Tag: Return of Christ

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Armageddon is not a literal place; it is Judgment Day.

The sixth plague is the only place in the Bible that explicitly refers to Armageddon:

“Spirits of demons, performing signs,
… go out to the kings of the whole world,
to gather them together
for the war of the great day of God”
(Rev 16:14).

“They gathered them together to the place
which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon”
(Rev 16:16 – NASB).

SUMMARY OF THIS ARTICLE

ARMAGEDDON IS NOT A LITERAL PLACE.

For the following reasons, Armageddon is not a literal place:

(1) There is no literal place called Armageddon (Har-Magedon in the NASB). Har means mountain. Magedon is normally connected with Megiddo, an ancient fortress city located on a plain some sixty miles north of Jerusalem. Then Har-Magedon would mean ‘the Mountain of Megiddo’, but there is no such a mountain. Interpreters offer many solutions to identify a literal geographical location but none of these proposed solutions are especially persuasive.

(2) This plague is couched in the language of ancient warfare. Modern warfare does not allow for a world war limited to one literal geographical location.

(3) The context is symbolic. For example, the Euphrates symbolizes the people that support false Christianity and the kings from the east symbolize Christ and those that are with Him at His return. Given this symbolic context, Armageddon must also be interpreted figuratively.

(4) The plagues are global. The previous plagues all affect the entire world. For example, the previous plagues attacked“ the earth,” “the sea,” “the rivers and the springs of waters,” and “the sun” (Rev 16:2, 3, 4, 8). Given that the other plagues are global, we should expect Armageddon to be global as well.

ARMAGEDDON IS THE RETURN OF CHRIST.

The plagues describe the very final events; after every person has been marked with either the mark of the beast or the seal of God. For the following reasons, Armageddon refers to the return of Christ:

(1) The “kings from the east” in the first verse of the sixth plague (Rev 16:12) have been interpreted to symbolize Christ and those that are with Him at His return.

(2) In contrast to them, “the kings of the whole world” are gathered together for “the war of the great day of God” at Armageddon (Rev 16:14, 16). The sixth plague, therefore, is the preparation for the war at Armageddon; not the war itself. As discussed in the identification of the kings from the east, the war is the seventh plague, and that plague continues in Revelation 19 and terminates with Christ’s return.

(3) The phrase, “the great day” is found in one other place in Revelation, namely in the sixth seal (Rev 6:17), which points to Christ’s return (Rev 6:12-15; cf. Matt 24:29).

(4) “The great day of God” is the same as this Old Testament “Day of the Lord,” and that day is Christ’s return – “the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 1:8).

(5) There are several parallels between the sixth plague and the return of Christ in Revelation 19. For example, in both, there are two groups of kings. In both, the kings of the world are gathered together for war while the other group of kings moves towards them to take them on in battle.

CONCLUSION

Since “the war of the great day of God, the Almighty” (Rev 16:14), for which the kings are gathered at Armageddon (Rev 16:16), refers to the return of Christ, “the kings of the whole world” will not be gathered to a physical place, but the spirits of demons will unite world leaders in mind and spirit against God (Rev 16:14).

– END OF SUMMARY –

ARMAGEDDON
IS NOT A LITERAL PLACE.

For the following reasons, Armageddon is not a literal place:

(1) NO LITERAL PLACE CALLED ARMAGEDDON

There is no literal place called Armageddon (Har-Magedon in the NASB).

Har means mountain. Magedon is normally connected with Megiddo, an ancient fortress city located on a plain in the southwest portion of the Valley of Jezreel (Jewish name) or Esdraelon (Greek name), some sixty miles north of Jerusalem. Then Har-Magedon would mean ‘the Mountain of Megiddo’, but there is no such a mountain. Interpreters offer many solutions to identify a literal geographical location:

Armageddon could refer to the hill country surrounding the Plain of Megiddo. Over time, more than two hundred battles have been fought in that region.

