DEATH AND BEYOND

Souls and spirits
in the Old Testament

nearer. Eventually for most people, there is a sense of acceptance, but nonetheless with a lingering wondering about the future. Do I survive death or is this all there is? It is not surprising that so many views have arisen about what lies beyond the grave. We all need something to hang on to, but yet, as we ponder on these things, we often do not know for certain if there is more.

Death is an enemy. Death robs us of life. Death is an intruder into our lives, the robber of opportunities, friendship, and love. It spoils our plans and our hopes. Death is the ‘foreign body’ in our lives. Death is truly an enemy. It brings no good things to us in any way, only emptiness, sorrow and fear. Financial worries, loneliness, heartache and burdens are the gifts that death brings to those left behind. Death interferes with life. Death takes life.

What then does it mean ‘to die’? Let us look at the Bible for our answers. But first of all we need to think a little about the Bible itself. The Bible tells us it is the Word of God. It tells us the things God wants us to know. We are faced with a choice - either we can believe the Bible is the Word of God or we can reject it. If the Bible is not the Word of God, then the Holy Scriptures are the greatest hoax the world has seen duping millions over many centuries.
The Bible is the only place in the world to tell us with certainty where we came from, where our world originated and how life was given to us. For this reason we can be just as open in trusting the Bible to tell us about death - what it is, what is does, and what happens to us when we die.
We had a letter from a man who had been hearing about these things, and he said it was such a comfort to know what really happens to us when we die. He could accept the words of the Bible and so now he could accept the facts of death. We all need this reassurance so that we can live without the bondage of fear in our minds.
The Bible shows us two facts - that life came first, and life is the opposite of death. Taken to the next step, this means logically that death as well as life has to do with breath and bodies, just like at the beginning of life in the Garden of Eden. We talk of people breathing their last, or giving up the ghost. Often people die with a rattling breath or a long sigh as the breath goes out of them. The lungs do not rise again to take another breath. In some circumstances we try artificial resuscitation to try to start someone breathing again.
Death is to do with not breathing. Of course the heart stops too, or other organs fail, and today there are many tests to determine if a person can be correctly considered to have died, but the age-old indicator that death had come was when someone stopped breathing. It was said that they had expired. This comes from the Latin words ‘ex-’ meaning out and ‘spirare,’ the verb to breathe. If you breathe out and you do not breathe in again, life ceases.

But man dieth and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost and where is he? Job 14:10.