What does scriptures teach about death and dying?

One of the most well known Psalms in the scriptures is of course Ps 23.

It speaks not only of the rest and restoration one enjoys under the care of the good shepherd, but also of the supreme confidence of the presence the power and the comfort of the good shepherd when things go terribly wrong. When I walked through the valley of the shadow of death.... I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me....thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.   DavidWatson, a well known Christian speaker and writer of the last decade, wrote a book entitled Fear No Evil, in which, he traced his own struggle with a disease that eventually took his life.  It was neither an easy book to write nor an easy book to read, but I was amazed with the honesty with which he revealed his own inner struggle as he came to terms with death itself.

All of us at some time or other had to cope with the pain and the grief of someone we know and love dying and at the back of our mind realizing that in some distant future, we too have to face our own death. 
But how well prepared are we to die ? 
What actually happens at death ? 
Is there life and consciousness after death ?  
Where does one go at death ? 
Is there a reincarnation as some eastern religion teaches ?
What about all those stories of people who had died and came back to life again, having seen lights at the end of the tunnel.  Are they real or are they simply the flash back of ones mind which had suddenly shut down ?

 A good place to begin to find answers to these question would be in the scriptures. It is actually quite surprising to find how much it had to say about death, and the first mention of death or dying of course went right back to Genesis 2. vs. 15 - 17   Here, having settle Adam at the Garden, he gave him both the responsibility of looking after the garden as well as the privilege of eating the fruits of the garden, with the one exception: the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.... For when you eat of it you will surely die.  Nothing could be plainer or clearer.

The scriptures did not say whether God explained to Adam what death meant, because that was not something that would be known to him and death has not occurred before on earth.  But I think it would be fair to expect that God had spelt that out clearly of the consequence.

We are all familiar of the sequel of that story, of the temptation of the serpent who was Satan in disguise coming to Eve and saying : You will not surely die.... For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened you will be like God knowing good and evil.  You are aware that of course the serpent not only cast a cloud of God's credibility as well as God's motive and character.  Very typical of his actions in today's world.  Do it, you are unlikely to get caught !  And secondly, this happened to you because God hated you, or God did not want you to enjoy yourself....... how nasty of God....  We as parents and teachers also face the same challenge..... guess where it came from ?

v.6, when woman saw that the fruit was good for food and pleasing to the eye  and also desirable for gaining wisdom , she took some and ate it.

It is just a conjecture here.  I think the fruit must be quite small for them to eat several at once.....it probably was like grapes more than apples !  Then vs. 7 and both Adam and Eve dropped dead.  No they did not.  Instead the scripture said that : the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.  I think this was the natural consequence of eating the fruit..... instead of the knowledge of good which they had, evil came in.  The bodies which God had created for good....now became an instrument possible for evil....and they became aware of it for the first time, and so they covered up their bodies not only from one another, but from God.  God who was their friend and companion was placed under suspicion. Instead of expecting good from God they feared for evil.  instead of closeness, there was a distance, instead of fellowship, there was enmity, instead of trust, came distrust. By the way that is exactly what happens to our relationship with one another when we allow sin to come in.

From that day onwards, death sets in.   Because death is the ultimate step in cover up and in separation.  Three kinds of separation takes place in death:

1. A final separation from everyone we know and everyone we love

2. A separation of our spirit from our body

3. A separation of man from God.

 When Adam sinned, death took place as a process rather as a single step. The major consequence he suffered immediately was the break down of the communication he used to have so freely with God.  That separation would have been for eternity but for the work of Jesus on the cross.   Then his body, which was created for immortality, began to run down as a clock spring  or a battery would slowly run down.  Someone had said that from the moment we were born, the ageing process which lead to death of the body had begun...... The first to die were the brain cells.   Fortunately for most of us, we hardly needed more than 10 %  of our brains to survive.   Have you ever wondered why dogs only lived 15 to 20 years. They bodies could have lasted forever. But an obsolescence factor was built into the genes of the dog that it would last only that long.

