Beyond Death: April 2010
Table of Contents
Just Begun
“All is over,” said a lady sadly, referring to the “falling asleep” of a beloved Christian friend. “Let us rather say just begun” was the reverent response.
Just begun — the glorious dawning
Of that world so fair,
Where the ransomed spirit enters,
Freed from every care.
Past forever all the watchings
Of the darksome night;
Just begun — the rapturous waking
Into heavenly light.
Just begun — the bliss of being
Closer to His side,
There through cloudless days of
brightness
Ever to abide.
Just begun — the glorious anthem
“Unto Him who died”;
In the joy of being with Him
Fully satisfied.
Just begun — the bliss of learning
What His love has done,
In the many, “many mansions,”
Which His death has won.
Mia V. Bowcott
The Apostle Peter
Beyond Death
James teaches us that a person dies when their soul and spirit are separated from their body. Through the Apostle Paul we learn that when the resurrection takes place, the bodies of the dead are raised and are reunited with their souls, and they become immortal. This issue focuses on the interval between these two events.
We look at what our God has revealed to us about the present state of the dead, both regards our brethren and the lost. We see why those who have died in Christ presently have a better portion than we do. They are “present with the Lord”; we are not. They are “in paradise”; we certainly are not. They are free from sin and its effects; we are not.
In considering this subject, we test by the Word of God some of the claims of those who describe experiences where they believe they have died and come back. While interesting, it is wise to remember what the Lord said, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets [the Word of God], neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:31). Our faith, our future and our knowledge of truth rests upon what God tells us, not upon our interpretation of what we or others have experienced. “It is better to trust in the Lord [both in His person and His Word] than to put confidence in man [either ourselves or others]” (Psa. 118:8).
Theme of the Issue
Always Confident
When speaking of the assurance of salvation, we are often met with such answers as, “It does not do to be too sure,” or, “Is it not presumption?” or, “I do not think it right to be so confident.” If any who are accustomed to make such replies should read these lines, we would earnestly beseech them to weigh the passage of Scripture where the words at the head of this paper occur, and we feel assured they will no longer speak so. Let us quote it: “Now He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (for we walk by faith, not by sight:) we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him [or, acceptable to Him]” (2 Cor. 5:5-9).
It is the Apostle Paul who thus speaks of that which is true of Christians, and he shows that all the work and blessing is of God; He is the source and author of it; it is He that wrought His people for it and He who gave and still gives them the earnest of the Spirit. “Therefore we are always confident.” What a solid foundation for our confidence to be based upon — confidence because from beginning to end it is a work of God. Man has no part in the matter. He is perfectly helpless in himself; without strength, he can do nothing. But God, who has the glory in view, comes in and fits the poor, weak, human vessel for it. He takes us up in pure grace, puts away our sins, justifies us in Christ, and gives us the Spirit as the earnest of the glory to follow. “Therefore we are always confident.” Well may we be! Who can frustrate the purpose, power and work of God? No one. Satan is a vanquished foe, man is set aside in the cross, and the whole work is of God — a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17 JND). How then can the Christian be so confident? Confidence in God is that which honors Him.
Feelings of Failure
“But my difficulty,” says one, “is in myself: I feel I am such a poor, failing creature that I fear to be too confident.” Just so, and well you may, as long as you are looking at yourself. If you wait for confidence until you cease to fail, you will have to wait a long time; indeed, until you leave this world altogether. Confidence in God displaces self-confidence. The Apostle was always confident because he had learned to rest always in God instead of himself, and that is an important lesson to learn.
Knowledge
And notice next what goes along with it — knowledge. “Knowing,” he continues, “that, whilst we are present in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (for we walk by faith, not by sight).” We are confident, not hoping, nor thinking, nor feeling, but knowing. “Always confident, knowing.” He was longing to be with the Lord — we should be also. But how can that be if we are self-occupied and full of doubt and uncertainty? Not that he desired to die, but to be glorified, as he says in the fourth verse: “We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” He knew that he might fall asleep, his spirit passing out of the body into the presence of the Lord in the unclothed state, but this is not the proper and immediate Christian hope. Christ is coming, and mortality shall be swallowed up of life, not of death. The Christian should be looking to go up, not down — to go into glory, and not into the unclothed state. We wait “for the adoption, to wit, the redemption [not the corruption] of our body” (Rom. 8:23).
