ASHES TO ASHES DUST TO DUST REVERTING TO THE ORGINAL STATE
Eccl 12:7 The body is put back in the same ground it came from. The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it. MSG
John 5:24 “It’s urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living. MSG
John 11:25 “You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live.
26 And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?” MSG
John 14:2 There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you?
3 And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. MSG
1 Thess 4:13 And regarding the question, friends, that has come up about what happens to those already dead and buried, we don’t want you in the dark any longer. First off, you must not carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word.
14 Since Jesus died and broke loose from the grave, God will most certainly bring back to life those who died in Jesus.
15 And then this: We can tell you with complete confidence — we have the Master’s word on it — that when the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get a jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they’ll be ahead of us.
16 The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God’s trumpet blast! He’ll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise — they’ll go first.
17 Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master.
18 Oh, we’ll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words.
Phil 1:23 For living to me means simply “Christ”, and if I die I should merely gain more of him. I realise, of course, that the work which I have started may make it necessary for me to go on living in this world, I should find it very hard to make a choice. I am torn in two directions – on the one hand I long to leave this world and live with Christ, and that is obviously the best thing for me. PHILLIPS
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Philip 1:23 Paul says I’m often torn between these two thoughts. I have this strong yearning to step out of the confines of this body into the immediate embrace of Christ! Can you imagine the awesomeness of that! Mirror
Ps 116:15 When they arrive at the gates of death, God welcomes those who love him. MSG
Phil 3:20 But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high heaven! We’re waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He’ll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him. MSG
2 Cor 5:1 We know, for instance, that if our earthly dwelling were taken down, like a tent, we have a permanent house in Heaven, made, not by man, but by God. In this present frame we sigh with deep longing for the heavenly house, for we do not want to face utter nakedness when death destroys our present dwelling – these bodies of ours. So long as we are clothed in this temporary dwelling we have a painful longing, not because we want just to get rid of these “clothes” but because we want to know the full cover of the permanent house that will be ours. We want our transitory life to be absorbed into the life that is eternal.
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5 We are not complaining about our bodies, even though we are often aware of its frailty; instead we yearn to be overwhelmed with life. We know that every evidence of death, even in our bodies, will dissolve into life!
6 God wired us this way; His Spirit already confirms within us the present evidence of eternity. We are eternal beings by design. MSG
1 Cor 15:38 But perhaps someone will ask, “How is the resurrection achieved? With what sort of body do the dead arrive?” Now that is talking without using your minds! In your own experience you know that a seed does not germinate without itself “dying”. When you sow a seed you do not sow the “body” that will eventually be produced, but bare grain, of wheat, for example, or one of the other seeds. God gives the seed a “body” according to his laws – a different “body” to each kind of seed. PHILLIPS
1 COR 15:35 There might be many skeptics who would say, “How are the dead raised and what does the resurrected body look like?”
36 Think about it this way, a seed that is sown has to first die before it lives again.
37 And the plant that grows from the seed does not even resemble the grain that was sown. If you only know what wheat looks like in its seed form you might not be able to recognize the plant.
38 God has designed a unique body for every plant species.
39 The human body differs from the bodies of animals and so do the bodies of fish and birds differ from all other bodies.
40 There are celestial bodies as well as terrestrial bodies. The glory of the one differs from the other. There are skin-bodies and spirit-bodies.
41 The glory of the sun differs from the glory of the moon; [while the one radiates light, the other reflects light.] Also the stars differ from one another. Each one occupies its own unique place in space.
42 So also with the resurrection from the dead, the body that was sown into the earth decays, but the risen person is immortal.
43 It is sown in sadness but raised in honor; it is sown in frailty but raised in power.
44 It is sown as a physical body and raised as a spiritual body. The fact that there is a physical body confirms that there is also a spiritual body.
45 It is recorded in Scripture how the first Adam became a living soul; the last Adam is a life radiating spirit.
46 Physical life is the platform for spiritual life.
47 Human life was reduced to slavery and the soul-ruled earthly realm through Adam’s fall but is now awakened to lordship in the heavenly realm of spiritual realities through the knowledge of our co-resurrection with Christ.
48 The reduced state of the individual left its mark on mankind as being earthly; now the redeemed state of mankind confirms their origin in God and marks their new heavenly life.
49 Just as we were once defined by the flesh [our earthly image] we are now defined by our spirit [our heavenly] image.
50 Flesh and blood has a sell-by date; the bodies you live in now will not last forever.
51 Ponder this mystery, I want to show you something that you have never seen before: everyone will be awakened out of sleep; we will all experience exactly the same change.
Rev 7:15 That’s why they’re standing before God’s Throne. They serve him day and night in his Temple. The One on the Throne will pitch his tent there for them: 16 no more hunger, no more thirst, no more scorching heat.
17 The Lamb on the Throne will shepherd them, will lead them to spring waters of Life. And God will wipe every last tear from their eyes.” MSG
Rev 21:4 He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good — tears gone, crying gone, pain gone — all the first order of things gone.” MSG