Immortality: A Gift From God

In our recent studies on death and the afterlife, such as What Happens When We Die? & Hell: It’s Not What You Think, we have seen that the Bible has many things to say on the topic. There are things that God wants us to know about this common mystery. The Bible has demonstrated that it has answers to our questions and doubts, giving us something to firmly believe in.

This study provides a beneficial foundation for our Death and the Afterlife section, and the scriptures explored will no doubt appear in many other studies.

The God who created the earth, stars, and the myriad of galaxies in the universe has no beginning and no end. He is also immortal. Immortality is everlasting life and deathlessness. God alone has this attribute naturally within Him - He is the source of it:

1st Timothy 6:16

Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

1st Timothy 1:17

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Humanity, on other hand, is mortal – we’re beings who experience death:

James 4:14

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

1st Peter 1:24

For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away

These verses use the life span of vapour and plants to illustrate the mortality of the human race, and to emphasise the shortness of our lives upon this earth. If you were to look at the world today, with all its natural deaths, plus the illnesses, accidents, wars, famines, and murders, it would be hard to imagine anything different. But there was a time on this earth that humans were gifted immortal life on condition of obedience.

God gave humanity life

When God created man, He breathed in him the breath of life:

Genesis 2:7

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

The body, which was formed from the “dust of the ground”, was lifeless without God’s “breath of Life”. Adam’s body only had life when God gave it to him. This tells us that humanity derives its life from God.

Acts 17:24, 25

24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

Colossians 1:16, 17

16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

God gives life to all things, which makes Him the only source of it.

This means that immortal life was not innate or pre-owned by our first parents – it is a gift from God. While Adam and Eve used their free will to remain connected to God, they were forever granted this gift of everlasting life. However, this gift was conditional. God plainly warned the pair of this:

Genesis 2:17

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Immortal life was and is conditional

If they were to sin by disobeying God in this one instruction, they would lose the gift of immortality and die.

Why would this be the case?

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sin leads to death – a result of a wilful disconnection from God, the source of life; but God’s gift is eternal life through our saviour Jesus Christ. Those who do not accept this free gift of salvation while they are alive, will not live forever, in any state or scenario, after they die – they will experience death, an end to their complete existence.

Psalms 37:9-11

9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.

10 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.

11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

As soon as there was sin, there was a Saviour

The only reason why the couple did not die immediately was because Christ stepped in as their saviour and substitute, giving them and the whole human race a second chance (Revelation 13:8).

The couple’s sin led to two things happening:

1.      Humanity was now subject to death because they lost immortal life through their separation from God:

Genesis 3:19

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

2.      Barred from eating from the tree of Life:

Genesis 3:22, 24

22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

But humanity was not left by God to be hopeless and destined only to misery and death. The God of heaven had a plan to bring humanity back to their original position and relationship with Him. If we would only choose to accept His plan and gift for us, we too, can one day experience eternal life in peace and joy.

The most well-known verse in the Bible is a promise to you and me of this very fact:

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Do you desire to have eternal life?

In our further studies, we will look at these three things:

1.      What is our one hope of eternal life?

2.      When will God give eternal life to His people?

3.      How will immortality change the people of God?