Satan cannot hold the dead in his grasp when the Son of God bids them live. He cannot hold in spiritual death one soul who in faith receives Christ's word of power. God is saying to all who are dead in sin, "Awake you who sleep, and arise from the dead."
In the new birth the heart is brought into harmony with God, and there is a death to sin and self. When this mighty change has taken place in the sinner, he has passed from death to life, from sin to holiness, from transgression and rebellion to obedience and loyalty.
Those who will stand in this time of peril must understand the testimony of the Bible concerning the spiritually dead, the death to sin and self, and the physical death; each of these build on another to explain the power of the cross to save us from sin and deception. This study will investigate the topic of death in the Bible.
1. What is our condition from birth because of sin?
Psalms 58:3
2. What is our spiritual condition as a result of sin?
Ephesians 2:1
Note: By nature we are alienated from God. The Bible describes our condition in such words as these: "Dead in trespasses and sins." We are held fast in the snare of Satan; "taken captive by him at his will." God desires to heal us, to set us free. But since this requires an entire transformation, a renewing of our whole nature, we must yield ourselves completely to Him.
3. What do we need to be delivered from?
Romans 7:24
Note: This is the cry that has gone up from burdened hearts in all lands and in all ages. There is only one answer, "Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world."
4. What is the result of dying with Christ?
Romans 6:8
Note: When we give up our life to Christ and everything that is connected with it, at that very moment we die with Christ. What is it that we naturally have in ourselves to give up? It is sin! It is envy, hatred, selfishness, and pride. We give this up in order to live. We die with Christ so that we live forever with Him.
5. What can the Christian count as a fact?
Romans 6:10-11
Note: We are dead to the sin which has held us, because sin has been put to death by Christ. "The law has dominion over a man as long as he lives." When he is dead, there is nothing more that it can do to him. Sin is dead, count it a fact.
6. What is the purpose of the gospel?
Luke 15:22-24
Note: Christ has abolished death by destroying the power of sin in all who receive Him into the heart, for death has no power except through sin. So now we may joyfully say, "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
7. What does Jesus refer to Himself as?
John 11:11-14, 23-25
Note: He says to the repenting, "I am the resurrection, and the life" (John 11:25). Death is looked upon by Christ as sleep--silence, darkness, sleep. "Whoever lives and believes in me," He says, "will never die" (John 11:26). "If anyone keeps my word, he shall never taste death" (John 8:52) And to the believing one, death is but a small matter. With him to die is but to sleep.
8. What two components make up a living soul?
Genesis 2:7
Note: God formed man of the dust (earth). Here we have two elements: a clay body and God's breath of life. Through the union of these, man became a living soul. It's important to note that man was not given a "soul" as something separate from the body, but became a soul through the union of body and God's breath. Body + Breath = Soul. Body - Breath = Death.
9. What happens at the physical death?
Job 34:14-15
Note: The Spirit or breath returns to God at death. "It is the Spirit who gives life." The Spirit and breath in the Bible are interchangeable; the spirit gives life to the mortal body and to the body that is dead because of sin. "The Spirit is life because of righteousness." See Psalms 104:29-30.
10. What gives us life?
Job 33:4
Note: It is only by the power of the Spirit of God that any person can live; it is the same Spirit that in the beginning hovered over the face of the deep and brought order out of chaos. By the same breath were the heavens made. Psalm 33:6. The Spirit of God is the life of the universe. Jesus said on the cross "Father into your hands I commend My spirit and having said this He breathed His last." Luke 23:46
11. What happens to our thoughts when we die?
Psalms 146:4
Note: When the old man of sin is crucified in that very day his thoughts perish; and it is also for the physical death.
12. What do the dead know?
Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, 10
Note: "The dead know nothing." This Scripture will keep us from that old life of sin and will guard us from the deceptions of Satan in manifesting himself as dead loved ones. When the temptation comes to lead us from the cross we must respond with "the dead know nothing" and if a dead loved one is manifested we respond the same, "the dead know nothing."
13. When does our change come?
Job 14:10-14 & 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Note: The second coming of Jesus is the great hope of every believer.