Who “Will Never See Death”?

Biblegems #271

Question: In John 8:51 Jesus says: "... if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." Jesus must mean something other than death literally, so why doesn’t He just say what He means, or else explain why He uses “death” figuratively?

Jesus is not using the word “death” figuratively. Rather, He redefines the word to help us see what death really is, from God’s perspective, as opposed to the distorted human understanding of death. To do so He still uses our common vocabulary, yet reinterprets the term by applying it differently.

For example, a carpenter points to an assortment of lumber stacked in piles according to their relative size (2” X 4”, 1” X 3”, 4’ X 8’) and tells his newbie apprentice to go get a full sheet. The apprentice does not know that a “full sheet” refers to standard 4’ X 8’ plywood. Once the carpenter clears up the confusion, the apprentice has a new frame of reference for the word “sheet.”

From the human point of view, “death” typically means that a living biological organism as ceased to function. Since it no longer lives biologically, we say it has died. Interestingly, we can also say that something non-biological has died, such as a microwave oven or an automobile, and expect that others will understand. The way we use the term changes the meaning without requiring further explanation.

Jesus frequently re-defined the meaning of death. Whereas we see biological death as the cessation of life, Jesus treated death as a transitional stage of life, not unlike transitioning from sleeping to waking—a transition he had control over:

Mark 5:39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.”

        

We see death as a state from which there is no return, once decay has set in.  For Jesus, death is not biologically defined. From God’s point of view, once human life has begun it exists eternally. Biological death is an anomaly—an abnormality in God’s created universe brought about by sin:

         Rom. 5:12  …sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people…

Sin not only introduced death to the human experience, but it also traps humanity into an eternal existence cut off from God, who is the author of life.  To correct this, God entered the human race as a sinless human being to rescue us and restore us to eternal life in His presence. This is why Jesus said to Mary, Lazarus’ sister, outside the tomb of her dead brother four days after his internment,

John 11:25 “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

And then—

         John 11:43-46  …Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

Raised From The Dead?

Biblegems #217

Question: The girl Jesus “raised from the dead” in Matthew 9:18-26 was just “asleep,” according to Jesus, so was Jesus being deliberately deceptive for some reason, or was this not a miracle at all?

Two questions are before us here: 1) Was this girl really dead? 2) If she was dead, why did Jesus say she was only asleep?

First, this young lady had most certainly died well before Jesus arrived on the scene. Consider the following evidence.

Matthew 9:18 and following describes how the little girl’s father (Jairus, the synagogue Ruler, Mk. 5:21) had walked a good distance to find Jesus. The trip to the man’s house was slowed considerably by further ministry among the crowd that pressed in around Jesus. In fact, friends of the family had time to catch up with him:

Mark 5:35b “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?”

When Jesus arrived at the home he found that funeral proceedings had already begun. Two “flute players” at a minimum were hired by even the poorest of families when someone died, along with at least one professional wailing woman, as required by Jewish custom of the day. Their job was to help family and friends accept the finality of death with mournful music and loud crying and wailing—hence, the “noisy crowd” (Matt. 9:23). Professional mourners were not called in until death was undeniably certain.

Second, Jesus used the term “asleep” because it was a common metaphor in His day for death. The Pharisees taught the doctrine of resurrection, and that death was not the end of existence. However, when Jesus used this common term for death in this situation, He did so in a very un-common way.

Before entering the dead girl’s room Jesus said to the hired mourners and the crowd they had stirred up, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep” (Matt. 9:24). In telling them to “go away” Jesus was about to demonstrate that He had the authority and power to bring a person back from the “sleep” of death. He was demonstrating here what He later declared (and proved) at Lazarus’ tomb:

         Jn. 11:25 “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies…”

The majority of the Jewish people, trained under the Pharisees, had a fairly correct understanding of death—it did not mean a person ceased to exist. There would be a resurrection of the just and the unjust whose eternal existence would be determined at God’s Judgment. Until that time, existence in Sheol was not unlike being asleep.

In practical experience however, they—like most people today—saw death as final and irreversible. But for Jesus, raising someone from the dead was no more difficult than waking someone from sleep.

So Jesus defiled Himself by taking the dead girl’s hand in His own, while the professional mourners outside laughed at Him. Then, as Mark records in his Gospel, Jesus “said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished” (Mk. 5:41b-42).

