Steps to Life

Prophecy Seminar

Session 13: The Mystery of Death

In order to understand the last part of Revelation, it is necessary to understand the nature of death.

1 Timothy 4:1 "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons."

This is an exact warning—"the spirit speaks expressly"—concretely, absolutely; this will happen. "Some will depart from the faith." What is the faith? "The faith" in the Bible refers to a saving knowledge and belief in Jesus. This verse is talking about Christians. This is prophecy about Christians. They would give "heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons." These aren’t doctrines that tell people to kill or do some bad thing, but these are "deceiving" doctrines.

Remember, the Devil always comes down as "an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14). He comes down with great platitudes of love. He comes down with high ideals. Of course, woven into his doctrine is the idea that we don’t need to obey God (that is the hook). Obeying God is unimportant, according to Satan, if you just "love." Satan always comes with good and evil combined. Fishermen bait their fishhooks with what they think the fish will like. Satan baits his hook, too.

So the Bible warns us to be careful of spirits. Over and over again, especially in the latter times, the Bible warns us of spirit powers. It does not say not to believe in spirit powers, but to test them. There are good spirit powers, too.

1 John 4:1 "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world."

There are evil spirits in the world if the Bible is true—in fact there are "many" evil spirits. How can we test them?

Isaiah 8:19 "And when they say to you, ‘Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."

One of the clear-cut tests of a spirit is if it upholds God’s law—all of it—and the writings of the Bible. If a spirit does not, it is because there is NO light in it. Unlike men, spirits are either all good or all bad, but the bad ones try to appear as good as they can. Notice that verse 19 says, "Should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?" The Bible asks, why should we go to dead people for answers, because God has told us that we are to go to Him for answers. He is a personal God and has promised to answer our prayers.

Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble."

Jesus said, "And whatsoever you ask in My name, that I will do" (John 14:13). God is our refuge. He is our Help. He says to pray to Him. "Lo, I am with you always," says Christ, "even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).

God Condemns Those Who Seek to Communicate With the Dead

Not only does God ask us to come to Him, He strictly forbids us to communicate with the dead.

Leviticus 19:31 "Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God."

"Come to Me," God says, "don’t go to them."

Leviticus 20:27 "A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them."

Deuteronomy 18:10 "There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you."

Those who consult with the dead, called sorcerers or mediums in the Bible, are not admitted to heaven.

Revelation 22:15 "But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie."

From Genesis to Revelation, those who communicate with the dead are condemned. "But why," someone asks, "would God condemn someone who talks with the dead? If our dead are floating spirits, why can’t they contact us? Why can’t we communicate with them? We even have two examples in the Bible of people talking to the dead: There was Saul, communicating with Samuel after Samuel’s death, and Jesus talking to Elijah and Moses on the mount of transfiguration."

On the surface it may appear that the Bible speaks of people communicating with the dead, but if we look at the true stories we find another picture. In actuality, the Bible never gives us a single account of anyone really speaking with the dead.

The Example of King Saul

1 Samuel 28:6 "And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets. 7 Then Saul said to his servants, ‘Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.’ And his servants said to him, ‘In fact, there is a woman who is a medium at En Dor.’ 8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went, and two men with him; and they came to the woman by night. And he said, ‘Please conduct a seance for me, and bring up for me the one I shall name to you.’ . . . 11 Then the woman said, ‘Whom shall I bring up for you?’ And he said, ‘Bring up Samuel for me.’ 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, ‘Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!’ 13 And the king said to her, ‘Do not be afraid. What did you see?’ And the woman said to Saul, ‘I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth.’ 14 So he said to her, ‘What is his form?’ And she said, ‘An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle.’ And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down."

Note the following points in this story:

1. The lady who supposedly brought up Samuel from the dead was a "medium." Mediums were strictly forbidden by God.

2. Saul had previously inquired of God (verse 6) through His true priest, and God would not answer. Would God answer a woman of Satan, and not His own priest?

3. Verse 6 also says God would not answer Saul "by a prophet"—Samuel was a prophet.

4. The witch "saw a spirit ascending out of the earth" (verse 13). The spirit she saw did not come down from heaven, but rather he was one of Satan’s spirits masquerading as Samuel.

