THE FIRST DAY OF APRIL IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN A gracEmail subscriber recently attended two funerals at which the pastor said the deceased had experienced their resurrections. This subscriber believes that the resurrection will take place at Christ's return. "Is there a biblical basis," he asks, "for believing that Christians who die now experience their resurrection before that?" * * *Unless I am badly confused, Paul states unequivocally that all the redeemed, now living and dead, will be caught up together one day to join the Lord. That … [Read more...]
afterlife discussion has nine lives
A recent gracEmail titled "Boy Who Told Fibs About Heaven" told of 16-year-old Alex Malarkey's announcement that his book, The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven (co-written with dad, Kevin), was untrue. Alex never went to heaven, he now says, but rather as a six-year-old made up the whole story to get attention. The gracEmail noted three major elements in Alex's story that contradict biblical teaching--always a clear warning for discerning readers. The gracEmail generated double the usual number of responses, including one from Mark Albrecht of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mark is a delightful … [Read more...]
Boy who told fibs about heaven
Titled The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven, this 2010 bestseller from Tyndale by Alex Malarkey and his father Kevin Malarkey has sold more than a million copies. And why not, we ask, for a book that purports to tell the story of six-year-old Alex, who sustained head injuries in a vehicular collision that left him comatose for two months and paralyzed permanently. While in the coma, said Alex, speaking through his father, he died but eventually came back. Alex' adventures while dead include a trip to heaven escorted by angels, topped off by a visit with Jesus himself. This month (January … [Read more...]
OUR FUTURE SELVES
Oh, to live forever! Do you ever long for that? It's a grandiose wish, all right, and certainly not unqualified or without reservations. We would not want any pain, for example, should we somehow manage to live forever. Most of us have experienced pain here; we clearly have no appetite for any more. An unending life ought to be pain-free. While we are at it, let's stipulate that sickness also is banished in that unending future. Even without pain, sickness ruins an otherwise good day. While we are daydreaming, let's include a total body makeover. No surgical procedures involved, just a … [Read more...]
THE RICH MAN & LAZARUS (2)
A gracEmail subscriber has heard the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) used to teach that when the wicked die they immediately begin to suffer conscious torment, and that after the Resurrection they will suffer that conscious torment forever. Why do I not teach these two things? * * * Some argue that this story cannot be a parable because Jesus says "there was a certain rich man" and "a certain poor man." However, Jesus also introduces the story of the Unrighteous Judge by saying "there was in a certain city a judge," yet Luke tells us that story is a parable (Lk. 18:1-2). … [Read more...]
ARE THE DEAD CONSCIOUS?
A gracEmail subscriber writes," I read your book The Fire That Consumes and I believe your position is scriptural that the dead are unconscious between death and Resurrection. I do have some questions, however, about several passages." * * * My major concern in The Fire That Consumes was to investigate thoroughly all biblical teaching about the final state of the lost. Because those who believe that the lost will totally perish and be destroyed eternally in hell are divided as to whether the dead are conscious or awake before the Resurrection, I tried to avoid that subject in TFTC. … [Read more...]
THE ‘INTERMEDIATE STATE’
A brother who has read The Fire that Consumes inquired about the state of believers after the moment of death and before the resurrection at the Last Day, the period sometimes called "the intermediate state." * * * If one begins thinking at the point of biblical anthropology, it seems to me one easily concludes that there is no conscious "intermediate state." In the Creation story, God makes a mud man (body) into which he breathes "breath of life" (spirit/breath) and the creature becomes a "living soul". Genesis uses the same expressions "breath of life" and "living souls" when talking about … [Read more...]
DEATH AS SEPARATION
A gracEmail subscriber asks about the Bible's frequent reference to the dead as "sleeping" and a different subscriber asks if death does not involve separation of body and spirit. * * * Indeed, death involves the separation of body and spirit but a word of caution is in order. "Spirit" (from Latin, spiritus) is ruach (Hebrew) or pneuma (Greek) -- "breath" or "wind" -- with which our material body is living and without which it is dead (Gen. 2:7). The spirit is not some immaterial "real person" or "immortal soul" which remains conscious when the body is dead, as in Platonic thought. The … [Read more...]
JESUS’ TRANSFIGURATION AND THE DEAD
A pastor in Florida quotes the biblical passage which says that the dead know nothing (Eccl. 9:5), and asks how to square that with the account of Jesus' Transfiguration, in which Moses and Elijah briefly appear and talk with Jesus, then disappear again. * * * Indeed, the Bible describes the dead as going down into Sheol (Hebrew) or Hades (Greek), the "unseen realm" for which one might easily coin the English name "Gravedom." In that "land of forgetfulness," that domain of "darkness" (Psa. 88:11-12), they are cut off from life and from enjoying blessings from God's hand (Psa. 88:5). Most … [Read more...]
YOUR SON IS SAFE
A dear Christian sister whose 21-year-old-son was killed in Afghanistan asks: "Until Judgment Day, are Christians who die just 'sleeping,' or are they with the Lord? I know the Bible says we won’t have our glorified bodies until the resurrection but it also says that to be 'absent from the body' is to be 'present with the Lord.'” * * * I am so sorry for the loss of your son. May God give you special comfort and his supporting Presence each new day. As for the state of the departed, the most common biblical description throughout both Old and New Testaments is that they have fallen asleep. … [Read more...]