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Faith in
a future life is what leads many to perform noble deeds
and to attempt to live good lives. Mankind has a built-in
sense of moral obligation that causes him to look to the
future. Many times the righteous suffers in this life
while the wicked seem to prosper. Man's sense of reason
and justice tells him surely there will be future justice
yet due. Many men also feel they are capable of
attainments far beyond what their time and opportunities
ever enable them to realize in the limits of this life.
Longfellow
has said;
Life is
real
And the grave is not it's goal
Dust thou art, to dust returneth
Was not spoken of the soul
This
belief of life after death is found in all races and is
not just the result of traditional teaching. Surely the
reason that God has implanted this universal intuition of
immortality in man is because He has made provision for
it. Besides our intuition, the Bible also teaches us of
life after death.
We have
already shown that man is a two fold being consisting of
mortal flesh (his outward body) and immortal spirit (the
inward man) his soul. We have also shown that spiritual
death is a separation, a separation from God. A person can
be physically alive and at the same time spiritually dead
in trespasses and sin; hence separated from God. Physical
death is a separation also. A separation of the soul and
body. "And it come to pass as her soul was in
departing (for she died) that she called his name Benoni,
but his Father called him Benjamin" (Gen 35:18).
James 2:26--For as the body without Spirit is dead so
faith without works is dead also. So when the spirit
leaves the body, the body dies.
Physical
life is.....Soul united with body
Physical death is....Soul separated from body
Spiritual
life is....Soul united with God
Spiritual death is...Soul separated from God
The
second death.....Final separation from God
The
failure to distinguish between physical life and spiritual
life is why some eronously hold to what is termed
"conditional immortality". This incorrect
doctrine teaches that only the saved have immortality.
This deception leaves the unsaved with no everlasting
punishment, just the forfeiture of everlasting life. They
base this false theory on scriptures like John 3:36--He
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he
that believeth not shall not see life. The
"life" referred to by these scriptures means
spiritual life or union with God, which of course only
believers have. Scriptures like 2 Thess 1:7-9 clearly
shows that the wicked....shall be punished with
everlasting destruction.
There is
a difference between eternal life and immortality.
Immortality is ceaseless existence, something every soul
has, saved or unsaved. Eternal life is the condition of
the soul of the saved in that it is united with the
eternal Christ; therefore has eternal life. If this person
sins, his soul is separated from Christ, (he spiritually
dies) hence, at that point he no longer has eternal life,
but is dead again in trespasses and sin.
There are
numerous scriptures proving the soul lives on (exist)
after the body dies. In teaching the resurrection of the
dead, Jesus taught in Matt 22:32 that the soul of the
ancient prophets were still living, even though their
bodies were long since decayed. Also in Luke 23:43 Jesus
promised the dying thief on the cross that ..today shalt
thou be with me in paradise. The body of the thief, like
that of Jesus, died on the cross and was buried. It was
their spirits which went to paradise. They were to go to
paradise, not thousands of years later as "soul
sleepers" and "annihilationist" affirm, but
the very day on which they died.. "today". Paul
was willing to be absent from the body and to be present
with the Lord(2 Cor 5:6-8). Again Paul says--For me to
live is Christ and to die is gain...For I am strait
betwixed two, having a desire to depart, and to be with
Christ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the
flesh is more needful for you. (Phil 1:21,23) These text
shows that the soul lives in a conscious existence after
the body dies and refutes the false theories of "soul
sleeping" and "annihilation". Now just what
happens to the body and the soul at the time of physical
death?
1.WHAT
HAPPENS TO THE BODY AT DEATH
Our
bodies are mortal as we all know, therefore at the time of
death the body decomposes. That which was created from the
dust of the earth, the body, the flesh, what Paul termed
the "outward man" will go back to dust again.
However the Bible teaches that this body that dies will be
resurrected. Only the bodies sleeps in the dust of the
ground (Ecc 12:7 and Matt 27:52-53) and that which
sleeps...in the dust of the earth shall awake. For Daniel
12:2 says--And many (the many) of them that sleep in the
dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life,
and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Philippians
3:20-21 says-- we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ; Who shall change our vile (mortal) body, that it
may be fashioned like unto His glorious body...It is not
our soul, but our body that will come forth and be changed
in the final resurrection of the dead.. It is sown in
corruption; it is raised incorruption...It is sown a
natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.(1 Cor
15:42,44)Our bodies (only) are mortal and "this
mortal must put on immortality."(1 Cor 15:53) Christ
is the ....first begotten of the dead...(Rev 1:5)....the
first-born from the dead..(Col 1:18)...the first-fruits of
them that slept..(1 Cor 15:20)...the first that should
rise from the dead...(Acts 26:23)
2.WHAT
HAPPENS AT THE SOUL AT THE TIME OF DEATH
We have
already shown the soul lives on after the death of the
body and that the body will be resurrected. These facts
would certainly imply that there is an intermediate state
or place for the soul between death and resurrection.
THE
INTERMEDIATE STATE
This
state surely would not be a so-called purgatory, (a place
to suffer for sin). The false teaching of a purgatory
denies that the atonement of Christ is sufficient to save
from all sins and denies that salvation is only by the
grace of God through Christ. The intermediate state also
would not be a state or place of probation. 2 Cor
5:10--For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his
body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good
or bad. The things done in our body would be while we were
yet alive.
Another
incorrect teaching is that man receives his final reward
at the time of death, but this too is not the teaching of
scriptures. If a man received his final reward at death
there would be no need for the resurrection and day of
judgment. 2 Tim 4:1 teaches us Christ...shall judge the
quick and the dead at his appearing...2 Thess 1:7-10--we
read that...when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from
heaven with His mighty angels, In flaming fire taking
vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the
Lord, and from the glory of His power; When He shall come
to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all
them that believe...Therefore, the soul goes to an
intermediate place at the time of death to await final
judgment when he receives his final reward, be it good or
bad.
HADES....THE
INTERMEDIATE PLACE
The
intermediate place or state is called "hades"
the unseen world, the place of the departed spirits.
Granted, the term "hades" (translated as hell
several times in the NT) can have other meaning as well.
When the Hebrews mingled with the Babylonians, Greeks and
Romans they naturally came into their use of the terms and
adopted them. Thus the term "paradise", "Abrahams
bosom", "Tartarus", etc. came to be
commonly used among the Jews when referring to the state
of blessed or wicked after death. These terms were of
course introduced into the teachings of the scriptures.
Paul speaks of "paradise" as heavenly realm(2
Cor 12:2-4), as does Jesus when talking to the thief on
the cross. Paradise, therefore, refers to the place in the
unseen world (hades) the righteous goes to death. Tartarus,
the lowest hades is the dwelling place for departed wicked
souls. 2 Peter 2:4 says-- For if God spared not the angels
that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered
them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto
judgment. "Hell" in this scriptures is from the
Greek word "Tartarus". The intermediate place
for the righteous and the wicked is also seen in the
account of Lazarus and the rich man. (Luke 16: 19-31)
Lazarus died and was carried into Abraham's bosom, the
rich man also died and was buried...and in hell he lift up
his eyes, being in torments....This lesson also teaches
there was a great gulf fixed between the two places. We
know this took place before the resurrection because the
five brothers of the rich man were still living on earth
as the rich man desired they would repent so they would
not end up in the same place.
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