Spiritual Warfare – The Last Enemy part 2
We continue our discussion of the fact of death and the Bible’s developing revelation about it, what happens after death, and the glorious prospect of our bodily resurrection!
In a moment, we’ll look at Luke 16 with Jesus’ account of the rich man and Lazarus. But first a quick summary of what the OT says about death, and life after it.
What does the Old Testament say?
The Old Testament does speak of life after death and that everyone who departed from this life went to a place of conscious existence but without giving any details! But In fact, there is a ban on trying to contact the dead throughout Scripture, so we can take it that we are not supposed to pry.
Earliest ref to life after death is in Job 19:25-27 “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another.”
Abraham also believed in resurrection according to Heb. 11:19. But then the OT saints seem to have lost sight of that.
There’s very little discussion of death in the historical books, but the poetical books speak about it quite a lot, mostly as ‘going down to the pit, or sheol, or the grave’. The general term for this place was Sheol, which could be translated “the grave” or “the realm of the dead.” The wicked were there (Psalm 9:17; 31:17; 49:14; Isaiah 5:14), and so were the righteous (Genesis 37:35; Job 14:13; Psalm 6:5; 16:10; 88:3; Isaiah 38:10).
When David & Bathsheba’s first child dies, David says that the child will not return to him, but he will go to the child when he dies. He seems to speak of the child as still existing so that could be a reference to life after death. In Psa. 16:10-11, says that the Lord will not leave his soul in Sheol and that he will enjoy the fullness of joy in God’s presence and then in Psa. 17:15 he speaks of beholding God’s Face and awaking with the Lord’s likeness (and being satisfied with that). So he seems to have had some assurance of, and joy in, the thought of resurrection.
Isaiah 26:19 Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.
Daniel speaks of this in Dan. 12:2: “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” (As we saw last week, Rev. 20 adds some details to this by telling us that the two resurrections are separated by a significant period of time.)
I’m told that the post exilic writings of the apocrypha have a much more detailed view of heaven, hell, death and resurrection, probably trying to accommodate the Greek philosophies that were being introduced. Also the Hebrew sages expectation was that the righteous Jews would be raised to life to enjoy life in the Messianic kingdom (a hope apparently shared by the Essene community – however, like most people who have this expectation, they thought that they would be the only ones there!)
What does the New Testament say?
In the New Testament, sheol is represented by hades but Jesus also speaks of ‘outer darkness’, everlasting fire and/or Gehenna (Jewish metaphor) and the Bottomless Pit (the Abyss – Greek mythology)
- 80 refs to destiny of the wicked
- 15 re angels/demons
- 25 re classes of people
- But over 200 direct refs to resurrection
- 26 re believers
- 4 re everyone
- Warnings for unbelievers
- Promises for believers
- Bible is matter-of-fact but uses pictorial language
Hades is described in at least two ways – flames/torture (Luke 16:23) and chains of darkness (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6), which might indicate that we are not to take these descriptions as literal. Jesus also speaks of being salted by fire (Mark 9:49)
These images are further developed in the early Church Fathers – the earliest keeping to what Scripture says, but in 3rd and 4th centuries, the descriptions get more lurid and seem to owe more to Greek mythology and philosophy than Biblical revelation – particularly the Alexandrian School, which is not surprising, since they were trained in Greek thinking! (See Steve Maltz’ “How the Church lost the Truth” ch. 14 “That Horrible Doctrine”)
So what happens to people when they die?
So let’s look at the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31
The New Testament equivalent of Sheol is Hades. In Luke 16:19–31 Jesus speaks of Hades as having into two realms: a place of comfort where Lazarus was (Abraham’s bosom or Abraham’s side) and a place of torment where the rich man was (hell). Lazarus’s place of comfort is elsewhere called “paradise” in Luke 23:43, when Jesus promised the repentant thief that he would be with Him in paradise that day. The place of torment is called “Gehenna” in the Greek in Mark 9:45. Between paradise and hell (the two districts of Hades) there was “a great chasm” (Luke 16:26). The fact that no one could cross this chasm indicates that, after death, one’s fate is sealed.
Many Bible teachers believe that Christ emptied the paradise side of Hades at His resurrection (so the penitent thief wasn’t there for long!). This is indicated in Eph. 4:8 “When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men.”
Let’s also note that the Bible seems to be mainly concerned with our souls
The word often represents the totality that is ‘us’. As we saw last week, it speaks of our spirits about 270 times and our bodies about 200 times. But it speaks of our souls about 460 times and the OT word for soul (nephesh) is translated ‘life’ over 100 times (as in ‘my life’, ‘our lives’, ‘lives of …’), again representing the person who’s life has been spared or forfeited. But it’s also translated ‘body’, reinforcing the idea that it really represents the whole person, and this is the view of the Old Testament – a Hebrew concept.
The Bible describes our souls in these terms:
- Emotions are constantly attributed to our souls:
- We are to love the Lord our God with all our soul (as well as our heart [will] and strength [actions])
- God’s soul was grieved at Israel’s (self-imposed!) misery (Jud. 10:16) and hates men who love violence (Psa. 11:5)
- Samson’s soul was vexed with his wife’s nagging (Jud. 16:16)
- Hannah’s soul was bitter at her barrenness and Peninah’s taunting (1 Sam. 1:10 and she poured out her soul v.15)
- Job’s soul was the locus of all his sufferings (many refs!)
