Tag: Death

God Will Swallow Up Death

O Death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? (I Cor. 15).

When our forefathers heeded to the voice of the enemy of their souls, death came to them as a curse and was carried out to all born of men. Disguising himself through a serpent, who was more subtle and crafty than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made, (Gen. 3:1), he tempted Eve to doubt God’s reason for not letting them eat the fruit from the tree of the middle of the garden. He succeeded when Eve fell to his temptation. The seed of death entered into the world and from then on, humankind was subjected to condemnation of physical and eternal death, with Satan their master.  However, in spite of all his power, Satan is resistible. James wrote, “Be subject to God, resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you” (4:7). God has provided us His spiritual armor in order for us to wrestle with Satan. In the epistle to the Ephesians, Paul admonishes us to put on the armor of God, for we are not wrestling with flesh and blood but with Satan and his hosts. Satan manifests himself as an angel of light, changing his appearance in the auspice of good, when he is the prince of darkness, according to Scripture (Eph. 6). Satan is a liar, a deceiver, a tempter and an accuser of men. He was not happy when God created men; so, he became men’s enemy with the purpose to destroy them physically and eternally. His sting of death has taken many with him to hell, because men rejected God, choosing him, instead.

Satan was called the anointed guardian cherub. We read this in the Bible about him: “You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, the carnelian, topaz, jasper, chrysolite, beryl, onyx, sapphire, carbuncle, and emerald; and your settings and your sockets and engravings were wrought in gold, On the day that you were created they were prepared; You were the anointed cherub that covers with overshadowing, and I set you so. You were upon the holy mountain of God; you walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire [like the paved work of gleaming sapphire stone upon which the God of Israel walked on Mount Sinai].”  (Ezek. 28:13-14). What more did this angel want? He wanted to be God. In his pride, Satan rose against God and corrupted the beautiful garden God had created. Not only the garden, but the entire world. The Bible says, “All have sinned and became short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Separated from God and His mercy, goodness, and love, men were destined to eternal death, for there was none that had not sinned. Men’s heart is perverse and contrary to God’s laws. The Prophet Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9). The world in its entirety suffered the consequences of sin. It left a stain only YAHSHUA could wash away. The stain of physical and eternal death; nature was also subjected to decay as Paul so said in Romans chapter 8:19-22: “For even the whole creation waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known, for the creation was subjected to frailty, not because of some intentional fault on its part, by by the will of Him Who so subjected it with the hope that nature itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption into the glorious freedom of God’s children. We know that the whole creation has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now.”

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The Valley of the Shadow of Death

What does the Valley of the shadow and death mean to us? Surely that it does not sound inviting in its adjectives of the shadow of death. We find this term in Psalm 23:4: “Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” These are words of trust and confidence in the shepherd. Although, the Hebrew word for “shadow of death” means darkness, the root word for both shadow and death is the same. YAHSHUA, as our Shepherd, knows the way out of a valley, as well as the dangers of it. He stands tall to protect His own from the danger found in the valley of the shadow of death.

A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over a very long period. Some valleys are formed through erosion by glacial ice. These glaciers may remain present in valleys in high mountains or polar areas shield. (Wikipedia)

Valleys display beautiful surroundings in spite of its dangers. The valleys we go through are difficult and challenging, for they are the valleys of life. It is the place where we feel alone in our trials; as YAHSHUA experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane. Not one of the disciples would pray with Him.  He promised that He will be with us always to the end of time. The Bible says that He fills the entire world. There is no place where He is not. “Where could I go from Your Spirit? Or where could I flee from Your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol behold, You are there; if I take the wings of the morning or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall You hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me” (Ps. 139:7-10). And, “Am I a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? Says the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? Says the Lord?” (Jer. 23:23-24). While we walk the valley of suffering, even though overwhelmed by the feeling of loneliness and depression, it is good to draw near to the Lord. Sometimes, it seems He is far away and is not hearing our voice; and that’s when doubts take our mind; we suffer anguish and torment of the soul.

