Life or Death

Life or Death – YOU will consciously Exist Forever!

by Preacher Dave

Life or Death?

Life or death?  It’s something everyone needs to think about.  Eternity is coming and it’s a very long time.  You have been created in the image of God!  That means you are a spiritual being and eternal.  You will consciously exist forever!

But where will you be when you leave this world?  Will you be in the presence of God (life)?  Or will you be out of the presence of God (death).

You Will Exist Forever

Either way, you  WILL consciously exist forever.  But when you are out of God’s presence because you have rejected God in this life, there is nothing.  Jesus called it, “Outer darkness.”

Let’s take a closer look…

Genesis 2:15 – 17

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die..

God finished creating everything in complete perfection for man, (Gen. 1 – 2:14) and placed man in a perfect and beautiful garden. The ONLY rule or law that God gave man at that time was that he could not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God said that as soon as he ate of that particular tree, he would immediately and surely die.

Note that Adam was the only living human being in the universe at that time. This was a critical point in the future of the human race..

Genesis 2:18– 25

And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

After God created everything else including man, after putting Adam in the garden, and after giving Adam one rule to follow, God created woman from Adam. (*Note: it is interesting that Eve came from Adam and not Adam from Eve. Men have the complete genetic code for both man and woman, but women have only the female chromosomes. The order of creation as recorded in the Bible is scientifically sound even though science had not yet discovered chromosomes at the time Genesis was written. Furthermore, this fact means that the only explanation for a virgin giving birth to a male child (our Lord, Jesus Christ) was that it was a supernatural conception.)

Genesis 3:1 – 3

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

Note the addition to God’s word – she would have received it from Adam and he may have told her not even to touch it in order to protect her

Gen. 3:4 – 5
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Satan lied and accused God.

Genesis 3:6 – 17

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

The woman was tricked by Satan and ate some of the fruit. Then she took it to Adam, who ate of it, also. They immediately began to see things differently, having knowledge they were not meant to have. The only thing that man needs to know in a perfect state is that God will take care of everything. Period.Adam blamed Eve for giving him the fruit. Eve blamed the serpent for tricking her. God then cursed the serpent. Note that very few people have ever liked snakes. Even those who say they like snakes would find it shocking and scary to find a snake in their bed!* Note * Verse 15 – God first promised a Saviour. Sorrow and difficulty came into the world. All the sorrow and grief that is in the world today is as a result of sin. God made man in his image (Gen. 1:26) with free choice. Man chose to sin. Note also that Adam is the one who deliberately disobeyed God. He was the one who God directly told not to eat the fruit. Eve was tricked, but Adam simply chose to take the fruit from his wife and eat it. Ro.5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:Adam and Eve did not immediately drop dead on the ground. Physically they were still alive, but their physical lives changed from being very comfortable to being very difficult. So what did God mean when he said “thou shalt surely die?”

Proverbs 12:28

In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.

Proverbs 14:27

The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.God says in his Word that there is “no death” in the way of righteousness – only life

Proverbs 14:32

The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.

God says the righteous have hope in his death! Obviously God was not referring only to physical death when he warned Adam. Adam began to die physically as soon as he sinned – everyone since has had to face physical death – but God was referring to something else that happened immediately when Adam sinned.

Ezekiel 33:11

Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die…?

God says that man even has a choice not to die! And yet, in Heb. 9:27, God says, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”We get a very strong clue in Lk. 9:60, where Jesus says, “… Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.” Obviously a person who is physically dead can’t bury anyone! So we can be sure that he was speaking of those who are spiritually dead. We are physical beings in this life, but the Bible makes it very clear that we are also ( and most importantly) spiritual beings. Compare:
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, with John 4:24 God is a Spirit:This means we are spiritual beings and will exist forever, like God, who exists forever. However, the Bible (and Jesus Christ) speaks over and over about “death” and “eternal life” – continuing AFTER physical death.

John 5:28, 29

Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

All who die physically will rise again.
Those who trust God in this life will have life (eternity in the presence of God)
Those who don’t trust in this life will have death (eternity separated from God in the Lake of Fire) All will exist forever!!

Romans 6:11

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
“Dead” clearly means “separated.” Death is separation from life.

John 1:4

In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

John 11:25

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.

John 14:6

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Life is Jesus Christ. So the true definition of eternal death is eternal separation from Jesus Christ and therefore, from God.

Revelation 20:10 – 12

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened,

which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Those who choose to ignore God’s warnings will exist forever in everlasting torment in the lake of fire that was prepared for Satan and his followers.All those who choose to trust God through our Saviour, Jesus Christ, will have eternal life in the presence of God.

John 5:24

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

John 11:25

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

This message needs to get out to those around us! Pray that God will place a burden on your heart for them! It is one thing to simply think that those who don’t trust God will simply cease to exist at physical death – but that is simply NOT true! Those who don’t trust God will suffer forever for choosing to believe the Devil’s lies instead of God. Tell them the truth!!  Life or death?  You will consciously exist somewhere!

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