Why Do People Die?

I could end this article in one word: SIN. Of course, virtually no one would benefit from that, so I must elaborate. By the way, this is going to be the first in a series of posts leading up to the topic of why Christians should observe Passover. If you don't see the connection already, then I highly suggest that you follow along!

Why Do People Die?
In the beginning of human existence on earth, Adam and Eve lived in a lush garden and talked with God directly. God had given them instructions to tend to the garden, with the only restriction being that they could not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He said the following:

Genesis 2:17
Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

We all know how this story pans out: Adam and Eve ate from the tree. And where are they now? Dead.

Becoming Like God

What is the goal of human existence? Reading through God's law, we find that God says to "be holy for I am holy." God is commanding us: "be like me! I've shown you what I am like - now be like me!"

This concept holds deep implications for our lives, particularly in how we treat others. With whatever authority you are given, whether within your family life, career, or local church, you should strive to handle your authority like God handles His authority.

Heaven, Hell, or Resurrection?

No one enjoys facing the facts when it comes to human mortality. We don't like to think about the people we love dying, and this is perhaps because of the apparent inevitability of death. Modern Christianity teaches that life continues on immediately after death - that human beings have an immortal soul that instantly becomes conscious in either heaven or hell the moment someone dies. This is not a biblical teaching - I challenge you to read the rest of this article, most importantly the scriptures, and examine what the bible says versus what you believe.

This is the clear and indisputable teaching from the Word of God:

4 Keys to Understanding God's Law

The law of God, plainly spelled out throughout His Word, is intended to teach us about what God wants us to do and who He wants us to be. God frequently admonishes us to delight in His law and to meditate on it. I encourage everyone, firstly, to read God's Words - all of them. Furthermore, when you have read what God has said, you must do your best to seek understanding of it through God's Spirit living in you.

As you read and consider God's law, there are many things that seem antiquated in our time. Don't be deceived: God has written these laws for our understanding and spiritual growth! None of it is truly "done away" or "abolished" - it is simply fulfilled in a different way. The following are 4 keys that have helped me personally in unlocking the deep spiritual significance of some of God's laws, and it is my sincere hope that they will also guide you in your personal study.

#1 Marriage between men and women typifies the coming marriage of Christ to His Church.
Just like God designed the physical Temple to mirror the Temple that He has in heaven (Revelation 8:3-5), God also designed human marriage to mirror the relationship that we are going to have with Him. The laws concerning the rights of husbands in a human marriage depict the rights of God in our marriage to Him. Likewise, the responsibilities and duties of wives in a marriage are symbolic of our responsibilities to God. God did not create human marriage in order to oppress women; on the contrary, we must ALL submit to God in the way that a wife is supposed to submit to her husband. By extension, this fact indicates that husbands should strive to be like God by not oppressing their wives. Think about how God deals with you individually: that is how a husband should treat his wife! Check out this article for an example of how to apply this principle to illuminate the meaning of a seemingly useless Old Covenant marriage law.

#2 Redemption in the Old Covenant is symbolic of the fact that Christ redeems us from sin.
This one is sort of a no-brainer - Christ is even called our Redeemer many times throughout the Prophets (Isaiah 63)! But when you are reading through the law, it is often presented in very physical circumstances that make it easy to overlook the spiritual significance. First, we must learn the physical meaning of redemption so that we can then have a fuller spiritual understanding of redemption. God declared these laws in order to teach us two important lessons: firstly, that we must be redeemed from sin and, secondly, that Christ is the one who redeems us by His perfect sacrifice. An exposition of how this parallel can help us understand the redeeming of the firstborn of animals can be found here.


#3 Sacrifices are not all referring to Christ! While Christ is symbolized in all of the sacrifices, it's also a fact that all believers are called to give sacrificial offerings in our lives.
Many people assume that the sacrificial system has no value other than to teach us that we needed Christ to be a sacrifice for our sins - WRONG! Indeed, it does teach us that. If you study the sacrifices, every single one does teach you something about the character of Christ, although most people won't even study enough to gain that benefit. In actuality, if you read through the sacrifices in the first few chapters of Leviticus, less than half of the offerings described there are for forgiveness of sin! Furthermore, there are a number of New Testament passages that urge us to offer sacrifices through our actions and how we live our lives (Hebrews 13:16, Romans 12:1). To see how this can open your understanding, here is an article where I applied this reasoning to the grain offering (Leviticus 2) to gain a better perspective of its meaning for our lives today.

#4 The concept of ceremonial cleanliness is intended to show us the imperfection and corruption of our existence as human beings.
Under the Old Covenant, God actually lived among the people of Israel in the tabernacle and, later on, in the temple. Ceremonial cleanliness was required in order to approach God's presence, or else the person approaching would die. People could become ceremonially unclean by their direct actions, such as touching a dead body. Other ways of becoming unclean were completely unavoidable, such as women's periods and certain diseases, which a person had no control over. The New Testament teaches us that our bodies are "sown in corruption," that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God," and that God will give us new bodies that are capable of inheriting eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:42-52). Just as there were ways that a person could make himself unclean by choice as well as ways that a person could become unclean by circumstances beyond their control, so also there are ways that we can consciously disqualify ourselves from God's presence as well as ways that we are inherently alienated from God because of the nature of our physical existence. I am in the process of writing a more detailed article about the significance of ceremonial cleanness, but, in the mean time, here's an article that touches on the related topic of holiness.

