How Can I be Saved by Jesus Christ?

Universal death.

The sentence of death was introduced by Adam and Eve through their disobedience, and consequently this sentence of death has been inherited from them by all mankind, since all are descendents of those first parents, Adam and Eve. Death is universal — it has been the experience of every person, with the exception of this current generation.

But does death constitute the end of the living experience, or does some form of recognition survive passed the grave? Note carefully the observation of one Old Testament writer:

“So I reflected on all this (apparent meaningless to life) and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him. All share a common destiny — the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.

“As it is with the good man, so with the sinner; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.

“This is the evil that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. Anyone who is among the living has hope — even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

“For the living know that they will die,
but the dead know nothing;
they have no further reward,
and the memory of them is forgotten.” Ecclesiastes 9:1–5

“man’s fate is like the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.” Eccl 3:19,20

Before we trigger the reaction which insists on a continuation of experience after death, let us pause and assess whether or not this writer has provided a correct evaluation of the situation. Isn’t what he says exactly our observations, too? Don’t dead bodies get returned to the earth, and don’t they return to dust, just as the writer stated? Except for an occasional fossil, every animal form returns to dust, and even with a fossil, the majority of the animal has returned to dust.

But peoples’ reaction to this situation, is to say that these words of Ecclesiastes are merely the uninformed opinion of a person ignorant of God. But this reaction ignores the words, for example, of the New Testament:

“All Scripture [ie., the Old Testament] is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness -” 2 Tim 3:16

Now this comment was made in New Testament times when the Old Testament had been in shape for at least 400 years, and included the book of Ecclesiastes. So the inference is that Ecclesiastes is also God-breathed, I.e., the writer was expressing a God-given truth.

So then is that it? Does it mean that there is no hope at all for a future life, even if one has been on one’s best behaviour all life through?

There is an interesting passage in the writings of the Psalms: a collection of poetry from the period 1000 – 500 BC, and it reads like this:

“For all can see that wise men die;
the foolish and the senseless alike perish
and leave their wealth to others.
Their tombs will remain their houses forever,
their dwellings for endless generations,
though they had named lands after themselves.

“But man, despite his riches, does not endure;
he is like the beasts that perish.

“This is the fate of those who trust in themselves,
and of their followers, who approve their sayings.
Like sheep they are destined for the grave,
and death will feed on them.
The upright will rule over them in the morning;
their forms will decay in the grave,
far from their princely mansions.
But God will redeem my life from the grave;
he will surely take me to himself.”

Here he states that the wise and foolish, those he says “who trust in themselves”, will perish and that will be the end of them. But with respect to himself, he was confident that he would be “redeemed from the grave” — that he would be brought back to life again. Why the difference? Why him, and not the others? Why was his position superior?