The BIG Picture (Q&A)

Even after justification, the soul of the believer continues to indwell a body of sin and death. Sin and death continue to be a functional law within our mortal body. The issue moving forward now is not your justification; that is a done deal. Nothing can change our justification and peace with God through Jesus Christ. The issue moving forward is whether you're going to live under God or under sin. Paul draws attention to this choice by saying, Rom 6:11-13  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  (12)  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.  (13)  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Notice that Paul is not yet even talking about law. At this point in Rom.6, it's not ...

Jesus' sacrifice was an act of love and redemption, offering Himself as a ransom for humanity, 1Tim 2:6, and establishing peace between God and those who choose to believe in Jesus Christ. This selfless act is seen as the ultimate expression of love, as stated in John 15:13: "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." There is no more motivation needed than to provide the following scriptures that confirm the fact that Jesus willingly gave his life as a ransom for the redemption of those who believe in Him. Matthew 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Titus 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. 1 John 3...

Physical death occurs when the spiritual body (soul and spirit) separates from the body of flesh and blood.  Genesis 35:18 describes this as such:  "And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin."  Physical death does not result in becoming nonexistent; it is a separation of the human spirit and soul from the physical body. Again, death is separation . The other is spiritual death , when the spirit of man (as an individual) is unable to commune with the Spirit of God. Here again is a type of separation: man is spiritually separated from his Creator. There is no unity or fellowship between the two. You may read 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 to learn how sin has made the spirit of man incompatible with the Spirit of God. There is also positional death. As people who have trusted Jesus Christ's death, burial, and resurrection as sufficient payment for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3-4); we have be...

There are two simple things to be aware of in order to answer this question. First , by what standard, does God judge a person, and second , what are the judgements of God that will ultimately involve everyone born into the human race. Let's have a look at the details. By what standard, does God judge a person The anticipation of a coming Redeemer (and Messiah, for Israel), the subsequent birth and life of Jesus Christ, and (for us in the grace dispensation,), the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the absolute standard and singular salvific event of God's great redemption plan for humanity. The pivotal point in all of time rests on the life and sacrifice of Christ. Ultimately, every individual person will be judged by the faith they place in God's Son, Jesus Christ. Gal.4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, ... What are the judgements of God It is true that everybody will be judged. Hebrews says it as follows, Heb.9:27 And a...

Answer Request: I have something I am wrestling with and have wondered if anyone has done any further studies on it: HELL and The lake of Fire: According to Revelation 20:13-15...Hell and the lake of fire is not the same: Rev.20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. As far as my understanding on the topic; hell and the lake of fire are two very different locations. Please note that there is much more detail to this topic, but I'll keep my answer short and plain. The word "hell" is translated as "grave" in both the Hebrew ("Sheol") and Greek ("Hades") languages. Hell therefore is a reference to the grave, which represents temporary d...

Acts 2:29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. 30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; 31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Answer Request: All Old Testament believers, when they died, their bodies were left in the grave, but their souls went to hell, to Abraham's bosom. When Christ led captivity captive , He cleared all out from Abraham's bosom taking them to Paradise, the third heaven. That's where the souls of David and Abraham are now. From this passage above, can we assume that although David's body is corrupted in the grave, and his soul was l...

The first death is when someone comes to the end of their human life and they pass away. At a later point they are called up in one of the resurrections, either to enter life, or to enter eternal death, — which is the second death . Notice this verse, Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection [having died the first death ]: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. The person is blessed if they have part in the first resurrection, (having died in order to be resurrected). Why are they blessed? Because the first resurrection is to eternal life and an eternal and glorious inheritance. How did they come to be blessed? They responded in faith to the gospel (or good news) that God provided them in their day to come into right-standing with Him and receive salvation from His righteous and holy wrath on all who reject Him in unbelief. The second death has no power o...

The following is my 'current' interpretation of the scriptures. I do not claim to be dogmatic on this topic, but then again, neither can anyone else. I'm answering this simply to provide you, the reader, with scriptures that you can interpret for yourself and formulate your own conclusion. The word "hell" is translated as "grave" in both the Hebrew ("Sheol") and Greek ("Hades") languages. Grave represents death, or to sleep, or an unconscious state of inactivity. Ecc.9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. It is my opinion that this state of sleep is upon all who have died outside of the grace gospel . What do I mean by this? Well, the grace gospel is the good news message that we are saved by the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Those who are saved by means of this gospel come into an immediate grace standin...

There are several resurrections that occur throughout the pages of the bible. However, these must not be confused with the  TWO TYPES  of resurrections that are also referred to. The two types of resurrections referred to are (1) the resurrections of the Righteous and (2) the resurrection of the  Unrighteous . Jesus and Paul plainly declared these two basic resurrections: John 5:28 "for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live , and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned ." Acts 24:15 having hope toward God, which they themselves also wait for, that there is about to be a rising again of the dead, both of righteous and unrighteous ; (Also see: Daniel 12:2) As you can see, there will be resurrections of both the righteous and unrighteous . This doesn't mean, however, that there will only be two resurrections in number, just that there are two TYPES of resurre...

The information in the shaded area below is the end portion of a more comprehensive study, written by Arthur Licursi, called, " The Real Meaning of 'The Rich Man and Lazarus' " on his website here . Of particular interest to me, at this time of writing this post, was the Q&A section where Arthur answers some interesting questions about the fate of the wicked at the end of God's final judgements.  The contextual answers that Arthur provides may surprise you when you weigh it up against traditional Christian teachings and understanding. I encourage you to read through the information and come to your own conclusions based on the interpretations and context of the scripture references that Arthur provides. The proper Bible hermeneutic (interpretive) rules tell us we should always interpret the words of the Bible literally, unless the context clearly makes it otherwise. That's how God intended His Word to be understood and interpret...

During the last supper that Jesus had with His disciples, He said the following to them, Luke 22:20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in My blood , which is shed for you. One must remember that since the time of Moses and the exodus, the Jews have been under a covenant of Law, the 'old' covenant . This covenant was a burden (Matthew 11:28; Acts 15:10) and would never be able to be fulfilled by the Jews. Its primary goal was to teach them that they needed a Saviour, and indeed, to point them to their Messiah (Galatians 3:24-25). The 'old' covenant needed to be replaced, and the first advent of Jesus was exactly for this purpose, as is confirmed in the above verse. Now, if you focus on the bolded part you will see that it alludes to HOW Jesus was going to do it. In order to replace the old covenant with the new covenant, Jesus had to die. We are familiar with the legalities of our current day 'last will and testament'...