Is Everyone Destined to Die?

A post by Dennis Diehl (Prophecy Comes Alive!) over at Banned by HWA generated an interesting discussion in the comments section about whether or not everyone is destined to die. Dennis made the observation that most of the ministers who once believed that they would live to see Christ's return are now dead. Commentator Bob Petry replied: "Actually, Dennis, no one taught that any of us would not die. The teaching was as scripture says, It is given once to die to all men. After that the judgment. Look it up for the full and exact wording. Even when Paul speaks of “in the twinkling of an eye” the teaching was even then the person being changed would die, or that scripture would not be true. So, no matter who you are, the bible says you must die, even if only during the ‘twinkling of an eye.”

The discussion focused on the apparent contradiction between two scriptures:

"And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment" (Hebrews 9:27, NLT) and

"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" (I Corinthians 15:51-52, NLT)

As the conversation progressed, I was struck by the almost complete absence of context (one commentator did make a passing reference to the chapters in I Corinthians preceding and following the one in question here) - widely agreed to be one of the most important tools in correctly interpreting any passages of Scripture. For me, if one is truly interested in understanding these verses, the verses immediately surrounding them become critical. Likewise, other verses dealing with the same topic can also shed important light on the meaning of these verses and should be consulted as part of any serious effort to do so.

First, in the book of Hebrews, the author was discussing the superiority of the New Covenant under Christ to that of the Old Covenant outlined in the Torah (see Hebrews 8, 9 and 10). In this particular passage, the author is addressing the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice for our sins when compared to the sacrifice of animals (bulls, goats and lambs). In the verses immediately preceding the one quoted above, we read: "For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice." (Hebrews 9:24-26, NLT) This was necessary because, as Paul succinctly stated, "the wages of sin is death" (see Romans 6:23).

Then comes the verse upon which this conversation hinged about each person being "destined to die once and after that comes judgment." In Scripture, however, that phrase is not followed by a period - it is followed by a comma. Continuing, we read: "so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him." (verse 28, NLT) In other words, at Christ's return, the part of Christ's work that dealt with the penalty for sin will not be an issue that needs to be addressed at that time! Moreover, the superiority of what Christ's sacrifice accomplished for us is underscored in the first eighteen verses of the following chapter (Hebrews 10:1-18).

In similar fashion, the entire fifteenth chapter of Paul's first epistle to the saints of Corinth is known as the "resurrection chapter" of the Bible. Indeed, in verses 35 through 49, Paul discusses how our resurrected bodies will be very different from the ones we currently occupy. Then, the thought begins which includes the verses in question. He wrote: "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. 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." (I Corinthians 15:50-53, NLT)

For Paul, the bottom line was that we must put on an incorruptible body. For those who were then sleeping (dead), that meant emerging from the grave clothed in that new body. For those who were still alive, it meant shedding their existing body and putting on the new one! In fact, we are given some insight into his thinking here in his second epistle to the saints of Corinth. He wrote to them: "For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit." (II Corinthians 5:1-5, NLT) In this connection, it is interesting to note that we find similar language in the second epistle of Peter (see II Peter 1:13-14). Hence, the clear implication is that, whether we are sleeping (dead) or alive, we must be clothed with that new immortal body when Christ returns. OR, paraphrasing the words of Paul, we must shed this body that will eventually decay or has already done so.

This concept is further reinforced by what Paul wrote to the saints of Thessalonica in his first epistle to them. We read there: "We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever." (I Thessalonians 4:15-17, NLT) Clearly, Paul anticipated that some Christians would be living when Christ someday returns to this earth (but they will still have to shed those physical bodies (which they will then inhabit) before joining those who had died down through the ages and rising to meet him in the air!

To be clear, I believe that it can be demonstrated to anyone with an open mind that there are numerous errors, discrepancies and contradictions within the writings which we call the Bible. This particular instance, however, is NOT one of them!