A couple years ago we did a study on "soul sleep" and found numerous verses that clearly show there is consciousness after physical death. (Go Here for that study) In this study I want to look at "soul sleep" before and after the resurrection.
Most Christians pick up on the idea that "soul sleep" is man made. But the The Jehovah's Witnesses and the Seventh-day Adventists believe that when a person dies that his soul "sleeps" until the time of the resurrection. The person is not aware or conscious. In fact they believe both righteous and unrighteous sleep in there grave until the resurrection. They flat out admit they teach that the soul/spirit is nonexistent during that time between death and the resurrection. As we shown in our last study, they grab a few verses out of thin air and tell you there it is. Not only did we show "soul sleep" to be bogus, this time we are going to clearly show that the souls/spirits of the dead in the days before and after Christ's resurrection were "conscious" or "alive" in the unseen spiritual realm.
Every Christian knows the story of Enoch right? He was walking with God and was no more? meaning he physically died on earth. Let me ask you this. Why would Enoch die at a young age only to go into unconsciousness? He went into the spiritual realm with God in a conscious state. What about King Saul commanding the necromancer to call up the soul/spirit of Samuel. which she did! Samuel was conscious and aware of what had been happening in the world, as well as what would happen the next day. The passage of time was still a conscious thing to Samuel. Another was Elijah whom was caught up into the spiritual realm and he was conscious there. He even reappeared with Moses to Christ at the Transfiguration. Both Moses and Elijah were conscious of what had happened with Christ up to that point, as well as what was about to happen to Jesus shortly in Jerusalem, His death.
If you're teaching "soul sleep" study with me. What do you have to lose?
What about the souls under the alter crying out "How Long? (Revelation 6) These were dead believers who had been martyred. Their souls were conscious apart from their bodies, and this was before the resurrection.
Paul says in Philippians 1:23 that if he was
killed in the persecution that he would "depart and be with Christ, for that is
very much better." That doesn't sound like a description of "soul sleep" to me.
And keep in mind that this was before the resurrection. Also, in 2 Cor. 12 Paul
talks about his being "caught up" into the "third heaven" (paradise) and hearing
"inexpressible words" there. He wasn't sure whether that was an "in the body" or
"out of the body" experience. But if "soul sleep" is true, then it could not
have been an "out of the body" experience, and the inspired Apostle Paul would
have to be considered mistaken for even suggesting that it could have been "out
of the body" in the first place. He should have known the true nature of the
afterlife, especially since he had been taken there "in the body." His ambiguity
here about a possible "out of the body" experience in Paradise (the third
heaven) does not bode well for the "soul sleep" advocates. If it was not a
possible way of experiencing Paradise, then Paul would not even suggested it. It
seems clear that he is teaching the same thing Jesus did about the unseen
spiritual realm which can be consciously experienced "out of the body."
Look at these other texts which not only imply the consciousness of the
soul/spirit after death, but actually assert it and demand it.
Genesis 35:18
And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died)...
Note that, when Rachel died, her soul departed. It didn't "fall asleep".
Luke 12:4
And I say unto you my friends, "Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and
after that have no more that they can do."
Here we see that Jesus says that murderers kill only the body, and cannot harm
the soul at all. In other words, our soul stays alive, despite anything a
murderer might try to do. Notice that Jesus speaks of the "soul" and "body"
separately.
Matthew 17:1,3-4
Six days later Jesus *took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and
*led them up on a high mountain by themselves. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah
appeared to them, talking with Him. 4 Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for
us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and
one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
Moses had died, (Deuteronomy 34:5 - So Moses the servant of the Lord died there
in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord) and yet, despite being
dead, he is able to speak to Jesus at the Transfiguration. Doesn't sound like
his disembodied soul/spirit was "unconscious" or "out of existence" to me. Keep
in mind that this was before the resurrection. Moses and Elijah did not have
their "immortal" bodies yet. But their disembodied souls/spirits were still
conscious of what was happening to Jesus.
