By Reverend Mark Hunnemann
1. A book frequently appealed to is Ecclesiastes, where it seems to teach soul sleep…..One should NEVER appeal primarily to this book for doctrinal support because the stated perspective is “under the sun”(life without God), which leads to meaningless existence.
An increasing number of Christians are appealing to
the notion of soul sleep as their
primary argument against the notion of ghosts.
This is an in-family discussion, and
while I deeply rejoice in their courage to confront a very serious issue, I am
also concerned that the biblical view of the afterlife is being distorted. What
is soul sleep? It has to do with what is known as the intermediate state—the
time between a person’s death and the Second Coming of Christ. It is the belief
that when we die, our souls remain asleep until Jesus returns. Of course if
this were true, it would be a profound argument against ghosts, but it is not,
and using it is counter-productive. Besides, as I point out in Seeing Ghosts through God’s Eyes, there
are many other cogent arguments which stand on solid biblical ground.
I have to ask
this question: why do people believe in this notion? They sincerely believe the bible teaches it. I
respect that. But, historically there is another reason this notion has arisen.
The reasoning goes like this: if the body cannot exist without the soul, then
the soul cannot exist without the body. That is fallacious reasoning because it
leads to a non-sequitor or false conclusion. When the soul leaves the body,
then that person is dead, and their body will decay. However, there is no
scriptural or anecdotal evidence to support the notion that the soul cannot
exist apart from the body. The soul is the consciousness/essence of a person…it
is spiritual in nature. If in principle we think that a spiritual soul cannot
exist without a body, then how do we explain God, angels, and demons….all of
whom have spirits without bodies—except for Jesus’ body in heaven? They are
disembodied consciousness and personality, so why not the same for humans when
they become disembodied?
2. Also, it is
asserted that since Jesus referred to dead people as sleeping, then that
clearly indicated the souls of dead people are sleeping; Is that not what Jesus said? No. He said they
were asleep…He did not say their soul was asleep. What is asleep, the soul or
the body? Clearly the bible and experience teach that our bodies rest or sleep
until they are resurrected. More to the point, we need to be familiar with the
culture of the time—calling death, sleep
was simply a common euphemism of the day for death—it was not a technical term used to indicate the soul’s awareness level. Meaning is
determined by context, and in this case it is the whole bible.
3.
A survey of church history shows that all three branches (Roman Catholic,
Orthodox, and Protestant) have staunchly supported conscious existence after
death. From the early church fathers to today, conscious existence after death
has been a crucial aspect of classical Christianity. All the Reformers,
historical confessions (e.g., Westminster Confession) as well as the great
Revivalists (Edwards, Whitfield, Wesley, Spurgeon, and Moody) all robustly
affirmed the importance of “when they are dead, they will have never been more
alive!” Moody. John Calvin’s first book was a refutation of the notion of soul
sleep.
4.
Today, the two main groups that affirm soul sleep are Seventh Day Adventists
and Jehovah’s Witnesses; regarding the latter, the late great Walter Martin saw
soul sleep as one of the hallmarks of a cult.
5. Enoch and Elijah
were beamed up into heaven very much conscious….would God take them only to put
them to sleep?
6. Moses and Elijah
appeared with Jesus on the Mt. of Transfiguration and were talking to Him. The
simplest explanation is continuity of conscious existence.
7. In Acts 7 Jesus
stands to celebrate Stephen’s homecoming while he is being stoned to death.
8. Rev. 6:9-11 The current activity and communication of
the souls of believers is seen and heard by John. The topic of their discussion
could only occur during the intermediate state. Crucial text.
9. “…away from the body
and at home with the Lord.” (2 Cor.5:8) one reason I don’t reference Hebrew and
Greek more often is that it can inadvertently cause folks to lose confidence in
their English bibles…which are exceedingly accurate. Clearly Paul anticipates
that death will propel his soul into heaven.
10. Phil.1:21 “For to
me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Paul succinctly summarizes his
dilemma and then elaborates. Life or death, Jesus is everything to Paul. If he
stays then he will have a fruitful ministry with them by being a minister of
their joy in Christ. But if he dies…Paul’s longing to be with Jesus will be
fulfilled. Paul yearns for the latter, but his Jesus-like servant heart will
choose to continue to help them. But the point is clear—death is seen as an
immediate entry into Christ’s presence. How could it be considered gain if he said, “I’m excited about
being asleep for 2,000 years…”? Remember Paul had already had a direct vision
of heaven which was unspeakably wonderful. THAT is what he desired above all
else.
11. “But you have come
to Mt Zion and to the city of the living God….and to the spirits of the
righteous made perfect.” Heb.12:22-24 Note that it says… you have come…a present reality (same in Greek as in English). This
is a reference to the church militant (us) worshipping with the church
triumphant…NOW!. The righteous made perfect are the glorified
souls of believers in heaven who are worshipping God now. Dr. Edmund Clowney,
commenting on these amazing verses, states that when believers join for
corporate worship, then we are mystically united with the departed saints in
worship of the living God--with Jesus as the choirmaster (2:12)! “Truly, I say
to you, today you will be with Me in
Paradise.” (emp. added) Lk23:43 If one has a solid grasp of the central
doctrine of union with Christ, there is no way to believe in soul sleep. By
virtue of being in Christ we are already in heaven! (Col.3:1f)
