The Lie of the Immortality of the Soul

And I was thinking today of what biblical analogy we can use about coming to services. When we come to services, what is that like? What does that illustrate? Let's go to Ephesians chapter 5. As we are in grief, as we know, there's a lost of a loved one that has taken place.

In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 25, it says, Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.

Let's talk about God's word and how Christ is washing his bride, cleaning her. He says that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. Again, it's not because people are so good and they do things so well. It's again, as it was mentioned in the first message, that thankfully we do have access to that forgiveness through Christ's sacrifice, and he's able to wash us through the word. And so, when we are washed in this way, we are cleansed when we come to services.

It should be like taking a spiritual bath.

Now, I enjoy taking a nice hot shower in the morning. It stimulates, it wakes me up, warms me up. I feel refreshed. You get the soap, you feel clean afterwards, shampoo your hair, and when you're finished, you feel real good. There was a saying which now has to change here in California in this regard. It says, happiness is having a long hot shower, but now it can't be long because we've got to conserve water. So, here in California, happiness is having a nice hot shower, but it has to be pretty short because water is in shortage.

Coming to services should be like taking a nice hot shower with God's word. We are bathed by it, cleansed, should feel spiritually refreshed, and at the same time, now, soap is a bit of an abrasive to remove spots and all kinds of smudges that we might have.

So, we're washed, and as the old style of washing with hyssop, hyssop was a cleansing agent, and so sometimes it's pretty tough. It's a little abrasive, God's word, but it is to clean and get dirt, the spiritual dirt, out of our system. And so, good services are based primarily on this bathing of God's word, and if that's not fulfilled, all the other things that happen are not going to justify and compensate for being washed with God's word. So, that's why we stress, when you come to services, we want to be washed by God's word more than anything else, and that's what we intend to do today. We are studying the lie of the immortality of the soul. It was the first lie recorded in the Bible, and it has been very damaging.

We are so blessed that we don't believe in this lie.

Now, the last time when we covered the Old Testament and what it says about this lie of the immortality of the soul, we started in Genesis 3-4, where Satan told Eve that you're not going to die if you take of that fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was the first lie, and it's interesting what Samuel Bakayoki wrote in his book, which is called Immortality or Resurrection. Very thorough and very good book on the subject. He says, quote, the serpent's lie, you will not die. Genesis 3-4 has lived on throughout human history to our time. Since the time of Augustine, AD 354-420, should be 430, Christians have been taught that between death and resurrection, a period known as the intermediate stage, the souls of the dead either enjoy the beatitude of paradise, looking at God's face, or suffer the affliction of purgatory or hell. Pages 124 and 125. He also states, the belief that at death the souls of the saints ascend to the beatitude of paradise has fostered the Catholic and Orthodox belief in the intercessory role of Mary and of the saints. Here's where this idea that Mary is your mediator and that she's alive and she can get closer to Christ and she can plead your case. He says, if the souls of the saints are in heaven, it is feasible to assume that they can intercede on behalf of needy sinners on this earth. Thus, devout Christians pray to Mary and the saints to intercede on their behalf. I know as a young Catholic, I was taught to pray the rosary and you had prayers. You had one for God, the Lord's Prayer, and you had like five prayers to Mary, and then you went back to the Lord's Prayer and then five more. So all these beads, the big ones, were the ones that you went to the prayer, Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6, and then you had the one with Mary, which was the most numerous. And if you went through the entire rosary and one day, oh, you were going to receive all of these wonderful blessings, I never got to finish it because it took hours to go through that much. Then it goes on to say that such a practice runs contrary to the biblical teaching that, quote, there is one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ, Jesus. We don't have other mediators. That's 1 Timothy 2.5. More important still, if the soul does not survive and cannot function apart from the body, then the whole teaching of the intercessory role of Mary and the saints must be rejected as an ecclesiastical fabrication, something made up by a church, not something found in the Bible. Truly, he says, a reexamination of the biblical view of human nature can have frightening consequences for long-cherished Christian beliefs. So, yes, if you start examining this from the biblical point of view, it can be quite frightening because you might find you're believing the wrong thing.

What about the origin of the immortality of the soul?

