Chapter 11 - Help from the grave?
When faced with difficult situations in a war, soldiers consult their superiors for advice if circumstances permit. Of particular interest are situations where soldiers consult their dead superiors through rituals as they seek for guidance. Stories are told of how combatants in war have sought help from dead ancestors through spirit mediums and what would later follow are events which can only be attributed to supernatural powers. There is this thinking among many that when a person dies, they are promoted and are now in a better position to assist those who are still living, hence the practice of calling upon ancestors to help when faced with trouble.
In the 28th Chapter of 1st Samuel, the Philistines gathered their armies to war against Israel. When Saul the king and commander-in- chief of Israel saw the army of the Philistines he got really scared and terrified. He then decided to inquire from the Lord on what he should do. Unfortunately, the Lord did not answer him. The Lord promises to answer us whenever we call unto Him, He says on Jeremiah 33:3, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” If The Lord promises to answer us, how come He didn’t answer Saul when he sought for answers, one might wonder.
Saul had become rebellious to the word of God; He would be told what to do but would not do it or would partially obey the instruction. At one point he even killed a whole village of priests of the Lord (1 Samuel 22:18-19). Given this record of not obeying what the Lord says, surely even if God was to give him an instruction with regards to the war which was about to start, he wouldn’t have listened. Why should God waste His time responding to a man whom He knows will not obey what he is told? That's the danger of willfully going against the truth, the next time you want answers from God you might not get them because God knows that even if He tells you the path to walk in, you will not walk in it. Let us learn to live by all the truth we know so that God might reveal even more things when we ask him.
Having failed to get a response from the Lord, Saul then asked his servants to find for him a woman who was a medium, one who had a familiar spirit so that he may inquire of her. The servants directed him to one woman, a witch who was at Endor, and the king made his way to that woman’s place in disguise. Saul asked this woman to bring up Samuel, a prophet of God who had since died. After this request, a vision came up: an old man covered with a mantle. Saul perceived that it was Samuel and the two went on to converse with each other. The king sought guidance on what he should do with regards to the war before him. This 'Samuel' did not have any kind words for Saul but rather promised him that the Israelites were going to be defeated.
This incident leaves Bible readers with many questions such as: can dead people communicate with us? If we go to their graves and speak to them, can they hear us, or if we write in the newspaper an article or on our social media platforms a message to them, can they read it and respond? Do dead people come back in the form of ghosts or even in our dreams? Are dead people really dead or they are somewhat alive? These and other questions relating to the state of the dead can be answered by The Bible. Let us consider what the word of God has to say with regards to deceased people.
From Creation to Death
Before considering what happens when a person dies, we first have to study what happened at the creation of the first man (Adam). An appreciation of how life started can help us understand better what happens when life ends (death).
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Genesis 2:7
When God created Adam, He used the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the end result was a living being. The breath of life is the power that gives life and with it combined with the dust, a living being started to exist. If we are to present this process as a mathematical formula it would be like:
Dust of the ground + breath of life = living being
Where the New King James Version says ‘living being’, The King James Version says ‘living soul’, meaning a soul is a combination of the dust of the ground and the breath of life.
Death is the termination of life or the reversal of the creation process.
Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12:7
At death, the dust goes back to the earth, and the spirit (the breath of life) goes back to God who gave it at creation. Take note of the fact that the breath of life does not have a human identity. We cannot say that there is a breath of life for John, there is another breath of life for Peter, NO. We all have the same breath of life as humans as well as with animals (read Ecclesiastes 3:19). Therefore, when the breath of life goes back to God who is in heaven, we cannot say that John has gone to heaven because this spirit is not John's spirit but rather it is the spirit which gives the power of life. What remains is the body which is made of dust which is ordinarily buried or cremated.
Is Man Immortal? - (Dying surely)
The first recorded lie which we find in the Bible was spoken by Satan through the serpent.
Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.”
Genesis 3:4
God had told Adam that if he was to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He was going to surely die (Genesis 2:17). But the devil came with a contradicting message that if they disobeyed God they would not surely die. Yes, you might die but not surely, that was the devil's message. Who was telling the truth here between God and Satan? Obviously, it’s God, and Satan is a liar and father of lies.
Unfortunately, many people today believe what Satan said, they believe that when a person dies, they are not surely dead, they believe that yes they are dead but not surely, something about them is still alive and that is the devil’s doctrine which this lesson will expose.
As humans are we mortal (can we die)? or we are immortal (we cannot die)? It sounds like a simple question but many people do not agree on the answer, some say we die, some say we do not die, but rather we change from one form to another. Let us hear what God’s word says.
