Questions and Answers | Living in LIght

Yes, regenerate believers in Christ will, but more must be said here. Physical death is not the end of existence, but a door that the regenerate human soul and spirit goes through to enter the greater experience of life in God’s immediate presence (John 11:25).

Today, in this physical world, the regenerate follower of Christ is away from his or her true home (2 Cor. 5:6). When a Christ-follower dies, that person (soul and spirit) immediately goes home, to be in the presence of God and Christ. Even though disembodied, the believer will be in full conscious fellowship and enjoyment of the triune God (Phil. 1:23).

However, at the resurrection, the Lord Jesus will reunite the soul and spirit of His departed saints with their glorified physical bodies (1 Cor. 15:50–58; Rom. 8:23; Phil. 3:20–21). The glorification and reuniting of the soul and spirit with the physical body will occur simultaneously, in a time span that the Bible calls “the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:52). We will be set free from the presence of indwelling sin forever! The follower of Christ will then live in the unhindered power of the Spirit with a sinless glorified body for all eternity. To that, I say, “Hallelujah!”

Sadly, when an unsaved person dies, that person’s soul and spirit goes immediately to Hades (Luke 16:23; Matt. 11:23). Please note, dear reader, that I take no pleasure in writing about this. Hades is a place of torment, a kind of jail where the unsaved dead are kept until the resurrection and the judgment (John 5:27–29).

At the Great White Throne judgment (Rev. 20:11–15), the Lord Jesus will summon the dead, the lost from every period of human history, the small and great, the rich and poor, the powerful and weak. This judicial summons will raise them back to life with bodies suited for eternal punishment (John 5:28–29). As resurrected embodied persons, they will give accounts of themselves before the judgment throne. With the eternal horror of their names being absent from the Book of Life, they will receive their eternal sentence and they will be cast literally and bodily into the lake of fire (Hell) forever.

Readers, this is not a joke or merely a bit of trivia in a “question and answer column.” This is a matter of eternal life and eternal death. If you are reading this column and have not received Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, I plead with you to repent, turn from your sins and trust Christ before it is too late. If you have not received Jesus as your Savior and would like to talk with someone, please call 1-888-NEED HIM.

The Book of Genesis is part of a larger collection of divinely inspired (2 Tim. 3:16–17) foundational biblical documents collectively known as the Torah or the Law. Included in the Torah are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Moses is known to us as the human writer of these first five books of the Bible. Both the Old Testament (Josh. 1:7–8, 8:30–31, 23:6; Ezra 6:18, 7:6) and the New Testament (Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:46–47) affirm the Mosaic authorship of the Law, the first five Books of the Bible.

Genesis 1:1–2:3 and Genesis 2:4–25 are not two different accounts of creation, but two angles on the single act. The first account, in Genesis 1:1–2:3, focuses on God the Almighty. God is mentioned 35 times, each highlighting His omnipotence and wisdom. This opening section zooms in on God’s omnipotence and rule as He speaks, creates, evaluates, and brings the entire universe into existence out of nothing. The Almighty, who prepares a home for human beings on earth, says: I love you! I created the world for you!

In chapter 2:4–25, the narrator describes creation from another angle, designating God as the LORD God. The narrator uses the LORD God 11 times in Genesis 2:4-25. LORD with capital letters in English stands for Yahweh, the sacred and personal name of God in Hebrew. Yahweh God is relational, redemptive, covenantal, and involved. Yahweh God picks up dust and shapes a man, breathes into the lifeless shape and it becomes a living soul! Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, and formed a woman from Adam’s rib. The two creation accounts highlight different aspects of the Creator’s character as God and then as Yahweh God.