Issued: 10/20/24

“I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.”

John 11:25

PLEASE NOTE:  Because Bible versions sometimes differ from each other in crucial ways, the version quoted here will be the one that best clarifies the point being made.  For a quick comparison between versions, please go to: http://www.biblehub.com.

   All bracketed material may be authorial comments, attempts at proper syntax, or minimal rewordings of Scripture for the sake of clarity and continuity.  These emendations will not be italicized.

   The “/” will be used to signify “and/or.”  The symbol “↔” is used to connect verses corroborating each other and so establishing doctrinal truths (Matthew 18:16↔2Corinthians 13:1).

   In differentiating between Yahweh Son [Jesus] and Yahweh Father [the Most High God], lower case letters have been used when discussing the former; upper case letters are reserved for the Only Sovereign Deity.  Since Jesus was at pains to differentiate himself from Father, we have followed his lead here.

   The term neo-Christians will be used to differentiate between false Christians and Jesus’ true followers.

Death

   In John 11:25 Jesus was making the point that for the faithful, there was eternal life after death (Revelation 5:9-10, 20:6); yet it is not as simple as that.  We tend to assume that “death” exclusively refers to end of life; but in Luke 9:60, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God,” Jesus was differentiating between unconverted,  living beings regarded as “dead”—whether spiritually or to be destroyed at Armageddon—and converts who had a chance at eternal life.  The faithful, as Paul argued, were for all practical purposes “dead” to the world but alive in Jesus (Ephesians 2:1-6); so unlike ‘dead mankind,’ they did not entangle themselves in worldly pursuits—the world being Satan’s ‘kingdom of death’ [↔Isaiah 14:20; Luke 4:5-6; John 14:30; 2Timothy 2:4; Hebrews 2:14; James 4:4; 1John 2:15-16]; nor would partake of the “second death” which is factually the end of body/soul existence (Matthew 10:28; Revelation 20:5-15).

Baptism

   Thus death in Christian doctrine is not a one-dimensional concept but a construct incorporating related teachings.  One of them is the significance of water baptism, which Paul explained in Romans 6:2-4.  As the Flood of antiquity symbolized the destruction of sinful man, Peter applied it to Christian converts: “This water [the Flood] symbolizes the baptism that now saves us also—not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1Peter 3:20-21↔Titus 3:5).  By being baptized, we are symbolically drowning the sinful self and emerging as new selves in Jesus, not truly free of sin [↔Job 9:20; Psalms 143:2; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:23; 1John 1:8] but aspiring to be cleansed by him [↔Philippians 3:12-14].  In the life-long endeavor towards redemption, baptism is a step, not a guarantee of salvation.

   The same holds true in terms of Jesus’ resurrection.  Since the Church—all of us—constitute his body (Ephesians 5:23,30↔1Corinthians 12:12-27), it follows that just as his body was made immortal and rose to Heaven, the same is ‘potentially’ true of all the faithful making up that body (Romans 6:5; Ephesians 2:6).  Please note that in Ephesians 2:6 Paul is crediting Father, not Jesus, for everything the faithful attain in Jesus; given the fact that had not Father resurrected Jesus (Acts 17:30-31↔Daniel 7:9-10, John 5:22; Romans 8:11), Jesus would not be alive today—which is another way Scripture tells us that Father and Son are not the same person.  The proof lies in the fact that Father—as well as His Holy Spirit—alone are eternal (1Timothy 6:14-16), whereas the Jesus now in Heaven was made immortal following his death and resurrection (Acts 2:24; Revelation 1:18).

Death as Sleep

   As we have argued before, the human concept of dying is not the same as Scripture’s.  While empiricism dismisses the notion of souls animating bodies [↔Genesis 2:7; John 6:63], Scripture is quite clear that upon dying, souls leave the body in an unconscious state and return to Father (Psalms 6:5; Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, 12:7).  When the soul returns to its body, as in the cases of the son of the Zarephath widow (1Kings 17:21-23), of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:39-42; Luke 8:52-55), of Jesus himself (Luke 23:46) and as will take place during the first resurrection [↔Daniel 12:2; John 5:28-29; 1Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 20:5-6], dead bodies/remains come back to life (Ezekiel 37:1-14↔1Corinthians 15:51-53, 1Thessalonians 4:13-17).  Please note that in the Old Testament, the concept of dying at the moment the soul left the body was clearly established [↔Genesis 35:18, 29, 49:33],¹ whereas the notion of death resembling human sleep from death until resurrection was stressed in the New (Acts 7:60; 1Thessalonians 4:13; Revelation 6:9-11).

