WHY DO WE DIE?

WHY DO WE DIE?

Well… in order to know - to reconcile in our minds why we die, we must go back and understand the account of creation in Genesis. Not just that of Adam (man), but of all creation.

CREATION

• It is very important to understand chapter one;

• The scope of satan's rebellion is very important to comprehend;

• The aligning of those angels with him is important to realize;

• Their (lucifer and angels) expulsion is important to note;

…all of that (rebellion, aligning with and expulsion) is literally one form of death. It happened in Heaven… in the spiritual realm, and it happened before Adam was formed. Adam was created into an arena where death already existed.

MAN

So… Adam (man) was formed from the dust of the earth, and God breathed into him the breath of Life and man became a living soul,

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. Gen. 2:7.

This Life was and is heavenly, in that it came from God, Who is the giver of Life. Man was and is "earthly," literally of the earth, temporal; but yet Adam had the quality of "sustained" life (eternal) in God the Son (the pre-incarnate Christ). The body, though, is absolutely nothing without the presence of the living soul, from the breath (Spirit) of Life. So man was and is a triune being… body, soul, and spirit. It is the Spirit which "quickens" (makes alive) the soul... which quickens the body.

GARDEN

The Tree of Life was LIFE... fellowship and communion with God. And there was a Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil which may or may not have had actual fruit, perhaps much like our communion service today wherein we actually "eat" but much more symbolic of an intimate association with our Savior in Whom we have eternal Life.

And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Gen. 2:9.

That Tree of Life might have been symbolic (as a reminder) to Adam of where he had his immortality… God the Son, the pre-incarnate Christ. The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (conscience?) are mentioned distinctly separate from the description of all the other trees, which were "pleasant to the sight (attractive) and good for food." A distinction I think worth noting.

DEATH

Now, let us define death. You may want to do your own "word study" but, essentially death means basically "separation".

Vine's defines it as…

[GR. thanatos: "death" - is used in Scripture of:

(a) the separation of the soul (the spiritual part of man) from the body (the material part), the latter ceasing to function and turning to dust, (physical death) e.g., John 11:13; Heb. 2:15; 5:7; 7:23. 

(b) the separation of man from God; Adam died IN the day he disobeyed God (not ON the day), Gen. 2:17, and hence all mankind is born in the same spiritual condition, Rom. 5:12,14,17,21, from which, however, those who believe in Christ are delivered, John 5:24; 1 John 3:14.

"Death" is the opposite of life; though it never denotes nonexistence. As spiritual life is "conscious existence in communion with God," so spiritual death is "conscious existence separated from God".

Death, in whichever of the above-mentioned senses it is used, is always, in Scripture, viewed as [the penal consequence of sin.] ~Vine’s New Testament Dictionary

So the body, with the soul and spirit (God’s breath of life) removed/separated, is an empty shell, a tabernacle… it ceases to function, and immediately begins to revert to dust.

If He set His heart upon man, if He gather unto Himself His spirit and His breath; all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust. Job 34:14-15.

Whereas the soul is eternal. The breath of life is from God and returns to God, (see Eccl. 12:7).

OK… continuing on…

So we get it with what happened to satan. It is important to note that he was a creature of free will. In his pride, he lusted for the worship which was directed (rightfully due) to God. He initiated in himself that realm (death) which is "separation" from God's sphere, God's Love, God's Grace, God's fellowship. He was able to seduce, who knows how many angels (one third?) to rebel with him;

"…and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth…" Rev. 12:3-4. (emphasis mine).

Adam, having been created by God with Whom he would have a relationship, was essentially given the responsibility of Lord of Creation (possibly that which should have been, or was for a time, lucifer's/satan's… that is, dominion over God's creation), and was given one commandment,

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 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." Gen. 2:16-17.

Extrapolating…"In the day that you assert your own will above mine, you will suffer the same fate as satan". And that's exactly what Adam did...

• rebellion against God;

• aligning with Eve;

• expulsion from the garden.

