Since Christ died and is risen again, and the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in believers on earth, with the completed Word of God, we are able to speak with assurance, and to enjoy in a fuller way, our portion in Christ.
We might take 1 Cor. 2:9, and Isa. 64:4, for Old Testament saints.
“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." And verse 10 for the present.
“But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”
We Christians, having the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, are now able to know and to speak with assurance, and in a different manner than in Old Testament times.
“Sheol" in Hebrew, and "Hades" in Greek, are often translated "Hell," but they mean "the unseen state," the state of the soul separate from the body.
“Gehenna" is the word used for the place of punishment of the unsaved; it is also often translated "Hell.”
Another word is used in 2 Peter 2:4 for the prison into which the unsaved are, until the resurrection, called the "chains of darkness." The Lord Jesus was never there. When He died, His soul was separate from His body; that was "Hades," translated "Hell" in Psa. 16:10, and Acts 2:27, 31.
There are two distinct resurrections. In John 5:29, one is called "the resurrection of life;" and the other "the resurrection of damnation," or judgment. In Acts 24:15, "a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust." And in Revelation, the one is called "the first resurrection"; the other is "the dead" (Rev. 20:4-6). Rev. 20:5 lets us know that there is a thousand years between the two.
The unseen is now opened up to us in definite, unmistakable language. To the thief on the cross, the Lord said,
“Verily, I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.”
What assurance and joy these words would convey to the heart of the thief who had only asked a share in His kingdom, and now finds himself a chosen companion of his Redeemer for 'the blessedness of paradise, which means "a garden of pleasures," which is neither a prison, nor is it an unconscious state.
The Lord was, when He died, in the unseen state,-that is, absent from the body, but present with the Father, into whose hands He commended His Spirit (Luke 23:46); and the thief was also absent from the body, and present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8).
This was also what Paul wrote by inspiration about himself, and again in Phil. 1:21, 23, "To die is gain;" and, "Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better,”
We see in these verses, enjoyment of the Lord's presence follows the death of one who dies in the Lord (Rev. 14:13).
In 2 Cor. 5:1-4 we see that the body is the tent or tabernacle that the person lives in. He may be unclothed, that is, the person without his body; or he may be clothed with his body (compare verses 6, 8).
Our bodies are mortal bodies at present, but when Christ comes for His saints, then our bodies will be immortal (1 Cor. 15:53); these words are not applied to the soul. There is proof in Scripture that the soul is still living after the body is dissolved.
2 Cor. 12:2-4 distinguishes between the person, and his body or tent, also Luke 12:4, 5.
“Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him." Still the person is living, though his body is killed.
The Lord lifts the curtain in Luke 16, showing us one saved, and one lost; one in torment, and one in bliss; both unclothed.
This is indeed a solemn picture: what must the reality be! Each, like Judas Iscariot, has gone to "his own place" (Acts 1:25).
Abraham's bosom to the Jew is the place of bliss, and there Lazarus was carried. His name means "God is my help.”
The rich man had everything but God. He had left God out.
The poor man had nothing, but he had God, and so bliss was his portion: and all who neglect Moses and the Prophets, that is, the Word of God, will be lost.
It is indeed a prison (2 Peter 2:4-9) in which the unsaved are, until the resurrection, when they will be sentenced. Yet they are already "in torments;" not a drop of water to cool their tongues; already "tormented in this flame." We do not argue about whether it is literal fire or not. If this is a picture, what must the reality be!
Here also we see "a great gulf fixed" between them. There is no mercy, no changing then, no escape from the righteous judgment of a Holy One who will deal with the guilty. There is no salvation after death. "Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2).
During this time the blessed Savior who died for sinners, by His Word and Spirit still says,
“Come unto Me, and all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28.
And, "Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37.
And, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation." Heb. 2:3.
Soon the time will come when He shall say, "Depart from Me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.' Matt. 25:41.
In 1 Peter 3, Noah, a preacher of righteousness, warned the ungodly world, but they would not hear. Then the flood swept them all off the face of the earth, into the prison where they now are, awaiting their judgment; there is no gospel there. Noah, by the Spirit of Christ, did the preaching while they were still on the earth. There is no hope for them now. Remember also Sodom and Gomorrha (Jude 7), "suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
There is no purgatory in the Word of God. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7. If we are believers, we are already purged from our sins (Heb. 1:3); already perfected by Christ's one sacrifice (Heb. 10:14).
Purgatory denies the all-cleansing efficacy of the all-atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is "made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30).
All believers are children of God. It is not religion, it is trusting Christ, that saves the soul. Make sure, dear reader, that you are one of those who have trusted in the Savior and His finished work.
When the Lord Jesus hung upon the cross, He was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). On that cross He went through all the sorrows of death, and bore the judgment, was forsaken of God as the victim bearing sin. He finished the work, went down into death to annul him that had the power of death. And this He did; death could not hold Him.
He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane that He might be saved out of death, so He went down thus into the grave,-the lower parts of the earth. His body saw no corruption. He was in no prison, except that His body was in the grave. His Spirit was with the Father. Satan was defeated, and we are delivered from his power (Heb. 2:14, 15; Eph. 4:8; John 17:4, 5). We, as believers, now by the Holy Spirit are united to that glorified One, the Savior of sinners, the believer's Advocate and Great High Priest, the Church's Head.
The death of believers is called sleep as to this world (John 11:11-14, also 1 Thess. 4:13-15). "They know not anything" (Eccl. 9:5), but that is "under the sun." Ecclesiastes is wisdom under the sun; it does not reach up to heavenly things. "Sleep" refers only to the body, and not to the soul. The soul does not sleep.
We have already noticed that this does not mean unconsciousness to the bright scene of happiness with the Lord where they wait with Him for the time when soul and body will be reunited and glorified.
(To be continued)