Where Do Christians Go When They Die, And What Is Meant |
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Regarding the state of the believing dead, II Corinthians 5:1-8 talks about that when we are absent from the body, we are present with our Lord. The footnotes on this passage from the Spirit-Filled Life Bible, of which Pastor Hayford served as General Editor, read: "To be present with the Lord is better than our present condition, even if it means to be absent from the body between death and the day of our resurrection. This text conclusively disproves any notion that the believer experiences any lapse between death and his presence with Christ." One of the resource books we utilize, When Critics Ask by Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe, has the following to say about I Thessalonians 4: "Several times the Bible refers to the dead as being asleep.... The souls of both believers and unbelievers are conscious between death and the resurrection. Unbelievers are in conscious woe (see Luke 16:23; Mark 9:48; Matthew 25:41) and believers are in conscious bliss. ‘Sleep’ is a reference to the body, not the soul. Sleep is an appropriate figure of speech for death of the body, since death is temporary until the resurrection when the body will ‘awake’ from it. "The evidence that the soul (spirit) is conscious between death and resurrection is very strong...(Genesis 5:24; Hebrews 11:5; Psalm 16:10, 11; II Kings 2:1; Matthew 17:3; Luke 23:43, 46; Philippians 1:23; II Corinthians 5:8; Hebrews 12:23; Revelation 6:9)." Here is more information from another resource book, Foundations of Pentecostal Theology written by Dr. N.M. Van Cleave and Dr. Guy P. Duffield, both respected theologians that served as professors of one of our Bible Colleges as well as in many other areas: "The use of the term ‘sleep’ to describe death is a figurative and euphemistic expression to emphasize the fact that the deceased person still lives. W.E. Vine explains: ‘The metaphorical use of the word ‘sleep’ is appropriate, because of the similarity in appearance of a sleeping body and a dead body; restfulness and peace normally characterize both. the object of the metaphor is to suggest that, as the sleeper does not cease to exist while his body sleeps, so the dead person continues to exist despite his absence from the region in which those who remain can communicate with him.’ "Furthermore, the account given by Jesus of the state of the rich man and Lazarus immediately after death demonstrates clearly that their souls were not sleeping in unconsciousness (Luke 16:22-31). See also Paul’s statement to the Philippians:’...having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ which is far better...’ (1:23). "That the spirit of man can function apart from the body is made clear by Paul’s treatise on ‘death’ in II Corinthians, in which he says: ‘Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord--for we walk by faith; not by sight--we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent to be pleasing to Him (5:6-8).... "Answering the assumption that men must await the Judgment before enjoying bliss or suffering punishment, Louis Berkhof remarks: ‘The day of judgment is not necessary to reach a decision respecting the reward or punishment of each man, but only for the solemn announcement of the sentence, and for the revelation of the justice of God in the presence of men and angels.’ Jesus said: ‘He who believes in Him is not judged, he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God’ (John 3:17). There will be a believer’s judgment concerning rewards for service, but not concerning his salvation; one’s salvation is conditioned on faith in Jesus (see II Corinthians 5:10; I Corinthian 3:12-15)." |
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Resources: 1.) Spirit-Filled Life Bible 2.) Foundations of Pentecostal Theology by Dr. N.M. Van Cleave and Dr. Guy P. Duffield 3.) When Critics Ask by Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe |
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