Now, after Satan got to Adam and Eve with that first lie, society took that belief out of the paradise, the Garden of Eden, and it spread throughout society. This is what the Jewish Encyclopedia says. It was first taught by the Babylonians and Egyptians and then passed on to the Greeks. Socrates and Plato were famous proponents of this belief of the immortality of the soul. As the Jewish Encyclopedia points out, the belief that the soul continues in existence after the dissolution of the body is a matter of philosophical or theological speculation rather than of simple faith and is, accordingly, nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture. So, they say, you can't find that belief in Holy Scripture. The belief in the immortality of the soul came to the Jews from contact with Greek thought and, chiefly, through the philosophy of Plato, its principal exponent, who was led to it through Orphic and Eleusian mysteries in which Babylonian and Egyptian views were strangely blended. So there you have it, where from Babylon and Egypt, eventually, it came to Greece and then after Alexander the Great conquered that whole area of the Middle East and it was part of the idea, Plato's idea of immortality of the soul, that it reached the nation of Israel. It's interesting if people believe in this immortality of the soul, what that actually means. Notice the implication. This was written by an author called the book, The Doctrine of Endless Punishment by W. G. T. Shedd. He says, But irrepressible and universal as it is, the doctrine of man's immortality is an astonishing one and difficult to entertain. For it means that every frail, finite man, talking about humans, is to be as long enduring as the if infinite and eternal God, that there will be no more an end to the existence of the man who died today than there will be of the deity who made him. God is named the Ancient of Days, Daniel 7. But every immortal spirit that ever dwelt in a human body will also be, quote, an ancient of days. Yes, man must exist. He has no option. Necessity is laid upon him. He cannot extinguish himself. He cannot cease to be. So this is the idea that a person becomes this ancient of days because the immortal soul, there's no way you can extinguish it or put it out.

This is what the idea implies. So now let's go to the New Testament teaching, and it can be summed up in one verse. Well, one passage, I'd say, of Scripture, because there are several verses. 1 Timothy 6, verse 13 through 16. Let's read 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 13 through 16. It says, I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things and before Christ Jesus, who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing, which he will manifest in his own time.

He who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, in whom be honor and everlasting power am. So the idea is that human beings don't have an immortal soul.

God is the only one that inherently has immortality. God can give immortality to others, but only he possesses it as an inherent quality, something innate in him. Notice in Matthew 10, verse 28, Christ said, And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Doesn't say the soul continues on. Talking about here, about a person when they're resurrected, you can be thrown into that lake of fire and die a second death. Man cannot do that, but God can do it. And so he says, fear him who can extinguish a person totally. The parallel scripture is Luke, chapter 12, which has a bit of a different angle, which is important in this regard. Luke, chapter 12, verses 4 and 5. Christ speaking, After a person dies, you can't resurrect the person. You can't make them suffer anymore.

He says, But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell. Talk about the second death. Yes, I say to you, fear him.

So this idea that, no, the soul's going to always live forever is false.

Let's go to a couple more scriptures. John, chapter 5.

John, chapter 5, verse 25.

What did Jesus teach about a person's life? What happens after death? John, chapter 5, verse 25. He says, So it doesn't mean everybody's going to listen, because when Christ comes, those that are in Christ will be resurrected. He says, So it means they're not listening before. They're not immortal souls that are conscious, but that at that time they will be awakened. They have been asleep.

They 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. Now here, that's a long period of judgment that takes place. We know the first resurrection has to take place.

The second resurrection, and then the third resurrection.

He goes on to say in John, chapter 11, when Lazarus died, what did Christ teach about his situation?

Lazarus, John 11, verse 11. He says, These things he said, and after that he said to them, our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I might wake him up. So Lazarus had died.

What is the biblical description? It is that you fall asleep, that you are not conscious.

And then he is going to awaken Lazarus from the dead. And that happened in this very chapter.

He goes on to say, Then his disciples said, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get well.

So they thought, well, he's just resting. But no, it says here, however, Jesus spoke of his death, Lazarus' death, but they thought that he was speaking about taking rest and sleep.

Then Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him.

And then it goes on to say, verse 17. So when Jesus came, he found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away, and many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brethren. So there's a natural time of loss. They're comforting, helping to console the family.

And then it says, then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him. But Mary was sitting in the house. And so, of course, they had been thinking, oh, please, they wanted Jesus Christ to come. And he delayed and Lazarus died. That must have shocked them, because they thought, well, if he just came, he could be resurrected or healed.

So, of course, Martha admonished Christ. Verse 20, then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him. But Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And so that was a little bit of a censure, a little bit of a correction. Why did you take so long? You knew he was sick. Why did you wait?

So that was a natural reaction of disappointment. But then it shows what kind of faith she had. He says, but even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Talk about God the Father. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. He says, well, he will awaken again.

Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

So here's a teaching. Martha and Mary had been taught by Christ for several years now.

