A Covenant With Death

      A "covenant" is a meeting of the minds. Isaiah speaks of a "covenant with death":

Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. (Isa 15-16)

     The covenant with death is mentioned by Paul hundreds of years later: "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. (Heb 9:27). Isaiah was speaking about judgment day as was Paul. That day is when the appointment with death takes place.
     What is death? Science tries to explain what and when death is. We think of it as cessation of thought. Once it was believed to be when the heart stopped and the lungs quit refreshing the blood. That is not death! First off, thoughts continue after death! That was observed in the case of the death of the rich man in the story of Lazarus (Luke 16). The wages or penalty for sin is death (Rom 6:23), and part of that penalty is knowing that the damned did not have to die. There was another recourse. The rich man wanted to warn his brothers, but Jesus knew that if that was possible, they would not listen. Why so? They had made a covenant with death!
     The conditions of the covenant is to be in "agreement with Hell". Isaiah went on to explain what that agreement is: when the scourge of death shall pass through, "it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehoods have we hid ourselves." The covenant with death is denial of Hell. It seems that sinners will negate the existence of Hell by merely wishing it away!
     Even many churches teach that Hell is merely God's scare tactic to intimidate people into trusting Him. Forty-two percent of the people in the United States don't believe in Hell. Of those, seventeen percent believe in Heaven but not Hell. (Pew Research Center; "Religious Beliefs and Practices"; Dec 21, 2016). At a minimum, 42% have made a covenant with death by denying the existence of Hell.
     What is the purpose of Heaven. A sanctuary from Hell. It makes sense that Hell must exist to have a place of salvation. What are sinners saved from? Hell! Essentially, people think they don't need entrance to Heaven because they don't believe in Hell. Of those, 17% don't understand what it is that they are saved from!
     What are people saved from? Death in Hell:

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Mat 10:28)

    Death is destruction of the person. Personhood is body, mind, and soul. Physical death is the destruction of the flesh. From dust it came, to dust it shall return. (Ecc 12:7). Physical death is the easy part; it is merely a sting (1 Cor 15:55). Most dread that "sting" for one reason of another: Death separates the dying from the ones they love, they doubt the resurrection, or they may even dread non-existence if they are atheists. Most, even Christians, fear the pain of dying, and the anxiety of knowing it. Christians, on the other hand, should look forward to the reward - eternal life without pain or worries!
     Spiritual death is what any sane person should dread. However, Isaiah acknowledged that some have made a covenant with death by disbelieving in spiritual death. Because anyone disbeliefs does not make Hell less real!
     The soul is immortal in the sense that it was before the beginning, and will be after the end. God loved Jesus "before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24). God chose "us" from the foundations of the world (Ephes 1:4). As we were made in the image of God, it stands to reason that God knew "us" before the beginning of the world. What I am proposing, is that our soul existed before our bodies, and at birth, it needed filling. Everyone besides Jesus were shapen in iniquity (Psalm 51:5). When was everyone shapen? God knew us in the womb and before. Look what God told Jeremiah:

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.(Jer 1:5)

     God knew us before we were conceived. We were souls just awaiting personhood. Adam was created with God's Holy Spirit filling his soul - in the image of God. Because of original sin, everyone else was born with iniquity in the soul. "Iniquity" is the potential for sinning and is complete when one sins. Sin requires understanding. The commands were created so we were without excuse. Infants are excused because they don't have the capacity to understand. However, even infants who die in the womb or shortly thereafter still have iniquity.
     Jesus existed in the beginning for the very purpose of redemption. God had to have flesh to experience what his creatures would experience. God in the Flesh was tempted just as we are and with much more profundity. He did not sin, however, but was crucified anyhow. That was a dire injustice for it should have been us. He obtained justice on our behalf.  Back to Isaiah, now: "I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste." 
     The "foundation stone" of course was Jesus Christ who was there in the beginning (John 1:14; John 17:24). He was "the precious cornerstone". That specific stone in any building is the datum from which the entire building is measured. Jesus was mankind's "datum". We were made in His image, not that we were without sin, but that we had a soul. Jesus's soul was filled (completely) with God's Holy Spirit. Ours is imbued because some sin always remains in us. We will never be perfect until we are glorified, and that comes after we die when our flesh is resurrected. Glorification is completion of the creature - made in the very image of Jesus!
     Death is eternal. Sinners will only wish that they were dead. The soul in both the Christian and sinner will live on just as before the foundation of the world. Hence, eternal life is living forever, and death is dying forever - feeling death but never dying. The flesh will burn but never be consumed, and the soul will be filled with iniquity, and will be the abode of Satan who will torment forever and ever. How do you suppose Satan will torment? I believe that those who are dying eternally will relive their opportunity which they rejected - the Cornerstone - over and over again - a sort of disastrous Ground Hog's Day movie, only for real!
    That rejection of which I write is the Cornerstone. "The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner" (Mark 12:10). Of course, the "head" is Jesus Christ. What those who have a covenant with death will think on - forever - is the rejection of the Cornerstone - "a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste." 
     How do untrustworthy builders build? They build to suit, not to a datum - not to the Cornerstone. It's not that they don't know the importance of the cornerstone, but they build quickly. A building built in haste is sloppily build, untrue, and has the propensity to destruct. You may not outright reject Jesus, but you may live your life without him in it. The rat-race which is life is the haste in which the Cornerstone has no efficacy. Indeed, it is taking Jesus's Purpose in vain - a violation of the Fifth Commandment.
     Those who use the Cornerstone - Jesus - have a covenant of life. Those who live without Jesus have made a covenant with death. We get to choose! Each who chose a covenant with death will relive that choice time and again forever. Choose wisely, my friends. It is imperative to your entire life.