5. Saul himself never saw anything. It was only related to him by this medium (verse 14).

This was not Samuel at all, it was an evil spirit from the earth in the form of Samuel. True enough, he told the truth, but the Devil often does that; he also called Jesus the Son of God when He was here on earth. The Devil is a deceiver, and to deceive, it is often imperative to tell the truth.

The Bible records what Saul thought that the witch saw. You might remember that in Egypt the sorcerers made snakes, and yet the Devil cannot create real life, only God can. The Devil made what appeared to be snakes, and the Bible records what the people thought they saw. The Bible never speaks of anyone actually communicating with the dead, and it condemns anyone who should attempt to do so. As we noticed in the seminar on the "Occult Explosion," Satan and his angels can assume the form of a dead person and can communicate with us.

Jesus’ Experience

Jesus talked with Elijah and Moses but neither of these men were "dead." Elijah had been translated without seeing death (2 Kings 2:1–11); and Moses, was raised from the dead as a prototype of Jesus’ resurrection (Jude 9). Jewish tradition stated that Moses was raised and taken to heaven three days after he died. As to how long it was after he died we do not know for sure, but Jude 9 gives the account of the raising of Moses’ body, and Romans 5:14 says, "death reigned from Adam to Moses," thus Moses was the first one raised from the dead. After Jesus was resurrected, He also talked with people, but not while He was in the grave.

What is Death?

Why can we not communicate with our departed loved ones? The answer is found in the nature of death. What is death like? The Bible tells us, but in order for us to understand this subject it is necessary for us to review the biblical principle for understanding truth.

Isaiah 28:9 "Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? 10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little."

Who is God going to teach true knowledge and doctrine? Only those who are willing to study everything the Bible says on a given subject. Tonight I would like to look at everything we have time to read on what the Bible says about death. I would like to look at all the statements that different people use to draw conclusions about death. We will look at the rich man and Lazarus, the thief on the cross, and all the other verses we can.

First, let us look at the statements that are used over and over again in the Bible, and then let us look at the ones you find just once, and see if we can understand them. Is that fair? The Bible must explain itself. Let us look at the most common definition of death as found throughout the Bible, and that is "SLEEP." The first death, the common death that comes upon all men, is called a sleep in the Bible. This is the common term for death used over and over again.

The Dead Are Asleep

Job 14:12 "So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor be roused from their sleep. 13 Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, that You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, that You would appoint me a set time, and remember me! 14 If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change comes."

Job 7:9,10 "As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, So he who goes down to the grave does not come up. He shall never return to his house, Nor shall his place know him anymore."

The only exception to this statement of Job is for those eight people that God raised from the dead to mortal life that are recorded in the Bible record. (Widow’s son after Elijah prayed, Shunamite woman’s son after Elisha prayed; the dead man who fell on Elisha’s bones; the son of the widow of Nain raised by Jesus; the daughter of the Jewish nobleman raised by Jesus; and Dorcas raised after Peter prayed; and Eutychus raised from the dead after Paul prayed.) The people who were raised with Jesus and Moses experienced in advance of the rest of the dead, the resurrection unto eternal life and they were taken to heaven and did not return and live with their families on this earth.

Psalm 13:3 "Consider and hear me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death."

Jeremiah 51:39 " ‘In their excitement I will prepare their feasts; I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep and not awake,’ says the Lord. . . . 57 ‘And I will make drunk her princes and wise men, her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men. And they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not awake,’ says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts."

Daniel 12:2 "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt."

John 11:11 "These things He said, and after that He said to them, ‘Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.’ 12 Then His disciples said, ‘Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.’ 13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead."

Acts 13:36 "For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption."

1 Corinthians 15:51 "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed."

Can it really be that the dead are asleep tonight, as David, Paul, Daniel and Jesus Himself testify? When some people first hear this, it doesn’t always sound good to them. It seems frightening. It seems confusing. It is different from what they have always thought. They like the idea of grandmother being up in heaven. They don’t want to think of grandmother being asleep in the grave. The idea of the dead being asleep may be different from most people’s preconceived ideas, but let us go on to see exactly what the Bible says, because I think we will find out that God’s way IS the best. God’s way is always the best; it is always good. I think we will see tonight that God’s way is far better than error. The truth about death is something that will bring great comfort to your life if you can understand it.

