Lesson 7
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*August 11 - 17 |
God's Gift of Immortality |
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KATRINA, A NEW CHRISTIAN, attended a large church. Her mother did not share Katrina's faith but led a pleasure-seeking life. Whenever Katrina tried to present the gospel to her mother, she simply shrugged and said, "Truth is whatever you make it out to be; so what does it matter what we believe?"
Then Katrina's mother died in an accident, leaving no indication that she had accepted Christ. Several weeks after the funeral, Katrina heard a sermon entitled "Beyond the Tomb—Is Death for Real?" Attempting to describe the fate of the lost, the minister depicted their ceaseless misery in the fires of hell. The thought of her mother's probable agony in the inferno of God's endless wrath horrified her beyond words. The next day, at work, Katrina explained her distress to Renee, a colleague and fellow Christian. Consolingly, Renee said, "Katrina, your mother is not burning in hell; do you really want to know where she is now and what her fate will be if she is lost?" This week's lesson unfolds what Katrina learned from Renee.
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE: What was the original sin of humanity? What subtle tricks did Satan use to dupe Eve into believing the boldest of all lies? Do humans inherently possess immortality? If not, how do they get it? How does the view that the dead immediately face their rewards or punishment contradict Scripture? Why must the lost face the fires of hell at the end of the age? This week's lesson takes a look at these questions.
MEMORY TEXT: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22, NKJV).
*(Please study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, August 18).
"The sin of man is that he seeks to make himself God."
—Reinhold Niebuhr
The Bible says, early on, that God created humans "in his own image." What a distinct honor and privilege! When philosophers and scientists describe humanity as nothing but "rational animals," beings whose only essential difference from (for example) frogs is that they're higher up the evolutionary ladder—they couldn't be further from the truth.
Yet at the same time, though made in God's image, human beings are not God. Made in His image, yes, but that's not the same as being God.
Read Genesis 3:5, the serpent's words to Eve. He said that if she ate of the tree she would be "like God" (NIV). What was so ironic about those words is that Eve already was "like God"; that is, made in His image. Because Eve listened to the serpent, the image was defiled, and she became less like God. Nevertheless, Eve listened to Satan because, apparently, something in her wanted to be "like God."
This was not just Eve's problem. Read these following texts and note what they all have in common:
Isa. 14:13, 14 _____________________________________________________________________
Ezek. 28:2, 6 _____________________________________________________________________
2
Thess. 2:3, 4
______________________________________________________________
When human beings seek to be "like God," they are reflecting the characteristics of Satan, whose sin was that "he aspired to the height of God Himself."—The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 1, p. 18. Though most people don't consciously say that they want to be like God, when they seek to do their own thing, to go their own way, to make their own rules, to develop their own concepts of good and evil, they are in a sense seeking to become their own God. How sad, too, because when connected to God, we can enjoy the promise of possessing one of the essential characteristics of God: eternal life. When, however, we seek to be our own god, we will lose that promise.
In what subtle ways do we seek to make ourselves God?
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I f you answered that it was" 'You will not surely die' "(Gen. 3:4, NIV)—you're wrong. That's the second lie. The first lie was in verse 1, where Satan says to Eve, in the form of a question, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree in the garden?'" (NKJV). God didn't say that; He said, instead, that they could eat of every tree in the Garden (Gen. 2:16, 17)—except one. Yet Satan used the first subtle lie to pave the way for the second, his biggest and dangerous deception, a deception that he promulgates today with the same trickery and subtlety he used on Eve in the Garden. His first lie paved the way for his second lie, and his second paved the way for his third, which is that they would be "like God" by disobeying His command.
List a few reasons why it is to Satan's advantage to have people believe
that they will live forever, even when they blatantly disobey God.
| Of all of Satan 's lies, the one about humans not really dying after death has taken hold almost everywhere, even among Christians, who should know better, because the Bible teaches that death is a sleep (see Job 14:12; Eccles. 9:5, 6, 10; Pss. 6:5; 115:17; 146:4). Today an endless stream of books, movies, tapes, and TV shows all, in one way or another, reiterate what Satan told Eve in Eden. The belief is so strong that there are even scientific studies on what happens after death that "prove" (at least for many people) that we go on living in another form in another dimension after death. |
With such an almost universal deluge of materials teaching immediate life
after death, what practical steps can Christians who know the state of the
dead take in order to protect themselves against this overwhelming deception?
