The first major truth our Creator shared with the human family was this: “Dust you are and to dust you shall return!” He let Adam and Eve know up front that they were mortal beings and would someday die, returning to the earth from which they were taken. He further told them that if they were disobedient to Him and His instructions and counsel that they would someday surely die, that is they would die a death from which there would never be a resurrection, the second death! God then built upon that sure foundation of eternal truth generation after generation through enlightenment given His prophets and chosen spokesmen. Revelation was progressive and never contradictory. If and when one hears a doctrine, a teaching that runs counter to the foundational statements of truth uttered early on by our Creator, then Satan has “entered the garden,” once again, so to speak, and is sowing seeds of confusion.
“The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence (i.e., the grave)” (Psalm 115:17). No deceased Gaither singer is sitting around God’s throne singing their hearts out, not a single one. Redeemed or unredeemed when they died – they DIED! They, and all others born human, whose heart stopped and they stopped breathing, are dead awaiting a resurrection to restore them to life! That is the sole purpose of a resurrection, friend. “His (a human’s) breath goes forth (he breathes his last breath), he returns to his earth. IN THAT VERY DAY HIS THOUGHTS PERISH!” (Psalm 146:4). Jesus warned, “The scripture cannot be broken.” (John 10:35). It is what it is. “He (God) remembers that we are dust” (Genesis 103:14). Due to false teaching, men are prone to forget that. God does not!
In the mind of God “all live unto him,” yes, in God’s mind, or thinking, because God knows His Son, Jesus Christ, is going to resurrect them upon His return to earth. (See Luke 20:35-38).
The apostle Paul never writes a single word that differs with any of the scriptures cited above – NOTHING! Paul never said “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” (See 2 Corinthians 5:8). He said he was willing, or would prefer to be absent from the body and present with the Lord! An entirely different statement. Paul clearly taught that we will be absent from the body and present with the Lord only when resurrected. (See I Corinthians 15).
Our Creator wants us to trust Him, to rely upon Him, to depend upon Him, and to believe Him even when every one of our physical senses is leading us to doubt and to fear. It took me many decades to learn that perfect trust comes from perfect obedience. The more obedient we are to our Lord, the more real He becomes in our life. Daily, or continual, disobedience pushes the spirit world further and further away and reduces Jesus Christ to nothing more than an historical figure.
Those of us who are in or have passed our eighth decade of life have much to be thankful for. Billions never made it this far! At the judgment God might well ask, “What did you do with the added years? Did you realize their value and their scarcity? I invested much time in you; where are my dividends?” I, for one, want to answer Him well.
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley