The tree of life (Revelation 2:7; 22:2; 22:14)
The crown of life (Revelation 2:10)
Name written in the book of life (Revelation 20:12; 20:15; 21:27; 22:19)
A river of water of life (Revelation 22:1-2)
Those who are not in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15), which is the second death (Revelation 21:8).
God “will take away his name from the tree of life” (Revelation 22:19).
· In the Book of Revelation it is life for those in Christ, death for those not in Christ.
(2) DEATH
Are The Dead Really Dead?
Or Is Dead Not Really Dead?
Are The Dead Alive or Dead?
Is Death The Absence Of Life, Or Are The Dead Alive?
Salvation is from death, not from torment for those who cannot die. Eternal life with torment in Hell would mean there is no death. Death is the absence of life; death is not an eternal deathless life of being endless burned in fire by God. Death is death, not life.
· The penalty of sin is death (Romans 6:23), not eternal life in Hell. This passage is preached continually, but very few that preach it believe it. They preach, "The wages of sin is death," and in the same breath preach a person has a deathless something in them that cannot die, and the wages of sin for that deathless something in a person is not death; according to them “the wages of sin” is life, an eternal life of torment in Hell for the soul.
· If “the wages of sin is death,” then after the penalty, the second death, there will be no life; death is total nothingness, no awareness of anything, no love, no hope, no relationships, no joy, no torment, no thoughts, no nothing.
· “Whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness” Romans 6:16.
· “For the end of these things is death” Romans 6:21.
· “For godly sorrow works repentance unto salvation, a repentance which brings no regret: but the sorrow of the world works death” 2 Corinthians 7:10.
· “Sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death” James 1:15.
· “And you shall call His name Jesus; for He shall save his people from their sins” Matthew 1:2.
· “Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death” Romans 8:2.
· “That He might redeem us from all iniquity” Titus 2:14.
· “Who delivered us out of so great a death” 2 Corinthians 1:10.
· "Will save him from death" New International Version, James 5:20.
· “For to be carnal minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” Romans 8:6.
It is difficult not to understand this passage, but it is difficult to explain away “the wages of sin is death,” and to change “death” to “life.” All attempts to explain death out of the Bible fall far short. Death is death, not an eternal dying, but never dead; death is not eternal life with torment for the soul that we are told is in a person.
Death and life in torment are not synonymous terms; a dead person cannot be tormented. Salvation if from death, there is no passage that says anything about being saved from an eternal life of torment. All have sinned; the wages of sin is death. Death is God's penalty for sin; how could God have said this anymore clear and simple? The gift of God canceled the wages of sin and gives life. The free gift of God is not changing one kind of life for another kind of life, or life in one place for life in another place. It is giving life in place of death. This is made possible not by Christ living our life of eternal torment for us, but by Christ dying our death for us. The free gift of God is life, not just a change of address from Hell to Heaven for a soul that already has eternal life and cannot die.
Death is changed into two doors that open instantly into two parallel eternal lives.
1. Door one: opens into instant eternal life in Heaven.
2. Door two: opens into instant eternal life in Hell. Death is changed from death to life, to an unending life of endless torment.
· Both doors change death into life without a resurrection of the dead, and without a Judgment Day.
"Shall save a soul (psukee-life or person) from death" "Will save him from death" New International Version James 5:20. The person saved is saved from death, not saved from an eternal life of torment.
"Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls (life-psukee)" 1 Peter 1:9.
"Sin unto death" Romans 6:16: Not sin unto an eternal life of torment.
"What fruit then had you at that time in the things whereof you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal life (at judgment). For the Wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life" Romans 6:21-23, death is not a gateway to a better life. Death is an "enemy," and our only hope for life is the resurrection, not death being life. "For you shall be recompensed in the resurrection" (Luke 14:14), not recompensed instantly after death.
"Be you faithful unto death (end of this life) and I will give you the crown of life (at the judgment)...shall not be hurt of the second death" ("I will give you" not to an immaterial "part of you") Revelation 2:10. And with the world they shall "passes away" 1 John 2:17.
"For if you live after the flesh, you must die" Romans 8:13 ("You" not just something that is in "you" must die).
"We have passed out of death into life" (not just a part of us, not something that is in “we” that cannot die; therefore, cannot pass “out of death into life") 1 John 3:14.
Death is so sure to those not in Christ that they "abides in death" 1 John 3:14.
"If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable. But now has Christ been raised from the dead, the first fruits of them that are asleep. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all DIE, so also in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:21-23). In the plainest language possible, Jesus said, "If you believe not, YOU shall die in your sins" (John 8:21-24). Many read this passage and see, “If you believe not, your soul that cannot die is now dead.”
"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 6:23). There are two reasons why the sinner will die in this passage. (1) They will receive the wages they earned for sin, which is death. (2) Eternal life, immortality, is given only to those who are in Christ. There is not one text that says the lost will ever be given the gift of immortality.
“But now having been made free from the slavery of sin, and having become a servant of God, your present reward is the blessedness and joy of a clean life, and your future reward is life eternal. And this is obvious, for, following my figure of slave, masters and wages to the end, the wages which men earn and receive from your former master, sin, is death; but the wages which you cannot earn, or deserve, but which God freely gives you for serving him, is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” J. W. McGarvey, Commentary on Romans 6:23, 1916, Standard Publishing Company.
