Mother’s Day is an appropriate time to mention the fact that that no matter how prepared we think they are for parenthood, we’re never really ready. Somehow all the books, seminars and advice can’t prepare you for those dirty diaper blow outs, or those embarrassing grocery store tantrums, or teaching your teenager how to drive, or giving away your little girl on her wedding day. Yet parenthood is filled with deep joy and satisfaction that defies explanation as well. But neither the challenges nor the joys of parenting can truly be explained....you just have to experience it for yourself.
I suspect heaven is kind of like that too. Although the Bible tells us a lot about what life in the hereafter will be like, the reality is that we won’t truly understand all that until we actually experience it. But it’s funny all the things that have become added to people’s understanding of what heaven’s like. For instance, where did the idea of playing harps and having halos come from? According to a 1997 Time magazine poll, 43% of Americans believe that we will play harps in heaven, and 36% think we will have halos in heaven.1 Personally I’m more of a fender stratocaster kind of guy than a harp kind of guy, but that’s just a personal preference. Most likely the idea of harps and halos comes from medieval artwork about heaven. But harps and halos are never mentioned in the Bible.
Today we’re going to talk about what happens immediately after we die. What will happen in the first moments after we leave this life? That’s what we’re going to look at today. So take out your outline and you can turn to 1 Thessalonians 5:23.
I. What Part of Us Does God Want To Save?
Just to take a step back and review, when we started this series we talked about a few explanations our world has given us about what happens after we die. We talked about the idea of EXTINCTION, that when we die physically that’s it, we’re done, we no longer exist. We also talked about the Eastern idea of REINCARNATION, that after death we are reborn as another living being based on our karma. Finally, we mentioned DISEMBODIMENT, the Greek idea that the real "me" is my soul, which is imprisoned in my physical body, and that at death my soul--the real "me"--finally finds liberation by being free from my body.
Now I mention these three views again because many people confuse the Greek idea of disembodiment with the Christian view of life after death. It usually goes something like this: Our bodies are so polluted by sin that God sent Jesus to save our souls. So when our physical bodies die, if we’ve trusted in Jesus Christ our soul goes to heaven to be with God and live forever...end of story. I would suggest to you that that view has more to do with the Greek philosopher Plato than it has to do with the Bible or the Christian faith.What part of us does God want to save for heaven?
1 Thessalonians 5:23--May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (NIV).
This is what scholars call a "wish prayer," where the apostle Paul expresses his passionate desire for his Christian friends who live in the city of Thessalonica. Paul’s prayer is that God would "sanctify" the Thessalonian Christians, and "sanctify" is simply a fancy word for "making something holy."2 The idea is that every follower of Jesus Christ is involved in an ongoing process of "sanctification," of being made holy, as God renews our minds, transforms our habits, reshapes our emotions, and so forth. The goal of this process is for us to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ who wholeheartedly love God and love other people. In fact, that’s our discipleship goal for every member of this church, for God to use our congregation to help those who already know Jesus Christ to make progress in this process.But notice here that God is not just sanctifying our souls and ignoring our bodies. God is sanctifying Christians "through and through," entirely, all that makes us who we are, spirit, soul and body.
Now Christians differ as to whether humans beings are essentially composed of two parts--body and soul--or three parts--body, soul and spirit. I’m going to leave that debate for another time, so we’ll just assume here that human beings are essentially composed of at least two components--body and soul. This means that human beings in their essence are not souls imprisoned in physical bodies--as the Greek philosophy of Platonism suggests--but that both our physical nature and our non-physical nature make up who we are.Christian theologian Robert Saucy--one of my former teachers--says, "The body is not the whole person...nor is it the prison house of the soul...Instead the body or ‘the outer [self]’ is designed as a partner of the [soul] or ‘the inner [self]’...The body is the only avenue of expression for the inner person in the world of time and sense."3 Christian philosopher Stephen Davis from Claremont McKenna College agrees: "Human beings consist both of material bodies and immaterial souls...the body is not merely an adornment or drape for the soul...What the body does is provide the soul with a vehicle for action in the world and expression of intentions and desires; and the soul provides the body with animation and direction."4
This is why Paul prays for completion of this sanctification process in every component of our person.
