The Worms Crawl In; the Worms Crawl Out. Find Out What Death Is all About!
Worm Food
This is very much one of those topics where we have to start with what it cannot be, eliminate the impossible, and then go from there. Eliminate the impossible, and whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. We find ourselves on sensitive ground with this topic, everyone's favorite pet doctrine, so we must tread firmly and light the fires of truth. We must spread God's truth because, as innocent as this doctrine seems at first glance, it can greatly affect the way we live our lives and what happens to us upon death. Beliefs are not so dangerous for what they make us think but for how they make us live and the things they make us do or not do.
What happens to us when we die? Of course, the worms get a fine meal, though some are higher in cholesterol than others, but what happens beyond that?
There are many theories, ideas, and doctrines about what happens to us upon death, but today, let's look at what the Bible actually says. As I said in the beginning, with this topic, we very much have to start with what it cannot be before we can proceed to what it is. Hebrew and Greek words can mean multiple things, and a single word can mean many different things.
This creates a good deal of confusion, and in no place is this more apparent than the discussion of what happens to us when we die. Context matters, and this is where looking at what the Bible states that death is not will be of great help to us in understanding the topic of death. If we get a solid foundation to build upon, we can get a pretty solid picture of death and even more importantly, life.
As always, study this topic for yourself to see what is true according to the Word. I hope my thoughts spark some of your own and lead to greater study and growth!
Silence! I kill you!
A good place to start on this topic is with David. He desired God's protection and recorded some of his prayers and pleading with God to save his life in the Psalms. David was a man after God's own heart, and as we'll see, the ancients had a remarkable understanding of death and what it was not. For instance, David begged God to keep him alive because “He (David) would not be able to praise God from the grave.” He actually said this in various ways a number of times, as we’ll see.
Psalm 6:4-5 NKJV Return, O LORD, deliver me! Oh, save me for Your mercies' sake!
5 For in death [there is] no remembrance of You; In the grave who will give You thanks?
Psalm 88:10-12 NKJV Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise [and] praise You? Selah
11 Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave? [Or] Your faithfulness in the place of destruction?
12 Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
Psalm 30:9 NKJV "What profit [is there] in my blood, When I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth?
To top it all off, as if these weren’t clear enough, David says this in Psalms 115.
Psalm 115:17 NKJV The dead do not praise the LORD, Nor any who go down into silence.
David was not the only one to say something like this; Hezekiah affirmed what David declared in these Psalms after God spared him from his sickness.
Isaiah 38:17-19 NKJV Indeed [it was] for [my own] peace [That] I had great bitterness; But You have lovingly [delivered] my soul from the pit of corruption, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
18 For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth.
19 The living, the living man, he shall praise You, As I [do] this day; The father shall make known Your truth to the children.
The dead cannot praise God, and they have no hope. Death is called silence throughout these sections, which also tells us something else about death. There aren’t a bunch of people in some fiery place screaming in agony.
Having begun with this, we can easily hop over to our next point, which explains why death is silent and why the dead cannot praise God.
An Absence of Knowledge
Solomon is our go-to guy for this particular bit of revelation as he reveals that there is no knowledge among the dead. “The dead know nothing,” he says in one place. Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, and his curiosity got him into trouble on more than one occasion. He always knew what he was talking about, though, and this is no exception. As a side note, we will be coming back to revisit some of these scriptures as we get to some of the other things that the Bible says about death.
Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 NKJV For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share In anything done under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 NKJV Whatever your hand finds to do, do [it] with your might; for [there is] no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
This makes a lot more sense as to why there is no praise of God from the dead. They have no knowledge, no understanding to praise God. They will never have a share in anything done under the sun as long as they are dead. They know nothing at all. God equates His people to being as good as dead because they do not know His ways in one place when He says, "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6)" If we don't know His ways, we are as good as dead already.
Two things so far that back each other up, no praise and no knowledge in the grave. When we die, we will not be able to praise God, and we won’t know anything, at least according to this. So what’s next? Why are these things the case?
