For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto Him. Luke 20:38
Among Hebrew traditions are many fascinating stories, some fanciful, some allegorical, and some with a grain or two of truth. The following story is recorded in Clark’s Commentary on the Bible, as quoted by a Jewish leader named Shemoth Rabba: ‘The Lord said unto Moses, Find me out ten righteous persons among the people, and I will not destroy thy people. Then said Moses, Behold, here am I, Aaron, Eleazar, Ithamar, Phineas, Caleb, and Joshua; but God said, Here are but seven, where are the other three? When Moses knew not what to do, he said, O Eternal God, do those live that are dead! Yes, saith God. Then said Moses, If those that are dead do live, remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ So, death does not necessarily end life! The truth that in Adam we all die refers to the body, first of all. But it refers to the soul only for those who are not righteous. For the righteous, death applies only to the body, and even that is temporary.
In the previous verse, the Lord Jesus points out how Moses at the burning bush spoke of the Lord as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. During their lives, those patriarchs proved that they were righteous before God and men. Since their deaths, their bodies have returned to dust in the cave Machpelah, along with the bodies of their wives Sarah, Rebeccah, and Leah. But their souls are not there. Those righteous men and their righteous wives are yet living, and will live for eternity with God. Even the unrighteous, whose bodies die, and whose souls are forever consigned to the lake of fire, which is the second death (Revelation 20:14), do not cease to exist. They will remain in conscious punishment forever. This is a great warning for all those who have rejected the righteousness that is to be obtained by believing God, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did (Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:3). But for the righteous, this is a glorious hope.
As the years stream by and I become more and more aware of my rapidly approaching end of life, I become more and more aware of the reality of the life that is to come. I watch loved ones and dear friends depart this scene and know that my own departure is just a matter of time – ever dwindling time. Although death itself remains a dread, what lies on the other side of death becomes ever more attractive. The prospect is that the tiny life of time on earth will be swapped for the abundant life of eternity in the Glory.
There is no death, nor ever can be, in the presence of God. For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto Him. -Jim MacIntosh