ENDTIME ISSUES NEWSLETTER No. 183

“Life After Death”

Samuele Bacchiocchi

Retired Professor of Theology, Andrews University

Chapter 3 of the forthcoming book

POPULAR BELIEFS: ARE THEY BIBLICAL?

INDEX OF TOPICS OF THIS NEWSLETTER

* How to Subscribe and Unsubscribe

* New Outreach Book: Popular Beliefs:

Are they Biblical?

* Target Audience and Goal of Popular Beliefs:

Are they Biblical?

* A New DVD Album: Abundant Life Seminar

* Books from Two Private Libraries for Sale

“Life After Death”

(The Essay of this Newsletter)

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NEW OUTREACH BOOK:

POPULAR BELIEFS: ARE THEY BIBLICAL?

GOOD NEWS! The newsletter you are about to read contains the first draft of CHAPTER 3 of the forthcoming new book POPULAR BELIEFS: ARE THEY BIBLICAL? This chapter builds upon the previous chapter on “The Immortality of the Soul,” by focusing on the biblical view of death and of the state of the dead. This is a crucial chapter that examines the popular but unbiblical belief in conscious life after death.

Over a century ago Ellen White predicted that “Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions” (Great Controversy, p. 588). Both of these errors are spreading like wildfire today. The vast majority of people have come to believe Satan’s lie that no matter what they do, they “shall not die” (Gen 3:4) but become like gods by living for ever.

This lie has fostered a host of heresies such as spiritualism, communication with the spirits of the dead, praying for the dead, the intercession of the saints, purgatory, eternal hellfire, the worship of Mary, indulgences, etc. All of these heretical beliefs fall automatically like dominos when we expose the fallacies of conscious life between death and resurrection.

In view of its importance, I have devoted much time and efforts in writing this chapter, which is the longest chapter so far. Feel free to comment upon this chapter after you have had the opportunity to read it.

I wish to thank God for helping me to write the first 3 chapters of Popular Beliefs: Are they Biblical?in about 6 weeks, in spite of my speaking engagements. If I can continue at this pace, the book should be out by the end of February or early in March. I expect the book to have 10 chapters (for the 10 commandments), averaging 30 pages each.

I decided against having 15 or 20 short chapters with a brief treatment of each popular heresy. I prefer to have fewer chapters with a fuller analysis of the popular heresies deceiving people today. This means that I may have to write a series of volumes, if the first book is well-received. This is not a problem. Left Behind is a series of 13 volumes. If heretical books are published in series, why shouldn’t sound biblical studies be published also in the same way?

TARGET AUDIENCE AND GOAL OF

POPULAR BELIEFS: ARE THEY BIBLICAL?

Several have asked me: What is the target audience of Popular Beliefs: Are they Biblical? My answer is that that I am aiming to the average person with a high school education but with an inquiring mind. The level of eduation is relative. My father had only a fifth grade education, but had a keen mind and an extensive library with solid biblical studies.

Most of the 30,000 plus subscribers to this newsletter, are people with an average education but a great eagerness to deepen their understanding of Bible truths. I can tell it by the perceptive comments that I receive. These are the people I have in mind in writing this book.

Some have proposed to me to write a short and simple version of this book. Frankly, I do not think it is necessary, because there are plenty of them available at our ABC stores. All our popular preachers have written simple, short booklets that present our beliefs to the general public. These booklets meet a felt need, but the fact remains that an increasing number of people are not satisfied with simple booklets that do not scratch where it itches, that is, do not address critical deeper questions.

The ultimate goal of the book is not merely to expose the flaws of some popular beliefs, but to help people appreciate the biblical validity and timeliness of our Adventist beliefs. My strategy in writing each chapter is threfold:

1) First, I try to give an accurate description of a popular belief like the one examined in this chapter on life after death.

2) Second, I examine the belief from a biblical perspective, showing why it is contrary to the scriptural teachings.