   There are three people in the Bible who, while undergoing aspects of the overall pattern, individually did not conform to the whole of it.  Two of these, Enoch and Elijah, never died and were taken bodily into Heaven (Genesis 5:24; 2Kings 2:11); but if as Paul argues, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable…but need be made immortal” (1Corinthians 15:50-53), it follows that both Enoch and Elijah were transformed at some point without undergoing resurrection.  Moses’ was a different case:  He died on Mount Nebo and was buried in an unknown location (Deuteronomy 34:1-6); until we see him again in Heaven while Satan contended that Moses’ mortal body was unsuited for spiritual realms (Zechariah 3:1-4↔Jude 1:9).  Moses was then made ‘kosher’ by investing him with attributes the righteous attain post-resurrection:  A robe and a crown (Zechariah 3:4-5↔2Timothy 4:8, Revelation 3:4-5, 5:10, 7:13-14, 19:8).  Needless to say, he must have been given immortal flesh as well; the form we encounter him and Elijah during Jesus’ transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-3).²

   All of this left the road open for Jesus to be the first-resurrected righteous person; so that as Paul argued, he could have preeminence both as first-born of creation [i.e., “Light” ↔Genesis 1:3, John 1:7-9, 8:12, Colossians 1:15, Revelation 3:14] and first-born amongst the sleeping dead (Colossians 1:18-19).  Thus from the moment his soul left his body on the cross and went up to Father (Matthew 27:50; Luke 23:46; John 19:30) until he was met by Mary Magdalene following his resurrection, Jesus’ soul had no awareness of having gone up to Heaven (John 20:15-17):  It was necessary that Father send Jesus’ soul back to his body in order for Jesus’ consciousness to return, while at the same time transforming his mortal body to make it compatible with spiritual realms—the reason why Jesus told Mary Magdalene not to taint it by touching it (John 20:17)].³

The Blood of the Paschal Lamb

   Most of Mosaic Law is underpinned by Christian doctrine; so that when it came time to ‘upgrade’ it, Mosaic rituals/dietary laws that had nothing to do with Christian mores were ditched (Matthew 15:17-20; Galatians 3:13-29; Hebrews 9:9-10).  The emphasis switched from bodily prohibitions as a means to inculcate obedience (Galatians 3:23-24) ⁴ to self-control resulting in spiritual healing [↔Proverbs 16:32; Luke 4:23; Romans 6:12, 8:13; 1Corinthians 9:27]; something that had not been possible before the faithful were ‘spiritually treated’ by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26-27). Still, Mosaic rituals specifically prefiguring aspects of Jesus’ person and Messiahship were kept as precedents/reference.

   Paul established the link between the traditional Passover Seder and the Lord’s Supper; Jesus being the sacrificial Lamb whose blood redeemed sins (1Corinthians 5:7; Hebrews 9:13-14,22, 10:10, 12:24; Revelation 7:14).  No rocket science is needed to understand that animals sacrificed to purify Tabernacle/Temple implements and God’s nation must be related to the quorum of righteous who must die to sanctify the Heavenly altar [↔Leviticus 1:5] and the Judeo-Christian nation at large [Hebrews 9:15-21; Revelation 5:6, 6:9-11, 13:8↔1Peter 1:19-21].  And this is further elucidated by the relationship between sanctuary utensils and Paul’s teachings of Jesus’ body as Father’s conceptual Temple/Church/House (1Corinthians 6:19; Colossians 1:8, 2:9; Hebrews 3:6), wherein Christians are likened to ‘vessels’ serving different purposes/uses (2Timothy 2:20-21) cleansed with Jesus’ blood [↔Exodus 24:6-8, Leviticus 8:15, 17:11].

   Leviticus 17:11 states, “the life of the flesh is in the blood…for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”  At a superficial level, there would seem to be a contradiction between Leviticus 17:14, “the life of all flesh is its blood,” and Jesus’ teaching that “it is the spirit [soul] who gives life. The flesh profits nothing” (John 6:63). So is “life” dependent on blood or spirit?  When Adam was formed, Yahweh Son—not Father (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16: Hebrews 1:2-3)—breathed a soul into him (Genesis 2:7); so that as Paul later argued, “the first man, Adam, became a living being,” whereas Jesus, the last Adam, “became a life-giving spirit” (1Corinthians 15:45).  What is Paul saying?  That Adam’s soul-endowment gave him temporal existence, whereas upon his second coming, Jesus soul-endowment will give his people immortal life.

