The older we get, the more we are conscious of our mortality. We experience sickness our selves and see it in others. There are accidents, violence, war, and various news reports of the demise of others. So, there are times that we wonder about what happens to us after death. There are philosophers and theologians who try to explain it theoretically, but they can offer only speculation and uninspired human reasoning. Only God's inspired Word in the Bible can be depended upon for the answers we seek about what happens to us after we die. Arnie and Fred discuss what the Bible says about the death of the human body which is commonly known by everyone. We discuss what the Bible says about the spirit of man, where it goes and why. The resurrection as revealed in the Bible is discussed as well as the judgment day when Jesus will render final judgment upon every individual. Take about 30 minutes to listen in on the discussion. Have your bible open so you can verify what is said.
The older we get, the more we are conscious of our mortality. We experience sickness our selves and see it in others. There are accidents, violence, war, and various news reports of the demise of others. So, there are times that we wonder about what happens to us after death. There are philosophers and theologians who try to explain it theoretically, but they can offer only speculation and uninspired human reasoning. Only God's inspired Word in the Bible can be depended upon for the answers we seek about what happens to us after we die. Arnie and Fred discuss what the Bible says about the death of the human body which is commonly known by everyone. We discuss what the Bible says about the spirit of man, where it goes and why. The resurrection as revealed in the Bible is discussed as well as the judgment day when Jesus will render final judgment upon every individual. Take about 30 minutes to listen in on the discussion. Have your bible open so you can verify what is said.
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Fred
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This is a presentation of the Woodland church of Christ meeting at 3370 Broad Street in Sumter, SC. We meet for worship on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. and at 5:30 p.m. We meet for bible study at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday and at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. If you have questions or comments on this lesson, you may email them to Fred Gosnell at fgosnell@ftc-i.net or to Arnie Granke at agranke440718@twc.com.This is a presentation of the Woodland church of Christ meeting at 3370 Broad Street in Sumter, SC. We meet for worship on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. and at 5:30 p.m. We meet for bible study at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday and at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. If you have questions or comments on this lesson, you may email them to Fred Gosnell at fgosnell@ftc-i.net or to Arnie Granke at agranke440718@twc.com.
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Arnie Good afternoon. This is Arnie Granke and Fred Gosnell with Woodland church of Christ and this is What Does the Bible Say. You know Fred, as human beings we're continually reminded of our mortality. But sometimes we seem closer to that realization, I think than at others. Sickness, accidents, violence, war, old age, news reports, things we witness ourselves, that others tell us. And there are times in our lives when we seriously want to know what will happen when we die. Philosophers and theologians try to explain it, but only theoretically. But they can offer only speculation and tangled human reasoning. Only God's word in the Bible reveals the answers to our questions and can tell us what we need to know. S, why don't we start here with the Bible account of creation. Genesis chapter one and verse 27 tells us that after creating various creatures and other things, that God created man in His own image, in the image God created He him, male and female created He them. And then in chapter 2, He gives a little more detail on that as to how that came about. He says in verse 7, 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. So it sounds to me as if what He did was formed a body of the dust of the earth and just of ah soil, and you had basically an inert human being without any life in it. And then he breathes into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. And he's made in God's image. And that was the whole purpose there. In fact, in the beginning of the Bible it speaks of making man in our own image.
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Fred Yeah, and the condition of man is spoken of in a number of places. When we go to James to James 2:26 "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." So we see that evidently the animating principle, what makes a body alive is the spirit that's in it. And of course, God is a spirit. And they that worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and in truth. So we're made in the image of God. We are spirit beings with a physical body and then so when we die, the spirit will leave the body, and there's no doctor in the world that can put it back in there. I would submit to you.
spk_1: 3:40
Arnie So you know, we sometimes try to calculate exactly when an individual dies, you know, and maybe a coroner or doctor is looking at that. They set a time, well for their purposes and that's good enough, but we don't know exactly when. It is when the spirit leaves the body. Sometimes there may be individuals who were thought to be dead, even pronounced dead. And then it's, um, not a distant future time. But some later moment it turns out that they're alive after all. Only God knows that
spk_0: 4:18
Fred That's right. And James says that when the body, when the spirit leaves the body, the body's dead. And then in ah, Acts 24:14 through 16. There, Paul says "14 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: 15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men." So, So Paul says, there's gonna be a resurrection of the dead. So what happens when we die? Of course, we all know that the body goes in the grave, and if it stays there long enough and ultimately turns to dust, it goes back to what God originally made it. So the process of decomposition occurs in all bodies, and Paul says, at some point, those bodies are going to be resurrected, So we'll talk about more on the resurrection here in a little bit.
