If, as some teach, the dead
are already in heaven with Jesus, why are they
resurrected at His second coming? Why did Jesus tell
the disciples they would be with Him again when He
returned instead of when they died (John 14:3)? Why
does God forbid us to consult with our departed loved
ones, if they are alive and can talk to us? In this
lesson, we will learn the answers to these important
questions.
1. What does God say
about consulting spiritualists and the supposed
spirits of the dead? Lev. 19:31 [Note: God warns that
in the last days some "will give heed to
deceiving spirits" (1 Tim. 4:1). These spirits
deceive us by coming to us in "familiar"
form, such as the form of some departed loved one.
That is one reason they are called
"familiar" spirits. The Further-study
verses are Lev. 20:27; Deut. 18:10-12; Rev. 22:15]
2. Where does the spirit go at death? Eccl. 12:7
[Note: The spirit is the breath of life from God
(i.e., the "element of life," the
"spark of life," or the "life
force"). Solomon uses "breath" and
"spirit" interchangeably in Eccl. 3:19-21.
Job 27:3; Gen. 2:7]
3. Is this spirit that returns to God, conscious?
Eccl. 9:5 [Ps. 146:4; Ps 115:17]
4. What did Jesus call death? John 11:1114 [Note:
Paul also called death a sleep. See 1 Cor. 15:51, 52;
1 Thess. 4:15-17; 1 Cor. 15:16-18; 11:30]
5. What did David call death? Ps. 13:3 [Note: Other
Old Testament writers also called death a sleep. See
Job 14:12; Jer. 51:39, 57; Dan. 12:2; 1 Kings 1:21]
6. Is there any memory in this sleep of death? Ps.
6:5 [Isa. 38:18; Eccl 9:5, 6, 10]
7. Did David go to heaven when he died? Acts 2:29, 34
[Acts 13:36]
8. Where will the dead be when Jesus resurrects them
at His second coming? John 5:28, 29 [Job 14:12-15]
9. When do the dead go to heaven or to hell? Matt.
25:31-34, 41 [Matt. 16:27; John 14:2, 3; Rev. 22:12]
10. When did the thief on the cross look forward to
being with Jesus? Did Jesus assure Him of salvation
that very day? Luke 23:42, 43 [Note: The punctuation
in the Bible was supplied by the translators, for
there was no punctuation in the original Greek. The
comma should go after the word "today"
("Assuredly I say unto you today, you will be
with Me in Paradise."), for Jesus Himself did
not go to heaven that day. See John 20:17; Luke 19:9]
11. Jesus often illustrated truth with parables
which, like prophecies, use symbols. Yet some have
rejected the very truth Jesus so plainly taught about
death by taking literally some of the symbols in the
parable of the "Rich man and Lazarus" (Luke
16). What did Jesus say would happen to those who try
to understand parables without "having" (or
knowing) what the rest of the Bible says on a
subject? Matt. 13:10-13 [1 Cor. 2:1214; 2 Tim. 2:15;
Luke 16:19-31]
12. What was the devil's first lie? Gen. 3:3, 4
[Question: Who do you think told the truth, Satan or
God? Today Satan is still perpetuating his original
lie, and he is doing so through religion and by
misapplying and twisting Scripture, as he did with
Jesus in Matthew 4:5, 6. 2 Cor. 11:13-15; 2 Thess.
2:9-12]
13. With what promise did Paul tell us to
"comfort one another" when death occurs? 1
Thess. 4:15-18 [1 Cor. 15:51-55; 1 John 5:11, 12;
Rev. 1:18; John 6:39, 40]
Commitment: Isn't God's way really the best? Instead
of floating around somewhere after death, a person
sleeps until he is bodily resurrected as Jesus was.
And, since he is unconscious, the resurrection is the
next instant to him! Instead of a dying baby going to
a strange place alone, the next thing he knows is his
mother's smiling kiss! The parents will take up the
raising of their departed child right where it left
off! Will you accept Jesus' assurance that we will
all go to heaven together, at the same time, after
the resurrection?
Notes on the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31):
God has written the Bible in such a way that we must
compare Scripture with Scripture to understand it
(Isa. 28:9, 10; I Cor. 2:13, 14; 2 Thess. 2:11, 12).
If this parable provided the only information the
Bible gives on death, we would have to conclude that
the dead go directly to heaven or hell, but it is
not. This story comes in the middle of a group of
parables and is itself a parable, for it uses
figurative language throughout--i.e., Lazarus went to
"Abraham's bosom"; those in hades and
heaven can see and talk to each other; and a drop of
water suffices to cool one's tongue in hell. In this
parable Jesus used common Jewish and Greek ideas (as
evidenced in Josephus' works) to teach that (1) the
rich have no advantage for salvation, (2) this life
provides our only chance for salvation, and (3) the
Scriptures are allsufficient for salvation. Jesus was
not teaching a new doctrine on death, or He would be
contradicting what He Himself repeatedly taught in
other places.
Kip
