Bible Studies
From human viewpoint, the passing of a family member or close friend would likely make the top of the list of one’s worst times during his or her appointed life span, here on Earth.
Yet, Scripture (1) tells us that the day of our (their) death is better than the day of our (their) birth.
Scripture (2) tells us it is more profitable to attend a wake or funeral than to go to a party.
At parties, there is a tendency to set our issues aside and just enjoy the moment, whereas wakes and funerals are stark reminders that we all have a scheduled departure and an account to be given at the end of the road.
According to Scripture (3), it is appointed unto EVERY man to die once, and then there comes condemnation (4) for the unbelievers and evaluation (5), for the believers.
Bringing vital issues up at a party will get you labeled a party-pooper! The presence of an advancing disciple is like a fragrant breath of fresh air to the spiritually oriented crowd, but an annoying stench to the party crowd.
The spiritually oriented crowd and the party crowd have very different concepts of what it means to go out and have a good time.
Jesus was known to eat and drink with sinners (6), but knew when and where to draw the line, and always prioritized the spiritual well-being of those around Him.
. . .
We like to think that all departed souls have gone to a better place, but the truth is, we are not all going to the same place, nor is the eternal experience (for the ones in Heaven) going to be the same for everyone.
All born again believers are eternally secure (7), but some will have reward (8) and privileges (9) that others will not.
The “better” Eccl. 7: 1 scenario is speaking of the passing of a born again believer, and not an unbeliever. There is nothing good in store for departing souls that have not been born again.
At the moment of physical death, departing Church Age, born-again believers, find themselves in the conscious presence of God (10) in interim bodies (11) in Heaven, until what theologians refer to as the Rapture (12) takes place.
At the moment of physical death, departing unbelievers find themselves in the Torment section of Hades, with only the lake of fire in his or her future (13).
There are NO souls in ANY corpse, urn, funeral parlor, casket, or cemetery, only the dust or bodily remains in various stages of decomposition.
“By the sweat of your face (human labor) You shall eat bread, Until you (your body) returns to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are (came from) dust, And to dust you shall return (to the ground).” (Genesis 3: 19 NASB2020 parentheses mine).
The only connection that the decomposing body (or dust) has with eternity future, is that the bodily remains (or dust) of a believer will be raised in the form of a resurrected body when the Rapture takes place.
End of Part One
(1) Eccl. 7: 1 (2) Eccl.7: 2 (3) Heb. 9: 27 (4) Rev. 20: 15 (5) 1 Cor. 3: 12-15 (6) Luke 7: 34 (7) Rom. 8: 1 (8) 1Cor. 3: 14 (9) Rev.2/Rev. 3 (10) 2Cor. 5: 8 (11) 2Cor. 5: 1 (12) 1Thess.. 4: 16 (13) Rev. 20:13, 15
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