The Death Of The Righteous

Numbers 23:1 - 12 The death of the righteous

10 Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his! BALAAM SAW:-

1. THE REALITY OF DEATH. 10 Let me die

2. HIS RESPONSIBILITY TO DEATH. 10 the death of the righteous

3. THE REMEDY TO DEATH 10 and let my last end be like his!

He Can't Prevent Death, but He can Prepare for it.

Heb. 9:27 “as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”

A Personnal Appointment, A Powerful Appointment, A Practical Appointment, 1 Cor 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:

Solomon says Eccl. 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

I. DEATH DEFINED - 10 Let me die the death of the righteous, - Death Is :-

A. PHYSICAL - A Separation of the spirit from the Body

James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Paul describes death in II Tim. 4:6 as a departure. “For I am now ready to

be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.”

(1) It is an unloosing - as of things woven, (2) It is a dissolving - into separate parts

(3) It is a departure - when preparing to set sail, or(4) It is like breaking up an encampment.

a. Eccl. 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Gen. 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

b. The body decays and returns to the dust of the earth

c. The spirit returns to God to await the resurrection.

B. SPIRITUAL - A Separation of man from God - Adam and Eve Sinned

Gen. 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Isa. 59:1 Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

C. ETERNAL or second death

Rev. 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life

II. DEATH DESCRIBED

A. Like water spilled on the ground - 2 Sam. 14:14 For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again;

B. The silver cord is loosed - Process of aging - Eccl. 12:6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. - various ways to die - the golden bowl is the head (head injury); pitcher is the lungs (lung disease) wheel is the heart and circulatory system (heart failure).

But the Silver Cord. "loosed" being removed far away, the departure of the spirit of a man -

7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

C. As a sleep - John 11:11-14 V. 14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

Acts 7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Stephen)

This implies that death is: a. Natural - just like sleep, b. Necessary & c. Temporary -

D. As a pale horse - Rev. 6:8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.

E. As an enemy - 1 Cor. 15:26 “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”

III. DEATH DESPISED

A. Because of the misery - the pain and parting.

B. the mischief - the corruption of the grave which follows it

C. the mystery - the uncertainty of their destiny

D. the mastery - the love of life and things of this life

IV. DEATH DETERMINED

The Immortalist Movement - In a Book called “The Immortalist” Alan Harrington wrote: