How to deal with grief and loss
The truth however, is that physical death is not the end of mankind. Genesis 25:8 says, “Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.” The soul does not cease to exist after the body dies. This body is just the holding place for your soul, it is temporary, it is headed toward death, but your soul will never die. You will live forever somewhere.
In Genesis 2:7 it says, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” The soul is the seat of your intellect and your emotions, and these two together form your will. The soul is how you think and feel. The terms heart and mind and soul are often interchangeable in the Bible, they speak of the same area of thinking and feeling.
The soul is different from the body, and the soul is different from the spirit, your soul is your self conscience, the body is your physical conscience and the spirit is your God conscience. However your spirit is also conscience of the spirit of others as well.
In the account of Lazarus and the rich man we read in Luke 16:22-24 it says, “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”
Prior to the resurrection Hell was divided into two compartments, all men went to Hell because the payment for sin was not yet made. However not all were in torment, we see here that those who had put their trust in God were comforted and those who had trusted in their riches or goodness were in torment. Understand here, their senses, their thinking and their feeling, their soul was very conscience of what was going on.
So here we are confronted then with death, and as such we are confronted with the consequences of sin. The state of physical separation from the body and eternal separation from God is called the second death. Revelation 21:8 says, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
