Molehills: The Doctrine Of Soul Sleep, Part Two

Moving to the final chapter in the book of Ecclesiastes we read, “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it,” Ecclesiastes 12:7. This is preceded by the preacher’s warning to remember your Creator before the day of death, Ecclesiastes 12:6. God created the spirit in man, and when we die, the body molders in the earth, but the spirit returns to God. In this dispensation believers enter into immediate conscious fellowship with Christ. “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit for my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better,” Philippians 1:21-23.

Paul tells the Philippian church that living on in the flesh is fruitful for labor; but there is another living he refers to, that involves physical death and fellowship with his Lord. It is unnecessary and untenable eisegesis to shoe-horn in some long lapse of time between death and regeneration after soul sleep in this passage. Paul rejoices that he has two good options before him: the first is to live on in the flesh and bear fruit. The second is to die and immediately come into the presence of his Savior, which is far better. Paul cements this line of logic beyond all dispute when he says, “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord,” 2 Corinthians 5:8. The tenor of the preceding passage had to do with being clothed with our habitation from Heaven, culminating in verse 6 when Paul writes that as long as the saint is present in the body (that is, alive on earth), we are absent from the Lord. The reverse then is shown to be true, that if we are absent from the body (that is, physically dead) we are present with the Lord, alluding to conscious awareness of where we are and whose company we are keeping. This does not suggest soul sleep, but the Biblical truth that man possesses an eternal soul.

Turning to Ezekiel, chapter 18 to be precise, I would take this moment to offer a brief rebuttal to the example given above about soul sleep. Ezekiel chapter 18 is about a proverb God detests, that the sins of the fathers are visiting their sons. The rest of the chapter details how a man may live or die (physically) by obedience to the Law of God. This is a direct reference to the Mosaic covenant that Israel made at Sinai with Yahweh, and the long list of choice and consequence God warned them about should they falter. But the Law (and this passage by extension) had nothing to do with eternal life, salvation, or the soul of man. Ezekiel 18:18 expresses the point of verse 4 more clearly when we read, “Behold, he shall die for his iniquity.” The prophet punctuates this further by later adding, “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?” Ezekiel 18:23. Leaving the chapter’s contents in proper context reveals that this is not about whether the soul survives death, or any proof (or lack thereof) regarding soul sleep; rather, it is an appeal by God to Israel to cease sinning so the consequences of it do not result in physical death, and that every individual is personally responsible for his choices and their consequences.

In Matthew Jesus warns us, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell,” Matthew 10:28. Our Lord not only differentiates between body and soul, contrasting them as being separate and unique, He informs His audience that men can only kill the body, but the soul remains alive. God is able to destroy body AND soul in Hell, a place of conscious torment that lasts for an eternity, the prison that Satan and his angels will be sent to, Mark 9:43-48, Matthew 25:41. Consequently this also gives a clear indication that Hell is not synonymous with the grave, since the Devil and his angels do not have bodies, and therefore will not be buried in the earth upon receiving their judgment. Jesus makes clear that there is a difference between body and soul, and one may die by man’s hands, though they are unable to reach the other. Three times in the aforementioned passage in Mark, Jesus refers to a person being cast into Hell, “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched,” Mark 9:48. We learn from the story of Lazarus and the rich man that the rich man’s spirit, being alive and conscious in torment in Hell, was being burned and begged for water. Take note that his body was in the grave, so this was not actual, physical fire or burning he was experiencing, Luke 16:24. Rather it was spiritual torment likely from guilt and regret, coupled with frustration and anger. His own failure to recognize and respond to his spiritual needs was eating him up, and he knew with certainty that it was too late to repent or believe. There he was, in a very human state of awareness and emotional distress, yet his body was dead and buried.

