"Mortal Sleep"

 "These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of his sleep." (John 11:11 KJV)

  "The Scriptures tell us, "The first man, Adam, became a living person." But the last Adam - that is, Christ - is a life-giving Spirit. What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man. What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever." (1 Corinthians 15:45-50 NLT)

 I was a little bit off, as I prepared myself for the message yesterday morning at church; I think I was prepared for something a little more encouraging, as if being free from hell isn't encouraging enough. Don't get me wrong, I liked the message, because it reminded me how critical it is to share the Good News; but I was not prepared for that teaching on what hell might be like. 

 That said, the point about, "Without hell, we don't have a choice," made me ponder the difference between the old me and the new me, because the new me is no longer looking forward to hell! I can't even imagine why I ever bragged about going to hell. It might have been the fact that I was raised mostly in the J.W. faith, which does not believe in hell. You really can't fear something that you don't believe is real. 

 It has been said, "Jesus spoke more about hell, then He did about heaven." I seriously haven't ever really counted them up, but I doubt it, even though it has been repeated over and over. If anything, Jesus gave more description on hell being bad, making it something to avoid, while giving heaven the place to long for, which causes us to pay attention more to the dangerous messages.

 Just so you know, Lazarus was in Abraham's bosom; it might not have been the same Lazarus from the message in Luke 16, but nonetheless, his soul was there, while his body was asleep. There is no such thing as, "soul sleep," as many try to detail what happens to your soul when you die. But you can bet there is darkness for those who don't know the Lord! 

 No, there is no such thing as your soul sleeping, but there is a heaven, and if you belong to the Lord, that's where you will go! There is no more Abraham's bosom! Jesus released all those held captive, as they were waiting for Him to set them free, taking them all to heaven! 

 All of their bodies remained, just as our bodies will remain, but our soul will be with the Lord! Come Lord Jesus, come...

"But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies." (1 Corinthians 15:51-53 NLT)