No Ifs, Ands or Buts
And then in 2 Corinthians 5:8 he confirms his statement: “We are confident, I say.” Not a word to bolster you up in your up-and-down state, not the slightest ground for you to have the least bit of confidence in yourself in any way whatever. And there is not the vestige of an “if” or a “but” to justify a moment’s lack of confidence in God as to the future. God begins, carries on, and ends His work. He saves, gives the Spirit as the earnest, and fills the soul with confidence and knowledge, removing all fear. And He creates a desire in the soul to be with Christ where He is. He would have us then “always confident.” Are you?
Empty Profession
It is one thing, dear reader, to cast in your lot with Christians and to preach, but it is quite another to be a sinner saved by grace, running with patience the race set before us, fighting the good fight of faith, looking for the glory. By grace ye are saved, not by running or fighting, and if saved, God would have you always confident. But if any profess whose life is a denial of their profession, the Word of God is unmistakably plain: “He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). Such will surely prove to be worthless castaways. May each believer in Jesus who reads these lines be found always confident till that day.
E. H. C., adapted
The State of the Soul After Death
The state of the soul after death is a subject which deeply interests us all. Many dear believers have the vague idea of going to heaven, but this is not spoken of in Scripture, unless in the one case of the thief upon the cross going to be with Christ in paradise. Not that we do not go there, but the scriptural thought is always going to Christ. Since He is in heaven, of course we go there, but being with Christ is what Scripture puts forward, and this is important as to our spiritual affections. Christ is the object before the soul, according to the Word, not simply being happy in heaven, though we shall be happy and in heaven.
Immediate Happiness
My object now is to give a plain scriptural statement that there is immediate happiness with Christ for the departed Christian. It is an intermediate state, for the departing Christian waits for the resurrection of the body — and then only will he be in his final state in glory. The purpose of God is that we should be conformed to the image of His Son, that He may be the firstborn among many brethren. “It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). This, and to be forever with the Lord, is our eternal state, when Christ shall have come and received us to Himself, changed into His likeness, when our poor earthly body shall have been fashioned like His glorious body (Phil. 3:21). Two things belong to us: first, to be like and with Christ Himself; second, to be blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Him. Redemption has made this ours, but we are not in possession. We have only the earnest of the Spirit, though God has wrought us for that selfsame thing.
Heavenly Places
In addition, our portion is in heavenly places: It is distinctive of believers who have believed and suffered with Christ. God, we are told, will gather together in one, under Christ, all things, both which are in heaven and which are on earth (Eph. 1:10). The time will come when not only all things in heaven and earth will be reconciled (Col. 1:20), but even things under the earth, infernal things, will be forced to recognize His power and authority. Every knee shall bow to Him, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ, the despised and rejected of men, is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:1011). For this we must wait. But in this gathering of all things in heaven and earth under Christ, our part is in heavenly places; as it is our portion now in spirit, so it will be our part in glory. Nor is there any real separation between these two. Of course, we are not in glory now, but that is our calling now, that which we are redeemed to and wait for. “Our conversation [citizenship, our relationship in life as Christians] is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20); in the same chapter, verse 14, where you have “high calling,” the true force of the word is “calling above.” So also, in Hebrews 3, we are partakers of the heavenly calling. As united to Christ by the Holy Spirit, we are sitting in heavenly places in Christ — not with Him yet, but in Him; that is our place.