And she knew that you don't have an immortal soul, that this was something that was going to happen in the future, the resurrection of the just. And so she thought that was what Jesus Christ was alluding to. But Jesus corrected her and Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. As he had previously said, God has given him that authority to resurrect the dead. Verse 26, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Talking about the in the future with a resurrection, you're going to have eternal life one day. Do you believe this? She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world. And then, of course, he resurrected Lazarus. But again, there's no Greek or Babylonian or Egyptian idea that this soul, Lazarus's soul, is floating out there and that he's conscious. Not at all. He's asleep. And so any person that looks carefully at the Bible will see what God taught, that you need to have a resurrection, that you go into an unconscious state after death. You don't have to worry about being in hell and being tormented or in purgatory at all. Notice in verse 20, 23. Did I read that? Yes. Okay.

So now we go to Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16. And this is a passage that I want to cover because some people say, well, how about Lazarus and the rich man? Doesn't that show that there is such a thing as an immortal soul? And that's one of the proof texts that they teach about the immortality of the soul. So let's cover Luke chapter 16 starting in verse 14. This is important because it sets up the reason Jesus gives this parable. It says in verse 14 of Luke 16, Now the Pharisees who were lovers of money also heard all these things and they derided him.

So they were making mockery of him. Now here these Pharisees were lovers of money. So they were very covetous of having a lot of material wealth. And since they saw him and he didn't have much material wealth, they looked down on him. But Jesus Christ warned them that if you make money into an idol, if you start becoming a lover or covetous of money, you can lose your opportunity for eternal life.

Verse 15, And he said to them, You are those who justify yourselves before men.

But God knows your hearts, for what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. So basically they had sold themselves out to getting rich, having a lot of material wealth, and they're willing to do almost anything to acquire that.

Verse 16, He says, The law and the prophets were until John.

Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is pressing into it, and it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fall. That's the smallest part of a letter in the Hebrew. And then he goes on in verse 19.

He gives this because of the covetousness. And so he talks about a rich man. Now the Pharisees knew that the rich man was going to be able to have a lot of material things and enjoy life and have partying with his their friends. And so he warns them if they are putting their riches before God, they might not enter the kingdom of God. So he says in verse 19, There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple, which is very expensive in those days, and fine linen had the best clothing and fared sumptuously every day. So this man had enough money that he could just have a banquet every day. But there were there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores, which is very common to do.

Dogs do that. So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom.

The rich man also died and was buried and being in torments in Hades, which is the term for the grave. He 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 water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. The lake of fire is right in front of him. The Bible talks and Jesus emphasized about there's going to be gnashing of teeth, there's going to be weeping, there's going to be all kinds of situations when people face that lake of fire and the second death. So here the rich man had been resurrected, but it was a resurrection to condemnation, which Christ had already mentioned. So this man is not in the flames because what would a drop of water do if you're in the flames? Nothing. But what happened was, just like it happens before in execution, your saliva goes dry.

And you've ever been in a very scary moment? You remember your saliva glands shut down, and your mouth becomes very dry. So he's there, and he just wants to moisten his mouth and his tongue.

And then in verse 25, Abraham was part of the first resurrection, and he was there for the second resurrection because those are the ones who died without Christ.

So he went through that period of time, and now they are in what we call the third resurrection, which is of the incorrigibly wicked. Those who are not going to change, those who just went beyond the line, they went beyond any type of redeemable condition, they can't be brought back.

They have actually damaged their own conscience to that point. And so Abraham said, "'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted, and you are tormented.' So Lazarus, in this indication, would have been in the second resurrection. Of course, Lazarus was a poor man. He probably didn't even know how to read, and he died. But he does have a chance. And in the second resurrection, when he woke up, the book of life was open, and he was able to repent, and to be converted, and to receive God's Spirit, and receive the resurrection of the just. And so Lazarus is there with Abraham. You know, Abraham's bosom is a very intimate type of situation where you are all friends, you're all together. This is the family of the faith that are on one side, and these on the other side are the ones that are going to be cast into that lake of fire. And so he says, verse 26, And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us. Now some of these people, they're going to have relatives that they're going to be thrown in the lake of fire, and you feel for them, and you'd like to come and comfort them. But the gap, the lake of fire is there, and there's no way back from that. And so it says here, verse 27, then he said, I beg you therefore, Father, that you would send him, talking about Lazarus, to my father's house. For I have five brothers that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment, which is the lake of fire.

Abraham said to him, they have Moses and the prophets. They have the Bible. They have God's Word.

Let them hear them. And he said, No, Father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent, showing that they were sinners, that they were worldly. But he said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, in other words, the scriptures, neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead, which means the incorrigibly wicked. They cannot be corrected. And so he basically says, look, it's up to them to avoid that. While they are alive. So again, this parable doesn't have to do with immortality of the soul. It doesn't talk about Lazarus being an immortal soul and being in this intermediate stage. No, it talks about that Lazarus was able to enter into the bosom of Abraham or the family of faith. And we see in Revelation the whole sequence of when people get resurrected. So people that have not been called in this life, they will have an opportunity in the second resurrection. But be forewarned as well.

