THREE KINDS OF DEATH

 

THREE KINDS OF DEATH 

Westminster Shorter Catechism 19

Quest. What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?

Ans. All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under His wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of Hell forever. 

Introduction

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We have already considered the meaning of Original Sin. We saw that Original Sin refers to our corrupt nature that each of us inherits from Adam, which is to say that we are all born with a tendency towards disobedience to God and His Law. And we saw that this Original Sin we each inherit can be traced all the way back to Adam and his first sin. We saw that Adam’s First Sin is simply another name for the Fall of Man. And then we considered the fact that Original Sin produces Actual Sin. In short, we saw that God does not call us sinners because we sin. Rather, the truth of the matter is that we sin because we are sinners. As a bird flies because it is a flier, as a fish swims because it is a swimmer, so fallen man sins because he is a sinner. We saw all of that and more as we considered the estate into which man fell when Adam sinned his first sin.

In the following we’re going to look at the real unhappy subject of the misery of that estate. Now, it’s not all doom and gloom on account of God sending us a Saviour to rescue us from this estate of sin and misery. However, it is necessary, if we are going to give our Lord the honour He is due, to consider the estate from which He redeemed us.

Let’s not lose sight of the fact that God has provided an escape from the trinity of death. The three kinds of death are: 1. Loss of communion with God, i.e., Spiritual Death. 2. Misery in this life and then death, i.e., Physical Death. And 3. Pains of Hell forever, i.e., Eternal Death.

Spiritual Death

When God entered into the covenant with Adam in the Garden He said, “Of every tree in the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17). It’s a fact of history that Adam did eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So we don’t need to go there. But what we need to look at is what happened when Adam ate the forbidden fruit.

First off, we need to acknowledge the fact that Adam died spiritually the very moment he ate of the forbidden fruit. By dying spiritually, we mean that Adam broke his communion with God. We see evidence of this in Genesis 3:8 with Adam and Eve hiding in the bushes from God. If they had perfect communion with God, then why are they hiding from Him? If you keep in mind that our relationship with God is always covenantal you won’t have too much trouble understanding what’s wrong here.

The terms of the covenant agreement were broken by Adam. Therefore, God had every right to inflict the full force of the covenant penalty upon Adam and Eve. However, we see the grace of God in that He came to see, so to speak, the reason for the breach. So, in this we learn that we ought to find out the facts before we take action against anyone who wrongs us. It might be something as simple as a misunderstanding.

But when the LORD, i.e., Jehovah or, if you prefer, Yaweh, inquired about the incident, it was made clear to all parties involved, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, that this was no misunderstanding. We can see this most clearly from what it says in Genesis 3:24, “So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.” So, spiritual death then, is loss of fellowship or communion with God. Spiritual death is to be banished from the benign presence of God.

Now, because Adam and Eve are our first parents this means that all their descendants are born in this spiritually dead condition. Paul, in Ephesians 2:1 calls this “spiritual deadness” being “dead in trespasses and sins.” There is a whole congregation like this mentioned in Revelation 3:1. Jesus says of that church, “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” So, obviously if these people are able to walk around, their deadness must be a spiritual deadness. According to Scripture all of humanity suffers from this same spiritual deadness on account of Adam’s first sin.

The Romans 5:12 passage attests to this, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” So, since you and I and billions of other human beings are walking around, we must conclude that the death referred to is spiritual death, which results in physical death, and that for some, this spiritual then physical death may even result in eternal death (if God does not savingly intervene).

Now, we know that God did intervene on behalf of many spiritually dead people. That is what the Gospel, the Good News, is all about. As the LORD said to Israel through His prophet Isaiah, “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated you from God” (Isa. 59:1-2a).

Spiritual death is your sin separating you from God. But just before we move on, let me remind you of something that happened on the day that Adam (and all mankind) died spiritually. There’s a little verse in Genesis which says, “Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21).

Now, to be sure, if you saw what happened here from a distance, all you would see would be the LORD making clothes of skin and putting them on Adam and Eve. However, in light of the whole rest of Scripture, we take it that the LORD killed an animal, perhaps a sheep, in front of Adam and Eve, and clothed them with its skin. In this we see that not only was there a spiritual death on the day Adam ate the forbidden fruit, but there was also the physical death of a substitute – an animal.

So, we see then the grace of God in that He cared even for these spiritually dead, and therefore rebellious, human beings by clothing them in skins. But, surely in this, He also symbolized, as He did throughout the Old Testament, the Substitutionary Atonement to be performed by the One promised in Genesis 3:15, “He shall bruise your head [i.e. the Serpent], and he, the serpent shall bruise His [i.e. the Promised One’s] heel.”

So, even though all mankind became spiritually dead in Adam’s first sin, the LORD still sounded the note of hope for fallen man by clothing Adam and Eve, thus declaring the first Gospel promise.

Physical Death

The Lord said to Adam after he had sinned, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19). Spiritual death is when your relationship with God is dissolved. Physical death is where your relationship with your own body is dissolved. The final moment of this dissolving occurs when your body dies. Then the body ordinarily goes through a process of dissolution, which is to say that it crumbles back to the dust from whence it was taken.

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To be sure we are more familiar with physical death than we are with spiritual and eternal death. We see physical death around us in the world. We lose loved ones; we hear about physical death in the news. We see dead animals, usually in the form of “roadkill”. And we are reminded of what Adam and Eve probably saw when the LORD clothed them with skins.

