Michael-Grams: M-G: 7.4.13 // The Ultimate Dead End

There is this tight-knit community in south Florida located on the Gulf that placed a traffic sign right before a bridge crossing over into their stretch of paradise to alert the curious that there wasn’t any outlet. Rather than using the ubiquitous and standard yellow and black “dead end” sign, there was a “cul de sac” [The literal meaning in French is “back of the bag!”] sign instead. I suppose cul de sac sounds a bit more sophisticated than the grating sound of “dead end” or more polished than the lackluster phrase, “no outlet.” That “back of the bag” word hit me square between the eyes reminding me just how far back in the brush we Tennesseans were in using “dead end” signs everywhere! “Dead end” comes across as almost redneck in quality, unsophisticated, and downright insensitive, don’t you think?

Now that I think about it; I don’t recall seeing “dead end” signs anywhere in that whole town. It reminds me of liberal-minded translators trying to rid the word “hell” out of the Bible! I’m guessing that there must be a local ordinance banning “dead end” in favor of “cul de sac,” fancy that in a fancy town. Perhaps the city fathers voted against “dead end” because it rubs against certain sensitivities, and such a description is too rich in metaphors for the imagination. Anyway, having the sign alerting us that there is only one way in and one way out is a good idea to cut down on unnecessary traffic from tourists like me that have a tendency to get sucked into the dead end of things.

If you are like billions of other people, the word “dead” carries such a negative connotation that we put it in our mental attic and forget about it as long as we can. But death-related situations like a terminal illness, old age, attending funerals, war and murder in the news, deadly auto accidents, and so forth keep death fresh on our minds. No matter how hard we try, we cannot escape that dreaded word – death, but no one is willing to go back up into the attic just yet and bring it back down in the living room as a reminder, like the sign “Dead End.”

We can talk about impending death by putting up a front, fighting a good fight, showing grace and humanity, courage and dignity in a losing battle against the inevitable, but we all succumb to it sooner or later. If you are sensible, you like living as much as I do! Being absent of the body and in the presence of the Lord is a glorious truth, but I am not ready to go quite yet. Does that sound kind of bad or unspiritual (cf. 2 Cor 5:8)? We all have family we are unwilling to leave as if we got some kind of control over that decision, right? Come on, who is spiritual and has a death wish to be with Jesus? Even those who feel honored that God considered them worthy to suffer for the cause of Christ and are willing to die for Him are not cavalier about that stance. Why do you think everyone likes the concept of the rapture? It trumps death!

There is in the Scriptures the ultimate dead-end sign – hell. People who go there experience the second death. Nobody in their right mind would want to spend an eternity where that leads – to the lake of fire after the Great White Throne judgment. Unlike a dead-end street, one way in/one way out, the ultimate dead end is one-way in/no way out. Once crossing over the “bridge” from this life to the next-whatever (heaven or hell) is final; there is no turning around, no purgatory to get things right. It all must take place before crossing over or before physical death; this is pivotal.

The biblical sign only works if you do a turnaround or repent from sin or in navigational terms, do a 180 before crossing over the Rubicon. There is no second chance with the second death. People may ponder in a similar vein as Nicodemus did in questioning being born twice (Jn 3:4), “Can a person die twice? The answer is yes according to the Scriptures, physically and spiritually; both are just as real. It's kind of scary, actually!

The meaning of death in Scripture never implies or points to finality, the cessation of existence, the annihilation of the soul-life, or the oblivion of conscious awareness. The biblical view of death is separation, not oblivion. I will expand upon this shortly. Some will argue that before birth that there was no awareness of existence or being, and after death there is only nothingness, and obliviousness.

Apart from Scripture how would you counter that proposition? It would only be an opinion versus an opinion on a human level. Though I am aware of nothing prior to my birth there is suggested in Scripture that there was God's awareness of my “existence” (cf. Jer 1:5); this is substantiated by God’s attribute of all-knowing or omniscience. And there is Scriptural evidence implied or expressed of awareness after death: either eternal bliss or eternal torment.

Any twisting or wrangling of the normal biblical sense of such passages by fanciful interpreters will not void the reality of sound hermeneutics or of this obvious truth – Jesus would not have undergone the egregious suffering of crucifixion by the hands of evil men and the unfathomable spiritual suffering of propitiating or satisfying the penalty of sin for undeserving man on that grossly cruel and repugnant cross, being separated from the Father in order to provide a way for man to avoid going to a non-existent hell, right?

Such a position is untenable. Hell is a very real place; Jesus was/is the only way (Jn 3:36; 14:6; Acts 4:12) of escaping from a very real, terrible, and dreaded place referred to in the Scripture as hell. I recall the fiery words of a no-nonsense evangelist who was fond of saying, “Heaven or hell, Jesus or the devil, turn or burn!” Though he was quick on the draw, his aim was “dead” on target! One has only to look to the cross to see that this spiritual warfare we are engaged in is no cosmic game of good versus evil. There is some serious stuff going down. The struggle is real; the stakes are high; and all the living are involved (for or against) one way or another. So if death refers to separation in the Scriptures, what exactly does that mean? When a person dies or “separates” what does that entail? Can we really die twice as the second death infers?