spk_1: 5:26
Arnie Well, let's think about this spirit that we mentioned here, ah, a little bit ago. Man's spirit does not die. The whole man has not deceased completely. Only the body has died and the spirit continues to live after it's departed from the body. In Matthew, Chapter 22 Jesus is involved in a number of debates with his religious adversaries, described as the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Herodians and all of them. And and he describes the resurrection. Well the Pharisees, the Sadduccees don't believe in the resurrection for, for one thing. But in Matthew 22 in Verse 31 He says , Jesus says, "But as touching the resurrection of the dead? Have you not read that which was spoken unto you by God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." And so, using the present tense there. Jesus, say he's still there? God. And for him to be their God, they have to be alive. And so they're still alive, not in the body. But the spirit is still is still alive. And in fact, a little bit later on, I think we'll see a passage of Scripture where Jesus speaks about Abraham having a conversation with someone.
spk_0: 7:07
Fred Exactly. And, of course, in in the Ecclesiastes 12 verse seven. There's a passage there that tells us about the spirit, and the writer says, "then shall the dust return to the Earth as it was in the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." So. So when we die, of course, we make disposition of the body. We put the body in the grave, but the spirit is, uh, sent to the place that God has designed for it. And we're gonna talk about that in the next passage. So, So God is the one that makes disposition of ones spirit. He's the one that gave it to us, and he's the one that it returns to and God's the one that controls where it goes. And as we just just read Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not dead. God is the God of the living. So even though we die physically, uh, we're still alive.
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Arnie In fact, uh, Jesus is talking about the problem off covetousness the Pharisees tended to be very materialistic individuals. And in Luke, Chapter 16 and Verse 22 he's telling a story about an individual that I take to be a real life situation.
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Fred It doesn't say it's a parable,
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Doesn't say it's parable, and it doesn't have the characteristics of a parable, either. So as he's telling about Abraham and and a man named Lazarus, and, uh, another man who had died, whose name is not, is not given in Verse 22 he said it came to pass that the beggar, the begger was Lazarus, that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades he lifted up, his eyes, being in torments and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his in his bosom. One of the things that I that I noticed about this is that these two individuals are in separate places, even though they both are in Hades the, uh uh, the beggar, Lazarus is in Abraham's bosom, and he's in a comfortable place, but the rich man is in torments. He's not in a comfortable place. There's more that we can learn about with that.
spk_0: 9:54
Fred Exactly. And Jesus makes a comment that will be interesting for us to know in Ah, Luke 23 beginning in verse 42. And this is Ah, one of the thieves, uh said unto Jesus Lord,
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Arnie did you did you say 22 or 23?
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Fred Luke 23 being in 42. And so he said, unto Jesus, this is the thief speaking Lord, remember me when thou comes into that kingdom, and Jesus said to him, Verily, I say unto thee today shalt now be with me in paradise. So So, uh, when we die, our spirits go where God sends them. And from Luke, 16. It's in Hades . But in Hades there's two compartments. Between that, there's a great gulf fixed. You can't go from one to the other. So those who are righteous go to the comfortable place Abraham's bosom and Jesus says today you'll be with me in paradise. That's where Jesus went when, when he died his body went to the grave and his soul, His spirit went to paradise. And he says to the thief, You're gonna be with me Uh, when? After I die. Of course. This This was the thief that had evidently repented and Jesus forgave him on the cross.
spk_1: 11:14
Arnie Paradise is a word that has to do with a with a garden, and so is evidently, a beautiful, and comfortable location and just a word back here on Abraham's bosom. That doesn't mean that he's inside Abraham's chest. It indicates that it's as if Abraham has his arm around him, and and it's sort of hugging him or or comforting him. Something along that that line well, you're talking about the paradise. There's another place that's not quite as happy a place and In Revelation, Chapter two, as Jesus is telling John what to write to the Seven churches of Asia, the first church that he has him write to is to the church at Ephesus, and in Revelation two and Verse seven, at the conclusion of the things he had said to them, he said he that hath ear let him hear what the spirits saith unto the churches. To him than overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. So so here is again another reference to paradise. And he says, You know, if you're if you prevail, if you overcome the temptations and the difficulties that that you are facing, you'll be in same place that Jesus And this one thief from the cross went to And that was in paradise.
spk_0: 12:55
Fred Yes, And, of course, in Luke 16 Jesus talked about the other portion of Hades where the rich man was was thirsty and he was tormented with the flame. And in second Peter two Verse four, Peter makes a comment there, He says, for God spared, not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to the text says hell. But the word is Hades and delivered them to chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgement. When I spoke improperly, that word there is Tartaurus. They translated it hell, but it's actually Tartarus, And, uh, that would be another name for the uncomfortable place that is in hell or Hades.
