WHAT IS THE STATE OF THE DEAD BEFORE THE RESURRECTION?
There are three
main theories of what happen to the dead in the interim state, after their
lives on this planet and before the resurrection.
1 – THE
DEAD DIE
Promoted mainly
by marginal groups, especially the Watchtower Society, where they teach that at
death, the human being stops existing all together. They take the warning of
GOD to Adam about dying (Genesis 2:17) literally and all encompassing. At death
they say, human spirit and body, die and are extinguished, passing to
non-existence. There is nothing left of a man, and at the resurrection, they
will be re-composed again from nothing, as when they were created for the first
time, just to be condemned or saved at the Last Judgement Day in body and
spirit.
2 – THE
DEAD ARE UNCONSCIOUS
Held by a large
number of Evangelical Christians, from modern and some older churches, like
some Lutherans and Anglicans (1), even though the actual above-named
confessions do not hold this view officially.
To the people
who hold this view, the body dies, but the spirit and the soul are in a living
but unconscious condition, until Judgement Day, when they will be resurrected
to stand trial and be sentenced to either Glory or Hell, in body and spirit.
3 – THE DEAD AWAIT THE FINAL JUDGEMENT CONSCIOUS
Held by the
majority of Christians, who believe every man suffers a quick personal
assessment before Jesus (2Cor 5:10), and is sent to await the Great Judgement,
in a conscious state before their final sentence in the Last Judgement Day (2).
To those who
hold this belief, the dead are either in a blissful state, or a place of
suffering in a spiritual state, until the Day of Judgement, where they will be
united with their bodies and sentenced to a final state in full humanity.
WHAT DOES
THE BIBLE TEACH?
According to
Scripture alone, the dead are sent conscious, to a place of blissful existence
or suffering, according to their salvific state, where their conduct, faith in
Christ, and repentance are taken into consideration.
A – LAZARUS
AND THE RICH MAN
In the gospel of
Luke, our Lord Jesus mentioned the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man, where
both persons, one righteous and the other one unrighteous, are immediately taken
to a blissful state with the saints, while the unrighteous is taken to a place
of suffering (Luke 16:22-23).
This argument is
rejected usually by those who believe in the ‘sleep of the soul’ by saying that
this is just a parable and it cannot be taken literally.
But what they
fail to notice, is that a parable, which is a ‘story’ intended to illustrate a
moral lesson, can never be based on ‘invented’ or false premises, because it
loses purpose. Jesus could not quote a parable about werewolves, or extra-terrestrials,
or mermaids, because they do not exist. Or even mention situations that are not
real, like being punished by flying elephants, or rewarded by Butterflies. The
moment an irreal character or situation is mentioned, the intention of the
parable loses strength and becomes a fable, not a parable.
If judgement was
not immediate, then the fear to be in the condition of the Rich Man would
automatically vanish. Notice that this situation is immediately after dead and
not after (Luke 16:27-28).
2 – PAUL
MENTIONS TO BE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD
In two
occasions, Paul mentions the blessing of being dead but in the presence of the
Lord, than to be alive and away from Him.
In 2CORINTHIANS
5:8, Paul clearly says that while we are alive on this planet, we are
physically distant from Jesus; but once dead, we are in his company. He does
not presume an intermediate state, but the grammar he uses, implies an
immediate fulfilment of this desire to be with our Lord, as soon as we die,
reflecting exactly the same message communicated in the parable of Lazarus and
the Rich Man, about immediate punishment or reward.
In PHILLIPIANS
1:3, Paul again says that he has the conflict between continuing alive to
progress the gospel of our Lord on Earth, or to die and go to be with Jesus.
It must be
noticed here, that Paul clearly assumes an immediate encounter and reward as
soon as he passes from this life, because if he was speaking about the Day of The
Last Judgement, it would not affect anything to continue living on Earth, since
death would not bring him to Jesus until the end of time, which would be much
later than the life span of Paul as a man.