Death is described in three distinct ways:

(1) Temporal spiritual death or separation (preliminary separation from God spiritually, Eph 2:1-3; Eph 4:18). This is the spiritual state of the living unregenerate or unsaved who have not been born again because they have not accepted God’s sacrifice for the penalty of sin, Jesus Christ. Salvation addresses and answers the central question: who is going to pay the penalty for sin, which is by the way eternal separation from God? Jesus’ death provided an alternative to mankind. If a person through faith (Eph 2:8-9) accepts God’s offer of salvation which is another way of saying, “I want Jesus to pay the penalty for sin for me,” the spiritual status changes as quickly if not quicker than the rapture (1 Cor 15:52; cf. 1 Thes 4:16, 17). Temporal spiritual separation from God instantly transforms into “And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thess 4:17)!

The temporality of spiritual death or separation pertains to all those who are obviously still alive and have not accepted Christ as their Savior. The unsaved sinner is living in a state of condemnation (Jn 3:18), spiritually separated from God (Rom 8:9b), under the wrath of God (Jn 3:36), and under the threat of eternal spiritual separation if he or she should die in such a spiritual condition (Rom 6:23a).

(2) Physical death or separation (Heb 9:27). When Adam sinned (Rom 5:12), all of mankind sinned with him and passed on his sinful nature (physical and spiritual death and a totally depraved nature) to all of mankind at conception (Psa 51:5). In other words, the entire human race was in Adam seminally and “physically” making that decision to violate God’s prohibition in the Garden (Rom 5:18; cf. Heb 7:7-10) We are sinners not because we sin, but sin because we are born sinners. Rather than being victims of sin; we are volunteers. The concept of separation is easier to understand with physical death (separation of soul and spirit from the body) than spiritual separation. Many deny there is any spiritual separation with all men having a “spark of divinity” within them and denying the existence of hell or the lake of fire.

(3) Eternal spiritual death or separation (Final separation from God spiritually, Rom 6:23; Rev 20:14, 15; 21:8). This is predicated upon a person being spiritually separated from God at the time of physical death. Such an event transitions from being temporarily and spiritually separated from God to eternally and spiritually separated from God in hell. After the great white throne judgment of the lost, the unsaved will be cast into the lake of fire: soul and body, to be eternally, physically, and spiritually separated from God; this is the second death, the final separation.

Should a person reject God’s offer of salvation for whatever reason, and he or she dies without Christ, the payment for the penalty of sin perpetuates for an eternity in the lake of fire for that individual; in other words, a sinner stepping out into eternity without Christ will never stop paying the penalty for his or her sin. The debt will never be satisfied. Had he or she only turned to Jesus (Jn 8:24), the debt would have been satisfied instantly!

This illustrates not only how profound the death of Christ was in being the propitiation for sin (1 Jn 2:2), but the depth of God’s love for mankind (1 Jn 4:10). The unsaved sinner is referred to as the “sensual” man, “not having the [Holy] Spirit” (Jude 1:19); this is the ultimate distinction between the saved sinner (believer) and the lost sinner (unbeliever) – the presence (Rom 5:5; 8:9a, 11; 1 Cor 2:12; 3:16; 6:19; 2 Cor 6:16; Gal 4:6; Eph 1:13; 2 Tim 1:14; 1 Jn 3:24; 4:4) or absence (Rom 8:9b; 1 Cor 2:14; 2 Cor 4:4) of the Holy Spirit within the heart.

The same Greek word for “sensual” in Jude is translated as “natural” in 1 Cor 2:14. Because the natural man does not possess the Holy Spirit, he or she lacks the spiritual capacity of receiving and understanding spiritual truth; it is all silliness and nonsense to them (1 Cor 1:18).

The ultimate dead end or cul de sac is the second death or eternal separation. An unsaved sinner is already spiritually dead in trespasses and sins and spiritually separated from God. The good news is that this spiritual condition doesn’t have to be lethal! There is a remedy in Jesus Christ who had already paid the penalty for sin for all, but unless that remedy is appropriated by faith before physical death, an unsaved sinner will experience the ultimate dead end – the second death or separation from God in the lake of fire which is final and eternal.

Here is the dead-end or cul de sac sign before crossing over – HELL! “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins" (Jn 8:24). What this means is that those who are perishing because they are in a state of spiritual separation from God will perish if they die in their sins. Listen to Peter’s comments in explaining the “delay” in His coming, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet 3:9).

The point I am stressing is that repentance avoids perishing or the second death or separation! But here is the grim reality of the unrepentant, “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:15). This is the ultimate dead-end or second death – crossing over the bridge of physical death without Christ. It is literally a one-way street, with no turnaround possible or outlet.

Allowing Jesus to pay the penalty for your sin gets you into the Book of Life! If you are not covered by the blood you will die in your sins just like every firstborn in Egypt where the doorposts and lintel were not covered in blood. There was no discrimination only a determination – was the blood applied. I hope you never look at a dead end, a cul de sac, or a no outlet sign ever the same again.

Once I crossed back over that bridge to the mainland, I had a greater appreciation of that heads-up cul de sac sign. It was absolutely correct; I was heading for the end of things. I am thankful someone pointed out to me the ultimate dead-end sign – “Hell” from the Word of God back in 1976. I am ready to cross over knowing full well that the penalty for my sin is satisfied in Christ. My sin debt had been paid in full at Calvary, and the blood is applied to the doorposts and lintel of my heart by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone.

The ultimate dead end is dying without Christ, the second death. Hell alerts every sojourner to the second death (cf. Mt 10:28). You don’t want to go there if you are still a debtor to sin, not having asked God’s forgiveness. Don’t put it off any longer; allow Jesus to make that payment on your behalf through faith in His shed blood for you! The only alternative is the unthinkable “otherwise” – Mt 23:33b. <><