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Bible Answers: Understanding Spirits – What is Spirit Life and Spirit Death – Do Babies in the Womb that Die Go to Heaven?

(Ver 1.1) This is a Bible response to some awesome reader questions, concerning spiritual life and death. This may be one of the most important Bible lessons you can find on this website. There are too many Christians that are unlearned in spiritual basic truths. It is interesting that there has been growing number of unsaved people in the world that know more than a lot of Christians about spirits, but primarily the evil spirit Satan. There has been a growing worship of evil spirits, but my God is greater than all of these.

Christians today, need to know and understand that they are a “spirit” first and a human body “last”. This helps us identify and change our priority of focus. We also need to know our enemy is a “spirit” also and this helps us know how to deal with Satan. But most importantly we need to know about the Greatest and Most High Spirit that is God who created us all and trust Him to help us get through all of life’s unplanned events. Therefore, the reason for this Bible lesson.

A certain reader asks some very deep and relevant questions concerning the meaning of spiritual life and death. Here were the basic questions:

  1. Where does the human spirit come from?
  2. Is there “spirit life” in a human, and if so,
  3. When does spirit life begin?
  4. Is there “spirit death” and, what is it?
  5. and if spirit death exists, when did or does it occur?

From these questions about spirit life and death, we can also derive some other fundamental implied questions that many Christians are asking about today. There are countless numbers of women and men today that have known or personally experienced the death of an unborn child. Whether this was the intentional murder of the child through abortion, or an unintended miscarriage or other unexpected birth complication, we are going to answer these and other questions using only the Bible, which is the Word of God (Mat 4:4), also called the Word of Truth (2 Cor 6:7). Here are the applicable questions that come from the reader’s questions that will also be answered today:

  1. “Does a child that died in the womb, have a spirit?”
  2. “Was a child that died in the womb or out of the womb spiritually alive?”
  3. “Does a child’s spirit that died naturally or was killed intentionally, go to heaven or to hell, or just cease to exist?”

These are all great and thoughtful questions. It must be stated first that I do not desire to give my thoughts, or opinions on anything of this extreme importance, if possible. I will try to avoid sharing my thoughts because my opinions are as worthless as anyone else’s. However, I will share what the Spirit of God has taught me about this subject today based upon the Word of God.

I will also share with everyone at least one key God life experience. This relevant experience is the fact that my wife had a miscarriage over 30 years ago. This was a traumatic unexpected experience for us both. This occurred at a time when I had felt like the LORD had said He would give us another child. My wife had a difficult and drawn-out time of not getting pregnant. But it finally came to pass, and we both felt happy that God had answered.

However, an unexpected miscarriage was a shocking and saddening surprise. There is not much anyone can do once the conceived baby passes and is lost. This pregnancy had ended. It took years of Bible study and listening to the Holy Spirit to try to figure out what had happened and if we would ever see this child again.

It was only in the last few years that God gave me a dream about this loss. I saw a vision of this child in heaven. I saw it was a little girl. From this dream we can have confidence that children that die prematurely can be assured to be seen again in heaven.

However, this night vision while it was a great reassuring comfort, is not sufficient evidence and still must be further confirmed by what God has already taught us from His Word. Therefore, today we will use the Word of God to be assured and confident that unborn children go to heaven, and not by us just experiencing a night vision only. If you are ready to learn what the Word of God says on this essential subject concerning understanding spirits, and their life and death, let us open our Bibles and study.

Introduction to Spirit Basics

We will begin learning the spiritual basics with the straightforward question, “Are spirits eternal”? We will begin to understand this answer by first observing God’s revealed Spirit characteristics:

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The most fundamental truth about God is found in this verse of John. Here it is revealed that God is a “Spirit”. This establishes the foundation for knowing all other truths about God. This means God before creating the natural universe in Genesis 1:1, existed only in an unseen Spirit form and dimension.

But this verse also establishes that humans must worship God in spirit and in truth. This is your first clue that humans have a spirit, but it also reveals a lot of humans are not aware enough to know about their own spirit. Now let us look at the revealed nature of God’s Spirit:

Psa 90:2  Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God

This is a very plainly stated verse that God existed before the universe was created and will still be God after it. Therefore, God is clearly described to have existed from everlasting to everlasting, claiming God Spirit is an eternal Spirit. This is very logical to understand because time was not created until Genesis 1:1 also. But we will look at another verse to confirm His eternal existence:

1Ti 1:17  Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

We have now observed references from both the Hebrew Old Covenant and the Greek New Covenant that the Spirit of God is eternal. This means God’s Spirit will never cease to exist. It also implies that God’s Spirit has no beginning nor any ending. Therefore, we learn it is impossible for God’s Spirit to cease to exist, die a death, or to be destroyed.

Hence, we have established a basic truth about the Creator God of the heaven and the earth being an everlasting Spirit, without beginning and without end. But this is different apparently from all other spirits that are mentioned in the Bible. This is because the Bible reveals to us that humans and angels have a single point of origination that causes their existence.

Whether we call this a spirit birth (Jn 3:3), or a spirit creation event (Deu 4:32), or some other term, these types of spirit beginnings certainly happened. We will now continue with the “first man” named Adam and when and where his spirit came from.

Gen 2:7  And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Let us establish a few other essential spirit basics on this subject from Genesis. The Eternal Spirit of God formed the physical body of Adam from the dirt of the ground. Then as we can observe in Genesis 2, God breathed into the nostrils the “breath” of life and the man became a living soul (Gen 2:7). From these stated truths we learn the body of man was made and formed from pre-existing created red “clay” soil before there was a spirit or life present in the body.

God says very specifically that man’s body was “formed” from this previously created earth substance. The Hebrew word H3335 translated as “formed” describes the work of a “potter” that is squeezing wet clay to make Adam’s human form. This means this work of God was extremely personal and hands on. It also demonstrates divine artistic design and composition.

Even modern science can find and name the basic dirt-like characteristics of the human body. Just some of the significant elements found in the human body are elements like “oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorous”. But there are also found trace elements of minerals like iron, iodine, zinc, fluoride, selenium, copper, chromium, etc. All these elements and minerals can be found in basic earth composition. Yet none of it is “alive” in and of themselves alone. Uh oh!

Therefore, after completion of forming Adam’s body from dirt, he only had a lifeless human shell that had no spirit or any ability to live. We know from reading James 2:7, “that the human body without the spirit is dead”. Therefore, the body of Adam was a lifeless corpse until God breathed into him a spirit that came from God’s breath (Spirit)!

This Hebrew word H5397 translated as “breathed” is a word that comes from a root word meaning “to blow” as exhaling a strong wind of air. This is difficult for some to comprehend since God is not a man (Num 23:19) that has natural lungs to exhale from. Also, as we have seen He is clearly described to be only a Spirit in John 4:24. Therefore, we can easily conclude that Adam’s “life” source and his internal “spirit” came from the eternal Spirit of God.

In fact, Adam’s blood also came from this breathing out of the Spirit of God. How do we know Adam’s blood came from God? We can know this for several reasons, but we will begin by knowing that it was necessary for the “Blood of God” in the body of Jesus, hanging on a cross, that was required to pay for the sins of humans.

God says in Hebrews that it was impossible for the blood of created bulls and goats to pay the debt of man’s sins (Heb 10:4). This verse proves that sinless created animal blood was not sufficient payment for the debt of human sin. This literally means man’s blood was of a much higher value than all other created beings and can only point us to Adam’s blood having come from God.

This fact makes the redemption of humans a very costly purchase price as we can read in 1 Peter 1:19. This verse says that our redemption required the precious blood of Jesus to buy us back, indicating the loss that was given away when the first Adam sinned, was of such great value to God, that it was enough for Him to die personally for us to get us back. This fact demonstrates God’s immense love for His created human children.