Yes, we see physical death in the world. However, we learn about spiritual and eternal death from the Scriptures. Yes, the Scriptures have a lot to say about physical death. But as it is with both spiritual and eternal death, physical death can only be understood through God’s written revelation, i.e., the Scriptures.

Think about it, a Naturalist, or a Darwinist doesn’t understand death the way we do. Why? It’s because unlike us he is still spiritually dead. Physical death is as much a spiritual thing as spiritual and eternal death. For the Scriptures clearly teach that death is a trinity of sorts. There is an interconnection. The one leads to the other, spiritual, then physical, and then eternal – unless God intervenes in the individual’s life. But the point is that unless the LORD intervenes in your life, you will remain spiritually dead until you physically die, and then you will go on dying eternally.

One of the indications that you have been made spiritually alive by God’s grace is that you believe what He says in His Word. He says through His Apostle in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that “spiritual things are spiritually discerned”, to paraphrase a little. Therefore, if you are spiritually dead you will not believe what the Bible says about death. But the Scriptures say that death is what we earn on account of our sin. “The wages of sin is death” in other words. But the rest of that verse goes on to say that “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). Just as there is more to death than the physical dissolution of the body, so there is more to life than just the physical maintaining of the body.

There are spiritual and eternal dimensions to life as well as death. There is spiritual life, physical life, and eternal life. As spiritual deadness brings with it physical deadness and eternal deadness, so spiritual life, brings with it physical life and eternal life. The true Christian, by the grace of God, has escaped the last of the trinity, i.e., eternal death. But the non-Christian receives all three – unless God intervenes on his behalf. But that would make him a true Christian, wouldn’t it?

Ecclesiastes 12:7 is as true for the Christian as the non-Christian, “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit return to God who gave it.” As Job says, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed by the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21b).

So physical death then is the Lord taking you and me away from our bodies.

Eternal Death

Hell is a place of punishment. It is the place of eternal separation from God. It is a place of fiery torment body and soul. It would appear that Jesus, more than anyone in Scripture, spoke of this place. E.g., Matthew 25:46, “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

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Now, the thought of any human being perishing eternally in the fires of Hell is a horrendous picture to the mind of any reasoning person. There’s something about the very thought that repulses us! The mere thought of it has caused some Christian scholars to reject the Bible’s teaching on Hell. But on what basis can they reject it? For instance, if you reject the everlasting punishment in Matthew 25:46 (just quoted above), then upon what basis can you accept the eternal life spoken of there? If there is no everlasting death, then how can you say that there is eternal life? If you say that the everlasting punishment is just figurative, then how can you insist that the eternal life mentioned there is not figurative, but real?

Either everlasting punishment and eternal life are real or they’re not, else we’re back to where the Naturalists are. They say there is no such thing as spiritual life or death, or any such thing as everlasting punishment or eternal life. But they say this because they reject the written revelation of God, i.e., the Bible. But we don’t reject the revelation God has given us in Scripture. Therefore, we believe what God says about Hell as a place of torment.

Hell, then, is the place of everlasting torment for sinners who never repented of their sins against God in this life. We see this everlasting-torment mentioned in Mark’s Gospel where Jesus says, “And if your eye makes you sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire—‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’” (Mark 9:47-48). So, again we see that Hell is a place of fiery torment.

The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus found in Luke 16 testifies to this. “And being in torments in Hades, he [i.e. the Rich Man] lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in the water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’” (Luke 16:23-24). Even if the flames of fire were just used to symbolize the torments of Hell, it would mean that the pains of Hell would be even worse than being in a burning fire!

Speaking to the Thessalonians of the Lord’s return to judge the Apostle Paul says, “Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thess. 1:7-9). The wicked will “be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.” We mentioned earlier that spiritual death is loss of fellowship or communion with God. And that it meant banishment from the benign presence of God. Well, eternal death is eternal banishment from the benign presence of God in Hell.

Now, there’s one last thing under this head we need to note before we tie it all together. Jesus says, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in Hell” (Matt. 10:28). We’ve mentioned already that spiritual death is the disintegration of communion with God. Eternal death is eternal disintegration of communion with God. And we mentioned that physical death was the disintegration of communion between your own body and your own soul/spirit.

Jesus in the Matthew 10:28 verse just quoted is saying that we should fear the One who is able to destroy both body and soul in Hell. This would suggest, would it not, that people in Hell will have their own bodies back? In other words, it allows for the great resurrection of the saved and the unsaved that is to take place on the Last Day – the Day of Judgment. Jesus attests to this where He says, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:28-29).

Conclusion

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We’ve seen that spiritual death results in physical death. But spiritual and physical death do not necessarily result in eternal death. Therefore, there is hope yet for every human being living at this very moment! Yes, all mankind lost communion with God when Adam sinned. Yes, mankind was placed under God’s wrath and curse. Yes, mankind was made liable to all miseries in this life and to death itself. However, not all mankind will suffer the pains of Hell forever. Why? Because “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

May God keep on enabling us to keep on believing in His Son, that we should not keep on perishing but rather keep on having everlasting life. And let us not forget to tell others about the grace of God toward sinners found only in the only Saviour God has provided, even Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ alone by His life, death, and resurrection restores sinners to life, even life everlasting. Jesus alone brings communion with God, removes God’s wrath and curse, brings joy even in this life, and releases us from death and Hell forever.

We’ve asked the question as stated in Westminster Shorter Catechism 19: What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell? And we’ve contemplated something of the answer: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under His wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of Hell forever.