3) Third, I appeal to consider the Seventh-day Adventist understanding the belief examined in the chapter, simply because it is biblical sound.

You will see a sample of this strategy in this chapter. After exposing biblically the deceptive and popular belief conscious life after death, I proceed to help people appreciate the beauty of the biblical view of the resurrection of the body, as taught in Scripture and espoused by our Adventist church.

To my knowledge our Adventist church has never published a substantive book that helps people to understand why some of their popular beliefs are unbiblical, and why the corresponding Adventist beliefs are biblically sound. Many subscribers have confirmed my conviction that such a book is urgently needed for our witnessing outreach. We can hardly expect people to accept our Adventist beliefs, if we do not show them first of all why their beliefs are unbiblical.

The book Seventh-day Adventist Believe . . . was warmly received by our church at large. I was invited to contribute to a chapter. The book makes a significant contribution to the presentation of our Adventist beliefs, but it is too limited in scope. It simply presents the Adventist beliefs, without comparing or contrasting them with the beliefs of other churches. Uninformed readers may feel that Adventists beliefs are not much different from their own beliefs.

The new book Popular Beliefs: Are they Biblical? will leave no room for this uncertainty. It will clearly show the difference between the Adventists beliefs and some popular Catholic and Protestant beliefs. In other words, it will give to people a choice between biblical and unbiblical beliefs. You will see a clear example in this chapter on “Life After Death” that you are about to read.

The sponsors of this project are hoping to raise sufficient money to cover most of the expenses for printing 100,000 copies of Popular Beliefs: Are they Biblical? The idea is to offer the book to churches at a minimum cost of only $2.00 or 3.00 a copy, primarily to cover the mailing expenses. The regular price for this 320 pages book would be $25.00.

What do you think of this project? Do you feel that we badly need such a book for our witnessing outreach? Are you willing to pass out this book to your friends? Would you consider contributing financially to the realization of this project? Your input is greatly appreciated. Let me know what you think.

In order to complete this project by the end of February 2008, I need to re-prioritize my schedule. This will entail cutting down on speaking-engagements, posting the Endtime Issues Newsletters only once a month, and spending less time answering messages and speaking on the phone.

To benefit from the constructive criticism of our subscribers, I plan to post most of the chapters as soon as the first draft is completed. An example, is this chapter which examines the major false views of the nature of the Bible. I look forward to receive your constructive criticism. Do not hesitate to be frank. Rest assured that I will not be offended.

“Life After Death”

Samuele Bacchiocchi

Retired Professor of Theology, Andrews University

Chapter 3 of the forthcoming book

POPULAR BELIEFS: ARE THEY BIBLICAL?

Belief in life after death seems to have come back from the grave. News weekly covers it. Talk-show hosts discuss it. Popular books such as Moody and Kübler-Ross’ Life After Life and Maurice Rawlings’ Beyond Death’s Door examine case histories of out-of-body experiences. Even some pastors have begun preaching it again.

Once regarded by the secular community as a relic of a superstitious past and by believers as something too difficult to comprehend, belief in life after death is regaining popularity. According to a poll conducted by the General Social Survey, “A greater fraction of American adults believe in life after death in the 1990s than in the 1970s.”¹

While the percentage of Protestants who believe in life after death has remained stable at 85 percent, there has been a noticeable increase among the Catholics and Jews. “The percentage of Catholics believing in an afterlife rose from 67 percent to 85 percent from 1900 to 1970. Among Jews, this percentage increased from 17 percent (1900) to 74 percent (1970).²

A similar recent survey (2003) conducted by the reputable Barna Research Group of Ventura, California, confirms that “the vast majority of Americans continues to believe that there is life after death, that everyone has a soul, and that Heaven and Hell exist.”³ “Belief in life after death . . . is widely embraced: 8 out of 10 Americans (81%) believe in an afterlife of some sort. Another 9% said life after death may exist, but they were not certain. Just one out of every ten adults (10%) contend that there is no form of life after one dies on earth. Moreover, a large majority of Americans (79%) agreed with the statement “every person has a soul that will live forever, either in God’s presence or absence.”⁴

The conscious or subconscious belief in life after death is reflected in the elaborate funeral arrangements which are intended to preserve the corporeal remains of the deceased. In the ancient world, the dead were provided for the next life with food, liquids, eating utensils, and clothes. Sometimes even servants and animals were buried with the corpse to provide the necessary conveniences in the next life.