What part of us does God want to save for heaven? SINCE HUMAN BEINGS ARE COMPOSED OF BOTH PHYSICAL AND NON-PHYSICAL PARTS, GOD HAS PROVIDED SALVATION FOR THE WHOLE PERSON.
God doesn’t want us to be less of what we are now in heaven, but he provides cleansing and freedom from sin for both our internal self and our external self. Greek philosophy thought our soul was saved from the prison of our bodies, but the Bible teaches that our soul and body are both saved from the prison of sin.
Think of an egg. Which is the egg, the yoke or the white? Of course, both the yoke and the white are parts of the egg--they can be separated from each other--but you don’t have a real egg unless you have both the yoke and the white. Humans are the same way: to be human is not to be a soul, but it’s to be a person who has both a soul and a body, both a non-physical part and physical part.
The implications of this are staggering for how we live our lives. You see, if certain parts of me are not going to exist beyond the grave, then I can neglect certain parts of my life and it’s no big deal. But if all that I am today is ultimately going to live forever, then that means that the little things I may ignore now might have big consequences if left unchecked. For instance, if I have an anger problem that I don’t deal with, my neglect of dealing with that part of me means that the problem will get worse and worse. You see, if you have a relationship with Jesus Christ, a big part of your life today is training to prepare you for heaven, as God sanctifies you through and through--not only your thoughts, but your habits, and emotions, and so forth. Christians can’t afford to neglect this process, because God is preparing us to be at home with him in heaven forever.
II. What Happens To Our Soul At Death?
Now this brings us to our second question: What happens to our soul when our body dies? If our body’s laid in a grave, then obviously God hasn’t yet saved our bodies...that awaits the final resurrection at the end of the age. So what happens in the meanwhile, what happens to that part of me that isn’t composed of physical matter?
How you answer that question largely depends on whether that person has received God’s love or refused God’s love. So let’s talk about those who receive God’s love first.
2 Corinthians 5:1-8-- For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down—when we die and leave these bodies—we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long for the day when we will put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will not be spirits without bodies, but we will put on new heavenly bodies. Our dying bodies make us groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and have no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by everlasting life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. That is why we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord (New Living Translation).
This is a complex passage, so let me try to briefly explain it. There are three separate conditions described here: our current condition of being mortal body and soul, our future condition of being immortal body and soul in heaven, and the in-between condition of our soul being separated from our mortal body but still waiting for our immortal body. Paul says our body in it’s mortal condition is like being in a tent--temporary, with no foundations, vulnerable to the elements. Our body in it’s immortal condition as being like a house--permanent, with a strong foundation, built by God. The ideal state is for us to be out of the tent and inside the house, out our body in its mortal condition and in our body in its immortal condition.
But Paul also uses another word picture, that of clothing: Our current condition with our mortal body is like having clothes on, our future condition is like putting on an immortal overcoat over our current clothing, so immortality swallows up our mortality. But in-between is like being naked, without the clothing of our mortal body and not yet having the overcoat of our immortal bodies.
This in-between state isn’t bad because it means that we’re at home with the Lord, yet it also isn’t the most desirable either because although we’re at home with the Lord in our soul, we don’t yet have our permanent house--our immortal body. So you might say Paul is describing our current condition in this mortal body as good--because we can serve God in our current condition, and our condition of being separated from our bodies and at home with the Lord without a body as better---because even though we’re without a physical body we’re at home with the Lord, but the best condition is to be within our immortal bodies and at home with the Lord, which is what Paul looks forward to with the most anticipation. So for those who’ve received God’s love, when our bodies die our soul is at home with the Lord awaiting the final resurrection.
But what about those who refuse God’s love as it’s been revealed through Jesus Christ? The Bible doesn’t tell us that much, but it does tell us a little.
Revelation 20:13-- The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done (NIV).
