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What is death?

by | Apr 7, 2021 | Questions, Other

Death is memorialized by graves and tombsDeath is the end or cessation of life. It is what happens when someone or something that was once alive ceases to be alive. In humans, this means the withdrawal of the life-breath that God gave us and the separation of our physical and spiritual components. Human life consists of being both flesh and soul or spirit. When these are divided, a man or woman is no longer alive, as James wrote, “the body without the spirit is dead,” (James 2:26).

Dust and borrowed breath

While Scripture explains that mankind has the dignity of being uniquely created in the image and likeness of God, (Genesis 1:26-27, 5:1, 9:6, James 3:9, etc.), it also humbles us by reminding us that, by nature, we humans are but dust and borrowed breath. Of our creation, we read:

“Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7).

And, at the fall, when human death is first described, we are told:

“By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19).

The book of Job likewise reminds us that we live only by the borrowed life-breath that God has given us, issuing sober warnings that:

“If He should determine to do so, If He should gather to Himself His spirit and His breath, All flesh would perish together, And man would return to dust,” (Job 34:14-15).

The Psalmist similarly describes death as:

“You hide Your face, they are dismayed; You take away their spirit, they expire And return to their dust,” (Psalm 104:29).

Thus, death can, at least in part, be described as our state when God withdraws His life-giving breath and our bodies return to lifeless matter.

Death and the human soul

Death is likewise described as the separation of the human body from the human soul or spirit. Man is a composite being of both physical and spiritual aspects, and when these are divided, the person is dead. As we already noted above, the book of James plainly defines death in precisely this way, (James 2:26). The moment of death is often described as the soul leaving the body, such as in Genesis when we read:

“It came about as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin” (Genesis 35:18).

Thus, death is not the cessation of the soul’s existence but rather the separation of the soul from the body. Our souls still exist after death but, without soul and body joined together, we are still dead.

Death and disembodied spirits

We can further see this point by noting places where the Bible describes the dead as conscious spirits without bodies. In the Old Testament, we read passages like:

“Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come; It arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth; It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. They will all respond and say to you, ‘Even you have been made weak as we, You have become like us,” (Isaiah 14:9-10).

And in the New Testament, passages like Jesus’ account of the rich man and Lazarus paint a similar picture:

“Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried. In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom” (Luke 16:22-23).

Thus, we see that the human spirits of the dead still exist and are capable of consciousness and discourse. Yet, so long as they are divided from their bodies, the person is dead.

Present with the Lord

While believers put our ultimate hope in the future resurrection of our bodies, when we will exist as living humans and have eternal life with Christ, Jesus also provides a great comfort and promise even in death. After this life, and while awaiting the future resurrection in the age to come, our souls are comforted in the very presence of the Lord:

“Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him,” (2 Corinthians 5:6-9).

Thus, while Christians do not desire death, we need not fear it. While our ultimate hope is eternal life, even death is a joyous reward since we get to be with our God and King.

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