There are people that go beyond the limits that they have cauterized and they have damaged their conscience. Now, we're talking about people that are really horrible. You know, I think in the news you've heard about people getting tortured to death. And this is what happened many times during World War II in places like Nazi Germany and also in the Soviet Union, where people were just systematically tortured. It wasn't just one. It was not a hundred, not even thousands, but millions of people were tortured. Now, some of those men probably will be in the situation as Lazarus person here, the rich man, because not Lazarus, because he's fine. But I'm talking about the rich man in this parable of Lazarus and the rich man that it shows people can just be so cruel.

Here, what did it cost you to take up in one day all that basket of fallen crumbs that you're going to throw in the garbage and at least go and say, give it to this poor, starving man outside.

But this happened day after day. They never even thought about that starving man.

And that was basically given to the dogs or thrown as garbage. When you become so insensitive to people's needs, you can actually destroy your own conscience. I always remember in one of the books by Solzhenitsyn, who was this Russian prisoner, and he won the Nobel Prize of Literature. And there was one that was called, I think it was called the Seventh Circle, where he talks about where he was in one of those concentration camps. And he would watch as these torturers came to a point where they never even felt pangs of guilt. They actually began to enjoy torturing others. There was no conscience pangs. There was no remorse. They loved it at a chance. And he said something happened to them when that that he witnessed a change in them. They were no longer like human beings. They were just like sadistic beasts. Something happened to turn them from a human being into a sadistic beast.

And here again we have a case of someone ending up in the lake of fire because he just didn't care about the other starving person in front of them. There are a lot of tests in life that show us where our heart is. And these are like a pilot test that you just you're tested. Are you caring? Or are you the one that said, I don't care for that person. I'm having a wonderful time. I'm eating all I can, but that starving person, I'm not going to give him a crumb. If that becomes your mentality and that becomes your character, it will be unto you because you're falling into the same sin as the rich man here. So let's continue. In Acts we go from the Gospels to the book of Acts.

Acts chapter 2. We briefly covered this last week, but I didn't use this scripture.

And it's important. Acts chapter 2 verse 29. This was the first sermon that Peter was giving at Pentecost. And he says, Man and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his body, a descendant, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne. He, for saying this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades or the grave, nor did his flesh see corruption. It was only three days and three nights. This Jesus, God raised up, of which we are all witnesses. But he says this prophecy was not about David. David is still asleep. He has not woken from the sleep of death. But Jesus Christ was. Notice in Acts chapter 13, verse 36. Acts 13, verse 36. It says, For David, again, the same subject before we read in chapter two, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep.

So it doesn't say, well, he's there with a resurrected, immortal soul. He says he was buried with his fathers and saw corruption. His body decomposed. But he whom God raised up saw no corruption. Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. So again, it talks very clearly here about what happens to the dead. David is still, his tomb is there. He's still not awoken from death. In Acts chapter 23 verse 6, it says, But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees, talking about here his trial, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead. I am being judged. And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. For Sadducees say there is no resurrection and no angel or spirit, but the Pharisees confess both. So the Sadducees, a king, had come to the conclusion that the person didn't have a resurrection, but the Pharisees did. And so Paul cleverly used it to be able to divide those that were attacking him. But the point is, he says, I believe in the resurrection of the dead. And he's not talking here about the immortality of the soul. They would have all been against him then. Let's go to the epistles real quickly. 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

Notice how many times the description of the dead being asleep is mentioned here. 1 Corinthians 15, which of course is known as the resurrection chapter, in verse 6, talking about Jesus Christ after he was resurrected. He says, after that he was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained to the present. So they were witnesses still alive at that time. But some have fallen asleep. Doesn't say they are witnessing with their immortal soul. No, they have fallen asleep. Notice verse 18 of the same chapter. It says, then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. So what do you do? If you remember, you have God's Spirit, you fall asleep in Christ. In verse 20 it says, but now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of the first person of those who have fallen asleep. Christ himself fell asleep. He was unconscious for those three days and three nights. It says, the firstfruits are those who have fallen asleep. So just like Jesus Christ falls asleep when he dies, so will we. In verse 50 of this chapter it says, now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. So there's nothing in us that can inherit that immortal state. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.

When? When you die? That your soul is alive? No, it says here, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead, not those with immortal souls, will be raised incorruptible. And we shall be changed, for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. That's something that is a gift from God. It is given by God. It's not something intrinsic in the person. So that so when this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting?