Today, the mortuary rituals are different, but they still reveal a conscious or subconscious belief in life after death. The corpse is embalmed and hermetically sealed in a galvanized metal casket to retard decay. It is dressed in the finest clothes and placed on plush satin lining and soft pillows. It is sent on its way accompanied with items cherished in life, such as rings and family pictures. It is sacredly and silently interred in a cemetery, which is expertly manicured, surrounded by flowers, gates, and guards. The dead are surrendered to the “perpetual care” of the Lord in a professionally maintained and landscaped cemetery where no children play and no visitors disturb them.

The concern of people to send their deceased loved ones to the world of the dead with dignity and elegance reveals a desire to ensure their comfort in the afterlife. But, is there life after death? Are the dead conscious or unconscious? If conscious, are they able to communicate with the living? Are they enjoying the bliss of paradise or the torments of hell? This chapter seeks to answer these questions by investigating the biblical view of death and of the state of the dead.

Objectives of This Chapter

This chapter continues our investigation of the biblical view of human nature, by focusing on two major questions: First, What is the biblical view of death? And, second, What is the condition of the dead during the period between death and the resurrection? This period is commonly known as “the intermediate state.”

This chapter is divided in four parts. The first part provides a brief description mainly of the Catholic and Protestant views of the afterlife. We shall see that both hold in common the belief in the transition of the saved souls to Paradise and of the unsaved souls to Hell. Protestants reject the Catholic belief in Purgatory.

The second part examines the Biblical understanding of the nature of death. Does the Bible teach that death is the separation of the immortal soul from the mortal body? Or, does the Bible teach that death is the termination of life for the whole person, body and soul? In other words, is death according to the Bible the cessation of life for the whole person or the transition to a new form of life for the immortal component of our being?

The third and fourth parts examine the Old and New Testaments teachings regarding the state of the dead during the period between death and resurrection. The fundamental question we pursue in the last two parts is: Do the dead sleep in an unconscious state until the resurrection morning? Or, Is the soul of the saved experiencing immediately after death the bliss of paradise, while that of the unsaved writhing in the torment of hell?

PART 1

BELIEFS ABOUT THE AFTERLIFE

The belief in some forms of life after death is common to most Christian and non-Christian religions. The reason, as noted in the previous chapter, is the common belief in the immortality of the soul, which presupposes the continuation of the conscious life of the soul after the death of the body. We found this belief to be contrary to the Bible which clearly defines death as the cessation of life for the whole person, body and soul.

For the purpose of this chapter, we briefly mention how three major wings of Christianity view life after death: Roman Catholics, Conservative Protestants, and Liberal Christians.

Roman Catholic View of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory

The Catholic Church teaches that when a person dies, the soul leaves the body and is immediately evaluated in a Particular Judgment that determines three possible destinations for the disembodied soul: Heaven, or Hell, or Purgatory.

Heaven. The new Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that the souls of a few believers “who die in God’s grace and friendship and are perfectly purified, live for ever with Christ.”⁵ They are taken immediately to their eternal rewards in Heaven, where they enjoy the communion with the Trinity, the Virgin Mary, the saints, and the angels. “In the glory of heaven the blessed continue joyfully to fulfill God’s will.”⁶

Hell. Hell is the place where those who have died “with grave and unrepentant sins” which have not been wiped clean by church rituals,⁷ will be severely punished without any hope of relief, for eternity. As stated in Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin, descend into hell, where they suffer the punishment of hell ‘eternal fire.’”⁸

The torment of Hell will last forever, without any prospect of relief or mercy, but level of torture depends on the seriousness of the individual’s sin. Like the Catholics, Eastern Orthodox churches believe in Hell, but they teach that the precise form of punishment is not known to us.