   But let us not, as detractors of Scripture do, mix apples and oranges.  Both blood and spirit are necessary to attain the life Jesus has promised not in this order of things but in the Kingdom to come. Jesus’ blood holds the promise of immortal life by its ability to remit sins [↔Revelation 7:13-14]; while the Holy Spirit that he “breathes” into us [↔Luke 24:45, John 20:22], or “anoints” us with, guides us [↔John 16:13, 1John 2:27] and strengthens us spiritually (Romans 8:26-27) in our striving for perfection.  Even if our individual souls do animate our mortal bodies, the endowment of the Holy Spirit guarantees our immortality “until we acquire possession of it” (Romans 8:17; Ephesians 1:13-14; 2Timothy 4:8; 1John 3:24).

   Now, as it was forbidden to drink the blood of sacrificial animals or to eat their bloodied flesh (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:10-14), the Lord’s Supper consisted of doing both things in symbolic form:  Unleavened bread stood for Jesus’ flesh and wine for his blood (Matthew 26:26-28).  Jesus was the “living bread” come down from Heaven, which unlike manna, had the potential to confer immortality (John 6:51,58), ‘unleavened’ by the hypocritical, Pharisaic mindset undermining the morality of Mosaic teachings (Matthew 16:6,12, 23:13-26↔Romans 9:31-32, Galatians 5:9).  Substituting for Jesus’ blood, wine was another reminder of the potential Jesus’ blood had to confer immortality (John 6:54), provided that the eating and drinking were done with reverence and in faith—meaning that practicing the rite fully convinced of Jesus’ promise would in fact make it come to pass (Matthew 21:22↔1John 3:22; 1Corinthians 11:27-29).

   Much has been argued whether the wine drank was fermented or not; and though it really does not matter, in the absence of caveats like yeast in connection with bread, Scriptures concerning wine would seem to suggest the genuine article [↔Matthew 11:19; John 2:10; 1Timothy 5:23].  Fermentation does not carry the negative connotation ‘leaven’ does in Scripture.  We must also remember that the Lord’s Supper took place after Jesus and the Apostles had eaten their full; the portions Jesus passed around were minimal to say the least, and more in the spirit of symbolism than pigging out.  Every Apostle took a sip from the cup and a morsel from the bread passed around:  It was a symbolic ritual commemorating Jesus’ imminent sacrifice.  Apparently the Corinthians made a feast of what was meant to be a dignified and minimalist rite (1Corinthians 11:20-22).⁵

The Immortality to Come

   All of this begs the question of the role the Tree of Life will play in the Kingdom of God (Revelation 22:2).  Adam and Eve were obviously not created immortal; and Genesis 3:22, “the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,” clearly indicates that they had to eat from Eden’s Tree of Life in order to extend life.  The fact that only Adam is singled out has to do with Scripture’s position that Man and Woman are viewed as one, indivisible being like Jesus and the Church are (Genesis 2:23-24↔Ephesians 5:30-32; Genesis 5:2↔Acts 11:26; Matthew 19:6); so that the eating applied to Eve as well.  It may be that the life-extending properties of that Tree were responsible for the longevity of Adam’s descendants and Noah’s progeny (Genesis 5, 7:29, 11:10-32), after whom longevity drops markedly because no one was eating from the Tree of Life.⁶ 

   It appears that immortal flesh post-resurrection must be nourished by the fruit/leaves of this Tree; so that immortality itself is dependent on eating them (Revelation 22:2).  Viewed like this, the immortal life Jesus promises has a beginning in time extending into timelessness, for as Paul argues, only the Dyadic Deity, Father and Holy Spirit, existed before time began (1Timothy 1:17, 6:17; Psalms 90:2↔Genesis 1:1-2, 21:33; Deuteronomy 32:39-41, 33:27).  As to angels, there is no clear cut answer:  Were they made immortal at their creation by Yahweh Son? [↔John 1:3; Colossians 1:16-17].⁷  As spiritual beings (Hebrews 1:7), angels do not partake of food or drink; though Genesis 18:2-8 tells us that the two angels accompanying Yahweh Son, the preexistent Jesus [Genesis 18:25↔John 5:22], did eat on that occasion.  Jesus and the redeemed will partake of food and drink in Father’s Kingdom (Isaiah 25:6; Mark 14:25; Luke 12:37; Revelation 19:9).

