Mid-East Special 15 2/3/91; Eph 1028 3/28/89; Gen 9/1/75, 8/2/76

DOCTRINE OF PHYSICAL DEATH

A. There are three categories of alternatives of Life.

1. The option to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal salvation. Any one can have eternal life.

a. Jn 1:12, “But as many as receive Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe in His name.”

b. Jn 3:18, “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

2. The believer’s option to execute the protocol plan of God through post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation, which is perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine. This requires daily decisions to make Bible doctrine number one priority in life. The alternative to this option is a miserable life in time for the believer, characterized by blackout of the soul, scar tissue of the soul, garbage in the subconscious, and self-induced misery. The result is Christian moral or immoral degeneracy.

3. The option to die well, when God decides the time, the manner, and the place of our death. Phil 1:21, “For to me, living is Christ, and dying is profit.” The alternative is to die under maximum divine discipline under the principle of the sin unto death, 1 Jn 5:16.

B. The believer’s death is always God’s victory.

1. The believer has no control over the time, manner, or place of his death.

2. The death of the believer is a matter of the sovereign decision of God based on His wisdom, integrity, fairness, and love for each one of us. God decides the right and perfect time place and manner of our death.

3. Phil 1:20-21, “On the basis of my confident expectation and hope that I shall not be put to shame in anything. But with all boldness, Christ shall even now as always be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For me living is Christ, and dying is profit.” If the believer follows the three principles related to the application of doctrine, then dying is going to be profit. The principles are learning, thinking, and solving using the problem-solving devices.

a. If living is occupation with the person of Christ, and dying is absence from the body and being face to face with the Lord, then dying can dying can only be much more profitable than living.

b. In the living phase of the protocol plan of God, the emphasis is on the believer’s volition in response to Bible doctrine and life under the grace policy. In the dying phase of the protocol plan of God, the emphasis is on the function of the sovereignty of God and His grace policy.

4. Death is no accident; it is God’s perfect timing and decision. Since our death is the decision of God, it is God’s victory. 1 Cor 15:55, “Oh death where is your sting? Oh death where is your victory?”

5. 1 Cor 15:57, “But thanks be to God who gives to us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

a. While death is God’s victory, He gives the victory to us.

b. How? By choosing the time, manner, and place of our death.

c. This victory is God’s and given to the believer regardless of the believer’s spiritual status, winner or loser.

d. Because of God’s grace, all believers receive the victory of death. Ps 116:15.

6. Death is God’s decision; therefore, it is God’s victory.

a. Ps 68:19-20, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens; the God who is our deliverer.” God bears the burdens even of the loser. “God is to us a God of deliverance. And to Jehovah the Lord belongs escape from death.” God causes us to escape from death, until it is His time for us to come home.

b. Job 1:21, “The Lord gave [soul life at birth], and the Lord takes away [soul life at death]. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 5:26, “You shall come to the grave in a full age, like a stalk of corn in its season.”

(1) Because God’s wisdom and decision is perfect, we must accept God’s decision in the time, place, and manner of the death of someone we love, or in our own death. God is the expert and knows best when and how we should die.

(2) Since God knows best, no one should ever question His judgment. This should eliminate bitterness with regard to your death or that of a loved one. Bitterness is tantamount to blasphemy.

(3) While we think of life in terms of longevity, God thinks of life in terms of His wisdom, love, integrity, and grace.

c. The believer’s death is God’s decision; therefore, the physical death of the believer is God’s victory.

d. The divine decision regarding the believer’s death includes the time, the manner, and the place of his death. Therefore, nothing can remove the believer from this life until God decides.

e. In all matters of life and death, God’s timing is important. Since God is perfect, His timing is perfect both in life and death of the believer.

f. Since the death of the believer is a wise and gracious decision of God, no one has the right to question God’s perfect wisdom in the matter.

g. Neither historical nor natural disaster, neither warfare or accident, neither disease, earthquake, flood, or hurricane can remove the believer apart from divine consent.

h. Therefore, we who are left behind have no right to question the wisdom, the justice, the grace, or the timing of God in the death of a loved one.

7. Apart from the Rapture generation, all believers will experience physical death. The time and manner of our physical death is wise and just, just as the time and manner of the Rapture is wise and just.

8. The interim state of the believer in heaven prior to the resurrection is taught in Rev 21:4. You are “face to face with the Lord” and “God will wipe away all tears from your eyes.” You will have an interim body while waiting for your resurrection body.

9. Dying can also be a blessing for the loser as a matter of logistical grace. This is a demonstration of the matchless grace of God.

C. The exception to physical death is resurrection.

1. In theology, the resurrection of all believers is called the Rapture of the Church. 1 Thes 4:13-18.

2. While the Rapture of the Church is imminent—there is no prophecy to be fulfilled before it occurs, no one knows the time of the Rapture.

