Hello Mike!

Since the body returns to the ground and the soul to the realm of the imperceptible at death and the spirit returns to God who gave it, does our spirit know it is in the presence of God? Or does the spirit need the soul to have an awareness of where it is? Hope you understand my question. When our spirit returns to God at death, will we know we are in God’s presence? Thanks Mike! God Bless YOU bro! J____

Hi J____,

The answer to your question is no, we will not know that we are in God’s presence because we will not be in ‘God’s presence.’ We will be dead. And here is what we know about the dead:

Ecc 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
Ecc 9:6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

And again we are told this same message:

Ecc 3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts [ and are so marked from birth: “all men, free and bond, great and small, rich and poor.”]
Ecc 3:19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath [ this word ‘breath’ is the Hebrew word ‘ruach.’ It is the exact same word translated ‘spirit.’] ; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
Ecc 3:20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

You are not yet a spiritual body until the resurrection.

1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

You and I have God’s spirit which gives us life. The ‘life is not in the blood.’ The spirit gives life.

2Co 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

The Hebrew word translated ‘life’ is ‘nephesh.’ This is the word that is translated ‘soul.’

Gen 2:7 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 [ nephesh].

But this life- giving spirit of God is given to a physical ‘nephesh’ temporarily. As we read above, it is the same life- giving spirit that give a dog its life:

Ecc 3:19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath [ this word ‘breath’ is the Hebrew word ‘ruach.’ It is the exact same word translated ‘spirit.’] ; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
Ecc 3:20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

So the blood in the soul is given life by the spirit. The spirit that gave a dead person life at birth has been withdrawn. Now what are we told of those people? Are we told that “their spirit is conscious and in the presence of God?” No, that is not what the scriptures teach. Here IS what the scriptures teach from Genesis to Revelation:

1Co 15:17 And if Christ be not raised [ from the dead], your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 1Co 15:18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.

All of the false doctrines of the entire orthodox Christian world cannot disannul the truth that the resurrection must precede judgment. And what happens if we are not resurrected? Is ‘our’ spirit conscious and in the presence of God? Is that very common Christian teaching to be found anywhere in the word of God? No, it is not. But this teaching is to be found, and it is stated plainly and repeatedly in both the old and the new testaments:

1Co 15:17-18 If Christ be not raised [ from the dead]… Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
Ecc 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing…

To the heathen Athenians on Mars Hill Paul makes this statement:

Act 17:27 That they [ all men] should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Yes, John tells us that “NOW are we the sons of God…” So we are already God’s sons. But in what capacity? Are our spirits now in His presence in some immortal way that really doesn’t need a resurrection? No, not at all. Let’s read that verse in 1 John in its entirety:

1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shal l be: but we know that, when he shall appear [ at the resurrection], we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

You see, Christ is “The Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.” In other words Christ is both the first and the second Adam. It is “IN Him” that both the heathen Athenians and the elect ‘live and move and have our being.’

2Co 13:4 For though he [ Christ] was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.

Not one orthodox Christian in the world believes 2Co 13:4. They believe that they are weak because of their own free will. They do not believe that they are “weak in Him.” But the Truth is that it is all ‘In Him.” But the answer to that weakness is also “through Him:”

1Jn 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

So God has decided that everything will be headed up “IN HIM.” But he has also decided that it will be consummated in a resurrection, without which we would all “have perished.”

Col 1:16 … By him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist [ strong and weak; good and evil].
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
Col 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Col 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.
Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

All will be brought to God, but not through some innate immortal spirit. That is not acquired except through a resurrection from the dead. What we have now, I repeat, is but “an earnest of the spirit,’ which we will receive at the resurrection of the dead.

2Co 5:4 For we that are in this earthen, clay, dust] tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality [ that which is subject to death] might be swallowed up of life [ at the resurrection of the dead].
2Co 5:5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
2Co 1:22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

This being “sealed’ is not a ‘once in grace always in grace; no way I can miss out on the first resurrection’ false doctrine. If it were true, it would nullify 90% of the writings and admonitions of the scriptures. It would especially nullify the writing of the apostle Paul whose letters are full of statements like:

1Co 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

That word ‘sealed,’ according to Strong’s, means “kept secret.” It is a secret that only God knows. It is certainly not something that we should be taking for granted.

Php 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Php 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

That ‘high calling,’ is that “blessed and holy… first resurrection.” Let us “strive for the mark of the high calling in Christ,” that “blessed and holy… first resurrection.”

Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable [ are] his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Rom 11:34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

I hope this has shown you that what you refer to as ‘our spirit’ is actually God’s spirit that gives us life while we are in this earthen vessel. I hope you see that it is only after a resurrection of the dead that we receive a spiritual body. I hope you can see that what we have been given now in Christ is but a pledge of future redemption at a resurrection of the dead.

1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear [ at the resurrection], we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Here is the Truth of when we receive our spiritual bodies:

Eph 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession [ at the first resurrection], unto the praise of his glory.

Mike