A Scriptural Fact

If you have been reading along with each blog, you know that we covered what happens to a person, when he/she dies, yesterday.  We established that when a person dies, he/she is without life, without immortality, without anything other than the shell of a body that has housed the wonderful gift of life, which God so freely bestows upon each individual that He has allowed to enter into the circle of life.

Line 5: “Therefore, when man dies, the breath goes back, into the hands of God and that is a Scriptural fact.”  

Well, let us see if indeed this is a scriptural fact. Ecclesiastes 12:7 reads, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

The first half of the verse confirms what was said yesterday in Psalms 104:29, “Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.”  Again, the Scriptures confirm that the body or corpse eventually returns to dust. Now what about this “spirit” thing spoken of by Ecclesiastes?

Let’s take a quick look at a couple of scriptures, which I believe explain/relate and/or translate spirit as breath.

1) Job 27:3 “All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils…” Job declares that the spirit of God is in his nostrils, seeming to imply that he is referring to his breath.

2) Isaiah 2:22 states, “Cease ye from man, whose breathe is in his nostrils:” Isaiah confirms that what is in the nostrils of man is the “breath” i.e. the spirit.

3) Lamentations 4:20 states, “The breath of our nostrils…” That sounds pretty conclusive to me.

From what I understand, and I hope that you will draw the correct conclusions,  also, is that the “spirit” referred to in the poem, which returns to God, is no more than the breath which was given when mankind was born. The only breath that can sustain a living creature is the “breath of God”. Now that’s a Scriptural fact.

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All Scriptures are taken from the KJV – King James Version Bible

Notice: This is copyrighted material and is intended for the sole use of this author. No part of this material may be reproduced in written, digital form, without the written consent of its originator.

More: The Death Poem

Evolution or Creation?

I am not seeking a debate; I am not a scientist; nor am I a theologian. All I am is a believer in something or someone that is larger than I am; smarter than I am; more intelligent than I am; and far more powerful than I am. My belief is in a Creator God, who is so big and so potent, until He alone has the ability to produce life in ANY fashion; no matter how big or small. It is He that orchestrated the vast universe and all that is in it; and once He had finished creating our tiny little earth, he populated it with creatures made in His image. Lastly, He shared all of this information with His created beings, in a book called The Holy Bible. Now you or anyone else can believe that they are the offspring of an amoeba or some other vile creature from the sea, but I choose to believe that I am made in the image of the Lord God, Himself, according to the Scriptures from The Holy Bible.

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7

The very next line of the poem succinctly states the origin of man; the source of his life/breath; and compared it to the true state of death, calling it, its opposite, or contrary to life.

Line 4: “For when man was created God gave him breath – the breath of life – which is opposite of death.”

There are three parts to the creation of man: 1) God formed man in His image, out of dust; 2) God breathed into man’s nostrils, the “breath of life”, which 3) resulted in man becoming a living soul. Please note, that these three (3) aspects to man’s creation can be compared with the building of any piece of furniture. If you take some wood, plus some nails, you can form a chair, a desk, a bed, dresser, etc.; when you combine the first two elements (wood and nails), it will result in the third element (furniture). However, if you remove all of the nails or fasteners that you used to form that particular piece of furniture, you merely have the particles of the furniture, in a pile: wood plus nails and nothing more.

When a person dies, the breath, which God gave to him, at his/her beginning is taken back by God. The body returns to ashes or dust, from whence it came; and the former living being is now dead. The following Scripture verse makes it plain. 

“Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.” Psalms 104:29.

That is perfectly clear! God takes the breath away, just like He gave it at the beginning. As a result, instead of life, as at the beginning, now there is death and mankind returns to the dust, from whence he came.

But I can hear you saying, I know that, but the “soul” lives on after death. NO WAY! Let’s look at two texts that will dispel this notion.

“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Ezekiel 18:4

Ezekiel says that souls are, first of all, persons; and persons/souls die, meaning to be without breath or body. In order for a soul or anything else to live, it would need to be immortal: meaning not subject to death. However,  this concept is totally debunked by the following verse of Scripture.

“ Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.” I Timothy 6:16

This Scripture declares that  Only God  has immortality. Everything and everyone else is subject to or has the ability to die (i.e. the soul), which is really translated – human being.

Therefore, I have concluded, from Holy Scripture that when a person dies, he/she is “without the ‘Breath of Life’”, which God gave him/her, at the beginning. Also, he/she returns to dust or ashes; hence the opposite of life.

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All Scriptures are taken from the KJV – King James Version Bible

 Notice: This is copyrighted material and is intended for the sole use of this author. No part of this material may be reproduced in written, digital form, without the written consent of its originator.

More: Death Poem

Word Growth

Each of us is ignorant about something. Being ignorant is simply “not knowing”. It’s nothing about which to be ashamed. Many, who believe in the Bible, just don’t know the truth about the subject of death. Therefore, let us go to the next line in the poem. 

Line 3: “Let Jesus teach you all that you should know, about life after death; let your knowledge grow.”

Here we are encouraged to seek from Jesus, whatever we do not understand about “life after death”. We have already seen in St. John 11 that He had the ability to restore life to His friend, Lazarus, raising him from the dead, after four days of death and embalming. It has been said that it is not unheard of for people to be found alive within 48 hours of having been thought dead; but four days! That would be impossible, without a supernatural undertaking. Therefore, if you want to get the truth about what “life after death” is all about, then ask Jesus. So, let’s do that by reading the associated scripture.

II Peter 3:18 – “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.”

When it comes to Scripture, we are told that Jesus is the Word (St. John 1:1 & 14-17) “¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ¹⁴ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ John bare witness of him, and cried, saying…¹⁷ For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (Emphasis supplied)

Peter says that we need to grow our knowledge regarding Jesus Christ. Why? Because Jesus constitutes the Truth of the Bible, and in those pages are bound up Truth. Please reason a moment with me.

In the book of St. John, which we’ve already quoted, John confirms on four different occasions that Jesus=Word; Jesus was in the beginning with God, as the Word; then He/Jesus/Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Additionally, John also equates Jesus with “Truth”. He says that Jesus is full of Truth and also, that Truth came by Him. Therefore, we can safely conclude that Jesus, the Word, is filled with Truth and we can securely rest upon it.

Therefore, as we continue dissecting this poem, we can safely proceed, using the Word of God, for that is what Jesus is referred to as being, and we have already seen His power over death. I believe that He is the absolute correct authority for growing our knowledge about “life after death” and any additional bible topic. What about you; do you believe?

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All Scriptures are taken from the KJV – King James Version Bible

Notice: This is copyrighted material and is intended for the sole use of this author. No part of this material may be reproduced in written or digital form, without the written consent of its originator.

Published on this Blog – 11/7/2016

More: Death Poem