Hence, it is clearly and distinctly expressed that our hope is laid up for us in heaven (Col. 1:5), and Peter tells us that an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled and that fades not away is reserved in heaven for us (1 Peter 1:4). All this clearly shows that our blessings are where our hope enters, where our forerunner is gone, that our glory is celestial, not terrestrial. We shall bear the image of the heavenly and shall be forever with the Lord. The whole object of the Epistle to the Hebrews is to show that our portion is heavenly, in contrast with Judaism, which was earthly.
The Intermediate State
But how far does the Word of God show us our intermediate state, between the time of our being in this tabernacle, in which we groan, and having it glorified, when Christ comes and shall change our vile body and fashion it like His glorious body? Once we have understood that our calling is heavenly, all is simple and plain. Our citizenship now and always is in heaven. When and if we die, will we enjoy it more, or less, than here?
We know that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto Him (Luke 20:38). Though dead for this world, for Him they are as alive as ever, and so for faith. Some teach that they sleep, but there is no ground for this whatever. Stephen fell asleep, that is, died; it was not that his soul fell asleep after death. Some had fallen asleep, that is, had died (1 Cor. 15:6), and this is the same word as “sleep in Jesus” in 1 Thessalonians 4. This is contrasted with being alive, in Thessalonians, and with remaining to this present, in Corinthians. It is just simply dying, and a beautiful expression to show they had not at all ceased to exist, but would wake up again in resurrection, as a man out of sleep. This is clearly seen in the case of Lazarus, in John 11. The Lord says, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.” They thought it was taking of rest in sleep; then He said plainly, Lazarus has died. That is, sleep means plainly dying, and awaking is not waking the soul, as if it slept apart, but bringing back from the state of death by resurrection. A Christian’s falling asleep is neither more nor less than dying; a soul’s sleeping is a pure invention.
Absent From the Body,
Present With the Lord
Christians have Christ as their life, as they have Him as their righteousness, and as to death itself (2 Cor. 5:6), they are always confident, knowing that while they are at home in the body, they are absent from the Lord. They have eternal life in Christ, but here it lives absent from the Lord, in the earthen vessel; when it leaves the poor earthen vessel, it will be present with the Lord. Is that better or worse? Remember that Christ is our life; because He lives, we live. Have we lost our connection with Him when we die? Is it not perfectly evident that when Paul speaks of being with Christ and of its being far better than serving Him here (though that was worthwhile), he speaks of the joy of being there? The Lord declares to the thief who confessed Him that he should be with Him that day in paradise. Was it not happiness He promised him, being with Christ and in paradise? He was sure that He who hung upon the cross would come in (not into) His kingdom and prayed that Christ might remember him then. The Lord’s answer was according to the whole tenor of the gospel: You shall not wait for that. I bring salvation by grace; today you shall be with Me in paradise, the fit companion of Christ in blessedness. This, then, is the portion of the departed saint, to be with Christ in blessedness, absent from the body, and present with the Lord.
The intermediate state, then, is not glory (for that we must wait for our glorified body), but it is blessedness where no evil is. It is being with Christ Himself, the source of joy ineffable. The hopes and “always confident” of Paul and of Stephen were not disappointed, nor did the assurance given by the Lord to the thief fail of fulfillment. I ask if the bright hopes spoken of in 2 Corinthians 5, Philippians 1, Acts 7, and the Lord’s words to the thief, for any honest mind, can mean going fast asleep and knowing nothing? If 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 means being happy with Christ, it means being happy with Him when we die.
