Were someone to mention the ward "death" ta us, we likely would think immediately of a corpse, cold and lying in a coffin. If not this, them some related thought would no doubt come to mind. While this is true, the actual and literal meaning of the word "death" is "separation". Those whose spirits have left their bodies are separated from us indeed because they now dwell elsewhere while we remain on earth. Similarly, the fifty-ninth chapter of Isaiah describes the condition of spiritual death when, at verses one and two, we are told that it is our sin that separates us from God. At Romans the sixth chapter, Paul said at verse twenty-three that death is the wage of sin. His reference is to the fact that we are separated from God because of sin. However, he continues to say that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Thus, man is given hope to know that even though he earns separation from God because of sin, God wishes man to be reconciled and reunited with Him. By completing obedience to Christ, such becomes possible. At Ephesians the second chapter, Paul talks about Christ "quickening" those who were dead in trespasses and sins. Here, the "quickening" refers to the restoration of spiritual life. For example, if you have ever pulled a hang-nail back too far, you may have painfully reached what is called the "quick", or the place where the tissue is alive. While "quick" means "alive" in this context, to "quicken" refers to the providing of life to one who had it not. As the text of Ephesians two reads on, Paul remarks that the sin which results in spiritual death is s one thing that has been characteristic of everyone However, just as surely as God through His Spirit did raise up Christ from the dead, so also by that resurrection does He make possible the restoration of our spiritual lives; lives which had been lost because of the guilt of our own sins. Those alive anew unto God may also live eternally with Him in His own abode.