   This distinction between eternity and immortality is another way in which Scripture differentiates between Father/Holy Spirit and the Son who, being a created being (Colossians 1:15; Revelation 3:14), never shared Their eternity.  If follows that if Father entrusted Son with the rest of Creation (Hebrews 1:2-3), the angels Son called into being were not eternal as Father and Holy Spirit were, but could live through the ages unless destroyed, as Satan and his angels will be, at Armageddon.  Immortality, then, has a specific meaning in Scripture:  It means life everlasting post-flesh transformation in Father’s Kingdom, yet ‘boosted’ by eating from the Tree of Life?

   And here we find the same pattern evident in Eden: Had Adam and Eve not sinned, they would have enjoyed the immortality conferred by eating from the very Tree that was kept out of bounds to them (Genesis 3:24).  Which suggests that as they took for granted the bounties given them, Father wants to make sure second time around that the redeem understand His rewards are to be valued and thanked for [↔Hosea 13:6-8 vis-à-vis Jeremiah 29:11, Hebrews 11:6]. It would appear that by eating from the Tree of Life in Father’s Kingdom, immortality is a boon conferred not by right but given in grace and duly appreciated.

   In summary, there is a distinction between Father’s and Holy Spirit’s eternity and the immortality of Son—upon his creation and post-resurrection; as well as that of angels, humankind, and animals who, having had a beginning in time, were not pre-existent and therefore never truly eternal.  And we include animals because they too, as much as people of all ages have devalued and exterminated them, have souls of some kind—or so Solomon suggests in Ecclesiastes 3:21.  Those souls animate their bodies just as mortal souls give life to human bodies; so that upon their deaths, despite Solomon’s uncertainty, their souls must return to their Giver as do human souls (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

   Scripture makes no case about animals’ resurrection because no sin attached to them:  Covenants of obedience were struck with men, not animals; and sin attaches when such covenants are willfully broken once laws are known (John 15:22; Romans 3:20).  Animals were not given laws; they were not targets for Gospel preaching/conversion.  They do not have the ability to make moral/immoral choices, therefore are not willfully evil; but given that their flesh is unsuitable for spiritual realms, they will not make the transition from this world into Father’s Kingdom.  We are told that during the Millennium Satan will be chained on earth atop the maggoty bodies of the dead unrighteous post-Judgment Day (Isaiah 14:11,15-16↔Revelation 20:2-3,5), scavenging animals will feed off their corpses (Deuteronomy 28:26; Isaiah 18:6, 56:9; Jeremiah 25:33; Ezekiel 29:3-5, 32:5-6; Revelation 19:17-18).  Presumably all fauna then alive will be destroyed in the lake of fire post-Armageddon; yet on grounds of Isaiah 11:6-9, the animals that will inhabit Father’s Kingdom resembling the vegetarian fauna of the original Creation (Genesis 1:28-30) tells us that they will be re-created from scratch.

The Unreasonable Christian Fear of Death

   It is a truism that most people view death as tragedy, except in religions where souls are released to undergo reincarnations or achieve oneness with something infinite.  Christianity is a singular case where dying is seen as either an imposed duty or an outcome, to paraphrase Shakespeare, ‘devoutly to be wished.’  Take for example Matthew 16:25:  “Whoever wants to save [his/her] life will lose it, but whoever loses [his/her] life for me will find it.”  History shows the lengths to which people will go to live another day, even if driven to betray loved ones [↔Matthew 10:21] or any sort of moral code.  For Jesus, and by extension for Father, such a position is unacceptable, simply because by choosing to die to uphold their doctrine [↔John 12:48-49], believers prove the strength of their faith and seal their salvation (Matthew 19:29; Luke 14:26).  Paul profiles some of them in Hebrews 11:35-38.

   Because Jesus had to set the example (John 13:15↔Hebrews 2:10), he embraced a horrible death though he claimed to be able to avoid it (Matthew 26:53-54);⁸ and even went on record wishing it to come and be done with it (Luke 12:50).⁹  In Philippians 1:23-24, Paul expressed the same desire for release, in the full understanding that his body was both his prison and his enemy (Romans 7:24-25); and that upon leaving it, he would enter the unconscious ‘sleep’ from which he would reawaken at Jesus’ bidding during the resurrection of the righteous [↔Ecclesiastes 9:5-6; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-16↔Ezekiel 37:5-6,12-14; 2Timothy 4:8].  Given the ordeals Jesus put Paul through as atonement for his past misdeeds (Acts 8:3, 9:1-2,15-16; Galatians 1:13, 6:17↔Jeremiah 30:11), Paul came to the conclusion, as Solomon before him, that death was preferable to life (Ecclesiastes 7:1); and that by dying, his soul not only would be with Jesus (Philippians 1:22-23) but would find rest from all his labors [↔Revelation 14:12-13].