The Enjoyment of Christ
How a spirit enjoys Christ we cannot tell as to the manner of it, but there is no difficulty whatever. My spirit enjoys Christ now in spite of the hindrance of the poor earthen vessel it is in, and though now we see Him not, yet we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory (1 Peter 1:8). It is not my body which enjoys Him now, but my soul spiritually, with the hindrance of the earthen vessel and absent from Him; then it is without the hindrance of the earthen vessel and present with Him. The believer may rest perfectly assured that, departing from the body, he will be present with the Lord, and if His presence is joy to him, that joy will be his. No one would be more anxious to press the Lord’s coming and our waiting for Him and the importance of the resurrection. I would urge it, as I have urged it, on the saints, and indeed upon all, in its due place, but not to weaken the solemn truth that all live to God, even if they are spirits in prison, nor on the other hand, the excellent joy and blessedness of being with Christ when we depart, that to die is gain. It has justly cheered and shed heavenly light on many a dying bed, and yet will, if the Lord tarry. The Scripture is plain that for a saint to depart and be with Christ is far better than even the most successful service here; it is just as plain as to the happiness of the saint in that condition. The full and final state of eternal blessedness is when Christ will come and take all His saints to be with Him forever in glory, like Himself, when the marriage of the Lamb shall have come, and when we shall be forever with the Lord.
J. N. Darby, adapted
Near Death Experiences
“Near death” or “out of body” experiences have interested and fascinated mankind for thousands of years, and there are references to such phenomena as far back as Greek and Roman literature. However, modern interest in the subject really began with the publication in 1975 of Raymond Moody’s book, Life After Life. Since then there has been an explosion of interest in the subject, and with the arrival of the Internet, there are now multiple Websites devoted to it. Interest in the subject crosses all the lines of the so-called world religions and is present among atheists, Gnostics, universalists and Satan worshippers.
When believers are faced with such experiences, many questions arise. Are they of God or are they sometimes produced by Satan? Can they be trusted or are they formulated by minds that are distorted by a vivid imagination, a lack of oxygen, drugs or other influences? What message, if any, is to be gained from them? Let us look at these questions in the light of God’s Word.
An Example of “Near Death”
For those who are not familiar with the subject, here is an example of a “near death” experience.
“I was rushed to the hospital with third-degree burns to sixty-five per cent of my body. What happened next may appear to be more fantasy than real, but I traveled into that land beyond death and returned.
“One of the first things the soul is conscious of when it leaves the physical body is the sense of weightlessness. It is quite an experience to look back at your physical body lying on a hospital bed. When I got over the shock of separation from the earthly body and realized that I was now in the spiritual world, I was amazed at the vast difference between the two worlds. There seems to be no time factor in the spiritual world; also, no sense of distance or space as we know it here.
“After I returned and again took up abode in this earthly body, the Spirit of God led me to the Bible, which showed me that Christ is the only answer. Since I have accepted Christ as my personal Savior, I have the assurance of eternal life.”
These experiences can take many different forms, although a feeling of being outside of the body is common to all of them. Some have pleasant visions, while others see things that are frightening. Some claim to have seen loved ones who had died at some point in the past. With some, their experiences were connected with certain religious beliefs, depending on the background of the individual in question.
What the Scriptures Say
In the first place, I believe that we have Scripture to affirm that God definitely does use such experiences to speak to man. Because man is a tripartite being (body, soul and spirit) and was made in the image and likeness of God, he has a God-conscious part to his being. As such, man is able to appreciate communications from God, and God chooses to communicate with him in different ways. In Job we read, “God speaketh once, yea, twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then He openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that He may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword” (Job 33:14-18).
Such experiences as we are discussing are unique to man and are evidence that he was made for eternity and not merely for time. As in the example just given, God does use such experiences to lead men to think about their eternal destiny and to make them realize their responsibility toward God. Some who have had negative experiences have seen clearly that they were on the road to a lost eternity and have been brought to Christ. There is no doubt that God can and does work through these experiences.
Satan’s Power
On the other hand, we know that Satan is “the prince of the power of the air” and that he is also the god and prince of this world. In this role he uses his power to influence the minds of men and to give them either a false sense of security or to affirm that which is wrong. When people place their faith in experience rather than in God’s Word, they open the door to this kind of delusion. Many unbelievers who have had these experiences claim that they saw a beautiful light, felt a peaceful glow, and were involved in a “transition to another dimension.” They claim that they are now free from any fear of death and have found a profound “inner peace.”