But for Adam's sin, our bodies would have lasted for ever too.  But that day in the garden, the clock began to run down and deep in the genetic code of every single human cell, the death factor has been unleashed. and all through the sacred record....we read that they lived so many years and they all monotonous ended up with the short brief phrase ......and they died.

It is interesting to note that initially, before the flood, people lived a long time: Enosh 905, Adam 930,  Seth 912, Kenan 910, Methuselah 969. but despite the long life, it came to an end, and they all died.  After the flood,  the ages have dropped down to just over 100 :  Sarah 127, Abraham 175..... and later on Moses 120

The full impact of the sin of Adam can be seen in the death of Jesus:

i. Matt. 27: 45 From the sixth hour untill the ninth hour, (ie.from 12 noon to 3 pm) darkness came over all the land.  About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani :  My God, my god, why have you forsaken me ?    Jesus who was in constant fellowship and communion with God from eternity suffered for you and for me the spiritual death that was promised to Adam and to you and to me as a result of Adam's sin and your sins and my sins.  This is also unfortunately the fate of everyone who turns down God's offer of forgiveness.   The darkness, the separation from God who loves us, and the despair and loneliness and pain are all that is left for us.....

No wonder Romans 8:38  ....for I am convinced that neither death, nor life.....neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord....

ii. the physical separation of one's spirit from one's body.......Luke 24:46 : Father, into your hands I commit my spirit....when he said this he breathed his last......  Jesus laid down his life and he was in command right to the end......

iii. the burial of the body......dust to dust.....

What happens after death?

Let's look at a diagram which represents a person:  in its three parts. Now the three parts of man are not independent separate entities.  They are closely related to one another and what happens in one part can have profound influence on the other:

When God made the first man in Genesis 2:7; out of the dust of the ground, it was a perfect body, but lifeless until God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.........

Out of that breath of life came the soul and spirit of the man:  with his soul he could relate to people, he could think, reason, imagine, love, create as well as have a conscience about right and wrong..... with his spirit he could relate to what is spiritual, to have God-consciousness, he could pray, he could worship, he could have faith, and hope, etc.

With his body he could relate to the material world: and have senses of hearing, smell, sight, taste, and touch.

When Adam sinned, his spirit died...... his ability to relate to God, to worship him and to communicate with God was drastically cut, and the scriptures talked about our state without Christ as being dead: dead in our trespasses and sin.   (Ephesians 2 ) When Jesus by his Spirit are welcomed into his life: the spirit of God quickened his spirit, or gave life to his spirit and he became alive again. At death, the spirit and soul of a Christians goes to be with Jesus. while his body is buried. For a non Christian however, his spirit and soul go to a place of waiting which we call Hades.

When Jesus returns at rapture: the body of the believer re-unites with his soul and spirit and are resurrected.   How can that be you may say, when the body is completely decomposed.  What about those who were blown up or burnt, etc.   When it is relatively simple if you realized that our body is built according to the genes inside every single cell of our body....... It is no problem for God to keep a record of every single person that ever lived on this earth.  With the advance of digital information, it is said that the whole of the encyclopaedia Britannica could be stored on a compact disc.....  When Jesus said he God had numbered every single hair on your hair and that not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without God's knowing, it makes it relatively easy to believe that that is possible... Not only will we be resurrected, but a complete record of everything we have done, every idle word we have spoken would be produced at our judgement.   Rather freaky all right.  But it is possible.   for the Christians we do not face a judgment of life and death, but a judgment of what we have done with what God has given us.  Because Jesus has died, he stands as the man in heaven, who is to be our Advocate, cancelling every accusation that is against us.

But for those who follow Satan, nor only was there the first death, the death of the body, and separation of the spirit.  There was also the second death, when one will be cast into the lake of fire.....hell where one suffers eternal judgment, as will Satan and all his followers.