In the context, this is describing what happens to people who’ve rejected God’s love and refused the gift of salvation offered through God’s son Jesus Christ. Now the sea and death "giving up" the dead is a way of describing a physical resurrection of people at the end of the age.5 But we’re also told that people come out of "Hades."
As we mentioned last week, lots of people think that Hades is the same as hell, but it isn’t. Hades is never used in the Bible to describe a permanent place, but it’s always used to describe a temporary place for people’s souls.6 The Bible teaches that when a person who’s refused God’s love dies physically, that their soul goes to this place called Hades--a temporary dwelling for people who choose not to be with God in heaven--until the resurrection happens that’s described here in Revelation.
So what happens to our souls when our bodies die? WHEN WE DIE, OUR SOULS BECOME TEMPORARILY SEPARATED FROM OUR BODIES.
This temporary separation is what Christian theologians call the "intermediate state." For those who’ve received God’s love, those on that pathway of sanctification, where God is transforming them into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, to be absent from this mortal body is to be at home with the Lord. But for those who’ve refused God’s love, God honors their freedom by allowing their souls to be in Hades until Christ comes again. Both places are conscious, and both are temporary.
III. What Do Our Souls Do?
That brings us to our final question this morning: What do our souls do in during this temporary state? Some people have thought our souls exist in a state of unconsciousness during this temporary period of time. That’s what the Seventh Day Adventist church believes, that we exist in a state of soul sleep, unaware of anything until our bodies are raised from the grave. Others have thought that our souls become angels during this period of time. But angels are a different species of creation than human beings are. Human beings--body and soul--are made in God’s image, something that’s never said of angels. God doesn’t change our species during this time, we simply exist in a disembodied state.
The Roman Catholic church teaches that some people go into purgatory during this period of time. In Roman Catholicism purgatory is an extension of heaven for Christians who still need purification from their sins. So in Roman Catholic thought, every soul that goes into purgatory eventually ends up in heaven, because the fire of purgatory is designed to purify us and make us ready for heaven. Now most Roman Catholic theologians admit that the Bible doesn’t teach purgatory, that it comes from church traditions. Roman Catholic biblical scholar Zachary Hayes says, "We cannot find a clear textual ‘proof’ for the doctrine of purgatory in the Scriptures."7
So what does the Bible teach about what our souls do during this temporary state? Again we have to make a distinction between those who receive God’s love and those who refuse it. Let’s start with those who receive God’s love. As Jesus Christ was dying on the cross, a convicted criminal was being executed next to Jesus. We’re given the indication that this guy had lived a life of violence and ungodliness, yet as he was stretched out on the cross dying, he said to Jesus, "Remember me when you come into your Kingdom." Jesus’ response to that person is recorded in Luke 23:24.
Luke 23:43--Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise" (NIV).
Now that word "paradise" is a loan word from the Persian language that described an enclosed park or garden.8 When the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek, this word "paradise" was what the translators used for the garden of Eden in the book of Genesis. It’s basic idea is that of a beautiful garden, perfectly kept, and this became a word picture for the kind of happiness and blessings of being with God in heaven.Now because Jesus said the thief would experience this "paradise" that very day, it’s clear that Jesus is talking about the thief’s soul, not the thief’s body and soul at the end of the age. So immediately upon death this newly converted criminal’s soul would be present with Jesus in paradise, not in soul sleep, not in purgatory--and certainly if anyone needed purgatory it was this guy--but that very day he’d be with Jesus in paradise. Now what we do in this paradise I’m not sure, but if it’s anything like the garden of Eden in Genesis we can be sure that we’ll be active, not strumming harps or comparing halos. It will be anything but boring, as we await that time when Christ raises our bodies from the grave, so we can experience the completion of our salvation, both body and soul.
But what about those who refuse God’s love as it’s revealed through Jesus Christ? Certainly God doesn’t force these people into "paradise," because God’s simply not that kind of God. We know these people go to Hades, but what do they do in Hades?