What can that same person do to try to help enlighten someone who believes
that the dead live on?
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God is the Author and Sustainer of life; no being lives independently of Him. Christians are described as seeking immortality (Rom. 2:7), which indicates that they do not innately possess it, as many are led to believe by popular, as well as religious, literature.
What gift do born-again Christians now possess, even in this mortal life?
John
5:24;
1
John 5:11, 12;
Rom.
6:23.
Christ as our Savior is eternal life personified. We obtain eternal life not by something we innately possess by virtue of being humans but by receiving Christ's substitution and life as a gift. Yet even those who possess eternal life in Him are still subject to the soul sleep of death. "'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live" (John 11:25, NKJV). Note what Christ did not say in that verse: "Though he may die, he still lives." He declared, instead, that in the future He will bring forth from the grave those who die in Him. See John 5:28, 29.
Possessing eternal life in Christ, even now, doesn't mean that immediately after the body dies one soars off to heaven with Christ. It means, instead, that even though we must "sleep" in the grave (Luke 8:52; John 11:11-14; Eph. 5:14), we have the promise of the resurrection when Jesus Christ returns.
| Many Christians, if not most, believe that at death the righteous go off to heaven to be with God, while the unrighteous immediately go to hell. Though numerous problems exist with this teaching, one of the biggest deals with Christ's statement that when He returns in the glory of His Father and the angels, "then he shall reward every man according to his works" (Matt. 16:27). Though easy to understand if the dead are sleeping in the grave, the verse makes problems for those with the notion that the dead are already enjoying their rewards. How? |
| What other verses in the Bible make no sense if the righteous and
wicked dead, rather than sleeping in death until judgment, get their rewards
or punishments immediately after death?
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Christ is the substance of the believer's life. Through the Spirit He resides in our hearts. John declares, "He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:12, 13, NKJV). We may be biologically, emotionally, and intellectually alive while still being dead to life's source, value and purpose—"dead in trespasses and sins," as Paul expresses it (Eph. 2:1).
What did Christ say eternal life consists of?
John
17:2, 3.
"The sum and substance of the whole matter of Christian grace and experience is contained in believing on Christ, in knowing God and His Son whom He hath sent. .
"The knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ expressed in character is the very highest education. It is the key that opens the portals of the heavenly city. This knowledge it is God's purpose that all who put on Christ shall possess."—That I May Know Him, p. 104. In the born-again believer God's grace reigns "through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 5:21, NKJV).
Jesus specified that He would resurrect the redeemed at what time in earth's
history? See
1
Cor. 15:22, 23, 51-55;
1
Thess. 4:14-17;
John
6:39, 40, 44.
Immortality is conferred upon the redeemed as a gift at the time of Christ's second coming. They will then be raised in glorified bodies immune to sickness, aging, fatigue, or deterioration of any kind. The redeemed will then be both physically and spiritually glorified. In this perfect state they will have eternal life (the Christ life within) and immortality (deathlessness in an incorruptible body like Christ's body [Phil. 3:20, 21]). Until then, they sleep in a peaceful rest.
| Whether a person dies in Christ a thousand years before the resurrection
or two weeks before it, for both of them death itself will seem the same.
They close their eyes, and the next thing they know (whether a thousand days
or a thousands years have passed) they will be resurrected at Christ's second
coming. For the dead, eternal life seems to come instantly after death,
even if it doesn't. What does this truth tell us about the goodness of our
God?
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As we saw yesterday, the righteous dead are resurrected "at the last day."
When does that last day occur?
1
Thess. 4:14-17;
Rev.
20:4-6.
At His second coming Christ raises and glorifies the righteous dead and with the glorified living saints takes them to His heavenly kingdom, where they will live and reign with Him a thousand years. This begins the millennium, where for a thousand years the redeemed will have the opportunity to have their questions answered about so many hard and difficult things here (1 Cor. 4:5; 6:3; Rev. 20:12).
Christ distinguished between two resurrections, that which is to life
and that which is to condemnation
(John
5:29). When does the resurrection of the condemned occur?
Rev.
20:5-9.
