Oh boy, the dead of that verse are not the dead you are thinking of.
I will be clear... Souls are not "destroyed" Annihilation/or eternal Torment (Pick your poison)... until final judgment that declares the wicked, wicked, and some that died outside of Christ saved.
Case in point... Soul's exist. Sheol is the realm of the dead, while "hell" is a lousy term coined to explain the lake of fire.
Jonah cried out from Sheol, within the belly of the Whale... and Christ affirms that Jonah died and was regurgitated/resurrected ... by binding the event to "The Sign of Jonah".
Couple this with Jesus not correcting the disciples when they feared He was a Spirit, when He was walking on water, and what the true meaning of sorcery in scripture is... and you will begin to understand that "Soul Sleep" is a deceitful doctrine.
Go a step further, and dive into 1 Peter 3:18-20, and see if you can deny what is plainly there.
ok ... I'll go a step further ... how about you go a few steps further as well
State of the Dead
Psalm 90:3-6
You turn man back into dust And say, "Return, O children of men." For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night. You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep; In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.
Job 7:21
"Why then do You not pardon my transgression And take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust; And You will seek me, but I will not be."
Job 14:10-12
"But man dies and lies prostrate Man expires, and where is he? "As water evaporates from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dried up, So man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no longer, He will not awake nor be aroused out of his sleep.
Psalm 13:3
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
Daniel 12:2
"Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
Matthew 9:24
He (Jesus) said, "Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep." And they began laughing at Him.
Mark 5:39
And entering in, He said to them, "Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep."
Luke 8:52-53
Now they were all weeping and lamenting for her; but He said, "Stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep." And they began laughing at Him, knowing that she had died.
1 Kings 2:10
Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.
Deuteronomy 31:16
The LORD said to Moses, "Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers; and this people will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the land, into the midst of which they are going, and will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.
2 Samuel 7:12
"When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.
1 Kings 11:43
And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David, and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.
1 Kings 14:20
The time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years; and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place.
1 Kings 16:6
And Baasha slept with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah, and Elah his son became king in his place.
1 Kings 22:50
And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David, and Jehoram his son became king in his place.
2 Kings 14:16
So Jehoash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son became king in his place.
2 Kings 15:7
And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Jotham his son became king in his place.
2 Kings 16:20
So Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.
2 Kings 20:21
So Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son became king in his place.
2 Kings 21:18
And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son became king in his place.
Revelation 14:13
And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, "Write, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them."
John 11:11-14
This He (Jesus) said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep." The disciples then said to Him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."
Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep.
Acts 7:60
Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" Having said this, he fell asleep.
1 Corinthians 15:6
After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep;
John 5:28-29
"Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
Job 14:13-15
"Oh that You would hide me in Sheol, That You would conceal me until Your wrath returns to You, That You would set a limit for me and remember me! "If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my struggle I will wait Until my change comes. "You will call, and I will answer You; You will long for the work of Your hands.
Psalm 17:15
As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake.
Isaiah 26:19
Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.
1 Corinthians 15:20
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
Jeremiah 51:57
"I will make her princes and her wise men drunk, Her governors, her prefects and her mighty men, That they may sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake up," Declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
Psalm 7:3-5
O LORD my God, if I have done this, If there is injustice in my hands, If I have rewarded evil to my friend, Or have plundered him who without cause was my adversary, Let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it; And let him trample my life down to the ground And lay my glory in the dust. Selah.
Psalm 76:5
The stouthearted were plundered, They sank into sleep; And none of the warriors could use his hands.
Jeremiah 51:39
"When they become heated up, I will serve them their banquet And make them drunk, that they may become jubilant And may sleep a perpetual sleep And not wake up," declares the LORD.
***
1 Peter 3:18-20 -
The expression “flesh” talks about the earthly sphere of Jesus’ existence while the expression “spirit” refers to his heavenly dimension.
1 John 3
2 Beloved, we are now children of God,
and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.
Couple this with Jesus not correcting the disciples when they feared He was a Spirit, when He was walking on water
This is pure conjecture on your part ... go with what is written rather than what is not written.
Sign of Jonah
Matthew 12
For as Jonah was
three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be
three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
It's comparing the 3 days and 3 nights timeframe - two different places, not the same place ... Jonah in the belly of a fish ... Jesus in the heart of the earth
I will be clear... Souls are not "destroyed" Annihilation/or eternal Torment (Pick your poison)... until final judgment that declares the wicked, wicked, and some that died outside of Christ saved.
This statement is unclear ... however
There are 2 resurrections, the first of the saved (those in the grave, and those living at the time. Paul sums it up here:
1 Thessalonians 4
13Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those
who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope.
14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.
15By the word of the Lord,
we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise.
17After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.
18Therefore encourage one another with these words.
The saved will be changed
1st Corinthians 15
40There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the splendor of the heavenly bodies is of one degree, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is of another.
51Listen, I tell you a mystery:
We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—
52in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
Later, after the 2nd resurrection of the condemned, yeah them and everything is destroyed.