Or it could refer to Megiddo and Mount Carmel in one breath. Mount Carmel hosted one of the most significant battles in Israel’s history—the battle in which the prophet Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal (1 King 18). This spiritual battle may stand behind the battle of Armageddon.

One frequent suggestion is that it refers to Ezekiel’s prophecy of a great eschatological slaughter of the nations on “the mountains of Israel” (Ezek 38:8-21; 39:2, 4, 17) and that the name Megiddo has been added as the place where, so often in Israel’s history, the enemies of God were destroyed.

Others interpret Armageddon without a reference to Megiddo, but still as a specific literal geographical location.

None of these proposed solutions for a literal place are especially persuasive.

(2) THE LANGUAGE OF ANCIENT WARFARE

This plague is couched in the language of ancient warfare where a river must be dried up to allow an army to attack another (Rev 16:12), and where the war takes place at a specific location.

Modern warfare does not allow for a world war limited to one literal geographical location. A major part of warfare today is on the sea and by air. Through missiles, aircraft, and aircraft carriers, a modern army can strike very precisely anywhere in the world.  

(3)  THE CONTEXT IS SYMBOLIC.

For example, the sixth plague begins when the angel pours his bowl out on the Euphrates, and its waters dry up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. Previous articles interpreted this as follows:

Given this symbolic context, Armageddon must also be interpreted figuratively.

(4) THE GLOBAL NATURE OF THE PLAGUES

The previous plagues all affect the entire world. For example, “the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth” (Rev 16:2), the second “into the sea” (Rev 16:3), the third “into the rivers and the springs of waters” (Rev 16:4) and the fourth “upon the sun” (Rev 16:8). Given that the other plagues are global, we should expect Armageddon to be global as well.

ARMAGEDDON
IS THE RETURN OF CHRIST.

As describe in the introduction to the plagues, the plagues describe the very final events; after every person has made his or her final decision and after every person has been marked with either the mark of the beast or the seal of God. For the following reasons, we propose that Armageddon refers to the return of Christ:

(1) THE KINGS FROM THE EAST

A previous article discussed the identity of the “kings from the east” in the first verse of the sixth plague (Rev 16:12) and concluded as follows:

The “kings from the east” symbolize Christ and those that are with Him at His return.

In contrast to the “kings from the east,” “the kings of the whole world” are gathered together for “the war of the great day of God” at Armageddon (Rev 16:14, 16). The sixth plague, therefore, is the preparation for the war at Armageddon; not the war itself. Therefore, the war is the seventh plague. But the seventh plague continues in Revelation 19 and culminates in the return of Christ.

To confirm this conclusion, that article identified several links between the sixth plague and the return of Christ in Revelation 19. For example, in both, there are two groups of kings (Rev 16:12, 14; 19:16, 19). In both, the kings of the world are gathered together for war (Rev 16:14, 16; Rev 19:19) while the other group of kings moves towards them (Rev 16:12; 19:14) to take them on in battle.

(2) THE GREAT DAY

“The kings of the whole world” are gathered at Armageddon for “the great day” (Rev 16:14, 16).

(2A) THE GREAT DAY IN THE SIXTH SEAL

The phrase, “the great day” is found in one other place in Revelation, namely in the sixth seal, where the multitude hiding in the mountains cries, “the great day of their wrath has come” (Rev 6:17). This seal points to Christ’s return because it has the signs of His return (Rev 6:12-15; cf. Matt 24:29).

Another link between the sixth seal and Armageddon it that this seal also shows the kings of the whole world gathered together. However, they are hiding in the mountains (Rev 6:15). This indicates that the sixth seal shows us the world at a slightly later time than the sixth plague. In fact, the sixth seal seems to be parallel to the seventh plague because in both we find the “great earthquake,” which moves mountains out of their places (Rev 6:12, 14; 16:18, 20).

