OVERVIEW
When the Bible talks about death, it says that there are two kinds of death. The first type of death is physical death, which happens to all people when they stop living. The second type of death the Bible talks about is spiritual death, when people go through life without having a relationship with God and Jesus Christ.
The Old and New Testaments talk differently about death. The Old Testament talks mostly about physical death and what it meant to the Israelites. The New Testament talks mostly about spiritual death. It tells the story of Jesus Christ's life on earth that included his death and his rising from the dead. It also tells us that because of Jesus' death, all people have the chance to live eternally in heaven with God.
DEATH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
In the Old Testament, the Israelites accepted death as the natural end to life. The goal of an Israelite was to live a long and full life, have many children, and die in peace with his family by his side. For people in the Old Testament, an early death might be the result of God's judgment on those who were disobedient to Him. King Hezekiah prayed for the Lord to extend his life even though he had not been completely obedient (2 Kings 20:9). In the same way, Job wanted to clear his reputation with God before he died (Job 19:25-26).
The Israelites thought death was the natural ending to life, but they never viewed it as a pleasant experience. Just as it is today, death was a sad event that affected people deeply. Death caused people to be cut off from their families and neighbors. More importantly, for the Israelites, death meant a person could no longer have a relationship with God. God may offer people comfort in the face of death, but the Old Testament does not talk about God being present with people after they die. For the Israelites, death was only an ending of life on earth. It was never viewed in the Old Testament as a threshold to a better life in heaven.
When God gave his law to Moses and the Israelites, he clearly stated that any disobedience to his commands would have death as a consequence. When an Israelite was punished, the judges said, "he shall be cut off," which meant that even though the other people in Israel would continue living, the criminal would be separated from Israel forever by death. The prophet Ezekiel gave God's decree that all people who followed him would be granted life, but anyone who "turns away from righteousness" would surely die (Ezekiel 18:21-32). The Israelites viewed all death as an evil result of their sin and disobedience.
Later in the Old Testament, the ideas Jewish thinkers had about death changed dramatically. They began to develop ideas about an afterlife and the resurrection of the body after people died. The first time in Scripture that has a reference to a possible resurrection of the dead is in the book of Daniel, when Daniel prophesizes, "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:2).
We find prophecies similar to Daniel's in other Jewish writings in the time between the Old and New Testament. During that time, the Jewish thinkers believed that the soul was immortal and that it continued to live after a person died. Some of these writings, however, were probably influenced by foreign Greek philosophers who believed the body was a burden people should be anxious to discard.
Even though these later Jewish thinkers did not have a complete understanding of life after death, their concept of a resurrection and a life eternally redeemed from death set the stage for the New Testament work of Jesus Christ who eventually would conquer death for all people.
DEATH AND RESURRECTION IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
While the writing in the Old Testament talks about death as a personal event, in the New Testament, death is more than just an ending of a person's physical life on earth. In the New Testament, death is a theological problem.
Because of Adam and Eve's first sin, people were separated from God, and that separation brought death into the world. Every person after Adam has followed in his footsteps. The apostle Paul writes, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). All people deserve to die, and once they commit a sin, they are no longer worthy to have a relationship with God. Because of this, in the New Testament, death is not just something that happens to people at the end of their lives. When the New Testament speaks about "death," it is also talking about living a life without a relationship with God.
The writers of the New Testament knew death affected all parts of a person's life. Without God, all of human life is lived in fear of death, and anybody who lives without Christ is spiritually dead. The book of Hebrews tells us that the devil, who rules the world, is the lord of death (Hebrews 2:14). It is easy to think of death as a demonic power that ruled the world until Christ, the only person in the world who had the power to defeat death for all people, finally conquered it.
When Christ died, was buried, and rose again on the third day, the power death had over the world was permanently broken. The New Testament describes Jesus' historic conquering of sin in a variety of ways. Philippians tells us that Jesus became obedient to death (Philippians 2:8). In another one of his epistles, Paul tells us that "he died for all" as a sacrifice for the sins of all people (2 Corinthians 5:15). And Peter describes how Jesus descended into Hades (the place of the dead) to conquer death himself (1 Peter 3:18-19). The main idea behind all of these passages is that Jesus, when he was crucified, did not remain dead. Instead, he defeated the devil, conquered death, and rose again as a sure sign of his victory. By accepting a death he did not deserve, Christ broke the power of death for all people who chose to follow him.
Because God is the only immortal being, he is the source of all life in the world, and people are only able to live if they have a proper relationship with him. Christ's death and resurrection provides people with the opportunity to restore this fellowship with God. In other words, Christ's death counts as the death for all believers.
Paul writes, "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). When people make the decision to believe in Christ's death and resurrection, they, in a sense, become dead to the world. Their disobedience to God becomes a thing of the past. As a result, believing Christians are separated from the world in the same way they were once separated from God. Christ is the only person who gives meaning to their lives.
All people who make a real commitment to Jesus pass immediately from death into life, and those who obey God's words will have eternal life. But if a person rejects Jesus' sacrifice for them, God says he will punish them with eternal death. The radical difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is truly the difference between life and death.
Even though people who believe in Christ will live eternally, their earthly bodies still have to die. This idea was hard for the writers of the New Testament like Paul to explain. He wrote that Christians who physically die are not dead at all, but just "asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:6). He also wrote later that dead believers are "dead in Christ" (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Even though their bodies may be dead, believers are never separated from Christ. When Paul lists all of the things that cannot separate Christians from the love of God, he says not even death and hell can come between God and the people who love him (Romans 8:38-39). For believers, death is not a loss but a gain. Death brings them closer to Christ.
But for people who do not belong to Jesus Christ, they will eventually be completely separated from God. At the end of time, God says he will judge everyone, and all people whose names are not "written in the Book of Life" (people who are not redeemed) will spend eternity in the lake of fire. The Bible calls that final separation from God the "second death" (Revelation 20:14). Christians do not need to worry about the second death because they have been eternally saved from death. They will live with God, who conquered death because he is the source of all life.
What?
What is death? There are two types of death the Bible talks about. Physical death happens when our bodies stop living. Spiritual death means being separated from God.
Why?
Why does spiritual death occur? When people sin, we are separated from God. The Bible tells us that all people have sinned, and all people deserve to die.
Who?
Who conquered death for all people? Jesus Christ conquered death forever for all people.
When?
When did Jesus conquer death? Jesus conquered death when he was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead.
How?
How did Christ conquer death? The Bible tells us that God loved the world so much that he sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on our behalf. Then, Jesus rose from the dead. Because of this, people who believe in him do not have to die either.
Where?
Where will Christians spend eternity? People who truly believe will spend eternity in heaven with God, the source of all life.
Book of Life
Law
Resurrection
Sin
Adam
Daniel
Eve
Ezekiel
Hezekiah
Jesus Christ
Job
Moses
Paul
Peter
QUICK QUOTE
Mors mortis morti mortem morte dedit.
Is this Greek to you? Well, it's Latin actually. This ancient saying was probably coined in a medieval Latin class, since it consists of the declension of the Latin noun for death. The different endings of the word indicate different uses within the sentence.
Here's a translation: The Death of Death gave death to death through death.
Still fuzzy? It's about Jesus, who could be called the Death of Death, since he did away with the power of death. And how did he do this? By dying on the cross.