What if someone handed you the phone and the voice at the other end was that of your mother who had died and was buried just six weeks ago? Would you believe it was your mother if you were positive that she had, indeed died?

When a person dies, is he really dead? From the days of our forefathers we have said, “dead men tell no tales”, but do they? Millions of people believe they are in touch with the dead. Government officials the world over, seek counsel from those who supposedly communicate with the dead.

Is this some gigantic hoax? Or is it one of the grandest blessings to ever come to man? Lives of people and the future of nations are at stake. Even more sobering, your own life and future could be in jeopardy. There is no defense for guess work when results can be so far reaching and final. We must obtain the facts.

Thank God, Jesus, the Star of the drama of Revelation, has the answers. He was dead but is now alive forevermore. Every person ever raised from the dead has been raised by Him, and He will gloriously raise millions in the near future. He knows all the answers about death. In fact, He holds in His hand the keys of death.

Prepare for some surprises as we review His Word on this most important topic.

LIFE AND DEATH

1. Revelation 1:18 refers to Jesus as “He that liveth and was dead”. What does he have in his hand?

 Ans: “The ________________ of __________ and ____________”.

NOTE: Thank God! Jesus has the keys, or answers, to the mysterious questions and problems regarding death. And since He, only, has the answers, we must go to His Word for information. No other source is reliable.

2. What is Jesus called in Revelation 1:5?

Ans: “The ________________ begotten of the ___________________”.

NOTE: Jesus was the first begotten from the dead in the same sense that He was “slain” from the foundation of the world”. He was also “first” from the standpoint of pre-eminence, or importance. His resurrection was “first” in the same sense that the president’s wife is “first” lady.

3. Why is Jesus’ resurrection so important to me as a person? 1 Corinthians 15:20-22

 Ans: “Even so in ________________ shall __________ be made ____________”.

NOTE: His resurrection is important to you and me because His resurrection has made all other resurrections possible.

4. How did God create man in the beginning? Genesis 2:7

 Ans: He “________________ man of the __________ of the ____________ and ___________ into his _______________ the __________________ of _____________”.

5. What happens at death, according to the Scripture? Ecclesiastes 12:7

Ans: “Then shall the _____________ _____________ to the ____________ as it was: and the ________________ shall _____________ unto ________________ who gave it”.

NOTE: Two things happen at death: the body returns to dust, and the spirit returns to God.

6. What is this “spirit” which returns to God at death? James 2:26.

Ans: __________________________________________________”.

NOTE: See Exhibit 13.1, Point 1, “Spirit and Breath”.

7. What happened when God placed the breath of life in man’s nostrils at creation? Genesis 2:7

Ans: “Man _______________ a ________________ _______________”.

NOTE: God formed man of the dust and made a body. He then combined breath with this body and man BECAME a living soul. So the Bible definition for “soul” is: BODY PLUS BREATH = SOUL. A living, breathing being IS A SOUL. The Bible, in this text, is saying that we ARE SOULS! The truth is we do not HAVE souls, but we ARE souls.

8. Do souls die? Ezekiel 18:4, 20

Ans: “The soul that sinneth it shall ___________________”.

NOTE: Strangely, the Bible does not agree with the widely used term “undying soul”. Rather, the Scripture teaches that the soul has a very short life. Our hope is the resurrection.

9. At death, the body returns to dust, and the breath (spirit) returns to God. What happens to the soul? Where does it go? Psalm 104:29-30.

 Ans: The soul goes nowhere. It simply _______________ to exist.

NOTE: See Exhibit 13.1, Point 2, “Soul “, and Exhibit 13.3, “Thief”.

10. Jesus and Job both tell us where the bodies of the dead are. Where are they? Job 21:32, John 5:28-29.

Ans: ____________________________________________________________

NOTE: They are not in heaven or hell, but rather in their graves. On the day of Pentecost, Peter said that David was in his grave and had not gone to heaven, Acts 2:29, 34. But the Scriptures clearly teach, Hebrews 11:32, that David will be saved in God’s Kingdom. David is not yet in heaven because God’s plan is that the dead wait in their graves until Jesus returns and resurrects them. Hebrews 11:39-40.

11. Can dead people think? Psalm 148:4

Ans: _______________________________________________________

12. Do dead people know what their loved ones on earth are doing? Job 14:12, 21

Ans: _________________________________________________

NOTE: The following Scripture passage are also very specific:

Job 7:9-10 – The dead can’t go back and haunt their houses.

Psalm 6:5 –  The dead do not remember or give thanks.

Isaiah 38:18-19 – The dead can’t learn truth.

Psalm 115:17 – The dead do not praise the Lord.

13. In death, doesn’t some part of man know something? Ecclesiastes 9:5, 8, 10

 Ans: “The __________________ know not _________________________”.

NOTE: Words could not be coupled together in a sentence to be plainer, “the dead know not anything”. The passage says the dead do not love, hate, or envy. They have no wisdom or knowledge. They do not work, and they are in no way involved with anything that is done under the sun. THEY CANNOT CONTACT THE LIVING. Before proceeding with this lesson, read carefully Point 3, “Death, Soul, and Spirit”, from Exhibit 13.1.

RESURRECTION FROM DEATH

14. When will the righteous dead, who are now in their graves, be raised? 1 Corinthians 15:20, 23, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17

 Ans: At the coming of __________________________________________

15. How did Jesus speak of death? John 11:11-14

Ans: “Our friend Lazarus ______________________________________”.

NOTE: See Exhibit 13.2, Point 1.

16. Do people have immortality now? 1 Timothy 6:15-16

Ans: _______________________________________

NOTE: Man is mortal or subject to death, Job 4:17. God, only, has immortality.

