What will happen the moment after we die?
-by Patrick Burwell
Jesus said the dead are but [i] “sleeping” as He referred to this death of the body. So when Jesus said that [ii] Lazarus, his friend, was dead, and not just sleeping, Jesus had referred to his friend’s condition from our present perception, which he was sharing with us. Jesus was not making a point about time, He was explaining that from Christ’s actual perspective Lazarus wasn’t really “dead” at all, Lazarus was already home.
See, Scriptures show our perception of life, what we call “time,” is unique to this existence. Jesus, being God Himself, is [iii] eternally present, while we, in this body, are subject to the verities of [iv] time. If you are having problem’s with this let’s look at some points to see if we can understand better these two perspectives, and see where they can be useful in understanding Scripture references to time. But punctuation can really cause us some hassles…
It’s time to go eat, Grandma.
It’s time to go eat Grandma.
While this is pretty funny, the punctuation used in Scripture can cause whole doctrines to appear out of apparent thin air. Like this one:
I tell you, this day you will be with me in paradise.
I tell you this day, you will be with me in paradise.
Which is it? The thief went to be with Jesus that very day, or was Jesus merely using a turn of a phrase, saying the thief was “in”, eventually, when he got there? NEITHER. Both?
See, when the thief died he was with Jesus, and that is paradise for the Believer. But was the thief with Jesus the moment Jesus returned to Heaven? Well there you get into a problem of perspective.
The scripture, [v] “Absent from the body, present with the Lord” can be understood when we remember God’s perspective in time. God is not subject to time, and neither shall we be, once we are “asleep.” [There are some who do skip around a bit, however. [vi] ] Scriptural [vii] evidence shows that God, the angels, and we, are not subject to time, really, it only seems that way while are here. Our present perspective is within the deceptive constraints of time, but we shall all be before the Lord on Judgment Day, some immediately upon the death of the body, either as a Sinner, or later as a Saint. One moment after death, one heartbeat away, when you are absent from the body you are, literally, present with The Lord: for the Saint, with Jesus, for the Lost before Him. But the perspective of Matthew 27:52 is written from those who are still within Time, not of those who have left those constraints the body is experiencing in life. Can this be the same as when we sleep at night we seem to have no perception of time passing? Maybe, but I suspect the matter of death is far more than just merely sleeping… (Matt 27:52 does make you feel for those going, and then coming back, and then going back again… Man, that must be a ride! And how wonderful to get to go back and testify of what you have just seen! Or will they be alive and then go to Heaven? Well the “absent… present…” Scripture tells you something else doesn’t it?)
The [viii] story of the poor man Lazarus, and the fate of the rich man, who did not help him, did not indicate anything about the sequence after death, other than to relate their relative circumstances from their lives [except that all three were speaking to each other!!!]: Lazarus was in “Abraham’s bosom,” the rich man suffering in the torments of Hell. The story of Lazarus, the beggar, was of where the two men find themselves eventually. The Rich man, while in Hell, appeared to know that if Lazarus could go to his brethren he could do so, even though they were speaking together after the Judgment had already taken place for them both. So, by this alone, we see these men [ix] not bound by time, out of the body. Scripture shows the Christian will be present with the Lord, at His return, whereas the unrepentant faces the [x] Judgment and the Second Death, yet these have a differentiation of a full 1000 years! So how are these three men all speaking about those who are yet alive before the Judgment?
Time is immaterial after death.
Paul said [xi] we who are yet alive will not precede those who have “fallen asleep” in Christ. And yet the unbeliever’s next moment of awareness is to the Judgment of the Dead, at the end of the 1000 year reign, called the [xii] Last Day.
See? So, whenever I have a quandary, like with the differences between Election vs. Free Will, and yet both existing in Scripture, or like “asleep” vs. “with Jesus”, remembering God’s perspective is eternally present perfect in every moment of time, and how our perspective is that of still being subject to time “passing”, while in this body on this earth, the questions clear up; The issues resolve themselves quickly when you understand perspective. I have not, as yet, understood fully the issues of time differentiation between the Lost and the Brethren, but this conclusion of time perspective does fit very nicely, and seems to clear up allot of my questions concerning death, Hell, Judgment, time lines, etc. I hope it helps you too.
So, until I know of a Scriptural explanation to the contrary, I can only say my conclusion is gleaned from an apparent Scriptural leaning if not a definitive Scriptural mandate. I have, however, accepted how eternal and temporal perspectives explains how Election and Free Will can both be true, so it does hold serious weight, in my view. The apparent contradiction of these two apparently conflicting doctrines in Scripture, most specifically, sometimes even in the same sentence, had previously given me great pause, until I understood time perspective for God against man. When such apparent conflicts are viewed from the different perspectives of time, vis-à-vis man being finite and YAHWEH being the [xiii] everlasting God, we then get some real clarity on many problems.
So I give you this as an apparent:
“Soul sleep” is from the perspective of those still bound by Time.
In conclusion, then, we had better be in a right standing with Yahweh beforehand, as we will not have a moment to catch our breath before we face the destination drawn from our lives.
May these words from Jesus speed your revelation to life eternal:
John 11:25
Jesus said to her, “IAM, The Resurrection and The Life. He who believes in Me will still live, even if he dies. Whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”*
Well, “Do you believe this?” – Now that is the right question.
Patrick J Burwell
OnlyJesusSaves.org Ministries
* all bold text is for my own emphasis and does not exist in the original Scriptures.
Footnotes:
[i] Matthew 9:24, Mark 5:39, Luke 8:52, John 11:11, Acts 7:60
[ii] John 11:14 So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead…
[iii] John 1:1, Isaiah 9:6 …And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
[iv] Job 14:1 Man, who is born of woman, is short-lived and full of turmoil.
[v] 2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
[vi] Matthew 27:52 The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;
[vii] Deuteronomy 33:27, Psalm 93:2, Isaiah 26:4, 2 Corinthians 4:18, Romans 1:20
[viii] Luke 16:23 “In Sheol, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom.”
[ix] Ecclesiastes 12:5, Psalms 102:12, Matthew 25:46, Romans 1:20, 2 Corinthians 4:18
[x] Zephaniah 1:14-16, Proverbs 11:4, Matthew 12:36, 2 Peter 2:9, 1 John 4:17
[xii] John 12:48 He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.
[xiii] Genesis 21:33 “Abraham…called… on the name of YAHWEH, the everlasting God.”
