01/08/24 THREE LAYERS OF DEATH

01/08/24 THREE LAYERS OF DEATH

Searching past FB, I came across photos and videos of loved ones. Some really good memories, some heartbreak. I see family times when there was laughter, unity, love and hope. I see reminders of loved ones who are not longer with us.

Death is not our friend. The Bible says that death is the last enemy that shall be destroyed. I see photos and posts referring to friends and family who have died. I smile, wince, mourn as the memories flood my mind. I have joyful expectation for joining some who have gone ahead. I have uncertain hope for others who might not have died while in a love relationship with Jesus.

Death Comes In Three Basic Forms.
There is Physical Death, which is the end of life in this world (not to be confused with annihilation of the person).

There is Spiritual Death, which is spiritual separation from God, (Who is life and the source of life), not to be confused with eternal separation from God, since God regenerates the dead when they believe and repent. A person can be rescued from spiritual death.
With spiritual death (separation from God) comes corruption of the whole man (body [other awareness], soul [self awareness] and spirit [God awareness]) and the death or end of right relationships with other believers.
When someone tells you that a dead person cannot believe, cannot repent, cannot confess, cannot follow Christ, then it is consistent to say that such a dead person cannot sin. Death has to do with relationship, not with human in ability to respond to God. God enables human choice to either accept or reject the call of God.

There is The Second Death, which is the final separation of a person from God, forever cast into the Lake of Fire. This happens to the person after Physical Death takes a person who is Spiritually Dead, and after the final judgment (The Great White Throne Judgment).

Unless God removes a person from this world in the Rapture (just prior to the Second Coming), then that person will die physically. It is appointed unto man, once to die and after that the judgment.

Those who believe in Christ's sacrificial death on the cross and His physical resurrection from the dead receive atonement. Since they died with Christ (and rose with Him) then they will not stand before The Great White Throne Judgment. Salvation is salvation from sin (its penalty, its pollution and its power).

Those who do not have an active, personal faith in Christ's atonement are not only separated from God here and now, they will be eternally separated from Him; this is The Second Death.

Neither spiritual death, physical death or the second death is annihilation. It is separation from God, from the life of God, from a right relationship with God.

Therefore, when I think of friends and family who have never received Christ, my heart is broken. Likewise, when I think of friends and family who have known Christ but have turned back to the darkness and a broken relationship with Christ, I am saddened.

There is nothing worth a person abandoning, rejecting Christ. It is not a decision based on facts, but based on wants. Intellect, culture, academics have an influence on us but the final decision to accept or reject Christ is based on our own wants. Self satisfaction, self aggrandizement, inordinate self esteem (pride) takes the place of trust, love and submission to God.

We can only hope and pray that the wanderers come back before it is everlastingly too late.