The Father of Lies
While “fibbing” is often excused as merely a foible, lying has far-reaching results, usually to our own detriment. For many, lying is a regular event, a defining characteristic, in their life.
But lying and dishonesty will bring a special relationship to an abrupt end, terminate an international treaty or taint even the president of a country as one who cannot be trusted. The respected author James Patterson speaks of the all-pervasive nature of lying in his 1991 book The Day America Told the Truth (Prentice-Hall).
But where and when did lying begin? According to the Bible, it appears to have been very soon after the world was created, in unblemished Eden, and was the first sinful act our world witnessed. It had far-reaching consequences for every member of the human race, from then till now. Our eternal destinies will be affected, depending on whether we accept or reject the lie.
In Eden, everything was beautiful and designed to bring only happiness to its inhabitants. There was nothing to mar the idyllic state until the day when the lie—the cause of all sin and sadness in this world—was uttered. The Scriptures say of Eden that there were trees that were “pleasing to the eye and good for food” (Genesis 2:9).
Our great-grandparents, Adam and Eve, were given access to the whole garden save one tree called “the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17) of which they were not allowed to eat.
Eve’s curiosity (see Genesis 3) is aroused and, as she nears this single prohibited tree, an intruder enters and engages her in conversation. Speaking through a snake, the intruder—the devil, in fact—asks her about the prohibition God had enjoined on the happy pair: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (3:1).
Eve repeats the warning the Creator had passed to them: “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden . . . or you will die’” (3:2, 3).
At this point, the one Jesus called “the father of lies” (John 8:44) responds with both the first and most brazen untruth, saying, “You will not surely die” (3:4).
His quick response to Eve was a challenge to the veracity of God’s word and integrity. If believed, then the authority and position of God was not only in question, it was set aside completely. In his first great lie, the devil sowed the seed that would bear fruit in counterfeit beliefs throughout the millennia since. His opposition to God used this falsehood to further his rebellion.
The apostle Paul says that as a result of sin “death came to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).
There is no question that we all will die, but what occurs at death? First, the Bible defines the process of the beginning of life when the dust of ground—fashioned by God Himself —received the breath of God (spirit), and Adam became a living being or soul (Genesis 2:7).
Death is the exact opposite process: the breath or spirit of God leaves a person and they cease to be a soul—a living being—and return to the dust from which they were first created (Psalm 146:4).
Not only is death the future for everyone, but also, in death, God tells us that there is no thought. What’s more, Jesus called death a “sleep” (see John 11:11-14). Death, then, is an intermission, a complete break with life with no knowledge of events in heaven or earth. In death there is not even praise to God (see Psalm 115:17).
Ever since that day of deception in Eden, the devil has pursued his lie, telling us that at death you don’t die (that’s an oxymoron), but continue living in a different sphere. Thus, when God declared humans mortal, that is, subject to death, the devil begins spinning his deceit that life continues. It becomes a case of whom will you believe: Christ, the Saviour of the world, who says, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6), or the devil?
The devil’s lie has been extrapolated to suggest that our heavenly reward comes at death. Islamic suicide bombers believe this, expecting instant transportation to Paradise. Many religions believe similar things. The Bible makes it so clear that Christ brings such a reward with Him at His second coming. Even David, “a man after God’s own heart,” was, according to the apostle Peter, still lying in his grave, when he was preaching at Pentecost (see Acts 2:29, 34).
But the Bible knows nothing whatsoever of instant transformation at death. Instead there is pictured an undisturbed sleep, until “the trumpet” of God sounds at Jesus’ return.
Through the centuries since Jesus left His disciples with the promise “I will come back . . .” (John 14:1-3), many have accepted the biblical concept of death being a total cessation of life and a sleep until the resurrection. This concept has been labelled “conditional immortality,” because the Bible is clear that eternal life is in fact granted to those who believe on Jesus only when He returns.
Numerous scholars and others have seen what the Bible teaches and have believed it. Pope John XXII, who reigned at Avignon during the period of the papal schism, preached it. Then, on being opposed by the establishment church as it swept away any basis for purgatory, he retracted his view, dying shortly afterward, some say by poisoning. William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury in the 1920s, was another church leader who held the concept of conditional immortality.
In more recent times, the scholar William Crockett is one who believes in its importance so strongly that he included it in a book he edited in 1992.1 Yet another is the forthright Bible scholar Oscar Cullman, professor at Basel University and also the Sorbonne, in Paris.2
Adam and Eve paid dearly for believing the devil’s lie. They lost their Eden home and, as recorded in the very next chapter of Genesis, their son—murdered by his brother. Adam and Eve became mortal and together led the human race on the downward path to the grave. Sickness, disease, war and death all came in the wake of Eve’s sin of disbelieving God and accepting in the place of His word, the message of the Satan.
The question remains: Do we trust the God of the Bible—the God of truth, that is—or accept this first lie? Will the Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth, be our guide or do we listen to the lie that directly challenges the authority of God?
1. Four Views on Hell, William Crockett (ed), Zondervan Press, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1992.
2. Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead?, Oscar Cullman, Epworth Press, London, 1958.
what the bible says about . . .
. . . the creation of life
Dust + Breath = Person (Genesis 2:7)
(ground) + (spirit of God) = (soul)
. . . what happens at death
Person - Breath = Dust (Psalm 146:4)
(soul) - (spirit of God) = (ground)
. . . those in the grave
Plans and thoughts come to nothing, or end (Psalm 146:4)
No praising God in death, just silence (Psalm 115:17)
No knowledge of family at all (Job 14:21)
Dead know absolutely nothing at all (Ecclesiastes 9:5)
(Have no reward, memories or feelings, or part in earthly activities)
Death is like sleep (Job 11:11-14)
. . . immortality and mortality
God is immortal (1 Timothy 1:17)
Only God is immortal (1 Timothy 6:16)
Human beings are never referred to as immortal; rather, the person who sins shall die (Ezekiel 18:20)
Every person is a sinner therefore we will all die (Romans 3:23)
. . . Jesus and life
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6)
Eternal life is through belief in Jesus (John 3:15, 16)
Eternal life comes through knowing Jesus Christ (John 17:3)
. . . when eternal life will come
When Jesus returns He brings His reward (Revelation 22:12)
Change occurs at the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:42, 43)
This resurrection comes with God’s trumpet call (1 Corinthians 15:51–54)
The trumpet call accompanies Jesus’ return from heaven when the dead are raised (1 Thessalonians 4:16)
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