The teaching that sinners burn eternally in Hell, makes God appear like an inhumane father who in desperation locks away his rebellious children in a horrible hovel, and then throws away for ever the key. More will be said about more implications of this popular belief in the next chapter.

Purgatory. The Catholic Church teaches that “all those who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, . . . after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.”⁹ The souls in Purgatory are systematically tortured with fire until they have paid the residual temporal punishment for their sins. The more purging is necessary, the longer a soul must suffer in Purgatory. This is a type of time-limited Hell during which they become fully cleansed and acceptable for admission to heaven.

As stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church “the Church commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead.”¹¹ This means that friends and family members can shorten the stay of their loved ones in Purgatory, by paying for Masses, prayers, buying indulgences, and making pilgrimages to holy shrines.

The beliefs of the Eastern Orthodox Churches very closely parallel those of the Roman Catholic Church about Heaven and Hell. However, they have no formal belief about the existence of purgatory.

Conservative Protestants’ View of Heaven and Hell

We noted in chapter 2 that the Protestant Reformation started largely as a reaction against the medieval superstitious beliefs about the afterlife in Purgatory. The Reformers rejected as unbiblical and unreasonable the practice of buying and selling indulgences to reduce the stay of the souls of departed relatives in Purgatory. However, they continued to believe that the souls of the believers enjoy the bliss of heaven, while those of the unbelievers suffer the torments of hell. At the resurrection, the body is reunited with the soul, thus intensifying the pleasure of paradise or the pain of hell. Since that time, belief in heaven and hell has been accepted by most Protestant churches and is reflected in various Confessions.¹²

For example, the Westminster Confession (1646), regarded as the definitive statement of (Calvinistic) Presbyterian beliefs in the English-speaking world, states: “The body of men after death return to dust, and see corruption; but their souls (which neither die nor sleep) having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received unto the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies: and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torment and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day.”¹³ The confession continues declaring as unbiblical the belief in purgatory.

Most conservative Protestant believe that there are only two possible destinations for the soul after death. One either passes immediately into the glories of Heaven and the presence of God, or else one is sent straight to the flames of Hell for eternal punishment, with no possibility of reprieve. Any other destination for the soul, such as the Catholic Purgatory, is merely an “invented” doctrine.

Heaven. Heaven is reserved for those who have been justified by faith in Christ’s saving work. The soul of believers ascend immediately after death to heaven, to live in the presence of Christ, while awaiting the resurrection of their bodies. At the final resurrection, the disembodied soul will receive new incorruptible bodies, and will live in the presence of Jesus Christ in the new earth where there is an absence of pain, disease, sexual activity, and depression.

Hell. Conservative Evangelicals believe that the souls of those who have rejected Christ, at death will be sent to Hell, a place of torment and eternal separation from God. Views vary on what punishments Hell may hold beyond isolation from God.

Liberal Protestants’ View of Heaven and Hell

In general, liberal Protestant believe that at death people go to either Heaven, to live in the presence of God, or to Hell, to experience separation from God. But liberal Protestants hold to a wide range of non-traditional views. For example, some define heaven as the triumph of self-giving, not as a new heaven and a new earth. “Heaven is cordial, honest, loving relationships,” says Gordon’s Kalland.¹⁴

Conversely, to most liberal theologians, Hell is alienation from God. “Hell is estrangement, isolation, despair,” says Dean Lloyd Kalland of Gordon Divinity School in Wenham, Mass.¹⁵ In his Principles of Christian Theology, Dr. John Macquarrie of Union Theological Seminary describes hell as “not some external or arbitrary punishment that gets assigned for sin, but simply the working out of sin itself, as it destroys the distinctively personal being of the sinner.”¹⁶

Afterlife in Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism

Space does not permit to mention the views of afterlife held by Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. It suffices to say that all of them share the belief in the survival of the soul at the death of the body. In Hinduism, for example, the ultimate goal is Moksha, that is, the self-realization and release of the soul from the cycle of death and rebirth. When Moksha is achieved, the soul becomes one with God.