The second reason we know Adam’s blood was from God is found in Leviticus 17:11. In this verse of the Law, God reveals the life of the flesh is in the “blood”. Therefore, if Adam had no life before God breathed into his nostrils a spirit, he also had no blood, or he would have been alive already, like all other created animals. You do understand that no other created animals have a spirit? Not a fish, not a bird, and no other land mammal has a spirit. Nothing was made in the likeness and image of God except for “man” (Genesis 1:26). This simply means Adam was not created like animals and that both the “spirit” and the “blood” had to enter Adam’s body for scripture to be truthful.

The third reason is the name that God gave to “Adam”. This name is comprised of three Hebrew alphabet letters. The first is the letter “Alef” and in the ancient Hebrew lettering is an image of an ox, a strong symbol of God. The next two Hebrews letters is the combined “Dalet” + “Mem”. These two letters spell the Hebrew word we translate as “blood”. Therefore, combining these meanings, we have the hidden message from God that Adam means “God’s blood”. Wow! That is amazing!

What we have just discovered is that Adam’s spirit originated as a gift from God. Without God there would have been no life in the formed body of the man. Therefore, what kind of life did Adam have in his spirit after creation? It had to be God’s sinless Spirit that held His nature of eternal life, the man being made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26). God is also perfect in purity and holiness (1 Pet 1:16), and this was also transferred to Adam by God’s Spirit breath. This was God’s original design for man and as we know after Adam “sinned” this caused a new problem for God to solve.

We have quickly established the human beginning of the first man was God giving Adam, His own life, spirit, and blood. But let us now look at some verses concerning an angelic beginning point next:

Eze 28:12  Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

Eze 28:13  Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

Eze 28:14  Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Eze 28:15  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

These are an essential set of verses to learn and know. They are written by a prophet of God, that viewed some long past ancient events that transpired before humans were created. These verses are speaking of only one angel in particular named “Lucifer” who is further described in Isaiah 14. This description reveals this being was angelic in nature, being called an anointed “Cherub” in verse 14. This being was certainly created as revealed in verses 13 and 15. We have discovered angels were created. This information teaches us clearly that angels were not in the eternal everlasting past, like God’s Spirit was. But rather that they were also created beings with a very specific beginning point, like the first man Adam. We have confirmed that Adam had a spirit, so now let us confirm angels are also spirit beings:

Heb 1:13  But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?

Heb 1:14  Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

This verse teaches us that angels were created by God to have “spirits” and that they were designed by God to minister to those that are heirs of salvation. Therefore, these angelic beings have spirits. But what about a physical body like the created man? Are they bodiless or do they have an everlasting physical body housing their spirit? If they have a body, are they everlasting or are they mortal, like man?

This would take a lot to answer these questions completely. But please understand that angels do have physical bodies. We know this because of several stories found in the Bible. For example, please see what Psalms 78:24-25 says. In this verse God claims the manna that He sent down from heaven for the children of Israel to eat in the wilderness was made from heavenly corn that God called angel food. If humans and angels can eat the same bread, this shows us that they are both designed with very similar body types. Therefore, there are important similarities and differences to the bodies of angels and humans and they both were designed as internal “spirit” containers.

Hopefully we will confirm whether these created human and angelic “spirits” have an ending point soon. But for now, the assumption appears to teach us that man and angel spirits have no ending of their spiritual life/existence since their spirits came from God the Eternal Creator Father of spirits (Heb 12:9).

Let us now shift to a very important new subject within our main subject of “spirits”, called “sin” and find its effect upon angels and humans. We will begin with the subject of angel spirits first because they existed before human spirits. If you did not know this fact, it is revealed to us in Job 38:7. In this verse God reveals when the earth and heaven was created, “the morning star sang (Lucifer) and the sons of God (angels) all shouted for joy”. Notice what God writes to us about Lucifer in the account of Ezekiel:

Eze 28:15  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

This verse reveals when Lucifer was created (began to spiritually exist and be alive in a body), he was absolutely created as perfect and without flaws. But then God writes “iniquity” was found and this was a major problem for God, causing God to speak some very profound prophecies.

Eze 28:16  By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

This is an amazing verse of information concerning Lucifer the created anointed cherub. Notice this verse further names him to be a “sinner” that is filled with violence. But God then begins to reveal His plans for this angel. God says, “I will cast you out as profane out of the “mountain” of God. First understand “mountains are significant symbols for governments, like God’s Heavenly Kingdom”. Therefore, God is prophesying the future removal of Satan (Lucifer turned into God’s adversary named Satan) to be cast down and out from the Kingdom of God.

This is your first clue to the concept of spirit “separation”. This would be defined as God removing a sinner from His Holy presence. Whenever God says He will cast Lucifer out, indicates that this means this will be a coming event, and that it did not happen instantly when Lucifer sinned. This also strongly implies to us that Lucifer has a right to be in God’s presence for him to be forcibly cast out. Why would God allow Lucifer to stay in His presence? Here is one potential good reason:

Eze 28:13  Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created

Here we find Lucifer being described to be covered with stones. These 9 stones mentioned can be found on the High Priest’s breastplate that Moses made for God’s earthly tabernacle. This strongly implies Lucifer was the High Priest of the Heavenly temple. If you did not know there was a heavenly temple, please take the time to read the book of Hebrews. God plainly states that Moses’ temple was patterned after the heavenly one.

Just this information alone implies a lot. First there is never a mention of Satan ever being “destroyed” as in our definition of obliterated never to exist. The Hebrew word in Ezekiel 28:16 that is translated as “destroy” is “H6” and this word simply means to be “separated from”. In fact, this Hebrew word is spelled “Alef” + “Beyt” + “Dalet” and placing the ancient Hebrew letter meanings together appear to say to us “God’s House has a “Door”. This door in God’s house swings two ways. One way is for an “Entrance” and the other way is for an “Exit”. Guess which way Satan is headed for in the end?

Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

Wow! We are seeing the prophecy that was written over 2500 years ago about the soon coming prophesied “end of Satan”. However, pay attention there is no prophesied death ending (as in cease to exist) speaking of this created angel. God is rather only speaking of Lucifer about to “be separated” from the Kingdom of God. When we say “soon” this is potentially a point of confusion because God teaches us this ultimate end won’t happen for at least another 1000+ years. Read about it in Revelation 20:

Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

As we can observe from these selected verses the “spirit” named “Lucifer”, “Satan”, “the serpent”, “the Dragon”, and “the devil” is eventually and totally going to be separated from the “Kingdom of God” forever and ever. This verse 10 confirms angelic spirits live forever, without any way for God to kill them. Thus, spirits once created, live forever!

This is our first clue to finding the definition to what “spiritual death” is to God. What we are learning is that angel spirits that have sinned will be permanently separated from all other spirits being thrown into a “pit” as God said would happen in Isaiah 14.

Please take notice that according to scripture there are at least 1/3 of the angels that have followed Satan. These are rebellious, evil, and appear unrepentant. Therefore, God needed a way to separate Himself being Holy and Pure. This strongly indicates that there is no salvation for the sins of angels probably because they had and have no “blood”.

Remember Adam was created with “blood” intentionally by God’s planned design and purpose. There is no mention of angels having blood in the Bible that we know of. We also know after Jesus was “resurrected” from the dead, His eternal physical body housed His Spirit which returned His physical life, and this body only had flesh and bone (Lk 24:39) and was absent of blood becoming like the angels (Mat 22:30).

Yet please notice in the Bible that there is also no immediate separation from God mentioned for their vast sins. We could explain why this is in great detail, but it would take too much detailed information for this lesson. However, we need to mention a few things to prove this to help us understand that even fallen angels can approach God’s presence even until today. We know this first because we can read the book of Job:

Job 1:6  Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

Job 1:7  And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

We have already seen where the “sons of God” sang for joy when the world was created in Job 38:7. Therefore these beings called the “sons of God” are the created angels. This knowledge helps to understand Job 1:6 much clearer.

