What is it if I Die? What is it like to be dead? The Biblical Response. All scripture is good for instruction, the Bible says so. So lets talk about the thing that people fear most, death and the grave. Many people are so afraid of death, that they buy graves above the ground, Crypts. Death itself is a sting to the spirit and soul of a person, Jesus said so in scripture. I believe that it’s the unknown event that frightens most. We have no idea, when where or how we are to depart this life but we know that death is inevitable. We cannot run from it, hide from it, evade it or reason with it, it will come to all of us. I have found out, first hand, that we cannot control the time of our death nor the circumstances surrounding it. I found out that the old saying, “We are just a heart beat away from eternity.” Is true. But what does the Bible say about the grave? Psa 88:10 Wilt thou {God} shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead{Bodies} arise and praise thee? Selah. {Pause and reflect} Some times we make the mistake of not pausing in our studies to reflect on what we have read, for if we don’t we are sure to miss something that the Holy Ghost wanted us to see. We find here, that the Psalmist not only is questioning God on the state of his body after death but of all bodies after death. He basically asked, “Will you talk to the dead and show them wonders, and shall they rise up and Glorify you for the things they see?”
Psa 88:11 Shall thy lovingkindness {Love and Mercy} be declared {Spoken of} in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?{will your promises be talked of}
Psa 88:12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark?{Death} and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?{Grave}
Psa 88:18 Lover and friend hast thou put far from me {you have separated me from the ones that I’ve, known and loved while alive.}, and mine acquaintance {Knowledge of all I knew} into darkness. {No remembrance} The mention of lack of memory here only indicates that the righteous dead have no remembrance but the unrighteous will remember what they have done that caused them to perish. Many people will argue this point, saying that we will be able to reunite with family and friends in Heaven, but I have found no scripture to back up that claim. The verse most will try to use is, 1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. Revelations read correctly explains that, we shall be known as over comers by the word and our testimonies. We shall be given a new name that no man knows. Ref: Rev 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
So therefore Psa. 88:18, describes the dead {Righteous} as having no remembrance of any one individual. Can you imagine the tears of those who, if they remembered family and went on a search for them and didn’t find them, they would know that a loved one never made it right with God and was suffering in Hell? Our Father will not allow this to happen. Many say that they will reunite with their animals in Heaven, not likely, the Bible says, NO.
Ecc 3:21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, {to judgment} and spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? {Back from where it was created}
Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event {Death} to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. What he is speaking of here, is that no matter who you are, weather saint or
sinner, good or bad, righteous or unrighteous, we all have one thing in common, Death.
Ecc 9:3 This is an evil {an occurrence} among all things {living} that are done under the sun {things that are done on the earth}, that there is one event {Death} unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
Ecc 9:4 For to him that is joined to all the living {still alive} there is hope: for [a living dog {sometimes refers to gentiles} is better than a dead lion. {Sometimes refers to a King}] This is one of my favorite verses in scripture. Translated it means, so long as a person lives {in the Body}, there is hope for conversion to righteousness, but after the person has died there remaineth no more hope for change. The body is only alive if the spirit dwells within it. Many people believe that if a man dies unrighteous, he has a chance to be prayed out of purgatory and be renewed into the house of God. This assumption is wrong and unfounded in scripture. Jesus said that as a tree {man} falleth so shall it be raised. {Judged}.
Ecc 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. After the spirit leaves the body at the moment of death, the works of that man has stopped. He can do no more evil or good. He cannot ask for forgiveness and his works on earth are then judged.
Ecc 9:6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished {the earthly emotions of the individual is no longer, hatred, love, envy are all gone}; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. {The body nor spirit of man can never affect the world of the living} Many make saints of the dead but should rather make saints of the living, for God is the God of the living and not of the dead. Ref: Mat 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
Ecc 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might {What ever you start to do in this life, do it with all your heart}; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave {They say that the grave is cold and lonely, not so according to scripture. there is no actions of the body, no movement or feeling of any type}{It becomes only the shell of whom we were, nothing else.}, whither thou goest. {The body has no knowledge nor ever will, know the destiny of the soul of the man whom once dwelt within.} I pray that this lesson will be a help to those who still wonder about death and those who have already departed. This lesson by all means is not all conclusive, just a small portion to enlighten those with questions. Ars.