- The Psalmists tie emotions to their souls and often address their souls (Bless the Lord, O my soul!)
- Jesus’ soul was sorrowful in the garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 26:38)
- OT speaks about ‘souls’ being cut off – that is killed – for disobedience to God’s commands (Gen. 17:14 first ref; multiple refs in Torah)
- Isaac spoke of his soul blessing his son (Gen. 27:4,19,25)
- Hamor’s soul longed for Jacob’s daughter Dinah, and he loved her (Gen. 34:3,8)
- Rachel’s soul was departing when she died in childbirth Gen. 35:18)
- Souls are spoken of as sinning (specifically in Lev. 4, 5 & 6 and multiple refs in Leviticus; famously in Ezek. 18:4)
- Souls are spoken of as eating and touching in sense of bearing guilt (Lev. 7)
- Mary’s soul magnified the Lord (Luke 1:46) but was to be pierced with sorrow (Luke 2:35)
- Jesus soul was not to be left in Hades, just as His body was not to experience decay (Acts 2:27,31 quoting Psa. 16:10)
- The souls of the martyrs are seen under the altar in Heaven (Rev. 6:9)
It seems to me that the Bible says that we are a soul, the real ‘you’, which has a spirit that may be alive (when you are born from above and indwelt by the Spirit of God) or dead to God (if you are not), and ‘you’ live in a body (in the same way that you live in a house). When the human body dies, the spirit returns to God who gave it (Eccl. 12:7 and Eccl. 3:18-21 where the writer questions if the beasts’ “spirit goes downward to the earth”). At resurrection, we get a new house, a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Cor. 5:1), a body like Jesus’ glorious body (Phil 3:20). In contrast to which, our human body is likened unto a tent, which one day will be taken down and folded up.
The perspective for followers of Christ
Jesus has removed death’s sting 1 Cor. 15:54-57. He is the resurrection and the life – he who lives and believes in Me shall never die John 11:25-26. Jesus has conquered death! This is the great fact and purpose of the Incarnation, as Heb. 2:14-15 tells us:
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
So that death is swallowed up in victory! (1 Cor. 15:54). Jesus has abolished death (2 Tim. 1:10) so that death, for the believer, is not a thing. While the unbeliever may ‘rage, rage against the dying of the light’, for the believer, death is but the gateway to glory.
1. Spirit
The only reference I can find as to what happens to our spirit at death is Eccl. 12:7 which says that it returns to God who gave it (but he doesn’t speak of any consciousness attaching to the spirit). Although the writer of Ecclesiastes is writing from a human perspective (seeing death as the departure of the spirit, the life force), if that statement was wrong, I would expect to find it contradicted elsewhere in Scripture.
However, seeing that we can’t divide soul and spirit according to Heb. 4:12, I think it’s OK if we want to think of the spirit and the soul united in the Lord’s presence. I can’t find anything in Scripture to contradict that.
2. Soul
Which leaves the soul. The Bible says that we go to be with the Lord after death in an unclothed state, while waiting for our resurrection at which point, we will be clothed with our ‘house made in the heavens’. The souls of the martyrs are seen under the altar in Heaven in Rev. 6, waiting for the full number of martyrs to join them
3. Body
1 Cor. 15 teaches is that our bodies are destined for resurrection! Jesus the Firstfruits, then those that are His at his coming v.23. the body is sown (in burial) as a physical body but raised as a spiritual body v. 43, but it is a body none the less! Phil. 3:21 says that it will be like Jesus’ body of glory. If we turn to the post resurrection accounts in the Gospels, it is clear that there is a close correlation between the human body and the resurrection body of Jesus. But it is a transformed body! 1 Cor. 15:51-54.
- Firstly, here was no body left in the tomb!
- Then the women who met Jesus on the morning He rose from the dead, clung on to His feet (Matt. 28:9) – you don’t do that to a spirit or ghost!
- In the evening, Jesus walked along a road with the 2 disciples going to Emmaus and broke the bread in their presence (Luke 24:13-35)
- He suddenly appeared in a locked room later that same day (John 20:19)
- He then showed the Disciples His wounds from His crucifixion (Luke 24:37-40; John 20:20).
- He then ate food with the disciples in the Upper Room (Luke 24:41-43)
- He invited Thomas to touch His wounds a week later
- He cooked a meal of bread and fish for them in John 21.
Our Great Hope
As believers we have a great hope. But that hope is not found in this life (1 Cor. 15:19). We look forward to Christ’s return for us and our becoming completely like him (1 John 3:2-3). But most of us will experience physical death before Christ’s return. And just what will happen to us between then and Christ’s return is not well known. But the Scripture does affirm that we will be in a conscious state and that we will be with the Lord.
Unfortunately, many followers of Yeshua have traded in their hope in a biblical resurrection for the hope of an eternal, non-corporeal bliss in heaven because of the importation of Greek ideas in the early church. But the Scriptures never speak about heaven as the eternal resting place of the righteous. They do, however, continually affirm the physical resurrection of the dead and life on the New Earth, a hope that is unique to biblical faith. This is where we should put our hope.
And, while we live in the body, we can take comfort in knowing that death has been conquered and is nothing we should fear. When we are away from the body, we are with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). To be with Christ is far better! (Phil. 1:23). And we will have all eternity to get to know Him better and better! There are exhaustless deeps in our infinite God that will take an infinite time to explore. He is ever new and He makes all things new! Hallelujah!!