7. Overcoming the Spirit of Infirmity/Death

Overcoming the Spirit of infinity Overcoming the 12 Evil, Strong Men Overcoming evil spirits and demolishing strongholds of Satan, which fight against the soul of man

The spirit of death

There is natural death, and there is spiritual death. Natural death is the loss of natural life, while spiritual death involves the death or destruction of the spiritual body and soul. This is referred to in Scripture as “the second death.” "The lake of fire," which is a fiery lake of burning sulphur, is "the second death" (see Rev 21:8). When a man physically dies, his natural life expires, and his loved ones become bereaved. “The spirit of death” is the power that strives to terminate a natural life.

The mind can also be dead or alive. The mind of a sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace (Rom 8:6 NIV).

The soul of the sinner who dies in sin will be cast into “the lake of fire,” where also death and Hades [the grave] will be hurled. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Rev 20:13–15 NIV

Only the Almighty God has the power to destroy the spiritual body and soul in hell. The Bible clearly says this about “the second death”: For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Rom 8:13 NKJV

Sin is a spiritual wound to the soul. The sting of death is sin. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 1 Cor. 15:56 NIV The Bible clearly teaches that everyone who continues in sin is lost and will perish, but if, through the power of the Holy Spirit, you overcome sin and its nature, you shall live.

When we were yet sinners, not having “the new life” of Christ, the sinful nature in us only produced death. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. Rom 7:5 NIV

Evil thoughts lead to evil actions and, afterwards, to the “death penalty.” Evil desire is an evil seed that produces ‘evil fruit’, and when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.

God made a covenant with Adam in the Garden of Eden. And the statement of the “agreement” reads: Of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Gen 2:16–17 KJV

The LORD placed the man in the Garden of Eden as its gardener, to tend and care for it, and to guard it. God made this covenant with Adam in his innocency. Until now, we have seen God as man's powerful creator and his bountiful benefactor; now He appears as his ruler and lawgiver. God put him in the Garden of Eden, not to live there, as he might list, but to be under His divine government. God does not want His children to be idle in this world, and even so, we are not allowed to be willful and do just as we please. When God had given man dominion over the earth and all creatures, He would let him know that he was still under the government of his Creator.

The woman [Adam’s wife], being deceived by the serpent, desired the fruit of ‘the tree’—a ‘tree of conscience.’ The disobedience of Adam and Eve resulted in “the fall of man.”

Note that in the line that states the penalty for violating the Covenant as given to Adam, God did not say, ‘When you eat of it, you will surely die.’ No, rather, He said, "For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die (Gen 2:17 KJV).

So, Adam died at the age of 930 (see Gen 5:5), which is less than 1000 years—"a day in the sight of God." But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing: that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 2 Peter 3:8 KJV

When man sinned by disobeying God in “the Adamic Covenant,” man then fell short of glory, and death reigned from the time of Adam and became king over humanity (Rom 5:14). Death got the upper hand through one man's wrongdoing. So Adam died in the same millennium as his birth. Methuselah, the man who lived the longest years on earth, also died in the same millennium of his birth—at age 969 (see Gen 5:27). Death became an appointment for humanity. Therefore, man is destined to die, but only once. "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement” (Heb 9:27 KJV).

Pontus Pilate released a murderer and surrendered Jesus to the will of the people, to be crucified (read Luke 23:18–25). Though he tried to find a way to release Jesus, he unconvincingly handed him over to the crowd to be crucified. He said, “I have found no cause of death in him. I find no crime worthy of death in him. There is nothing proved against him that can at all justify me putting him to death.” So here, our blessed Lord was justified in the most formal manner by this Roman judge. As this decision was publicly known and registered, it is evident that Christ died as an innocent person and not as a malefactor (offender of the law). On the fullest conviction of his innocence, Pilate pronounced him guiltless, after having patiently heard everything that the inventive malice of wicked men could allege against him. When he wished to dismiss him, he appealed to the violent mob, but they kept shouting, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" For the third time, he demanded, "Why? What crime has he committed? I have found no reason to sentence him to death. I will therefore chastise him and have him released. But the crowd and the chief priests shouted louder and louder, demanding that he be crucified, and their voices prevailed—“the voice of death” accomplished its purpose as they took him and murdered him by crucifixion.

