Subject: No, the dead are still DEAD...not alive! |
Bible Note: No consciousness in the grave Many people are surprised to discover what the Bible really says about what happens to us when we die. Notice what God inspired King Solomon to write about the state of the dead: "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" (Ecclesiastes 9:5). Scripture clearly tells us that at death we cease to know anything. The dead are unconscious and unaware. All our emotions, thoughts, knowledge and feelings go to the grave with us. No consciousness continues living in another place or state. We do not have an immortal soul that goes on living somewhere else. In Ezekiel 18, verses 4 and 20, God plainly tells us that "the soul who sins shall die"—not continue living apart from the body. To teach otherwise is only to further the FIRST LIE of Satan to our Mother Eve, "YE SHALL NOT SURELY DIE"! Do you believe him, or the Lord? You must choose! The patriarch Job echoes Solomon's words. He writes: "Man dies and is laid away; indeed he breathes his last and where is he? As water disappears from the sea, and a river becomes parched and dries up, so man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor be roused from their sleep" (Job 14:10-12). Job goes on to ask the most crucial question about life after death: "If a man dies, shall he live again?" (verse 14). Death likened to sleep When Christians—or any others—die, they do not go directly to heaven or to any equivalent of heaven. Their bodies simply decay in the grave, returning to the dust from which they were made (Genesis 3:19). Solomon confirmed the fact that the dead are unconscious, knowing nothing. "Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing" (Ecclesiastes 9:4-5, NIV). The writers of the Bible describe our experience after death not as going to heaven or hell, but simply as sleep. Notice, for example, how Daniel refers to the state of the dead in this prophecy of the resurrection: "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:2). When an individual is in a deep sleep, he has absolutely no conscious awareness of the passing of time nor any knowledge of events that are occurring while he is asleep. Paul repeatedly compared death to sleep (1 Corinthians 11:30; 15:6, 18, 20, 51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15). Peter similarly writes of the patriarchs who "fell asleep" in death (2 Peter 3:4). Jesus Himself also spoke of death as sleep. Speaking of a deceased girl whom He intended to raise from the dead, He told the mourners, "Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping" (Luke 8:52; compare Matthew 9:24). Before He resurrected Lazarus, He told the disciples, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up." The disciples misunderstood, thinking Lazarus was sleeping because he was ill. "However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep" (John 11:11, 13). When will the dead be resurrected? We can see that the Bible clearly teaches that good people don't go to heaven at death; instead they sleep in the grave awaiting the resurrection of the dead. All of the dead —good and not so good alike—will eventually be resurrected, each in his own time (1 Corinthians 15:20-23). The dead in Christ will be resurrected to immortal life at Jesus Christ's return to earth, and those faithful servants who are still alive at that time will be changed from mortal to immortal. Specifically, this happens at the sounding of "the trumpet of God" (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17), called "the last trumpet" in 1 Corinthians 15:52 and corresponding to the seventh trumpet of Revelation 11:15. This event is called "the first resurrection" in Revelation 20:5. In John's vision of the future, those in this resurrection came to life and "reigned with Christ for a thousand years" (verse 4), during the period commonly known as the Millennium. Notice that they do not go to dwell in heaven—they live and reign with Jesus on earth, to which He has returned to establish God's Kingdom! Verse 6 goes on to explain: "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power,but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." Revelation 5:10 confirms that they will be "a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth" (NIV) Since Christ is coming back to earth (Zechariah 14:3-4), it makes good sense that that's where we will be. (John 14:3; compare Isaiah 11:1-9). Clearly, Jesus is coming back to earth and we will reign with Him here, not in or from heaven. |