A gracEmail subscriber asks for "a bit more elaboration" on the notion that God's redemption will include the creation itself as well as individual children, women and men. * * * According to the Bible, God brought the physical universe into existence and he heartily approved of all that he originally made (Gen. 1:1, 31). From dust of the earth God formed a man-creature, breathed life breath into his elemental nostrils and -- voila! -- Adam became a living soul. God then exquisitely shaped Eve, the woman-creature, and placed the two humans over the rest of the material creation to tend it, … [Read more...]
NEW HEAVENS AND EARTH (1)
A gracEmail subscriber asks for "a bit more elaboration" on the notion that God's redemption will include the creation itself as well as individual children, women and men. * * * According to the Bible, God brought the physical universe into existence and he heartily approved of all that he originally made (Gen. 1:1, 31). From dust of the earth God formed a man-creature, breathed life breath into his elemental nostrils and -- voila! -- Adam became a living soul. God then exquisitely shaped Eve, the woman-creature, and placed the two humans over the rest of the material creation to tend it, … [Read more...]
GOING TO HEAVEN
"I hear people talk about 'going to heaven,'" writes a gracEmail subscriber. "Does the Bible say that the saved will go there? If it does, do people 'go to heaven' as soon as they die, or at the end of the world?" * * * Scripture assures us that believers now have a house that is from heaven (2 Cor. 5:2), treasures in heaven (Matt. 6:20), reward in heaven (Lk. 6:23), names written in heaven (Lk. 10:20), citizenship in heaven (Phil. 3:20), a hope in heaven (Col. 1:5), and an inheritance in heaven (1 Pet. 1:4). Yet, surprising as it may seem, the Bible nowhere says that the redeemed will go to … [Read more...]
GIVING ACCOUNT
A subscriber in Arizona asks, "You say that we will have to give an account of our stewardship of time and talent but that it does not affect our salvation. What do you think that giving account is for?" * * * Such statements of Scripture remind us that we are responsible for our deeds and our decisions during this life. The day will come when we each will answer to our Maker. There will come a time of reckoning, a "judgment" day, the Great Assize (Psalm 50). For those who are finally saved, this will be a moment of infinite exposure before God who knows every outward circumstance and inmost … [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...]