How then do we face death  ?

From the fall of Adam in Genesis 3, right to Rev. 21:4  "there will be no more death. ...."   
Isaiah 25:8   he will swallow up death for ever.... death stares at everyone in the face at some time or other......

In the mean time, for the Christians, while death is still an enemy, and it is the last enemy to be destroyed by Jesus ( 1Cor 15;26)  what Jesus has done on the cross has removed the sting of death 1 Cor 15:56. While it is painful, it need not be fearful, nor fatal. see also Heb 2:9,15

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone....v.14  he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who hold the power of death, the devil...and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

So how do we cope with death ?   how do we face death and dying ?

There is no time to get into this at any depth.  I am certainly not qualified to offer any real wisdom here.  But let's divide the problem into two halves: 

First: When others we love dies:

Death is a parting, a permanent parting at least on this earth.   With it comes a deep sense of grief and loss.  What do we say to people who are bereaved ?  Often it leaves us with very little to say.  Quoting words of scripture at this stage is probably not very productive.  Better still to just put your arms around the person and let them talk, let them cry and let them express their grief.  In the story of the death of Lazarus in John 11.  Did you notice that Jesus said very little.  Most of the talking and grief was expressed by Martha and then later Mary.....They were saying if only........Jesus response apart from the victorious proclamation that he was the resurrection and the life....But notice that they didn't take too much notice of that.  They were too engrossed to listen.  

Jesus did not rebuke them, his only response was to groan and weep:  John 11:33  When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.....where have you laid him, he asked....come and see Lord they replied.....then Jesus himself wept......

Sometimes we tend to despise emotions and are ashamed of our tears. But Jesus was not ashamed to cry even though he knew that Lazarus was to be raised in the matter of a few moments.  While Christians have the hope of meeting one another in heaven, it is still legitimate and desirable to cry, in order to work through our grieving process.

Secondly: How do we face death ourselves ?

I divide this into three categories:

 1. Those who are not in danger of dying in the immediate future.
To realize that death can overtake anyone and everyone at any time. It could come as a motor accident, from sudden infection, from earthquake, and so on.....  We must have a realistic perspective on how we spend our time. Do we spend our time in building an earthly kingdom, or do we build on the lives of people, lives of our children, our spouse, etc..... Edith Schaffer once said that the most important thing she did with her family was to build memories......

2. Those who are facing terminal illnesses.
Like David Watson, some of us may in fact now or in future be walking through the valley of the shadow of death.....With the shadow of death enlarging and lengthening each day..... How do we cope ?  Is it right to ask for healing ?   Is it right to expect healing ?   There is no easy answers here.   I believe it is always right to ask for God's touch and protection on you, and most of the time to ask for healing.... The ultimate healing is for a person to be released into God's presence.

 But the most important thing for both the sick and for those who pray is not to feel guilty when it seems that God did not answer our prayer for healing.  At the back of our mind, we always hear the condemnation of the devil especially at the time of crisis: God is not answering your prayer because you are unworthy, because you have no faith, because of your sin, etc.....what utter rubbish.  If anyone is worthy of healing (as if God does things according to our merit and not due to his grace ) David Watson was.   If anyone had faith or experience in prayer, John Wimber and his team would have.  But God took David Watson...... and was not healed physically......   That gave me encouragement to ask and not to worry.

3. For those facing martyrdom.
I think the time is coming, when Christians in New Zealand may be called upon to testify to their faith by dying.  I sincerely hope that it would not happen.
Revelations 12:11 They overcame him (the devil)  by the blood of the lamb, and by the words of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.......

So in summary:  Romans 5:12   Therefore just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and in this way, death came to all men.......    Romans 6:23  For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord......Jesus said: Do not be afraid: I am the firsvt and the last.  I am the living one; I was dead and behold I am alive for ever and ever and I hold keys of death and Hades........

Porirua East Assembly        18th April 1993