Our next topic is pretty simple. In fact, Christ Himself taught this very thing. We aren’t going to look at Christ’s words first; rather, we are going to look at one of the most famous men in the Old Testament. For this one, Job will be one of our best sources as he had a deep understanding of death and even the resurrection. Thousands of years before Christ died and sins were forgiven, Job knew. He knew he would have a redeemer; he believed that he would stand again, but not right away. See, from Job we get the understanding, an understanding that Christ will back up, that the dead are asleep. Rather, they are in a state of unconsciousness until Christ’s return.
Job 14:1-15 NKJV "Man [who is] born of woman Is of few days and full of trouble.
2 He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and does not continue.
3 And do You open Your eyes on such a one, And bring me to judgment with Yourself?
4 Who can bring a clean [thing] out of an unclean? No one!
5 Since his days [are] determined, The number of his months [is] with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass.
6 Look away from him that he may rest, Till like a hired man he finishes his day.
7 "For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And that its tender shoots will not cease.
8 Though its root may grow old in the earth, And its stump may die in the ground,
9 [Yet] at the scent of water it will bud And bring forth branches like a plant.
10 But man dies and is laid away; Indeed he breathes his last And where [is] he?
11 [As] water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up,
12 So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens [are] no more, They will not awake Nor be roused from their sleep.
13 "Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, That You would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If a man dies, shall he live [again]? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes.
15 You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands.
What Job is saying here couldn’t be any clearer. When man dies, he falls asleep, hidden in the ground until the heavens are no more when Christ shall call them out of their graves. Job continues on in chapter 19 where he states that he knows his redeemer lives and that is his hope.
Job 19:23-27 NKJV "Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!
24 That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever!
25 For I know [that] my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth;
26 And after my skin is destroyed, this [I know], That in my flesh I shall see God,
27 Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. [How] my heart yearns within me!
Job yearned to see Jesus! Even in his tormented state, his yearning was to see God. Job is pretty clear throughout this section that death means sleep from which no one can awaken unless they are awakened by God. Job was not the only person to call death a state of sleep, as I mentioned earlier. In the book of Daniel we find something quite interesting indeed.
Daniel 12:1-2 NKJV "At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands [watch] over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, [Even] to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book.
2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame [and] everlasting contempt.
Again, I want you to notice the timing of this. When is this awakening from the graves happening? It is certainly not immediate. We will revisit this in a bit, but for now, let’s continue on with our discovery of what death cannot be.
John 11:11-13 NKJV These things He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up."
12 Then His disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will get well."
13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.
1 Theselonians 4:13-14 NKJV But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:18-22 NKJV Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, [and] has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
21 For since by man [came] death, by Man also [came] the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
1 Corinthians 15:6 NKJV After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
Act 7:60 NKJV Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
I think that ties up that subject nicely. The dead are asleep, which explains why there is no knowledge, why there is silence, and why the dead do not praise God. They are asleep! We’ve just about reached the point where we have enough of a foundation that we can take a look at a topic that muddles things a bit, but there is one more thing I would like to establish. No person, dead or alive, other than Jesus, has ever ascended to heaven. There. I said it. What proof can I provide, especially in light of some examples that seem to contradict that very fact? For one thing, there is the statement that Christ Himself made.
Flying Is For Jesus
John 3:13 NKJV "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, [that is], the Son of Man who is in heaven.
Well, that seems pretty cut and dried now doesn’t it? However, there are still some arguments to answer and some more scriptures to take a look at, so let us continue on.
Act 2:29-34 NKJV "Men [and] brethren, let [me] speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
30 "Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,
31 "he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.
32 "This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
33 "Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
34 "For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: 'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand,
Peter seems to think that not only did David not ascend to heaven at his death, he was still dead and buried in the ground at the time Peter gave his sermon. This time period was after Christ’s death and after the giving of the Spirit, yet David remained dead and asleep. Why? Well we get to find out why when we get to some of the later writers of the New Testament.
