civic
Well-known member
exactly never on the sinless, perfect, holy, righteous.
Did God ( Christ ) die ?
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Wrangler
Well-known member
Agreed, proving Jesus was not God.
Wrangler
Well-known member
Yea, no need to read that sticking Bible that tells us explicitly and repeatedly and Jesus is a Man. This guy, Louis Berkhof, is much more authoritative than the author of the Bible, right?
Wrangler
Well-known member
And that includes Jesus, which explains why he was baptized.
No, it doesn't mean Jesus is not God. Remember, Jesus was both God and man, the sacrifice and the Great High Priest in one body. The sacrifice died, the Great High Priest did not. The spirit becoming alive in II Peter (I believe) was the human spirit coming to life, no longer carrying our sin. Once again in full communion with the Logos. It is difficult to understand, because we have never seen this happen before, and it will never happen again. It is outside of our shared experience, so it is difficult to explain. Peter did as good as he could.
If you do not believe Jesus was God, you are a heretic. Plain and simple. If you do not believe Jesus was a man, you are a heretic. He was BOTH God and man, Logos and the flesh together. John 1 is very clear that Jesus, who is the word, was both with and was God. There is a reason why John included with God.
Wrangler
Well-known member
I totally am a heretic and I'm good with that. Trinitarians are heretics to the monotheist religion that Jesus preached. You are good with that.
The thing is, if Jesus was not God, Jesus only died for Himself. You also deny what God had Paul write. For ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The only reason Jesus did not sin is that Jesus was not simply human. He was also God. In order to be a sacrifice for atonement, the sacrifice must be sanctified. Can you tell me which high priest was on Golgatha to sanctify the sacrifice? Also, was Jesus not the Son? You know that one of the definitions of Son is not begotten, but in the likeness of. So if Jesus was in the likeness of the Father, and the Father is God, then Jesus is also... God. Hence, once again, John 1:1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. With and was. The issue with the trinity is that we, as humans, do not have any shared experience by which to describe/explain God. We can talk about attributes, but when it comes to truly describing God, we are clueless. Consider a life long vegetarian. If he asks you what the food you eat tastes like, and you say "Just like chicken", is the vegetarian going to have a clue what you are talking about? Are you going to be able to explain to the vegetarian what chicken tastes like? or beef? or any other meat product? Or consider aliens (hypothetical) who want to study humans. Sure, there are over 6 billion examples for you to study so you can learn of humans. However, with God, there is only ONE. How can we describe something that we have no shared experience by which we can describe/explain God. (Tastes like chicken. It was colored orange. (What if the person can't see in color. How do you explain the color orange?)
Jesus was both the Logos (Word) and human in one body. This is why Satan could not tempt the human. The human nature was in perfect communion with the divine. Understand that if Satan comes to tempt, you are done. Notice how he picked out every perceivable weakness that Jesus had. Jesus was hungry (40 days without food tends to do that). Turn stones to bread and eat. (Satan obviously wanted Jesus to do this because Jesus was simply a man, and man has no problem turning stones to bread. Why, oh why, would Satan waste a temptation on something Jesus could not possibly do, if He was simply a man? Would God give this man Jesus the power to sin? What happened? The man Jesus replied with the Word of God. (Logos). The next temptation. Show everyone who you are and you will not be persecuted/tormented. Jump down and God will use His angels to save you. If Jesus was the Son of God, then God would have a reason to save Him. Why would God save a simple man, considering God could raise up children of Abraham from stones? No reason, right? Jesus was more than a man, He was also God. God incarnate. (God become flesh). God dwelt among His creation, and ultimately became the sacrifice that would meet what God required, as it is God we offended, it is God who must be appeased. The final temptation was that Jesus could accomplish His overall mission, no suffering, no persecution, no need to die on the cross, etc. All He had to do was bow to Satan, and Satan would give back everything. If you think this was some simple little temptation, like a tap on the shoulder, it was not. However, Jesus the man was fully in tune with the Logos and the Father, and He drove Satan away.
Now, who is the final judge at the end of the age? God, right? Then why did the demons ask Jesus if He had come to judge them before the time? I mean, you say Jesus wasn't God. Did those demons blaspheme, or did they know the truth? Why did Jesus move to shut up the demons as quickly as possible?
Also, remember this important line from Paul. Everything was created by Christ, and without Him, nothing was created. (That includes... the beginning, light, Earth, etc.) Yet, we know that it was God who created.