Drugs and the Occult
Connected with all this are invitations to people to initiate out of body experiences using transcendental meditation, advanced forms of yoga, and other methods that are connected with the occult. It is significant too that most of the techniques suggested are connected with New Age thinking and Eastern mysticism. It is also well-known that certain drugs and even anesthetic agents, such as ketamine, can sometimes cause the individual to have such an experience. The human mind can run on strange channels when under the influence of various medications, and even while in a deep sleep. Most of us on occasion have had wildly imaginative and somewhat ridiculous dreams, yet they seemed very real at the time.
Back to the Word of God
What then are we, as believers, to make of all this? It is not our purpose to try and explain all of the phenomena that are connected with these experiences. As we have seen, there is more than one cause for such events, and in any given experience, multiple causes may be present. However, I believe that Scripture, as always, gives us “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).
First of all, it is most important to realize that whenever God is teaching us truth on an important subject, He never refers us to experience, but rather to His Word. Experience is important and God uses it in our lives. As we have seen, God sometimes uses “near death” and “out of body” experiences to make souls aware of their lost condition. At other times He has given dying believers a clear vision of coming glory. However, experience is most unreliable when foundational truth is at issue. Man’s senses cannot go beyond what is acting on them, and any reasonings based on sensual experience can deal at best only in possibilities. Experience can vary with our mental and spiritual state, our bodily condition, and with other circumstances that may influence our perception at the time. In contrast, “Thy word is truth” (John 17:17), and “the word of the Lord endureth forever” (1 Peter 1:25). Ultimately we cannot know anything with certainty about what happens after death, apart from the testimony of God’s Word. In this time of God’s grace, God has “brought to light life and incorruptibility by the glad tidings” (2 Tim. 1:10 JND), and there need be no doubt about what happens after death, for it has been fully revealed. Let us trust the clarity of God’s Word rather than questionable experiences.
God in Control
Second, let us remember that God is firmly in control of all that happens beyond death. We read in James 2:26 that “the body without the spirit is dead,” and Scripture also tells us, in connection with death, that “then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7). God is the One who controls the lives of all, and when He chooses to take the soul and spirit from the body, none but He can reunite them. If He allows an intermediate experience in some cases, it is merely a demonstration that man is more than just a body. But it is God alone who has the power either to take the spirit and soul or to allow them to return to the body.
When death has clearly occurred, there is only One who is “the first and the last” and who has “the keys of death and of hades” (Rev. 1:17-18 JND). Whether it is the body in a grave or the spirit and soul without a body, it is God who determines their destiny, and it is He alone who will one day reunite them, either at the Lord’s coming for the believer or at the great white throne for the unbeliever.
Few Details Given
Finally, it is important to note that nowhere in Scripture do we get any detailed description of what is experienced by souls “in hades,” that is, in the condition of souls without bodies. In Luke 16, we are told simply that the rich man was “in torments,” while Lazarus was “in Abraham’s bosom.” Evidently they had all their senses and could think, remember, feel pain or pleasure, and communicate. Also, the Lord could tell the dying thief that he would be with Him that same day “in paradise.” When Paul was caught up to the third heaven, it is simply recorded that he “heard unspeakable things said which it is not allowed to man to utter” (2 Cor. 12:4 JND). If he saw and recognized anything or anyone there, it is not recorded.
Some dear believers, perhaps with good motives, have undertaken to publish what they saw and heard during an “out of body” experience, with a view to describing what heaven is like. Such books and articles have caused quite a sensation and are being heralded as proof of life after death. However, since God has given us no such description in His Word, it is quite doubtful whether He would use someone to bring out a “new revelation” at this point in the church’s history.
We notice as well, with all those in Scripture who died and were then raised from the dead, such as the dead man whose corpse touched the bones of Elisha (2 Kings 13:21), Jairus’ daughter (Luke 8:49-56), the widow of Nain’s son (Luke 7:11-15) and Lazarus (John 11), that Scripture does not record anything they heard or saw or what they experienced. It seems that God has seen fit to give us a brief glimpse into the unseen world, but He has not revealed many details. Where Scripture is silent, to fill in the gap by using man’s experience is to build on a foundation of sand.