Job 1:6 says there was a “day” when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD. The LORD is a governmental authority title for God as the Supreme Judge. Notice that Satan is in this massive presence of angels also and the LORD directs all His words to Satan. This again strongly indicates that Lucifer is the chief or head priest of the heavenly group of living beings.

This is amazing information. Please recall that Lucifer has already committed sins, rebelled against God, and has 1/3 of the angels under his authority. This means all these heavenly angels are in the presence of God as a preplanned event and that after sin, there was no casting down of any of them because they are moving back and forth from the earth as Satan mentions in verse 7 and we can read about in Genesis 28:12 where God describes a ladder that allows movement from heaven to earth.

But let us look at the time after the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus from the dead. It is a fact that Jesus defeated Satan when He was crucified and was raised from the dead. But I have heard a lot of preachers claim that this means Satan no longer has access to go back to heaven for any reason. But this teaching violates and contradicts other verses that teach us differently:

Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

Rev 12:8  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Rev 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

These are some of the most important verses you can learn about Satan’s soon coming demise and ejection from heaven. These verses have NOT occurred and will not occur until after the rapture. In Revelation 4:1 the voice from heaven told John to come up here, so that he could be shown things that would happen here after. This confirms this chapter 12 happens after chapter 4 and it is happening during the 7-year tribulation.

The first thing in Revelation 12:7 we find a spiritual war taking place between Michael and his angels, and Satan and his angels. Satan is unable to prevail in this war and he and all his angels are cast down. Sound familiar? This is the prophesied removal of Satan being cast down from heaven and the Kingdom of God and in verse 8, God says very clearly “Now was their place and position in heaven ended”.

Verse 10 confirms this by saying “Now has come salvation, and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ”. Wow, that is an amazing statement about the final defeat of Satan. Do you remember reading in Hebrews 1:13 where God says to Jesus, “sit at my right hand until I make your enemies, your footstool”. Apparently, Jesus while defeating Satan, is still awaiting a coming time while seated in heaven for every enemy to be placed “underfoot”. Guess when this occurs. We are reading about it right now in Revelation 12!

But the main reason we are here is because of how verse 10 ends. This is the final confirmation that Satan has access today in heaven. This ending verse clearly states, “for the accuser of our brethren, is cast down, which accused them before our God, day and night”. This is a literal statement about a spirit being named Lucifer going to heaven to accuse Christian brothers and sisters on a 24-hour basis. This heavenly visitation continues until he is cast down permanently.

Therefore, we have observed a lot essential Bible truths about angel spirits from just these few verses.

  1. Angels are created “spirit” beings having a physical body.
  2. Angelic bodies have no blood, are not mortal and do not die.
  3. Angels and humans can eat the same food.
  4. The angelic spirit also does not die or cease to exist.
  5. Sin had no immediate consequence for removal of angels from heaven. We see this from Satan appearing before God in Job 1, and we see this again in Revelation 12 when Satan is finally cast down to the earth after accusing Christians day and night before God for at least 2000 years.
  6. There is coming a single appointed time of separation from God for all sinful angelic beings.

We have only touched on this subject but have established the basic facts on angel spirits. Therefore, let us analyze the sin effect and consequences upon Adam and all humans next.

What happened when Adam sinned? Let us first go to Genesis 2 and notice what caused Adam to sin and why there were any consequences at all:

Gen 2:16  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat

Gen 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die

God has just given man a “law” from a spoken commandment to not eat from a tree called “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. If this “law” of commandment is broken, God says in the same day you eat you will die. Uh oh! What kind of death is God speaking of? Hopefully, you do understand that there are “two” kinds of death mentioned in the Bible.

But before we go to this part of our lesson, let us discover, what God says happens to the “spirits” of men and women that experience natural death on the earth? Do they cease to exist? Or do they remain eternal like the Spirit of God and angels. We will learn this answer from reading a real story that Jesus taught us about spiritual life after physical death.

Luk 16:19  There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

Luk 16:20  And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,

Luk 16:21  And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

Luk 16:22  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

Luk 16:23  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

Luk 16:24  And 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.

Luk 16:25  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

Luk 16:26  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

Luk 16:27  Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:

Luk 16:28  For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

Luk 16:29  Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.

Luk 16:30  And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

Luk 16:31  And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

Please do not show your ignorance and be foolish to leave us a comment that this is a “parable” and does not teach us anything about life after death. That is a deception and a lie from Satan to believe that. This is a literal real story of three men that lived upon the earth and died a natural death.

Two of these men have real names. Remember that Jesus never said this was a parable, and if He uses real names in a story and if it is not truthful, this makes Jesus a liar and God does not lie! Therefore, this story literally happened and is a warning to everyone to what could happen to them.

As you can see, the story is about a real man who was a beggar named Lazarus who sat outside another unnamed real rich man’s house. This beggar was in very poor health and appears to be completely disregarded and ignored by the rich man living well inside the house.

Lazarus died and his body was buried, but his spirit departs the earth to go down into an underground area which is called “Abraham’s bosom”. “Abraham” appears to be chief resident in charge in this area before Jesus died on the cross. There are good Bible reasons in Romans 4 and Galatians 3 to name two references that give us clues to why Abraham is of such importance to God and even us, now after Christ died.

However, notice the facts about the rich man after he died physically on the earth. His spirit also descended the surface of the earth, but he was not in Abraham’s realm of temporary existence. He makes the direct claim that he was in a place of fire and torment and even desired for Abraham to send Lazarus to dip his finger into a drop of water to cool his tongue.
Wow, if this story does not scare you into turning your life over to Jesus, there are no other ones in the Bible that are as graphic and plain. What we clearly discover from this real story is that “human” spirits live forever. But there are two direct after-life possibilities of eternal existence. One is a spiritual life after our natural death in an eternal torture in fire, and the other is an eternal life in a place Jesus called “paradise” to the thief that was hanging next to Him on the cross (Lk 23:43).

Also please notice that Abraham claims these two after-life realms of existence, are completely “divided” apart from each other and there is no traveling between them available. This is exactly what we saw was happening in the story of Lucifer and his destined dwelling in a pit. The pit is not the location of the Kingdom of God. These are just some of the basics of human spiritual existence. Let us review:

  1. The human spirit has a spirit origination point.
  2. Despite what some people try to teach, the human spirit is not “reincarnated” from a prior existence.
  3. From God’s description of the first man Adam, this human spirit origination appears to come from God’s Spirit
  4. Also, we have found that human spirits, like angels, have no ending point where they cease to exist or die.

There are many verses that teach us that spirits do not cease consciousness or existence. For example, Paul when speaking of his soon physical death, claimed for him to be absent from his body, is to be present with the risen from the dead eternal Lord Jesus in heaven (2 Corinthians 5:8).

However, we have also seen where human spirits that are alive forever, have two potential destination points for eternal existence after physical death. This appears to be divided into one group figuratively called the “sheep” versus the other opposite group called the “goats” (Mat 25:33).

We have not yet confirmed anything that is called “spiritual death” so far in this lesson. We have only established something called “spiritual separation” after natural death. But this is going to get a lot more interesting as we continue to learn what the Bible says. Let us go and explore the subject of the human spirit’s origination next. This should be very interesting.

Where do Spirits Come From?

This is probably one of the more difficult questions to answer. But God does give us clues in the Bible to help us understand enough to draw a sound conclusion. For example, the Bible strongly indicates by omission, that before the creation of angels and humans, there were no other spirits that were admitted existing, at least that we can find easily in the text. This fact alone points us to God as the source of all “spirits”. Therefore, the first clue given to us by God is that he chooses to write “no clue” about the existence of any other spirits. But there are also other relevant clues.

