David wrote prophetically of Jesus saying;

¹⁰ For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [the grave]; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One [Jesus, the Messiah] to see corruption [to decay in the grave]. (Psalm 16:10 (KJV)

This is a difficult verse for the mainstream Christians, Seeing that they have the wrong notion of hell, they are at a loss as to how to explain this. But they usually manage to explain it away, as they do so many passages which do not agree with their creeds. “Hell” here is the Greek “hades” meaning, simply “the grave,” or you might say, the “in dust of the earth.”

“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Genesis 3:19 (KJV)

 “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7 (KJV)

“If he [God] set his heart upon man, if he [God] gather unto himself His Spirit And His Breath; [then] ¹⁵All flesh shall perish together [cease living], and Man Shall Turn Again Unto Dust.” (Job 34:14-15 (KJV)

And the first part of our titles text would well apply to David, the speaker. But it is the last part of the verse that causes the difficulty. For David by now has seen corruption in the grave and at the time of this writing, and he was still in the grave as late as A.D. 29 when Peter quoted it.

Peter quotes this very passage to prove that it is the Lord, not David, who has been raised.

“Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One [Messiah] to see corruption [decay].” (Acts 2:27 (KJV)
“He [David] seeing this before spake of the Resurrection Of Christ, that his [Jesus’] soul was not left in hell [the grave], neither his flesh did see corruption [decay].” (Acts 2:31 (KJV)

There is no return from mainstream Christianity’s hell which they mistakenly interpret as “the lake of fire.”

Yet, here it is. The Lord Himself has escaped from the grave via resurrection. He is the firstfruits of them that slept, the firstborn from the dead. He is the only one to date who has already ascended to heaven. The rest of the dead are still in their graves awaiting their time of resurrection.

“And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he [Jesus] that came down from heaven, even [that is] the Son of man which is in heaven.” (John 3:13 (KJV)

Now when the Lord calls those that are His, will hell (the grave) be able to hold them? Do we have any assurance along this line of thought?

What do the Scriptures say about us? In Matthew 16:18 the Lord said that the gates of hell will not prevail against His church, those who believe, Job was sure that he [Job] would answer when the Lord called. “

Thou [Lord] shalt call, and I [Job] will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.” (Job 14:15 (KJV)

Those in the dispensation of promise (the Israelites) will arise at the coming of the Lord, each in his own order or group. The reader can find many more Scriptures that refer to this hope.

“But every man in his own order: 1) Christ the firstfruits; 2) afterward they [of Israel] that are Christ's at his [2^nd] coming. (1 Corinthians 15:23 (KJV)

Another question that bothers a lot of folks is this. What are the dead doing? If you will read in these verses you will discover that dead believers are said to be sound asleep.

“These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.” (John 11:11 (KJV)
“Howbeit Jesus spake of his [Lazarus’] death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. ¹⁴ Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.” (John 11:13-14 (KJV)

It does not say that souls sleep, but that the dead sleep. Just look at these verses.

“After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:6 (KJV)
“Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” (1 Corinthians 15:18 (KJV)
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” (1 Corinthians 15:20 (KJV)
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we [that are alive at His coming] shall all be changed,” (1 Corinthians 15:51 (KJV)

In the above references, dead believers are clearly said to be asleep. You can use your concordance and find other such examples in both Old Testament and New Testament.

So, our conclusion must be that believing dead sleep. In the original languages, this word sleep is not used of unbelievers. They die and stay dead.

“Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not [ceases to be functionally alive]: he is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalm 49:12 (KJV) “Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalm 49:20 (KJV)

Now here is a shocker! The Bible says that DEAD FOLKS KNOW NOT ANY THING, they are Not Conscious.

Yet in spite of the plain facts of the Word of God, religious men will tell you that there is an eternal conscious torment in hell for the unbelievers. If There Was Ever A Lie, This Is It.

Is the verse below inspired of God as much as John 3:16?

“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.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5 (KJV)

There is not a whisper in the Bible to indicate that folks raised from the dead ever could tell of any experiences they had in the dead state, in hell [the grave]. Eccl. 9:10 tells us plainly;

 ‘there is no knowledge or wisdom in the grave (hell) whither we all go at death.’

Yet, as believers, we and our loved ones are left with the hope of resurrection from our sleep from “the grave.”