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Lansing SDA Church

David Shin

Through the Tomb

1 of my favorite places to go when I was at Andrews University in the seminary was actually the cemetery.

I know this is probably not the most favorite place for many of us, but this particular cemetery was my sanctuary, my haven that I would go to for a moment of quiet reflection.

And there's nothing like a cemetery that helps you to think about the brevity of life, isn't that right?

Would walk in and out among the tombstones and I would read 1913 to 1978, a beloved brother, father, and husband.

And it's in these moments that we come to grips with our own mortality.

We're actually told in the Bible that it's good to go to the house of mourning.

Here is a poem from a hypothetical tombstone.

I'm not sure if anyone ever used this tombstone before, this tombstone engraving.

It says, Remember me as you pass by, as you are now, so once was I, as I am now, you soon will be.

Prepare for death and think of me." Thinking of death is not something that is morbid or melancholy.

The Bible actually says better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of celebration.

The wisest man that ever lived said this because the living will take it to heart.

It's good for us every now and then to recognize our mortality, that 1 day if the Lord doesn't come in our lifetime, that every person in this room will eventually die.

I believe that we're made to live forever.

So in my finite thinking, I think that every day I'm going to get up in the morning, go through my daily routine, but 1 day I'm not going to wake up or I'm going to pass to my grave and the next generation will be upon the scene.

Did you know that every single day, 150, 000 people die?

That's more than the city of Lansing passing to their grave.

And when you look at it, that's about 2 people every single second, on average, are passing away to their grave.

My grandmother went to sleep and she didn't wake up the next morning.

And you often think what the next moment would be for my grandmother.

Are you reincarnated like some of the other religions believe?

Well today we have the privilege and opportunity of studying our Bibles, and I'd like to invite you to turn with me in your study guides.

It's a brief outline of today's presentation.

And I'd like to begin by reading the introduction to our study guide here this morning as we think about and as we ponder this solemn concept of death, our mortality, and the brevity of life.

The question of death and what happens when 1 dies are questions that have intrigued mankind since the very dawn of time.

Even today, with significant advances in technology, medicine and science, the question of the mystery of death remains entirely unanswered.

Truth be told, science is ill-equipped to deal adequately with the issue of death.

Death is more than the ceasing of physiological functions and activities.

It has mental, emotional, and certainly spiritual ramifications both for the dying and those who remain.

The Bible, the Holy Scriptures, contain the keys that unlock this mystery.

The Bible can provide the kinds of answers that humanity is seeking for concerning the question of death.

The Bible alone can illumine the dark door of death.

So today We're going to be looking at a Bible study and looking at the nature of death.

And we're going to have to go to the very beginning of creation when God formed, according to Genesis 2, verse 7.

The Bible says that God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.

You can imagine it there, imagine it there in the beginning of creation, God forms man the dust of the ground, He forms Adam, and then breathes into his nostrils the breath of life, and in that moment the Bible says that He becomes a living soul.

You can see it there in your study guide.

I'm going to read from the original creation of man.

In seeking to unlock the mystery of man's spiritual and physical makeup, it will prove exceedingly helpful to note how mankind was first created in Genesis 1 and 2.

According to Genesis chapter 2 verse 7, God formed man of 2 elements, dust and breath.

After these 2 elements converged, listen to this, man became a soul.

Notice that it says, he became, not had, or was given a soul.

This is utterly essential like a light bulb which needs both the physical housing and the electricity to create light.

Man is the coalescing of the physical body and the breath of God.

Now we understand creation, here it is in brief.

The body plus the breath equals a living soul or a living being.

Dust plus the elements of the earth plus the vivifying breath of God equals a soul.

Death is simply creation, and you can fill it in there in your study guide, death is simply creation in reverse.

The body minus the breath of God results in death.

We're essentially saying here at the beginning that in order to understand death we must understand life and at the very beginning of creation these 2 elements came together, dust plus the breath of God, the vivifying Spirit of God, came and man became a living being.

When we look at the nature of death, according to the Bible, this is simply creation as we've noted earlier in reverse.

Psalms 104 verse 29 thou hidest thy face they are troubled thou takest away what does the Bible say their breaths do you see creation in reverse now take us away their breath they die and return to dust You can see in the beginning of the Bible the body plus the breath equals the living soul in death It is a reverse the breath the Spirit of God the vivifying power of God goes back to the Creator and the dust returns to God who gave it.

When we talk about a soul, the Bible is essentially saying that a soul is the person or the life.

You don't go to a person and say where is your soul, you're looking at a soul right now.

If you want to see a soul, look at the person next to you.

According to Holy Scriptures, a soul is the composition of the body plus the breath.

This is a question that many people have asked, can a soul die?

Is there such a thing as an immortal soul?

The Bible is clear, this is also in your study guide, in Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 4, Behold all souls are mine as the soul of the Father, so also the soul of the Son is mine, the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

The Bible is explicitly clear that a soul can die.

A soul is not immortal, a soul is mortal, meaning subject to death.

As we move on we can see in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 7, then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.

This has caused a little bit of confusion for the Christian community because people think that this spirit refers to this consciousness that returns to God.

But if you look up the word spirit in this verse, it's actually the Hebrew word ruach, which is the same thing for breath.

You'll see in some passages this word spirit and breath are used interchangeably, and this is simply saying that the reverse happens in the Genesis chapter 2, verse 7 account.

In Hebrew, the word spirit, or ruach, is used synonymously, which means breath.

And I'll give you a simple illustration of this.

In Job chapter 27, verse 3, all the while my breath is in me and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils.

Is it some mystical consciousness that has thinking, volition, and some sort of consciousness.

This is the same word, ruah, that is used.

All the while my breath is in me and, you can use the same word, the breath of God is in my nostrils.

When we die, according to scriptures, the vivifying power of God returns to God who gave it, and our bodies return to dust.

In that same book that we noted earlier, in Ecclesiastes chapter 9 verse 5, the Bible tells us, "...the living know that they will die, " and here is a clear passage from Scripture, "...the living know that they will die, but the dead know not anything." Wait a minute, I thought the dead knew more than we did.

But according to the holy scriptures, the dead know not anything, neither have they any more remord, for the memory of them is forgotten, also their love, their hatred, and their envy is now perished, neither have they any more portion forever in anything that is done under the sun." This is a clear passage telling us that the dead don't know anything.

Here's another 1 in Job chapter 7 verse 8 through 10, the eye of him that has seen me shall see me no more.

Thine eyes are upon me and I am not, as the cloud is consumed and vanished away.

So also he that goeth down to the grave, and listen to this, he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more, he shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more." Not only do the dead not know anything, The Bible tells us that when you die, you don't return to your house again.

Later in the verse it says, till our change comes at the resurrection.

Here's another fascinating passage talking about the dead.

It says, the dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.

Wait a minute, I thought that the dead were up in heaven praising God right now, but according to the Scriptures it says, the dead praise not the Lord, the dead do not know anything, neither do they return to their home." In order for us to understand death, we need to go to a passage in John 11, verses 11-15.

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Through the Tomb

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