(2B) THE GREAT DAY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

The sixth plague is the only place in the Bible where we find the exact phrase “the great day of God” but, outside Revelation, variations of this phrase appear in nearly 30 verses. For example:

      • “The great day of the LORD” (Zeph 1:14);
      • “The day of the LORD’S anger” (Zeph 2:3);
      • “The day of the LORD” (Joel 1:15; 2:1).

Therefore, “the great day,” for which “the kings of the whole world” are gathered at Armageddon (Rev 16:14, 16), is the same as this Old Testament “day of the Lord,” and that day is Christ’s return – “the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 1:8). For example:

      • On the day of the Lord, the sun will turn into darkness and the moon into blood (Joel 2:31; cf. Matt 24:29).
      • It is “the day of the LORD’s anger” (Zeph 2:2, 3) and “wrath” (Zeph 1:18).
      • It is “destruction from the Almighty” (Isa 13:6; Joel 1:15).
      • “All the earth will be devoured in the fire” (Zeph 1:18). And
      • God “will exterminate all sinners” (Isa 13:9).

Since Armageddon is the same as the Old Testament war of the “Day of the Lord,” it cannot be a world war between the nations of the world that is limited to one geographical location on the globe.

CONCLUSION

For these reasons, it is proposed that “the war of the great day of God, the Almighty” referred to in the sixth plague (Rev 16:14), for which the kings are gathered at Armageddon (Rev 16:16), refer to the return of Christ. Then it cannot be a war between the nations of the world that is limited to one geographical location on the globe. It must rather be interpreted consistent with the frequent references in the Bible to the “Day of the Lord.” 

“The kings of the whole world” will not be gathered to a physical place, but the spirits of demons will unite world leaders in mind and spirit against God. The kings of the earth are “gathered” in the sense that they are all convinced to join forces against the enemy of the world, whom they see as the Lamb, represented by His people on earth.

Armageddon will be a physical war, but it will be worldwide.

THE GREAT DAY
IS CHRIST’S RETURN.

So far, we have shown that Armageddon refers to Christ’s return by comparing it to His return as described in Revelation 19 and to His return in the sixth and seventh seals (Rev 6:12-15; 8:1). This section provides parallels between the Old Testament Day of the Lord and the Return of Christ in Revelation.

The return of Christ, in Revelation, is also described in the harvest of the earth in Rev 14:14-15 and following. Consider the similarities:

  DAY OF THE LORD RETURN OF CHRIST

DARK-NESS

 The sun turns into darkness and the moon into blood (Joel 2:31; Acts 2:20). SIXTH SEAL
“The sun became black … and the whole moon became like blood” (Rev 6:12)

ANGER

 “The day of the LORD’S anger” (Zeph 2:2, 3) and “wrath” (Zeph 1:18). It is “cruel, with fury and burning anger” (Isa 13:9). SIXTH SEAL
“The great day of their wrath” (Rev 6:17).
REV 19
“He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God” (Rev 19:15).

DE-STRUC-TION

 “Destruction from the Almighty” (Isa 13:6; Joel 1:15). “All the earth will be devoured in the fire” (Zeph 1:18).  “The earth and its works will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). “The sky was split apart … and every mountain and island were moved out of their places” (Rev 6:14 – sixth seal). “Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found” (Rev 16:20 – seventh plague).

THE LOST

 God “will exterminate all sinners” (Isa 13:9). “He will make a complete end … of all the inhabitants of the earth” (Zeph 1:18). “The rest were killed” (Rev 19:21). “The wine press was trodden outside the city,
and blood came … up to the horses’ bridles” (Rev 14:20).
THE ELECT God’s elect will “be hidden in the day of the LORD’S anger” (Zeph 2:3) and “saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor 5:5). God’s elect “came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” (Rev 20:4). 

VALLEY OF DECISION

Joel 3 contains a powerful description of the Day of the Lord with many similarities to the three main Armageddon-passages in Revelation:

Joel 3:9-11 sounds like the SIXTH PLAGUE:

“Prepare for war! … let all the men of war draw near…   Assemble and come, all you nations, and gather together“

Joel 3:12 focuses on JUDGMENT, something which Revelation does not mention directly: 

“Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.”  

