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Greetings, dear Armand... and peace to you!
I know you can always tell when I need to get clarification on something that, initially, doesn't "sound" quite right (to me) - LOLOL! And this was no exception. I know that dear Paul often wrote things that, looked at more closely, didn't fall in line with what our dear Lord said. For example, "judging" those among us (when Christ said to stop judging), "removing" folks, etc. Paul didn't have it all down at the start and so sometimes I have to go "past" him and BACK to Christ.
Which I did here, to some degree, because of our dear Lord's words, recorded at Matthew 22:29-32; Mark 12:24-27; and Luke 20:34-38, which the WTBTS often brought up. Particularly Mark 12:27, which states:
"He is a God, not of the dead, but of the living. You are very much mistaken.”"
So, of course, when I read this thread, my initial reaction was, "Uh-ohhhhh." Since we know that the Adversary "keeps transforming himself into an angel of [the] Light," I almost immediately said, "Wait just a MINUTE now, brother - just 'Who' have you been listening to??!!" At first.
BUT... our dear Armand DID say that it was our dear Lord who spoke to him, and so, rather than risk blasphemy and DENY that this was the case, I allowed myself to step out on faith and begin to accept this as truth, while waiting for a response from the Voice that I know to be MY Lord (not saying we have a different "Lord," but just saying the Voice I have come to know and trust as my Lord's - ya'll know what I mean and Who I mean).
[Yes, dear ones, I can balk, too, when I am told something that I KNOW is in opposition to what my dear Lord is recorded to have said - LOLOLOL!]
And, of course, he did respond. But not in opposition to dear Armand. Rather, he reminded me that, while his Father, the MOST Holy One of Israel, JAH of Armies, IS the God of the living, not the dead... HE, Christ, as firstborn FROM the dead... became the "Lord"... or master... of those who have died in the flesh (for example, those "asleep" in death, say, under the altar) but YET will live... when RESURRECTED... as well as those who will never die.
He then said, "Do you not recall that I said:
'I am the resurrection (of the dead) and the life. He who exercises faith in me WILL live, even THOUGH he had DIED. And he who exercises faith in me and has NOT died, will NEVER die'?" John 11:25
"And my words to Mara'tha as to her brother El'lazar not dying had I been there? Yet, the man, E'lazar died, did he not? If he did not, how was it that I raised him up from death?"
And our dear Lord did indeed resurrect [the man known to us as] Lazarus FROM death. BUT Lazarus did not die eternally - he was not destroyed so that he could never live AGAIN. There was SOME tiny modicum of "life" still left in him... some spirit... that was awakened by our dear Lord. He died, was [asleep in death]... yet, our dear Lord was HIS Lord, before AND after that death.
And so, my dear Lord helped me to understand that this is what Paul meant when he wrote:
"For none of US lives for ourselves alone, and none of US dies for ourselves alone. If WE live, we live for the Lord; and if we DIE, we die for the Lord. (At least, such death was the case during those times, when many were put to death FOR their faith in our dear Lord!) So, whether WE live OR die, WE belong to the Lord.
And so, Paul continued:
"For this very reason (the reason WE live AND die, at least as to the Body of those days, which life AND death was for Christ), Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of BOTH the [i]dead (who died for and in union with him!) and the living[/i].
Paul was not contradicting him as to JAH being a God of the living and NOT the dead, but explaining, especially to the NON-Jews (because these are who he was now addressing), who knew much less as to resurrection and life after death, even JAH Himself. Christ had been addressing the Jews who sought to trip him up with riddles about marriage... after death. THEY knew there was to be a resurrection and so life after death. The non-Jews, however, weren't that knowledgeable and so to them, death was the end of it all. One died... and that was it. Until Christ. What, then, of those who were dead, literally (still to COME to life, as far as these could see)? Christ was their Lord, too.
Anyway, given our recent discussion regarding our dear Lord's challenges as a child, I am sure you dear ones here can imagine the bit of weight lifted from my heart. Not that it was a great weight - again, our dear brother had said our dear Lord spoke this truth to him and, if it was true it was true. But there is still the weight that accompanies the uncertainty of reaction if one has to tell another that perhaps what they've shared is NOT true... especially when they've also shared that they received it from our dear Lord.
Praise JAH, I didn't go with my own "first" feelings... and let my own tendency toward being pedantic get in the way... but was able to calm my heart and wait on clarification. Because it always comes, does it not? And quickly. So, no benefit in worrying over it or even being offended that something sounded "off." As our Lord has told us:
"Do not hurry yourself in your SPIRIT to become offended, because the taking of offense is what lies in the bosom of the foolish." Ecclesiastes 7:9
Anyway, just sharing what "I" went through here, for a brief moment, just in case anyone else had the same reaction (in light of what Christ is recorded to say about JAH being the God of living and NOT the dead).
Peace to you all, and to your dear households!
YSSFS of Christ,
Shel
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