NOT SUBJECT TO DEATH

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We
shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed (1 Corinthians 15:51).

Hebrews 9:27 has been misunderstood by
many for so long. It says, “And as it is
appointed unto men once to die, but after this the
judgment.” For many people, this means “We must all
die someday; everyone has an appointed time to die.”
But no; they’re wrong. It’s not true that everybody has
to die. The Bible doesn’t say “it’s appointed to men
to die.” There’s a difference between “it is appointed
unto men to die” and “…as it is appointed unto men
once to die….”
In the latter, the argument is on how many times
they should die, not that they must die. It can be
rewritten as “Because they’re not supposed to die
more than once….” That is, Christ was the sacrifice,
and because they’re not supposed to die more than
once, Christ, therefore, was offered to die once and for
all. Now that He has died, it means death is no longer
compulsory. That’s the meaning of that scripture, not
that men have an appointed date with death.
Death isn’t from God; it’s an enemy, and it has
been defeated, awaiting destruction: “For he must
reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1
Corinthians 15:25-26). “Who hath saved us, and called
us with an holy calling, not according to our works,
but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began
But is now made manifest by the appearing of our
Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and
hath brought life and immortality to light through the
gospel” (2 Timothy 1:9-10). When you’re born again,
you’re born into life and immortality—“deathlessness”!
Now you can understand why our theme verse
says, “...We shall not all sleep...”; meaning that we
shall not all die. It’s telling us everybody isn’t going to
die. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 says when Jesus comes
back, the dead in Christ (Christians who had died) shall
rise first, and then it says, “...we which are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds….” That means everybody didn’t die!
You’re not subject to death. Eternal life—the Godlife, the very essence of divinity—was imparted to your
spirit when you received Christ. The Scriptures declare
that if you have the Son of God, you have that life. But
you must have the knowledge of it and live every day
with the consciousness of this reality, a consciousness
of life, not death. Praise God!