The idea of the trinity is that there is one BEING (we know as God), who is made up of three coexisting, coeternal persons. One Being, three persons. The God head. There is a reason why God said, in Genesis, Let US create man in OUR own image. The reason royalty speaks in the plural is because, when speaking "in state", they are speaking in the plural. They are speaking for the state. When the queen (jokes coming) says "We are not amused", she means that she and the state are not amused. When Herod was disturbed/upset with word of the King being born, all of Jerusalem was upset with him. God was speaking for the Godhead, as there is no one/nothing else outside of God that God would be speaking for.
So who sanctified the sacrifice of atonement? The Great High Priest, the Logos, Jesus did. The High Priest and the sacrifice in one body. The Logos and the flesh. And the Word took on itself flesh, and dwelt among us. (John 1:14)
Diserner
Well-known member
Really, making only the human Jesus die hurts all your points against someone who denies his deity.
Then you disconnect everything about the atonement from anything necessarily divine.
If the Person of Jesus had to die, than it actually took all of God to pay the price for sins, not just an attached human nature.
Then you disconnect everything about the atonement from anything necessarily divine.
If the Person of Jesus had to die, than it actually took all of God to pay the price for sins, not just an attached human nature.
Wrangler
Well-known member
How do you come to that conclusion since God told him to go to the cross. Jesus asked for the cup to be taken from him if there is any other way.
Jesus is depicted in Scripture as praying often. Who did he pray to? God - in his unitarian nature.
You do not understand. Jesus was both God and man. The man carried the sin, as the Bible is very clear that God can have nothing to do with sin. God is light, and in Him there is no darkness... most of the time, right? There is no darkness. No stain of sin. No evil. Besides if God died, then, not being human, He can't save any humans. The sacrifice had to be human, sanctified by God Himself. God offering the sacrifice of His Son. The sins of the congregation imputed on the sacrificial lamb by the high priest, in this case the Great High Priest, the Logos... God. God made Him who knew no sin (obviously that Him is not God, because God is doing the action) to be sin on our behalf. This is what you are not understanding. If Jesus is not God, there is no sinless sacrifice, for all have sinned would have included the man Jesus. His death would have only saved Himself. If Jesus was not man, there could be no sacrifice at all, because God can know nothing of sin, cannot be tainted by sin, cannot have sin imputed to Himself, or, given His nature, He ceases to exist. The sacrifice was sanctified by God in Christ's body. That is what was required for Christ's sacrifice to satisfy God's justice, to appease Him after OUR offense to Him. We didn't offend Satan. We didn't commit a crime against which Satan had laws in place that rise above God's. We offended God, and God, as a Creator above all others, made Himself our salvation through the God-man Jesus. God incarnate. The Logos taken on flesh and dwelling among us.
I think you have something in your ears, or would that be a plank in your eyes, since you are reading. Jesus was both God and man. The prayer in the garden came from the flesh. Do you think God gets so stressed out that He sweats drops of blood? Have you ever been that stressed? That man knew what He would face, and bowed to the will of the Father. He was praying to the Father (if you actually read the passage correctly.) You also forget that Paul was clear when He said that Jesus created all things and that without Him nothing was created. (So, you really believe Jesus created HIMSELF?) And that is what GOD told Paul to write. Jesus said the Father sent Him to accomplish a mission. Who else would Jesus pray to when His human nature is so distressed that He sweats drops of blood? To the One who sent Him of course.
Why does your Jesus need to be a sinner? Any human is born with a sinful nature passed on from the father to the son. Jesus didn't have an earthly father, because Jesus is part divine. I know you don't believe the Holy Spirit to be a person, and yet it is this Holy Spirit that conceived Christ in Mary. That does not sound like the actions of an inanimate object, or impersonal force. They don't perform actions.
John was clear when he clearly stated that the LOGOS was God from the beginning, and was both with God, and was God.
Diserner
Well-known member
Well, you're wrong there. God has very much something do with sin—he is the only one who ultimate judges it.
Does he get his hands morally "dirty" by punishing sinners? No, of course not, but it very much involves sins.
When we say God "hides" his face from sinners or does not "allow" sin in his presence or has "nothing" to do with sin, we don't mean literal presence. Satan comes before the throne of God and is tormented in the presence of the Lamb and his angels.
So what DO we mean, then? We mean God does not express FAVOR towards sin, he expresses ANGER or DISFAVOR.
The Bible nowhere says "God cannot vicariously bear the sins of the world," you are completely reading that in.