The “Sin That Leads To Death”

Biblegems #200

Question: In 1 John 5:16, what is meant by “sin not leading to death,” and is the person who witnesses the sin being committed able to confess and repent for the sinner?

This is probably one of the most difficult verses in the New Testament, leading to many different explanations. And the question, what is meant by “sin not leading to death,” gets at the heart of the problem, because all sin leads to death (Rom. 6:23).

The verse tells us that the person committing the sin (whatever it is) is a “brother” (i.e., a believer); and the phrasing in the Greek makes it clear that this follower of Jesus is committing this sin intentionally (Gk. aJmarta¿nonta aJmarti÷an: “sinning to sin”). And whatever this sinful behavior is that the follower of Jesus is about to act upon “does not lead to death.”

We know from Scripture in general that all sin that is not atoned for by the blood of Jesus ultimately leads to judgment and death—complete, eternal separation from God physically and spiritually:

Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And:

         Matt. 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 46  “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Therefore, the word “death” in 1 John 5:16 must refer simply to physical death, not eternal condemnation. In that case, the verse tells us that there is some sin that leads to physical death and other sin that does not. The verse goes on to say that when one believer sees another believer tempted to act in a sinful way, he should ask God to give his tempted friend “life.”  This word for “life” (Gk. zwh/) can also mean “the way of life.” In other words, we should pray that God would steer our tempted brother or sister away from sin and toward the path of obedient life in Christ.

But that still leaves the question: What kind of sin does lead to physical death, and are we supposed to let someone about to commit that kind of sin go un-prayed for?

There are some examples of sin leading to physical death recorded in Scripture. Ananias and Sapphira lied to God, and when their sin was exposed they collapsed and died on the spot (Acts 5:1-10). Some believers in Corinth who selfishly abused the Lord’s Supper, stuffing themselves with food, became sick. Some even died, as a judgment by God (1 Cor. 11:27-34). Likewise, the apostle Paul warns believers to avoid sexual immorality, using the experience of the Hebrews in the Wilderness as an example:

         1Cor. 10:8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.  

Finally, the word translated “pray” at the end of 1Jn. 5:16 specifically means “interrogate,” “question” or “ask.” So when God does exercises capital punishment upon the believer, this verse tells us we should not question God about His decision to do so.

A Just God And A Global Flood

Biblegems #193

Question: How could a loving and just God condemn all men, women and children to such a horrible death as a global Flood?

There are a few fundamental truths about the nature of God and the nature of man that should help to put both the question and the answer in proper perspective.

We are All Going To Die. Death is not the worst thing that can happen to a person; and there are very few ‘nice’ ways to die. Drowning in a global flood, death by fire, cancer or car accident—they are all pretty horrible. Neither death itself, nor the way we die, is really the issue here. The reality is we are all going to die, and the timing and manner of our demise has always been in God’s hands, not ours. The real issue is what happens after we die:

         Heb. 9:27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment…

        

We Are Already Condemned.

Man Is sinful by nature. Because God is holy, completely Good in His nature, without sin and without imperfection, all that He has made is likewise good, holy and without imperfection (Gen. 1:31). The presence of sin and evil in the universe is the result of man’s rebellion against God. That rebellion has deformed God’s creation, introducing death, disease and decay into a universe where these things were once unknown.

God Is Just

         Ps. 89:14  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.

Justice, righteousness, love and faithfulness describe who God is in His very nature. Because God is just He cannot allow sin and evil to continue without some form of correction. In His love, God created human beings who are free agents, free to love their Creator and follow His ways of justice, righteousness, love and faithfulness—or not. In choosing not to love God above all else, in choosing not to follow God’s ways but our own, we place ourselves in opposition to Him and to His design for the universe. We are, in effect, lawbreakers. It is this rebellion against God that brought sin, evil, death and destruction into the world. To be on the wrong side of God’s justice is our own choice.

God is Love

The reality is, the entire human race is condemned already. Jesus came into the world to rescue us from that inevitable judgment.

John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

For God to be just He cannot allow sin to continue unchecked. He must eradicate it, and doing so requires eradicating those who commit sin—and none of us are exempt. But because God is love as well as just, He has provided a way of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ from the judgment we all deserve.

John 3:16  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.