3 – THE MARTYRS
OF REVELATION
REVELATION
6:9-11, presents the martyrs existing in a spiritual state near GOD, requesting
to be avenged for their unjust executions.
This is also
dismissed as symbolic, portraying God never forgetting his saints but that to
Him we are always present, whether we are dead or alive.
However, this is
a dangerous assumption, since there is nothing in the text that may suggest
symbolism, but the revealing of a mystery hidden until then. And in fact,
contradicts other parts of Scripture that sustains immediate punishment or
reward.
HEBREWS 12:23; indeed,
speaks in favor of a literal meaning of the words of Revelation 6; when
speaking about the privilege of the Christians that not even Moses had, by
saying that when we pray through Christ, we approach the very Kingdom of God,
where the Father and Jesus are, the assembly of angels and the spirit of the earthly
saints, alive and before the Great Judgement.
4 – PETER’S TESTIMONY
In 2PETER
1:13-15, apostle Peter uses language that clearly denotes life after physical
death. He uses terms like ‘As long as I am in this body’ and the ‘putting off
my body will be soon’. This let us assume clearly that he did not consider
physical death, the end of his life. Peter does not elaborate on what will
happen afterwards, but Paul, Lord Jesus and Revelation do, as we have seen
before, and it is safe to assume that here, Peter was awaiting to continue
living in Jesus’s presence after physical death.
5 – THE PROMISSE
OF JESUS TO THE THIEF ON THE CROSS
When the repentant
thief asked Lord Jesus to remember him when he returned in his Kingdom, he was
obviously speaking from the Judaic culture he had been raised in. At that
moment, the repentant criminal, acknowledged Jesus as the promised Messiah
savior of Israel and the world.
To this our Lord
said:
“Truly I
tell you today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke 23:43
In the original
Greek there are no commas. The commas were added later in history, and according
to the grammar which is uncertain, some scholars proposed that the comma should
be after today, and not before it. That way our Lord will be saying:
“Truly I
tell you today, you will be with me in paradise.”
Instead of:
“Truly I
tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
This is
possible, the grammatic construction of the verse is not defining. But there
are other things to consider before making a quick assumption.
This same Jesus
of Nazareth spoke of the parable of Lazarus, where He spoke of an immediate
judgement of character. And the apostles of Jesus, later, like Peter, Paul, and
John, taught also the conscious existence of the dead immediately after death. Therefore,
the most probable assumption is to assume that Jesus meant that later on that
day, the repentant thief will be with Jesus on paradise.
CONCLUSION
The Scripture is
abundantly conclusive that every human being suffers a judgement of character,
and sits either in Glory or Hades, in bliss or suffering, their resurrection,
where they will be officially judged as humans in full, and receive their
eternal sentence, either to the Heavenly Jerusalem or to the Lake of Fire in
body and spirit.
All other
arguments like the ‘dead don’t know anything’ (Ecclesiastes 9:5), or that ‘In
death there is not remembrance of God’ (Psalm 6:5), as in other lose passages
of the OT; they refer only to the human existence of people, not their spirit
after death.
When a person
dies physically, all knowledge of what happens on Earth is blocked for him. He stops
knowing what happens with his relatives or home, and cannot communicate with
them. And also stops worshipping God as he most probably did when he was alive.
Another thing to
consider is that these passages are taken from the times when the whole mystery,
like the existence of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, alongside Lord GOD YHWH, and
the existence of Satan, and the expiation of Christ on the cross, and many
others topics, were hidden to the prophets, but revealed for us by the apostles
(1Peter 1:12).
Omar Flores.
(1)
“The
Bible and the Future” by Anthony A Hoekema (1994).
“Works of Luther”, Vol.6
(1932).
“Christian mortalism from
Tyndale to Milton” by Norman T. Burns (1972).
(2)
Westminster
Confession, 32.
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