2 Peter 2:9-- So the Lord knows how to save those who serve him when troubles come. He will hold evil people and punish them, while waiting for the Judgment Day (New Century Version).
Peter is contrasting God’s ability to rescue Christians from difficulties, with God’s ability to keep people incarcerated for judgment at the end of the age. This passage tells us that this temporary place--this intermediate state--for those who refuse God’s love is a place of punishment while they await the final resurrection and judgment. You might think of hell as the state penitentiary, with Hades as the county jail, the place where those who’ve refused God’s love wait until they stand before the judge and the sentence is pronounced.
So what do our souls do during this temporary state? THE INTERMEDIATE STATE IS A STATE OF CONSCIOUS AND ACTIVE WAITING FOR CHRIST TO COME AGAIN.
That conscious waiting is either in the garden paradise of God, with Jesus Christ himself, or in the county jail, awaiting our day in court. But regardless of where, our soul is conscious and waiting.
Conclusion
Harps and halos have nothing to do with the Bible’s teaching about what happens to our souls after we die. God’s not just interested in saving our souls for heaven, but he’s interested in saving us--all that we are, physical and non-physical parts. When our body dies, our souls become temporarily separated from our bodies, consciously waiting for the end of the age, when Jesus Christ comes again to this earth.
Now when we talk about these things our initial reaction is to think about those we’ve loved who’ve died, and to wonder where they are today. When we think about people who clearly received God’s love, our hearts are filled with comfort, as we think about them in paradise, in a better place, at home with the Lord, awaiting that time when they receive their immortal body at the end of the age. That brings us comfort.
But for those who showed no evidence of receiving God’s love, maybe they even refused that love, our hearts are troubled. We envision those we love and care about locked in Hades awaiting judgment, and it burdens our souls, and we wonder how we could ever be happy in heaven knowing that some who we’ve loved won’t be there. I don’t have an easy answer that, but I do know that God loves those people even more than we love them. And I’d caution that we should beware of thinking we know exactly who will be in heaven and who won’t. Imagine those who knew the thief on the cross, those who’d seen his prison record, imagine his parole officer, his broken hearted family members. The only kind of life they’d ever seen him live was a life that refused God’s love...that’s what led him to be crucified next to Jesus. If we didn’t know of that final exchange minutes before he died, we’d have no reason to believe that he received God’s love, yet because we have the book of Luke we know that he did and that Jesus took him to paradise. That in itself should lead us to give up trying to figure out who’s in Hades, who has truly refused God’s love, because ultimately that’s God’s business, not ours.
So instead of our initial reaction of thinking about those who we care about who’ve died, this should cause us to look at our own lives. Have we settled where we will be if death comes swiftly into our lives? Have we refused or received God’s love as it’s revealed through Jesus Christ? And if we have received God’s love through Jesus, are we living the kind of life that is preparing us for heaven? Are we seeking God’s sanctification, his work in our whole person--body, soul, emotions, habits, thoughts, memories--so we can be prepared for heaven? Are we allowing God to transform us unto the kind of people who will truly be at home when we get there, or will we feel out of place because we’ve refused to allow God to change us? Are we becoming more fully devoted followers of Jesus, who wholeheartedly love God and sacrificially love other people?
ENDNOTES
1 "Does Heaven Exist?" Time (3/24/97), p. 73.
2J. P. Louw and E. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains electronic version (United Bible Societies, 1989), 8.26.
3 R. Saucy, "Theology of Human Nature" in Christian Perspectives on Being Human: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Integration edited by J. P. Moreland and D. M. Ciocchi (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1993), p. 40.
4 Stephen Davis, "The Resurrection of the Dead" in Death and Afterlife (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989), pp. 121-22.
5 R. L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998), p. 432.
6 J. Walvoord, The Revelation of Jesus Christ (Chicago: Moody Press), p. 307.
7 Zachary Hayes, "The Purgatorial View" in Four Views On Hell ed. William Crockett (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), p. 109.
8 Anchor Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), Vol. 5, p. 154.
