Death Life Destruction Resurrection

“Life is for the living.
Death is for the dead.
Let life be like music.
And death a note unsaid.”
~ Langston Hughes

“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” ~ Marcus Aurelius

“Always worth it to have tried, even if you fail, even if you fall like a meteor forever. Better to have flamed in the darkness, to have inspired others, to have lived, than to have sat in the darkness, cursing the people who borrowed, but did not return, your candle.” ~ Neil Gaiman

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” ~ Mark Twain

“Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.” ~ Haruki Murakami

“When I die I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.” ~ Will Rogers

1. What do we mean, 'death'?

   1. In modern language according to Oxford

      The action or fact of dying or being killed; the end of the life of a person or organism.

      1. The state of being dead.
         ‘even in death, she was beautiful’

      2. The permanent ending of vital processes in a cell or tissue.
         ‘I highly recommend this book for all who have an interest in plant biology and programmed cell death in general.’

      3. The personification of the power that destroys life, often represented in art and literature as a skeleton or an old man holding a scythe.
         ‘The Ancient Mariner was by now in agony, as he looked upon all those whom Death had taken.’

      4. The destruction or permanent end of something.
         ‘the death of her hopes’

      5. A damaging or destructive state of affairs.
         ‘to be driven to a dance by one's father would be social death’

   2. Medical Community – A gray area describing the cessation of bodily functions that allow a person to continue functioning.

      1. Respiratory Arrest – When the subject stops breathing. No longer a valid sign of clinical death since CPR can reverse this condition. Machines can also artificially sustain respiration.

      2. Cardiac Arrest – When the subjects heart stops beating. No longer a valid sign of clinical death since CPR can reverse this condition. Machines can also artificially sustain cardiac function.

      3. Brain Death – The ceasing of either all neuronal activity in the brain or in significant parts of the brain. No medical subject has recovered from a total brain death, though many have survived partial brain death.

   3. Poets & Prophets - the ways in which we fail to engage in purposeful and meaningful contribution to the world.

      1. Death is living without purpose and passion.

         “Many people die at twenty-five and aren't buried until they are seventy-five.” ~ Ben Franklin

      2. Death is a lack of meaningful relationships.

         “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” ~ Thomas Campbell

      3. Death is living inauthentically.

         "Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to 'die before you die' --- and find that there is no death.” ~ Eckhart Tolle

2. What did the ancients mean?

   1. Müt - מות – to die, to kill, to be put to death, to be killed. Refers both to peaceful deaths of old age as well as death by the sword. The end of the mortal life.

      "So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt." - Genesis 50:26

   2. G'va - גּוע - to breathe out, to expire, to perish. To be cut off or separated from the breath of life.

      "They all wait for You
      To give them their food in due season.
      You give to them, they gather it up;
      You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good.
      You hide Your face, they are dismayed;
      You take away their spirit/breath, they expire
      And return to their dust.
      You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
      And You renew the face of the ground." - Psalm 104:27-30

   3. Corpse - נְבֵלָה – a dead body of a human or animal. Comes from a root which means, “faded, withered, or foolish”. Speaks of things that are fading, drop down, or fade away.

      "They have given the dead bodies of Your servants for food to the birds of the heavens,
      The flesh of Your godly ones to the beasts of the earth." - Psalm 79:2

      1. 1. There is no more life within the flesh of these creatures, no more nephesh/breath of life and they are therefore no longer living beings.

   4. Avad - אָבַד – to destroy, to lose, to waste, to perish, to annihilate. Speaks of something that is brought to a state of either destruction or of nothingness/loss.

      "Letters were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to seize their possessions as plunder." - Esther 3:13

      1. 1. This is intended as a genocide or total destruction of the Jewish people within the land.

   5. Abaddon/Avadon - אֲבַדּוֹן – Ruin, destruction, The Place of Destruction. Spoken of only in the Psalms, Proverbs and in the book of Job. Speaks to the annihilation that happens in the realm of the dead.