O Hades, where is your victory? Talk about the tomb. And there is a sting in death. When a person dies this way, it stings everybody that loved that person. It's deep. It grieves the person when they go through something like this. But that sting of death one day will no longer be there.

The sting of death is sin. That's the penalty. And the strength of sin is the law, which condemns us. But things be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. What you're doing is going to be so rewarding in the future.

Let's go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

Verse 13, it says, But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep. How many times have we read that?

They go unconscious, lest your sorrow, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. All these descriptions, talk about people that have God's Spirit, they sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you, by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. So they're still asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. So again, people have been asleep. They will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. That's when the wedding feast takes place. He comes, prepares the wedding feast, and the big banquet, and we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. And we know that future resurrection does comfort us, and that person has not been lost.

It's just a temporary loss that we have, and we're going to be able to see them in a much better world. They're going to be completely healed. They're going to not have Satan there to tempt them anymore when that second resurrection takes place. So we want to cover one more scripture here in Epistles, 2 Timothy 4, verses 5 through 8. Paul says in 2 Timothy 4, 5 through 8, says, It's going to die as a sacrifice to God.

Finally, So it's when he comes back that Paul will be resurrected, and he will be given that crown of life, and not only to him, but to all who have been faithful. So we have just one book left.

That's the book of Revelation. Let's go quickly there. Revelation chapter 2, verse 7. What does Revelation talk about? That happens to a person after death.

Christ is encouraging the church, he says in verse 7, He says, And so he says, I'm going to give you that immortality in the future. In verse 11 of this same chapter, he says, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. So you'll already have eternal life. You won't ever have to worry about facing that lake of fire and dying for a second time. In Revelation 3, verse 5, it says, So he says that there's a book of life, which is the book where a person has the right to be resurrected, to receive eternal life. But it says here that you can be blotted from that book of life. And so a person doesn't automatically have that salvation assured. You have to endure to the end. You have to persevere. Notice in Revelation chapter 20, in verse 4, this is after Christ returns, and the resurrection takes place. In Revelation chapter 4, it says, And I saw thrones. So there are positions here of authority under Christ, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. So they're there to judge during the millennium, there to determine and govern under Christ. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded, for their witness, and these resurrected saints who had suffered martyrdom and also those who had suffered for the Word of God, being persecuted for following the Word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their forehands or on their hands.

They had not been tainted with false doctrine, and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again. This is an emphasis. What happens to those people that are not resurrected in the first resurrection? Where are they? Are they mortal souls that are conscious? No, the rest of the dead did not live again. So they were not conscious again until the thousand years were finished.

This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power. You don't have to worry about that lake of fire and that second death, but they shall be priests of God and of priests of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. And then we have what happens with the rest of the dead. After the thousand years, they are resurrected. In verse 11, then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, just every human being who did not receive God's Spirit, was not called, was not part of the first resurrection, standing before God. So now the rest of the dead came, became alive. They're standing. They're not lying down. And books were open, and another book was open, which is the Book of Life. This is the opportunity. There in Philippians 4.3 it says that members now have the chance to have their names in the Book of Life.

Well, these people, they didn't get a chance to do that, but they will then. The Book of Life is open to them because now their names can be inscribed. There is a chance of repentance, of understanding the truth, of removing the veil of deceit.

And one of the great deceptions is this idea of the immortality of the soul. And it goes on to say, And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books, talking about God's Word. Yes, just like we are all guilty, and we admit it, and we go before God, we repent, we change, we accept Jesus Christ's sacrifice, and then we are cleansed. These people, they're going to have that opportunity. But then there's another group, verse 13, the sea gave up the dead. So this is another group. And death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one according to his works.

The book of life is not open for them. And so it says, verse 14, Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. No more death is going to happen once this judgment is completed. This is the second death. People die for a second time, and anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. That's what happened to this rich man.

He did not have his name written in the book of life. And so in chapter 21, finishing up here in verse three, when the new Jerusalem comes, it says, And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death is not something pleasant. Some people died in very tragic and instantaneous ways, but here God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain. All these different diseases with a lot of pain involved, that's going to all end. For the former things have passed away. All that had to do with man's sin, Satan's rebellion, all of that will be part of the past. Then he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. So there's a new stage much better than this present earth in which we're living in. So God is going to give these people an opportunity, reveal to them his precious truths, and then God's plan is going to be carried out.

And no one will, in the millennium, in God's kingdom, is going to believe in this silly and dumb idea of the immortality of the soul.

So brethren, hopefully we've all been bathed in God's word today. We should be very thankful for this wonderful understanding. For one day, all peoples will know the truth about this false thought.