Beth-El Baptist Church

11/18/2007

Greg Tomlinson


Understanding Destruction, I Am He, and bodies of deceased


Various questions from those in attendance.


  1. Is the destruction of the body and soul in Matthew 10:28 pointing to eternal annihilation?

Matthew 10:28 Psalm 49:6-9


The words for destroy indicate more of a separation and a departure not what we would refer to or understand and annihilation.


Associated with the keys:

Revelation 1:17-18 – Keys of hell and death indicates eternal judgment

Matthew 16:18-19 – Keys of heaven indicates opening the way to eternal life, which is Jesus and the gospel.


Notice as well in Matthew 16:18-19 that the gates of Hell will not prevail against “it”. First note that it is the “gates of Hell” which indicates that these gates are the entrance ways into hell. Hell then is to be understood as a parallel to a fortified city. The city is being attacked and its gates will not and cannot survive the attack. What then is doing the attacking? The “it” is doing the attacking. The only thing that can enter into hell and destroy hell and carry away captives is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is further evidence that the “rock” upon which the church of Jesus Christ is built upon is Jesus Himself.


  1. What is meant by “I am He”?

Exodus 3:13-14 Deuteronomy 32:36-40

Isaiah 41:4; 43:10, 13, 25; 46:4; 48:12; 51:12; 52:6

John 8:24-29; 13:19; 18:5-9 compare John 9:7-9

Revelation 1:18


In Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Isaiah the “I AM” or “I AM He” phrases are used as a title of Yahweh. In John 8, it is used as a title for Jesus, thus indicating that he is Yahweh in the flesh. As an alternative use of the phrase see John 9:7-9 which is not used in the context of of a title but as a statement of fact relating to personal identity.


  1. Did Moses and Elijah on the mount of transfiguration have actual bodies considering that this was before the bodily resurrection of believers?

Matthew 17:1-9 Mark 9:1-8


The scriptures do not say whether the bodies were actually physical or not. What we can learn from the passage is that believers will know one another at first sight. In this passage, Peter was able to recognize them so we can discern that they at least had the appearance of physical bodies. We also know that Jesus referred to it as a vision. This would indicate that Peter, John and James saw a common vision but that they did not make physical contact with them.


  1. Was the bringing back of Samuel by Saul real?

1 Samuel 28:7-17


What we do know is that whatever the witch saw, she had never seen anything like it before. The implication is that when she saw “Samuel”, that it terrified her. This does indicate that what she was doing in the past with bringing up people from the dead was much less real. We also know that Saul had to have the witch describe what was seen. This indicates it was some sort of vision and not a physical reality. There is much disagreement upon whether it really was Samuel or a demon representing Samuel. Either way, the message that was given was a message from God about the pending death of Saul that could not be avoided. This accuracy and the truthfulness of the message indicates that it would be coming from a true prophet of God and not from a demonic force. Be careful about reading too much into the “tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me”. This is not be used to indicate the state of salvation of Saul and Saul's sons. It is to be properly understood as a metaphor for their imminent death.