Luke 16:19-31 The story of The Rich Man and Lazarus
"Soul-sleep" advocates will try to dismiss this verse by
claiming it is a parable. But even if it is a parable, it still doesn't remove
the problem. Jesus in all of his parables and discourses teaches nothing that is
not "true to life." His parables do not distort reality, nor paint pictures that
are not realistic and possible. If the picture Jesus paints of Hades is not
correct, then we would have to charge Jesus with misrepresenting reality. Notice that Lazarus and the rich man have both died, but their souls
are still conscious in Hades, despite the death of their bodies (and the same is
true of Abraham). All this takes place before the resurrection, while the rich
man's brothers are still alive on earth. If this was not the real state of the
dead in Hades, then Jesus is knowingly guilty of totally misrepresenting the
nature of the unseen Hadean spiritual realm to his disciples. It is obvious that
Luke is not aware of this "alleged" misrepresentation, because he doesn't
correct it and set the record straight. There are no disclaimers here. Nowhere
in the New Testament do any of the inspired writers correct this impression that
Jesus gives of the Hadean realm, but in fact they further augment it and
reinforce it, as we shall see below.
Luke 20:34-38
Jesus said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but
those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from
the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; for they cannot even die
anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the
resurrection. "But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage
about the burning bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. "Now He is not the God of the dead but of the
LIVING; for ALL LIVE TO HIM." Does this sound like the God of dead soul
sleepers?
Jesus is speaking to the Sadducees here about
the afterlife and the resurrection. They denied an
afterlife even for the righteous, and they certainly denied that the
souls/spirits of dead people were still conscious after the death of their
bodies. Yet, notice what Jesus says about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the
dead here in this discourse to the Sadducees. Notice that the dead are still
"alive" (i.e., conscious) in the unseen spiritual realm (Hades). They were not
unconscious like the Sadducees believed. If Jesus actually
believed in "soul sleep" like the Sadducees did, why doesn't he agree with the
Sadducees that the departed dead are unconscious or nonexistent until the
resurrection? Jesus doesn't leave any room for the Sadducees to
stand on. He totally denies their claim that the dead are unconscious and
nonexistent and never to be raised. He instead asserts clearly that "ALL" the
dead (including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the deceased woman and her seven
deceased husbands) "ARE ALIVE TO HIM." They are conscious and have not ceased to
exist. They will remain consciously alive right on through the resurrection
event. This was the perfect opportunity for Jesus to set the record straight on
the consciousness of the soul after death, and Jesus clearly comes down on the
side against the Sadducees who believed in "soul sleep."
Luke 23:43 (Thief on the cross)
And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in
Paradise."
That day ("today") was before the resurrection. And it clearly implies that the
thief would consciously know and experience "paradise" with Christ on that very
day (after their bodies expired). They both (Jesus and the thief) went
to the "good" part of Hades called "paradise" or "Abraham's bosom," where
Abraham and Lazarus were also (cf. Luke 16:19ff).
1 Peter 3:18-19 and 1 Pet. 4:6 (bracketed info and emphasis mine, ees)
For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he
might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the
Spirit: by which also he went and PREACHED UNTO THE SPIRITS imprisoned [in
Hades]. ...For the gospel has for this purpose been PREACHED EVEN TO THOSE WHO ARE
DEAD [in Hades], that though they [have suffered death] in the flesh as [all]
men [have to do], they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.
If the spirits imprisoned in Hades were unconscious and "knew nothing," then why
did Jesus bother to go and preach to them? And further, how could Jesus Himself,
whose body was dead, be conscious after death and preach to anybody? Are we to
assume that Christ was unconscious (or out of existence) during that three days
his body was in the tomb? If so, that would reflect adversely on the Deity of
Christ, and it would make this text totally incomprehensible. The obvious
meaning that flies off the face of this text is that when Jesus' body died, His
conscious Spirit/Soul descended into the Hadean realm (cf. Eph. 4:9-10 and Acts
2:27,31) where He not only announced the good news of His soon-coming redemption
of the righteous from Satan's captivity in the good part of Hades (Paradise),
but also the soon-coming doom of the unrighteous in the other part of Hades (Tartarus).