spk_1: 13:46
Arnie So when when you speak about the chains of darkness, it's almost like This is some kind of almost dungeon like situation there. You're very restricted in there like a prisoner being chained up and that kind of that kind of thing. So, um uh, when, uh, if in fact, Luke says, you can't get out of there The rich man wanted, uh, Abraham to send Lazarus back to his to his brothers, who very ungodly individuals and give them a warning and even even just come and drop a drop of water on his own tongue. And Luke says, Rather, Abraham tells him That's not possible. And Luke, Chapter 16 Verse 26. He said, Between us and you, there's a great gulf fixed so that they which would pass from hence to you, cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. So where you go when when this life is over, whether it's paradise or or, uh, Tartarus or or torments, that's where you're going to be. You're not. You're not going to be in in another place. You can't go send messengers back home to the folks that are still alive. Or or any of that in fact Abraham. He even said they have Moses and the prophets the brothers did. They said, Yeah, but they won't listen to them. He said, Well, they won't listen if somebody came to him from the dead, either.
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Fred Of course, of course. They lived under the Old Testament times, and that was that was the law. The law that the Jews lived under was was Old Testament law. And that was Moses and the prophets, you know, somebody might say, Arnie , How do you know? You said that That's where they're going to stay till the judgments like my show. How do you know that? How do you know that they're going to stay there all that time? Well, because that's what the Bible says.
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Arnie Yeah, it's what does the Bible say?
spk_0: 16:00
Fred It's in Hebrew. Nine. Verse 27 the Hebrew writer writes. He says it is appointed onto men once to die. But after this, the judgment. Of course, we need to understand that we're subject to time as long as we're in this body. We're subjest to time, you know, the sun and the moon, the way the earth rotates, that's time. But once we leave the body, once we leave this, uh, this earth we go to a place where there's no time. So once you die, your body goes in the grave, your spirit goes to Hades. The next thing that's going to occur is going to be judgement. According to the Hebrew writer
spk_1: 16:39
Arnie Spirits, spirits are not subject to time, and they're not even conscious of of time. Times no issue with God one day to him is like 1000 years to us or 1000 years like one day. He's not. He's not watching the clock, not waiting for lunchtime, or time to get off work or anything of that sort. And neither will we, when we leave this leave this life. So you know, let's talk about you had mentioned would talk a little bit more about the resurrection by and by and and I guess this is a good time for us to to do that. That every body, every body and not saying everyone but every body will be resurrected. Of course, those that are still alive won't be resurrected because they didn't die. Something else will occur, though, and it's not unpleasant, necessarily for for them. But every body that's deceased will will be resurrected. And what that means is that that each spirit is going to be reunited with the body that it once occupied. And, uh, there's going to be some other things that occur relative to that as as. Well, what doesn't matter if you were righteous or evil in this life, you'll still be resurrected in the body that you that you had in in this life. Jesus was talking about the judgment that the Son, He would, uh, perform in John Chapter five, Verse 28. And he said, The hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear His voice and shall come forth. And here's the part that's that's important to understand "they that have done good under the resurrection of life they that have done evil under the resurrection of damnation". So they all be resurrected some to life. But some to the condemnation And, uh, that's when that's when it'll be time that they pay for misdeeds that they were involved in, in this life.
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Fred They will face the judge at that time.
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Arnie You'll face the judge.
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Fred So the chapter that really has ah, good bit of information on the resurrection is first Corinthians Chapter 15 and in that in that section, it's gonna talk about what happens to our earthly bodies and what happens when we are raised up. We've been in the beginning, Verse 44 which starts. " There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. So So So, uh, spiritual bodies are different than natural bodies. They're two different things. Then in vs 48 to 53 we begin there. It says, "as is the earthy, so are also they that are earthy. And as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly and as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, and that flesh and blood cannot inherit Kingdom of God neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep or all die. But we shall all be changed in a moment. In the twinkling of an eye, the last trump for the trumpet shall sound, the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this is corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. So here we have all these dead people, bodies that have been in the grave for how many times that they've been in there. They have all, uh, deteriorated. And when they are raised up, they're going to be raised up an incorruptible physical body. But then it says that, but they're gonna all be all be changed. So passage says that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So when we are raised up, were raised up the physical body, the spirit is put back in there, and then that physical body is an uncur, incorruptible body. And then it's going to be changed from a physical incorruptible body to a spiritual body. Now, uh, doesn't tell us in this passage, but those that are righteous, will go to heaven and those that are unrighteous will go to Gehenna, which is the final place that all will go and there will be no deterioration of any of the bodies. Those in Gehenna lost forever. They don't. They're not destroyed. They remain. They continue as spiritual bodies separated from God. Those who went go to heaven will be forever with God, no death, Nothing else like that forever. to be with him
spk_1: 21:51
Arnie Well, and that being so, this is a good time to talk about the judgment, then in that regard, because it's Jesus who will render a final judgment. And in second Corinthians chapter, Chapter five, Paul is is talking about the saints, the disciple's eternal home with God. And in the course of that, he has a section there on on Judgment. And he says, beginning in Verse 10 of second Corinthians five, he said, We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that everyone now good and evil are going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body. According to that, he hath done whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of Lord, we persuade men. And I think that that he's recognizing, uh, wants his readers to recognize the seriousness about this. This is a frightening thing if there's sin involved and and he's yeah, he's eager and other disciples are eager to persuade men to abandon that kind of life and obey the gospel.