Shall MORTAL MAN be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? Job 4:17 (KJV)
Therefore do not let sin reign in your MORTAL BODY, that you should obey it in its lusts. Romans 6:12
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your MORTAL BODIES through His Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:11
If you notice from the preceding scriptures, it is clear that man is mortal as evidenced by the use of the word mortal in reference to mankind, a human does die. Our nature right now is that we are subject to death, we are mortal. However, we shall be immortal (no longer subject to death) when Jesus comes for the second time (read Romans 2:5-7). Consider the following scripture
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-– in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 1 Corinthians 15:51-54
It is at the appearing of Christ when our mortal bodies shall be changed to put on immortality, as long as Jesus has not yet come, we are still mortal, we still die surely.
Only God is immortal as 1 Timothy 6:16 says “who ALONE HAS IMMORTALITY, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen”
Death as sleep
The Bible refers to death as sleep. Jesus on John 11:11-14 tells His disciples that Lazarus had fallen asleep and He would go to wake him up. The disciples failed to understand this and thought that he was referring to the ordinary sleep which our bodies go through when we rest. Jesus then made it clear to them that Lazarus was dead.
Paul writes on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 saying "But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus"
The Apostle is referring to those who are dead as sleeping. He uses the same allegory of sleep on 1 Corinthians 15:18,20. This sleep is a much deeper sleep than what we experience in our daily lives. Unlike our ordinary sleep where we can wake up a number of times whether to go to the bathroom or when we are disturbed by sounds or light, in the sleep of death a person remains asleep till the return of Jesus, no waking up in between.
What the dead cannot do
For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share In anything done under the sun. Ecclesiastes 9:5-6
When a person dies, they no longer know anything, their brains have ceased to function. The brain which is responsible for coordinating all our senses, sight, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling will stop to function at death. This means that even if I wave goodbye to a dead person they cannot see it, even if I say something to a dead person he or she cannot hear me, even if I kiss or touch a dead person, he cannot feel it, even if I give them a bunch of flowers they cannot smell them. All our actions cease to mean anything to a person once they are dead. We should show our affection to our loved ones whilst they are still alive when their senses are still functional than to wait after they die.
Not only does the love of a person perishes at death, even their hatred perishes also. This means that a dead person cannot revenge with regards to past grudges.
The dead do not praise the LORD, nor any who go down into silence. Psalm 115:17
For in death there is no remembrance of You; In the grave who will give You thanks? Psalm 6:5
A dead person cannot remember God, no matter how prayerful and devoted they might have been when they were still alive, when they die they can no longer remember God. They cannot praise the Lord. It is vain to think that a person who has died will pray for you, they can no longer make intercession for you. So don’t waste your time and effort by giving your petitions to a dead person so that they can in turn give them to God, it won’t work. The only mediator between God and man is Jesus Christ, not any other person, whether dead or living (1 Timothy 2:5).
No repentance beyond the grave
And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment. Hebrew 9:27
When a person dies saved or lost with regards to matters of salvation, there is nothing they themselves or those who are left behind can do to change their destiny. If a person dies lost, he is lost, no amount of prayers can the living offer to have that person saved. Once a person dies, their next conscious state will be on the judgement day. In between a person's death and the day of judgement, there is no purgatory where spirits of dead people go to before their loved ones can pray for them so that they can be admitted to heaven. The theory of purgatory cannot be supported by the Bible, it’s just another man-made doctrine which gives people false hope.
If a person refused to accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour whilst they were still alive, there is nothing which can be done after they die so that they can be saved. We can invite the best preacher in town to come and preach at the funeral of the person who died without Christ, but the message can only be heard by those who are alive and not the departed. We can invite prayer warriors to come and pray at the funeral wake all night, but their prayers cannot have the deceased saved. We can bury the person in a casket which has a design of a cross and have the tombstone plastered with Bible verses, all that we do cannot save him/her. If there is any time for people to be saved, it is when they are alive.
What about Ghosts?
As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, so he who goes down to the grave does not come up. He shall never return to his house, nor shall his place know him anymore Job 7:9-10
The Bible is clear that when a person goes down to the grave, he shall never return to his house. Therefore, whatever comes back home claiming or presenting itself to be a ghost of a dead person is not that dead person nor his spirit because the Bible is clear, he shall never return to his house. In the previous chapter ‘The R12 Rebel Movement’ under the subsection ‘state of the dead deceptions’ there is a detailed explanation of what are ghosts. In a summary, a ghost is Satan himself or one of his angels who pretends to be a dead person who has come back to life. This pretence is aimed at making people not to trust what the word of God says with regards to the state of the dead. Those who believe that a ghost is indeed a dead person who has come back to life are denying what the word of God says and are at a dangerous point where Satan can continue to deceive them.
Resurrection
Death is a sleep as we have learnt, and if it’s a sleep then those who are sleeping must one-day wake up. Every dead person shall come back to life again, yes everyone, the righteous and the unrighteous, all shall be raised again.
Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. John 5:28-29
I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will