The preceding brief description of the major Catholic and Protestant views of life after death, has served to show that these popular views stem from two assumptions: 1) Death is the separation of the immortal soul from the mortal body, 2) The soul is an independent, immaterial, and immortal component that survives the death of the body.

Are these assumptions biblically correct? Does the Bible teach that death is the separation of the immortal soul from the mortal body? Does the soul survives the death of the body and continues to exist in the bliss of Paradise or torment of Hell? To these questions we must now turn our attention by examining the biblical view of death.

PART 2

THE BIBLICAL VIEW OF DEATH

To understand the Biblical view of death, we need to go back to the account of creation where death is presented, not as a natural process willed by God, but as something unnatural opposed to God. The Genesis narrative teaches us that death came into the world as a result of sin. God commanded Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and added the warning: “In the day that you eat of it you shall die” (Gen 2:17). The fact that Adam and Eve did not die on the day of their transgression has led some to conclude that human beings do not actually die because they have a conscious soul that survives the death of the body.

Sin and Death

This figurative interpretation can hardly be supported by the text, which, literally translated, reads: “dying you shall die.” What God simply meant is that on the day they disobeyed, the dying process would begin. From a state in which it was possible for them not to die (conditional immortality), they passed into a state in which it was impossible for them not to die (unconditional mortality).

Prior to the Fall the assurance of immortality was vouchsafed by the tree of life. After the Fall, Adam and Eve no longer had access to the tree of life (Gen 3:22-23) and, consequently, began experiencing the reality of the dying process. In the prophetic vision of the New Earth, the tree of life is found on both sides of the river as a symbol of the gift of eternal life bestowed upon the redeemed (Rev 21:2).

The divine pronouncement found in Genesis 2:17 places a clear connection between human death and the transgression of God’s commandment. Thus, life and death in the Bible have religious and ethical significance because they are dependent upon human obedience or disobedience to God. This is a fundamental teaching of the Bible, namely, that death came into this world as a result of human disobedience (Rom 5:12; 1 Cor 15:21). This does not diminish the responsibility of the individual for his participation in sin (Ez 18:4, 20). The Bible, however, makes a distinction between the first death, which every human being experiences as a result of Adam’s sin (Rom 5:12; 1 Cor 15:21), and the second death experienced after the resurrection (Rev 20:6) as the wages for sins personally commited (Rom 6:23).

Death as the Separation of the Soul from the Body

A major question we need to address at this point is the Biblical view of the nature of death. To be specific: Is death the separation of the immortal soul from the mortal body, so that when the body dies the soul lives on? Or, is death the cessation of existence of the whole person, body and soul?

Historically, Christians have been taught that death is the separation of the immortal soul from the mortal body, so that the soul survives the body in a disembodied state. For example, the new Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “By death the soul is separated from the body, but in the resurrection God will give incorruptible life to our body, transformed by reunion with our soul.”¹⁷ Augustus Strong defines death in similar terms in his well-known Systematic Theology: “Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body. We distinguish it from spiritual death, or the separation of the soul from God.”¹⁸

Massive Attack by Modern Scholars

The above historical view of the nature of death as the separation of the soul from the body has come under a massive attack by many modern scholars. A few examples suffice to illustrate this point. Lutheran theologian Paul Althaus writes: “Death is more than a departure of the soul from the body. The person, body and soul, is involved in death. . . . The Christian faith knows nothing about an immortality of the personality. . . . It knows only an awakening from real death through the power of God. There is existence after death only by an awakening of the resurrection of the whole person.”¹⁹