Joel 3:13 is similar to THE HARVEST at the end of Revelation 14:

“Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. … the winepress is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great.” 

Joel 3:14 is similar to the SIXTH SEAL:

“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the Day of the LORD is near … The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will diminish their brightness. … the heavens and earth will shake; but the LORD will be a shelter for his people” (Joel 3:9-17)

Both Joel and Revelation, when describing the Day of the Lord, refer to a harvest, a winepress, preparation for war, assemble and gather together, sickle, signs to the sun, moon, and stars, and earth-shattering earthquakes.

Joel’s valley of decision and Armageddon. therefore, is the same place.  There God “will sit to judge” (Joel 3:12).  After thousands of years of religious persecution, God will make a distinction between His people and unbelievers.

ARTICLES ON THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES

Introduction – Revelation 15

The first four plagues
– Must not be interpreted individually
– Target the earth, sea, waters and sun, but the people do not repent.

The Fifth Plague
– The Throne of the Beast is Christian Religious Authority.
– The Light of the Mighty Angel of Rev 18 causes the darkness.
– The Roman Empire gave to the Church is throne and power.

The Sixth Plague
– The Great River, the Euphrates, dries up.
– The Kings from the East are Christ and His angels.
– Armageddon is not a literal place but Judgment Day.
– Does “coming like a thief” (Rev 16:15) support a secret rapture?
– Why the Euphrates has to dry up to prepare the way for the kings
– Summary of these articles & conclusions

The Seventh Plague culminates in the return of Christ.

Purpose of the Plagues
– To show that God judges perfectly
– Why is it necessary to show that God judges perfectly?

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In 1 Corinthians 15, are the dead in heaven as conscious immortal souls?

This is an article in the series on Death, Eternal Life, and Eternal Torment.

PURPOSE

Most Christians believe that, when Christ returns, His people will be resurrected with wonderful new bodies. However, most Christians also believe that all people have immortal souls, and that, between death and resurrection, their souls will exist in heaven without bodies but fully conscious.  But the lost will be tormented in hell after death and for all eternity.

I agree that the Bible teaches an immaterial part of each human being survives death. Stephan, for example, just before he died, said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

The immaterial part of man also returns to the body when the person is revived from death.  Elijah, for example, prayed that the child’s soul may return to him.

Sometimes the Bible refers to that immaterial part as the person’s “soul” and sometimes as “spirit.” In the Bible, similar to modern English, the words “soul” and “spirit” both have a wide range of meanings. Consequently, both ‘soul’ and ‘spirit’ are sometimes used to refer to the immaterial part of the human being. 

ETERNAL TORMENT

But I do not agree that the lost are or will be eternally tormented, for I do not believe that the immaterial part of humans is immortal.  For example, Jesus said that God is able to destroy both body and soul in hell (Matt 10:28). And Paul consistently warns that sinners will die. For example: “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). This refers to eternal death. In the end, God will be “all in all” (1 Cor 15:28). This does not allow for an eternal hell where creatures curse God. For a further discussion, see Eternal Life and Eternal Torment. 

STATE OF THE DEAD

I also do not agree that the Bible teaches that, after the death of the body, the immaterial part of the person continues to exist consciously in heaven.  

Paul writing1 Corinthians 15 is Paul’s famous resurrection chapter. In it, he addresses challenges concerning his teachings about death. That chapter deals with both the final outcome for the individual human being as well as with the final outcome for the world. Most of it discusses the resurrection of Christians when Christ returns. It addresses both the CERTAINTY of the resurrection as well as the TYPE OF BODY with which God’s people will be resurrected. 

The purpose of the current article is to analyze this chapter to determine whether Paul thought that people have immortal souls that, after death, exist consciously in heaven.

This article, like all others on this website, uses the NASB translation as default.