17. When will God’s people receive immortality? 1 Corinthians 15:51-55
    

Ans: When they are ________________ at Jesus’ ___________________.

NOTE: Jesus will give immortality to His people as a free gift, when they are translated at His second coming. Until then, no one but God has immortality. Immortality means not subject to death, Luke 20:35-36. The concept of the undying, immortal soul of man, so often spoken of at funerals today, is contrary to the Bible. Scripture cannot be found to support it because the Bible teaches just the opposite. It is Satan’s plan to nullify Jesus’ wonderful promise to give immortality at the resurrection by claiming that men already have it.

18. God’s people do not have immortality now, but do they have eternal life? 1 John 5:12, John 6:54.

Ans: __________________________________________________________

NOTE: See Exhibit 13.2, Point 2.

Jesus promises to raise our sleeping loved ones.

 

SATANS’ HOAX ABOUT DEATH

19. What lie about death did Satan tell Eve in the garden of Eden? Genesis 3:4

Ans: “____________ shall_____________ surely ____________”.

NOTE: Contrary to God’s word, Satan said that death is not a fact. “You won’t really die, if you disobey” is what he was saying to Eve.

20. Why does Satan want people to believe that the dead are alive and can be contacted? Revelation 16:14, 2 Thessalonians 2:9, Revelation 13:13-14

Ans: So his angels can pose as spirits of the _________ and _____________ people.

NOTE: Satan wants people to believe that the dead can be contacted so he can send his angels to pose as the spirits of the dead, and thus deceive them. His masterful delusions will deceive all but the very elect, Matthew 24:24. Notice that these evil angels also deceive the “king of the earth”, Revelation 16:13-14.

21. Fallen Christendom is referred to as Babylon in Revelation. What does God say is largely responsible for its fall? Revelation 18:2, 4-5.

Ans: “Babylon is ____________ … is become the habitation of _____________ and the hold of every foul ________________”.

NOTE: Christendom is falling because Satan has gained access to the churches through his falsehood that the dead are alive. In all too many cases, messages from Satan’s emissaries, who pose as spirits of the dead, are welcomed as marvelous counsel to the churches from the redeemed in glory. This gives Satan full power to deceive, and he makes every contact count. No wonder the apostle Paul so solemnly warned against such deception in 1 Timothy 4:1-2.

22. According to Revelation, these same evil angels, posing as spirits of the dead, approach the kings and leaders of earth. What is the result? Revelation 16:13-14, Revelation 18:23.

Ans:
(a) Revelation 18:23 “By thy _________ were _________ nations ______________ “.

(b) Revelation 16:14 “____________ them to the ____________ of the great ____________ of ___________________ Almighty”.

AN IMPORTANT TEST

23. From what sources, only, should I receive my information on the subject of death? Isaiah 8:19-20

Ans: (a) “Should not a people seek unto their ___________________”?

Ans: (b) “If they speak not according to this _______________ it is because there is no _____________ in them”.

NOTE: This passage plainly states that we must refuse to listen to those who claim to speak for the dead, and, instead, obtain our information from God’s Word only. Messages, which supposedly come from dead loved ones, are never from these loved ones, but, rather, from Satan. Sobering thought!

24. Revelation says those who obey God will enter His Kingdom. Who will be among those shut out? Revelation 22:15

Ans: For without are dogs, and ___________________ and whoremongers and murderers and idolators”.

NOTE: Those who consult the dead (sorcerers) will be shut out of heaven. In Moses’ day, God commanded that such be stoned, Leviticus 20:6, 27.

25. Witchcraft, which claims to contact the dead, is called, in the Bible, one of the works of the flesh for which people will be shut out of God’s Kingdom. How should I relate to it? Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 5:11.

Ans: “Have no ______________ with the unfruitful _____________ of darkness, but rather ______________ them”.

NOTE: I should stay as far away as possible from anything that in any way resembles witchcraft. Presumed contact with the dead is virtually always contact with Satanic forces.

26. Why are the godly dead called blessed in Revelation 14:13?

Ans: “They may _________________ from their ________________”.

NOTE: Notice the prophet does not say that they simply transferred their labors to heaven. No, their work is done. Ecclesiastes 9:10 also says clearly that the reason all work ceases at death is because there is no work in the grave where man goes at death. Man simply sleeps in the grave till the resurrection.

27. What finally happens to the terrible curse of death? Revelation 20:14

Ans: It is cast into the _____________________ of fire.

NOTE: Death ends in the fire. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away”, Revelation 21:4.

28. Read again the great passage of scripture on Jesus’ return and the resurrection found in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. What does verse eighteen say those words should bring us?

Ans: “____________________ one another with these words”.

NOTE: The Bible emphasis is not on an immortal soul, winging its way to heaven at death, as many have thought. The scriptures do not focus on death as a means to go to heaven. Death is not a comfort. The focus of scripture is always on the second coming of Jesus and the resurrection. And the greatest emphasis is on the glad news of Christ’s own resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15:12-26. Because He rose again, all who sleep in Him will rise again. What blessed comfort indeed!

29. What inconceivably great power is promised to God’s people today? Philippians 3:10

Ans: “The __________________ of His _____________________________”.

NOTE: What a joy to be reunited with friends and loved ones who died believing in Jesus Christ. Truly, the second coming of Jesus will be a grand and glorious event for those who love and serve Him. Praise God! He offers me the same miraculous power in life that raised Jesus from the dead. How can a Christian fail with such fantastic power available? It is yours for the asking.

30. Will you accept Jesus’ offer to give you this resurrection power for victory in your life today?

Ans:  ________________________________________________________