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NOTE:
The following is the first of a series on devotions on death, dying, and falling
asleep in Christ. It is prepared in answer to the requests of some of our
readers.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of
the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Gen 2:16-17)
Death is a separation from God. There
is no life apart from that granted by God. He breathed the breath of life into
the nostrils of Adam and he became a living soul (Hebrew, NEPHESH).
(Genesis 2:7) But Adam did not remain a living soul – he brought sin and death
upon himself and all mankind through his disobedience to his Maker. Just as man
does today, Adam ate from the wrong Tree of the Serpent instead of the right
Tree of Life which is Christ. The very nature of Adam’s body began to lose the
nature of eternal being as he partook of the wrong fruit, in fact,
instantaneously! Adam did
not drop dead physically at that moment, but he did drop dead spiritually.
There are, in biblical theology,
differing views on the nature of death and the disposition of the soul
following that final curtain. I have studied them in detail and am not entirely
satisfied that any one of them is entirely correct. God does not provide an
answer for every mystery revealed in Holy Writ. Even the understanding of
certain prophesies is reserved to the time of their fulfillment. By so doing,
this reveals to us, on hindsight, the absolute foreknowledge and Providence of
God. We see in fulfilled prophecy the immutable sovereignty of God in bringing
all things to pass. The concept of final death is alien to the destiny of the
saints of God. Death is merely a doorway to eternal life and bliss with our
Lord. To the damned, death is altogether different. Death to the incorrigible
sinner is the last curse and penalty of the law. There are, for the unsaved,
two deaths – the second death applies only to those who have rejected Christ. (Rev. 2:11) But even the first death is figurative in the sense that it is
only the shadow of death and not death in reality. (Psalm 23) Remember, there are only two destinations – Heaven or Hell. We
shall all spend eternity in one or the other.
Above and beyond every other
consideration, we must know that physical death comes to one and all alike, but
that physical death is the death to which all men are heirs. The nature of the
death of a child of God is completely different from the physical death of a
lost person. We can see that difference abundantly illustrated by the account
given by Christ of the beggar, Lazarus, and the Rich Man. (Luke 16:19-31). The beggar was escorted by angels to the bosom of Abraham, but
the Rich Man was buried and woke up in Hell. This brings us to the topic of the
intermediate state resulting from death. Where are the dead in Christ between
physical death and the resurrection, or what is the so-called intermediate
state?
Our Lord Jesus referred to the death
of those to whom He had granted grace and salvation as a ‘SLEEP.’ That
spiritual sleep of Lazarus of Bethany and of other saints is shrouded in
mystery to our understanding. Had the Lord desired for us to know the mystery
in detail, He would have told us. But there are some aspects of the death of a
saint that is revealed in Scripture. I do not believe the Scriptures point to a
‘soul sleep.’
First
Physical
death is NOT spiritual death:
There is, in reality, no such event as spiritual death to the Child
of God. We are all born dead in trespasses and sins. (Eph 2:1 &
2:13) That is an original and ongoing spiritual death, true; but it is not an
event to which a person who has been called and chosen of God is subject. It is
the condition of fallen man prior to the new birth described by our Lord to
Nicodemus (John 3).
Second
God is
very aware and considering of the death of His people:
Precious
in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. Psalms
116:15)
Third
Those
who are in Christ NEVER die a spiritual death:
They never die in reality. Consider the account of Lazarus of
Bethany. Though Lazarus was physically dead, our Lord referred to that death as
a sleep. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of
sleep. (John 11:11) Furthermore, Jesus rebuked Martha when she mourned her brothers
passing with the following exchange: 23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto him,
I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and
believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John
11:23-26) The
cold and moldering corpse of Lazarus lies in a stone-cold tomb, yet Jesus says
Lazarus, and all who liveth and believeth in me shall NEVER DIE! Why
did Jesus use the term liveth? I believe He is stipulating that our calling and reception must
be made prior to the last breath we take in this life. No saving decisions are
made in the grave.
We find death being referred to as
sleep in many other sections of the Bible – both Old and New Testament. God’s
words are certain and immutable, so we must receive and believe them as such. So
David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. (1 Kings 2:10) And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city
of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead. (1 Kings 11:43) And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two
and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in
his stead. (1 Kings 14:20) And when Jacob had made
an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and
yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people. (Gen 49:33) For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of
God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: 37 But he, whom God raised
again, saw no corruption. (Acts 13:36-37)
With reference to the Lord’s Supper,
Paul says: 27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup
of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29 For he that eateth and
drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning
the Lord's body. 30 For this cause many are weak
and sickly among you, and many sleep. (1 Cor 11:27-30) This seems to mean, at least
in my conception, those who are the known and chosen of Christ may sin beyond
the bounds of a good reputation and witness, in which case, God will call them
home.
In further proof of my third point, I
raise two separate occasions of the righteous dead being very much ALIVE. The
first is the event of Moses’ death on Mt. Pisgah. 1 And Moses went up from
the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over
against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, 2 And all Naphtali, and
the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost
sea, 3 And the south, and the
plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. 4 And the LORD said unto
him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham,
unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused
thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go
over thither. 5 So Moses the servant of
the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. 6 And he buried him in a
valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his
sepulchre unto this day. 7 And Moses was an
hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural
force abated. 8 And the children of
Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning
for Moses were ended. (Deut 34:1-8) God buried Moses’ body in a lonely grave in
Moab, but not Moses. We see Moses once more in Scripture alive and well with
the Lord atop the Mount of Transfiguration. 1 And after six days
Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an
high mountain apart, 2 And was transfigured
before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as
the light. 3 And, behold, there
appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. (Matt
17:1-3)
If
Moses was still in that lonely grave in Moab, how, pray tell, did he appear
with Christ on that Mount?
What of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? In
His reprimanding of the Sadducees, our Lord said: 32 I am the God of Abraham, and
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of
the living. (Matt
22:32)
It is
to be greatly desired we who are in Christ know and believe we shall never
truly die except that superficial death called sleep by our LORD.
