Is the body capable of death, made to die, or destined to die? Did sin change the fact that the body was to die or did it change the manner in which man would die? Is birth not the same-are not all men born? There is a time to be born Scripture teaches and there then is time to die. Ecclesiastes 3:2 Is this time appointed, known beforehand, determined? Is the soul which is not fathered by man capable of death, made to die, or destined to die? Or is it born DEAD ALREADY? Would that not have to be the case if man is born a sinner-he is born dead to the fellowship and love of an eternal God from inception!! Why would God create something that is already separated from Him? Does the body in death cease to be, go back into that from which it came, or made to cease as it was made to become? Did the soul/spirit of man begin to be or was and is that part of man, immortal? Explaining this to Nicodemus, Jesus said we could not “go back into the mother’s womb” but would have to be “BORN AGAIN.” Is the physical body “born again” at the resurrection or has the “CHANGE” ALREADY OCCURRED? Did not the Old Testament prophesy that Jesus would “change this planet as a man changes his vesture and although the earth would wax old, the God who made it was changeless?” Was Job’s probing question not ask: “If a man die, shall he live? All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my CHANGE (the Hebrew is like to change the type of garment) come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: Thou wilt have a desire to the work of Thine hands. For now Thou numberest my steps; dost Thou not watch over my sin? Job 14:14-16; 1 Corinthians 15:51 In the analogy of a tree, if a tree is cut down there might perchance be a twig sprout but not so of man. Animal life, in some insects and fowls, many revive; but the majesty of the soul, when once retired is too great and too wonderful a thing to be revived but by the work of His creator.. Man has no prospect for the Sun to enliven him nor the rain to nourish him back to life, before birth he begins to waste away, dieing daily. In death; he gives up the ghost; the soul leaves the body, and returns to the Father of Spirits from whence it came!! Where is he? He is not where he was, his friends know him no more in this life, but is he nowhere? Man has gone to the world of spirits, gone into eternity, gone to NOT return to this Earth, no more!! Again, we ask of the soul-will the soul cease to be? Can God cease to be? God is soul and spirit, if our spirit and soul cease to be, cannot His? Are we not like the Father of Spirits? Can the soul go back to the fellowship of God in sin (John 8:24), or is it destined to absence from the presence of His glory because of sin? Will that be in his human body that cannot decay?? Did God create the Earth to last eternally? Is there a part of man that is from the heavens that is of His KIND that can never die? Sin might have changed the manner of death we die as it did the birth pangs of a woman, but did it change the fact we were “born to die”??
In the Roman letter the apostle Paul discusses these questions with great care and in the eighth chapter and verse 10 Paul writes; “if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” We are to “mortify the deeds of the body and live”, verse 13, and writing to the Colossians 3:5 Paul says: “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth…” When one mortifies something they take from it it’s power, destroy it’s strength, put it to death. If we do not separate ourselves from sin, we cannot live with God. Romans 6:1
In Christ the body that sinned cannot live eternally, it has to be replaced with a body that is spiritual. Because we are made the righteousness of God, Philippians 3:9, because of our obedience to His commands we are not like the Jew who thought his works qualified him for peace with God. We have known “the way of righteousness.” 2 Peter 2:21; 1 John 2:29, 3:7; Revelation 19:8 It is not what WE have done, it is in faith for what HE did. Titus 3:5 When Christ commands “belief and baptism,” Mark 16:16, we obey, trusting Him, not ourselves!! The Jews couldn’t get past themselves, like their partners in denominationalism today, they had to feel, get, pray-they had to come to the mourners bench, get Jesus to agree they are saved—they depend on themselves NOT on the blood of the only begotten Son!! When the gospel is preached, it is the Son that is preached: His death, burial, and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-3) showing it is the work of Christ- HIS BLOOD WE PLEAD!! IF Abraham could not use Isaac as the sacrifice, God’s Son would!! Plead His blood!!
