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Death is something that touches us all. For our friends, family, and even ourselves, there is one experience we will all have in common: Death (unless you are alive when Jesus returns!).
But why does death exist? What is the nature of death? And what happens after death?
Funeral homes and undertakers may do their best to comfort those who are left behind, but only the Bible has the real answers.
Gen 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; (17) but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned;
God warned Adam that if he disobeyed and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would die.
Adam sinned, and death entered the world through his sin.
Gen 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; (17) but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
John 5:24 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
Although most people think of death in terms of the end of our stay on earth, the Bible does not teach that.
God told Adam that he would die the very day that he sinned, and Jesus made it clear that death is a primarily a spiritual state that everyone is born into.
Physical death is just the final outcome of spiritual death.
In essence, death is separation.
Physical death is separation from this world; spiritual death is separation from God.
Ps 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.
Ezek 33:11 Say to them: "As I live," says the Lord GOD, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?"
God views death very differently from the way humans view it.
We are sad when godly people die, but we rejoice when evil people die.
However, God sees it in another light.
When His people die, it is precious to Him because they go to be with Him forever.
But God does not like it when evil people die because they will be eternally separated from Him.
1 Th 4:16-17 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.
When Christ returns, Christians who are alive at that time will never experience physical death, but will be caught up to meet Him in the air.
Rev 20:14-15 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. (15) And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Physical death is not the end of existence for evil people.
Those who have rejected Christ will experience the second death in the lake of fire which is eternal separation from God.
2 Cor 5:8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
Physical death for the Christian is a gateway into the presence of God forever.
If you like these Topical Bible Studies, don't forget to check out our Expository Bible Studies too.