Death Is Not The End | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Death Is Not The End | Previous Challenge Entry
By Doug Laird
06/15/22
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Man was created to glorify God in the midst of an ongoing battle in the spiritual realm.

Here in the dispensation of the Church Age, an individual glorifies God when he or she is born-again (1). A born-again believer continues to glorify God by participating in the post salvation spiritual life of discipleship (2).

Discipleship is initially for the spiritual advancement of one self, but with the long-term objective of being used by God to evangelize and to edify others.

Human viewpoint has a host of alternative concepts that defines what it means to make the best out of life here on Earth, as if such things were the purpose for us being here. In this, the devil is well-pleased.

Solomon had the means and opportunity to experience much of what life in this world can offer (3). But after doing so, he came to the conclusion that the pursuit of such “success” and happiness is meaningless (4) when God is left out of the picture (5).

Jesus taught one gains relatively nothing and loses much if he or she gets (or is given) everything this world has to offer, if in the process, he or she becomes a loser in the spiritual realm (6).

Spiritually dead souls will spend all of eternity future in the lake of fire (7).

All born-again believers are assured (8) of a home in Heaven (9), but this does not mean that all born-again believers will have the same experience (10) in Eternity.

Death is not the end of existence, but it is the end of a disciple’s opportunity to make deposits in his or her bank account in Heaven (11).

Death is not the end of existence. It does, however, result in an immediate change of bodily form and location.

Rather or not our bodily remains are available to be attended to by the ones we leave behind, our soul departs after the body takes in its last breath. When the remains are available, we can bury the body, but not the soul.

Never-the-less, there is an eternal connection between the departed soul of a born-again believer and the bodily remains that he or she leaves behind.

The decaying bodily remains (or dust) of a born-again believer will be raised up in the form of a resurrected body when the Rapture (12) takes place.

In the meantime, the departed soul of a born-again believer is consciously present with the Lord in Heaven, in an interim body (13).

2Cor. 5: 1 speaks of our natural body as being a tent, and our interim body as a building. Buildings are greater in composition and endurance.

Scripture teaches that the soul is placed in its “tent” simultaneously with the taking of one’s first breath of natural life (14), and departs (15) after taking its last.

Upon departing this world, the departed soul of a born-again believer is in Heaven indwelling in his or her interim body until the Rapture takes place.

When the Rapture (16) takes place, he or she receives his or her resurrected body.

For the generation of believers who are in their “tents” on Earth when the Rapture takes place, they too, will find themselves with the Lord and in the company of all departed believers, after having experienced an instantaneous (17) transformation of their tents into their resurrected bodies (18).

There is no soul present or sleeping in any corpse, no matter where or in what (urns, caskets, graves) the bodily remains are placed after the soul has departed.

It is not our place to judge others. However, after being born-again ourselves, we have been commissioned (19) to participate in the salvation and edification of others, advising them on what basis God will impose judgement on unbelievers (20), and make His evaluation of believers (21) after our appointed time on Earth expires.
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(1) John 3: 5, 7 (2) Matt. 28: 19, 20/Rev. 7: 10 (3) Book of Ecclesiastes (4) Eccl. 1: 2 (5) Eccl. 12: 13, 14 (6) Mark 8: 36 (7) Rev. 20: 15 (8) Romans 8: 1 (9) John 14: 2 (10) 1Cor. 3: 14, 15/Rev. 2: 7, 10, 17, 26, 28/Rev. 3: 5, 12, 21(11) Matt. 6: 20 (12) 1Thess. 4: 16 (13) 2Cor. 5: 1 (14) Gen. 2: 7 (15) Gen. 25: 8, 17 (16) 1Thess. 4: 16 (17) 1Cor. 15: 52 (18) 1Thess. 4: 17 (19) Matt. 28: 19, 20 (20) Rev. 20: 15 (21) 1Cor. 3: 12 - 15).

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