Romans 7:9-11 “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. (10) And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. (11) For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.”
Most children begin the transition from childhood to young adulthood at twelve years of age as they enter into puberty, and that transition is normally completed by the age of fourteen. As part of their transition, when children reach the age of thirteen the eyes of their conscience are opened for the first time, and they now have knowledge of good and evil. Because they now have knowledge of good and evil God holds them accountable for their sins. And so from that moment, the very first time they transgress the law of their conscience, they commit the sin that causes their spirits to die and they become separated from the life of God. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul teaches us this exact same truth as it occurred in his life, for in this passage Paul tells us that when he was a child that his spirit was alive to God. There came a time however, on Pauls thirteenth birthday when the eyes of his conscience were opened for the first time and he now had knowledge of good and evil. In other words, as Paul says, the commandment came. Paul goes on to tell us that the moment that happened, and he then transgressed the law of his conscience, his spirit died and he became separated from the life of God. This is one of the reasons why young teenagers become quite rebellious when they go through puberty. It is because they have undergone a complete and radical transformation in the nature of their spirits, i.e. they have transitioned from spiritual life to spiritual death, with all of the negative implications which that transformation entails. We will discuss the differences between these two spiritual conditions in more detail in a later section.
Luke 13:2-3 “And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? (3) I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
A disturbing reality about the truth which we have discussed in this section is that all who physically die after their thirteenth birthday are cast into hell, for as those who have become spiritually dead they are no longer part of God’s kingdom. The Lord Jesus reinforced this truth to us in the above quoted passage of scripture when He stated that unless people repent they are all destined for destruction. In other words it doesn’t matter how noble or how wicked the person becomes during their lifetime, they are still destined for destruction simply because they are spiritually dead and thus separated from the life of God. This is why Jesus warned people to be fearful of God, who after He has killed the body has power to cast people into hell (Luke 12:5).
Ephesians 4:8 “Therefore He says: "When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”
As an aside, believers under the Old Covenant were not cast into hell when they died physically even though they were spiritually dead. The reason Old Testament saints could not be born-again is because they couldn’t meet the requirements for salvation, which is to believe that God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead and confess Him as Lord (Romans 10:9). And so Old Testament saints believed on the Lord and it was accounted to them for righteousness (Romans 4:3). In other words because they could not be made righteous under the Old Covenant, God treated them as those who would be made righteous at some future date. So what happened to them when they physically died? They could not ascend into heaven because they were still spiritually dead, and they could also not be cast into hell, for God had accounted their faith to them for righteousness. So God created a place under the earth which the Lord Jesus referred to as Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22), and He placed the Old Testament saints there until they could be made alive in spirit once again i.e. born-again. It was a place of comfort and rest for the saints and it was separated from Hades by a fixed gulf that God had put in place between the two locations. The saints there could actually see the wicked suffering torment in hell, and the wicked could see the saints being comforted. Then came the day when the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead, and so He went into Abraham’s bosom and proclaimed the gospel to the saints dwelling there (1 Peter 4:6). It was at that time that they were then all born-again, because they could now meet the requirement. And so when that happened, as the apostle Paul teaches us in the above quoted passage of scripture, the Lord Jesus took them all up into heaven with Him where they currently dwell. Abraham’s bosom was emptied at that time and no one goes there any more, because all New Testament saints are born-again before they physically die.
Michael E.B. Maher
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