billy-brown 2

Recently, I have been thinking about the eschatological implications of Death, Time, and Immortality. Three global dialectics came to the fore, and I provide them below for our collective consideration:

1) DEATH, TIME, and MORTALITY go together.

How do we know this? Well, here's what Paul wrote on it (which I'm sure we all know already):

Romans 6
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And of course, we have this as well:

Gen. 2
15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him (Adam/Eve) into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

And we all know the rest of the story, yes?

Gen. 3
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”
4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

Of course, Adam and Eve died "spiritually" that day and became mortal when they disobeyed YHWH. Physically, Adam "lived" for 950 years after that:

Gen. 5
1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
2 He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.
3 When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.
4 Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters.
5 So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.

Yep.

Indeed, the "nine hundred and thirty years" in Gen 5:5 is TIME.

(Remember, DEATH . . . MORTALITY . . . and TIME . . . go together.)

2) DEATH is the last enemy of YHWH.

Let us consider the following passage of scripture below:

I Cor. 15
20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.
21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming,
24 then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.
25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.
26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
27 For HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him.
28 When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.

Now apparently, death is an enemy of YHWH.

And the eschatological plan of YHWH has a foundational goal: to eradicate DEATH forever.

This means YHWH will be eradicating TIME and MORTALITY at the same time (along with SIN, of course).

Just think of it in this way: these passage excerpts below go together (especially the ones in bold below):

Rev. 21
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,
4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

Rev. 10
5 Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven,
6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, WHO CREATED HEAVEN AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE EARTH AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE SEA AND THE THINGS IN IT, that there will be delay no longer,
7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.

Col. 1
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.
25 Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God,
26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints,
27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

3) DEATH, TIME, and MORTALITY will be eradicated by YHWH at the end of "this" age--the age we now "live" in.

And notice below how DEATH is eradicated by our God:

Rev. 20
14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

And the events of Rev. 20:14-15 cannot happen until after DEATH is "destroyed"--as explained below by Paul:

I Cor. 15
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.

So, notice that IMMORTALITY is the destiny of the saints, and is accomplished by the "destruction" of DEATH--as taught in I Cor. 15.

Also, those whose names are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be thrown into the Lake of Fire--along with DEATH, HELL, SATAN, THE BEAST, and THE FALSE PROPHET; these are indeed some of the "first things" of this passage below:

Rev. 21
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.

and this one below:

Rev. 21
4 . . . and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

Therefore, death is not possible in the "next age" from the one we are living in--because the "next age" (the new heaven and a new earth) will not have any DEATH, TIME, or MORTALITY.

Why?

Because the "next age" from the one we are currently living in will be an "age" where there will be only IMMORTALITY for man--in the "new heavens and new earth" indeed.

Interesting . . .