The death of men
When people die their bodies begin the process of turning to dust (decomposition) and they cease to be concious — i.e. their existence, including their mind, ends.
…the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6)
When people die the only thing that returns to God is the breath that God gave them to give them life in the first place — compare the following verses:
…the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. (Gen. 2:7)
{29} When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. {30} When you send forth your Spirit, [fn] they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. (Ps. 104:29-30)
[fn] (104:30) Or breath
The death of Jesus
The same thing happened to Jesus: when he died the breath God gave him returned to God but his mind, his conciousness, ended.
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. (Mat. 27:50)
And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:37-39)
Death is the end of life; Jesus died and was buried.
Thankfully, though, God remembers who his people are, even after they have died and ceased to exist (Mat. 22:31-32), and he brought Jesus back to life again — resurrected him — and gave him immortality.
God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. (Acts 2:24)
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