The Psalmist Asaph once said, “Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? Have His mercy and loving-kindness ceased forever? Have His promises ended for all time? Has God abandoned or forgotten His graciousness? Has He in anger shut up His compassion?” (Ps. 77:7-9). YAHSHUA, in the valley of abandonment from His Father cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” (Ps. 22:1). Alone in the valley of suffering, separated from His heavenly Father for the first time, YAHSHUA carried the sins of the world, which darkened the way to the Father. That was the valley of death of hell. God’s presence will never be there. But YAHSHUA had to go through to pull us out of it, in order to rescue us from the power of eternal death and Satan.  Every time, we go through the valley of suffering, let’s remember that we are not alone. We may feel that way, which is normal for humans to feel in the presence of hopeless situations, since we are flesh and demand to see things that we can touch. However, faith mingled with hope opens our spiritual eyes and there in the midst of sufferings, we feel peace. It is the peace that comes from the presence of the Lord standing there with us.

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No Death with YAHSHUA, No Life with Him

The sound of a new born baby touches we mothers the same way as when we had our own. Life is beautiful! Life is a miracle only our Creator- the Lord YAHSHUA would create us in the womb of our mothers. The completeness of our birth is amazing in its intrinsicality, connecting all parts of the body to harmonize and synchronize with each other, without interference. The brain, the control center of the body, is an important organ of the body in its functions. But with all its complexities, the physical body will not have an entrance in heaven, for it is contrary to the laws of God. Paul said, For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the Holy Spirit; now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death; but the mind of the Holy Spirit is life and peace, because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot. So, then those who are living the life of the flesh, cannot please or satisfy God or be acceptable to Him (Rom. 8:5-7).

In his saying, Paul was echoing the words of YAHSHUA: If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever would preserve his life and save it will lose and destroy it; but whoever loses his life for My sake he will preserve and save it; for what does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and ruins of forfeits himself? (Luke 9: 23-25).  Faith without commitment to God is not faith that is alive, or be counted as such, for faith demands action, or it is not faith at all. Faith is seen in one’s conscious decision to obey God. In the parable of the seeds YAHSHUA told, it has an application we must pay attention to and take to heart, in order to understand that one must die to self in order to bear fruit into eternity. Three were the soils in which the seeds were planted; but only one was the good soil. It was noted by the fruit the seed bore. Faith is like that; where there is faith, there is growth and fruit producing tree. No servant can serve two masters, for either he shall hate the one, and love the other; or else he shall lean to one and despise the other; you cannot serve God and riches (Luke 16: 13). We cannot serve God and the flesh and the world.

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Soul Sleeping Doctrine

The doctrine of the soul in an unconscious state until the resurrection is confusing because it is not consistent with many experiences registered in the Bible. It focuses primarily on passages where the word sleeping instead of death is used. However, when we read in the Bible the term sleep in death, it refers to the physical body- the material part, not the immaterial as the spirit of man. When the psalmists said, In death there is no remembrance of You; in Sheol who will give You thanks? (Ps. 6:5), he is referring to the dead ceasing to exist here on earth. The body will be decayed, but not the spirit. Absent from the body, Paul said, present with the Lord. Present with the Lord conscientiously with the soul’s faculties working while the material is buried and decayed. Paul also said, But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake (Phil. 1:23). Notice what Paul said, “To depart and be with Christ.” He did not say, and be in the state of unconsciousness until the resurrection. Again, he said, We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord (II Cor. 5:8). So the reality of the matter stands that when the spirit of a believer leaves the body the destination is “The presence of the Lord,” and not left sleeping somewhere. But for the unbeliever, sadly, his destination will be hell, as it is stated in the parable concerning a rich and a poor men, told by YAHSHUA:  In time both died. The rich man went to hell and Lazarus went to heaven, carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. And in hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have pity and mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame… (Luke 16:19-31). This parable clearly refutes the doctrine of soul sleeping in death for both men: one in hell and the other in heaven. The first was in anguish in the flame of hell, for His soul was awake, feeling pain and torment, while his body was in the grave. His soul was not taking a nap while waiting for judgment. He was feeling the pains of hell right then. Abraham, while listening to the rich man had this to say: Child, remember that you in your lifetime fully received comforts and delights, and Lazarus in like manner the discomforts and distresses; but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed in order that those who want to pass from this to you may not be able, and no one may pass from there to us … The dialogue continued. If their souls were sleeping, there would not have been a dialogue between them. There would not have been recognition of Abraham. Another example we find is when YAHSHUA went up on the mountain to pray; He took Peter, John and James with Him. And as He was praying, the appearance of His countenance became altered, and His raiment became dazzling white and behold, two men were conversing with Him- Moses and Elijah, who appeared in splendor and majesty and brightness and were speaking of is exit, which He was about to bring to realization at Jerusalem (Luke 9:28-31). If Moses’s soul were sleeping he would not have had that experience with YAHSHUA. It would have been impossible for a sleeping soul to be talking, and to be aware of YAHSHUA. Another example we find at Calvary when one of the repentant criminals asked YAHSHUA to remember him when He came into His kingdom. YAHSHUA right then affirmed him: Truly, I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise (Luke 3:43). He did not say, after the resurrection, you will be with in Paradise, but “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