Clue number two, we can clearly read about the creation of the first man and see plainly that Adam’s spirit originated from the “breath” of God being blown into him. This is another direct reference that spirits come from God’s Spirit. Therefore, we have two witnesses that teach us the source of spirits can only be God. If you can find any contradictory verses that claim otherwise, please feel free to share them and we will look at their truth and application to our subject.

Next, we can read a New Testament verse that also indicates God to be the source of spirits. Let us turn to the book of Hebrews and read this:

Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live

As you should be able to see and understand, this verse is a contrasting comparison between two father types. The first father mentioned concerns “fathers of our flesh”. This of course the male that contributed the sperm to form a child in the female womb. This father is a totally natural reference, but it is amazing what it says and does not say.

For example, this verse does not give the sperm contributor any involvement in the baby’s spirit existence. In fact, it completely refutes the baby’s spirit coming from the natural father based upon a comparison to God who is a Spirit (John 4:23) and He is being called the “Father of spirits”.  This statement implies “ALL” spirits come from God the Father of spirits.

Therefore, we have two types of “fathers”, one is physical, and the other is spiritual. We can also take note of words that Jesus spoke in John 3:6 when speaking with a natural man about a new birth that has been prophesied. In this verse Jesus said, “That which is born of flesh, is flesh and that which is born of spirit, is spirit”. While this statement does not attribute the spirit origination being from God, it clearly says a spirit can only create a spirit. That sounds important and this confirms that since God was the only known Spirit to exist before any creation takes place, He is the only Father that can point us to their existence. This also helps us understand why angels are called the ‘sons of God” in the Old Testament.

These concepts are confirmed in another reference found in 1 Corinthians:

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

This is a potential new controversy. The Greek word translated as “soul” in verse 45 has a larger scope definition than just a “spirit”. From this Greek word G5590 (psuche) we get the English word “psyche” having the synonyms “spirit”, “soul”, “mind”, “ego”, “essence”, etc. This Greek word has its roots in a word meaning to “blow”, and this simply means exhaling of breath, or to breathe. Therefore, the word “G5590”, figuratively means to have “life” and this goes along with Genesis 2:7, “Adam became a living soul after the breath of God entered the formed earth made body”.

Ok, we are going to quickly give an overview of the triune nature of man for the ever-increasing numbers of new readers and subscribers. Every human is a spirit, has a soul, and lives in a body (1 Ths 5:23). If there is breath in this body, there is physical life and there is access for the unseen internal spirit to communicate with God and the created world simultaneously. If the spirit leaves the physical body, the body is dead and natural communication with physical people ceases and that is not a good situation for those that have not given their lives to God to believe in His Son Jesus Christ. We will get into this more soon because this is what God is calling “spiritual death” as in the process of separation.

What we are learning is the first Adam was a human body created from dirt, and then a spirit was given to him by God, and this caused the combined spirit, soul, and body to be a natural living human able to communicate in two realms. We can see this very clearly in Genesis 2 and 3 when Adam is speaking with and listening to God’s spirit voice, and later he also hears his wife’s natural voice, confirming two realms of communications were taking place simultaneously.

This has only been a quick overview of this part of the subject of where spirits come from. But from all these clues given to us, God appears to be the only viable and powerful enough source to create all spirits, whether human or angelic. This would be a good time to mention that there are no new angels being created that we can easily find in the Bible.  But we know humans are having new babies every day. Therefore, there are still potential new spirits being created today. Let us move into this part of the lesson next and speak about babies that have spirits.

Baby Human Spirits

We need to go and find specific verses concerning naturally born babies on the earth that came out of the loins of the first created man Adam. Here are the basic questions that need answers:

  1. Where do human baby spirits come from?
  2. When is their spirit present? a. before birth or b. after birth?
  3. Are baby spirits alive or dead (separated from God)?
  4. If the Baby physically died before birth, do they go to heaven or hell?
  5. If the Baby physically died after birth, do they go to heaven or hell?

These are a lot of great questions. Does God answer them? The answer is “Yes”. God anticipated every question a human could conceive and places the answers somewhere for us to find in His Word. Are you ready? We will address the questions next.

When is the Spirit Present in a Conceived Baby?

This is a very important part of this topic that Satan does not want you to know about. Satan using cooperating humans living in the darkness of this world, has dehumanized conceptions in the womb, calling them just a blob of tissue and flesh. They have placed upon a real child, the degrading term of calling them just a generic “fetus”. This term causes a desensitized removal of thought that they are a child with an identity and personality that can be named, and that they have no “life” that can be killed.

This plan of Satan facilitates an access way for removing an unwanted pregnancy and makes the decision easier to agree with. This attempts to remove human guilt or regret for eliminating the created growing child and permits a reduction of shame and any temporary pain of conscience. This is where they have killed millions of children in the world convincing people this is not a child, but is this the TRUTH?

This is absolutely, not the TRUTH, and God speaks to this issue over and over and over in His Word. Even modern science is afraid of the TRUTH getting out. They have 3-dimensional sonograms today that show all the details of the new human and their life, a heart that beats, movements of torso, head, arms and legs, feelings, expressions, reactions to sound and pain, and sucking their thumbs and many other things that can be seen easily with modern technology.

Another modern science development has photographed the process of conception and fertilization. This is a truly amazing photo and video to observe. When the “sperm” cell encounters and enters the female egg, there is a significant flash of “light”. Scientists are trying to explain this as only a release of “zinc”, but according to scripture God is Light (1 John 1:4) and this is just a way to explain away God’s involvement in conception and the human spirit creation event at the time of conception.

From a Bible perspective, God is trying to communicate with us that this small light explosion that is clearly visible, appears to be God bringing into the single combined cell a “spirit” that obviously must come from Him (Light). This video is available on the internet when you search “spark of light fertilization”. It is easy to find, and you can judge for yourself.

Let us stop and think about the evidence of just DNA. The mother contributes half of the DNA necessary to conceive. The father of the child contributes the other half of DNA, including the sex determining chromosome either “X” or “Y”. Separated they have no ability to produce a child, but joined together they produce a single cell that is completely alive, and it begins to double itself, over and over until in a very short time, the exponentially increasing number of cells have formed a full featured child. This combined DNA of the egg and the sperm are “Life” and it is alive. Any educated scientist if they found this cell on “Mars” would claim we have found life on Mars. Why is this not considered the same here on earth?

After going through the physical evidence, let us move to the highest authority called the Word of God. God will either contradict the natural claims or agree with them. I believe True Science and the True Word of God Understanding will Always Agree! Let us find out what the Bible says on this subject:

Gen 25:21  And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

Gen 25:22  And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.

Gen 25:23  And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

Here we have the real story of a promised son of “Abraham” named “Isaac”, who married a wife named “Rebekah”. She was barren and unable to conceive a seed. But Issac seeks the Lord, and she becomes pregnant. Uh oh, what happens next is amazing. Rebekah is pregnant with twins. There are two sons, and they are fighting against each other within her womb already. She also seeks the Lord to find out what is happening to these two womb children inside her.

In verse 23, the LORD God says to her, “Two nations are in your womb”. Let us stop immediately and analyze this statement. God has already placed an identity upon them and said each will create a different nation of people. What would have happened if Rebekah had aborted them? There would be no two nations, and no Jesus Christ since He was in one of the children to be named Jacob.

All this discussion is based upon foreknowledge. We can see that God even knows who will be born first and second, and that the elder firstborn son will serve the younger son that will be named Jacob. God obviously knows all children in the womb, believe it or not. God obviously has a plan for all children in the womb. This literally teaches us that these developing children have a spirit, and a planned life, long before birth.