In fact, it tells us the opposite!
It tells us that "He made him to be sin, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
Oh, you should see, how some attempt to water this verse down to nothing—you will probably try yourself.
And the OT equally bears witness, it tells us "The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Now it feels really pious and holy to say God can't have anything to do with sin, doesn't it? Until it comes to YOUR sin. Then you want find an "exception" somewhere, you want a "loophole" for your own rule.
Oh, well, my sin is forgiven because of some generic undefined thing that Jesus did in dying.
Oh really? Just gone, just like that?
God doesn't sweep sin under the rug, I'm sorry.
No, the rule is this: God does not deal FAVORABLY with sin. That's the rule.
And that's why Christ was not dealt with FAVORABLY when he bore sin—the cloud darkened, he cried "I am forsaken," and the wrath that your nasty, vile, disgusting, unforgivable, wretched sins angered God with—the very "rule" you want to pull out to disprove the very One who redeemed you and made it possible for YOUR sin to be put away—that rule was KEPT.
"God can have nothing to do with sin."
"My God, My God, why have you forsaken me."
But... God can have NOTHING to do with sin!
MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME!
BUT... God can have NOTHING TO DO WITH SIN!!
And that includes YOURS!!
I'll tell you why Jesus said this—
Because God can have nothing to do with YOUR sin.
So he nailed it there on the Cross.
For you.
No greater love.
Brakelite
Active member
And in that whole treatise you have effectively denied the resurrection.
civic
Well-known member
How have I denied the resurrection? Please point that out for me. Thanks
And FYI that was from got questions , I referenced it as Got? for short.
“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you” (Romans 8:11).
You do know that "raised Jesus from the dead" speaks of resurrection, right? You may want to read slower, or take the time to read it at all.
1. Jesus was both God and man. John 1 is very clear in verse 14. And the Word took upon Himself flesh and dwelt among us. Some versions say, pitched His tent among us. In other words, He made Himself fully human while being God (the Logos). He made is abode among us. God can't do that. He took upon Himself the created (flesh) and dwelt among His created as one of us, while still being God. He had two natures, a human nature and divine nature. They coexisted in perfect communion and harmony, and spoke in unity. Satan did not tempt Jesus believing He was tempting God. Satan is not stupid. God had taken upon Himself flesh, and that is weakness. Satan went after the weakness. Satan went after the human nature, the humanity. God can't starve, but after 40 days and 40 nights of not eating, Jesus was hungry. (How?) So, attack the weakness. Command the stones to become bread. You can make food at any time. Feed the physical need and you will be set. However Jesus said that man cannot live by bread alone. Satan was pushing alone. He was telling Jesus to forget the whole purpose of fasting. Break the fast.
The next temptation was to end the persecution and pain presented by the religious leaders and those who would not believe. Jump off the high point of the temple, and the angels will not even let you dash you foot against a stone, and everyone will see and know who you are. Notice how that is a weakness and an insecurity of humanity. God isn't insecure. So telling Him to do one of these, if angels stop you from falling, that proves who you are means nothing. However, Jesus was also human, and Satan knows exactly what works on us. However, the humanity remained in complete fellowship with God, and would not be moved.
The final is telling the human nature, you don't even have to go through the pain that awaits you. You can have it all NOW. Look out at the whole world, all creation. You can have it right now. No need to fight. No need to die. Just worship Satan, and big daddy will give it all to you, just get on your knees and worship. Considering Jesus' reaction to the whole upcoming event in the Garden of Gethsemane, this was no simplistic temptation. Consider the response. It wasn't like the other two responses. It was explosive. GET OUT OF HERE NOW! And then the biblical response. Satan was tempting Christ's humanity. Jesus didn't have a sin nature, though He was born as a man. Why? He didn't have an earthly father to pass down a sin nature. Scripture does not tell us that sin entered creation and spread through Eve, but that it entered and spread through Adam.
The High Priest and the sacrifice were in one body. The High Priest both imputed the sin on the sacrifice, and sanctified the sacrifice in the one body of Jesus Christ. God did not bear the sin, the High Priest does not bear the sin, the sacrifice bears the sin. No greater love has any other God then to lay His life down for a man, right? That isn't what it says. No greater love has any MAN than this... Does God face the death of those He loves, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob? Not like us. He is God. He is not man, so He cannot experience it as we do. However, He came to Earth as a man, the God man, and experienced all we experience through communion with a human nature, and through human eyes. As such, the Father is not our mediator, He does not stand between us and God, Jesus does. He is God, but He is also man, and can therefore sympathize with our humanity. He understands what we go through, since He experienced all we experience, right down to the grief of death through Lazarus.