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Fred Yeah, you know, when we're young, we think we're gonna live forever right? Even now, you know, with all this virus going around, young people went to the beach. Had there had their, uh, parties. They're here here recently. Nothing gonna happen to them. But everybody's gonna gonna die. Everybody's gonna face judgment at some point. And John makes that point in John 5:28 through 30. And he says now the hour is coming in in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth. They that have done good to the resurrection of life they that have done evil into the resurrection of damnation or judgment. I can of mine own self do nothing as I hear I judge. And my judgment is just because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the father, which has sent me Jesus being the one that's going to do the judging. And He says that nobody's going to escape. All in the grave are gonna hear his voice on, and they're gonna be resurrected. Some to condemnation. Some to, uh, be with Jesus and be commended.
spk_1: 24:28
Arnie When when we talked about the trials that Jesus had one of the things we mentioned was was Pontius Pilate coming and sitting upon his judgment seat. Well, Jesus has a judgment seat as well. And it's mentioned in Matthew, Chapter 25 beginning in verse 31 where Jesus begins to describe the judgment that he is going to render. They said, when the son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with Him then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory and before Him shall be gathered all nations. And He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divided his sheep from his goats and He shall set the sheep on His right hand. But the goats on on the left so that they're gonna be already separated even before judgment is absolutely rendered in and the sentences given
spk_0: 25:29
Fred Right and the sentence is described in verses beginning in verse 34. There, it says, then shall the king saying to them on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And in verse 41 he says, then shall He say to them on the left hand, depart from me. You cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. And verse 46 these shall go away into everlasting punishment. But the righteous into life eternal. They're going to be two sentences, one for the righteous and then one for the unjust. And these were gonna be final. There's there's not. There's no appeal, these are final judgments, and as they say it's over.
spk_1: 26:14
Arnie So maybe somebody says, Wait a minute. The bible says All have sinned. Why doesn't everybody pay the penalty? You know, and it's true that that I've sinned, you've sinned , and we're not any different than anybody else. Romans Chapter six, Verse twenty three says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of gun and chapter, and six says the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. our Lord. So So what about this issue of sin? Well, the answer to that is that each one's eternal destiny is going to depend upon his spiritual state when his earthly sojourn is complete, in other words at at at death, Peter says in first Peter Chapter four, and he's talking about why his reader should avoid lusts and unrighteous behavior and all that kind of thing. And he says beginning in verse 17 for the time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God. If it be first begin, at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God. And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
spk_0: 27:32
Fred Yes, the righteous will be judged first and Paul writes to the Thessalonians. And he explains this rather well. Yeah, he begins in second Thessalonians five or one, verse five, which is the manifest token of the righteous judgement of God that ye may be accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God for which ye also suffer. Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you and you are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God. And that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glorious power when He shall come to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all them that believe in that day because our testimony among you was believed. Rather extensive ex explanation. There's a difference between those that er that did not obey the gospel and they're gonna be judged for.
spk_1: 28:36
Arnie And And as we said, that your eternal destiny depends on what your spiritual state is when your earthly sojourn and is complete when earthly sojourn will be complete if you're still alive when Christ comes again. And, uh, Paul describes that in the first Thessalonians Chapter four, verse 13 beginning when he said I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not even as, others which have no hope for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him For this we say unto you, by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them, which are asleep asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we, which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the Lord? Wherefore comfort one another with these words? Uh, this is about all that we have time to talk about today. We appreciate that you've listened with us. We hope that you'll listen with us again next Lord's Day. And that that this lesson that we've had together today will be beneficial to you. By all means. If you haven't obeyed the gospel, don't put that off. Okay? Hope to talk to you next, Lord's Day, And hope you'll be a Christian then, if you're not already