I believe this solves all the difficulties that Christians have always struggled
with. The Roman Catholic interpretation
of this text (as a prooftext for Purgatory and the "second chance" idea) is
totally bogus. The wicked in the bad part of Hades (Tartarus) are not given a
second chance. They are merely told of their soon coming doom, when at the
resurrection of the rest of the righteous dead out of the good part of Hades,
the wicked will be cast into the Lake of Fire (Gehinnom).
Luke 24:37-39
But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a
spirit. And he said unto them, "Why are you troubled? and why do thoughts arise
in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and
see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see me have."
If a spirit apart from its body is dead, then surely the Apostles would know
this and thus would not have thought that a living Jesus would be a spirit.
Also, if the Apostles had been incorrect in believing that a person's soul
survives apart from that person's body, then why didn't Jesus correct them
instead of encouraging them in this "erroneous" belief they held? In fact, Jesus
here says that the spirit exists independently of the body.
2 Corinthians 5:6,8-9
Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, while we are at home in the
body, we are absent from the Lord.... We are confident, I say, and willing rather
to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we labor,
that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
This passage reflects the status that Paul and other believers had during the
transition period (between the Cross and the Parousia) before the final
resurrection event in AD 70. Paul says that if he died (became "absent from his
body") he knew he would be "at home with the Lord." If he was
still alive in his body here on earth, he was "absent from the Lord" who was
away in heaven and due to return soon. If the "soul sleep" idea is correct,
these words of Paul become deeply troubling. How could Paul "be at home with the
Lord" in any real or conscious sense if his soul/spirit became unconscious/non
existent
at the death of his body? Yet, Paul affirms very clearly here that he knows that
if he had died in that transition period before the resurrection event, he would
have been "at home with the Lord" and "absent from his body"! Paul obviously did
not hold to a "soul sleep" concept!
Revelation 20:4
I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus... they lived
and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Note that John saw only the souls of the martyrs. This was the "first
resurrection" group who were raised at the beginning of the millennium period.
It was obviously martyrs whose bodies were dead, but whose "souls" were
conscious and were allowed to "come to life" (be taken out of their captivity in
Hades) and reign with Christ during the millennium period. It doesn't say
whether they were given their new immortal bodies yet or not. But it does call
this the "first resurrection." It was the first group of disembodied souls who
were raised out of Hades. I believe Matt. 27:52-53 is the event that this text
is pointing to that group of "saints" who came out of their tombs at Jesus'
resurrection and "appeared to many" in Jerusalem. Apparently they ascended with
Christ 40 days later (Eph. 4:8-10) and may in fact be the "souls under the
altar" mentioned in Rev. 6:9-10. The point we are making here is that these "souls" had consciousness before the final resurrection in AD 70. If they didn't
get their new immortal bodies until AD 70, then they were disembodied "souls"
that were still conscious. This refutes the "soul sleep" idea that disembodied
souls are unconscious or nonexistent.
Revelation 6:9-10
When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the SOULS of
those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the
testimony which they had maintained; and they CRIED OUT with a LOUD VOICE,
saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and
avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
Here we see disembodied "SOULS" in the heavenly temple (under the altar) BEFORE
the final resurrection and judgment, while life is still going on as usual on
the earth. These martyrs, whose bodies were clearly "dead," have their own
memories, and remember that they have been martyred, and are crying out for
justice against their murderers. They are very obviously "conscious" without
their bodies in the heavenly realm before the final resurrection when they would
have received their new immortal bodies. If the soul sleep idea is correct, this
passage would be totally meaningless, and a
misrepresentation of reality in the unseen spiritual realm.
Rev. 22:14-15
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the
tree of life, and may ENTER by the gates into the city. OUTSIDE ARE the dogs and
the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and
everyone who loves and practices lying.
Notice that this text is talking about the state of the dead AFTER the final (AD 70) resurrection has taken place. The righteous have their new immortal bodies and are INSIDE the heavenly city. The unsaved are still conscious and are OUTSIDE the gates of the heavenly city. The unsaved did not get "immortality" at the resurrection event, yet they are still conscious and alive. They did not receive "immortality" at the resurrection. They remain alive OUTSIDE of heaven after the resurrection event.