1 CORINTHIANS 15
– OVERVIEW –

Some Christians (probably ex-Sadducees) challenged Paul and said that there is no resurrection from the dead (1 Cor 15:12). Paul responds by saying that, if there is no resurrection, then Jesus was also not resurrected, and then our sins are not forgiven. Then we only benefit in this life from serving God, for those who have died, have perished (1 Cor 15:17-19). 

If Paul believed that people have immortal souls, he would have stated that in this chapter, but there is no trace of such a thought.  On the contrary, 1 Corinthians 15 claims that:

The dead sleep (e.g. 1 Cor 15:51), which implies that they are unconscious. 

Resurrection means that the dead will wake up, which confirms that they are sleeping and, therefore, unconscious. 

Resurrection also means that the dead are to be made alive (1 Cor 15:20-22), which means they are currently not alive. 

God’s people will become immortal only when Christ returns. In other words, people do not already have immortal souls that are able to exist consciously in heaven after death.

Death is the last enemy which God will abolish (1 Cor 15:26; cf. 54-55). That means that death is not a friend that takes Christians to God in heaven. 

SUMMARY

SLEEP

1 Corinthians 15 describes death four times as “sleep” (e.g., 1 Cor 15:51). Jesus revived two people from death and, in both instances, explained death as “sleep.”  “Sleep” is a metaphor that implies that the person is unconscious.

WAKE UP

1 Corinthians 15 describes resurrection 18 times as egeiró.  The NASB translates egeiró as “raised” (e.g., 1 Cor 15:29) but since the first meaning of egeiró is “to waken” and since this chapter describes the state of the dead as “sleep,” egeiró may be translated as “wake up.” Since Paul says that the entire person wakes up, the entire person sleeps: It is not only the body that sleeps.

PERISHED

Paul wrote: “If the dead are not raised” then the dead in Christ “have perished” (1 Cor 15:16-18). In other words, then they will not be resurrected and there is nothing for us beyond death. As he continues to say, “if the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor 15:32). This means that Paul was not aware of an immortal soul, and he did not think that the dead in Christ are in heaven in conscious existence.

MADE ALIVE

In 1 Cor 15:20-22, Paul explains that to resurrect God’s people is that they are “made alive.”  This implies that the person was not alive or existed consciously and immortally in heaven before resurrection.

THE DEBATE

This chapter is a debate about whether the dead are resurrected and with what kind of body they are resurrected. What is important to note is that neither Paul nor his questioners say anything about the conscious existence of immortal souls in heaven. This implies that Paul did not teach this.

IMMORTALITY

According to 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, Christians will only become immortal “at the last trumpet,” namely, when Christ returns. Then “the dead will be raised imperishable, and we (the living) will be changed” because “this mortal must put on immortality.” In other words, we are not already immortal.

THE LAST ENEMY

Greek philosophers explained death as a friend—the liberation of the immortal and divine soul from the prison-house of the corrupt body.  Today, we often read the Bible with that same mindset.  But Paul writes, “THE LAST ENEMY that will be abolished is death” (1 Cor 15:25-26). Death, in other words, is our enemy; not our friend.

THE SOUL

If the soul is not the conscious part of the individual, what is it?  God created all things and continually preserves all things. Similarly, when we die, the soul or spirit goes to God in the sense that He knows perfectly who or what each of us is and He is able to resurrect us exactly as we were, but immeasurably better.

TO DIE IS GAIN.

From the perspective of the experience of the living, time elapses between death and resurrection. But from the perspective of the dead, who are not aware of time, resurrection follows immediately after death. Therefore Paul could write, “to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21).

– END OF SUMMARY –

SLEEP

1 Cor 15 describes death four times as “sleep.” For example:

“We will not all sleep,
but we will all be changed” (1 Cor 15:51; cf. 6, 18, 20). 