   Nevertheless, while Bible-thumping neo-Christians talk about better places to go after death, no one seems overly eager to quit this world, especially the evangelical, gun-wielding lot ready to stand their ground and blow away perceived enemies [↔Titus 1:16].  But Jesus unmasked them, did he not?  “Put your sword back into its place, for all those who take the sword will die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52); the freely-made choice to die in obedience to Jesus which the Holy Spirit defined as the “patience” Jesus assured saved souls (Luke 21:19; Revelation 14:12-13).  Where obedience to Father’s will was at stake, there were no other alternatives (Mark 8:35; John 12:25; Revelation 12:11); and if any reader thinks avoiding death was off Father’s table, James 5:6 answers that question:  “You have condemned and killed the just, who do not resist you.”  When it comes to killing in order to survive, Father’s stance is uncompromising.

   It all sounds too extreme; but the point being made is that if one is willing to die in imitation of Jesus, that person’s faith exemplifies the mindset with which Jesus embraced his own death (John 10:17-18).  Still the “authority” Jesus claims in John 10:18 does not necessarily mean that he was in control of his death and immortal resurrection:  The eternal Dyadic Deity orchestrated both (Isaiah 53:10↔John 18:11, 19:11; Acts 13:30; Romans 8:11).  It was a ‘done deal’ [↔Matthew 26:54; Hebrews 4:3; 1Peter 1:20] not only that Jesus had to die and would resurrect; but that because of it, Father would empower him to do the same for every righteous person making up his human-bricked Body/Church [↔Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 2:19-22↔Revelation 21:14; Hebrews 3:6; 1Peter 2:5].  Thus Jesus’ “authority” over life and death, like his Godship before becoming incarnate [Genesis 41:40↔John 14:28, Revelation 3:12] and post-resurrection (Matthew 28:18; Revelation 1:18, 2:26-27, 5:9,12)¹⁰ was entrusted to him rather than owned.

   To repeat, Jesus had no power over his life and death.  And 1Thessalonians 4:14 makes clear that the Father Who receives souls upon death (Ecclesiastes 12:7) is the Person Who sends them back with Jesus to resurrect the righteous; not that Jesus personally controls those souls, but that Father empowers him to be their bearer.  Hence the deeper meaning of John 10:17-18:  The Father loves me because I forfeit my life for the sake of my sheep, a decision no one forced me to take but which I freely chose in the promise Father made me would also apply to my imitators; so that as He returned my soul to my body and made it immortal flesh, He has empowered me to do the same for those who forfeited their lives to further our objectives.

   Thus John 10:17-18 is more a profession of individual faith than strict protocol, the type of Abraham-like faith [↔Genesis 15:6; Hebrews 6:13-18, 11:1,6] where an unverifiable promise to be fulfilled in future is taken for incontestable assurance [↔Hebrews 6:17-18].  While most of us profess to share Jesus’ faith, very few of us  live up to Jesus’ non-negotiable demands  [↔Matthew 10:27; Mark 10:29-30]; yet how many of us boast of having ‘special relationships’ with him while failing him in many respects?

Downsides

   That being said, despite evangelical pipe-dreaming, not every person we ever loved will enter that Kingdom.  By its very nature, Judeo-Christianity is selective (Genesis 21:10-12; Matthew 7:13-14,21-23, 22:14; Romans 9:13, 11:4-50); and Scriptures like Deuteronomy 28:53-56, Micah 7:5-6, Matthew 10:21, Luke 17:34 suggest that not every relative/loved one will make the transition—a precedent established by Genesis’ nuclear family.  We are not told whether Adam and Eve will be redeemed; but between Cain and Abel, the outcome is obvious.  Similarly, Scripture does not tell us whether Jesus’ unbelieving brothers (John 7:5) will be saved—perhaps except for James, who became a convert (Galatians 1:19).  It is a safe bet that both Joseph and Mary, on the basis of obeying what was expected of them, will be triumphant. 

   Despite the fact Jesus told us allegiance to him would divide kinfolk (Matthew 10:35-36), we are all familiar with the saying that “the family which prays together, stays together”; the type of pseudo-spiritual bromide that ignores the fact that Father only listens to one kind of praying person (John 9:31↔Job 35:13; Psalms 34:15, 145:19; Proverbs 28:9; 1John 3:22).  Since there are no special considerations in terms of behaviors (Romans 3:10-18), and we are saved by grace and not by deeds (Ephesians 2:8-9; 2Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:5), it follows that by doing what we think pleases Father instead of submitting to His harsh discipline (Psalms 66:10; Isaiah 48:10; Zechariah 13:9; Hebrews 12:5-8; James 4:10; 1Peter 5:6,9-10↔Ezekiel 21:25-27) will never elevate our prayers above the roofs of our places of worship.

   From its very inception, the road to faith entailed separation from kinfolk (Genesis 12:1); so that Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, John the Baptist, even Jesus himself, ‘severed’ themselves from blood relations to qualify as members of Father’s universal family of faith where shared DNA, ethnicity, nationality, social status, gender were non-issues (Galatians 3:28)—the very things, by the way, Satan has relied on to divide peoples the world over.

   Consequently, even immortal life is predicated on a mindset diametrically opposed to the one with which all societies have brainwashed their citizenries; which is one reason why Jesus’ true followers are disparaged (John 15:18-21; 2Timothy 3:12), for by not complying with worldly standards, they testify that Father’s vision for humanity—on the basis of as yet unfulfilled promises (Romans 8:24; Hebrews 6:13-18, 11:13-16,39)—is for them grander than anything men are capable of delivering.  And by the same token understanding that no one person alive, no matter how deeply loved, is in a position to bring about that vision which stands to benefit however many will attain salvation on the basis of faith  (Jeremiah 29:11; Revelation 21:4).

   But Jesus was not blind to the failings of his nation:  From Isaiah 22:12-14, 30:9-10 to Luke 17:26-30, 18:8, 21:34-35, he knew the majority of Judeo-Christians would ensnare themselves in worldly traps while professing allegiance to the Father Who demanded rejecting all of them (Galatians 1:10; James 4:4; 1John 2:15-16).  Frankly, readers, are we so ‘leavened’ by hypocrisy that we cannot see ‘partying’ in the here and now denies us citizenship in a Kingdom where self-denial and non-participation are pre-requisites?  Is not that ‘wishy-washiness’ the one Jesus rejects in Revelation 3:15-19?

   Next comes the downside of bereavement:  We will mourn our beloved departed who we will not see again during our lifetimes.  Make no mistake about it:  There is never ‘closure’ where emotional pain is involved; it may get easier to bear over time, but it will never completely leave our consciousness.  There are no easy answers as to why deserving people die, undeserving people live, or vice versa.  In the context that human pursuits ultimately seemed meaningless, Solomon’s conclusion (Ecclesiastes 8:14) is not all too satisfying, simply because when all things are controlled by the Father of reason and logic, even the most devastating tragedy must have meaning, must have purpose, and must teach us something.

   No matter how human suffering impacts and discourages us, we have Father’s promise that one day He will wipe away every tear we shed in life (Isaiah 65:19; Revelation 21:4); so rather than focus on temporary suffering, shift attention to its eternal banishment; rather than dwelling in inconsolable sorrow, draw sustenance from the joys ahead (John 16:20).  In the final analysis, whoever merits it will certainty will live again; and viewed like this, Christian dying is no tragedy but deliverance; an escape from the oblivion of Armageddon into Father’s life-affirming Kingdom.

   And even then a final boon:  The possibility that Father may reward our personal obedience by extending mercy to others.  Genesis 6:8, 7:1 tell us that amidst the humankind of antiquity only Noah found grace in Father’s eyes; exactly why, we do not know, though on the basis of Genesis 6:2, Noah’s monogamy may have played a part.  Yet whatever grace was extended to him also applied to his wife, sons, and daughters in law, so that all eight survived the Flood.¹¹  While it is true that Noah, like Abraham, believed in the inevitability of future events and so prepared for survival (Hebrews 11:7), that survival entailed duties of sorts:  Preaching while enduring ridicule (2Peter 2:5); building the Ark assisted by family members and feeding animals for a whole year thereafter (Genesis 7:5-6, 8:13).  Even here we find the precedent that salvation does not just involve professing to believe in Father or Jesus, as it is erroneously preached, but proving commitment to them through actions [↔James 2:26].

