WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS
The dead are not conscious of anything. But some will be raised (brought back to life) again.
This statement that the dead are not alive somewhere else is so unusual that we should spend more time thinking about it.
Almost all the religions of the world have the idea that the real person is something invisible inside the body, and that when the body dies the real person leaves it and goes somewhere else.
Thousands of years ago the ancient Egyptians believed that, and it is still central to most religions today. In English the words `soul` or `spirit` are both used to describe this `invisible self`.
From this idea comes the belief that living people can receive messages from those who have died, and anyone with a reputation for arranging such communications is often sought after by grieving relatives.
The idea that the dead are alive in some other place is mistaken. But more than that, it leads to some very evil consequences.
If you think the dead are not really dead, then you worry whether there is a place where the wicked are punished.
From that comes the false and horrible belief in hell-fire torments. I know that Jesus spoke about `hell-fire` (literally `Gehenna-fire` Matthew 18:8) but he was alluding to the rubbish dump outside Jerusalem where refuse was burned.
`Gehenna` means complete destruction, not endless torments. But people who fear that their loved ones are being tormented in `hell` feel obliged to pay priests to offer prayers for them.
As if God will forgive people if you pay enough money !!
Another evil is the idea that the `dead` need gifts or service of some kind; or that they have powers to help or to curse those who are still alive.
This leads to the worship of dead ancestors and saints, and even making images of them; or the belief that dead saints or imams can speak to God on our behalf.
These are practices that the Bible forbids: God is One and we should worship Him only, `For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus` (I Timothy 2:5)
On page 3c I quoted a few places where the Bible denies this idea that we live on after death.
Another is Ecclesiastes 3:19, which says that man dies just like the beasts die - `All go to one place; all are of the dust and all turn to dust again`.
Apart from the mercy of God, that is the end. But as we saw earlier, God has from the beginning been calling men and women to serve Him, so that the earth can be filled with His glory, according to His promise.
Although most of the people who responded to this call have died, God who gave life by `breathing the spirit of life` into dust to create Adam can as easily breathe His spirit back into those who have died.
Isaiah tells us that is exactly what God will do – Isaiah 26:14. About some pagan people he says `they are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise`.
But then in verse 19 he is assured that he and all who like him have served God will be raised to life again. To him God says `Your dead shall live, their bodies shall arise, awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust, .
. the earth shall cast out the dead !` He shares the hope that we saw expressed in Psalm 49:15.
We have started all our studies in the Old Testament. This is right, because the Old Testament lays the foundations for our understanding of God`s ways.
In the Old Testament we even have a few examples of dead people being raised to life again by God`s power; but of course those people died again later in the normal way so
that was not the wonderful resurrection to eternal life that is the Bible`s promise. Up to the present time in the world`s history, only one dead person has been raised to eternal life, and that is Jesus.
The evidence that Jesus truly did rise from death is massive – none of the attempts to explain the facts in any other way will stand careful examination, as we hope to see later on in this series.
Jesus said -` I died, and I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of death and the grave` (Rev 1:18).
The apostle Paul changed from being an enemy of Jesus into a follower when he was convinced that Jesus was alive again.
He wrote `Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep` (I Corinthians 15:20).
So Jesus has made it possible for many others to be raised from death and God has given him power to do it (John 5:21-29). This he will do when he returns to the earth.
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What The Bible Says
