The Mystery of Death

One of the mysteries of God is the mystery of death. If it is a mystery then neither you nor I know much about it. Therefore, this message is no more than an exercise in Bible study and I am not in any way trying to establish a doctrine. Nevertheless, I think this is interesting if we take time to seach out what has be revealed.

The Scripture reveals two ways of looking at death.

1. Death as the cessation of life

The common way is to look at death as a state or condition. It is the cessation of life, the experience which results in the separation of the spirit from the body. Since the Fall everyone experiences spiritual as well a physical death.

At his physical death, man's spirit is released from the body and returns to God (Eccl. 12:7). But, there were only two persons, both recorded in the Old Testament who "did not experience death". They were translated from earth to heaven directly without experiencing death. One was Enoch (Hebrews 11:5). the reason given in the Scripture is - "he pleased God". The other person was Elijah. He "went up by whirlwind into heaven" (2 Kings 2:11). We are faced with many unanswered questions. Why only these two persons? Surely there were more people in the Old Testament time who also pleased God? Why no recorded examples in the New Testament? Another problem is, the Bible does not give clear details as to what will be the ultimate experience of these two men. I believe this is one of the "secret things belong to the Lord our God" (Deu. 29:29).

Let us see what we can make out of some of "those things which are revealed" (Deu. 29:29).

The Bible says death is Christ's enemy and our enemy.

Paul said, "But has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Tim. 1:10, emphasis added).

Clearly, the purpose of Christ's first coming is to abolish spiritual death, His enemy.

Let us see what happens at the close of Christ's earthly Millennium reign of one thousand years.

This is how Paul sees it:

"Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death" (1 Cor. 15:24,25,26, NKJV. emphasis added).

"Then comes the end" means, at the end of which God the Father will have brought all Christ's enemies into subjection to Him. The last of these enemies will be death.

2. Death as a person

The true nature of Death and Hades as persons is revealed in John's vision of the fourth horseman in the Book of Revelation:

"And I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him" (Rev. 6:8).

It is obvious from this account that both Death and Hades are persons. Only a person could sit on a horse, and only another person could follow along with the first one.

The final resurrection of the dead as depicted by John is:

"The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:13,14).

Notice that the Greek word "Hades" corresponds to the Hebrew word "Sheol" used in the Old Testament. Hades or Sheol is a place of temporary confinement for departed spirit, prior to their final resurrection and judgement by God. After the final resurrection and judgement, all the unrighteous are consigned to the lake of fire.

I believe both Death and Hades are dark angels, ministers of Satan, but they have different "ministries". Death claims the spirit of every unrighteous person that is separated from his body when he dies. Hades receives them from Death and conducts them to the realm of departed spirit from which he receives his name - that is Hades. Notice that the lake of fire is not Sheol or Hades but comes from the Hebrew word "Gehenna". It is a place of final, unending punishment to which is consigned, after resurrection, the total personality of every unrighteous person -spirit, soul and body together.

It is interesting to note what Jesus says:

"Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death" (John 8:51, NKJV, emphasis added).

I think the Amplified Bible is more vivid:

"I assure you, most solemnly I tell, if any one observes My teaching - lives in accordance with My message, keeps My word - he will by no means ever see and experience death".

In other words, the condition of not seeing and experiencing death is to observe and keep Christ's teaching at all time. This calls for a believer to be a doer of His Word (not hearer only) and a follower of all the commands of Christ. I think this is a solemn warning to preachers who are in the habit of compromissing God's Word to make God's Word "more acceptable".

Notice that Jesus does not say here that the believer will not experience physical death. He says that the believer will not "see death". He is not referring to the physical condition of death results from the separation of the spirit from the body. When He says "seeing death", He is referring to seeing the person of the dark angel whose name is Death, and to the other dark angel, his companion, whose name is Hades.

As I understand it, according to Jesus, the spirit of the true believe (who keeps His Word), on departing from the body, will never come under the dominion of these two dark angels - Death and Hades. Rather, like Lazarus the beggar (Luke 16:19 - 31) whose departed spirit was met by God's angels (the angels of light) and by them escorted to Paradise.

In fact, in his physical death, the destiny of the spirit of the truly born again believer is ushered into the presence of Jesus and God immediately - without seeing Death.