   Thus it is possible, even though each person is responsible to atone for his/her sins (Ezekiel 18:20), that sacrifices undertaken to facilitate someone else’s salvation may in fact accomplish that goal [↔1Corinthians 7:12-16].  Which is exactly, is it not, the quintessence of Jesus’ Messiaship, that being righteous but consenting to die for sinners, Father should reward his sacrifice by granting them inclusion in Jesus’ progeny of faith (Isaiah 8:18↔Romans 2:13; Isaiah 53:5↔1Peter 2:24; John 10:11-17↔1Peter 2:25).  Which tells us that, to some extent, any sacrifice in the spirit of Jesus’ divine love has the potential to save others if we believe it can (Matthew 21:22; James 5:19-20).

Dying as Victory over Satan

   Paul’s antidote for Christians’ unreasonable fear of death is found in 1Thessalonians 4:13:  “I want you to know my brethren, that you should not have sorrow for those who are asleep, as do the rest of mankind who have no hope”; and here he was following Jesus’ lead (Mark 5:39).  Absence of loved ones, as long as they died in faith, does not mean their eternal loss; but it is important to understand that Paul’s ‘generic’ classification applies to true converts, not to family members who rejected the Gospel in life.  The Kingdom of God is not about relocating believers and non-believers joined by blood to continue business as usual:  It is about realizing, accepting, and wholeheartedly embracing the notion that only those who shared the same faith-testing ordeals in this order of things will be one’s true family in the next.  Job lost his original sons and daughters but was rewarded with a brand new set (Job 1:18-19, 42:12-17); and Jesus himself was at pains to erase family bonds to push forward his agenda of inclusivity precluding such barriers (Matthew 23:8; Luke 8:20-21; John 19:26-27).

   Paul summarized it all best.  Since Satan is Death personified (Revelation 6:8), and he enslaves mankind through fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15), then by resurrecting as obedient, immortal beings we will have bested him at last.  Then and only then we will be able to boast of having triumphed over him:  “Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” (1Corinthians 15:55).

   And so while we have no control over life and death, we do have choices in the attainment of immortal life for us and perhaps others.  Jesus laid the roadmap before us; whether we follow it as he did is entirely up to us.

¹ Genesis 47:30 is an exception:  “When I sleep with my fathers, you will carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place.”  It may be that through Jacob, the Holy Spirit was laying the precedent for future Christian doctrine [↔Deuteronomy 19:15, Matthew 18:16, 2Corinthians 13:1].

² It may be that as Yahweh Son’s dispensers of the Holy Spirit, Moses and Elijah were symbolized as the two olive branches besides golden pipes pouring the “oil” with which Son anoints his chosen both in the Old and New Testaments (1Samuel 16:13; Zechariah 4:11-14; 1John 2:27).  It follows that if Son himself is the receptacle into which Father poured His Spirit to anoint His nation of kings and priests [↔Malachi 2:15, 1Peter 2:9-10, Revelation 5:9-10], Son follows Father’slead(John 5:19) to achieve that objective.

³ This should be a waking call for all those readers who believe reports of people having gone up to Heaven but returning to life to tell what they saw.  It is impossible for this ever to have happened:  The souls of the dead go up to Father in an unconscious state; if sent back would not have an awareness of intervening events; and the ‘sending back’ only occurs at resurrection time [Daniel 12:2, John 5:28-29, Acts 24:15↔1Thessalonians 4:14; Revelation 20:5].  Abel for example will awaken as if he had just fallen asleep, regardless of millennia between his death and resurrection.

   The sole contradiction, if contradiction it is, is found in 2Corinthians 12:2-4; though Paul introduces so many caveats that it is impossible to make sense of what he is saying.  Was the man bodily lifted up to the “third heaven,” an astral projection, a vision or a hallucinatory experience?  What was the Paradise he saw, if by Paradise we understand the Kingdom of God to emerge in future from the ashes of Armageddon?  And what was the experience for, since the man “heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell”?

   We have no answers, nor Scriptures establishing precedents for such happenings—which incapable of being corroborated by other witnesses renders Paul’s statement useless to us [↔Deuteronomy 19:15, Matthew 18:16, 2Corinthians 13:1].  That being said, we are not disputing any person’s sincere recollection of having journeyed post-death to heaven or hell; only that since such journeys are not possible [hell does not exist as a place, for example], they must be false memories implanted in his/her brain to cast doubt on the veracity of Scripture.  Since that implies deception, we must ascribe them to the Deceiver [↔2Thessalonians 2:11-12).  Father personally deceives no one.