D. A Description of the Physical Death of the Believer.

1. Because death is God’s victory, the grave has lost its sting, 1 Cor 15:55, 57.

2. Death means no appointment with judgment for the believer, Heb 9:27, “Inasmuch as it is destined for mankind to die, but after this [death] an act of judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of the many, and He will appear a second time, not to bear sins, but to bring deliverance to those who are waiting for Him.” The appointment after death for judgment is cancelled in the case of the believer. “There is no judgment, therefore, to those who are in Christ Jesus,” Rom 8:1.

3. For the believer death means great blessing in heaven before the resurrection occurs.

a. In 2 Cor 5:8, we are stand to be “absent from the body and face to face with the Lord.” The prepositional phrase “face to face with the Lord” implies an interim body while we wait for the resurrection.

b. Rev 21:4 teaches there is no pain, sorrow, or embarrassment beyond the grave, (except for ashamedness at the Judgment Seat of Christ). No human language can describe the fantastic blessings in heaven. To ascribe to heaven what you think is good and enjoyable in life is a heathenistic thought. Heaven is more than what we enjoy in life. We cannot understand heaven, and therefore explanations are given in negative terms. We will have an abundance of doctrine in heaven.

4. We have a new home, Jn 14:1-3. We all will have a perfect home in eternity.

5. For the believer death means waiting in heaven for our eternal inheritance, 1 Pet 1:4-5, “Blessed be the God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who on the basis of His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you who kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” We share Christ’s inheritance no matter how we fail in time.

6. Our death means total realization of eternal life. Right now we have everlasting life, but after death we have eternal life, 1 Jn 5:11-12. Jn 10:28, “And I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.”

7. Our death means waiting in heaven for the resurrection, Jn 11:25, “Jesus said to her, `I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies.’” Phil 3:21; 1 Jn 3:1-2; Job 19:25-26.

8. Death does not separate the believer from God. “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

E. Application Principles to the Living.

1. The death of a loved one does not stop history; therefore, life must continue for the living.

2. We cannot stop normal living because our loved ones have died and gone to heaven.

3. We must remember that those whom we love who have preceded us into heaven have far greater blessing and happiness in heaven than we can ever know or experience in this life.

4. Therefore, we cannot resent others who seem to be having a good time while we mourn and sorrow for lost loved ones.

5. We cannot demand from our friends that they stop everything and join us in perpetual mourning and grief.

6. Friends will express great compassion and sympathy at the funeral. However, after the elapse of time no one seems to care or remember. Is this fair? Yes! Why?

a. Your comfort in time of grief and sorrow must come from the Lord, which means that the source of comfort in metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness of your right lobe of the soul.

b. Because you are directly involved in the death of a loved one, your grief and sorrow will continue throughout your lifetime, but you must release your friends to go on living, and you must take your comfort and solace from Bible doctrine circulating in your stream of consciousness.

c. In death, your loved ones have entered a place of far greater happiness and blessing than you could ever experience on this earth.

d. With your sorrow, you will also carry your fragrance of memories. With that fragrance you will never resent the happiness and laughter of those who go on living.

e. You too must go on living, which means that your grief is a private matter between you and the Lord. Your loneliness in grief and sorrow belongs to you personally. Your fragrance of memories belongs to you personally. Your comfort from metabolized doctrine in your soul belongs to you personally. Your assurance and tranquility that your loved ones are in heaven belongs to you personally.

f. What does not belong to you is bitterness, hatred, anger, resentment toward others who do not seem to care. It is not honoring to our Lord Jesus Christ or the dead in Christ to become abnormal in your grief or to perpetuate your sorrow to the point of mental disorders.

g. Bible doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness of your soul gives you the power to carry on, and even to rejoice that your loved ones are in the presence of the Lord and that there someday you will join them. 1 Thes 4:13, “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope.”

h. Regardless of the cause of death, it is still God’s decision. He decides the time, manner, and place of our death.

F. Application Principles Related to God.

1. The physical death of the believer is a matter of the sovereignty, integrity, and wisdom of God.

2. God is perfect; therefore, His wisdom is perfect.

3. God is omniscient; therefore, He knows all the facts in the case. Therefore, God selects the perfect time for each believer to die.

4. God is eternally perfect; therefore, all of His sovereign decisions are perfect. This is why in the matter of our dying the sovereignty of God supercedes our volition.

5. All decisions from the sovereignty of God our made in perfect wisdom and integrity. This includes the time, manner, and place of every believer.

6. The death of every believer is always of matter of God’s grace and wisdom. Therefore, the believer’s death is God’s victory whether that believer was a winner or loser in Christian experience.

