Warm hellos friends, brethren, co-workers, spiritual family, and scattered children of God from here in South Texas. My wife and I pray and hope this finds you doing well, and that again your week has been blessed.

I hope you coping successfully with life’s challenges. Many are suffering. I too am still working through physical pain and related issues, even as I write. As some of you know, I was involved in a car accident while pastoring in Charlotte back in 2014. My wrists still bother me to this day, and it’s difficult to type somedays as I age. Subsequent surgeries for various ailments have also bothered me.

I know some of you have health challenges that cause pain, discomfort, and disability, that affect the quality of your life. For most of us, aging does take a toll as our bodies wear out and we become more vulnerable to various stresses and circumstances. I’ve often pondered, what would have happened if Adam and Eve had partaken of the tree of life? Would they have continued living forever as human beings? Did partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil somehow change their physical bodies and vulnerability to aging?

We do take note of the long life spans of pre-Flood man. “So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.” (Genesis 5:27) Following the Flood, the life spans of humans rapidly declined. “The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years . . .” (Psalm 90:10) Various theories have been proposed to explain this, such as the blocking of harmful rays by the water canopy that was in place before the Flood, or the presence of a higher Oxygen content of the pre-Flood atmosphere. We simply don’t know for sure.

I have looked at the question of whether man could live forever as a physical human being by examining the effect of the Thermodynamic Mechanism of Life and Aging as well as the Third Law of Thermodynamics. Physical systems deteriorate from a higher energy level to a lower energy level over time. It will take a very long time, but the sun and other stars will eventually burn out. Entropy is inevitable. The speed of rotation of the Earth will eventually slow. I see this mechanism impacting the life spans of physical beings such as man and animals. No matter how well one takes care of his or her health he or she will eventually age and die. The Book of Hebrews tells us “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27) This death is the natural result of being human and being subject to the effects of aging, accident and disease.

The apostle Paul writes, “For the wages of sin is death . . .” (Romans 6:23).  This death is not the natural death that takes place because we are limited human beings with a limited life span. This death that sin brings is the second (or eternal death). That is why sin is so serious and has such serious consequences.

But, our loving, gracious, and merciful God has provided a way to escape this eternal death sentence. The last half of Romans 6:23 states “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus gave up His past eternal life and remained dead for three days and three nights. (Philippians 2:6-8; Romans 5:6, 8; Mark 8:31; 1 Corinthians 15:3) He paid the death penalty that we and all humans have incurred.

For most of mankind, their time of judgment will be in the future after they die and are resurrected as referred to in Hebrews 9:27.

So, what’s the difference between judgment and sentencing?

Judgment is part of an ongoing process. God is in the process of judging Christians today (1 Peter 4:17). Drawing a parallel with human courts, judgment involves the gathering of evidence, weighing or evaluating that evidence, and then passing of a final sentence. Anyone, living or dead, whose mind God did not open to spiritual understanding, hasn’t really begun the judgment process that ends with a decision (sentence) of eternal life or of eternal death (not an eternal torment in an ever-burning fire).

Of those to be brought to life in the second resurrection, Jesus said it would be “more tolerable” for some than for others (Matthew 10:15). If God resurrects these people only to sentence them to death, Christ’s comments wouldn’t make any sense. If all were to die the second death, judgment would not be “more tolerable” for one than for another. But clearly, their judgment is incomplete, and hence, God brings them back to physical life. Revelation 20 summarizes this process. “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.” (v.12) The books of the Bible are opened to their understanding and to be used as the basis for teaching God’s standards of righteous behavior. Many will come to repentance and willingly participate in the process of judgment which will culminate in many names added to the Book of Life and being given eternal life.

The resurrection chapter explains the limitations of the physical body. “So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44)

We look forward to that spiritual composed body that will be like that of Jesus, the firstborn from the dead. (1 John 3:2; Revelation 1:5) Then we will live forever and that old enemy death will be defeated!

Arms up friends! Our sincere prayers and thoughts are with you daily. Thanks in advance for your heartfelt prayers for us.