So God had nothing to do with the sin born by the flesh. He imputed the sin, and sanctified the sacrifice, but did not stain Himself. The crying about forsaken is because communion was cut off between the man who grew up in the same body, and God, after 33 years of perfect communion, consider how that would feel. God didn't leave, but God cannot have anything to do with sin. No darkness to corrupt the light.
Just what is sin? It is an archery term that means to miss the mark. To miss the standard. Who is God? The one who is the standard. So anything God does is the standard. If God could so something that is not the standard, then God ceases to exist.
This is difficult to explain or to comprehend because we are talking about a one of a kind event that never happened before, and will never happen again. Yet you somehow believe that it can be easily explained through shared experience. THERE IS NO SHARED EXPERIENCE.
Wrangler
Well-known member
What dictionary are you relying on to make this statement?
If Jesus was God, he could not separate from himself.
Violating definition and logic is a must in trinity land.
civic
Well-known member
Death as separation of body from soul
In the Phaedo, Plato has Socrates say:Is it [death] not the separation of soul and body? And to be dead is the completion of this; when the soul exists in herself, and is released from the body and the body is released from the soul, what is this but death?
(Phaedo [Jowett, 1937 vol. 1]: 447)
Death - Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
www.rep.routledge.com
civic
Well-known member
3 types of death in scripture
Death means “separation” regardless of the type of death involved. Death is never cessation of existence, nor is it cessation of consciousness.
James 2:26 says: “the body without the spirit is dead.” Whenever there is a separation of the spirit of a man from his body, at that moment death takes place. Just as long as the spirit of a man inhabits the body and is not separated from it, there is life.
In Luke 16 we read the account of the rich man who died and went to Hades. There in Hades (i.e. his soul was in Hades and his body was buried in the ground) he was in torment. He realized also that the beggar that sat at his gate and ate the crumbs from his table was in Abraham’s bosom. He could reason and think. He desired water and someone to return back from the dead to warn his brothers of this place. There was full consciousness of being, thinking, feeling, and remembering.
There are three important types of death in the Word of God: spiritual death, physical death and eternal death. Each death is separation, is the result of sin, and has its remedy in Christ.
Spiritual death is “separation from God in time.” The moment Adam and Eve sinned they died toward God. Adam and Eve died spiritually right away and this is seen in the fact that they hid themselves from God. They had a nature that was contrary to God’s nature and that nature, now fallen, found no fellowship with God. The life Adam and Eve possessed did not respond to the life possessed and enjoyed by God. God had not died. Man had died spiritually. No longer did he have spiritual life; he was spiritually dead.
Because this was Adam and Eve’s permanent nature as a result of their sin, this nature is passed on to each child born of the seed of man. We are all born spiritually dead toward God. Thus in Ephesians 2:1 we read: “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” This is why Scripture says: “There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Rom. 3:11-12).
The natural man being spiritually dead would never seek after God; he would always seek to hide from His presence. The reason is because he is spiritually dead. The message of the gospel is that God seeks after us and finds us. The Lord Jesus is come “to seek and to save” that which is lost.
God’s work is to undo the work of sin and death, and the remedy for spiritual death is spiritual life. The word “quickened” is an old English word meaning “to make alive.”
Ephesians 2:1, “And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.”
Ephesians 2:4-6, We who were dead, have been “made alive.” Salvation is the work of God. Only God can give spiritual life in the place of spiritual death.
John 5:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation: but is passed from [out of] death unto [into] life.”
Once we were in the state of death, but by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ we leave that sphere once and for all and we enter into life with God and all that it entails.
Many individuals who have been born once never realize that they are dead toward God. But whether they feel it or not, they are—and God says they are. If you place a weight on a corpse, he does not feel it at all. Thus the unsaved man may not feel separated from God, but he is.
Physical death is the separation of the spirit and/or soul from the body. James 2:26 says, “the body without the spirit is dead.” Whenever the soul leaves the body, physical death ensues.
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
Physical death in the world is the result of the sin of one man—Adam. To be “in Adam” is to be under the sentence of death. The genealogy of Adam is given in Genesis 5. “This is the book of the generations of Adam” (v. 1). As we read on in this book we read over and over that short phrase: “And he died.” This is the book of death.
