Beacon-Ministries

 

THE GRAVE


 

All men go to the same place.

"For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again" (Ecclesiastes 3:19,20).

The dead are not in heaven.

"And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven" (John 3:13).

"Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. ... For David is not ascended into the heavens" (Acts 2:29,34).

Death does not take one to be with the Lord. Death is an enemy ("the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" I Corinthians 15:26). The only way believers can go to heaven and be with the Lord is for Him to came and get them at His coming.

"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven ... So shall we ever be with the Lord" (I Thessalonians 4:17).

The dead are in their graves.

"...All who are in their graves shall hear His voice" (John 5:28).

"...Them that sleep in the dust shall awake..." (Daniel 12:2).

"...Ye that dwell in the dust.." (Isaiah 26:19).

The dead are always said to be where their bodies are.

"...Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah ..." (Genesis 23:19).

"... There was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife" (Genesis 25:10).

"So David slept with his fathers, and was buried ..." (I Kings 2:10).

"Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day" (Acts 2:29).

"And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father..." (II Chronicles 9:31).

"And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him" (Acts 8:2).

"Death of the body" and "resurrection of the body" are not Biblical expressions. Death is the death of the person. Resurrection is the resurrection of the person. In the Bible it is the person that is said to die.

 


by Clyde L. Pilkington, Jr.
© 2004-2007