Hebrews 11:13, 39-40 NKJV These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced [them] and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. ...
39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise,
40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
The reason David is still asleep is the same reason everyone else is. We will all be made perfect at the same time. We will all receive our great reward at the same moment, with no one made perfect before anyone else. In the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. Now, we are into the timing of everything we have been talking about. When does this perfection occur? Not at the moment of death; otherwise, they would have been made perfect apart from us.
1 Corinthians 15:50-54 NKJV Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will 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 has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
The last trumpet is when Christ returns and when we shall all receive our reward. We must be spirit beings in order to dwell with Christ and in order to be free of death. For further reading on the resurrection, I would recommend the rest of chapter 15. It lays out a lot of detail regarding how we must put off our physical bodies in order to be with God. An interesting thing that we run into in our next section will prove to be a helpful tool for one particular belief regarding death.
1 Theselonians 4:15-17 NKJV For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive [and] remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
So here we see that at Christ’s return, the dead will be raised. Then, anyone who is left alive will be caught up with the dead into the clouds to meet Christ in the air. Pretty awesome, right? Our secret tool is the very last sentence. “And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” Remember that because it will make an appearance shortly. For now, let’s get back to establishing the timing of this resurrection because it wasn’t just Paul who had these things to say; it was Christ Himself.
John 5:28-29 NKJV "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice
29 "and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
John 6:40 NKJV "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."
The hour He refers to is the last trumpet, His second coming. At His second coming all the saints who have fallen asleep will awaken and meet Him in the clouds as He returns and then they will return with Him back to earth.
A Moment to Breathe
To summarize what we have learned so far, the dead know nothing, they are asleep, they cannot praise God, and they will all rise at the second coming of our king when He calls them out of their graves. This will be an incredible time as those who have been dead for thousands of years rise to their reward! A reward that was hoped for, but they did not even see the object of their hope, the one event that would make such a reward possible. We have great faith in believing in the resurrection of our Jesus, whom we have not seen; how much greater was their faith in believing in a sacrifice of a Redeemer that hadn’t even happened yet! The saints of the Old Testament are some of the most inspiring in all the Bible and they all kept God’s law. They all had the hope of a Redeemer; they knew that they had a Redeemer who would set them free from their prisons of clay.
Onwards!
We have laid our solid foundation, and we have established some very important details. We know the state of the dead, and we have put up a bare sketch; now, we can fill in the details. There is a lot of confusion surrounding the things we are going to cover next, but the important thing to remember is where our foundation lies. As long as we maintain that, we won’t get too far off track. Now, it’s time to dust off the next section we are going to explore.
A Dusty Subject
Whew! That was dustier than we thought, and it just might have been great-grandpa. Though I said that we knew the state of the dead, there is an important factor to consider with this. Man is made from the dust of the ground, and to the dust, he will return when he dies, just as all living things do. So, what is there that’s possibly asleep? The worms have their banquet and there’s not much left, so what gets resurrected? For most of us, when we die, our body is a temporary home, a fragile vehicle that we wandered around in, and we will be resurrected into a spiritual body. Our old body won’t matter anymore, and those who are in the second resurrection will simply get a new physical body. One of the very first things mankind was told after their fall was that they would turn back into dust.
Genesis 3:19 NKJV] In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you [are], And to dust you shall return."
Ecclesiastes 3:20 NKJV All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.
We all came from dust and to dust we shall return. The animals are the same in that way, too. They came from the dust and they will return to the dust.
Ecclesiastes 3:18-20 NKJV I said in my heart, "Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are [like] animals."
19 For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all [is] vanity.
20 All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.
We all go back to dust, and in that way, we have no advantage over the animals. There is a difference between us and the animals, however, and that is that we were made in the image of God. A fragile copy by comparison, but the image of God nonetheless. We have hope and a future beyond this physical world where the animals do not. We were crafted out of the dust, and that is exactly where we finish our lives. We are held together by the will of God; actually, all things only exist by His will. He created them by His will, and they continue to exist only by His will.