In this, Paul simply follows Jesus’ teaching.  The Old Testament several times refers to death as sleep, but when Jesus walked this earth, the Jews, generally, did not think of death as sleep.  However, Jesus revived two dead people, and in both instances, He purposefully explained death as “sleep:”  

After Lazarus died, Jesus said to His disciples: “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep” (John 11:11).  The disciples responded that if Lazarus sleeps, he will get better.  “Jesus then said to them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead’” (John 11:14).

In the account of Jesus raising the little girl, He said to the mourners, “the girl has not died, but is asleep” (Matt 9:24).  The people did not understand, and they laughed. 

In other words, Jesus purposefully explained death as “sleep.”  “Sleep” is only a metaphor, but it implies that:

Firstly, the person STILL EXISTS;

Secondly, death is a TEMPORARY condition from which the person will awake; and

Thirdly, the person is fully UNCONSCIOUS. 

After the last thought of the dying person, the next conscious thought will be in the new and powerful resurrected body, at the return of Christ.  The person, therefore, experiences the transition to the resurrection body as instantaneous.  It is therefore completely valid for Paul to say he will be with the Lord immediately after his death (Phil 1; 2 Cor 5).

WAKING UP

1 Corinthians 15 describes resurrection 18 times as egeiró.  The NASB translates the Greek word egeiró as “raised.” For example:

“The dead will be raised imperishable” (1 Cor 15:52; cf. 15, 16, 29, 32, 35, etc.). 

But Strong’s Concordance defines egeiró as “to waken, to raise up.” And the first meaning of this word, in Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, is ”to arouse from sleep, to awake.”  Since 1 Corinthians 15 uses “fallen asleep” for death (1 Cor 15:6, 18) and “sleep” to describe the state of the dead (1 Cor 15:51), and since the primary meaning of egeiró is the opposite of “fallen asleep,” egeiró may be translated as “wake up.”

Although 1 Cor 15 uses egeiró many times, it never says that bodies wake up.  Paul always says that “the dead will be raised” (1 Cor 15:52).  “The dead” refers to the entire being of the person; not a part of the person.  Since the entire person wakes up, it is the entire person that sleeps after death. 

PERISHED

Paul wrote:

16 … if the dead are not raised,
not even Christ has been raised;
17 and if Christ has not been raised,
your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only,
we are of all men most to be pitied. (1 Cor 15:16-19)

The Greek word translated as “perished” is apollumi.  Strong’s Concordance defines it as “to destroy, destroy utterly.” 

Paul’s point is that “if Christ has not been raised,” then our sins are not forgiven and then, also and then the dead in Christ “have perished.” In other words, then they will not be resurrected. They have been destroyed utterly. Then there is nothing for us beyond death.  

Obviously, Paul was not referring to the body only, for we all know the body perishes at death. He was saying that THE ENTIRE BEING—body, soul, and spirit—HAS PERISHED.

He repeats the thought in verse 19 by saying that, then, “we have hoped in Christ in this life only.” He again repeats the concept when he writes:

“If the dead are not raised,
let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor 15:32).  

In other words, if the dead are not raised, then there is no existence after death. Then, death is the end. This means that:

(1) The entire human being is perishable. Paul was not aware of an immortal soul.  

(2) Paul did not think that the dead in Christ are in heaven in conscious existence; and

(3) In contrast to most Christians today who put their hope in the immortality of the soul; in the hope that they will go to heaven at death, Paul put his hope in the resurrection.

MADE ALIVE

In 1 Cor 15:22, Paul uses the phrase “made alive,” as a synonym for “resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor 15:21) and for “raised from the dead” (1 Cor 15:20):

“As in Adam all die,
so also in Christ all will be made alive.” (v22).

It is not the old, natural body that is made alive, for that body has returned into dust; never to return.  It is, rather, the entire person that is “made alive.” 

“Made alive” implies that the person was not alive or existed consciously and immortally in heaven before resurrection.

THE DEBATE

In this chapter, Paul addresses two challenges to his teachings concerning the dead. Today, in general, Christians put their hope in the immortality of the soul. We must, therefore, note what Paul says here about this.

