Everlasting

Jesus told Nicodemus, "'Whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life'" (Jn 3:15). Jesus told them, "'I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish'" (10:28). He offers it since he "alone has immortality" (1Ti 6:16). "The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Ro 6:23). Why was the offer made in this way? Was life so miserable that any possibility of escape appealed to people? Consequently, Jesus "through death . . . [did] release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb 2:14-15). "The wages of sin is death" (Ro 6:23). Jesus paid the price of redemption but you have to accept the gift to have eternal life. He told them, "'If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins'" (Jn 8:24). He said that the ones who reject the offer "'will go away to everlasting punishment, but the righteous to eternal life'" (Mt 25:46). "Those who do not obey the gospel . . . shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord" (2Th 1:9). Spiritual death is separation from God. Jesus told them, "'It is better for you to enter into life maimed . . . [than] to go to hell into the fire that shall never be quenched'" (Mk 9:43). In verse 48 Jesus equates their condition to "'the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me, for their worm does not die'" (Isa 66:24). The "worm" refers to man's eternal spirit. Does that imply that when God creates a person it is on a permanent basis such that those who accept salvation go on to heaven and those who reject it spend eternity separated from God? In Jesus' parable both Lazarus and the rich man died. The latter "'being in torments in Hades . . . saw Abraham afar off'" (Lk 16:23) and was told "'between us and you there is a great gulf fixed'" (:26). He was warned, "'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead'" (:31).

Jesus stated, "'Fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell'" (Mt 10:28). However, the spirit transcends the flesh. Jesus "being put to death in the flesh" (1Pe 3:18) "through the eternal Spirit offered Himself" (Heb 9:14). "With the heart a person believes" (Ro 10:10) which is the "inner man" (Eph 3:16). Man is composed of "spirit and soul and body" (1Th 5:23). "The Lord God formed man of dust from the ground" (Ge 2:7) which is the body. The brain is a physical organ and we make decisions with our intellect. But you "believe in your heart" (Ro 10:9) which is from another capacity. That source is from when God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being" (Ge 2:7). Job said the "'Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life'" (Job 33:4). You could limit God's creation if you only considered Solomon saying "they all have the same breath" (Ecc 3:19) or Isaiah stating, "Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils" (Isa 2:22). But a distinction is made by Solomon saying, "Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth?" (Ecc 3:22). He says "man goes to his eternal home" (12:5) and "the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it" (:7). Zechariah states that it is the Lord who "forms the spirit of man within him" (Zec 12:1). He is the "Father of spirits" (Heb 12:9). Moses referred to the Lord as "the God of the spirits of all flesh" (Num 27:16). Jesus "became a life-giving spirit" (1Co 15:45) and "breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit'" (Jn 20:22). Therefore be careful of an "unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God" (Heb 3:12).