Job 34:14-15 NKJV If He should set His heart on it, [If] He should gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath,
15 All flesh would perish together, And man would return to dust.
The Mortal Must Die!
Our physical bodies turn to dust and ashes when we die, but if God did not give the breath of life, then all flesh would perish and turn to the dust it was crafted from. We don’t have eternal life, not yet. That is a gift from God, and it is not something everyone gets. If everyone is already an eternal being or has some part of them that is eternal, then where is the gift from God?
Romans 6:23 NKJV For the wages of sin [is] death, but the gift of God [is] eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The wages of our sin is eternal death, being forgotten by God. Unless God remembers us, we will not live again. He has a book of remembrance that we are written down in, every action and every quirk of our personality. In order to share space with God, in order to be in heaven with Him we have to put off our mortal bodies. Our physical bodies have to die in order for us to become spirits.
1 Corinthians 15:42-45, 47-50 NKJV So also [is] the resurrection of the dead. [The body] is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.
43 It is sown in dishonor, 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 became a living being." The last Adam [became] a life-giving spirit. ...
47 The first man [was] of the earth, [made] of dust; the second Man [is] the Lord from heaven. 48 As [was] the [man] of dust, so also [are] those [who are made] of dust; and as [is] the heavenly [Man], so also [are] those [who are] heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the [man] of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly [Man].
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
We have to be a spirit just as Jesus is in order for us to inherit the kingdom He has prepared for us. Our mortal bodies will die and rot in the ground while we cease to exist, a sort of sleep, and then God will remember us and bring us back to life in a new and spiritual body. We will be remade.
Revelation 21:5 NKJV Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."
For those who are dead, it will be as quick as a blink. The last thing they will see is their moment of death, and then thousands or maybe hundreds of years later, at Christ’s return, they will awaken thinking no time has passed. They have been taken out of time and recreated in spiritual form.
2 Corinthians 5:8 NKJV We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
As Paul says here, for all the dead know their death was mere moments ago. For them it will seem instantaneous when they die the trumpet will sound. The dead in Christ will all rise together with the living mere moments behind at His coming to meet Him in the clouds and return with Him. What a wonderful time it will be when at last our eyes will see the glory of our coming saviour!
A Windy Subject
Now, I know what some of you are thinking by now. What about going instantly to heaven? Where does that come in? We have immortal souls, right? As We saw earlier, we don’t. If God did not resurrect us, we would all just stay dead. It is by His will that we even have life in the first place.
Revelation 4:11 NKJV "You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created."
We certainly don’t have an immortal soul, and that is a favorite teaching of Eastern religion and mysticism. The original lie that “we shall not surely die.”
It’s here that we need to stop and ask a very important question. What is a soul?
The words for soul and spirit in the Bible are interchangeable and can mean a multitude of different things. In Ecclesiastes 3, for example, it says people and animals are the same; they all have one breath. The word used is ruah, and it is often translated as soul or spirit. It actually means wind, anger, or breath, and it is used in reference to both humans and animals.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 NKJV Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.
Here, for example, it seems to say that our spirit or soul returns to God who gave it, but it is the same word, ruah. Earlier translated as breath, now it is being translated as spirit, yet if we look back to Genesis, it was the breath that God gave to man. Remember, He breathed into Adams's nostrils to give him life. Our breath or life returns to God. He owns it, and it is the same for all living creatures. The equivalent Greek word used in the New Testament is Pneuma and it means the same, air, blast, or breath.
However, if we go back and look at Genesis, we find an entirely different word used to describe breath! This word, too, is often translated as soul or spirit throughout the Old Testament. It appears several times throughout the rest of the Old Testament and appears to describe a feature specific to God that He gave to people or only given to people, shall I say. It is the very breath and essence of God Himself, the little bit of us, that makes us in His image. That word is Neshawmaw, and it is the only thing unique to people that I can find. It means a puff. Pneuma is also used as an equivalent Greek word in the New Testament.
