What happens to us when we die?
I find it interesting that this question was addressed in a recent news story. WorldNetDaily recently ran an article titled Bishop: Christians don’t go to heaven. Here is an excerpt from that article:
N.T. “Tom” Wright, the fourth most senior cleric in the Church of England who has been praised for his staunch defense of the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ, has published a new book in which he says people do not ascend to God’s dwelling place. Instead, deceased believers are in a sleep-like state until God comes back to Earth.
“Never at any point do the Gospels or Paul say Jesus has been raised, therefore we are we are all going to heaven,” Wright told Time Magazine. “I’ve often heard people say, ‘I’m going to heaven soon, and I won’t need this stupid body there, thank goodness.’ That’s a very damaging distortion, all the more so for being unintentional.”
Could he be right? Could it be that Christians just enter a “sleep-like state” instead of going to heaven as most believe? What about non-Christians? Or even those of us who are refered to as Messianic Jews or Jewish-Christians? Let’s see what the Word of G-d has to say about the subject.
There was a man who had fallen sick. His name was El`azar, and he came from Beit-Anyah, the village where Miryam and her sister Marta lived. 2 (This Miryam, whose brother El`azar had become sick, is the one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent a message to Yeshua, “Lord, the man you love is sick.” 4 On hearing it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may receive glory through it.” 5 Yeshua loved Marta and her sister and El`azar; 6 so when he heard he was sick, first he stayed where he was two more days; 7 then, after this, he said to the talmidim, “Let’s go back to Y’hudah.” 8 The talmidim replied, “Rabbi! Just a short while ago the Judeans were out to stone you — and you want to go back there?” 9 Yeshua answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a person walks during daylight, he doesn’t stumble; because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if a person walks at night, he does stumble; because he has no light with him.” 11 Yeshua said these things, and afterwards he said to the talmidim, “Our friend El`azar has gone to sleep; but I am going in order to wake him up.” 12 The talmidim said to him, “Lord, if he has gone to sleep, he will get better.” 13 Now Yeshua had used the phrase to speak about El`azar’s death, but they thought he had been talking literally about sleep. 14 So Yeshua told them in plain language, “El`azar has died. – Yochanan (John) 11:1-14 (CJB)
So El’azar (Lazarus) was dead but Yeshua said he was asleep. It is a matter of perspective. To the talmidim (disciples), Miryam, Marta, and everyone else, El’azar had died. But Yeshua, who is the Son of G-d and the Word made Flesh, he was merely asleep.
18 While he was talking, an official came in, kneeled down in front of him and said, “My daughter has just died. But if you come and lay your hand on her, she will live.” 19 Yeshua, with his talmidim, got up and followed him. 20 A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years approached him from behind and touched the tzitzit on his robe. 21 For she said to herself, “If I can only touch his robe, I will be healed.” 22 Yeshua turned, saw her and said, “Courage, daughter! Your trust has healed you.” And she was instantly healed. 23 When Yeshua arrived at the official’s house and saw the flute-players, and the crowd in an uproar, 24 he said, “Everybody out! The girl isn’t dead, she’s only sleeping!” And they jeered at him. 25 But after the people had been put outside, he entered and took hold of the girl’s hand, and she got up. – Mattit’yahu (Matthew) 9:18-26
Again, the same thing. Everyone except Yeshua sees the girl as being dead. Yeshua sees her as merely sleeping. Here’s some other passages from B’rit Chadashah that emphasize the point:
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a rousing cry, with a call from one of the ruling angels, and with God’s shofar; those who died united with the Messiah will be the first to rise; – 1 Thessalonians 4:16
When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been put to death for proclaiming the Word of God, that is, for bearing witness. – Revelation 6:9
Even the Tanakh bears witness to the Truth:
The dead can’t praise ADONAI, not those who sink down into silence. – Psalms 115:17
For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; there is no longer any reward for them, because all memory of them is lost. – Ecclesiastes 9:5
the dust returns to earth, as it was, and the spirit returns to God, who gave it! – Ecclesiastes 12
In Luke 23:43, Yeshua said to one of the thieves, “Yes! I promise that you will be with me today in Gan-`Eden.” and yet Yeshua did not rise from the grave for three days. So obviously Yeshua did not mean that very day as we reckon time. Is it not possible, even probable, that Yeshua meant today as G-d reckons time? And since the theif would fall asleep, from G-d’s perspective) at his death, he would awaken, seemingly an instant later, in Gan-’Eden (Paradise; Heaven). And yet an untold amount of time would have passed here on Earth.
I think the Scriptural evidence is quite clear. We all fall asleep when we die. The resurrection will take place when Yeshua comes back.
Sha’alu Shalom Yerushalayim,
Jason
Tags: Bible Study, Life After Death, News, Scripture
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