Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | Matthew 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, |
Subject: baptism |
Bible Note: Are The Dead Alive Now ? Good question, and I'll give it by best shot. We all know what the Church teaches, but what does God's Word say about it. I'm all about looking at the big picture when it comes to the Bible so when I see 46 clear verses speak to a particular thought and a few that seem to be saying something else, well... majority wins. I Thessalonians 4:13-17 "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord." I Corinthians 11:30 "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." (and it's not talking about bed time) I Corinthians 15:52 "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." Job 14:12-14 "So a man lieth down, and riseth not till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, untill thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come." Long before Jesus, the concept of an immediate afterlife in heaven or hell began with the Greeks, and later continued by the Romans. It was not taught in the Hebrew scriptures, and it was not believed by the Jews, except for certain sects of Jews which had adopted certain elements of Greek mythology into their doctrine. The Jews did not believe in an immediate afterlife in heaven, but in a future resurrection of the dead. Daniel 12:2 "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt." Page 2 Psalms 146:4 “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Ecclesiastes 9:10 “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” John 5:28 “Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice.” Other verses that refer to death as sleep ... I Kings 2:10 11:43 14:20 15:8 15:24 16:6 16:28 22:40 22:50 II Kings 8:24 10:35 13:9 13:13 14:16 14:22 14:29 15:7 15:22 15:38 16:20 20:21 21:18 24:6 II Chronicles 9:31 12:16 14:1 16:13 21:1 26:2 26:23 27:9 28:27 32:33 33:20 Psalms 13:3 Proverbs 3:24 Deuteronomy 31:16 II Samuel 7:12 Acts 13:36 Ephesians 5:14 John 3:13 "No one has ever gone to heaven except the one who came from heaven-the Son of Man." What is the hope of the Church? Your answer should be the return of Christ. If Satin wanted to cloud that hope, how would he go about doing that? How about promoting the idea that when you die, your eternal life starts at that point. Why wait or hope for the return when we are all floating around praising God and having a good old time now. The Church teaches that when we die we are somehow judged and either go to heaven or are sent to hell. Wait a minute, when is judgement day? Revelation places this event after the return of Christ. Why then, does the Church continue to believe that the dead are alive now? I guess they are just not comfortable with the whole sleep thing or don't trust God to raise them from the dead when Christ returns as He promised. The cool thing about sleep is that you do not sense the passage of time. At night in your bed, from the moment you fall asleep till the next morning, eight hours have passed, and to you, it was nothing. So it is for those who take their last breath. There is no passage of time. The next moment for them is the return of Christ. "And so shall we ever be with the Lord." Not bad, I say… |