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A Book of Remembrance

Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who feared the lord and who thought on His name (Mal. 3: 16)

I remember when young while living in the orphanage in Brazil, I was given a book of remembrance where friends and acquaintances wrote beautiful thoughts of encouragement and what they thought of me. It registered sentiments that would later bring me memories of those days, although not all positive, but sifting them through in my mind, there were a few wonderful memories which I treasured. They bring me joy as I relive those days. It is to me a privilege to know that the Lord is aware and taking notice of the things we say that is pleasing to Him to the point of having them written in a special remembrance book.

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In Remembrance of Him

(Matthews 26:23; I Corinthians 11)

Christmas season is the time when everyone is running to and fro, here and there, after gifts for one here and the other there, but not realizing the meaninglessness of it all when they say it is YAHSHUA’S birthday.  The Word of God tells us that YAHSHUA had no beginning and no end. We read this in the book of John chapter one verses 1-4: In the beginning there was the Word (YAHSHUA), the Word was with God and the Word was God Himself! He was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him(YAHSHUA), and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. He existed before time; He was never held in the boundary of time, neither to its limits, for time exists only by Him. To fulfill the Father’s will, a body was prepared for Him, but that did not measure the time frame of His existence, neither His beginning.  It just implies the human’s time frame for men to mark the date of His coming to earth.

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I Know That My Redeemer Lives

(Job 19: 25-27)

I know that my Redeemer and Vindicator lives, and at last He will stand upon the earth; and after my skin, even this body, has been destroyed, then from my flesh or without it I shall see God, whom I, even I, shall see for myself and on my side! And my eyes shall behold Him, and not as a stranger! (Job)

These words which came from Job have indeed resounded throughout the ages, echoing hope and peace to men.  Although Job did not have the written Word in his days, he had a relationship with God in some form or another. He believed in the resurrection of the dead and the hope that sprang from it for the righteous person. His integrity, honesty and devotion for God showed in the way he lived. “I know that my Redeemer and Vindicator lives” overcomes all fear of death; we can confront death with the enthusiasm of hope and faith, with certainty that we will see God on the other side with our own eyes. Death is by no means the end of life, but the beginning of a new life for the believer in Christ. When we shall see Him, as He is, we shall become like Him. The Apostle John says, Beloved, we are now God’s children; it is not yet disclosed what we shall be [hereafter], but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He is (I John 3: 2). Eternity awaits all of us. For many, eternity has brought surprise; but for the believer, it has brought the fulfillment of the hope we have in the promises of God.

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Why Should You Die Before Your Time?

(Ecclesiastes 7:17)

Yes, why? Solomon puts in perspective the consequences of being foolish with a question: Why should you die before your time? He said, Be not wicked overmuch or willfully, neither be foolish- why should you die before your time? The things in question here are foolishness and wickedness.

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