At the end of the millennium the Lord comes back to earth with His saints to visit judgment upon the rejecters of His truth and salvation. (Read The Great Controversy, pp. 662-673.)
The anger and rebellion of the lost at the time of their resurrection demonstrate that even the unveiled revelation of God's glory does not move their hearts to repentance or righteousness (Isa. 26:10; Rev. 20:7-9). They are as firmly entrenched in opposition to God as Satan himself. Therefore it is in mercy to the lost that God expunges them from their bitter, turbulent existence.
| Dwell on this thought: If hell were eternal, then evil would have won, for it would always exist, and (figuratively speaking) the angel with the flaming sword (Gen. 3:24) who was to keep sinners from the tree of life would have failed in his task |
| Simone Weil once wrote that "vengeance is the desire for essential
equilibrium." Human justice almost always leads to a false equilibrium. A
perfect God, however, will execute perfect justice. With all the injustice
in the world, how does the concept of "hell" (as eternal destruction, not
eternal torment), help Christians deal with injustice here now?
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FURTHER STUDY: Consider Job's understanding of life, death,
and the resurrection:
Job
7:6-10;
10:12;
13:15,
16;
14:1,
2, 12-15;
17:13;
19:23-27.
Read "The First Great Deception,"
(pp. 531-550),
or "Spiritualism," (pp.
551-562) in The Great Controversy.
An eternally burning hell preached from the pulpit, and kept before the people, does injustice to the benevolent character of God. It presents Him as the veriest tyrant in the universe. This widespread dogma has turned thousands to universalism, infidelity, and atheism."—Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, pp. 344, 345.
"Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. .
"As spiritualism [communication with the "dead"] more closely imitates the nominal Christianity of the day, it has greater power to deceive and ensnare. Satan himself is converted, after the modern order of things. He will appear in the character of an angel of light. Through the agency of spiritualism, miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable wonders will be performed. And as the spirits will profess faith in the Bible, and manifest respect for the institutions of the church, their work will be accepted as a manifestation of divine power."—The Great Controversy, p. 588.
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SUMMARY: Eternal life and immortality
are gifts that accompany salvation in Christ; they are not inherent in fallen
human beings. Death is an unconscious sleep in the grave until the resurrection.
Those who reject God's love, salvation, and truth reject life itself; God
honors their decision by terminating their existence at the end of the
judgment.
J. H. Zachary
Atheism was the only religion in Froll's family as he grew up in the former Soviet Union. When the boy was 5 years old, he became paralyzed. Two surgeries on his spine failed to release him from the paralysis that has left him in a wheelchair.
In spite of his lifelong education in atheism, Froll found his thinking challenged. There has to be some sort of intelligent power in the universe, he reasoned. This conviction grew. "I saw so many evidences that some Power outside myself was guiding in my life," he said. "But I was not brave enough to dismiss the influence of atheism and call this power God." As he examined the sophistication and beauty in nature, the argument for a Creator became stronger.
Froll joined a large and very old Christian denomination and soon was a zealous believer. He longed to meet the Pope, but he had never ever seen a Bible.
He became convicted that he was a great sinner and must change his life. But in spite of his efforts, sin had a strong hold on him. He decided the only way to overcome sin and enter heaven was to become a monk.
Then a friend gave Froll a New Testament. As he read the Sermon on the Mount, he was overwhelmed by an even greater sense of his sinfulness. He became convinced that he would spend eternity in hell.
Froll met some Adventists. These new friends showed him that Jesus, the sinless One, was the only One who could save him. Froll began studying the Bible in earnest and realized that what his church taught differed from what the Bible teaches. There followed a terrible struggle in his mind, for he did not want to leave his church.
Froll was at a spiritual crossroads. He began praying earnestly. "Lord, I have so many questions. If You can answer my questions, then I will follow the Bible as Luther did." He promised God that he would visit the Adventist church with his friends. If he found answers to his list of questions, then he would know that this was the church God wanted him to be a part of. He entered the church and settled in with his list of questions. He was amazed as the pastor answered each of his questions from the Bible.
True to his promise, Froll began attending the Adventist church and preparing for baptism. When he asked God for guidance, God had given it. Who was he to refuse to follow?
J. H. Zachary is coordinator of international evangelism for The Quiet Hour and a special consultant for the General Conference Ministerial Association.
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