OVERCOMING DEATH
(week 16/13)
OLUBI JOHNSON
There are 3 kinds of death spoken of in scripture:
1. Temporary spiritual death: a corruption (Ezk.28:17) or pollution of the life of God because of sin that creates a block of the flow of the life of God into our spirits.
James 1:13-15 AMP: Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of being tempted by [what is] evil and He Himself tempts no one. (14) But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions). (15) Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.
2. Physical death: the separation of the human spirit from the physical body.
James 2:26 KJV: For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
3. Permanent spiritual death: the eternal state of separation from God, causing eternal corruption and torment:
Revelation 21:8 KJV: But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake, which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Isaiah 66:24 KJV: And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
It is the will of God that we overcome ALL these different kinds of death:
1 Corinthians 15:25-26 ESV: For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. (26) The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
So, we overcome permanent spiritual death or the 2nd death by accepting the Lord Jesus as Lord and Saviour so that when we die physically, we will go to heaven and not hell!
John 5:24 MKJV: Truly, truly, I say to you, He who hears My Word and believes on Him who sent Me has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death to life.
John 3:16-19 NKJV: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (17) For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (18) “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (19) And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Revelation 2:11 NKJV: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” ‘
We overcome temporary spiritual death by applying the blood of Jesus through confession of sin (1 Jn. 1:7-10) to remove the temporary block the spiritual death has caused: hindering the flow of God’s life into our spirits. Once the spiritual death block is removed, the life of God can again flow unhindered into our spirits and from there into our souls, bodies and circumstances by the power of the Holy Spirit, enabling us to do God’s will. This is how the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus sets us free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:2 ESV: For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Finally, we overcome physical death by using the life of God to walk in love, divine healing, health and protection to live long to manifest the glory of God and then decide with God when, where and how we die.
Sadly, many Christian do not efficiently overcome the block of spiritual death that hinders the flow of the life of God into their spirits. This is because of dishonesty of heart (2 Cor.4:2), not allowing them to confess and forsake their sins promptly and consistently; this results in a slow and minimal flow of the life of God into their spirits, souls, bodies and circumstances. Consequently, they do not have a sufficient measure of the power of God to overcome physical death: in many cases, dying prematurely from one satanic affliction or the other; though going to heaven but so as by fire and suffering loss of reward (1 Cor. 3:15; 5:5).
However, it is the will of God to deliver us from ALL afflictions:
Psalms 34:19 KJV: Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
2 Corinthians 2:14 MKJV: Now thanks be to God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ, and He revealing through us the odor of the knowledge of Him in every place.
So, let us by honesty and humility of heart efficiently operate the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and so overcome both spiritual and physical death!