This story of two brothers in a womb simultaneously teaches they are aware of each other. This is true, because they are already fighting each other, and this war makes their mother very physically aware of what is happening. Therefore, these are confirmed to be living humans that have at least some limited awareness and consciousness. They were not blobs of lifeless flesh. Any woman that has endured pregnancy has experienced this life movement inside. They can kick fairly strong, and this can be irritating, but it proves they are living. If they are living this also means they have a spirit, because the body of Adam had no life or movement until after God places a spirit inside the body.

Let us look at another example:

Jer 1:5  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

This is one of those amazing hidden verses because a lot of people do not read the Old Covenant prophets. Here in the book of Jeremiah God makes a declaration about the man Jeremiah. God says very plainly that before Jeremiah was even conceived in his mother’s womb God already had a purpose and plan for his life. This is called “foreknowledge” and it is recorded in multiple verses of the Bible. But then notice what else God says.

The next statement is about Jeremiah in the womb. Remember this is a human male that is a descendant of the original human sinner Adam. Therefore, this man should be dead to God according to a lot of preacher beliefs and teachings. Yet God says I have already “sanctified” you while you were in your mother’s womb. This sounds a lot like the twins we just read about again, with God knowing them personally before they were born. This demonstrates God’s awareness and personal involvement in every child that has been conceived.

The Hebrew word H6942 that is translated as “sanctified” is defined as “to pronounce or observe as clean”. This is an amazing concept if you think about it. This is giving us the appearance that God is viewing humans a lot differently than religious minded humans view them. God literally, “knew” this future man, “chose” this future man, and made him “clean” long before he exited the womb of a woman. If God did this only for Jeremiah, He would be a respecter of persons, and the Bibles says God is not this way (Rom 2:11). Let us look at another human conception and birth about another prophet:

Luk 1:13  But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. 

Luk 1:14  And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth

Luk 1:15  For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb

Luk 1:16  And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God

Luk 1:17  And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord

God sent an angel to a man named Zacharias that ministered as a priest before the Lord. This meant this man was from the tribe of Levi that allowed him to be in the presence of the LORD in the tabernacle. The angel sent from God gives Zacharias a lot of information that only God could provide based upon “foreknowledge”.

The angel tells him that His wife will conceive, so it will be a natural conception and a natural birth process of 9 months of development. It is also amazing that God knows it will be male, since the father determines this by which “sperm cell” reaches the egg, either an “X” or a “Y” Chromosome will determine the sex of the child. Yet God knows exactly which one will arrive.

Now here is where it really gets interesting. The angel informs Zacharias that the developing male child will be “filled with the Holy Ghost” even while in the womb. Wow, if that is not amazing, what is? God is going to fill a developing baby’s body with His own Holy Spirit to be in full fellowship with the already present John’s spirit even before birth. This information shocks people who say abortions are just a lifeless blob of tissue and flesh. God does not view it this way at all and knows the child and their destined plan and purpose for existence long before they are born. Wake up! Let us read further down in this chapter to see what else is happening to the child John while in the womb:

Luk 1:39  And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda

Luk 1:40  And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth

Luk 1:41  And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: 

Here is another example of the internal womb “life” of a “living” human body that is alive being connected to a living human spirit. Remember what we learned from the story of Adam. There was no life, no movement, no ability to respond or communicate if there was no “spirit” in the natural body. Uh oh?

When Mary, the future mother of Messiah comes to visit her cousin Elisabeth the baby John “leaps” inside of her when sensing the presence of Messiah. This action of a child in the womb proves human life is present and a human spirit must be inside the flesh. These children in the womb can do things, sense things, and know things, much more than you can possibly imagine, and this is exactly why the devil wants to kill them all.

We have fully confirmed based upon scriptural and scientific evidence that developing babies in the womb have life and a spirit. One popular movie called “Unplanned” documented the life of a woman that previously worked at abortion clinics. This woman was asked to help a physician perform a procedure on a woman. She was tasked at holding the sonogram paddles in place so the doctor could see how to dismember the developing child to kill it.

This woman saw the reaction of the baby at each doctor attempt to pull off its legs, arms, and head. The baby could feel the pain and even moved around to try to keep it from happening. This alone proves there is life and a fighting spirit awareness in these developing children. Please do not allow this to continue taking place.

Is a Womb Baby’s Spirit Alive or Dead?

We have already seen strong evidence in the last section that babies have a spirit, and that they can be known by God and even can be filled with the Holy Spirit before birth. These types of interactions lead us to conclude that human baby spirits are alive unto God like the first Adam was before and after sin. Uh oh! What did I say? Please put down your stones until you learn what else the Bible says, first.

We have also already seen some key answers to know about the spirits of babies in the womb entering at the initial fertilization union of the two joining cells that were designed by God to become one new flesh and spirit life. This strongly implies that these babies in the womb are also fully alive and able to fellowship with God as in the case of John the Baptist in the womb of Elisabeth.

Therefore, we are entering some potential new grounds for beliefs that could certainly be controversial or even contradictory with the world, but also with many churches, pastors, and teachers of the Word of God.

In this section we are going to explore some additional scriptures about children that may rock the religious boat and mind of many Christians, especially those that tolerate or are completely passive for allowing abortions to occur.

This is our first clue that God still creates every human spirit at conception. As the reader questioned, if God gives the spirit, then it must be still made in His image (Gen 1:26). This is exactly a very true fact found in scriptures. We are about to go through some new verses that maybe you have never focused upon to see some things that will potentially change your ways of thinking about what some claim is a dead spirit as defined to be completely separated from God by the sin of the first Adam.

In 2 Samuel 12, we find the story of Bathsheba and David who had an affair and she got pregnant from it. We will not focus on all the sins that David committed during this episode. But rather we will only focus on the child that was produced and what David told us about him.

We know when this child of Bathsheba was born, David was told by a prophet that he would die because of the sins of David. David fasted and prayed hoping for mercy from God, but the child still died. After the child’s death, David said the following:

2Sa 12:23  But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

As you can see, David is speaking of two realms of human existence. One is the natural body life of the child and the other is the after-natural-life experience of a continuing eternal spirit life. David could clearly see that the body of the dead child was still present with him, but now the spirit had departed from the body. This was the opposite of Adam’s body being formed dead and then the spirit entering to give life. In this example, the baby was born with a spirit that left the body causing the body to be dead.

David said some amazing things in this experience that is essential to see and understand about human spirits. David says, “I cannot bring him back to me (here in the natural realm), but I will still go to him (in the spirit realm when I die)”. Also note that David is not talking about him or his child going to hell here in this statement, believe it or not.

Despite Davids’ obvious imperfections, let us help to establish his righteousness. In the book of Acts, David is called a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). If you read the Psalms that were written by David, you can find a lot of his repentance and beliefs is an eternal salvation based upon God’s righteousness. We can also see in Psalm 23, that David called God His LORD and Shepherd. Jesus Christ is also called the “Seed of David”, meaning Messiah and we find Jesus comes to the earth being called the Son of David (Mat 21:9). God had a very special relationship with David, and it looks guaranteed in scripture that David will be in Heaven when we get there.

Therefore, we can understand when David is saying “I cannot bring him back”, he is speaking of bringing his son’s spirit back from a place where righteous people are all presently gathered. Let us confirm the reality that unborn babies and even children not of the age of accountability will be taken to heaven if they die a physical death. We will only look at one statement that Paul wrote about himself.

Rom 7:9  For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

If you read the context, you will find Paul writing about the Law. In fact, in verses 1 through 8 Paul is speaking about the binding of the law to people that are under the law and have knowledge of the law. Paul also writes about how “death” separates the human from their bondage from the “law of sin through death”.

Paul makes it very clear in verse 7 of this chapter that he would not have known sin if he had not known the law. Continuing, he says he would not know that “lust” was sinful without first knowing God said “Thou shalt not covet”. Wow, this is more amazing information than you can possibly understand without God enlightening it to your spirit. Your carnal mind is not going to be able to understand this without God’s Spirit helping.

