The State of the Dead
Bible Marking Assignment Lesson 9

At the present time, only the Godhead has immortality.  We are mortal, and will “put on immortality” when Jesus returns.  At that time, when He returns, the “dead in Christ shall rise first.”  Paul himself did not expect to receive his “crown of life”  until Jesus returned.  He expected to receive it when all those “who love His appearing” received theirs!

See 1 Timothy 6:14-16, 1 Corinthians 15:22-23 and 53-55, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, 2 Timothy 4:8, and Revelation 22:12.

The Bible teaches that a soul can “die.”  The word soul simply means a “person.”  For example, in Genesis chapter 2, verse 6, when it says that Yahweh breathed into Adam the breath of life, it says, “Adam became a living soul.”   Even after all we have said about the newer translations, even they translate Genesis 2:6 as “Adam became a living person.”  Nowhere in the Bible is the soul ever called immortal.  This idea comes from the pagan Greeks, Egyptians, and earlier heathen religions and philosophies. Even the creatures that live in the sea are called “souls” in the Bible.  Surely there are no immortal fish!

See Genesis 2:7, Ezekiel 18:4, and Revelation 16:3.

After they sinned, Adam and Eve were stopped from eating of the tree of life, “lest they eat, and live forever.”  This shows that Adam and Eve were not inherently immortal. Those who are faithful to God will once again be able to eat of the tree of life and live forever.

See Genesis 3:22-24, and Revelation 22:14.

Jesus said that He would raise up the righteous dead “on the last day.”  He wouldn’t have to do this if they went to heaven when they died!  Jesus said that He will return so that He could take us to be with Him where He is.

See John 6:40 and 44, and John 14:1-3.

The wicked will one day be destroyed and turned into ashes under the feet of the redeemed.  The Lake of Fire is called “the second death.”  The word most often translated hell in the Bible is the Greek word hades, and means “the abode of the dead”, or “the grave.”  The wicked will “vanish away.”  Even the devil will be destroyed in the lake of fire, and never will he exist again!

See Malachi 4:1-3, Revelation 20:14, Psalm 37:20, and Ezekiel 28: 13-19.

“The wages of sin is DEATH”; not an eternal life of torture! In the new heaven, and the new earth, there will be no more pain. The wicked will suffer “everlasting destruction.” There is a difference between “everlasting punishment,” and “everlasting punishing!”  Some will burn in the lake of fire longer than others, but all the wicked will eventually be destroyed.  If the wages of sin is eternal torture, that would mean that Jesus never paid the wages for our sins!

See John 3:16, Romans 6:23, Revelation 21:4, Matthew 25:46, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-11, Luke 12:47-48 and 58-59, and Psalm 37:38.

The words “forever,” and “eternal” in the Bible do not always mean literally forever or eternally.  For example, Jonah said that he was in the belly of the great fish “forever.”  But it really was only three days and three nights.  It probably seemed like forever to him!  Another example is the fact that a slave was to serve “forever.”  But it was really only until his death.  The Bible also says that
Sodom and Gomorrah suffered “eternal fire,” but these cities have long ago been destroyed.  They are not burning now.

See Jonah 2:6, Philemon 15, and Jude 7.

"The wages of sin is death"