Read Genesis 2:7 and Ecclesiastes 12:1-7. What contrast can you see between these two biblical passages? How can they help us to understand better the human condition in death? See also Genesis 7:22.
As already seen, the Bible teaches that the human being is a soul (Genesis 2:7), and the soul ceases to exist when the body dies (Ezekiel 18:4, Ezekiel 18:20).
Image © Kevin Carden at Goodsalt.com
But what about the “spirit”? Does it not remain conscious even after the death of the body? Many Christians believe so, and they even try to justify their view by quoting Ecclesiastes 12:7, which says, “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it” (NKJV). But this statement does not suggest that the spirit of the dead remains conscious in God’s presence.
Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 in quite dramatic terms describes the aging process, culminating with death. Verse 7 refers to death as the reversal of the creation process mentioned in Genesis 2:7. As already stated, on the sixth day of the Creation week “the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7, NKJV). But now, Ecclesiastes 12:7 tells us that “the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it” (NKJV). So, the breath of life that God breathed into the nostrils of Adam, and that He has also provided to all other human beings, returns to God or, in other words, simply stops flowing into and through them.
We should keep in mind that Ecclesiastes 12:7 describes the dying process of all human beings and does so without distinguishing between the righteous and the wicked. If the alleged spirits of all who die survive as conscious entities in the presence of God, then are the spirits of the wicked with God? This idea is not in harmony with the overall teaching of the Scriptures. Because the same dying process happens both to human beings and to animals (Ecclesiastes 3:19-20), death is nothing else than ceasing to exist as living beings. As stated by the psalmist, “You hide Your face, they are troubled; You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust” (Psalm 104:29, NKJV).
| We often say that death is just part of life. Why is that so wrong? Death is the opposite of life, the enemy of life. What great hope, then, is found in this verse: “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26, NKJV)? |
(0)The post Tuesday: “The Spirit Returns to God” first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
The post Tuesday: “The Spirit Returns to God” appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/tuesday-spirit-returns-to-god/