Hopefully these tools will help you in your own study. Also, please feel free to share any additional insights that you might have for understanding God's law!

Concerning Unfaithful Wives

If an Israelite man suspected his wife of adultery, then he had the right to have her "tested" by the priests. Numbers 5:11-31 describes this process – yet another ritualistic law that causes most readers to shrug their shoulders in confusion and skip on to the next section.

The NKJV refers to this section of scripture as “Concerning Unfaithful Wives.” A man could bring his wife before the priest any time that he thought she might have been unfaithful to their marriage. This could be done as often as the husband chose, and there was no analogous procedure for women to test their husbands. The priest would take some water and add to it a pinch of dust from the floor of the tabernacle. He would also etch an oath into a clay tablet and then scrape the words off into the water. The woman would swear the oath, which said that she had not committed adultery and that she would be cursed if she had, and then she would drink the “bitter water the brings a curse.” Afterwards, if she had been lying, she would become ill: it says that her stomach would swell and her thigh would rot. While the punishment may seem a bit vague, it was probably some condition associated with barrenness, since, if she were telling the truth, it says that she would be free and allowed to have children.

To understand the purpose of this law, we should consider the symbolism of the biblical institution of marriage. God ordained marriage to be between a man and a woman, and for the woman to be subservient to the man “as to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22). In numerous places throughout the bible, the future relationship of God’s people with Christ is pictured as a marriage, with Christ being the groom and the Church being the bride (Revelation 19:7-9, for example). Human marriage is a “shadow of the things to come” (Hebrews 10:1) - it was created in order to teach us about the relationship that we are supposed to have with God. Likewise, the focus of this particular law was not to help Israelite men catch their adulterous wives – it was pointing to our relationship with (and eventual marriage to) God!

Once we understand this key, the interpretation is simple: God, our future Husband, reserves the right to test us. We have to drink the bitter water of His Word, which comes with a choice between life and death – blessing and cursing. If we have committed spiritual adultery through any form of idolatry, then we will be cursed and cut off from Him. On the other hand, if we are faithful to Him, then we will be blessed and found suitable for marriage. Furthermore, just as in the physical law, our Husband may test us as often as He chooses, and we have no right to test Him in return: He is faithful in all things.

Be Holy, for I am Holy

1 Peter 1:15-16
Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

What does it mean to "be holy?" God actually told to Israelites to "be holy, because I am holy" many times in the course of giving them His law.  I did a study of all of the times that God instructed people to "be holy" in the Old Testament and came up with the scriptures listed below. In each case, the verse was in the midst of specific commands; therefore, I have summarized the context along with the verse in the following list:

If You Will Not Redeem Him

I tend to find that seemingly archaic and useless laws from the Old Covenant tend to have great depth of meaning if we will take the time to think about them and appreciate them. One such law was that the firstborn offspring of any livestock had to be either sacrificed to God or paid for by a sacrifice:

Exodus 34:19-20
All that open the womb are Mine, and every male firstborn among your livestock, whether ox or sheep.  But the firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. And if you will not redeem him, then you shall break his neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed.

Why did the donkey have to be redeemed instead of sacrificed like the ox or sheep?

The Home of Righteousness

Is there such a concept of the “end of the world” found in the bible? Certainly, if you read the book of Revelation, you’ll find terrible plagues that kill the majority of humanity – but it’s not the end of the world. You’ll then find the return of Christ to reign on earth for 1000 years with the saints in Revelation 20, followed by the Great White Throne Judgment… But what happens then? Is that it? Earth over? Everyone goes to either heaven or hell, while earth has outlived its usefulness? Let’s see what God’s Word has to say about the fate of this terrestrial ball:

2 Peter 3:10-12

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 

According to Peter, it sounds like the earth is done for… But, wait a sec, it says “that day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire” – not only no more earth, but no more heaven either?!? Let’s keep reading: 

2 Peter 3:13

But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

AHA! According to the bible, there will be both a new heaven and a new earth – the ones that now exist are going to be destroyed by fire. Not only that – these places will become the “home of righteousness.” Keep in mind that God’s law defines righteousness, and notice what Christ says concerning the coming of the new heaven and new earth:

Matthew 5:17-18

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

The law defines righteousness, and the earth will be purified by fire and made into a dwelling place for men and women who have been made into righteous, spiritual beings who keep God’s law perfectly.

Hebrews 12:26-29

… but now He has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken – that is, created things – so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”

The new heaven and new earth will be the home of righteousness. Righteousness cannot be shaken. Therefore, what kind of people ought we to be?

4 Trendy, Short Christian Videos from Beyond Today

In an effort to make my blogging less formal and more engaging, I've decided to start sharing more of the cool (and relevant) stuff that I come across. For today, check out these videos, produced over the course of the last year by the talented production team at Beyond Today:

The Sanctifying Work of the Spirit

The opening statements in many of the letters of the New Testament always sound the same to me. As I was reading a few days ago, I came to the beginning of 1 Peter and noticed just how dense it is:

1 Peter 1:1-2

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect… who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

As my title may suggest, I'm going to focus on what this says about the Spirit, but first I want to cut through the syntax of these verses and highlight the important points: