Human life is like grass and flowers. It is delicate, fragile, and temporary. Today we are here but like the grass that is cut down, tomorrow we can be gone. Let’s face it, all of us will eventually face death. Because of the introduction of sin into this world, not only will we experience death, but all living things die. How can we find hope in this reality?

This series addresses an age-old concern that we all have: the concern for sin, evil, death, and what happens after we die. Is there hope after death? When God created us, humans, he intended for us to live forever in a loving relationship with him. But this relationship has been broken by sin.

Here, we address the origin of sin, and we look more closely at death and dying. 

But, instead of looking at death negatively, we look at it in the context of hope, the promised hope based on what Jesus did for us when he died and came back to life again.

From the Sabbath School Adult Bible Study Guide 2022 Quarter 4: Sabbath.School

See also Hope Sabbath School and 3ABN Sabbath School

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Inviting God’s Presence

Holy Father, help us better understand the reality of death and dying. Help us do what is necessary to prepare for it so that we might have hope. In Jesus Name Amen 

Previously we established that before God breathed into Adam’s nostrils, he was a soul, but he had no consciousness or awareness. It was not until he received breath that he became a living soul. Thus, without the breath of life, we are not conscious of the activities around us. In other words without  the breath of life, we are a dead soul.

Ezekiel 18:4, 20 and Matthew 10:28 offers more understanding of the meaning of this Bible truth “man became a living soul”

Ezekiel 18:4

4 “Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die. (Ezekiel 18:4)

Ezekiel 18:20

20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. (Ezekiel 18:20) 

Matthew 10:28

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. (Matthew 10:28)

So, a body, dead or living remains a soul. We are either a living or dead souls. As a living soul with the breath, we are conscious of activities around us, as a dead soul with no breath, we are unconscious of activities around us.

In this world, because of sin, human life is fragile. Nothing living, affected by sin, can be eternal by nature. We are like grass and flowers. They live as expressed in Isaiah 40:6–8 for only a short time.

6 The voice said, “Cry out!” And he said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is grass, And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

7 The grass withers, the flower fades, Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.

8 The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:6–8)

Sin is the reason for our short lives. For it says in Romans 5:12

12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— Romans 5:12

So, death is the natural consequence of sin, and it affects all life here on this earth. 

Sin brought about death. Sin changed all life on this earth.

Two important ideas about death and sin are found in the Bible

(1) Both human beings and animals die, they both return to dust, here is what King Solomon, the wisest man of his time, says about death in Ecclesiastes 3:19-20.

19 For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity.

20 All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust. (Ecclesiastes 3:19-20)

(2) When someone dies, he or she stops being a living soul, a living person. The idea is that the physical death of a person implies the ending of his or her existence as a living soul nephesh in the Hebrew language. They cease to exist in this world.

In Genesis 2:16, 17, God warns Adam and Eve that if they should sin, they would die.

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;

17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

This same warning is repeated in Ezekiel 18:4, 20: “  ‘“ ‘The soul who sins shall die ” (NKJV).

This warning has two main implications.

One, all of us are under the unavoidable process of aging and dying as expressed in Romans 3:9–18, 23.

Romans 3:9-18

9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.

10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;

11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.

12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

13 “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”;

14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16 Destruction and misery are in their ways;

17 And the way of peace they have not known.”

18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:9-18)

Romans 3:23

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23)

Thus, we all have sinned; we all will die.

Second, this biblical concept that we all will die voids or nullifies the popular belief of the supposed natural immortality of the soul. Remember, mortality is the contrast between God and us humans. God is immortal! God does not die. Humans are mortal! Humans die. If the soul is immortal and exists alive in another realm after death, then we don’t really die. And the statement made by Satan then becomes true “You will not surely die.” If what Satan said is true, then What does that say about what God told Adam and Eve? a lie? Whom do you believe? God or Satan?

So, what happens to our bodies, our souls at death?

The sure thing is, the biblical answer to the question of what happens when we die is not that of a bodiless soul, or disembodied spirit wandering about this earth, migrating to paradise, living in purgatory, or even burning in hell. The real answer is found in the final resurrection of those who died in Christ. As Jesus stated in His sermon on the Bread of Life, according to John 6:40  “Everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day’ ” (John 6:40, NKJV).

Our hope after death is that Jesus will raise us up out of the grave at his second coming. Thus, our hope is found in Jesus’ Second Coming. His second coming was made sure at his first coming. It is crucial that we believe in Him and believes that He will return. For in his return, those who died believing in him they will be raised to live eternally.  Hence, they are resting in the grave waiting for his return. Without the promise of His return, we have not the hope of eternal life.

Apart from God’s breath, we are dead beings, dead souls. As dead souls, we are not conscious of what is going on in this world. But what about the “spirit” does it remain conscious after the body dies?

Find out in Day 4: The Spirit Returns to God

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