Should we be called as believers to go through death, we can rest on the fact that it is to be “with Christ; which is far better” (Phil. 1:23). In the words of the hymn,
What can full joy and blessing be,
But being where Thou art?
Little Flock Hymnbook, #235
W. J. Prost
Samuel Disquieted From Hades
Saul, after the death of Samuel, went to the witch of Endor for help. He, who had openly turned from God, got his answer from the aged prophet of God. God thus met the unhappy man and did not allow a demon to impersonate His servant. It was Samuel whom Saul saw. It was an unusual sight the witch beheld. She confessed it, when she told Saul she saw gods ascending out of the earth. Her familiar spirit was unable to act, for God Himself had taken up the matter against Saul.
Samuel was dead, yet he existed in the unclothed state, and in the woman’s house at Endor he conversed with Saul and told him what would befall him and his sons on the morrow. The king’s course of departure from God is plainly recounted, and the future is clearly declared. He would be on the morrow with this Samuel. Death does not terminate existence for the righteous or the wicked. Samuel was dead, but he had not ceased to exist. Saul would die, but he would be with Samuel in the place of departed spirits, called, in the New Testament, “hades.” The existence of such a place, and who are there, is all that Samuel by his word declares. The condition and distinctive position of each in hades he was not commissioned to reveal. But this at least is clear, that the prophet was better off there than here. He had no desire to come back to earth. He had been disquieted by being brought up (ch. 28:15). His peaceful state had been interrupted by appearing on this occasion to Saul. Two things about the other world are then made clear. Death is not the end of any man’s existence, and the righteous dead have no desire to be brought back upon the stage of this world again. Saul got his answer, one of no uncertain sound, but one which could give him no ray of comfort. God, he felt, had forsaken him. Samuel confirmed this. It was true. Nothing now remained for him but death, and after death the judgment. His reign, which commenced to outward eyes so auspiciously, ended disastrously. Victory attended him at the beginning; defeat, followed by death at his own hand, closed his career. He went out of this world to meet an offended God. Thus ended the course of the responsible man.
The Bible Treasury, 12:229
Saul and Paul
How They Faced Death
The hope which the Apostle Paul had at the end of his life stands in contrast to the despair of King Saul. These two men who shared the same name and tribe were given to know that they would soon die, as well as certain revelations about life after death. Samuel told Saul when he went to enquire of a woman who was a witch, “Tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me” (1 Sam. 28:19). “Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel: and there was no strength in him” (vs. 20). Paul at the end of his life said, “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day” (2 Tim. 4:6-8).
There is much to learn in considering the outlook these two men had about life after death. What was it that made King Saul afraid? Why was Paul not only ready to die, but would rather choose to depart from this world and be with Christ (Phil. 1:20-24)? Paul certainly had more light about the afterlife, but we do not believe this is the reason he was confident in the face of death. It was the obedience of faith; the Apostle walked in obedience to what God revealed to him. He believed God and walked accordingly. This gave him assurance of what God revealed. Notice some of his words: “I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day” (Acts 23:1). “None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). Later he wrote, “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death” (Phil. 1:20). The consistency of Paul’s walk with what had been revealed to him is what gave him confidence and hope. Hebrews 6:19 says, “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.”
On the contrary, Saul continued walking in disobedience after he was told where he had failed. Though he verbally owned that he had sinned, yet he refused to slay all the Amalekites. His desire was to be honored before the elders and all Israel. (See 1 Samuel 15). At the end of his life when Samuel was brought back from the dead to speak with him, Samuel reiterated this same thing to him. “Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day” (1 Sam. 28:18).