Jesus was taken by the soldiers at the request of the mob and hurried to the cross in the storm of a popular noise and tumult, raised by the religious chief priests, as agents for ‘the prince of the power of the air.’ They were “missionaries of the spirit of death.”

Pilate was afraid of displeasing either the emperor or the people; and therefore, for want of integrity, he called together the Jewish leaders and rulers, and the people whom he should have dispersed, as a riotous and rebellious assembly, and forbid them to come near him and hear what they have to say, to whom he should have turned a deaf ear, for he plainly saw what spirit actuated them: "You have brought this man to me, and, because I have a respect for you, I have examined him before you, and have heard all you have to allege against him, and I can make nothing of it: I find no fault in him; you cannot prove the things whereof you accuse him" (v.14). The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin [the Jewish Supreme Court] assembled and looked for false witnesses who would testify against Jesus so that they could put him to death. But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward (Matt 26:59–60).

Earlier on, Jesus told His disciples, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, and crucified. On the third day, he will be raised to  life!"Matt 20:18–19 NIV

Jesus knew that he would be sentenced to death in Jerusalem. He knew that he would be chastised by the Gentiles, precisely the Romans, and mocked and crucified like a criminal on a Roman cross. But he also knew that the Father would raise him to life through the power of the Holy Spirit—on the third day of his crucifixion. He knew these all the while, and in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me" (Matt 26:38).

“The man of sin," the son of perdition predicted thousands of years ago in the Holy Scriptures, will be a world ruler possessed by “the spirit of death" to do the work of Satan and carry out his wrath on earth against mankind. I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine, plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. Rev. 6:8 NIV

He will be given the name “Death,” because that is what he stands for—possessed by “the spirit of death.” The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 1 Cor. 15:26 NIV

How to overcome the spirit of death

Death reigned from the time of Adam and became king over humanity (Rom 5:14). Death got the upper hand through one man's wrongdoing, but can you imagine the breathtaking recovery eternal life makes in those who grasp God’s abundant provision of grace and His righteousness, setting everything right, through “The Son of Man”? For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ? Rom 5:17 NIV

The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy; he strives to terminate and destroy a natural life—he desires to lead souls to hell, that they be destroyed by “the second death.” But there is no judging guilty of wrong for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh but after the dictates of the Spirit. There is therefore now no condemnation to them, who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Rom 8:1-2 KJV

See how The Living Bible (TLB) puts it: So there is now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus. The power of the life-giving Spirit—and this power is mine through Christ Jesus—has freed me from the vicious circle of sin and death.

“The Law of the Spirit of Life” in Christ Jesus is the Law of our new being—‘the divine Law of the New Life,’ and has freed us from “the law of sin and of death.”

Whoever believes in him is not condemned. But whoever does not believe in God’s only son stands condemned already. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the Name of God's One and Only Son. John 3:18 NIV

Those who let themselves be controlled by their lower natures live only to please themselves, but those who follow after the Holy Spirit find themselves doing those things that please God.

Following after the Holy Spirit leads to life and peace, but following after the old nature leads to death because the old sinful nature within us is against God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will. That's why those who are still under the control of their old sinful selves, bent on following their old evil desires, can never please God. Unto the children of redemption is “the fragrance of life,” but for the children of the evil one is “the smell of death.” Because of the tender mercies of God, “the rising sun” comes to all from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in “the shadow of death,” to guide our feet into “the path of peace" (Read Luke 1). Jesus Christ is “our rising sun." We aren't saved from sin's grasp by knowing the commandments of God because we can't and don't keep them, but God put into effect a different plan to save us. God has done for us what the law could not do, for the law is being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. God sent His only Son in the flesh [in a human body like ours—except that ours are sinful] and as an offering for sin, and so God condemned sin in the flesh—for Christ subdued, overcame, and deprived it of its power over all who accept His sacrifice. He destroyed sin's control over us by giving Himself as a sacrifice for our sins.