7. Since God is immutable and has eternal personal love for every believer, it is impossible for God to do anything which is incompatible with His love for us. Therefore, the death of every believer is an expression of the perfect love of God for each one of us, no matter how we die. God’s love for us is never affected by our failures or success in the spiritual life. Therefore, the death of the believer is an expression of the love of God for each one of us. That is the ultimate application in the death of anyone we love and our death.

G. Categories of Death in the Bible. See the doctrine of Death.

H. Biblical Comments on Physical Death.

1. Physical death is the means of ending revolution, Num 16:25-31.

2. Physical death is a matter of the sovereignty of God based on His omniscience, Ps 68:19-20. God’s timing is always perfect.

3. Love is stronger than death, SOS 8:6.

4. God can and does prolong human life, Ps 102:19-24, 118:18; Prov 14:27.

5. Women must be taught to face the death of loved ones, Jer 9:20-25.

6. The sin unto death never brings glory to God, Isa 38:18.

7. Death cannot be faced when the norms and standards function of the right lobe is destroyed. When the laws of divine establishment are ignored or the believer rejects Bible doctrine, then fear of death is greater than the pain of death itself. Lam 1:19-20.

8. Dying grace is a promotion for the believer, Phil 1:21.

9. God provides in dying grace, Amos 5:8.

10. God delivers the mature believer from violent death, Job 5:20; Ps 33:19, 56:13; 116:8-9.

I. Causes of Physical Death of the Believer.

1. Dying grace.

2. Divine discipline, or the sin unto death.

3. Reversionistic superimposition of human volition over divine sovereignty, called suicide.

J. The Principle of Dying Grace.

1. This is defined as the death of the mature believer. It is the experience of physical death under special provision of grace, whereby the believer involved experiences both blessing and happiness while dying.

2. Dying Grace can occur regardless of the amount of pain and suffering while dying. There could be maximum pain or a minimum of pain, but in either case there is maximum happiness and soul stimulation.

3. Dying grace is part of the mature believer’s supergrace paragraph. It is the link between temporal and eternal supergrace blessings (supergrace 2 and supergrace 3), Rom 5:20; Heb 11:13. It is the bridge which takes the believer from grace to grace.

3. While supergrace is the best in time, dying grace is better and supergrace 3 is better than the best. Ps 33:18-19.

4. God delivers the mature believer in time of economic depression and provides great blessing in dying, Ps 23:4.

5. Dying grace removes fear of death, Ps 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”

6. Dying grace is the last category of the mature believer’s escrow blessing.

7. Paul died under dying grace, 2 Tim 4:7-8.

8. Phil 3:12-14 emphasizes the importance of seizing and holding maturity, so that the believer may have dying grace.

9. The sin unto death is the disciplinary exception to dying grace, 1 Cor 15:51-57; 1 Thes 4:16-18. The Rapture generation will not have dying grace.

10. Job 5:19-24 teaches that the mature believer has no fear of death. He has no fear of anything dangerous. No believer dies until the Lord says it’s time to come home. Once God calls a believer home, nothing can keep him here. The living must go on living while the dying are dying. A person in dying grace never hinders others from continuing their living.

11. God is the expert and He decides when is the perfect time for each of us to depart from the earth. God’s time is the best time.

12. Dying grace is better than any supergrace blessing, but not as good as any eternal blessing, Phil 1:20-21.

13. There are three ways to enter eternity.

a. Dying physically.

b. Walking out of time, as Enoch did.

c. Getting a resurrection body in a twinkling of an eye at the Rapture.

K. Death is a reminder.

1. Death is a reminder that time is short compared to eternity, James 4:14. We have a short time to reach capacity for life, blessing and God’s perfect happiness. No one ever feels the approach of death. We never know when it is going to occur.

2. Death is a reminder of the futility of cosmic glory and wealth, fame and profit, Mk 8:36-37.

3. Death is as reminder to be prepared for eternity, for those who know others that die, Heb 9:27.

4. Death is a reminder of the certainty of judgment for the unbeliever, Jn 3:18,36.

L. Uniqueness of the Death of Jesus Christ.

1. Isa 53:12. “Therefore, I will distribute the plunder of victory to Him because of the many. Then He will distribute the spoil to the great ones, because He has poured out His soul to death, prior to which He was identified with the offerings for sin. Because He Himself carried the sin of the many, and concerning the offering for sin, it was caused to fall upon Him.”

2. Christ’s physical death was just as unique as His spiritual death, Mt 27:50 cf Mk 15:37; Lk 23:46; Ps 31:5.

3. In His physical death, Jesus Christ provided the perfect heritage of doctrine, which is the New Testament Canon. You have complete doctrinal information in writing; this is how God communicates to the royal family. When Jesus Christ died physically, it opened the way to reduce to writing the whole realm of doctrine and to make it the basis for extra blessings in our spiritual heritage.

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