What does the Bible say about death

I couldn’t begin to expect that I’d be able to list and comment on all of the many references to death in the Bible. The book endeavors to answer the big questions of life. Death and the question of an afterlife are two of those questions. I will try to highlight the different views on death as I see them.

The first mention of death in the Bible comes in the Garden of Eden. Adam was alone; Eve had not yet been created. God told Adam that he could eat of every tree in the garden except for “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. If he ate from that tree, “you shall surely die”. (Gen. 2:17) So, mankind was not created as mortal beings and death is a punishment. God’s words to Adam as he sent him out of the garden were, “For dust you are, and to dust you shall return”. Adam and Eve got a look at the consequences and severity of the first ever death when Cain killed Abel.

In the Old Testament, there is little mention of a life beyond this one. 2 Samuel 14:14 is ambiguous, “For we will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again.” As Job regrets his birth and longs for death, he cries, “There, the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. There, the prisoners rest together; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.” (Job 3:17,18)

“If I wait for the grave as my house, if I make my bed in the darkness, if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister,’ where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it?” (Job 17:13-15) And, “Before I go to the place from which I shall not return, to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, a land as dark as darkness itself, as the shadow of death, without any order, where even the light is like darkness.” (Job 10:21,22)

There is, however, hope for the righteous as opposed to what the wicked will get. “For there will be no prospect for the evil man; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.” (Prov.24: 20) “The wicked is banished in his wickedness, but the righteous has a refuge in his death.” (Prov.14: 32)

The prophet Isaiah was a little more positive in his outlook, “He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.” (Isaiah 25: 8) He looked to some far away day when the redeemed would return to Zion. As to a resurrection or Heaven and Hell, little is mentioned in the Old Testament. At the very most, the righteous would get a rest and the wicked would never be remembered.

In the New Testament we see that a life lived apart from God is considered spiritual death. “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.” (1John 3: 14) When Zacharias prophesied, he sang, “To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.” (Luke 1: 79)

Jesus taught that “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46) The Apostle Paul summed up the New Testament view on death. “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed - in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. – Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades where is your victory?” (1Cor. 15:51-55)

Last of all is the second death, which comes at the last judgement. All of the righteous will experience the first resurrection and 1,000 years with Jesus on earth. Those who are going on to eternal punishment will experience a second death where they will be finally cast into hell.