The righteous and just requirement of the law, therefore, has been fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and dictates of the flesh but controlled by the Holy Spirit].

All who believe in the Father and receive His Son, whom He has sent, have eternal life—they have crossed over from death to life. "I tell you the truth: whoever hears My Word and believes Him Who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth: a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son life in Himself. John 5:24–26 NIV

In several other passages of the Scriptures, the LORD expresses to us the reality of this life—eternal life—which is His divine gift to us through Christ: I tell you the truth; if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death." John 8:51 NIV For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life? Rom 5:10 NIV

So, we are reconciled to God the Father through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we are saved through His life. We have new life through His resurrection breath. God’s Son is glorified through this life that He has given to us. He is the resurrection and the life.

When Lazarus was sick and his sisters sent word to Jesus, he said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it" (John 11:4 NIV). But, when Lazarus died naturally (v. 14), Jesus knew this in His heart; he did not need any man to tell Him, for He is the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)—Eternal Life is in Him (I John 5:11), and so marvellously, He is the Eternal Life (I John 5:20).

Lazarus’ sickness did not end in death but ended in resurrection. Jesus Christ is the firstborn over all creation (Col. 1:15). He is supreme over all creation [natural creation and new creation]. He existed before all creation. Remember, He is the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8); this means that He is ‘The First to be raised from the dead.’

The glory of God manifests and reveals our resurrection in Christ, as Lazarus from Bethany witnessed. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead were laid. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me. And I knew that thou hearest Me always, but because of the people who stand by, I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said unto them, Loose him, and let him go. John 11:41–44 KJV

Lazarus might pass through death, but death was not to be the ultimatum of his sickness. We cannot suffer too much or be relieved too late.

Death ruled like a king because sin entered the world through Adam. But that cannot compare with what Jesus Christ has done. Jesus’ death was for our justification. He was delivered over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification. Rom 4:25 NIV

Jesus was handed over to wicked men by God's purpose and foreknowledge, and they put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. (See Acts 2:23–24 NIV.)

Sin itself can only reign through death, but the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ reigns through God's righteousness, and this springs us into eternal life. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom 5:21 KJV

Death therefore has no more power over us because of our spiritual baptism into Christ, in whose death we were also baptised and buried, and not only this, but we were also raised to life with Him. Or don't you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with and that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now, if we die with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. Rom 6:3-10 NIV

All who are transformed and have entered their Heavenly abode cannot be touched by natural death any longer. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Rev 21:4 NIV

Verse 8 says: But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters, and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." NIV

Jesus Christ came to the earth in the appearance of a man and was obedient to death. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Phil 2:8 NIV

He is the living one who died and rose from the dead; therefore, he has taken “the keys of death” and “the hades” [the grave] from the devil (Rev 1:18 NIV). We are reconciled to God by Christ’s physical body through His death (Col 1:22 NIV). He was made a little lower than the angels (Heb 2:9) and was once offered to bear the sins of many (see Heb 9:27–28). He shared in our humanity so that, by His death, we could be victorious over death. Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil. Heb 2:14 NIV

The saints “did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” [on the Saviour’s old rugged cross]. See Revelation 12:11. All who died with Him are raised with Him. We shall experience the totality of redemption of our souls and transformation of our bodies in Christ on the Resurrection Morning. We have been saved from apparent irreversible decline, death, and decay. Through the love of God, we have passed from death to life (1 John 3:14–15).

Death and Hades will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:14). "The lake of fire," which is a fiery lake of burning sulphur, is "the second death." (See Rev 21:8) “The second death” has no power over all who have part in “the first resurrection” (Rev 20:6 NIV).

Whoever overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. Rev 2:11b NIV

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

1 Cor 15:54–55 NIV