In Matthew 17:3, when Jesus led Peter, James, and John up the mountain, Matthew records that Moses and Elijah appeared to them. Though the Biblical record attests that Elijah was caught up by God so that he did not see death like Enoch, 2 Kings 2:11, Moses died and was buried, Deuteronomy 34:5, 6. Yet both men appeared before Jesus, conscious and aware. This was before the resurrection of many saints after Christ was raised from the dead, Matthew 27:52, 53. Our Lord referred to this incident as a vision, Matthew 17:9, but it still confirmed the fact that Moses lived just as Elijah lived, though Moses had physically died, John 11:25, 26. The life Jesus gives by virtue of faith in Him as Savior is not piecemeal. It is not something given while we live on earth,  and then suspended while we endure decades, or centuries, or millennia of soul sleep. It is eternal, as is the nature of the life God grants, since He is eternal and imparts His own life, and there is no cessation to it, however brief. The believer’s hope is not in a duration of spiritual annihilation and recreation at the resurrection, but confident hope in life everlasting, with death being incapable of interceding to hinder fellowship, since Jesus our Lord defeated death on the cross.

Stephen, when he was about to die as he was being stoned to death, cried out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” Acts 7:59. This was a very similar cry our Lord Himself made when He finished His work on the cross and yelled, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit,” Luke 23:46. God, who created all spirits and to whom men must give an account, was being offered something. Stephen wasn’t offering his animating force or breath; he was offering the reborn spirit, kindled by the Holy Spirit, to go to his Savior upon death. Christ Himself rose from where He sat after His work was finished to receive Stephen’s spirit, Acts 7:56. We know that Jesus, after He finished His work on the cross, sat down, symbolizing the finished, accomplished salvation of all men, Hebrews 1:3. Why was our Lord standing then? To welcome Stephen into fellowship. Stephen was fulfilling in action what Jesus explained during His earthly ministry; that men could only kill the body but had no power over the spirit, which belonged to God.

The examples from Scripture that satisfactorily demonstrate the fallacy of soul sleep are legion, but I will leave off with these. Peter, in his first epistle, writes, “For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit,” 1 Peter 4:6. The gospel is not preached to corpses, but to the spiritually dead sons of Adam. Yet how can this be, if man is a unit and MUST be composed of body, soul, and spirit? Yet from a Scriptural standpoint, apart from fallen human reason, it makes sense. This was what God was explaining in Eden to Adam and Eve. Sin brings death: spiritual death and eventual physical death, both signifying separation, not annihilation. The gospel brings with it the hope of resurrection and new life through the new birth. Rather than separation, there is a constant comfort of being in Christ and incapable of being removed from Him. The apostle made it abundantly clear that death was one of the created things that could not separate the believer from experiencing the joy of God’s love in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:38.

Finally, in the book of Revelation, John tells us what he sees when the fifth seal was broken. “I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Revelation 6:9, 10. These are, like Stephen, martyrs who died for the name of Jesus Christ. They speak of being dead, since they mention that their blood was shed, yet they are alive and quite upset about the cruelty done to them, and John describes them as, “souls.” One more time we are confronted with disembodied souls, who behave like living men on earth, are angry at the wicked people who put them to death and wondering when the patience of God would turn to wrath and justice. This is prior to the resurrection of the just or the first resurrection, Revelation 20:4-6. Yet they are conscious and quite aware of what transpired, and what events led to them being where they currently were. Parted from their bodies, they were comforted by the Lord, Revelation 6:11. 

Even if one flippantly dismisses both Revelation and the passage in Luke as allegory (which results in needless Scripture twisting), why does Scripture continually address life after death as conscious, continued existence, when soul sleep asserts that this is really untrue? It would do nothing but stir up all manner of confusion and undermine trust in God’s word, since we would have to arbitrarily determine when to take a passage literally or figuratively. The logical answer, conducive to a proper understanding of the Bible’s doctrine regarding the nature of the soul, would be to accept the abundant evidence that the soul remains conscious and aware after physical death. The soul is separated from the body upon death. If one is a Christian, then our spirit goes to be with Christ, John 3:16-18. If we are unsaved, we are cast into Hell, awaiting the Great White Throne judgment and the Lake of Fire, where unbelievers will be punished in conscious existence forever, Matthew 25:46, Revelation 20:13. The soul then is separated a second time (the Second Death), this time from the Creator. Physical death is the first death, spiritual death is the second. Both involve separation, not annihilation, and Scripture is adamant and clear that the state of existence is conscious and eternal. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we should persuade men. Amen.