Let us first make sure we understand what the sleep of the dead really means. Is this a "dream-type" sleep, or an unconscious sleep?

What Kind of Sleep—Conscious or Unconscious?

Ecclesiastes 9:5 "For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun."

Ecclesiastes 9:10 "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going."

How much do the dead know? Nothing.

Isaiah 38:18 "For Sheol cannot thank You, death cannot praise You; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth. 19 The living, the living man, he shall praise You, as I do this day; the father shall make known Your truth to the children."

If the dead do not know God’s truth, I hope we are not learning anything from them. They cannot praise God, for they are unconscious.

Acts 2:29 "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. . . . 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand.’ "

Psalm 6:5 "For in death there is no remembrance of You; In the grave who will give You thanks?"

The Bible teaches about this over and over again. God must have known there would be misunderstanding on this subject.

Psalm 115:17 "The dead do not praise the Lord, Nor any who go down into silence."

Psalm 146:4 "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts (Hebrew eshtonah, "thinking"—translated correctly in the King James Version) perish" (KJV).

The Spirit Returns to God

If "the dead know nothing," what about the spirit? Isn’t there a verse that talks about the spirit going back to God when a person dies? Yes there is:

Ecclesiastes 12:7 "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it."

We have already seen in Ecclesiastes 9:5 what Solomon’s understanding of the dead was. They "know nothing," they are totally unconscious. This is the same book and the same author, who is known as "the wisest man who ever lived." Certainly, the wisest man who ever lived is not going to contradict himself five chapters later. In reality, though Solomon was the penman, God was the real author of this book and He never contradicts Himself.

What does Solomon mean by "the spirit will return to God"? Whatever he means, he certainly does not mean they are up there praising God—the Bible flatly contradicts that over and over again. Solomon certainly does not mean the spirits are conscious. In fact, just to make sure that we do not misunderstand Solomon, let us look back at another statement of his, again in this same book, written at the same time.

Ecclesiastes 3:19 "For what happens to the sons of men also happens to beasts; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over beasts, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust."

Amazing! There is one big difference though. While we and the beasts are the same in death, our spirits go back to God (verse 21) so that He can preserve them in their unconscious state until the resurrection day when we will be brought back to life again.

1 Corinthians 15:51 "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

1 Corinthians 15:16 "For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished."

Notice, if the dead are not resurrected, they "have perished." When is it that we go to heaven? What did Jesus say?

When Do We Go to Heaven?

John 14:2 "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. 3 And 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."

"I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." We go to be with Christ when He comes again, not before. This is why the Second Coming was so important to the New Testament believers; that is when they, with their loved ones, would go to heaven. That is why the resurrection was the great theme of the apostles, for that is when they would be resurrected to life again.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words."

Those who have died and those who are living are all going to meet the Lord together. At the same time. The mother who has lost her baby will not find her baby already grown when Jesus comes. The baby will not have had to grow up some place without Mommy, but rather the baby will be brought to life again AT THE SECOND COMING, and given to his mother. Maybe the last thing the baby knew was being in a hospital bed looking up into his mother’s face, crying for Mommy to do something to take away the pain. The next thing the baby knows is that the pain is gone and he is being placed in Mommy’s arms. "Mommy, thank you, the pain is all gone," her little boy tries to say in his baby talk. The baby is all smiles and throws his arms around Mommy to say, "I love you."

Yes, God’s way is the best way. Paul says to "comfort one another with these words" of the resurrection, not with the delusion that the dead are floating around some place. Jesus is going to resurrect us again as real people, the way God created us. The mother can nurse her baby if she wants to. We can throw our arms around each other. I tell you friends, if we can just grasp this Bible truth, we will find it the most wonderful hope in all the world.

When Does the Judgment Take Place?

Yes, the dead are sleeping an unconscious sleep in their graves tonight, waiting for the resurrection. The Bible is plain on that. If it were not so, the judgment would make no sense at all.

Acts 17:31 "Because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."

The judgment of the dead had not even taken place yet in Paul’s day, but God had appointed a day of judgment. How could the dead have already been in heaven or hell if they had not even been judged yet?

When is it that God executes the sentences of judgment on the dead?

Revelation 22:12 "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work."

Then, and not until then, do men enter into heaven. Then and not until then, are men punished. At that time God rewards everyone.

