” (Psalm 34:15). “For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He ponders all his paths” (Proverbs 5:21). “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3). “For who has despised the day of small things? For these seven rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the LORD, which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth” (Zechariah 4:10). “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil” (1 Peter 3:12).

So be careful what you do, say, see and think. Because, whether your neighbor, spouse, elders, or friends know, God knows and will “bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). Because God sees and God knows. He even knows that “Lady Liberty” wears a size 879 shoe. And you thought you had big feet.

Posted in Tim Dooley | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on God Knows

Jesus Wept

As Jesus wept, so let us weep

 We all know “Jesus wept” over Lazarus’ death (Jn. 11:35), but that was not the only time. Jesus, when approaching Jerusalem on that final Sunday before his subsequent crucifixion and resurrection wept as well. He wept over God’s people’s rejection of His word and Him as their Lord (Lk. 19:41-44). And so we who are His ought to weep as well… over those of God’s people today who have chosen, somewhere along the way, that God just isn’t worth ‘giving the time of day’ anymore – and certainly not worth giving a little time out of their Sunday to worship and study with us like they used to.

It’s one thing when non-Christian folks in need call the church building and request benevolence, inevitably telling us they’d like to come visit us some Sun-day because after all, they’ve “been looking for a church.” However, after we’ve rushed $200 to some local City Hall to help them avoid their disconnect date, or purchased $50 worth of gas for them so they can go ‘seek employment,’ or gone to Wal-Mart and bought $50 worth of groceries for them, they seldom if ever seem to be able to ‘find’ us come any given Sunday (despite having been given good directions), and in fact, are more often than not unreachable after that.

I’m slowly and painfully coming to learn after years of this, that that’s kind of ‘par for the course’ when dealing with the majority of the unconverted, unconvicted, unconvinced, and often uncaring masses at large.  But my personal pain over their lost estate and the fact that they care far less about their eternal souls than they do about their electric bills or bellies (See: Phil. 3:18-19), is greatly and grievously intensified the moment we start talking about our beloved and fallen-away brethren who don’t seem to want to ‘remember’ when and where we worship God together anymore either (SEE: 2 Ptr. 2:20-22; Hebs. 10:19-31)!

Let us weep for the loss of all of those brethren as we know who once were faithful and here but have chosen to no longer be. For those who impenitently choose to no longer assemble to worship with the saints on this side of eternity, have actually, whether they know it or not, ultimately made their choice – which God will also absolutely honor – to not be with His saints for all eternity either.

Yes, let us weep as Jesus wept… and for those like for whom He wept as well… For one day they will weep as well… and their ‘day’ will never end (See: Matt. 25:1-46)…

Posted in Doug Dingley | Tagged , | Comments Off on Jesus Wept

Liberty

The Proper Use of Both Spiritual & National Liberty

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, opened his famous Gettysburg Address with these words, “Four-score and seven years ago, (now 230 years ago) our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…” President Lincoln was referring, of course, the birth of our great nation.

On July 4, 1776, The United States of America was born. As Americans and as Christians, we have been blessed by God to live here. We have freedom from tyranny and the constitutional right to worship God “in spirit and in truth…” (John 4:24)

Most people in this world do not have this same privilege – true freedom of religion. We often take for granted that which our brethren throughout history have never had. It was not until the Constitution of the United States (June 21, 1788) and the Bill of Rights (December 15, 1791) was adopted that a nation of people had complete freedom of religion. The First Amendment to the Constitution states,

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble….”

Before this (even in some parts of the United States), there was the concept of an official state religion. For instance, the official church of Great Britain was the church of England (Anglican church); in Italy, France and Spain, it was the Roman Catholic church.

Many of those who opposed the religion of their respective homelands and were persecuted for it, (such as the Puritans) came to this continent and established colonies where they could practice their religion freely. The descendants of these religiously persecuted people wanted a guarantee that no single denomination or religious body could be declared an official religion of the United States. They wanted to insure that the kind of religious persecutions their forefathers had endured in Europe would not take place on American soil. It was out of this constitutional freedom that the American restoration movement was born, resulting in the restoration of the Lord’s church.

We often take for granted that which many of our brethren in other countries do not have – freedom from religious persecution! Even still today, many members of the Lord’s church live in countries where they have no constitutional right to practice their religious beliefs. What a struggle they must face each and every day of their lives!

Even though some do not have religious freedom, all Christians, from the First Century to the present have had spiritual freedom and liberty in Christ Jesus. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free… If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed…” (John 8:32, 36). “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free…” (Galatians 5:1) With His own blood, Christ bought for us freedom from bondage in sin (Revelation 1:5; Acts 20:28), freedom from the burdens that a life in sin brings and freedom from the sentence of spiritual death in sin. (Romans 6:23)

In this country, all men and women enjoy national freedom. By our constitution, all men and women have the legal right to pursue life, liberty and happiness. While Americans are a nationally free people, but by and large, are not a spiritually free people, in the sense that Christ meant.

Members of the Lord’s church who live in this great nation have two types of liberty, spiritual and national. We should never allow either type of freedom to be used as an excuse in forsaking doing the will of the Father or to use it for an excuse to do what is wrong. “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh….” (Galatians 5:13a) Yet that is what so many people in our nation today have done with their lives. Rather than in freedom serving their fellow man, many today use that “liberty for a cloke of maliciousness…” (1Peter 2:16a) Read Romans 1:18-32 and see what results when a people turn away from God! “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Proverbs 14:34).

1Peter 2:16 and Galatians 5:13 implicitly state, that rather than serving the flesh or in otherwise sinning, we must use it “as the servants of God” and “by love serve one another.” Our country today has a spiritual sickness; a disease that has no political or physical cure; an ailment that no medical doctor, lawyer or politician can alleviate. Only the Christ has the answers to the problems besetting this country. It is up to Christians, as servants of God, to lovingly, compassionately, teach the gospel to a lost and dying world, that all men might come to know the healing that only the Great Physician can give. In carrying out this commission, we truly “by love serve one another.”

Posted in Jack McNiel | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Liberty