Thank you Heavenly Father for offering us the chance of eternal life.
The chance, or wish, to have eternal life can be traced right back to Adam and Eve. It was one of the serpents arguments (in fact, the first; Gen 3:4 "Ye shall not surely die") right back in the Garden of Eden, and most of humanity have hung onto the serpent's lie ever since. The wish to go on forever, or the fear of death, has led to many stories telling us that we won't die. Most have involved some sort of heaven, Valhalla or immortal soul. But what does the Bible say?
Quite simply it says that all will die. Ezekiel 18 says twice, that "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." (verses 4 & 20). And all have sinned, except Jesus Christ.
There's a few very obvious verses which highlight this. Acts 2:34 has this to say "For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand", and as mentioned a few weeks ago, David was described as a "man after God's own heart".
John 3:13 is even more clear "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven."
Which brings us to the rest of the topic. What is the spirit? And what is the soul?
The word 'spirit' simply means 'breath'. As long as we have our breath we have a spirit.
The word 'soul' is a little bit more complicated but boils down to our consciousness, awareness or existence. Needless to say the soul can't be immortal, and nowhere is the idea of an immortal soul mentioned in the Bible. The idea was taken from various pagan beliefs and incorporated into Christianity to make it more marketable to the masses. The reason being highlighted in the first paragraph, and as mentioned in the second, all souls die.
So what do we have to look forward to?
Fortunately the Bible can lead us to a glorious future. We might die, but we will be raised to eternal life to be in a kingdom with Jesus Christ. But that's a topic for next week.
What do you understand the spirit to be?
What about stories about ghosts – where do they come from?
What is our soul?
What happens when we die?