Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. —John 14:2-3
Estimated reading time: 7.5 minutes.
Estimated reading time: 7.5 minutes.
At this point of our study, in addressing the biblical information concerning the journey of individuals into the afterlife, we will be addressing what happens to the soul and spirt of man at death. Of major interest is whether or not the immaterial aspect of the individual is conscious in the afterlife or not, and where that afterlife is experienced: with the body in the grave, or apart from the body in some spiritual dimension.
To this purpose, we will take a look at a poor and unworthy doctrine called soul sleep: introduced here and covered in some detail in the next chapter. In the most popular view of soul sleep, upon physical death of the body the soul falls to sleep and remains in an unconscious state until the resurrection. For some, this is an actual death of the soul; in this view the soul of an individual will be recreated on resurrection morning. For others, the soul simply remains unconscious until awakened on resurrection morning at the sounding of the trumpet. Just where this “sleep” is experienced is unclear: some say in the grave, others say in some other holding dimension. None are quite sure.
Those who hold this view seem to base much of their evidence on the Bible’s reference to death as “sleep.” Such texts as Matthew 9:24//Mark 5:39//Luke 8:52; John 11:11-13; 1 Cor 11:30; 15:51; 1 Thess 4:14 and 5:10 are often cited. The error of such exegesis is poor hermeneutics. A hermeneutic that does not allow for biblical idioms, euphemisms and metaphors is bound for wreckage. The Greek words koimaō and katheudō both translated as sleep (Strong’s #s G2837 and G2518 respectively), are idioms, euphemisms and also metaphors for death. The word “sleep” is used for death because of the appearance of the body once the soul and spirit have departed. One should not think that “sleep” should be applied to the soul or the spirit.
Those that are dead are not unconscious in the unseen state of the soul/spirit. They are alive in the spirit realm, even though their bodies are lifeless in the graves. Some Christians misinterpret “sleep in the Lord” as soul sleep. The human soul does not sleep after death; he is either arrested and sent to prison, or the Spirit of Jesus will carry him to Heaven. “Absent from the body is present with the Lord” (II Cor 5:8). The Lord’s words to His disciples in John 4:1-3 are referencing this glorious event: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
From the Old Testament the word “sleep” was used to define the physical death of the body. David slept with his fathers, or Solomon slept with his fathers, meant they died and their bodies were buried in the grave. It does not refer to the human spirit or soul after death. Jesus made this point clear when he told His disciples that Lazarus was sleeping. Meaning Lazarus was physically dead. His disciples commented that if Lazarus was actually sleeping he should be okay. Jesus immediately corrected them and said, “Lazarus is dead” (John 11:14). Holy Scripture explained the term Jesus borrowed from its Old Testament usage: “Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.” (John 11:13).
One might think it strange that we would introduce a text (John 14:1-3) traditionally associated with the physical second coming of Christ as the theme Scripture for a chapter where we are discussing physical human death.
Permit me to explain.
From the statement, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself,” the Greek word translated “I will come again.” is: erchomai. Erchomai (Strong’s #NT 2064) is used only in the present or imperfect tense. Present tense involves a continual action. Here, the sense is: “I am coming,” or “I am continuing to come.” It is this word that is employed if an other than a physical coming of Christ is intended. This erchomai class coming includes, but not exclusively: Pentecost A.D. 30; the judgment on Jerusalem in A.D. 70; and the judgment of the nations (Matt 25:31ff, cf. Dan 7:9-28); and, here, as it is used in our text for the deaths of the saints when Jesus comes for them (John 14:1-3).
Formerly, upon the death of the body, Angels came to escort the souls of the deceased to Paradise, also called Abraham’s Bosom. In the narrative of Lazarus and the Rich Man, Jesus said, “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom” (Luke 16:22). However, now, since Christ set the captives free and relocated Paradise to the present Heaven, Jesus, Himself, is the chaperone for the souls of those who have died in faith.
There is a very real sense in which this erchomai class coming may be personalized for any person at any given moment, of any given day. For, indeed, Jesus did say to his disciples, “... if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3). Although most Bible readers consider this to be a reference to Christ’s coming, in a physical sense, at the very end of of the Church Age, a great mistake is made. Jesus is, here, instructing His closest followers to be prepared for a time when His Spirit would come and call their souls and spirits home, and escort them unto a far better place (John 12:26). This is far from the teaching of soul sleep.
Building on Christ’s promise that He will come for the saints at the hour of their deaths, we may move to the declarations of the Apostle Paul’s faith: “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.” (2 Cor 5:6-8); and, “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:” (Phil 1:23). From these statements of the Apostle, we are confident that: To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. There is no soul sleep here.
At the time of physical death there is a change of address for, both, the soul and spirit of man. The body goes to the grave but the soul and spirit remove to regions beyond the physical realm. The Preacher references this change of address in Ecclesiastes 12:5 & 7, “…because man goeth to his long home (“For man goes to his eternal home” NASB), and the mourners go about the streets: … Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” Here we are given three important bits of information:
1. The body decays and returns to the ground from which it was taken:“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was”;
2. The spirit of man, the god-spark, returns to God from whence it came: “and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”;
3. The soul, being immortal, removes to a dimension that is anterior to its eternal home: “…because man goeth to his long home” (“For man goes to his eternal home” NASB).
Before Calvary and Christ’s resurrection, the immortal soul removed from the body to a place of the underworld anterior to its eternal home. The Bible lets us know that the souls of the righteous are comforted upon departing the body, while the souls of the unrighteous are tormented: e.g. the narrative of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19ff). (We have not lost track of the “spirit,” but will take it up later in the chapter.)
The comfort of the righteous, or torment of the unrighteous, is the anteroom to either Heaven or Hell Fire respectively, where a foretaste of what awaits each soul is experienced.
The anteroom to Hell Fire is that portion of Hades where the soul, conscious of its past life, awaits the dreaded verdict of eternal punishment. Peter writes: “Then the Lord knows how to … reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:” (II Peter 2:9). We may understand the torment of such souls by comparing them to the criminal who has been arrested and incarcerated, awaiting a trail of which there can be but one verdict. Guilty!
In the Old Testament period, before Christ’s resurrection, the place of the departed souls (called Sheol, or Hades) was located in the underworld. In Sheol, or Hades, there were separate chambers for the unrighteous and the righteous, where neither could pass to the other. Jesus makes this point clear in His story of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31). The compartment of the underworld containing the righteous was called Paradise (Luke 23:43). In Jesus’ story of Lazarus and the rich man, Paradise (also called Abraham’s Bosom) was separated from the place of torment by a great impassable gulf (Luke 16:26). At the time of Christ’s resurrection Paradise was relocated from the underworld of the earth to the present Heaven.
Apostolically Speaking,
☩☩ Jerry L Hayes
This essay is excerpted from the Bishop's book "Biblical anthropology."
Biblical Anthropology is a study in what the Bible teaches concerning the origin, nature (ontology), history and destiny of mankind. Reviewed in this work is the debate over whether or not the human being is bipartite—such as only body and soul, or tripartite—such as body, soul and spirit. Biblical Anthropology addresses the question of whether or not the soul is mortal or immortal; that is, does the soul have existence apart from the body. What, exactly happens at death? Will there be a resurrection of the body, and if so what nature will the resurrected body take? These are important questions addressed in this book. Bishop Jerry L Hayes presents a very orthodox view of Christian biblical anthropology which relies heavily on holy Scripture with a generous sprinkling of quotes from the ancient churchmen such as Athenagoras, Tertullian, and Augustine to name a few.
Order your personal copy of this classic work on biblical anthropology by clicking the link provided here:
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