People ask the question What kind of a loving God would burn people in hell "forever"? Fact is, He don't. This is making God out to be a sadistic terrorist. totally contrary to His loving nature/character.
Psalm 1:6 “But the way of the ungodly shall perish”
If one believes in eternal conscious hell, they don’t believe the ungodly perish at all– but live forever (immortal in hell).
Psalm 37:20 “But the wicked shall perish… they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.”
If one believes in eternal conscious hell, they don’t believe the wicked will be “consumed.” Instead, they believe the wicked are tortured and never consumed.
Psalm 69:28 says that the wicked are “blotted out of the book of the living.”
This continues the consistency of scripture which tells us the wicked die– not that they are eternally living in a conscious hell.
Ps. 34:16, 21 “evil brings death to the wicked.”
Of course, if one believes in eternal hell, one doesn’t believe that evil brings death at all, but brings eternal life– in hell.
Psalm 92:7 “… shall be destroyed forever.”
If one believes in eternal conscious hell, they don’t believe those who are lost are “destroyed” but again, that they live forever ... tortured in hell.
Prov. 24:20 “the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.”
To believe in eternal conscious hell means one believes they will not be snuffed out at all.
Dan. 2:35 “the wind swept them away without leaving a trace.”
This continues the theme of totally destroyed– there’s not a trace of the wicked. This is the opposite of eternal life in hell.
Isa. 1:28, 30–31 “rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.”
Obadiah 1:16 It will be as if the evil “had never been.“
This speaks to ceasing to exist– not eternal life in hell. In the traditional hell it will not be “as if they had never been” because they’ll live eternally and still “be.”
Mal 4:1 “All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them.”
Here God is quoted directly– the evildoers are destroyed like straw thrown into the fire, and nothing is left. This shows total annihilation (they no longer exist). To believe in eternal hell, one would have to argue that God was mistaken and that they aren’t destroyed in the fire at all– but live forever in the fire without being consumed, which is the exact opposite of what God claimed.
God Shows, hell (burning forever) is NOT in the Old Testament. Instead, they believed that the wicked are destroyed– that they die and do not get resurrected to eternal life. This is the testimony of the whole of scripture. To believe in eternal conscious hell is to really be at odds with the terminology we see scripture use. These same claims of annihilation and destruction continue in the New Testament:
Matthew 10:28 “Rather, fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Here Jesus himself teaches against hell– saying that those who are lost experience the death of their soul. If one believes in eternal conscious hell, they believe Jesus was wrong on this point, and that souls don’t die at all, but will live forever in hell.
John 3:16 “…whosoever believeth in him should not perish”
Again, to believe in hell, one must believe Jesus was wrong in John 3:16 and that people don’t “perish” at all, but live forever in hell.
Matthew 7:13: “broad is the road that leads to destruction“
Jesus in his warnings continues with the repetitive testimony of scripture: the consequence of rejecting reconciliation with God is destruction– not everlasting life in torment.
Jesus on a variety of occasions uses the metaphor of fire that consumes not tortures: Matthew 7:19; Matthew 13:40; John 15:6
Philippians 3:19 “whose end is destruction…“
There’s that word again, “destroyed" (destruction). Those who believe in eternal hell don’t believe one is destroyed in hell, but lives there forever .... being tortured by a loving God?
2 Thessalonians 1:9 “who shall be punished with everlasting destruction (destroyed) ”
The Bible is getting clear that the consequence of rejecting God is destruction, not eternal life in hell.
1 Cor 3:17: “God will destroy that person”
There’s that word again that doesn’t mean tortured in hell, but just means what it says– destroyed.
2 Cor 2:15-16: “those that perish“
Again, if Paul meant hell, he should have said it– seems like everyone talks about perishing, being destroyed– but doesn’t talk about hell.
Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death..“
It’s perishing, dying, being destroyed.. the opposite of eternal life in hell.
Hebrews 10:39 “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”
Another version of the same term… destroyed.
James 4:12a “There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.”
We are to understand to be “destroyed” is the natural consequence…
2 Peter 2:3: “Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”
Revelation 20:14 “This is the second death…”
Those who believe in eternal conscious hell don’t believe in the second death– they believe everyone is immortal, and that some will live forever in hell. Revelation 20:14 is clear that they die– they don’t live forever in hell at all.
A soul is a person ... it's not something you possess .... it's what you are
a living being.
"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 being" (
Gen. 2:7, NKJV).
Scripture gives us a simple equation for understanding the nature of humans:
Body (dust of the ground; the earth's elements) plus
Breath of life ("spirit" of life from God) equals
A living person (a soul).
Nowhere does the Bible speak of the soul as an immortal entity capable of living apart from our body. Neither does it speak of the spirit as an entity which can exist independent of our physical nature. We are not made of independent parts temporarily connected, but of body, soul, and spirit in one indivisible whole.
There is NOTHING immortal about us .... yet ;o)
1st Timothy 6
16 He alone is immortal and dwells in unapproachable light. No one has ever seen Him, nor can anyone see Him. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.
Sorry for the long post .... look forward to your take on all these verses