Human Destiny - Part 3

by J. Drain, Derby | Category: Human Destiny - Part 3 | Apr 1978

The question is often raised as to the present state and experience of believers in Christ who die. That they are with Christ in heaven has already been stated. We believe that they are there in a state of conscious enjoyment. Some teach what has been described as "soul-sleep", alleging that when a person dies he passes into a state of unconsciousness. He is incapable of feeling anything and is wholly unaware of his environment. We are persuaded that this view is refuted by the Lord's teaching in Luke 16. When Lazarus died he went to where he was comforted. How could he experience comfort if he had no feeling? Was Abraham in a state of unconsciousness? If so, how then did he hear the rich man and answer him? Are we to presume that Abraham never spoke the words which the Lord Jesus attributed to him? Did the Lord put the words in the mouth of Abraham in some kind of alarming charade? Was Christ resorting to grim fiction when He stated that the rich man cried, "I am in anguish in this flame"? In brief, was the whole conversation between Abraham and the rich man concocted by Christ to produce certain effects? We are assured that the answer to these questions is, No! Death does not involve that the soul sleeps. Scripture speaks of the body as sleeping.

When a believer in Christ dies he leaves his body to go to Christ in heaven, taken there, it may be, by angelic escort. In His Presence is fulness of joy. Paul contemplated the experience of death with amazing complacency. He said, "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain". In his life the apostle found great joy and satisfaction in following and serving Christ. If death meant total unawareness how could he refer to it as being gain to him? Do we conceive that on earth he was alive in Christ, happy in His service, but was dead in His presence in heaven? Paul said that he had the desire "to depart and be with Christ; for it is very far better". It was very far better because it meant "to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8). We rejoice therefore to believe that our loved ones who are with Christ have been liberated from the trials and troubles and tribulations of earth and are consciously enjoying the indescribable joys of the Presence of Christ. Nothing disturbs their peace and happiness.

The present state of human beings in heaven is not their final state. They are there in an unclothed condition. They have put off the earthly house of their tabernacle (or bodily frame, see R.V. margin 2 Cor. 5:1), their, body, which, in the process of things, is dissolved in corruption. When the Lord returns to call to Himself His Church, the first responsive movement will involve the dead in Christ. They will rise first. The body sown in corruption, in dishonour, in weakness, will be raised in incorruption, in glory, in power. That which was sown a natural body will be raised a spiritual body. Between that which is sown and that which is raised there is an inseparable link, just as there is between the grain of wheat sown in the ground and the wheat sheaf which is harvested. There is also an indisputable difference as again is demonstrated in the grain contrasted with the beautiful stalk of wheat. When the dead in Christ are raised their bodies will "put on" incorruption. They will be "clothed upon" with the building from God which is their habitation from heaven. The permanent habitation or dwelling-place of the soul of the believer will stand in marvellous contrast with the earthly house of the tabernacle in which he suffered and groaned during his pilgrimage on earth. A dim illustration may be seen in the contrast between the permanent magnificent temple which Solomon built and the portable temporary tabernacle that was in the wilderness. When the corruptible body of the believer is raised and by the creative power of God is invested with incorruptibility, death and all its effects will be "swallowed up in victory" (1 Cor. 15:54). The new body will be conformed to the body of glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. "As is the heavenly (One); such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy (one), we shall also bear the image of the heavenly (One)" (1 Cor. 15:48,49). As the dead in Christ, raised by Him who is the Resurrection, ascend to meet the Lord in the air they will be joined by the living believers in Christ who by the power of Him who is the Life will have put on immortality, what is mortal having been "swallowed up of life" (2 Cor. 5:4). And so the Church, the Body, comprising the myriads of the believers of this dispensation, will be caught up to meet the Head, the Lord, "in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:17).

At the end of the period of the great Tribulation which will commence some time after the Rapture of the Church there will be another resurrection. This, we believe, will affect the righteous dead of past dispensations and also the martyred dead of the Tribulation. Their resurrection will be associated with the inauguration of Messiah's millennial reign, at the end of which there will be the great and final resurrection when all that are in the tombs at that point will hear the voice of God's Son "and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done ill, unto the resurrection of judgement" (John 5:29). It is the writer's mind that these words fit in with the solemn narrative of Rev. 20:11-15. John saw a great white throne and its awe-inspiring Occupant. He saw also the dead, "the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works". This is a general and comprehensive statement. Among these dead, we believe, will be in particular those mentioned earlier in this article who when they died went to upper Sheol or Hades to await the time when they would be resurrected to stand before the righteous Judge and be dealt with according to their works. Their names will be found in the book of life because of what God in His infinite knowledge saw in their lives and attitudes when they lived on earth. They will enjoy eternal happiness. In particular again, "Death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them". This class, we believe, refers to those who at death went to the Hades to which the rich man in Luke 16 went. They will be resurrected for judgement according to their works but for them there is no hope for eternity. They declined and rejected in their lifetime on earth all the overtures of divine grace and love, and for them there is no such thing as '~a second chance". "Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire". The expression "eternal Hell" is a misnomer. The eternal destiny of the lost is the lake of fire.

We wish to make it clear that all of all ages who enjoy eternal happiness will do so solely on the ground of what was secured for them by the sin atoning Sacrifice of Christ. At no stage in human history did anyone by human merit or by works offered as meritorious gain the blessing of eternal happiness. Of all it will be true, "By grace have ye been saved, not of works, that no man should glory".

We wish to make clear also our understanding that all those who experience the eternal judgement of the lake of fire will do so because they chose to do so.

In the eternal state, in the great day of God, the blessed Man of Calvary

will see of the travail of His soul and will be satisfied. We refuse such views as would imply that Satan has gained a major triumph over the purposes of God. It is sadly true that he has had his victims, and to think of even one member of the human family being eternally lost is harrowing. But we rejoice greatly to know that in all things Christ must have the pre-eminence. The blood of Christ, by which the New Covenant is ratified, was shed for the many, not for the few. The Son of Man came to give His life a ransom in the place of many (see Matt. 20:28). In that coming day, from the great metropolis of the new earth, the new Jerusalem, Christ will look upon the many who form the Body, His Church, upon the many of the people of Israel in eternal covenant relationship with Himself, upon the many of the peoples of the earth of all ages. He will see, not a fragment of the human race, but the teeming millions of redeemed, happy human beings. Their song of gratitude and praise will be to the Lamb who was slain for them. He will see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

J. Drain, Derby | Apr 1978
Human Destiny - Part 3