Those who believe in eternal torment are saying:
· To the unsaved that they already have eternal life, but they will spend it in the wrong place.
· They are saying to the lost that they can never die, but that they will live an unhappy everlasting life.
· They are saying the lost will be in Hell, and they will be just as alive as those in Heaven, and in no sense can the lost to be said to be dead; in no plain common sense language can the wages of sin be said to be death to an immortal being that cannot die for if it could die or if it were dead it would not be an immortal being.
· They are saying that death cannot be death, but death is only a transfer of life from this realm to life in another realm. For a person to now have an immortal soul that can never die, death, particularly the second death must be changed to a second life. Those who believe men are now immortal must take death out of the Bible. Death is not life. In all the repeatedly times Christ promised eternal life to believers, He must be made not to mean what He promised; not eternal life, but to be promising only a reward or happiness. “Eternal life” and “death” cannot be twisted to mean the same thing, but the immortal soul doctrine says both are the same, that the “wages of sin” is eternal life in Hell. 1 John 3:5 says, “No murderer has eternal life abiding in him, ” but the immortal soul doctrine says, “O yes, he has an immortal soul that has life abiding in it and life will abide in it forever in Hell.” This doctrine that gives eternal life to all sinners is a complete contradiction of the Bible doctrine that says Christ gives eternal life only to those that believe.
"WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH," not an eternal life of torment for a “soul” that cannot ever be dead (Romans 6:23). Death is not life in a different form; death ends life, and without the resurrection death means the utter destruction of life to both believers and unbelievers. Death is to be abolished at "the end" (1 Corinthians 15:24-26) by casting it into lake of fire. Jesus endured the wages of sin in our place so that we would not have to. Christ could not be our savior, if the wages of sin is eternal torment. Jesus died in our place (Romans 3:24-25; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:21-22; Hebrews 9:12-15; 1 Peter 1:18-19), but He did not endure eternal torment in our place; therefore, if the wages of sin were an eternal life of torment He could not be our savior; He would not have paid our debt. He did "taste of death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9); He paid our debt in full with His death. When today's theology says that death is only life in a different place, and death is not really death, then it makes our salvation impossible by making the death of Christ not to have happen, it makes Christ not have died for our sins.
The doctrine of an immortal soul takes the gospel out of the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3-5).
1. It destroys the Bible doctrine of the wages of sin being death.
2. It destroys the Bible doctrine of a Judgment Day to come by making all be judged at death.
3. It destroys the Bible doctrine of a resurrection by making no soul be dead to be resurrected from the dead.
4. It changes the gift of God from being life to all the faithful to the gift of God is escape from eternal torment in Hell for those who were born with eternal life.
Robert Turner: "Sin separates us from God, and 'the soul that sinneth, it shall die.'" Florida College Annual Lectures, 1986, page 172. Which one is he saying? (1) The soul that sins lives forever separated from God, or (2) "The soul that sins shall die." The two are a total contradiction of each other and both cannot be true, but many are so blinded by their theology that they are unable to see the contradiction.
There is not the slightest sign of an immortal soul that is not subject to death in this passage.
Romans 8:5-13, “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace…for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Again, it is life or death, live, or die, not two kinds of life.
James 1:15: The three steps to death. (1) Lust (when it has conceived) (2) gives birth to sin (3) Sin (when it is accomplished) brings death. In today's preaching the three steps are changed to (1) Lust (2) Sin (3) Eternal life in Hell.
2 Corinthians 7:10: Godly Sorrow brings salvation, but worldly sorrow brings death. “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” Many read this and change death to life in Hell even when there is nothing said about Hell or eternal life with torment in it; why do they not believe God? Death is death; death is not eternal life any place.
It is life or death, not reward or torment, never an everlasting life of torment with God doing the tormenting. There is so much teaching in the New Testament on life and death that it is as if God foreknow men would change the death that is the wages of sin into an everlasting life of torment, and He gives them no way to say at the judgment, "I did not know." Why do men not believe God? Death is in contrast to life. It is the opposite of life, and not just another kind of life. Death is not life in Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, or hades. Death is not life of any kind anywhere; death is death, not everlasting life with torment, not a mere change in the mode of existence; death is not life in another condition, not life separated from God. After death the unsaved cannot be both eternally dead and eternally alive and conscious; they cannot be both dead and alive at the same time. Why would God say one thing to us, and mean the opposite of what He said? Why would God say the wages of sin is death if the wages of sin is life? Today’s theology has changed God’s death into life because Plato said man has a soul that cannot be dead, a soul that will live after the person it is in is dead.
"For if you live according to the flesh, YOU will die: but if by the Spirit YOU put to death the deeds of the body, YOU will live" (Romans 8:13). “YOU” will live or die, not just an "immaterial, invisible part of man" (W. E. Vine). The same thing that "will die" is the same thing that "will live," but we are told that the soul cannot die; therefore, the “YOU” that can live or die could not be the soul that cannot die, nevertheless this passage that says, “YOU will die” is often used to prove we have a soul that cannot die.
The Bible says what it means, and means what it says. God inspired John to say, "Should not perish," but many say God did not mean, "perish," but "shall have an eternal life of torment." Death has been made not to exist, no one ever dies, they just pass from one kind of life to another kind of life; death is made to be a transfer of life to life in another realm.
Is the world on Satan's side?
In Romans 1:28-23, Paul gives a list of sins, and then he said, "They that practice such things are worthy of d