⁴ A period of ‘spiritual infancy’ during the “times of ignorance” until achieving maturity in Christ [↔Acts 17:30-31, Ephesians 4:14-15, Hebrews 5:12-14, 1Peter 2:2].  

⁵ As Peter suggests in 2Peter 3:15-17, typical of lamentable Christian overreach/excesses; examples being self-flagellation [↔1Corinthians 9:27; Colossians 2:23]; cults of voluntarily sinning to achieve states of grace [↔Romans 5:20, 6:1-2]; and unrestrained displays of singing/dancing during worship à la 2Samuel 6:14-15—difference being that David’s exuberance was practiced outdoors before there was a Temple with rules and regulations precluding such behaviors indoors.  Did Jesus ever compromise orderliness and serenity in favor of over-the-top behaviors?  Free-for-all shenanigans violate the sanctity of Christian places of worship.

⁶ By Genesis 6:3 Yahweh Son had decided to limit life expectancy to an average of 120 years; so that whereas Joseph died at 110 (Genesis 50:26), Moses died at 125 (Deuteronomy 34:7); and others died on either side of the 120 mark.

   That number, 120, is important in prophecy:  It may be the value of “time” in Daniel’s 7:25 prophecy about Father’s “saints” being oppressed and vanquished by the “beast” symbolizing the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) [↔Daniel 8:23-24, Revelation 13:3-7,18, 17:15]; so that “half a time” = 60 [120/2].  If in accordance to the Hebrew lunar calendar, the 42 months during which the HRE was given “authority” to act [42×30] = 1,260 days, the value of “times” isgiven by the formula: 120 [time] + x [times] + 60 [half a time] = 1,260, where x = 1,080.

   Though Scripture talks about “days,” Ezekiel’s conversion factor translates days into years (Ezekiel 4:4-6↔Numbers 14:34).  In point of fact the 390 days [Israel’s sins] + the 40 days [Jerusalem’s sins] = the 430 years duration of Israel’s servitude in Egypt (Exodus 12:40).

⁷ Jesus’ body could die because it was conceived to be like men’s, but the indwelling soul was the Yahweh Son Angel proxy God of the Old Testament [↔John 8:58, 17:5].  Souls can only be destroyed by Father at Armageddon [↔Matthew 10:28].

⁸ Unlike human secular/religious leaders, Jesus did the talk and the walk in order to have the moral high ground to ask his followers to imitate him.  As a rule, the rulers and the Pharisees of Jesus’ time shared/have historically exhibited the same behaviors [↔Matthew 23:4].

   The crucified victim ultimately died from fluid filling the lungs that led to suffocation. During the ordeal, victims pushed upwards with their feet in order to gasp for air, the reason why the two men on either side of Jesus had their legs broken to hasten their deaths (John 19:32).  Since Jesus had already expired, his legs were not broken (John 19:33↔Exodus 12:46), fulfilling the prophecy in Psalms 34:20.  However, the piercing of Jesus’ side released the fluid that had accumulated in his lungs (John 19:34).

⁹ The baptism Jesus was referring to was obviously not the one by water, but Father’s discipline, the baptism of fire (Psalms 50:5↔Leviticus 26:43; Isaiah 48:10; Zechariah 13:9; Hebrews 12:4-8; James 4:10↔Ezekiel 21:26, 1Peter 5:6; 1Peter 1:5-7).  Jesus knew his ordeal would be grueling and permitted by Father (Isaiah 53:6,10; John 18:11).

   Please note how in John 19:11 Jesus tells Pilate that Pilate’s authority was dependent on Father’s will.

¹⁰ Please note very specific positioning of Father and Jesus in Revelation 5:1,7,13, showing us yet again they are not the same Person; and Revelation 5:14 where worship is directed not to the resurrected, newly-made immortal Son (Revelation 1:18), but to the eternal, undying Father sitting on the throne (1Timothy 6:16).

   Revelation is not the only book where such differentiations are stressed; to name a few, they take place in Psalms 110:1↔Hebrews 1:5-13 / Isaiah 44:6↔Revelation 1:8 / Daniel 7:9-10↔Genesis 18:25, John 5:22 / Daniel 13-14↔Revelation 5:5-7 / Hosea 7:13 [Son] and 11:7 [Father] / Matthew 17:5↔Genesis 41:55, John 12:49 / Acts 7:55-56; etc.

¹¹ Let us not fall prey to the cynical view that Noah’s children and their wives were needed to repopulate the world.  Certainly not in view of Matthew 3:9:  Father can create progeny out of stones.