Another word translated as soul simply means life, and it is used in reference to people and animals as being alive. Nehfesh refers to living beings, to the spark that makes them alive. The Greek word psyche also means breath or blow, and it is the New Testament equivalent of nephesh. These two words seem to be most often used to describe the state of being alive, and psyche specifically can refer to the things that go along with being alive, that is, some of the emotions, including appetite, lust, and passion, and it is used as a picture of the heart.
Getting back to Ecclesiastes, it is pretty clear that in this particular section it refers to the breath of life returning to God, not something that we would think of as a soul. In fact, throughout the Bible, there doesn’t seem to be any indication of what we would characterize as a “soul.” There is an interesting section that calls God “a spirit,” but ‘spirit’ is simply a force, and being a spirit refers to that thing being composed of spirit. It is our emotional center, what could be called our mind. It is an extension of God’s will, and it is what sustains all life in the Universe. In the particular section that calls God a spirit, though, it would seem to be better translated as breath, but I’ll let you decide for yourself.
John 4:24 NKJV "God [is] Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
The breath of God is mentioned throughout scripture, and I think far more than the translators gave credit for. The Bible itself is said to be God-breathed, just as man’s existence was. In this particular place in John, breath seems to fit quite well, especially as we read the verses around this section and the words in the verse itself. Worship means to “fawn” or literally, “lick the hand of the master as a dog would” (in Greek).
We are going to look at a few more places that seem to describe a soul or some part of man that goes to heaven or hell. However, we aren’t even going to look at the Lazarus and the Rich Man story. It’s clearly a parable and not at all literal. That entire story can be answered with a single scripture: John 3:13.
The story of Elijah being taken into heaven falls under this same scripture, not to mention he later wrote a letter to a king, which is a bit challenging if you are dead (2 Chronicles 21:12).
The story of Enoch is the same. He was taken so that he would not see the corruption that came upon the earth, but taken means he died, as we later see in Hebrews 11.
The thief on the cross is easy enough; Christ did not tell the man when he would be in paradise with Christ, just that he would. Christ Himself could not even have been in paradise for three days because He was dead.
All these people died and are waiting for their resurrection, their change, and they are waiting in the ground. By waiting, I do not mean literally waiting, I mean that they are no more until the day God resurrects them.
Soul Sleep?
So, what part of us stays around to be resurrected when we die?
Is there a soul that goes back to God upon our death that He puts into a spiritual body for us?
As we have seen, all living things exist by the very breath of God, and His spirit is His breath. It’s intangible; we can feel its effect and see its effect in the world around us, just as when the wind blows, but we cannot see it. When the wind stops, it goes away, leaving only its memory behind. The words used for God’s spirit are also the words used for life, for wind, and for breathing.
Psalm 33:6 NKJV By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.
God created the world by the breath of His mouth, and humans are no exception. God's Spirit is His breath, and it's not just the words themselves that indicate this. Christ breathed on His disciples and told them to receive the Spirit (Holy Breath or wind). On the day of Pentecost, it was the sound of wind that filled the house when the Spirit was given. For that matter, what is the Holy Spirit? Many claim that it is a being, but it is called our advocate. We are told we only have one advocate, and that is Jesus.
1 John 2:1 NKJV — My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
It's very tempting to just mass-share scriptures here because there are a ton that talk about the breath of God. The upshot is that it is the breath of God that gives us life, and when we die, it is gone like the wind itself. It goes back to God, and when He resurrects us, He sends His breath once again.
Ezekiel 37:9 NKJV — Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ’ ”
We were created, and we live by God's breath, His very power. When we become converted and are baptized, we receive His Holy Breath; that is, we are filled with it. This is what gives us inspiration to speak His words because we are speaking with His very breath.