Althaus argues that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul does not do justice to the seriousness of death, since the soul passes through death unscathed.²⁰ Moreover, the notion that a person can be totally happy and blessed without the body denies the significance of the body and empties the resurrection of its meaning.²¹ If believers are already blessed in heaven and the wicked are already tormented in hell, why is the final judgment still necessary?²² Althaus concludes that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul rips apart what belongs together: the body and the soul, the destiny of the individual and that of the world.²³

Roman Catholic Theologian Peter Riga of California’s St. Mary’s College acknowledges that the old idea of a soul that departs from the body at death “makes no sense at all.” He goes on saying: “There is just man, man in God’s image and likeness. Man in his totality was created and will be saved.”²⁴

This challenge of modern scholarship to the traditional view of death as the separation of the soul from the body has been long overdue. It is hard to believe that for most of its history, Christianity by and large has held to a view of human death and destiny which has been largely influenced by Greek thought, rather than by the teachings of Scripture.

What is even more surprising is that no amount of Biblical scholarship will change the traditional belief held by most churches on the intermediate state. The reason is simple. While individual scholars can and will change their doctrinal views without suffering devastating consequences, the same is not true for well-established churches. A church that introduces radical changes in its historical doctrinal beliefs undermines the faith of its members and thus the stability of the institution.

Death as Cessation of Life

When we search the Bible for a description of the nature of death, we find many clear statements that need little or no interpretation. In the first place, Scripture describes death as a return to the elements from which man originally was made. In pronouncing sentence upon Adam after his disobedience, God said: “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for . . . you are dust and to dust you shall return” (Gen 3:19). This graphic statement tells us that death is not the separation of the soul from the body, but the termination of one’s life, which results in the decay and decomposition of the body. “Since man is created of perishable matter, his natural condition is mortality (Gen 3:19).”⁵³

A study of the words “to die,” “death,” and “dead” in Hebrew and Greek reveals that death is perceived in the Bible as the deprivation or cessation of life. The ordinary Hebrew word meaning “to die” is muth, which occurs in the Old Testament over 800 times. In the vast majority of cases, muth is used in the simple sense of the death of men and animals. There is no hint in its usage of any distinction between the two. A clear example is found in Ecclesiastes 3:19, which says: “For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other.”

Old Testament Descriptions of Death

Hebrew noun maveth which is used in the Old Testament about 150 times and is generally translated “death,” offers us three important insights about the nature of death.

First, there is no remembrance of the Lord in death: “For in death [maveth] there is no remembrance of thee; in Sheol who can give thee praise” (Ps 6:5). The reason for no remembrance in death is simply because the thinking process stops when the body with its brain dies. “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that day his thoughts perish” (Ps 146:4). Since at death the “thoughts perish,” it is evident there is no conscious soul that survives the death of the body. If the thinking process, which is generally associated with the soul, survived the death of the body, then the thoughts of the saints would not perish. They would be able to remember God. But the fact is that “the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing” (Eccl 9:5).

Second, no praise of God is possible in death or in the grave. “What profit is there in my death [maveth], if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise thee? Will it tell of thy faithfulness?” (Ps 30:9). By comparing death with dust, the Psalmist clearly shows that there is no consciousness in death because dust cannot think. The same thought is expressed in Psalm 115:17: “The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any that go down into silence.” Here the Psalmist describes death as a state of “silence.” What a contrast with the “noisy” popular vision of the afterlife where the saints praise God in Heaven and the wicked cry in agony in Hell!

Third, death is described as a “sleep.” “Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death” (Ps 13:3). This characterization of death as “sleep” occurs frequently in the Old and New Testaments because it fittingly represents the state of unconsciousness in death. Shortly we examine the significance of the “sleep” metaphor for understanding the nature of death.

In several places, maveth [death] is used with reference to the second death. “As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ez 33:11; cf. 18:23, 32). Here “the death of the wicked” is evidently not the natural death that every person experiences, but the death inflicted by God at the End on impenitent sinners. None of the literal descriptions or figurative references to death in the Old Testament suggests the conscious survival of the soul or spirit apart from the body. Death is the cessation of life for the total person.