However, this chapter applies to children, and even unborn children. God is saying without the knowledge of “law”, there is not an impartation of guilt, and therefore no sin can be held against a child. Every child in the womb has an almost zero % chance of knowing what is good or evil, right or wrong. This is because they cannot speak or understand these types of complex concepts without maturity and training.

This is why Paul writes in verse 9, “I was alive once without (the knowledge of) the law”. Once Paul grew to the age of accountability, which is normally for Jews at the age of 12, they are considered able to judge right from wrong. But this is because they have all memorized the Torah before this age occurs. It is this knowledge that makes a child accountable for their sins. Once this occurs, they must choose Jesus as Lord to be saved. If this salvation decision is not reached when natural death occurs, the child/adult departs to go to hell.

This is why my wife and I’s miscarried daughter, was seen in a vision being in heaven. This is also why every aborted baby from the womb goes to heaven also. Any death of an unaccountable child will be a transportation into the presence of God automatically. This is because God is loving, just, and must judge righteously about every human the same. If you are still struggling with this information, let us confirm it again with a new set of verses spoken by Jesus:

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 

Mat 24:16  Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 

Mat 24:17  Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 

Mat 24:18  Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 

Mat 24:19  And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days

These are verses about the rapture of the church to be taken out of the earth by a very sudden departure. These verses are written with warnings to those that have missed the rapture. But will only focus upon verse 19, because this is one about our subject of children and accountability.

In this verse Jesus said, “Woe to those (women) that are “with” child (pregnant), and to those (women) that have breast-feeding children in those days. Why does Jesus warn women about this time? It is not very complicated. This is because these two groups of children in the womb and those born below the age of accountability “WILL be taken up in the rapture”. This again is fair, just, and righteous judgements from God to save them from a certain death. Those humans that were left on earth after the disappearance of children and ready to go Christians, are warned to run away quickly without even taking any food or clothes with them. This means something is about to happen that is at any moment certain destruction.

Wow! Hopefully, this information is convincing you about the truth, that children have spirits, and they are not “dead” or separated from God until they obtain an age that they can know and make a conscious intentional decision to accept or reject Jesus.

This information also brings to question special needs children. What would happen to an autistic child that is not all there mentally? Could they seriously be held accountable to understand everything about what is right or wrong? Many do not believe so. This sounds like an opportunity for a loving God to demonstrate great mercy and compassion. I believe this is God’s heart. You can choose for yourself what you would like to believe.

We have just discovered in two sections the following scriptural facts of truth:

  1. Babies have a spirit at conception.
  2. God knows the baby, plans their destiny and purpose.
  3. God can even speak with the baby in the womb.
  4. All of this means a child’s spirit is viewed as innocent in the eyes of God.
  5. Therefore, baby spirits go to heaven if a death occurs before the age of accountability and sin awareness takes place to give the child the fair right of choice.

This was good news for those that have lost a child. If you have chosen to believe in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection and you will confess Him as your Lord (Rom 10:9-10), you will be saved to go to heaven and see your child again standing with Jesus’s loving arms around them. Let us shift to the last and another essential subject of how to define “spiritual death”.

Is there Spiritual Death?
What is “Spiritual Death” and
When Does it Occur?

Here is another popular misconception that is preached all over the church. People are widely taught that Adam spiritually died immediately after sinning. But everyone must still acknowledge that Adam lived 930 years until physical death occurred. But when does the Bible say his spirit died? Or does it say? We might be surprised what the Bible says about this subject.

In fact, this belief of spiritual death as it is taught by many pastors and Bible teachers, just does not balance with the rest of scripture when we take the time to study. Remember Paul wrote to us and said, “Study to show yourself approved, a workman, that does not need to be ashamed” (2 Tim 2:15). Therefore, we need to study this subject for ourselves, using a deeper understanding of “all” scriptures on the subject. We will begin this section on spiritual death by using verses that Jesus taught us on the existence of the “spiritually dead”.

Mat 8:21  And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 

Mat 8:22  But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

This is a short but radical conversation between Jesus and a disciple. A certain disciple came to Jesus and asked Him, “Allow me to go bury my father”. Therefore, we have a man that has just died a natural death and his natural son has a desire to bury him, and Jesus’ reaction is more than significant.

Please let us use some spiritual common sense and see that Jesus is speaking of two different states of humans. Or more precisely two types of “death” and the “dead”. The first death type being referred to by the disciple is only “natural” death which is common to all humans after the sin of Adam (Romans 5:12). But the second type of death must be a spiritually viewed type of death because Jesus said let these types of natural people bury their own physically dead.

Jesus is implying to this disciple that he is not a spiritually dead man, therefore, Jesus was telling Him to continue to follow Him. Uh oh! Remember Jesus is speaking to a man that was not yet born again, because Jesus had not died and been resurrected. This means neither were born-again. Not the “dead” that would bury their “dead” (physically) nor the disciple that is following Jesus could be saved. Therefore, Jesus’ definitions of what a living man is, and what a dead man is, is completely different than what we have thought or heard taught before.

What was the difference between these two people types? The disciple that was following Jesus was in face-to-face personal relationship with God in the flesh, and all those not present were not known by God and did not know or speak with God. Could this be what Jesus is referring to? Does a relationship with God make the difference whether we are called living or dead to God?

This is where new controversy begins, that not too many people have ever been taught. What made this disciple spiritually alive, and other humans spiritually dead is something that we need to learn. How can we understand this based upon the fact that we have already seen clear evidence that “spirits” do not ever die or cease to exist?

Remember, we learned this concept from a story Jesus gave to the disciple about a rich man and beggar named Lazarus. In this story, both men died physically and then their spirits were carried away departing to an under the surface of the earth existence in two separated and eternally divided realms of after natural life existence. Do you remember this?

This story is essential to understanding how to differentiate those people who are spiritually alive and dead on the face of the earth while they were both physically alive simultaneously. Then knowing what happens after their natural death where their spirits departed the earth and are then divided apart from each other under the earth. Of course, this was taking place before Jesus was crucified and resurrected from the dead. This means in this story there was not, an access door named Jesus who would facilitate the human access to the Father in heaven.
This is only the beginning to help us understand what is taking place. What we are seeing, are these facts:

  1. Human spirits never die or cease to exist.
  2. However, Jesus labels some living humans on the earth as “dead” even while naturally breathing air in the flesh.
  3. According to scripture these people called dead did not have a relationship with God, speaking with Him and listening to His voice for directions.
  4. Jesus further implies there were some naturally living people on the earth that were already alive in their spirit and we have seen this more than once before in this lesson. These types of people appear to be those in intimate contact with the living God.
  5. From the story of the rich man, he was designated as “unrighteous” type of spiritually dead on the earth that continues to be separated in a lake of fire called the “tormenting” realm. According to Abraham he, must not have read and studied the Torah. Therefore, he did not know God intimately.
  6. But simultaneously the poor beggar named Lazarus is designated by implication to be “righteous” after natural death that departs to be with Abraham in the side of existence called the “comforting” realm. No doubt Lazarus had a lot of time to pray and ask God for help and assistance. There had to be some relationship with God for him to be in the righteous side of the natural dead humans.

That is a lot of new information but let us stop and go back to the beginning and work our way back up to this point of reference with Jesus walking the face of the earth in the flesh.

Please take the time to read Genesis 1, 2, and 3 again. These are all essential basics to understanding life and death both from the spiritual and natural parallel views. Take note in Genesis 1:26 God says, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness”. Therefore, God is a speaking Spirit that is capable of the highest level of intelligent conversation and speech.

