What if: You don’t have to die?

As a teen I loved science fiction.  I loved to think of possibilities beyond the norm.  So I’m naturally intrigued with this subject… but this possibility seems to be more than a science fiction adventure.

Question: Did Jesus lift off ALL the curse from us?  Or just part of the curse?  Does some of the removal of the curse have to wait for some date in the future in order for us to avail it?  And just so we know what we’re referring to, here are some of the consequences Adam experienced (Gen 3:16-24).

You die – because you ate of the wrong tree
Women – husband shall rule over you
Pain in childbirth
Ground is cursed
You shall till the ground
By sweat of your brow
Among thorns and thistles
Till you return to the ground – die
Driven from the Garden of Eden

Again, we believe Jesus came and lifted off the curse, but now that we’re getting down to the nitty gritty, we may question whether it applies to ALL of the curse.  So, is the lifting off of the curse determined by future sovereign timings, or the conditional actions of man, or ???

So next question: Do we have evidence that any practical aspects of the curse have been lifted off in our modern day?  I think we can find a few

Childbirth pain – I have a Christian friend who has had 11 short & painless home births.  There are several books published by women who have pioneered similar beachheads of faith and experience.
Women under rule – The world’s reversal version is called ‘women’s lib’.  God’s reversal version/pre-Fall helpmate status in Christian marriage.
Cursed ground – Watch the Transformations videos by George Otis, to see convincing documented proof of redeemed land, sea and creation.  The earth responds favorably to righteous rule (Rms 8:19).
Sweat/work – Some have established track records of supernatural provision and those new beachheads of faith are being successfully exported to others.

So some of what we thought were immutable consequences of the curse, are actually reversible and redeemable.  Hmmmm.

OK, then what about death?  Does a man have to die (heart stops beating)?  If death is arguably the most serious consequence of the curse, then was Jesus’ work on the cross significant enough to conquer the sentence of death for all of us.  If we can determine it so, we would have ‘legal footing’ to create a beachhead of faith to overcome death.

We know that death is the “last enemy” – I Cor 15:26.  That implies that there is a time when death will be no more.  Are we waiting for a sovereign timing in the future… or has that work already been done on the cross when Jesus said, “It is finished”?  Is He just waiting for daring believers to defy the status quo charade that death has held over us since Jesus?

And just to prove that it is possible to not die; for the record, there were at least two men in OT Scripture who never had to experience death – Enoch and Elijah.  But, almost automatically Hebrews 9:27 will pop into our minds (“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this, the judgment”) as a proof text that we must die.  But, if we take this literally, what shall we do with Enoch and Elijah who didn’t die… and the people who have died 2 or 3 times, after being resurrected from the dead?  And what about our theology that says we’ve already died with Christ?  Does that satisfy the Adamic death sentence over you and me?

Since we know that there are some victories over the curse, let’s look at other spiritual breakthroughs in the last few centuries.

Rediscovery of: “the just shall live by faith” – 1517
Mass baptism of the Holy Spirit – 1905 approx.
Assurance of salvation by faith… not by works or travailing – 19xxs
Healing by ‘faith healers’ only — 40-50s
Prophets/Evangelists can give words of knowledge – 50-60s
Teachers made the Word come alive – 70s
Everyone can heal – 80s
Everyone can prophesy – 80-90s
Apostles reemerge in the earth – 90s
Supernatural provision available – 2000s
Church begins focusing outside of the building – 2000s
Upgrades in theology…

God’s identity is better than we thought – 2010s
Our identity is improving in our own eyes – 2010s

Seeing this, I’m sure we can expect that many more status quos will be broken.  Many of these (above) were and still are, staggering breakthroughs of faith which have revolutionized large sectors of the body of Christ!  Indeed, a few walked in these breakthroughs before they become available on a wholesale basis.  But some desperate pioneers paid the cost to make a discovery, herald that discovery… and release that position of faith to the globe for wholesale outpouring… thus changing the world.  So, big paradigms and status quos do get broken.

Now, back to death… let’s look at Adam before the Fall.  Did he have to die before the Fall?

“Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.  So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.” – Gen 3:22-24

“Returning to the dust” can mean only physical death.  There would be no point to this aspect of the curse unless there was the possibility of no physical death before.  All Adam and Eve had to do was eat of the Tree of Life in order to live forever in their natural body, so God had to drive them from the Garden.   

Ok, so are there other Scriptures to fan the flames of our quest?  Take a look at these passages.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies.  And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.  Do you believe this?” – John 11:25-26

O death where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?  For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.  But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. – I Cor 15:56-57

Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. – John 5: 24

Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes has eternal life. – John 6:47

This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. – John 6:50

I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  – John 6:51

This is the bread that came down from heaven.  Unlike your fathers, who ate the manna and died, the one who eats this bread will live forever. – John 6:57-58

And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel – II Tim 1:10

This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.  For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven the Lord viewed the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to release those appointed to death, – Ps 102:18-20

Truly, truly, I tell you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death. – John 8:51

Do we have to relegate these to only ethereal spiritual-realm applications?  Although some of these passages can and should be applied to escaping spiritual soul death, some of the language seems to give credence to overcoming physical death.  Is God waiting for someone(s) to mine His heart and His word to find faith to overcome death?  Is defying death ‘legally’ available in God’s heart for us?   OK, let’s try another approach.

This happy man needs a drink of Ps 103:5 & 42:11

… who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. – Ps 103:5

Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed… For my people will live as long as trees.– Isa 65:20, 22

So not only did men live longer in early Biblical history, but this passage clearly states that somewhere in the future men will again live longer… much longer.  And if they live longer… could that mean they may not have to die at all?

Is it possible that this ‘mountain’ of a giant has illegally squatted on God’s people for way too long and is about to get “removed and cast into the sea”?  The pioneer in me wants to conquer this ‘mountain’ just like every other mountain I’ve ever seen in the natural!  My pioneer blood is pumping now!  

So what if we don’t have to die?  Which one of us is going to be the first to conquer this mountain?

OK, that’s all the fun I can handle for now.  🙂

— MLH

Published at: http://wp.me/p23r7p-Gb

For another inspired voice on this subject, listen to Justin Abraham in this 1-hour audio entitled: Life and Immortality

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