July 26: The “When” of Immortality

So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15:54

It is an indescribably wonderful hope that believers have in the Creator and Redeemer! His incomparable power executes a “character makeover” and later that same power will give each of us a new, incorruptible body to go with it. His promises to those who love Him uplift and sustain us in our broken world. But this world, as it is now, is not our home. As we consume a steady diet of His word, we grow in faith and confidence to lay claim to His promises for the future. Praise Him for a forgiven past. Praise Him that He walks with us on this razor-thin slice of time called the present. We are promised immortality—access to that beautiful tree of life—upon being resurrected and taken to the heavenly Jerusalem! We must distinguish between God’s promises that are for now and those yet future, such as the promise described in our opening verse.

The pillar of falsehood upon which all “new age” religions are built goes back to that first blatant lie that the serpent in the Garden of Eden told to Eve: “You shall not surely die.” (Genesis 3:4) From this we see that “new age religions” are not at all new. New age spiritualism is on the rise. Christians are in danger of swallowing the end-time deceptions of spiritualism, believing that their dead loved ones are not really dead at all.

During the Dark Ages, the pagan notion of inherent immortality waltzed into the Roman church when Constantine legalized Christianity. Acceptance of this idea ushered in a veritable host of other erroneous doctrines. Today we shall briefly examine one of them: infant baptism. The “immortal soul” teaching is the springboard from which the church began to teach that babies must be baptized to guarantee their eternal safety if they were to die. The idea was taught that unbaptized babies who died were immediately committed to live eternally in torturous flames (another grievous error). These two errors are combined to grossly distort the character of Yahweh. Beloved, allow the Scriptures to speak for themselves! Hear the Savior say:

“Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” Luke 18:16-17

Now as [Philip and the eunuch] went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And [the eunuch] answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” (Acts 8:36-37) Baptism is for believers. Babies are not yet capable of making such a decision. Most modern translations have deleted verse 37.

The genuine trust of young children is a vivid example of the trust we must have toward God and toward His only Son. That includes trusting fully in His timing. The prophet Zechariah was shown a glimpse of the future heavenly city:

The streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. Zechariah 8:5