Are the dead dead?

 

 Matthew 22:31-33

English Standard Version

31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” 33 And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his (Jesus's) teaching.

Jesus teaches that those who know God live on through out eternity even when we consider them to be dead. 

 

John 11:25-26

English Standard Version

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

 

In other words, we who know Jesus don't actually die.   The Bible teaches that only our bodies die. 

 

James 2:26

English Standard Version

...the body apart from the spirit is dead...

But those who have died and know Christ have never been more alive.  People on earth whose bodies are alive may actually be spiritually dead.   

If they are spiritually separated from God's Holy Spirit they spiritually dead.  

When the human spirit leaves the human body that body becomes dead.  When the human spirit is separated from God's Holy Spirit, they are spiritually dead right here while alive on earth. If you physically die in that condition, that condition becomes eternal, but it doesn't have to be. 

Romans 10:13

English Standard Version

13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord (Jesus) will be saved.”

Jesus can hear you.  Call out for His help right now as Lord (or Boss of your life) in faith, and He promises to help you.  Turn your life completely over to Him.  That makes all the difference.  He can make you Spiritually alive!  His death for us removes the separation between our spirit and God's Holy Spirit!

Romans 8:1-11

English Standard Version

 

8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 

2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you] free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 

3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 

4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 

6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 

7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 

8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 

10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.   

Do the death communicate with us?

In Luke 16:19-30, Jesus told about an unnamed rich man, and a poor man named Lazarus.  The rich man had everything, and the poor man had nothing.  

When the rich man died, he went to Hades and the poor man went to a much better place where Abraham was.  The rich man was in a burning waterless place, and he could actually see Abraham and Lazarus in their place of comfort, and they could even talk to each other.  

The rich man mentions his brothers on earth to Abraham wanted Lazarus to be resurrected so that he could warn them about his fate.  

In this story, we learn that the people who have previously died before us can not talk to us.  They are aware of us, and are concerned about our welfare.  Even those in hell.  Our choices that we make here have eternal consequences.  

 

Luke 16:19-30

English Standard Version

19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’

Are the dead watching?

Hebrews 12:1

English Standard Version

 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us...

In this verse in Hebrews, the writer is comparing our lives here on earth to an Olympic race with those who are in heaven to the fans in the stands cheering us on. We who are here are earth are like the runners in that race.  

He is saying that our love ones in heaven can witness what we do and say on earth.  Just because we can't see them.  We just assume that they can't see us, but this passage contradicts this thought. 

This passage doesn't say that they can communicate with us, or we should pray and ask them favors.

Don't make the mistake of believing that the people in heaven aren't watching.

Death is Never Final

God still does miracles.

Psalm 77:14  (NIV)

14 You are the God who performs miracles;
    you display your power among the peoples.

Problems are the soil where the power of God flourishes.

Psalm 77:14  (NIV)

14 You are the God who performs miracles;
    you display your power among the peoples.

Every miracle begins with a problem.

John 11:1-4  (NIV)

11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

"They appealed to Jesus based upon His love for Lazarus." 

4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

"God has a different perspective from us and a divine plan."  

The Death Trap - We have an enemy that wants to trap us.

John 11:6 (NIV)

6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days,

1. We don't understand how God works.

John 11:11-13  (NIV)

11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

2. We get consumed with doubt.

John 11:16 n (NIV)

16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

3. We give up on God. 

John 11:17, 20  (NIV)

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

"What in my life is dead or dying?   They had a word from God that this sickness will not end in death."

  

With Jesus Death is Never Final

John 11:25-26 (NIV)

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

1. Settle in your heart who Jesus is.  

John 11:21-22  (NIV)

21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

John 11:27 n (NIV)

27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

"Put your hope in the One who can bring the outcome."

2. Stop analyzing everything.

John 11:38-39  (NIV)

38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

"Trust God. He knows what He is doing.  Stop listening to your mind and feelings."

3. Start living again.  

John 11:43-44  (NIV)

43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

You have a choice.  Lazarus chose not to be defined by death.

Instead of believing what I see.  I choose to believe what Jesus said. 

Just below the surface are seeds of possibilities that are just waiting for the right conditions.

Blake Lindsey, Church of the Highlands

https://www.churchofthehighlands.com/media/message/death-is-never-final

Easter 2015.  58,000 plus in attendance, 7571 salvations.