But there is another book. In Matthew 1:1 we read the only other time the same phrase occurs: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ.” To be “in Christ” is life and peace. As in Adam all die; in Christ all shall be made alive. Listen to these words of Paul: “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:17). Because Jesus Christ lives, we shall live also (John 14:19). Even though we may die, we await that future day of our resurrection or the complete redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23). God’s remedy for physical death is resurrection.
This death is spoken of in Revelation 20:12-15, and it refers to “eternal separation from God.” This state is spoken of as that of perishing.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:14-16).
I have heard men say in a joking way: “Well, if I go to hell, I am surely going to have a lot of company.” Beloved, this is a fallacious statement. It is correct that there will be many there, for the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said, “broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat” (Matt. 7:13). But Scripture says it is a place of utter darkness, “the blackness of darkness for ever.” Even though it is a lake of fire, it is not something that is light; it is something that is darkness. God is light and His kingdom is a kingdom of light; this is a place of utter darkness. There is no light there.
I do not know whether you have been in total darkness, but if you have, you realize that you can be standing right next to another person and yet there is no help, no feeling between you and them. There is nothing that satisfies you. You are alone! You can be in a crowd, but you are alone! This is the place that is called the second death.
Eternal death is the result of rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ, and failing to believe that He is the Savior of the world.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotton Son of God” (John 3:17-18).
What do you have to do to be lost? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! But you do have to do something to be saved. And the person who is born once, if they do not do anything, will die twice. There is a second death. If we are going to escape this second death we must have a Savior. If there is no second death, there is no need for a Savior. If we are going to escape this second death and dying twice, we are going to have to be born twice—we must be born again (John 3:7). This is the message of the gospel.
The Lord Jesus Christ spoke to those who rejected Him and said: “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24).
The issue between life and death is the person of Jesus Christ. What think ye of Him?
The Lord said the Holy Spirit would be sent into the world to “reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me” (John 16:8-9).
There is only one sin that will take a person to a Christless eternity, and that is failure to believe on the Savior of the world. There is salvation in no other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Act 4:12).
The Word says we are to save some “with fear, pulling them out of the fire” (Jude 23). When we talk about the second death, we certainly are not talking about something that is a wonderful subject—but it is a reality. This is why the Lord Jesus Christ came, “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:15).
Do you know you have eternal life? Do you know that if you should die today you would go to heaven because the blood of Jesus Christ has saved you? Do you know that you have been rescued, redeemed, taken out of the kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear Son?
If you don’t, you’d better, for this is real. These are not my words, but God’s. This is God’s revelation; I am merely the mailman. There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun, and there is only one way unto the Father. Jesus Christ said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
Do you know you are saved? If not, why not, and why not settle it right now?
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).
“This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:11-12).
The decision is yours. The issue is life and death. bible.org
hope this helps !!!
The Meaning of Death
Death means “separation” regardless of the type of death involved. Death is never cessation of existence, nor is it cessation of consciousness.
James 2:26 says: “the body without the spirit is dead.” Whenever there is a separation of the spirit of a man from his body, at that moment death takes place. Just as long as the spirit of a man inhabits the body and is not separated from it, there is life.
In Luke 16 we read the account of the rich man who died and went to Hades. There in Hades (i.e. his soul was in Hades and his body was buried in the ground) he was in torment. He realized also that the beggar that sat at his gate and ate the crumbs from his table was in Abraham’s bosom. He could reason and think. He desired water and someone to return back from the dead to warn his brothers of this place. There was full consciousness of being, thinking, feeling, and remembering.
III. The Three Important Types of Death in Scripture
There are three important types of death in the Word of God: spiritual death, physical death and eternal death. Each death is separation, is the result of sin, and has its remedy in Christ.
A. Spiritual Death
Spiritual death is “separation from God in time.” The moment Adam and Eve sinned they died toward God. Adam and Eve died spiritually right away and this is seen in the fact that they hid themselves from God. They had a nature that was contrary to God’s nature and that nature, now fallen, found no fellowship with God. The life Adam and Eve possessed did not respond to the life possessed and enjoyed by God. God had not died. Man had died spiritually. No longer did he have spiritual life; he was spiritually dead.
Because this was Adam and Eve’s permanent nature as a result of their sin, this nature is passed on to each child born of the seed of man. We are all born spiritually dead toward God. Thus in Ephesians 2:1 we read: “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” This is why Scripture says: “There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Rom. 3:11-12).