The first challenge is that some said: “There is no resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor 15:12). These were probably Sadducees that became Christians. These people did not believe in an afterlife. They challenged Paul because he did. But they did not ask about the conscious existence of souls in heaven. This implies that Paul did not teach this.

In response, Paul says that the dead sleep and are made alive when they are resurrected. Contrary to what we might want him to say, he does not mention a conscious existence in heaven between death and resurrection. 

The second challenge is related and was probably asked by the same people: “How are the dead raised? And with WHAT KIND OF BODY do they come?”  Paul responds that our current bodies are perishable and mortal, while the resurrection body will be imperishable and immortal (1 Cor 15:42, 54). Given the belief today in an immortal soul, we must regard it as profoundly strange that Paul does not mention the immortal soul as a third kind of body. Would that not be a massive omission, given that the purpose of this chapter is to give comfort concerning what happens after death?

IMMORTALITY

“51 … We will not all sleep,
but we will all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound,
and the dead will be raised imperishable,
and we will be changed.
53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable,
and this mortal must put on immortality (1 Cor 15:51-53).

Here, Paul describes death as “sleep,” implying an unconscious condition.

That “we will not all sleep” implies that he expected Christ to return within his generation (cf. Matt 23:36; 24:34).  For a discussion of this, see The Lord is coming soon.

Last TrumpetThe main point of these verses, for the current discussion, is that Christians will only become “imperishable” or immortal “at the last trumpet,” namely, when Christ returns (cf. 1 Tim 4:16; Matt 24:30-31). Then “the dead will be raised imperishable, and we (the living) will be changed” because “this mortal must put on immortality.” In other words, we are not already immortal.

It is NOT only the body that is raised immortal and imperishable.  “WE will all be changed” (1 Cor 15:51).  It is, therefore, the ENTIRE HUMAN BEING that will become immortal when Christ returns.

THE LAST ENEMY

“He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.
THE LAST ENEMY that will be abolished is death” (1 Cor 15:25-26).

The Greek philosophers Socrates and Plato explained death as a friend—the liberation of the immortal and divine soul from the prison-house of the corrupt body.  Soon after the disciples died, the church, which became increasingly dominated by Greek Christians and by Greek philosophy, adopted this non-Biblical explanation.  Today, we often read the Bible with that same mindset.  However, since “He must reign until He has” abolished death, in the Bible, death is our enemy; not our friend.

Death is also God’s enemy.  Death never was God’s will.  Death is the consequence of rebellion against Him.  When He has “abolished all rule and all authority and power” (1 Cor 15:24) that set themselves against Him and His laws, “death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:14). Then, “there will no longer be any death” (Rev 21:4).

THE SOUL

If the soul is not the conscious part of the individual, what is the immaterial part of human beings that survives death?

God exists without cause but is Himself the Cause of all things.  No being exists unless it is God’s will for that being to exist.  God also continually preserves all things through the power of His Word (Heb 1:3; cf. Col 1:17). In an unexplainable way, He preserves every person every second of every day.  Every thought, desire, or deed depends on God’s continually supplied power, even when we use our God-given abilities for evil purposes:

“In Him we live and move and exist”
(Acts 17:28; cf. Rom 4:17; Rev 4:11).

The same applies to the person after death. The immaterial part of the person, which we may call the person’s soul or spirit, is the essence of the person, including the character and thoughts. When we die, the soul or spirit goes to God in the sense that He knows perfectly who or what each of us is and He is able to recreate or resurrect us exactly as we were, but immeasurably better.

Christians who trust in the immortality of the soul for life after death do not depend on God for their eternal existence.  In contrast, to trust God and His promise of the resurrection is to depend on God and to trust God for what we cannot do ourselves.

TO DIE IS GAIN.

From the perspective of the experience of the living, time elapses between death and resurrection. But from the perspective of the dead, who are not aware of time, resurrection follows immediately after death. The moment they close their eyes, they are also resurrected. Therefore Paul could write, “to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21).

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