Where are the dead between the day of death and the Judgement Day ?

 



Notes were taken from a letter written by a Mennonite minister to my church in 1940...His work carries on ,undiminished by time and space...I am pleased to share a portion of  his thoughts with you today. 

There is a question that is asked over and over again, and is often left unanswered, Where are the dead, from death until the resurrection? 

Tracts, literature, theories, abound in the world along this line. Millions of Catholics think of souls being in purgatory. Millions of people think they are in hell. Others say there is no hell. Others say the dead are annihilated. Others say the dead don’t know anything until the resurrection. It is not a great effort to confuse the minds of people, and - even God’s children might be confused on this issue.

Let’s get at this question from the Bible’s standpoint.

The bible makes clear about the unsaved and the saved, and leaves no doubt in our minds as to where you are. It is a big help to understand these things, because of the conflicting influence that is in the world. It’s what the Bible says that counts. We will all have to come to this eventually, we will all have to believe the teaching of God someday, why not believe it now? In any case what God has said will stand, whether believed by men and women or not. God answers the question definitely, and with no uncertain sound, if we will believe it we will be better for it.

Looking at Ecclesiastes 12. This chapter deals with death, it deals with – what happens when people pass from time to eternity.

Vs 5 “...because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets. Vs 6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain or the wheel broken at the cistern”. It is a day of death, that we all have to face. There is nothing certain about life, but there’s a tremendous certainty about death.

Vs 7 tells us what happens at death “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it”. The reason there is so much confusion as to what happens after death, until the resurrection, is because people don’t keep in their minds these two sides. What part goes to dust? The body. What part goes to God? The spirit.

Eccles. 9:10 “....for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, wither thou goest”. It wouldn’t take an awful lot of human intelligence to convey to our minds what is meant by this verse. Connect it with the one in Eccles.12:7 “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it”. This deals with the physical body.

Putting it in full prospective we ca refer to Eccles. 3:19-20 “For that which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts, even one thing befalleth them, as the one dieth, so dieth the other, yea, they have all one breath, so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast, for all is vanity”. So, all go unto one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. There is no distinction between the physical bodies of man or beast….

Eccles. 19:21 “Who knoweth the spirit of man goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast goeth downward to the earth”. This draws a tremendous line of distinction between man and the beast. Keep this in mind, there is no work, no device, no knowledge, no wisdom in the grave whither thou goest.

Now let us read Rev 6:9 “...I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held”. See here what people are doing in connection with the spirit going back to God. Jesus said in Luke 23:46 “Father into Thy hands, I commend my spirit”. This is what Jesus cried to God when He was on the cross of Calvary. His physical body was laid in the tomb, but God did not allow it to go to corruption. His spirit went to God.

Then let us notice about Stephen. Acts 7:59. “And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”. In Acts 8:2 We read “And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him”. Jesus and Stephen both say the truth clearly, that we have been talking about.

Now, what did Paul say, Philippians 1:23 “I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better 24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you”. Where does he tell us the spirit of man goes, when they that die?...a place far better than living on the earth...to be with Christ”. But, he felt it needful to remain, for the sake of helping others. In the light of these three testimonies - Jesus, Stephen and Paul, isn’t it a perfect harmony with what the Old Testament in Ecclesiastes spoke about death? - in the grave where the body is there is no work, device, knowledge, wisdom etc.

It is a contradictory teaching, that the body and spirit are both in the grave until the resurrection.

Let us look again at Rev. 6:9 “I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held”. What kind of a testimony did they hold? What did John say in Rev 1:2 “Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ...”. They held the testimony that Jesus Christ bore in this world and bore to His people. They were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony, which they held.

They were dead in Christ and they were resting. Rev 14:13 tells us “..blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord from henceforth..”. What were they to be doing? “...that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them”. Do you think that when you or I die, that that is the end of it? No, think of what it says in Hebrews 11:4 “..of Abel ...he being dead yet speaketh” and therefore, it means, I might be dead for years, but if we have that testimony of Jesus Christ, it will still live.

The question may be asked - Is it necessary to have the Judgement? Would it be possible for people to get their full reward at death? No. The Bible says, Abels’ life still speaks. Could Paul have his full reward? Could John have his full reward? No, their lives are still speaking and their lives and testimonies are still influencing others. Remember, we are speaking of the dead in Christ.

In Rev 6:9 Where are the souls? Under the altar. There had been a day and a time when they were bound to that altar and had been consumed by the fire on God’s altar. In the Old Testament, the lamb was placed on the altar and left there until it was consumed and the ashes fell under the altar. If their lives hadn’t been consumed on the altar, they wouldn't be under it. This natural sacrifice should make clear to our mind, how these souls got under the altar. I would like to leave my life on the altar of sacrifice, until there was nothing left but the ashes, and my body given as a living sacrifice, found under the altar because I stayed on the altar. May God help us to keep our All on the altar of sacrifice.

The souls in Rev 6:9 were given white robes, they were clothed in righteousness and they were resting for a season, until others lives were sacrificed. These dead in Christ, their spirit had gone back to God and they were resting from their labours. Remember Matt. 10:28 “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Now let us read Jude 6. “The angels which kept not their first estate, He hath reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness unto the judgement of the great day”. Also read 2 Peter 2:4 “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgement; 5. And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6. And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; 7. And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked; 8. (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing vexed his righteousness soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds) 9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.“

To reserve the unjust unto the day of Judgement to be punished. In these verses, the same language is used in connection with men and angels in chains, and suffering a good deal, while awaiting judgement. Does a prisoner that is guilty suffer while awaiting his sentence? Yes he does indeed, if he is honest. Unsaved people suffer in eternity a lot of remorse of conscience, of the way in which they have lived out of Christ. This tells about the unsaved dead, they don’t rest from their labours and their works follow them too.