      "Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,
      Nor are the eyes of man ever satisfied." - Proverbs 27:20

   6. She'ol - שְׁאוֹל – The underworld, the grave, the abode of the dead, the pit.

      "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going." - Ecclesiastes 9:10

      1. 1. 1. A place where nothing is happening and there seems to be little conscious activity, if at all.

      "O LORD my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me.
      O LORD, You have brought up my soul from Sheol;
      You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit." - Psalm 30:2-3

      1. 1. Though there are passages that seem to indicate that the righteous may avoid Sheol somehow, most of them speak like this, indicating that God spares people from Sheol by keeping them alive to continue their activity upon the earth.

   7. Shades - רְפָאִים – the departed spirits, shades, ghosts of the dead. Comes from a root word meaning weakened. Those who dwell in the place of the dead.

      "Will You perform wonders for the dead?
      Will the departed spirits rise and praise You?
      Selah.
      Will Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave,
      Your faithfulness in Abaddon (the place of destruction)?
      Will Your wonders be made known in the darkness?
      And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?" - Psalm 88:10-12

3. So... is there any kind of afterlife?

   1. The story isn't about that. It's about the restoration of the world to the purposes of God. Because of this, the focus throughout the story is how our actions in this world, during our lifetimes, either work with the restorative purposes of God (and bring life and goodness) or work against the restorative purposes of God (and bring death and destruction).

      ""See, I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil; in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. "But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."" - Deuteronomy 30:15-20

      1. 1. The Covenant is towards the people group and their collective life upon the earth.

            1. Some people think that this is “the afterlife”, that we pass on the life (or the death) we've generated to those that follow after us. Honestly, this is the theme that takes up the majority of Scripture – our collective restoration of the earth through the generations – and therefore certainly deserves to be a major focus of any “afterlife” study.

               1. Reading the scriptures with this lens allows me to contextualize and appreciate both my small place in scripture and my small place in the story, giving me a sense of gratefulness for the shoulders I stand on as well as an expectation to continue the long arc of redemption.

            2. This is the most practically accessible version of an “afterlife” and appeals to almost everyone at some level.

               1. Whether or not you'll be here, someone's life will be different based on what you do, so how are you going to set up their life?

            3. It's also an important aspect for people to be thinking about as they decide what they will do in the world.

               1. If you will only live on in the way that you have impacted others/the world/left a legacy, then what do you do with your time?

   2. There has always been an awareness of an eternal realm intersecting with the mortal realm.

      1. The Realmwalker

         "Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." - Genesis 5:21-24

         1. While the rest of Genesis 5 continues with the consistent rhythm – life, fatherhood, further life, death – Enoch breaks the rhythm with a conspicuous “taking” because he “walked with God”. Though not recorded in canonical scripture, Enoch is recorded to have visited the Heavenly Mountain.

         2. More on the Heavenly Mountain when we get to the Heaven-centric portion of the study.

      2. The Resurrection of Job

         ""As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. "Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!" - Job 19:25-27

         1. Scholars debate whether Job or the Books of Moses are the oldest literature in the TaNaKh. What is interesting though, is that at this very early stage there is a clear expectation of a physical resurrection in his own body, indicating that the idea of a bodily resurrection is not a development within Judaism, but a longstanding, if not central, expectation of the faith.

            1. In other words, just because they don't focus on the resurrection doesn't mean it wasn't a clear part of the faith. They just had a more socially-oriented faith and therefore less focus on individual afterlife.

      3. The Rulers of the Morning

         "But man in his pomp will not endure;
         He is like the beasts that perish."
         "This is the way of those who are foolish,
         And of those after them who approve their words. Selah."
         "As sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
         Death shall be their shepherd;
         And the upright shall rule over them in the morning,
         And their form shall be for Sheol to consume
         So that they have no habitation."
         "But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol,
         For He will receive me. Selah." - Psalm 49:12-15

         1. Here it is very clearly stated that men who trust in their wealth or power will be eaten up by Sheol, but that those who trust in the LORD will be redeemed/bought back from the power of Sheol and will rule over the wicked 'in the morning'.