The first mention of God speaking to Adam occurs in Genesis 1:28-29. In these verses God “blessed” them by speaking the first words to them saying “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth”. Then God gives them dominion (authority) over all the works of God’s hands. This is all pre-sin conversations, and there is no mention of Adam responding. There is a presumption that implies that he heard and listened. This is first indicator that God and His man Adam had fellowship and relationship. This appears to be the plan of God for all His humans, and not just the first two.

Man was created in the same pattern of God, with the same features, characteristic, and capabilities as their Creator God. This means man was also a speaking spirit made on a slightly lower order than God (Psalms 8:4-5). Then we find in Genesis 2:15-17 God places the created man Adam in the garden that the Lord has made. Here God commands the man saying it is good to eat from every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not surely eat, for in the day you do, you shall surely die”.

Therefore, we have God being seen in the garden and again we see He is talking with Adam and giving Him one law to not eat from one tree that will cause him to die. Notice there is no mention of two deaths. Also notice God does not define death and what that means. Adam had never seen death before; how could he understand what this was? But he obviously asked no questions causing the presumption that he must have understood enough to not ask any questions.

Next in Genesis 2:19 we find God bringing to Adam every beast and bird for him to give a name. God says whatever the man calls them, that will be their name. This proves Adam knows and understands a language, has an intelligent and capable mind to understand and remember what he is doing. Clearly Adam understood the commandment that God had spoken. All of this confirms there was a relationship with Adam before sin entered the world. This according to the words we saw from Jesus meant Adam was not spiritually dead.

Next in Genesis 3:1, we find the introduction to another spirit being other than, God, Adam, and Eve. God describes this being as a symbolic “serpent” which is defined in Revelation 12 to be a representation for Satan. It is this serpent that tempts Eve and deceives her into partaking of the tree that God commanded them not to eat from. Next, we find Adam taking of the same tree being with her during the entire event. Therefore, sin has just entered the world and death by sin. Yet no one is dead. I wonder why? Did God lie or did we just misunderstand? I vote we misunderstood.

Next, we find God coming to the earth again to walk and talk with His creation in Genesis 3:8. Don’t forget who we are dealing with. God is the Creator of the heaven and the earth (omnipotent). He knows everything (omniscient). He sees everything (omnipresent). Therefore, there is nothing God does not see or already knows what has happened. But we find God the Highest and most Holy Spirit in the presence of 3 spirits that have all committed differing sins.

Do you see a problem here? How is it when preachers say that Adam died immediately in the spirit realm, that God is found in the presence of these dead sinners to be even asking questions to each of them and speaking with them all? This reality is a major problem to defining man or Satan as being spirits that were separated from God immediately after they sinned. We have already seen that Satan will not be cast into hell until at least another 1000 years from now at a specific appointed time. Does this concept of an appointed time for Satan’s spiritual death also apply to men? The answer is Yes! Let us continue to learn.

Here is what the Holy Spirit said to me this morning. God said, “Do you remember that I am the Good Shepherd?” What does a good shepherd do to save one lost sheep? He leaves the 99 and goes to find the lost sheep (Lk 15:4). Uh oh! Do you see that the first Adam was now a lost sheep that has chosen by reason of fear to depart from the presence of God and hide himself, covering his nakedness?

When God came down to the garden to talk with His lost sheep God knew exactly what had happened. God could not forgive the sin because Adam had the “blood” of God and there was not a sinless blood that could be offered to eliminate this sin permanently. However, God already had a plan knowing Adam would fail, He preplanned a Son of Adam who was also the Son of God, that could take away with His sinless blood every human sin from Adam downward.

Remember Jesus claimed to be this “God Good Shepherd” in the flesh (John 10:11). He was God (John 1:1-14), and the High Priest of God (Heb 2:17), the Temple of God (John 2:19), and the Sacrificial Lamb of God (John 1:36) in one combined package. Remember the parable of the lost sheep is found in Luke 15:4. And Jesus said He was only sent by God to the lost sheep of Israel in Matthew 15:24.

So, we have a major problem developing with the definition of spiritual death as being an immediate separation from God caused by human or angelic sin. We can find this problem continuing throughout the entire Old Testament. We find God speaking with human after human that is supposedly been separated from God by spiritual death. For example, the next time after Adam, we find God speaking to Cain after killing his brother Abel. Again, we find God dealing intimately with a lost sheep sinner man one on one. Let us look at another man that was truly amazing:

Gen 5:21  And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 

Gen 5:22  And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 
Gen 5:23  And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:

Gen 5:24  And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

Enoch is one of the most amazing men in the Old Testament. He only has a select number of verses, but these words contradict the belief of immediate separation from God after sin is present. Notice God writes that Enoch walked with Him for 300 years.

This sounds a lot like Adam with God walking in the garden to fellowship. It should be becoming clear that man was created to have fellowship with God, and this continued even after sin.

Therefore, there is no separation from God if man is willing to communicate with God as we are discovering. It appears man is considered alive to God, if they speak to Him and walk with Him following His directions being in relationship with Him.
But here is the most amazing fact about Enoch. Genesis 5:24 says, that Enoch walked with God so closely that God just took him from planet earth in a rapture like event. This means Enoch’s spirit, soul and body were all removed from the earth simultaneously. This fact alone refutes the belief that all humans were eternally lost and separated from God.

What made Enoch so special to God. We are given to clues to this relationship God to man, man to God relationship. Let us look at the first to realize what causes God to be able to fellowship with some sinners and not others.

Heb 11:5  By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

This verse is found in the Hebrews 11 “Hall of Faith”. This literally means Enoch pleased God by walking with God in faith. We know this because the next verse after this one says, “But without faith it is impossible to please God, because he that comes to God, must believe that He is (exists) and that He is a rewarder to those that diligently seek Him”. This is the major reason why Enoch was raptured off the planet long before Jesus ever died to save anyone. This is the most significant reason we have that contradicts why humans are not dead spiritually until the appointed time that we have not yet learned. The only other N.T. reference to Enoch is found in Jude:

Jud 1:14  And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

Here we have another amazing statement that Enoch prophesied about the LORD coming with ten thousand of his saints. This proves Enoch walked with God so closely that God gave him future prophetic visions of Jesus coming back to the earth in the 2nd Advent. These examples, show why God was so pleased with a man that He took him without seeing natural death.

There are countless other O.T. opportunities to view God speaking with human sinners that supposedly had dead spirits. There is Noah in Genesis 6:8-13. There is God speaking to Abraham in Genesis 12-17 and beyond. We find God speaking with Jacob in Genesis 35:1. We find God speaking with Moses in Exodus 3:14.  In Numbers 22:12 we find God speaking with “Balaam”.  We find God speaking directly to Solomon in 1 Kings 3:11.

There are other examples of God speaking with David, Joshua, and many other prophets, priests, and kings. These are all problems for defining man to have a dead spirit that is implied to be separated and unable to hear from God! Let us observe one modern definition for their modern view of spiritual death:

Spiritual death: is the separation of the soul from God. In Genesis 2:17 God tells Adam that in the day he eats of the forbidden fruit he will “surely die”. Adam does fall, but his physical death does not occur immediately; Therefore, God must have had another type of death in mind – spiritual death.

This was a very classic and traditional attempt from human reasoning to define what spiritual death is. This definition uses human thinking and terms with complete disregard for God’s definitions and thoughts. Therefore, we need to refocus what was written, what was said, and what happened to a new God definition and viewpoint for spiritual death to remove the carnal human reasoning factors that can only produce error. Here is the verse as spoken by God to Adam:

Gen 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Here is a new way to view this verse that eliminates the erroneous explanation for why Adam did not die the moment he partook of the deadly poisonous fruit. The key word that is being defined wrongly is “day”. This is because to a human we live every 24 hours as one day. This is not how God is defining or applying this word H3117 that was translated as “day”. There are literally several different ways this “word” is used in the Bible. Here is a list of some of them:

  1. A Day = The Sunny Hot 12 Hours of a Day from Sunrise to Sunset, and the opposite would be Night! (Genesis 1:5, called Light Day)
  2. A Day = 24 Hours of Time from One Sunset to the Next Sunset including evening (night) and morning (light) (Genesis 1:5, the First Day).
  3. A Day = Meaning a Single Connected Period of Time describing an event, as in “the Day of the Lord” when God created the heaven and the earth (Gen 2:4).