Samuel revealed to Saul that the next day he and his sons would be where Samuel was, that is, the place of departed spirits, or “hades,” as it is called in the New Testament. This caused King Saul to despair. Samuel said nothing of Saul going to a place of torment — only that he would be with him. What made Saul afraid was that he had no faith to walk with God and was unprepared to die. Saul lived to please himself in the position that God had given him, but Saul did not give God His rightful place. Then when God abandoned him, he fell down in despair. The things of God are only enjoyed if we have faith to walk in them. Obedience and happiness go together.
Near Death Stories
The question now before us is, How should we relate to stories of near death experiences? First of all, God is not limited in His ability to communicate such things to His people. Caution is needed in relying on what others report, as our faith is not substantiated by the experience of others. Our faith should be in God’s Word rather than in the experiences of men. We have a more sure word of prophecy.
We believe that the example of the Apostle Paul gives us the real secret as to what comes after death and how to face it. Learning to know the One who has the keys of death and hell [hades] is the best thing. This means much more than knowing facts. It is knowing the One who reveals the facts. The Apostle put it this way: “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” Then he continued, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:10-11,14). It was not that Paul was uncertain about being with Christ after he died, but he strove to learn to know the most he could of Christ by walking with Him on earth so that he would know Him better in glory. This made him a happy man at the close of his life. We believe it is the secret for us, too. May the Lord give us more of that zeal to learn to know Him now during the rest of our time on earth.
D. C. Buchanan
The Grave, Paradise, Hades, and Gehenna
The words in our title are all used in Scripture, yet they are sometimes misunderstood or the meaning not fully appreciated. In addition, some of them are occasionally erroneously translated in the KJV, and perhaps in other translations as well. It is important to have a clear understanding of these words, in order to understand what God says about what lies beyond death.
The Grave
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word qeber means a grave and is always connected with a definite locality. The corresponding Greek word in the New Testament is mnemeion, also meaning a grave or sepulcher. Both words are variously translated, such as grave, sepulcher, and burying place, and are connected with the body, never the soul or spirit. Both words often have a particular geographical place connected with them, and in the KJV are correctly translated, in both Old and New Testaments.
Sheol and Hades
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word sheol occurs many times. Understood properly, it conveys the thought of souls without a body, and it is clearly a condition, not a locality. The New Testament Greek word is hades, also describing the condition of disembodied souls. It is here that a difficulty occurs, however, for in the Old Testament, the word sheol is translated hell thirty-one times, and it is translated grave or pit thirty-four times. Both translations can cause confusion, for hell, as Scripture uses the word, is not a condition, but rather a place. Similarly, a grave is a place for a body, not the condition of a disembodied soul.
Likewise, in the New Testament, the word hades is translated hell ten times, and once it is translated grave. Once again this brings confusion, for neither hell nor the grave properly convey the thought of a soul without a body. The grave refers only to the body, while the word hell is the proper translation of the word gehenna. But more on this later.
Thus, all those who have died, whether believers or unbelievers and whether they died during Old or New Testament times, can properly be said to be in sheol, or in hades, as far as their souls are concerned. In the Old Testament, before the light of the gospel had come, what took place between death and resurrection was not revealed. Even the most godly saint of God in the Old Testament did not know with assurance where he was going after death. He could trust God, but he did not know what would happen. This explains expressions in books like Psalms, Ecclesiastes and Job, which might lead a casual reader to assume that all, whether believers or unbelievers, go to one place. For example, we read in Ecclesiastes 3:20, “All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.” Again, Job could say, “Man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” (Job 14:10).
In one sense, all who die are in one condition, inasmuch as they all are in a disembodied state, that is, in the condition of souls without bodies. However, we know that God has brought “life and immortality [incorruptibility] to light through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10), and now we know what happens between death and resurrection. The unbeliever is simply said to be in hades, but it is revealed as a condition of torment, for we read of the rich man in Luke 16 that “in hades lifting up his eyes, being in torments, he sees” (Luke 16:23 JND). However, the believer is never spoken of in these terms, and this brings us to another word.
