Here are some quotations that speak to the subject of death:
Christ conquered death. He took upon himself our
nature ‘so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of
death—that is, the devil’ (Heb. 2:14). The devil’s power is subject to God’s
overruling (Jb. 2:6; Lk. 12:5, etc.).
Satan is no absolute disposer of death. Nevertheless death, the negation of
life, is his proper sphere. And Christ came to put an end to death. It was
through death, as the Hebrews passage indicates, that he defeated Satan. It was
through death that he put away our sin: ‘The death he died he died to sin, once
for all’ (Rom. 6:10). For those who are apart from Christ, death is the supreme
enemy, the symbol of our alienation from God, the ultimate horror. But Christ
has used death to deliver people from death. He died that believers may live.
It is significant that the NT speaks of believers as ‘sleeping’ rather than as
‘dying’ (e.g. 1 Thes. 4:14). Jesus bore the full horror of death. Therefore,
for those who are ‘in Christ’, death has been transformed so that it is no more
than sleep. ‘If a man keeps my word,’ Jesus said,‘he will never see death’ (Jn.
8:51).[1]
Scripture
closely associates death with the malevolent activity of Satan, whom Jesus
labeled a “murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44 HCSB). The entrance of death
into the creation came through the cunning temptation of the Serpent (Gen.
3:1–6). The writer of Hebrews ascribes to the evil one the “power of death,”
namely a paralyzing and universal fear of death, from which believers are
liberated by the atonement of Christ (Heb. 2:14–15).[2]
We
should understand death as something that involves the whole person. We die,
not as so many bodies, but as people, in the totality of our being. And the
Bible does not put a sharp line of demarcation between the two aspects.
Physical death, then, is a fit symbol and expression of, and unity with, the
more serious death that sin inevitably brings.[3]
The biblical portrait of death is not that of a
normal outworking of natural processes. Instead, the Bible presents human death
as a reaffirmation that something has gone awry in God’s created order. The
Scriptures do not, however, picture death as a hopeless termination of human
consciousness but instead brim with the hope of resurrection. [4]
Although physical death is sometimes compared to
sleep (Deut. 31:16; John 11:11; 1 Cor. 11:30; 1 Thess. 4:15), Scripture does
not teach that one’s consciousness lapses after death to reawaken at the day of
resurrection and judgment. Jesus promised the repentant thief on the cross that
He would see paradise the very day of his death (Luke 23:43). Paul teaches
that, for believers, being absent from the body means being present with Christ
(2 Cor. 5:8).[5]
Paul, having established death as the consequence of
a universal human depravity, heralds the resurrection of Jesus as pronouncing
the death knell for death itself (2 Tim. 1:10). Proclaiming that the end times
have come in Christ as the “last enemy” is destroyed in the resurrection of the
Messiah (1 Cor. 15:26), Paul mocks the power of death in light of the victory
of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:55). He assures believers on the basis of God’s resurrection
of Jesus that the same bodies buried in the graves will be raised to life in
the new creation (1
Cor. 15:35–49). Believers, therefore, have no reason for
despair in the face of death (1 Thess. 4:13–18).[6]
(Paradise, Luke 23:43, 2Cor. 12:4, Rev. 2:7)
Acts 7:59, Stephen dying.
Paul’s expectation, Phil 1:21-24, 2 Cor 5
[1] L.M.
(1996). Death. In D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer
& D. J. Wiseman (Eds.), New Bible
dictionary (D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer
& D. J. Wiseman, Ed.) (3rd ed.) (267). Leicester, England; Downers Grove,
IL: InterVarsity Press.
[2]
Moore, R. D. (2003). Death. In C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R.
Clendenen & T. C. Butler (Eds.), Holman
Illustrated Bible Dictionary (C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E.
R. Clendenen & T. C. Butler, Ed.) (406). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible
Publishers.
[3] L.M.
(1996). Death. In D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer
& D. J. Wiseman (Eds.), New Bible
dictionary (D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer
& D. J. Wiseman, Ed.) (3rd ed.) (265). Leicester, England; Downers Grove,
IL: InterVarsity Press.
[4]
Moore, R. D. (2003). Death. In C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R.
Clendenen & T. C. Butler (Eds.), Holman
Illustrated Bible Dictionary (C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E.
R. Clendenen & T. C. Butler, Ed.) (405). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible
Publishers.
[5]
Moore, R. D. (2003). Death. In C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R.
Clendenen & T. C. Butler (Eds.), Holman
Illustrated Bible Dictionary (C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E.
R. Clendenen & T. C. Butler, Ed.) (406). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible
Publishers.
[6]
Moore, R. D. (2003). Death. In C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R.
Clendenen & T. C. Butler (Eds.), Holman
Illustrated Bible Dictionary (C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E.
R. Clendenen & T. C. Butler, Ed.) (406–407). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible
Publishers.
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