The Bible says:
“There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.”
— Ecclesiastes 8: 8
Death is a reality. We all know we can’t beat death.
“The living know that they shall die.”
— Ecclesiastes 9: 5
We’re all at war with death. Our arsenal against death is rows upon rows of medicines, vitamins, gym membership, herbs and potions. But regardless of all we do to push death back we eventually come face to face with it and feel it's cold embrace.
James describes death as the body without the spirit:
“The body without the spirit is dead.”
— James 2: 26
The spirit of man leaves the body of man when the body dies. There is no such thing as a dead person or spirit, there are only dead bodies.
Every person that has ever lived is alive today in either Heaven or Hell even though their body is in a grave somewhere.
The spirit of man, the person himself leaves the body when the body is so destroyed that it cannot function well enough to animate the life of the spirit.
We could beat death if at the time of death, we had the power to retain or keep our spirit from leaving our body. We would have the quantity of life but no quality of life.
Paul informs us while we’re alive our spirit is subject to us.
“The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.”
— 1 Corinthians 14; 32
And Solomon tells us
we can control our spirit.
(Proverbs 16: 32; 25: 28) We decide in our inner man what we’re going to say and do and then through our body which is servant to the spirit we act.
But at death our spirit must leave, and we are transported to another realm, another condition of existence.
If we’re saved our spirit goes to Heaven to be with Jesus (2 Corinthians 5: 8), but if we’re lost, we’re driven by demons into Hell. (Job 18: 18, 21) There is no discharge in this war against death. Wickedness is not strong enough to deliver from death.
Only the righteousness of God that is given through faith in Jesus Christ can deliver from death. (John 3: 16; 1 Corinthians 15: 54-58; Revelations 2: 11)
James H. Cagle is a Ray City resident who pastored several churches for a total of 11 years. Email him at pastorjameshcagle@ yahoo.c
om.
