15. The Abolition of Death

From the time when Adam and Eve bent over the murdered form of their son Abel, down to the present time, death has reigned over the human race, and no one, except Enoch in the Age before the Flood, and Elijah in the Jewish Dispensation, has escaped Death's power, from the King upon the Throne, to the pauper upon the dunghill. But the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ—

"HATH ABOLISHED DEATH, and hath brought

LIFE and IMMORTALITY to light through the GOSPEL."

2 Tim. 1:10.

What is "Death"? Death is the "departure" (Exodus) of the "Soul" and "Spirit" from the "Body," leaving the "Body" to corruption and dissolution. What does the word "Abolish" mean? The Standard Dictionary's definition is—"To do away with; put an end to; annul, destroy." Naturally then you ask if Jesus Christ has abolished Death, why do men still die? The answer is—

DEATH HAS BEEN ABOLISHED

BY PROCLAMATION.

When God planted a Garden in Eden, and placed man in it, He promulgated a "Law" forbidding the eating of the fruit of the tree of the "Knowledge of Good and Evil." The penalty for breaking the "Law" was DEATH. The "Death" was twofold. First it was "Spiritual Death," for Adam and Eve died "Spiritually" the moment they broke the Law, and secondly it was "Physical Death," Adam dying physically 930 years after the Fall. Death then was introduced into the world by the sin of Adam—"Wherefore, as by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and 'Death' by sin; and so 'Death' passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom. 5:12. This "Law of Death" is still in force because it has never been repealed. A law however may be nullified, or made of no effect (abolished) by the enactment of a law, that, when it goes into effect, will counteract it. So the "Law of Death," though it has never been repealed, has been ABOLISHED by the "Law of Resurrection." Jesus Christ abolished "Death" when He arose from the dead. And death will be abolished for all who are Christ's at the "Rapture." Then the "Dead in Christ" shall rise from their graves, and all the living "in Christ" shall be "caught up" with them without dying to meet Him who abolished Death, in the air (1 Thess. 4:13-17), and those who shall be thus "caught up" shall be able to say—

"O Death, where is thy STING?

O Grave, where is thy VICTORY?"

1 Cor. 15:55.

By slaying Christ, Death potentially slew himself, for he opened the door for Christ to enter into his dominions, the grave and the Underworld. We can picture "Death" saying to Captain Sepulchre, "Hold on to that man in Joseph's Tomb until 'corruption' shall have seized upon Him, for if He comes out He will make a breach in the walls of Hades (the Underworld) through which all the prisoners of Hades will escape." But it was not "Death" that had taken Christ captive. Christ simply pursued "Death" into his own dominions, and then conquering him came forth leading captivity captive, and crying—"I am the RESURRECTION and the LIFE." And when Jesus appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos He said—"Fear not; I am the First and the Last: I am He that LIVETH, and WAS DEAD; and, behold, I am ALIVE FOR EVERMORE, Amen; and have the 'KEYS' of HELL (Hades) and of DEATH (the Grave)." Rev. 1:17-18. In this Proclamation we see that Christ has abolished Death, that He has the KEYS of "The Underworld" and of the "Grave," and sooner or later He will open their "Gates" and free their captives, and "Death" the last enemy shall be destroyed (1 Cor. 15:26), and there shall be no more DEATH. Rev. 21:4. THE ABOLITION OF DEATH

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE BODY

But Jesus not only "Abolished Death," He brought LIFE and IMMORTALITY to light through the Gospel. It was the immortality of the BODY, not the soul, that Jesus brought to light. The immortality of the soul is not questioned in the Old Testament, but the immortality of the body was in doubt until Jesus revealed it, and proved it by His own resurrection from the dead. Once the bodies of the Righteous are raised they can never die again, "for they are equal unto the angels (that never die); and are the 'Children of God,' being the Children of THE (the First) Resurrection." Luke 20:36. But this is not true of the bodies of the Wicked. The bodies of the Wicked shall rise again at the Second Resurrection, and after Judgment shall be sentenced to the "SECOND DEATH." Rev. 20:11-15. The "First Death" was separation of the soul from the body, and so will the "Second Death" be. That is, the Wicked shall lose their resurrection body which will be destroyed by the flames of the "Lake of Fire," but their "soul" and "spirit" will exist forever in the "Lake of Fire," because "soul" and "spirit" are indestructible by fire. This throws light on Matt. 10:28—"Fear not them which kill the 'BODY,' but are not able to kill the 'Soul'; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy BOTH SOUL AND BODY IN HELL." The word here translated "Hell" is the Greek word "GEHENNA," which means the "Lake of Fire." We must distinguish between the word "kill" and the word "destroy." To "kill" is to take away life or existence. To "destroy," in the Bible use of the word, is not to take away existence, but to change the state of existence. We see then that while men can "kill" the BODY, God can "destroy" both SOUL AND BODY in the "Lake of Fire." Destroy the "body" by consuming it, and causing it to pass into a gaseous state, and destroy the "soul" by changing the form of its moral existence, the permanency of which is eternal. From this we see that the "Second Death" disembodies the "Soul" of the Wicked for all Eternity, and teaches that the "Immortality of the Body" is conditioned on whether the "Soul" that indwells it is Righteous or Wicked. XVI

Spirit Transformation

By "Spirit Transformation" is meant the power of "Spirit Beings" to change from an invisible to a visible form, as the angels did when they appeared to men in Old Testament times, and as Jesus did when He appeared to His Disciples after His Resurrection. Let us examine the "Spirit Transformations" of Jesus. Take first His fifth appearance after His Resurrection. It was in the evening of the Resurrection Day. The Disciples, except Judas and Thomas, with a few others, were assembled in a house in the City of Jerusalem. They were intently listening to the report of the two disciples to whom Jesus had appeared on the road to Emmaus, when Jesus, in some unaccountable manner (for the doors were shut for fear of the Jews, John 20:19) appeared in their midst. At first they were "terrified and affrighted" and supposed that they had seen a "Spirit," but Jesus said unto them—"Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I MYSELF: handle me, and see; for a 'spirit' hath not FLESH and BONES, as ye see me have. And when He had thus spoken, He shewed them His hands and His feet (that they might see the nails-prints). And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and of an honeycomb, and He took it, and did EAT BEFORE THEM." Luke 24:37-43. The first question to settle is, when did Jesus get His