[1] Last Things: Life after Death

[22] Last Things: Life after Death

73. What happens to man after death? What should our attitude toward death be?

Eschatology means the study of the last things. It can be subdivided into Individual Eschatology (about human eventuality) and General Eschatology (about eventuality of the world).

a. Definition: Death is the termination of physical life by the separation of body and soul.

b. Intermediate state (between termination of physical life and final judgment):

Death is not an end of human consciousness (Lk 16:19-31).
Sheol (OT) or Hades (NT) is a place for departed spirits of both the believer and the unbeliever (Gen 37:35; Dt 32:22; Job 21:13; Ps 9:17; 16:10; Isa 38:10).
Hades includes a place for the unbeliever called Gehenna or Hell (Mt 5:22,29-30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15,33) and a place for the believer called Paradise or Heaven (Lk 23:43). The two are separated by a chasm but conversation between the two parts is possible (Lk 16:19-31).
The soul of a believer goes immediately to heaven, a place of blessing and with joyous fellowship with the Lord (2Co 5:6-9; Php 1:23-24; Lk 23:43). The soul of an unbeliever go immediately to hell, a place of torment (Lk 16:24-26).

c. Meaning of death for Christians:

Death is not a punishment (Ro 8:1).
Death is the final outcome of living in a fallen world which we still live in. God has chosen not to remove all evil from the world immediately. Death is the last enemy to be destroyed (1Co 15:26).
Death is a door through which we approach the presence of God. Our experience with death completes our union with Christ (Ro 8:17; 1Pe 2:21).

d. Attitude toward our own death:

not with fear but with joy at the prospect of going to be with Christ (2Co 5:8; Php 1:21-23).
It is a rest from the labours in this life (Rev 14:13).
Not even death will separate us from the love of God (Ro 8:38-39).
Christians’ lack of the fear of death will provide a strong witness to the world in an age that tries to avoid talking about death and has no answer to it.

e. Attitude toward death of Christian friends and relatives:

genuine sorrow but mixed with joy, mourning mixed with worship of God and thanksgiving for the life of the loved one who has died.
real sorrow at the loss of fellowship and also for the suffering and hardship prior to death (Ac 8:2; Jn 11:35; Ac 20:37-38).
mingled with joy because of the assurance that they have gone to be with the Lord (1Th 4:13; Rev 14:13).

f. Attitude toward death of unbelievers:

sorrow not mingled with joy; their death should cause us to reflect on our own life and destiny.
But we can still be thankful about the good qualities of the person (common grace given by God).
Also, we need to be reminded that there is no absolute certainty that the person has persisted in refusal to salvation.

74. What is heaven? a. Definition: Heaven is generally referred to as the place where God dwells (Isa 66:1; Mt 6:9; 1Pe 3:22). However, because God is present everywhere, a more accurate definition is that heaven is the place where God makes His presence most fully known and where His blessings fill.

b. It is a place, not just a state of mind.

(1) When Jesus ascended into heaven, He went to a place and He will come again from that place (Ac 1:11).

(2) Jesus said that He is going to prepare for us a place with many rooms (Jn 14:2-3).

(3) Stephen saw heaven at his death (Ac 7:55-56). It seems that his eyes were opened to see a spiritual dimension of reality which God has hidden from us in this present age.

c. Location:

Heaven is a dimension which really does exist in our space/time universe, and within which Jesus now lives in His physical resurrection body. It may even be not very far from us but is in a dimension unable to be perceived by our natural senses.

75. What is hell? Does hell mean eternal conscious torment? a. Traditional teaching: Traditionally, hell or eternal punishment is explained as eternal conscious torment in a lake of fire.
b. Annihilationism: There is a possibility that eternal punishment may mean that the impenitent will be reduced to non-existence after the Final Judgment, that is, they (body and soul) will be completely annihilated. This is supported by some wellknown evangelical theologists including Warfield, John Stott, and Clark Pinnock. Based on the support from the Bible, this should be regarded as a legitimate view.
c. Meaning of eternal punishment: The term "eternal punishment" (Mt 25:46) may mean unending torment. Yet it may also mean ultimate or final punishment (termination of existence) that has an eternal effect and can never be reversed. Here, Jesus only said that the punishment would be eternal, nothing about continuous.
d. Reasons supporting annihilationism: (1) Eternal torment is contrary to God’s love. Objection: God loves but also fulfils His justice.

(2) Eternal torment is disproportional to the sins committed by non-believers in temporal time. The Bible says that God will judge people "according to what they have done" (Rev 20:12) which implies that the penalty inflicted will be proportional to the evil done. Objection: The immensity of the evil done when sinners rebel against God may be greater than what we can imagine.

(3) Eternal existence of the impenitent in hell would be hard to reconcile with the promises of God’s final victory over evil, such as: God will bring every knee to bow to Christ and every tongue to confess His lordship (Php 2:10-11); God will unite all things under Christ’s leadership (Eph 1:10).

Objection: Those who support eternal torment have no good objection to this reason. (4) The words used in the Bible to describe hell point to annihilation, such as "second death" (Rev 20:14, as death is termination of life and consciousness), and "to perish" (Lk 13:3; Ro 2:12, it is difficult to imagine a perpetually inconclusive process of perishing). Objection: These may only refer to the harmful and destructive effects. (5) It is difficult to imagine that Christians can fully enjoy their eternal life with the knowledge that some of their closest relatives and friends are suffering unbearable torment at the same time. Objection: Our inability to understand something should never be a reason for rejecting it.
e. Reasons against annihilationism: (1) Human soul is indestructible and eternal. Response: The immortality of soul is a Greek concept not a biblical concept. Only God possesses immortality in Himself (1Ti 6:16); He gives immortality to us through the gospel (2Ti 1:10).

(2) There are many Bible verses that seem to describe eternal torment. Response: All of them can be satisfactorily explained from the viewpoint of annihilationism. For example, the torment described in Rev 14:10-11; 20:10 is never referred to eternal torment of unbelievers. As for the association of fire with hell, the main function of fire is not to cause pain, but to secure destruction, such as "burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (Mt 3:12; Lk 3:17).