Life, Death, Life Hereafter - 2

B – LIFE, DEATH, LIFE HEREAFTER – 2

This is lesson 2 taken from Sword and Staff by

James Gibbons

Belief in Life after Death before the Coming of Christ

Early Impressions

Although we don’t understand all that is involved, there is mention of the tree of life in the Garden of Eden and the possibility of man partaking of it and living indefinitely. Gen.3:22-24   But man’s fallen state after eating of the forbidden fruit (Gen.2:17; Gen.3:19) and that of subsequent generations was one of death (“and he died”  Gen.5:5, 8,11,14,17,20) with the chain being temporarily broken one time in those early days by Enoch.  Gen.5:24   And Enoch walked with God:  and he was not; for God took him.  Heb.11:5, in commenting on this, says, By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found because God had translated him:  for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.  At an early time in man’s history this implied the reality of life beyond this earthly existence.

But more specifically, a continuing struggle and climaxing victory over the serpent (Satan), and thus sin and death, had been spoken by God with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden in the veiled prophetic words of Gen.3:15.  Finally, the “seed” of woman would be involved in bringing about this triumph.  And I will put enmity between thee (Satan) and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise (crush) they head, and thou shalt bruise (strike) his heel.  Gal.4:4   Notice in this Scripture and the use of the Genesis terminology in Rom.16:20 shows us the spiritual significance of the expression.

He “Was Gathered to His People”

Then intriguing references are found throughout the book of Genesis in speaking of death, which we are at a loss to fully understand.  When Abraham passed from this life, we read in Gen.25:8.  Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.  Of Isaac it is said with similar expression in Gen.35:29.  And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people.  Later Jacob died in Egypt, but had expressed a desire to be buried back in Palestine in the cave of Machpelah.  Gen.49:29   On his death bed, having pronounced the prophetic blessings about his sons, (Gen.49:33) he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.  Being “gathered unto his people” seems to mean more than just being buried with them in the same graveyard.  Jacob was “gathered to his people” before his body was taken back to Palestine to be interned in the cave of Machpelah.  Likewise, an earlier reference stating that Abraham would “go to his fathers in peace” does not mean that he would be buried in the same graveyard with them.  “His fathers” died and were buried in the East country (countries) before he came into Palestine.  Could there be a clue to understanding this in the parabolic language Jesus used when speaking of Lazarus being in Abraham’s bosom?  Lk.16:22   This was beyond death.  Perhaps Christ best implements our understanding of all of this when He, in His rebuttal of the Sadducees refers to the burning bush experience Moses had with God.  Matt.22:32   I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.  Jesus explained this by saying, God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.  When God says, I am the God of…,it is in the present tense—not “I was the God of…”  God was still their God and it is implied that they still were very much alive, though their spirits had been separated from their earthly bodies hundreds of years before.  God is not the God of annihilated entities no longer in existence.  Luke’s account augments our understanding even more with his fuller version of the Lord’s statement in Lk.20:38.  For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto Him (including those who have passed from this present life being still alive in a different situation).  Although cloaked in obscurity (the Savior had not yet come), there was life beyond the grave.

Job’s Unanswered Question

During this benighted period of time another matter gets our attention.  A man named Job was personally going through the most awful ordeal.  It seemed that he had mercilessly been left at the disposal of the devil.  In the midst of unspeakable sufferings and trials, which he could not understand, he was having to deal with the perplexing questions of life and death.  In anguish of soul he cried out in Job 14:14.  If a man die, shall he live again?  Earlier in this 14^th chapter of Job he vents his feelings of anguish, beginning with Job 14:1,2.  Man…is cut down:  he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.  Then he ponders.   Job 14:7-10   He compares man to the hope of a tree which will sprout again after it is cut down.  But man dieth…giveth up the ghost, and where is he?  That brings  him to the distressful question that we have noticed.  At this point in time he did not have a clear-cut answer to this question, but he hoped and believed that he would, All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.  Job 14:14   He makes more of an affirmative statement later in Job 19:25-27.  But the answer had not been explicitly  given yet, only anticipated.