Matthew 16:27 "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works."

Jude 6 "And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own habitation, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day."

Jude 14 "Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’ "

John 5:28 "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."

Where will the dead people be when Jesus calls them? In the graves, not in heaven or hell.

Acts 24:15 "I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust."

Matthew 25:31 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:’ . . . 41 Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:’ . . . 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Friends, the Bible is clear. It cannot be misunderstood. The overwhelming multitude of evidence says over and over again that the dead, both the righteous and the wicked, will sleep until the resurrection at Jesus’ second coming. The dead are not now in heaven or in hell. They are in the grave, as David is (Acts 2:29,34), waiting for the resurrection.

Of course, this is not what is currently believed by most people, but it is the plain teaching of God’s Word. With all the abundance of clear information on the unconsciousness of the dead in their graves, there are only two or three texts that can be used to support the popular theory of man being immortal. The Bible says to "compare scripture with scripture" (see Isaiah 28:10). The Bible must interpret itself. Let us look at these texts that are used.

The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus

Luke 16:19 "There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ 27 Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ "

This is a parable used to bring out three points. Jesus makes very clear what it is He is trying to get across: (1) The rich are not favored over the poor; (2) There is no second probation after death. A person’s eternal destiny is decided in this life—verse 26; and (3) If people will not be persuaded by the Bible, nothing will persuade them—verse 31.

Not everything in a parable can be taken literally. We don’t all go to Abraham’s bosom, nor can Abraham talk to people in hell throughout eternity (see Revelation 21:4). (We will discuss hell tomorrow night.) This is a parable, and you must get the point that Jesus is trying to get across. To establish doctrine on the basis of certain details in a parable, which are contradictory to all other plain teachings of the Scripture, is not proper. The Bible plainly teaches that the dead are unconscious until Jesus returns, and we must accept these plain teachings and understand this parable in that light. Scripture must explain itself and be consistent with itself. We must compare "precept upon precept, line upon line" (Isaiah 28:10).

The disciples once asked Jesus, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" (Matthew 13:10). Why not just speak plainly, because people can draw all kinds of conclusions from these stories. What was Jesus’ answer?

Matthew 13:11 "He answered and said to them, ‘Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given."

You mean God doesn’t intend for everyone to understand the parables? That is what Jesus said. He taught things so that the true seeker for truth could clearly understand, yet so the one who is looking for excuses to believe something different can find it. How can we be sure we understand the parables correctly?

Matthew 13:12 "For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him."

"For whoever has"—has what? Has a true knowledge of the rest of the Bible, for line must be upon line, precept upon precept. "For whoever has, to him more will be given. . . but whoever does not have, even what (little) he has will be taken away."

Does God intend all people to know truth? No. He intends for only the sincere in heart to understand. On almost every subject in the Bible, God has put at least one verse that can be misconstrued to support false concepts if everything else on that subject is overlooked. But if we do what the Bible says to do—look at everything in the Bible on a given topic—God’s word is plain.

2 Thessalonians 2:9 "The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

If people don’t really want to know the truth, God will allow them to be deceived. What He wants is our hearts. But if we really want to know the truth, He has promised to become our teacher.

The Thief on the Cross

Luke 23:42 "Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’ 43 And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."

Notice, first of all, that the thief said, "Remember me when You come into Your kingdom," not "when I die." Jesus answered the thief with the assurance of immediate acceptance.

There was no punctuation in the original New Testament Greek. Punctuation marks were put in by the translators to the best of their abilities, but sometimes they made mistakes.

For example, Acts 19:12 in the King James Bible, says that from Paul’s "body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them." Here the comma was misplaced. The handkerchiefs themselves were not sick, but they brought unto the sick (people), handkerchiefs.

So, here, the comma could be placed either before or after the word "today." What Jesus really said was, "Assuredly, I say to you today, you will be with Me in Paradise."

Jesus, of course, did not even go to Paradise that day. On Sunday morning, Jesus told Mary, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father" (John 20:17). The Father’s throne is in the midst of Paradise, or heaven (see Revelation 2:7; 22:1,2. The tree of life, which is before God’s throne, is said to be "in the midst of the Paradise of God"). Jesus hadn’t yet ascended to Paradise Himself on Sunday, so how could the thief have been with Jesus in Paradise on Friday? What Jesus said was that the thief had salvation right then, before baptism or penance or any other ritual or time-span that some people think is necessary before a person can be saved.