Do you think you would have any difficulty in understanding Luke 16:19 and on..? There are two sides here, this side of the grave, we read of the condition before death. If Jesus was telling the same story today, He would speak of the man who was clothed in broadcloth and fine linen, the clothing of the priesthood. Ex. 28. Annas and Caiaphas, the High Priests in Jesus day were clothed like this. Then what happened? The beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. What part was carried? ...the spirit. What was he doing on Abraham's bosom? - works will follow him. It says the rich man also died and was buried. This suggests to us, that the body of Lazarus was buried, but what part went to the grave?..the body. This chapter draws a clear line where the body goes, and where the spirit goes. This ought to have no confusion in our minds about this. We have no evidence, other than the Bible. Now where are the dead in Christ? And where are the dead out of Christ?

We read of the great gulf being fixed in Luke 16. What was the gulf? The gulf of nature. There is a gulf between plant and animal life, between animal and human life; and there is a tremendous gulf between those who die in Christ and those who die out of Christ. There is a great gulf between the human and the divine. The rich man missed it in his time, and he missed it in eternity. The sacrifice of Christ on Calvary has bridged that gulf that is fixed in Eternity. If we accept Him now the sacrifice avails for us, and we will be found on the right side of the gulf.

Remember this in line with Jude and Peter. The unsaved dead are reserved until the day of Judgment, reserved in everlasting chains to be punished. Isn't that what the rich man is experiencing? Matthew 25, Jude, Peter, and Luke 16 - all these scriptures we have been talking about speak of everlasting punishment. The man in Christ stayed on the altar sacrificing, he is on Christ's bosom, a type of resting from his labours and his works will follow him.

Now let us read John 5:25 “Verily, verily I say unto you, The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of God, and they that hear shall live”.This is not talking about physical death, but about spiritual death. The dead in trespasses and sins; who can hear the Gospel now. It deals with physical death further on in this chapter. We think of things being alive or dead in their relationship to something else We look at a tree and say it is living, but if we brought an animal along, full of animal life, we would say the tree is dead to that life and activity. An animal may be full of life and we say it is alive, but put it along side of a human being and it is dead to that human life. Let us go further. People who are full of the human life mentally, morally, and physically, alive to business propositions, social contacts, but you bring a child of God and put him alongside of them and they are dead to all that person knows and lives for; dead to all that is in that Kingdom above.

An unsaved person may have moral intelligence; they may have everything that human nature can endow them with, but friend, they are dead in their relationship with God; if they are out of Christ without a Saviour. Paul in writing to the Ephesians said, "You were dead in trespasses and in sins" - they were dead in their relationship to God. Isn't that true today? but God has given power to His Son, Jesus, to give Life to us, so that we can be in the right relationship to God.

John 5:28 “Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. 29. And shall come forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation”. This is entirely in the future. The resurrection of life; this is the first resurrection. At that time the Christians living in the world will be changed in a moment of time and so shall they ever be with the Lord. Then it speaks of the resurrection of damnation; of those who are out of Christ. There is a space of one thousand years between these two resurrections. The resurrection of life, the first resurrection, all the dead in Christ rise to be with the Lord; with Him when He comes to reign. Revelation 5:9. “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by the blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation”. People "out of every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation, and we shall reign upon the earth." God doesn't lie, He is not confused. Those who have done good, will rise at the resurrection of the just. The dead out of Christ do not rise for 1000 years, until the resurrection of damnation.

Now see 1 Corinthians 15:22 “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive”.

There is no other way -only in Christ. Vs 23. "....afterward they that are Christ's at His coming." 24. "Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power." One thousand years will be necessary for Christ to put things right, to put down all power and all authority. It will be a big work and it will take some power to do it. 26.”The last enemy shall be destroyed is death”. What will Jesus be doing during the millennium? What will Christians be doing during the millennium? It says that all things are going to be subdued unto Christ. It won't be done in a day or a year. Then Christ will hand over the Kingdom to the Father. 29.”Else what shall they do which are baptised for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptised for the dead”? This has no connection with dead relatives. Notice 18v. “Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished”. ‘They’ means Christians asleep in Christ. Notice 48 v. “They” means the same. Now go on with the 29 v. and when you and I and Paul were baptized, we were baptized for the One that had died. If Jesus had never died, there would be no symbol. If Jesus had never been buried and never rose again there would be no symbol.

Because He died and rose again, we believe we, too, die to the old life, and rise in newness of life. That is the truth He is bringing out. 26 v. Last enemy to be destroyed is death, how? 52 v. This corruptible body must put on incorruption. Death is swallowed up in victory -- what victory? The victory of Christ. No other way to have victory in ourselves except Lordship of Christ can we be victors.

Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder” We are to take these lives of ours and lay them upon the shoulders of another. As in Luke 15, the lost sheep was borne home on the shoulders of another, another life. When the government of its’ life was on the shoulders of another, it was brought home back to the fold. Is. 9:7 "Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end..” No end, that means when Christ gets the control of our lives, there is no end in time or in Eternity. Let us put the government of our lives on the shoulders of the Lord Jesus Christ