These are just three examples of the definition of a “day”. But there are others, and the key one that we need to learn from to apply is found in Psalms:

Psa 90:4  For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

The Hebrew word translated as “yesterday”, is the same Hebrew word H3117 that is found in Genesis 2:17 used to describe “the Day you eat”. Notice what this verse in Psalm 90:4 says, “A thousand years in your sight, is a day”.

The Hebrew word translated as “sight” is H5869 (Ayin) and this word is normally translated as “eyes”. Therefore, we are getting a new God defined perspective to how He views and sees what a “Day” represents. Instead of us trying to define a “day” to be 12 hours, 24 hours, or the time of an event, let us see if this God view works out better.

Gen 5:5  And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. 

God writes and informs us that all of Adam’s days that were lived was 930 years. It is interesting how God used the same Hebrew Word H3117 this time translated as “days” in a count of years lived. Let us take out the “plural” form from the verse and say it using the literal “Day” translation:

Gen 5:5  And all the day that Adam lived was nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

That is amazing when you see it. God has just written to us and said, of the “Day” (1000 Years, Ps 90:4) that God had spoken of in Genesis 2:17, Adam only lived 930 years. Now let us go back and see how this fit in to the words spoken in Genesis 2:17:

Gen 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day (1000 years) that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (930 years).

Here is another nugget of meat to chew on. If we take 1000 years as 1 Day and subtract 930 years of total Adam lifespan, we get the remainder of 70 years. Therefore, 70 years is the remainder of God’s Day definition that Adam live short of fulfilling one day of God’s existence limit for sin. In other words, Adam living short of 1000 years matches God’s Word of warning. It appears that God was speaking of only natural death, so far.

Did you realize that in Psalm 90:4 God used the word Ayin which is the spelled out Hebrew word for the Hebrew letter “Ayin”. This letter and word both mean “eye”. But the Ayin alphabet letter, also has a gematria value of “70”. We are confirming how it was God’s view of a day that was used to define what He spoke when He told Adam when he would die. This Day of death for sinning was within a 1000-year timed maximum God calls 1 Day. God foresaw this happening and now we have eliminated the confusion of the need to define what a spiritual death represents to God also using our own human reasoning.

Therefore, we are still in need of knowing what spiritual death more fully represents to God’s view, omitting our opinions. Do you recall that we found there was an exact time of separation of Satan from God? We found this in Revelation 20. If spiritual death is a separation from God, there appears to be an appointed time when this event begins and then it continues to occur without a course of reversal. Therefore, true spiritual death appears to be a separation from God but only from a timed beginning with a never-ending separation experience apart from God. If this was true for Satan, could it also apply to humans? It appears so, based upon what we learned from reading Luke 16 with the death of the rich man and Lazarus. Let us look at a new scripture that helps us understand this better:

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Notice what God says and reveals to us in this verse. This verse plainly states, “man is guaranteed once to die, and after this comes the judgment”. Wow, this sounds important. Please never forget, that God is LOVE (1 Jn 4:8)! Also, we must remember that God is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

Can you see where God is taking us? Remember earlier what the Lord said about “Him being the good shepherd that would leave the 99 saved sheep to go out and find the single lost one”. We are discovering that all humans even, those that commit sins like Adam, or differently than Adam have an opportunity for relationship with God. This would include humans submitting to God, as well as fellowshipping with Him. This as we saw in 2 Peter also involves human repentance for sins.

In other words, God has not closed the door for any human to know Him. He desires us all to be saved. He seeks us out and looks for ways to get our attention to cause us to come to Him and want relationship. This was true from Adam to Jesus, and is still true for the church from Jesus, the Last Adam to the end of this age. Those in the O.T. were given opportunity to gain righteous relationship with God and be saved on credit, waiting for the blood payment of all sin by Jesus on the cross. But us after the death, burial and resurrection, can just hear about Jesus, and turn to believe in Him and confess Him as Lord and we are brought in completely by Faith in His works. Let us end this section with God’s definition of “spiritual death”:

Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Here Jesus is speaking to the church a warning. Jesus is very clear that those in the church that overcome, shall not be hurt of the second death. Therefore, there is a second death that occurs after the first natural and physical death.

Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Here is God’s definition of “spiritual death”. It occurs when people and angels are cast into the lake of fire in the heart of the earth. The rich man that died in Luke 16 was thrown there and is still there now. He asked Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers on the earth so they would not come to this place where he was. But Abraham said, they have the Word of God to read so they may not go there. Uh oh? This appears to say reading and studying God’s Words are a part of having a relationship with God.

Here are some basic rules to help us learn the truth to what spiritual death represents.

  1. Spirits do not ever die or cease to exist. Therefore, once a spirit comes into existence, they are alive for ever.
  2. Spirits of humans can choose to walk with God and live being in relationship with Him causes spiritual life.
  3. A human spirit if it is in a human body can be in relationship with God to be saved.
  4. A human spirit in a human body, without any relationship with God is considered dead already.
  5. It is only the spirit that leaves the body of a human without remaining in relationship with God that will be apart from God eternally in the Lake of Fire, called the 2nd death.

Conclusion

Thank you very much for taking the time to read and study the Bible with us. We love you all more than words can describe. The hundreds, and thousands of hours spent here to provide these Bible study lessons is our complete pleasure to share with the body of Christ as well as anyone else that is willing to read.

Hopefully you have learned a lot today, that you never saw before in the Bible. This subject was significantly shortened because of the amount of information that is given to us by God on these subjects. This subject of Jesus coming to the earth to give us spiritual and physical life to saved us from the everlasting spiritual death separation demonstrates His infinite love. Thank you, Jesus! Hopefully you have learned that every human spirit is spiritually “alive” and capable of being saved as long as they are abiding in their mortal body. Any human on earth has the ability to cry out to the LORD and He will answer them. This can become the beginning of your relationship with God.

Do you remember the parable that Jesus taught on the “Prodigal Son”? In this story of Luke 15, Jesus taught about a young son that left his father’s house after demanding his inheritance. This son went out into the world and had a party with all the money until it was gone. Then the desperate son while feeding pigs, came to himself and deceived to repent and return to his father. The father saw him returning a very far distance off and ran to him and kissed him.

In Luke 15:24, the father in this story told by Jesus confirms what being dead represents. While the son was apart from his father, there was no relationship together between them. The father calls this a son who is dead. But it was when the son returned that the father threw a party to welcome his son back into relationship to the family. This is very profound. I taught us death (spiritually) is being separated from Father God. We choose to do this of our own will. Therefore, to return to father is also our choice. This helps us significantly to understand what spirit life is and what spirit death is. by God’s definition.

If you have had an abortion or have lost a child, they are alive and waiting for you in heaven. They are not mad at you. They actually love you very much. There is hope for an eternal reunion in heaven. If you have not forgiven yourself, God loves you so much that He sent someone to write you a letter to help you get through this life. God has already paid for all sins, but we must humble ourselves and go to Him and receive His forgiveness. It is a free gift, just ask and take it by faith. If you have not ever accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, to make a relationship with Him, this is a perfect time to do so. Please go to the link at the bottom and click on it to find out how to be saved from hell.

God bless and keep you all, the day of the Lord’s return is closer than ever. Get ready for His return, and stay ready, it could be today!

Are You Saved? Do you Know Jesus? Life is Short! Jesus wants to Know You! Please come and get to Know Him!