         2. This morning imagery is further compounded by the Jewish conception of the day: that the day begins and ends at sundown. Thus, the “day of man” begins in a time of darkness and then, with the light of day, begins to change.

         3. John the Beloved will play with this imagery in his gospel, calling Jesus, “the Light shines in the darkness”.

      4. Bread for the Dead

         ""You shall say before the LORD your God, 'I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and also have given it to the Levite and the alien, the orphan and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed or forgotten any of Your commandments. 'I have not eaten of it while mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the LORD my God; I have done according to all that You have commanded me." - Deuteronomy 26:13-14

         1. A throwaway phrase that indicates the temptation of the Jewish people to take care of their departed dead (emphasizing the belief that there was some kind of continued existence after death).

      5. The Medium at En-dor

         "Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed from the land those who were mediums and spiritists. So the Philistines gathered together and came and camped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together and they camped in Gilboa. When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. When Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, "Seek for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her." And his servants said to him, "Behold, there is a woman who is a medium at En-dor." Then Saul disguised himself by putting on other clothes, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night; and he said, "Conjure up for me, please, and bring up for me whom I shall name to you." But the woman said to him, "Behold, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who are mediums and spiritists from the land. Why are you then laying a snare for my life to bring about my death?" Saul vowed to her by the LORD, saying, "As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing." Then the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" And he said, "Bring up Samuel for me." When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, "Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul." The king said to her, "Do not be afraid; but what do you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I see a divine being coming up out of the earth." He said to her, "What is his form?" And she said, "An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped with a robe." And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and did homage. Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul answered, "I am greatly distressed; for the Philistines are waging war against me, and God has departed from me and no longer answers me, either through prophets or by dreams; therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I should do." Samuel said, "Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has departed from you and has become your adversary? "The LORD has done accordingly as He spoke through me; for the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, to David. "As you did not obey the LORD and did not execute His fierce wrath on Amalek, so the LORD has done this thing to you this day. "Moreover the LORD will also give over Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines, therefore tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Indeed the LORD will give over the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines!"" - 1 Samuel 28:3-19

         1. Saul goes to the medium with the expectation that it will work.

         2. It totally works, Samuel appears and speaks exactly as he did in life (continuation of personality and memory).

         3. Samuel prophesies that Saul will join him in the realm of the dead (which happens).

      6. The Other Deathless

         "When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you." And Elisha said, "Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me." He said, "You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so." As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven." - 2 Kings 2:9-11

         1. Lightning strikes twice as Elijah, like Enoch, is taken into heaven without dying.

      7. The Promised Birth of the Dead

         "Your dead will live;
         Their corpses will rise.
         You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy,
         For your dew is as the dew of the dawn,
         And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.
         Come, my people, enter into your rooms
         And close your doors behind you;
         Hide for a little while
         Until indignation runs its course.
         For behold, the LORD is about to come out from His place
         To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
         And the earth will reveal her bloodshed
         And will no longer cover her slain." - Isaiah 26:19-21

         1. This is one of the clearest, of many, passages in the prophets that speaks to the confluence of resurrection and justice at the end of the age.

      8. The Son of Man, to Daniel

         ""Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. "Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever." - Daniel 12:1-3 NASB

   3. These two stories inform one another to create a tapestry where life and death continue to work in rhythm leading to either destruction or resurrection.

      But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? - 2 Corinthians 2:14-16

      1. 1. Both those who are being saved [sozo: to be made safe, completely healed, whole] and those who are perishing [appolymai: the greek equivalent of avad/destruction] are going through a process unto their respective ends.

         2. Paul also has the places themselves in mind so that the individuals are having an impact upon the sozo or appolymai of the community, culture, and location itself.