Paradise
Although used in Greek, this word is of Persian origin and was used to describe the special walled gardens kept by Persian kings for their pleasure. It was used in the Septuagint translation of the Bible to refer to the Garden of Eden, and it would convey to the Oriental mind everything that was rich and beautiful. Our Lord used this word to the dying thief to describe his destiny and His own after death. Paul identifies the word with the third heaven in 2 Corinthians 12, and it is connected with the tree of life in Revelation 2:7. It is always used in connection with believers and in connection with the place of joy and blessing into which they pass after having left this world. In this sense it can be localized, while the terms sheol and hades cannot; they simply express the condition of souls in the unseen world.
In the New Testament, the believer who dies is never said to be in hades, nor is he generally said to be in paradise, or in heaven, although both are true. Rather, Scripture always speaks of the soul and spirit of the believer as being “with Christ.” Although the words paradise and heaven do, in fact, convey the thought of beauty and rest, yet for the believer the emphasis is on the Person of Christ, not the place. As the hymn writer puts it,
I will not gaze at glory,
But on the King of grace.
Although being with Christ, even in the disembodied state, is a wonderful thing, yet fullness of joy and blessing must wait until the Lord comes. At that time the soul and spirit of the believer will be reunited with his body, and the body will be changed “into conformity to His body of glory” (Phil. 3:21 JND). Then the believer will not only be with Christ, but fully like Him, having not only a nature but also a body suited to that heavenly place. To be fully like Christ and to spend eternity with Him are the proper hope of every believer.
Gehenna
Finally, we must say something about the awful word gehenna. Although used only in the New Testament, this word has its origin in Old Testament times. It is translated hell or hell fire and always has the thought of a definite place, not a condition. In contrast to hades, which is a temporary state, gehenna is an eternal destination. We might say that hades is like the condition of a prisoner awaiting his day in court, while gehenna is like the prison into which he is placed after conviction.
Gehenna was the Valley of Hinnom on the south side of Jerusalem, where garbage was burnt and where vultures hovered. In the times of the ungodly kings of Judah, idolatrous sacrifices were carried out here, including even the sacrifice of children. It was not until the reign of Josiah that such abominable practices were abolished.
The horror of the place gained for it the name “Ge-hinnom” (Valley of Hinnom), which resulted in the Greek word gehenna, used by our Lord to refer to hell. It is not said to be created, but rather “prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). It is into this awful place that the wicked will be cast, body and soul, for all eternity.
At the great white throne, we read that “death and hades gave up the dead which were in them” (Rev. 20:13 JND). Death delivers up the body, while hades delivers up the soul; they are reunited to face the Lord Jesus on the throne of judgment. Then we read that “death and hades were cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:14). What a terrible end for those who refuse God’s grace!
W. J. Prost
Made Perfect
“Yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Heb. 10:37). In Hebrews 11:32-40 we are told the reason we are to have patience in suffering and in waiting for the Lord to come. The “worthy ones” he speaks of are those of whom the world was not worthy. They obtained a good report [record] by faith, but they received not the promise, “God having provided [foreseen] some better thing for us.” What is that? “That they without us should not be made perfect.”
What does he mean in saying “made perfect”? These ones that have died in faith are resting with the Lord long since, but they are not perfect. In what sense are they imperfect in God’s presence? They are absent from the body and present with the Lord, but they are in, what is called in another scripture, an “unclothed state.” “Being made perfect” here is resurrection. When God made man, He did not make him without a body, and death has come in and separates a man from his body, strips him of his body, and he is unclothed, without his body. Resurrection brings him back to perfection. Man is clothed again with his body. He is clothed with a body that will never know death. Man has a soul that will never die now, but not yet a body that will never die. All this is developed and enlarged upon in 2 Corinthians 5.
“Not for that we would be unclothed” (2 Cor. 5:4). If death comes, it is very blessed for the believer. It is “far better to depart and be with Christ,” but it is not what we want. As the Apostle says, “Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” That is what will take place in the resurrection. They will be clothed with immortal and incorruptible bodies, spiritual bodies.
W. Potter, adapted