Cause Of Death

THE DAILY WORD
By Jim Seekamp

Friday February 8, 2008

According to the Bible, satan still holds the power of physical death:

Hebrews 2:14,15 (NIV)
14. Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-- that IS (present tense), the devil-- 15. and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Because of Jesus, we as believers no longer are held in slavery by FEAR of death! For believers, physical death has lost it's sting:

1 Corinthians 15:51-57 (NIV)
51. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- 52. in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 55. "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

All believers will receive new bodies, whether we die physically or get raptured. The sting of death is SIN (the sin nature), and Jesus took away our sin nature when we were born again; we received a new spirit with the nature of God.

When a believer dies, he does not experience the sting of death; he is instead clothed with a new immortal body. Unbelievers will experience the sting of death; the lake of fire.

It also says in the passage above that the power of sin is the law. Paul reiterates this fact in Romans:

Romans 7:5 (NIV)
For when we were controlled by the [flesh], the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.

Every baby that is born on earth is spiritually alive, even though it is born into sin; because it is innocent. Paul tells us in Romans that spiritual death springs to life in every person not when they're born, but when they first sin:

Romans 7:8-11 (NIV)
8. But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. 9. Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.

Notice that Paul says in verse 9 that he was once ALIVE, and THEN he spiritually died when the commandment (law) came! When he knew what was right to do and didn't do it, spiritual death sprang up. That spiritual death is what remains when the physical body dies unless a person is born again. Paul tells us that physical death is the last ENEMY to be destroyed:

1 Corinthians 15:26 (NIV)
The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

That means God does not cause death, since He is not our enemy. Some say, "God took him" when a person dies, when really death took him! People misquote Genesis 5:24, talking about Enoch:

Genesis 5:24 (NIV)
Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

But Enoch didn't die; he was truly taken! When a person dies, they do not have the same experience as Enoch, who didn't die!

But thank God when a believer dies, his last enemy is defeated; he then puts on immortality:

1 Corinthians 15:46-49 (NIV)
46. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

PRAYER
Thank You Father for the promise of life I have as a believer. Thank You for giving me a new born again spirit with Your nature so I don't have to experience the sting of death. Help me to walk through this life without fear of death, since I know that Jesus has given me the ultimate victory over it.
In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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