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Three Deaths

by Jerry Ousley  
4/28/2016 / Christian Living

Even though we don't think about it much death is a fascination to us. We certainly dread it, and many of us fear it. I completely understand that because it is an unknown; we don't have any idea of what to expect exactly. We've heard of death experiences where people have claimed to see an extremely bright light and that could be possible. I haven't experienced it so I have no right to pass judgment on that.

It so fascinates us that we've coined certain phrases that include death. For instance, "I love you to death," could have originally been "I love you till death." What about "you worry me to death" or "I could just hug you to death!" Of course we don't mean any of those things literally. They are a figure of speech.

My own grandmother was a great warrior for the Lord. With everything in her she wanted to be with Him after death. But even though she was such a great Christian she still feared death. Who of us really wants to die?

Her time finally came after ninety-seven years of life. I remember looking down upon her in the coffin. She had been so good to me and I loved her with everything in me. She had been like a second mother and I had even lived with her for awhile. While viewing her I thought of the times when Jesus had raised others to life. There was the daughter of Jairus, of course our Lord's own friend Lazarus, and the young man in the funeral procession. He had restored life to all of these. As I thought about this it occurred to me, "If you just had enough faith you could call upon the Lord, speak the words and He could raise grandma up too." But I didn't think about it very long. I remembered how much she had wanted to go to Heaven but also how much she had feared death. It was finally over for her and she was in Heaven where she wanted to be. If I had spoken those words and been successful that dear little lady would have beaten me half to death! So I left things alone.

In our existence there are really three forms of death. We must first remember that death is literally a separation. Those three deaths are Spiritual Death, Physical Death and Eternal Death.

Spiritual death occurs when we are separated from God. All of us have experienced this form of death. Because of sin in this world we are hopelessly separated from God in ourselves. Our sin prevents us from being restored to Him. Of course, He sent His own Son, Jesus Christ into the world to die as the ultimate sacrifice for sin making the way for us to repent, believe in Him and thus conquer Spiritual death. When the Lord, Jesus Christ comes into our lives by way of the Holy Spirit we are brought back to life spiritually and are restored again to God.

The second death is physical death. This is the one we most often think about when we use the word "death." It is the separation of our spirits from our bodies. Our spirit goes on in existence while our body lies lifeless without the spirit and soul. It decays and returns to dust just as the Bible says. We are also separated from those we love here on earth although if we and they have accepted Christ we can be rejoined in Heaven. Physical death is really the most temporal of the three deaths.

Finally, the third death is eternal death. This is the most horrible form of separation imaginable to man. The body is separated from the spirit and soul, we are separated from our loved ones but the most horrible part is that we are eternally and forever separated from God. In this death our existence never stops. Those dying without the Lord in their lives will experience the pains, fears, and everything else associated with death, not just for a moment, an hour or a day, but forever.

Aside from being alive when the Lord returns to rapture His Church, we will all one day experience physical death. We have all experienced spiritual death. But we can escape the worst death of all Eternal death, if we will only accept Jesus Christ, His grace, and His provision that He made at Calvary. Let Him in today. He will not only free you from spiritual death, but He will protect you through physical death and will keep you away from eternal death, replacing it with eternal life with Him. The answer to Job's question in Job 14:14, "If a man dies, shall he live again?" is a resounding, "YES!"

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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