It is implied, especially by Adam and Eve's reaction to eating the fruit (guilt, shame, sorrow), that they understood the penalty (death)... they had a knowledge of death. So death entered the race of man because and through Adam, but it was initiated by satan in himself.

I must include here what Matthew Henry has to say…

[There was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so called, not because it had any virtue in it to beget or increase useful knowledge (surely then it would not have been forbidden), but,

1. Because there was an express positive revelation of the will of God concerning this tree, so that by it he might know moral good and evil. What is good? It is good not to eat of this tree. What is evil? It is evil to eat of this tree. The distinction between all other moral good and evil was written in the heart of man by nature; but this, which resulted from a positive law, was written upon this tree.

2. Because in that event, it proved to give Adam an experimental knowledge of good by the loss of it and of evil by the sense of it. As the covenant of grace has in it, not only Believe and be saved, but also, Believe not and be damned (Mk. 16:16), so the covenant of innocence had in it, not only "Do this and live," which was sealed and confirmed by the tree of life, but, "Fail and die," which Adam was assured of by this other tree: "Touch it at your peril;" so that, in these two trees, God set before him good and evil, the blessing and the curse, Deut. 30:19.] ~ Matt. Henry

THE TREE of the KNOWLEDGE of GOOD and EVIL

As long as Adam remained in perfect fellowship with God, he had experiential knowledge only of good… the Holy, the knowledge of God. He had no knowledge yet of sin as transgression and trespass... "the intrusion of self-will into the sphere of divine authority- (Scofield, Romans 3:23, sin summary). He then became aware of his shame, his body of humiliation which the KJV translates as "vile". It is the shame of his nakedness. But his nakedness is not because of a lack of clothes, but from the loss of glory which had clothed him in righteousness. Man is now aware of good and evil (conscience?).

ETERNAL LIFE

What if we are intended to be a demonstration to the holy and unholy angels, of God's Grace, Love, Mercy, Righteousness, Glory, Powers of Reconciliation. We are to be a "living statement" against the lies of satan… one of which is, "Ye will not surely die"? What if we are meant to replace all that was lost in Heaven because of the expulsion of satan and his angels? It is amazing to me when studying the Word on one theme, what our Father sometimes reveals on another theme... and so very much thankfully received.

The reason why we die is because Adam sinned against God. Sin is corruption, decay, a cancer, iniquity, error, lawlessness, hatred toward God, rebellion against God, etc. God cannot be a part of that in any way. He MUST remove all of that from His domain. He casts it away. He establishes, with His Law, a divine boundary between good and evil. Sin incurs the penalty of separation from God (spiritual death) and a decay within our mortal body (physical death).

But God has provided a remedy for our situation... a redemption of our condition - THE CROSS of JESUS CHRIST. We must die spiritually TO our old nature and be “born again” and live in Christ; the mystery of the ages... Christ in us; the mystery of the process by which "godlikeness" is restored to man, 1 Tim. 3:16... and we must die physically to our old body SO THAT WE CAN ENTER INTO THE RESURRECTION OF ETERNAL LIFE.

“this perishable nature must clothe itself with what is imperishable, and this mortality must clothe itself with immortality.” 1 Cor. 15:53.

Whereas satan voluntarily and willfully chose to reject God and His Sovereignty, we now can demonstrate voluntarily and willfully (that is, of our own free will) that we choose to serve the Sovereign God; that we choose to enter into His Glory.

We inherit spiritual death (from God) from Adam… separation from God because he rebelled against God in his disobedience and presumption of his own will; he aligned himself with the woman, (she being deceived but Adam knew full well what he was doing), and in so doing, with satan; and he too (like satan from Heaven) was expelled from the Garden, and he took the entire human race with him. We die the physical death because we are in corrupted bodies, they are temporary, we inherit what Adam acquired when expelled from the Garden… DECAY.

I am offering these premises which are acceptable to me because the "homework" I have done, which is on-going, is proving itself (to me) to be true. I would strongly encourage you to do your own study.