And friend, Jesus is just as willing to assure us of salvation today as He was the thief on the cross. Have you accepted Jesus yet? In Him our life is sure. He is our hope and our salvation. He came to give us life; He is the resurrection and the life. He came to give us life—everlasting life—and to give it to us more abundantly. When Jesus comes, we won’t be spirits floating around on a cloud somewhere. We will be real people, resurrected from the dead and changed into immortal beings at His coming. We will be as God intended us to be in the beginning. Won’t you plan for sure to be there? Won’t you make those plans just now?

As Jesus said to Zacchaeus in Luke 19:9, and as He later said exactly the same thing to the thief on the cross, so may He say to you today, "Today salvation has come to this house."

In our next lesson we will look at "hell." We haven’t had time in this lesson to look at what the Bible means by souls being in prison, but we will look at that tomorrow also. What is hell? Is God a cruel tyrant? Is He in charge of hell? Tomorrow you will see that the Bible is just as plain about hell as about the sleep of the dead. You will see that there are a lot of misconceptions on this subject also. You will see that God truly is loving.

What Would You Say?

My brother earned part of his way through college by working as an orderly in a hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska. One day he had just come to work when he met two crying parents coming out of a room. He wondered what had happened. A nurse told him that their little daughter had just passed away in that room. Those parents had a grief that only another parent, who has likewise lost a son or daughter, could understand.

What would you do if you were standing beside the bed of your 5-year-old son or daughter who had been in a bad accident and was dying? He may be hurting badly and wanting you to make the pain go away. The case may be beyond help and you know your child is going to be closing his or her eyes in death very soon. You have prayed for healing, but in this case God has answered "no." He sees it isn’t the best. What would you say?

If you knew the truth about death, and if you had raised your child to love Jesus, you could answer as follows:

"Johnny (or Mary), you hurt really bad, don’t you?"

"Yes, Daddy (or Mommy), can you take the hurt away?"

"No, Johnny, but Jesus can, and He is going to do it real soon."

"How soon, Daddy?"

"Well, Johnny, first you have to take a little nap. You will be going to sleep in a few minutes. It will only seem a moment. When you wake up, the pain will be all gone and you will be well again. Also, when you wake up, you will see Jesus, because He is coming to make you well."

"Will I be right here in this bed, Daddy?"

"No, Son, while you are sleeping, we are going to take you out to a great big park—a cemetery park—and that is where you are going to wake up."

"Will you be there, Daddy?"

"Yes, Son, your Mommy and I will both be right there with you. We are not going to leave you."

"Do you promise to stay with me, Daddy and Mommy?"

"Yes, Son, we promise."

"Well, Daddy and Mommy, if you promise to stay here with me until I go to sleep, and if you promise to be with me when I wake up, I won’t mind so much. I think I’m going to sleep now. Can you give me a kiss before I close my eyes?"

Yes, friend, that is the great hope of the Bible, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout. . . And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them. . . to meet the Lord in the air. . . . Therefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:16–18).

The Dead Go Immediately To Heaven Or Hell, As Far As They Know

For the dead, Jesus’ coming is immediate—they have no concept of the passing of time. When Paul was beheaded in Rome, he no sooner felt the pain than he will be opening his eyes again at Jesus’ second coming. It will be so sudden and so quick he will think he is still on the chopping block. And yet, though he does not know it, 2000 years have gone by.

If you should lose a son or daughter in death, the very next instant, as far as the son or daughter knows, he or she will be alive again at Jesus’ second coming, and, if you are faithful, YOU WILL BE THERE WITH HIM. He or she will not be reared by the angels. They will not be grown up when you see them next. No, we are all going to heaven together, and you will have the privilege of rearing the children you did not have the opportunity to rear here because of death.

Truly, God’s plan is the best plan. If we are in Christ, death is nothing to fear. In fact, we will never even know we died, for "the dead know nothing."

Jesus came to this world and died on the cross to earn the right to give you eternal life, and if you belong to Him and you should die before He returns to this world again, for you the second coming of Christ will be instantaneous, however long you were dead before Jesus returns—to you, the instant of death will be the instant of the resurrection.

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Last Updated: 06/18/03