He couldn’t have been further from the truth.

The Bible states clearly that human beings are mortal and no one will receive  immortality until the the time of the resurrection at the second coming of Christ (John 5:28, 29, 1Cor. 15:51-55).

Better that we follow the teaching of the Apostle Paul who said: “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure [death]. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2Timothy 4:6-8).

“That day” is, of course, not the day of his death but the day of Christ’s appearing when all the faithful will receive their reward.

Further to my last post, technology did cooperate and I am able to put up on this site the audio of my sermon on the exclusive immortality of God and our own conditional immortality.

The aspect of our present mortality will be developed in future weeks, beginning in two weeks (after Fathers Day, which is next Sunday).

Again I hope to make the audio available soon afterward.

This is a brief summary of a sermon I am preaching at my church on “Advent Christian distinctives” (Yes, I belong to the Advent Christian family of churches). God willing and technology cooperating I will make the audio available next week.

Does the believer in Jesus Christ have eternal life now? The biblical answer is both, “Yes” and “No!” In the matter of eternal life in immortality the Bible teaches the following:

1. God alone has underived immortality as his exclusive possession.

Paul spoke of human beings who “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Rom. 1:23). To Timothy he exclaimed: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1Tim. 1:17). He speaks of God “who alone is immortal” (1Tim. 6:16). Thus God’s exclusive underived immortality is explicitly contrasted with the mortality of humankind.

2. God has given the Son “life in himself”.

Christ Jesus has “destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2Tim. 1:10). Not just in word, but in deed. God has life in himself. He has given the Son to have “life in himself” (John 5:26) and to give that life to others.

3. Immortality is a prize we must seek after.

Jesus spoke of “those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age [the age to come] and in the resurrection from the dead” (Luke 20:34-36). Only some, “those considered worthy”, will rise to life in the age to come.

Paul speaks of “those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour and immortality”. The promise is that “he [God] will give [them] eternal life“(Rom. 2:7). No one seeks what one already has. One cannot be given what one already has. Life in immortality is a prize we are still seeking.

4. Eternal life is ours now – as a promise through faith in Christ.

There are verses (particularly in John) that speak of eternal life as a present reality. So, “God has given us eternal life, and … He who has the Son has life” (1 John 5:11-12). How can this be?

Eternal life is literally “the life of the Age to come“. It is a promise we have from God (1John 2:25, Titus 1:2, 2Tim. 1:1). Christ has it now and we who possess him possess it in him (1 John 5:11-12, Col. 3:4). It will certainly be ours in the age to come (Mat. 25:46, Mark 10:30, John 12:25, Rom. 2:7, 16). In Scripture (particularly in John) future things that are certain are spoken of as though present (John 17:22 cf. 7:39).

5. Immortality will be “put on” – when Christ comes again.

Eternal life in immortality will be ours – as a personal possession – when Christ comes again. Thus Paul tells us: “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then [and only then] the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” (1Cor. 15:54).

6. Our hope is in Jesus coming again!

For those who see immortality as the reward of the righteous when Jesus comes, we look to Jesus’ Coming as the climax of history. Our Saviour comes and he brings his reward – eternal life in immortality – with him (Isa. 62:11 c.f. Mat. 16:27, Rev. 22:12).

Does Paul’s desire “to depart and to be with Christ” show us that the believer goes immediately to “heaven” at death and thus that death is “better by far” than life? No way!

Once again we must ask, on the subject of the afterlife why was it that the only comfort Paul offered the Thessalonian Church was that the dead in Christ would be resurrected when Jesus comes again? (1Thess. 4:13-18). Likewise, in 1Corinthians 15, if Paul believed that the departed go straight to heavenly bliss why does he put forward no hope other than that of the resurrection?

Looking at Philippians 1:20-24 in context, we note the following:

1. It is in Paul’s body (not his “soul”) that he hopes Christ will be exalted, whether by life or death (20);

2. The “gain” Paul has in mind is first and foremost that to the cause of Christ through his dying a martyr’s death (20), then that which is to Paul personally from his martyrdom (21). He no doubt aspired to be like the many “others”, the unnamed heroes of the faith, who are mentioned in Hebrews 11, who “were tortured and refused to be released so that they might gain a better resurrection.” (See Heb. 11:35);

3. So elsewhere Paul speaks of his desire to share in Christ’s sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so at length to attain to the resurrection from the dead (3:10-11);

4. In 2Tim. 4:6-8 too Paul speaks of his imminent death as a “departure”: beyond death however it is the “Day” of Christ’s return that he (along with everyone else) looks to;

5. Throughout the book of Philippians it is clearly the resurrection of the dead at Christ’s return upon which Paul fastens his hope: It is only then that “our lowly bodies … will be like his glorious body” (3:20-21).

Paul speaks not of his “soul” departing but of his whole self. His use of the term, “depart”, suggests a journey in which the beginning is death and the end is being with Christ. It is this end which is “better by far.”

Paul will be with Christ after death, but Philippians 1:23 tells us nothing as to how or when he will be with Christ. Elsewhere Paul makes it clear: It is by resurrection.

Meanwhile either by the way he lives his life, or by the way he dies a martyr’s death, Paul aims to exalt Christ.

This should be our aim too!

(First published in “From Death To Life”, Issue 27, p3).