Today’s topic: death, soul, spirit. We begin with this text: 2 Corinthians 5:8 “we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” https://bible.com/bible/1/2co.5.8.KJV Luke 16:19-26, 19 “There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20 and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21 and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26 And beside all this, between us and you there is 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.” https://bible.com/bible/1/luk.16.19-26.KJV Matthew 10:28 “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.10.28.KJV 1Thessalonians 5: 23 “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/1TH.5.KJV Ecclesiastes 12:7 “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” https://bible.com/bible/1/ecc.12.7.KJV These are probably the most controversial and confusing texts about death and hell.
First let’s figure out what is the “spirit” that returns to God. Job 27:3 “All the while my breath is in me, And the spirit of God is in my nostrils;” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/JOB.27.KJV What is it that is in our nostrils? Genesis 2:7 “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.” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/GEN.2.KJV The “spirit” of God that is in our nostrils is His breath. So the body returns to dust and the breath returns to God. Does your breath think, remember, or have any consciousness? NO! Eclesiastes 9:5 “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/ECC.9.KJV Psalm 6:5 “For in death there is no remembrance of thee: In the grave who shall give thee thanks?” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/PSA.6.KJV If the dead are in heaven, then wouldn’t they be praising the Lord? A friend of mine said, “Well, that was in the Old Testament; in the New Testament, after Jesus' resurrection, all the righteous people went straight to heaven.” I pointed him to Acts chapter 2:29 “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. 34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/ACT.2.KJV Acts 13:22 “And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/ACT.13.KJV If David, a man after God’s own heart, isn’t in heaven, then where is he? He’s in his grave, awaiting the resurrection, just like everyone else who has ever died.
So what did Jesus mean when He said the verse we quoted above in Matthew? Matthew 10:28 “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Jesus seems to be making a distinction between the “soul” and the “body”. We already discovered that the dust plus the breath of God created a “living soul” Genesis 2:7 Let’s look at some more verses about a “soul”. Revelation 16: 3 “And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/REV.16.KJV 1 Peter 3: 19 “by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20 which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/1PE.3.KJV Verse 19 is talking about people in prison and called them “spirits” and verse 20 says that eight people were called souls. Ezekiel 18:4 “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. 20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/EZK.18.KJV For an illustration let’s take a lightbulb; when it’s in a lamp and you plug the lamp in and turn on the switch, there is light. If you turn off the switch, where does the light go? It doesn’t go anywhere. Flip the switch and you have light again; so it will be in the resurrection. You can see light, you can feel it’s affects, but you cannot physically touch light. It takes God’s breath and dust to make a living soul. When the two are separate there is no soul. Man cannot kill permanently what God created. When His breath reunites with the dust then the body can be either taken to heaven or cast into hell. 1 Corinthians 15: 20 “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44 it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/1CO.15.KJV Paul says flesh and blood cannot enter heaven, but Luke’s account of the resurrected Jesus says in Luke 24: 36 “And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. 38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. 40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/LUK.24.KJV (More on the resurrection and hell later)
Now let’s discuss the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. It’s difficult to discuss this parable without discussing hell, but I will do an in-depth study on hell another time. First and foremost, it’s a parable! It was not meant to contradict anything that the Bible already states. It was meant to illustrate a point about caring for those who are less fortunate than ourselves. Do you really think that a single drop of water could even reach someone in a fire without evaporating before it reached the person? Or that somehow a single drop of water would somehow comfort them if they did get it? How could a God that was supposed to be loving, keep a body alive forever just to torment them with fire. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/ROM.6.KJV Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/ROM.3.KJV Psalm 37:20 “But the wicked shall perish, And the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: They shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/PSA.37.KJV Malachi 4:1 “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/MAL.4.KJV The Bible says, “Consume, Burn them up, stubble, and ashes.” If you were to light a fire in a fireplace, what happens if you don’t add any more wood to the fire? The fire goes out. The Bible refers it to eternal hell for two reasons, one: the consequences are eternal, and two: Noone will be able to quench the fire until it has consumed everybody that isn’t saved.
For the last text about being absent from the body and present with the Lord we need to compare the rest of the scriptures with that one. What does the Bible say about death? John 11:11 “These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. 12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. 13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. 14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/JHN.11.KJV Lazarus had been dead for four days when Jesus gets to him, and yet no mention is made about him being in heaven, in fact as the story continues in verses 23 “Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” What is the resurrection for if not to take people to heaven? Mark 5: 35 “While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further? 39 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. 40 And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying. 41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. 42 And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/MRK.5.KJV When you go to sleep, if you sleep all night long without dreaming or waking up, what is the next thing that you know? One minute you shut your eyes, and it SEEMS like the next minute you are opening them back up! Death is like that. You will be unaware of the passing of time, unaware of anything that is going on in this world. Job 14:10 “But man dieth, and wasteth away: Yea, man giveth up the ghost(God’s breath), and where is he? 12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, Nor be raised out of their sleep. 21 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; And they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." https://www.bible.com/bible/1/JOB.14.KJV
The scriptures very clearly teach that we do not HAVE a soul, we ARE a soul. They also teach that death is like sleep and that EVERY SOUL who has ever died is in their graves sleeping until the resurrection. (Except for Moses and a few when Jesus died in Matthew 27:52 “and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/MAT.27.KJV) It is important to understand what happens at death because it was satan’s first lie to man back in Genesis 3:4 “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/GEN.3.KJV Only God has immortality. 1 Timothy 6:15 “which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 16 who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/1TI.6.KJV If the righteous dead were in heaven, don’t you think that they would be praising God? Psalm 115:17 “The dead praise not the LORD, Neither any that go down into silence.” https://www.bible.com/bible/1/PSA.115.KJV
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