The natural man being spiritually dead would never seek after God; he would always seek to hide from His presence. The reason is because he is spiritually dead. The message of the gospel is that God seeks after us and finds us. The Lord Jesus is come “to seek and to save” that which is lost.
God’s work is to undo the work of sin and death, and the remedy for spiritual death is spiritual life. The word “quickened” is an old English word meaning “to make alive.”
Ephesians 2:1, “And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.”
Ephesians 2:4-6, We who were dead, have been “made alive.” Salvation is the work of God. Only God can give spiritual life in the place of spiritual death.
John 5:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation: but is passed from [out of] death unto [into] life.”
Once we were in the state of death, but by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ we leave that sphere once and for all and we enter into life with God and all that it entails.
Many individuals who have been born once never realize that they are dead toward God. But whether they feel it or not, they are—and God says they are. If you place a weight on a corpse, he does not feel it at all. Thus the unsaved man may not feel separated from God, but he is.
B. Physical Death
Physical death is the separation of the spirit and/or soul from the body. James 2:26 says, “the body without the spirit is dead.” Whenever the soul leaves the body, physical death ensues.
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
Physical death in the world is the result of the sin of one man—Adam. To be “in Adam” is to be under the sentence of death. The genealogy of Adam is given in Genesis 5. “This is the book of the generations of Adam” (v. 1). As we read on in this book we read over and over that short phrase: “And he died.” This is the book of death.
But there is another book. In Matthew 1:1 we read the only other time the same phrase occurs: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ.” To be “in Christ” is life and peace. As in Adam all die; in Christ all shall be made alive. Listen to these words of Paul: “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:17). Because Jesus Christ lives, we shall live also (John 14:19). Even though we may die, we await that future day of our resurrection or the complete redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23). God’s remedy for physical death is resurrection.
C. The Second Death or Eternal Death
This death is spoken of in Revelation 20:12-15, and it refers to “eternal separation from God.” This state is spoken of as that of perishing.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:14-16).
- 1. It is spoken of as hell or gehenna. It is a place of torment prepared for the devil and his angels—a lake of fire—where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.
2. It is spoken of as a place of utter darkness (Jude 13).
3. It is a place where in eternity will be found “the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters and all liars, [all of these] shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Rev. 22:8).
I have heard men say in a joking way: “Well, if I go to hell, I am surely going to have a lot of company.” Beloved, this is a fallacious statement. It is correct that there will be many there, for the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said, “broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat” (Matt. 7:13). But Scripture says it is a place of utter darkness, “the blackness of darkness for ever.” Even though it is a lake of fire, it is not something that is light; it is something that is darkness. God is light and His kingdom is a kingdom of light; this is a place of utter darkness. There is no light there.
I do not know whether you have been in total darkness, but if you have, you realize that you can be standing right next to another person and yet there is no help, no feeling between you and them. There is nothing that satisfies you. You are alone! You can be in a crowd, but you are alone! This is the place that is called the second death.
Eternal death is the result of rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ, and failing to believe that He is the Savior of the world.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotton Son of God” (John 3:17-18).
What do you have to do to be lost? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! But you do have to do something to be saved. And the person who is born once, if they do not do anything, will die twice. There is a second death. If we are going to escape this second death we must have a Savior. If there is no second death, there is no need for a Savior. If we are going to escape this second death and dying twice, we are going to have to be born twice—we must be born again (John 3:7). This is the message of the gospel.
The Lord Jesus Christ spoke to those who rejected Him and said: “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24).
The issue between life and death is the person of Jesus Christ. What think ye of Him?
The Lord said the Holy Spirit would be sent into the world to “reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me” (John 16:8-9).
There is only one sin that will take a person to a Christless eternity, and that is failure to believe on the Savior of the world. There is salvation in no other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Act 4:12).
The Word says we are to save some “with fear, pulling them out of the fire” (Jude 23). When we talk about the second death, we certainly are not talking about something that is a wonderful subject—but it is a reality. This is why the Lord Jesus Christ came, “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:15).
Do you know you have eternal life? Do you know that if you should die today you would go to heaven because the blood of Jesus Christ has saved you? Do you know that you have been rescued, redeemed, taken out of the kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear Son?
If you don’t, you’d better, for this is real. These are not my words, but God’s. This is God’s revelation; I am merely the mailman. There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun, and there is only one way unto the Father. Jesus Christ said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
Do you know you are saved? If not, why not, and why not settle it right now?
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).
“This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:11-12).
The decision is yours. The issue is life and death. bible.org
hope this helps !!!