New Testament References to Death

The New Testament references to “death,” a term rendered by the Greek thanatos, are not as informative regarding the nature of death as those found in the Old Testament. The reason is partly due to the fact that in the Old Testament many of the references to death are found in the poetic or wisdom books like Psalms, Job, and Ecclesiastes. This kind of literature is absent in the New Testament. More important is the fact that death is seen in the New Testament from the perspective of Christ’s victory over death. This is a dominant theme in the New Testament which conditions the Christian view of death.

Through His victory over death, Christ has neutralized the sting of death (1 Cor 15:55); He has abolished death (2 Tim 1:10); He has overcome the devil who had power over death (Heb 2:14); He has in His hand the keys of the kingdom of death (Rev 1:18); He is the head of a new humanity as the first-born from the dead (Col 1:18); He causes believers to be born anew to a living hope through His resurrection from the dead (1 Pet 1:3).

Christ’s victory over death affects the believer’s understanding of physical, spiritual, and eternal death. The believer can face physical death with the confidence that Christ has swallowed up death in victory and will awaken the sleeping saints at His coming (1 Cor 15:51-56).

Believers who were spiritually “dead through trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1; cf. 4:17-19; Matt 8:22) have been regenerated into a new life in Christ (Eph 4:24). Unbelievers who remain spiritually dead throughout their lives and do not accept Christ’s provision for their salvation (John 8:21, 24), on the Day of Judgment will experience the second death (Rev 20:6; 21:8). This is the final, eternal death from which there is no return.

The figurative meanings of the word thanatos–death depend entirely on the literal meaning as cessation of life. To argue for the conscious existence of the soul on the basis of figurative meaning of death is to attribute to the word a meaning which is foreign to it. This runs contrary to literary and grammatical rules and destroys the connections among physical, spiritual, and eternal death.

Death as Sleep in the Old Testament

In both the Old and New Testaments, death is often described as “sleep.” Before attempting to explain the reason for the Biblical use of the metaphor of “sleep” for death, let us look at a few examples. In the Old Testament, three Hebrew words meaning “sleep” are used to describe death.

The most common word, shachav, is used in the frequently occuring expression so-and-so “slept with his fathers” (Gen 28:11; Deut 31:16; 2 Sam 7:12; 1 Kings 2:10). Beginning with its initial application to Moses (“Behold, you are about to sleep with your fathers” – Deut 31:16), and then to David (“Thou shall sleep with thy fathers” – 2 Sam 7:12, KJV), and Job (“Now I shall sleep in the dust” – Job 7:21, KJV), we find this beautiful euphemism for death running like an unbroken thread all through the Old and New Testaments, ending with Peter’s statement that “the fathers fell asleep” (2 Pet 3:4). It is evident that if the souls of the “fathers” were alive in Paradise, Bible writers could not have regularly spoken of them as being “asleep.”

Another Hebrew word for “sleep” is yashen. This word occurs both as a verb, “to sleep” (Jer 51:39, 57; Ps 13:3) and as a noun, “sleep.” The latter is found in the well-known verse of Daniel 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.” Notice that in this passage both the godly and ungodly are sleeping in the dust of the earth and both will be resurrected at the End.

A third Hebrew word used for the sleep of death is shenah. Job asks this rhetorical question: “But man dies and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he?” (Job 14:10). His answer is: “As waters fail from a lake, and a river wastes away and dries up, so man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake, or be roused out of his sleep [shenah]” (Job 14:11-12; cf. Ps 76:5; 90:5). Here is a graphic description of death. When a person takes the last breath, “where is he?” that is, “what is left of him?” Nothing. He does not exist any more. He becomes like a lake or river whose water has dried up. He sleeps in the grave and “will not awake” till the end of the world.

