Revolt Against Death: The Truth About Eternity

By Bears

The book is written from the premise that Satan, the murderer from the beginning (John 8:44), is out in full force to destroy life as created by God. To counter this attack, God initiated a Revolt against Death in the sending of His Son Jesus assumed patronage for this revolt in John 11:25-26:
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.
In order for humans to live eternally, God made man into a New Creature (2 Cor 5:17), but this time round the blueprint for this image is His Son, Christ Jesus!
Adams deep sleep, wherein Eve was formed out of his opened side, is a symbol of Christs death and the parallel for the creation of the Spiritual Spouse the Church and its offspring. As with Adam, Jesus side was opened during His sleep (cf John 19:33-34) after which His body and blood became the substance of the New Creature.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Africa
• Release date: Mar 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482861532

Bears

For most of his life, the author served as a lay preacher in an international Christian church based on Protestant principles. Although he had no formal theological education and as such does not profess to be an authority on biblical history or the exact interrelationship of all or any of the scriptural references quoted in this book, the hope for an eternally “better” and heavenly abode has forever filled his mind, as it did that of the Patriarchs of old (Heb. 11:14–16).

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Danie Bezuidenhout.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4828-6159-4

                eBook           978-1-4828-6153-2

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1 Eternity explained

Chapter 2 Created to live eternally in the fullness of life

Chapter 3 Sustaining human life - sustaining spiritual life

Chapter 4 Jesus died - Christ lives

Chapter 5 I am the resurrection and the life

Chapter 6 Love - the moral fibre of resurrection life

Chapter 7 Is natural death the end of man's opportunity for salvation?

Chapter 8 When will these things be?

Chapter 9 Find life - Choose life - Live life

Addendum 1

Addendum 2

PREFACE

For most of his life, the author served as a lay-preacher in an international Christian church based on Protestant principles. Although he had no formal Theological Education and as such does not profess to be an authority on Biblical history or the exact interrelationship of all or any of the scriptural references quoted in this book, the hope for an eternally better and heavenly abode has forever filled his mind, as it did that of the Patriarchs of old (cf Heb 11:14-16).

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

This hope inspired him to search the truth of what the Spirit of Christ testified beforehand (cf 1 Pet 1:11) concerning the ETERNAL LIFE which was with the Father and promised unto us (cf 1 Joh 1:2)

For the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us

The thought of death without the hope of resurrection to eternal life grew ever more revolting, and this inspired the author to join Christ's revolution against death (to be explained later).

If all there is to life, is death,

With all its sorrow and its tears;

Then, why the ever vibrant breath

We breathed through all the years?

Will death then bring an end to Life?

For Life's conception is eternal...

No! Never can death's fury and its strife

Destroy Life's strong, enduring will...

Bears

Although the focus of the last book in the Bible (Revelation) is primarily of an eschatological nature, it may be accepted that the war in heaven referred to in Rev 12:7-12 has been raging ever since the expulsion of Lucifer from heaven (other relevant texts are also quoted, i.e. Luke 8:10 and Isaiah 14:12-15)

Rev 12:7-12 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.

Luk 10:18 And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Isa 14:12-15 How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,

To the lowest depths of the Pit.

In line with the title of this book the war in heaven is nothing other than Lucifer and his armies having revolted against God (Life) -- until this day he walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet 5:8): Surely God could never merely sit back and allow this to happen, therefore in the sending of His son, Jesus Christ, He started a counter revolution!! In the gospel of John this is so aptly described

Joh 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved

INTRODUCTION

This book is written from a Christian perspective and all scriptural quotations are taken from the New King James Version of the Bible. The principles are however applicable to anyone who believes in Life after death, irrespective of dogmatic orientation.

It builds on the fundamental concept that LIFE, in its broadest context is a gift from God and presupposes that life is predestined to exist for all eternity, because death has been swallowed up in Christ's victory (cf 1 Cor 15:54-55).

Death is swallowed up in victory.

O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?

In order to clarify this presupposition, a number of opposites must be accepted and understood from the outset. These are, inter alia...

Darkness opposes light, as...

Hate opposes love, as...

Regression opposes progression, as...

Evil opposes good, as...

Satan (the devil) opposes God, and as...

Death opposes life

EXPLAINING THE CONCEPT LIFE AS PERTAINING TO HUMAN BEINGS

An elaborate explanation of the concept of human (or natural) life, as well as the use of the term in Old and New Testament times is given in Addendum 1 at the end of this book. Also included are explanations for terms such as soul and spirit from a Biblical perspective.

This concept is much more difficult to explain than may be thought, but understanding these concepts is not vital to grasp the thread of the book -- it may nevertheless be interesting for the reader who wants to use it in a comparative sense to illustrate the much more intricate concept of eternal life

Chapter 1

ETERNITY EXPLAINED

The notion of 'time' (as we have come to understand it in terms of our physical world) has essentially been devised by the human mind and is rooted in mankind's inborn desire to measure and to monitor. One can safely assume that in the process of his intellectual development, man must have commenced to measure the progress of his life and the physical world around him by devising time units based on the observation of the passing of days and nights, the cycles of the moon, the rotation of the seasons, and eventually the discovery of the journey of the earth around the sun.

The three particular characteristics of the time concept that manifested themselves irrevocably over the ages in the cognitive mind of human beings proved to be the acceptance or understanding that:

1. Time has to begin somewhere

2. Time progresses over a measurable period

3. Time ends somewhere (or being perceived that it has to stop)

The beginning of a specific piece or unit of time is normally associated with the start or appearance of a physical, observable manifestation (for instance, the moment when a baby is born, or the moment that something remarkable is discovered, or simply the moment the sun rises). Time (in a specific instance) would then obviously end when the manifestation at hand eventually reaches the moment it ceases to exist (e.g. the moment a person dies, or the moment the sun sets). Simplistically put: time as experienced (and measured) by us as human beings is a phenomenon of moment to moment.

The concepts beginning and ending become infinitely more difficult to comprehend by the finite human mind and mental capacity, when the vastness of the universe is considered, both in terms of time and space. In this context it is found that there are certain time-space quantities or measurements that the average human being cannot easily relate to. So for instance, within the expanse of our universe, measurement is done by means of an interrelated time-space unit that is referred to as light years and which represents the distance that light travels in the period of one year. This unit has been adopted simply because the known measurement of distance (kilometres) becomes nonsensical when representing such immense vastness. The converse is also true, hence scientists use the distance that light travels to estimate the age of specific stars or other galactic bodies in our universe, or even to estimate the age of the universe in particular.

Even when used from a mathematical perspective, the concepts zero (0) and infinity (∞) are problematic, as these concepts are not absolute. In our current perspective the quantities zero and infinity cannot be achieved in an absolute sense. To try and understand this, think of the following... scientists say the universe is endless and expanding... if it stopped expanding, it would not be endless, and if continues to expand it cannot (yet) be endless.

Because of the aforementioned difficulties, most people can imagine that time had no beginning (and will have no end), yet they presume that everything else must have a beginning -- and to them this postulation includes God, for surely God must have come from somewhere. Once this inexplicable concept is allowed to sink in, it becomes possible to understand the monumental words of God as recorded in many passages of the Bible:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord,

who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty - (Rev 1:8).

It was stated earlier that the concepts beginning and ending become infinitely difficult to comprehend by the finite human mind and mental capacity, when the vastness of the universe is considered, both in terms of time and space. To comprehend and deal with the concept of time in spiritual and religious contexts becomes even more daunting...daunting in the sense that we are trying to describe and elucidate heavenly dimensions and godly concepts within the infinitesimally small framework of our human intellect, constricted by the limitations of truly understanding the metaphysical, and restricted by the inadequacies of imperfect communication tools (that is, the finite vocabularies of human languages as well as the varying or divergent meanings associated with eternal concepts).

In the author's personal opinion, the renowned Christian apologist and writer, C.S. Lewis, has encapsulated the description of God in the context of time in a most simple but remarkably understandable manner (as extracted from his famous book Mere Christianity, published by Harper-Collins Publishers, London, 2002, pages 167-168):

Almost certainly God is not in Time. His life does not consist of moments following one another. If a million people are praying to Him at ten-thirty tonight, He need not listen to them all in that one small snippet which we call ten-thirty. Ten-thirty -- and every other moment from the beginning of the world -- is always Present for Him. If you like to put it that way, He has all eternity in which to listen to the split second of prayer put up by a pilot as his plane crashes in flames.

But God, I believe, does not live in a Time-series at all. His life is not dribbled out moment by moment like ours: with Him it is, so to speak, still 1920 and already 1960. For His life is Himself.

If you picture Time as a straight line along which we have to travel, then you must picture God as the whole page on which the line is drawn. We come to the parts of the line one by one: we have to leave A behind before we get to B, and cannot reach C until we leave B behind. God, from above or outside or all around, contains the whole line, and sees it all.

Once the fact is accepted that God is from everlasting to everlasting, then surely it is not so unbelievable that God would want those who bear His likeness to share eternity with Him, as Jesus already prayed in John 17:24

Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am,

that they may behold My glory which You have given Me;

for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

Scientists and some sceptics do a lot of work and go to great lengths to find out where it all began (and where it will all end), whether it is the origin of the universe or the origin of life or whatever else they try to establish.... Yet the answer has been written down in the Bible for millennia -- "I am the beginning and the end (Isa 44:6 & Rev 1:8) -- so, when they establish the origin of life, they will have no option but to acknowledge that the origin of everything" is to be found in what believers call God -- for all life comes from Him (Job 12:9-10).

Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this,

In whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind

It is of interest that a proponent of the Big-bang theory who is involved with the Large Hadron Collider that was used to prove the existence of the Higgs-boson particle (or so-called God-particle) recently said that now the existence of such a particle is proven, it must still be determined where it originated -- surely its originator is what believers call GOD!?

A note on Evolution:

Scientists have proven beyond doubt the existence of a process of evolution and no man can deny it -- but from the perspective of religion, the following statement may be formulated:

• While evolution theory describes the laws according to which evolution proceeds, it supplies no explanation of the cause of creation, because it does not include a creator in its approach. At the same time, it cannot rule out a creator.

• God through His word created everything and laid in His creation a comprehensive lawful dispensation. Evolution is therefore development according to God-given natural laws.

• Evolution theory defines man in terms of biological properties, whereas the Bible speaks only of man created in the image of God, thus being an immortal soul in his spiritual existence -- we will refer to this as ensouled man.

• The Bible is concerned only with ensouled mankind, and has nothing to say about the various biological human species that are attested.

Hence, the process of evolution does not preclude the existence of the Grand Designer of all things and it is of interest to note that already in his time Paul had to admonish those who worshipped creation rather than the Creator (Rom 1:20-25)

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools,..... who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.

A final note on the narrative of the Bible vs Evolution! Scholars agree that the first 5 books of the Bible were written by Moses, probably as recordings handed down over the centuries (between 2000 -- 2500 years after Adam & Eve). Moses may very well have had access to patriarchal records -- probably written on clay tablets -- and/or reliable oral traditions of these events, so that we may accept these as recordings of real events rather than myths. However, due to this time lapse, Genesis 1 cannot and never was intended to be an exact / scientific elaboration in respect of the events of creation.

That being said, those who wish to look at Genesis 1 from a religious perspective will find that this narrative may very well accommodate an explanation into evolutionary elements. We read throughout Genesis 1 (cf Gen 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24) that God said:

Let there be.... Or let (the sea / earth) bring forth... And it was...

It is as if God left this development to its own devices (evolution?)... Yet, when it came to the creation of man, this changed from a mere pronouncement of let there be to a collaborative

Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness (Gen 1:26)

In other words, God became personally involved with the creation of man. It is generally accepted by scholars that this act of collaboration included the three Persons of the Triune God as generally promoted within Christianity, and hence Jesus (the Christ) was part of and involved in the Creation of all things. This position is underwritten in various scriptural references, eg. Joh 1:1-4 & 10, Eph 3:9, Col 1:13-17, Heb 1:2, Rev 4:11 and Rev 10:6

John 1:1-4 & 10 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. (10) He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him

Eph 3:9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;

Col 1:13-17 He (God) has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.

All things were created through Him and for Him.

And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

Heb 1:2 (God) has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

Rev 4:11 You (i.e. Jesus) are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.

Rev 10:6 and swore by Him (i.e Jesus) who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it,

that there should be delay (KJV = time) no longer,

ONLY TWO OPTIONS TO CONSIDER: ETERNAL DEATH ..... OR ETERNAL LIFE

It is incomprehensible that people may accept an eternity of death or nothingness as a reality, but the opposite seems so unthinkable to them -- an eternal life of Godly bliss!!

It is impossible to present concepts such as eternity and living in infinite bliss, as well as eternal condemnation and the depths of hell in 2 dimensions, but that is exactly what the diagram on the next page attempts to achieve.

In the diagram below, reference is made to eternity past and eternity future, which concepts are in itself illogical, as eternal concepts have no beginning and no end. Yet, this is the crucial question that will remain unanswered during our earthly sojourn.... where did it all begin? Again, let it suffice that God said: I am the beginning and the end.

4426.png

To the pious, faith is not about mere fairy tales, but rather their faith is totally focussed on the expectation of an "eternally progressive better life" -- some expect this better life to realise during their earthly sojourn, while others expect it to realise during some future dispensation.

For those, this future dispensation is expected to be found in a new heaven and a new earth (the point of intersection shown with an * above) and as recorded in 2 Pet 3:13.

Nevertheless we, according to His promise,

look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

In all these things, believers are challenged to prove their point, but understandably, this cannot be proven, as faith in its essence is all about things that cannot be explained, or as the writer of the letter to the Hebrews said in Hebrews 11:1.....

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen

For pious believers, their faith, trust and the expectation of a better life grew to such a point of certainty throughout the course of history that they revolt against death (hence the name of this book). This revolt is so strong that to them death in essence no longer exists -- in fact Jesus declared Himself as guarantor for this revolution when He said in John 11:25-26

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die,

he shall live. And