2 Peter 1:20-21 NKJV knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke [as they were] moved by the Holy Spirit.
Pretty awesome, right? His breath is a gift, though, and it does not belong to us. When we die, it returns to the one who gave it. The only thing that remains of us is God’s memory. He has a book (literal or figurative, it doesn’t matter) that the memory of those who lived is written in.
Malachi 3:16 NKJV Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard [them]; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name.
Exodus 32:32-33 NKJV "Yet now, if You will forgive their sin--but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written."
33 And the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.
Here, it seems that only the saints are written in a book, but later in Revelation 20:12-13, we will see that all the dead are written in a book, every word and work that they did. We will give an account for every word that we have spoken, every deed we have done, and every thought we have thunk, and it is this memory that God will resurrect us from.
Colossians 3:3-4 NKJV For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ [who is] our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
When we die, we cease to exist. Our soul is not immortal, and God certainly does not owe it to us to keep us around. We have stored up our lives with Christ, and our memory is with Him. It is out of His grace and mercy that He will bring us back to life and change us into Spirit beings. Beings of breath, beings that move as the wind. As Job and later Nehemiah said,
Job 14:13-15 NKJV "Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, That You would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If a man dies, shall he live [again]? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes.
15 You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands.
Nehemiah 5:19 NKJV Remember me, my God, for good, [according to] all that I have done for this people.
Even the thief on the cross had a similar thing to say.
Luke 23:42 NKJV Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."
When we look at everything presented and begin with what we know to be absolute, we can come to no different conclusion than that there is no destination after death. We do not go to heaven, and neither do we go to hell to be tortured forever, as some interpret Revelation to be saying. Earth is enough torture for anyone, and it will become even more so as things continue to collapse.
Winding Up
When we die, we cease to exist and there is no knowledge in us anymore. All of our deeds, everything that makes us who we are, is in God’s memory. The breath He loaned to us upon our birth goes back to Him upon death and is reabsorbed by Him. There is only one who can take our breath and never return it, and that is God. All anyone else can do is kill our bodies, but they have no authority over what God gave to us. They cannot kill our minds or our hearts. Those belong to God and are given power by Him.
Matthew 10:28 NKJV "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
No one has the authority to deny us resurrection but God, and when we die, we wait (figuratively) for the day when the trumpet will sound and He will call us up out of our graves. In a way, this should bring some comfort. We don’t have to worry if Grandma is being tortured by demons somewhere or if she’s looking down on us with a tear running down her cheek as we pop another round of drugs. The dead are asleep and waiting for the call of the creator when His breath will wash over them and bring them back to life.
Job 14:10-17 NKJV But man dies and is laid away; Indeed he breathes his last And where [is] he? 11 [As] water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up,
12 So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens [are] no more, They will not awake Nor be roused from their sleep.
13 "Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, That You would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If a man dies, shall he live [again]? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes.
15 You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands.
16 For now You number my steps, But do not watch over my sin.
17 My transgression [is] sealed up in a bag, And You cover my iniquity.
James 4:14 NKJV whereas you do not know what [will happen] tomorrow. For what [is] your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Soon, we will breathe our last and our final sigh will carry our life back to the one who gave it to us. We will cease to exist like the grass of the field, and we will be no more until the one who created us remembers us.
Psalm 90:9 NKJV For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh.
We have a lot to do in the short time we have been given, but we have a goal to look forward to: eternal life, a gift from our Creator.
Psalm 90:12-17 NKJV So teach [us] to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
13 Return, O LORD! How long? And have compassion on Your servants.
14 Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!
15 Make us glad according to the days [in which] You have afflicted us, The years [in which] we have seen evil.
16 Let Your work appear to Your servants, And Your glory to their children.
17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.
Definitions:
Pneuma: air, blast, breath, the Greek equivalent of Neshawmaw and also ruah.
There can be agios or akathartos pneuma, which refer to God's spirit on the one hand and a demon on the other.
Psyche: breath, blow Greek equivalent to nephesh meaning life, breath, appetite, lust, passion, the seat of the emotions, heart, emotional center, likely the moral center.
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