One wonders, would Job have given us such a negative description of death if he believed that his soul would survive death? If death introduced Job’s soul into the immediate presence of God in heaven, why does he speak of waiting “till the heavens are no more” (John 14:11) and “till my release should come” (Job 14:14)? It is evident that neither Job nor any other Old Testament believer knew of a conscious existence after death.

Death as Sleep in the New Testament

Death is described as sleep in the New Testament more frequently than in the Old. The reason may be that the hope of the resurrection, which is clarified and strengthened by Christ’s resurrection, gives new meaning to the sleep of death from which believers will awaken at Christ’s coming. As Christ slept in the tomb prior to His resurrection, so believers sleep in the grave while awaiting their resurrection.

There are two Greek words meaning “sleep” which are used in the New Testament. The first is koimao which is used fourteen times for the sleep of death. A derivative of this Greek noun is koimeeteerion , from which comes our word cemetery. Incidentally, the root of this word is also the root of the word “home–oikos.” So the home and the cemetery are connected because both are a sleeping-place. The second Greek word is katheudein, which is generally used for ordinary sleep. In the New Testament it is used four times for the sleep of death (Matt 9:24; Mark 5:39; Luke 8:52; Eph 5:14; 1 Thess 4:14).

At the time of Christ’s crucifixion, “many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep [kekoimemenon] were raised” (Matt 27:52). In the original, the text reads: “Many bodies of the sleeping saints were raised.” It is evident that what was resurrected was the whole person and not just the bodies. There is no reference to their souls being reunited with their bodies, obviously because this concept is foreign to the Bible.

Speaking figuratively of Lazarus’ death, Jesus said: “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep [kekoimetai], but I go to awake him out of sleep” (John 11:11). When Jesus perceived that He was misunderstood, He “told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead” (John 11:14). Then Jesus hastened to reassure Martha: “Your brother will rise again” (John 11:23).

This episode is significant, first of all, because Jesus plainly describes death as “sleep” from which the dead will awaken at the sound of His voice. Lazarus’ condition in death was similar to a sleep from which one awakens. Christ said: “ I go to awake him out of sleep” (John 11:11). The Lord carried out His promise by going to the tomb to awaken Lazarus by calling: “‘Lazarus, come out.’ And the dead man came out’” (John 11:43-44).

The awakening of Lazarus out of the sleep of death by the sound of Christ’s voice parallels the awakening of the sleeping saints on the day of His glorious coming. They, too, shall hear the voice of Christ and come forth to life again. “The hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth” (John 5:28; cf. John 5:25). “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, . . . And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thess 4:16).

There is harmony and symmetry in the expressions “sleeping” and “awakening” as used in the Bible for going into and coming out of a death state. The two expressions corroborate the notion that death is an unconscious state like sleeping, from which believers will awake on the day of Christ’s coming.

Lazarus Had No Afterlife Experience

Lazarus’ experience is also significant because he spent four days in the grave. This was not a near-death experience, but a real death experience. If, as popularly believed, the soul at death leaves the body and goes to heaven, then Lazarus would have had an amazing experience to share about the four days he would have spent in paradise. The religious leaders and the people would have done all in their power to elicit from Lazarus as much information as possible about the unseen world. Such information would have provided valuable answers to the question of life after death which was so hotly debated among the Sadducees and Pharisees (Matt 22:23, 28; Mark 12:18, 23; Luke 20:27, 33).

But Lazarus had nothing to share about life after death, because during the four days he spent in the tomb he slept the unconscious sleep of death. What is true of Lazarus is also true of six other persons who were raised from the dead: The widow’s son (1 Kings 17:17-24); the Shunammite’s son (2 Kings 4:18-37); the widow’s son at Nain (Luke 7:11-15); the daughter of Jairus (Luke 8:41, 42, 49-56); Tabitha (Acts 9:36-41); and Eutychus (Acts 20:9-12). Each of these persons came out of death as if it were out of a profound sleep, with the same feeling and individuality, but with no afterlife experience to share.