Jesus tells the thief dying next to Him that their spirits would be together, alive, and conscious on that day. One key scriptural event that supports this, but is sometimes misunderstood, is Jesus's exchange with the thief on the cross. We can resolve many of the interpretation conflicts that surround the issue of death by simply keeping the earthly physical body's inanimate state after death completely separate from the soul's spiritual life and location apart from the body. We who profess Christ are not destined for soul sleep or the grave! Through faith in Christ, believers have been made alive in the spirit just as Jesus lives in the spirit. When the earthly body of the believer dies, he or she lives on spiritually. (1 Peter 3:18)īelievers, at the moment of salvation, are "crucified with Christ," and yet they live (Galatians 2:20). The second passage comes from Peter's pen:įor Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. In contrast, Jesus revealed that believers will live even if they die, and in fact, they will never die in the way that our bodies do. Notice Jesus corrected Martha's belief that her brother would only "live" in the resurrection. Do you believe this?" She said to Him, "Yes, Lord I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Two more passages bear further discussion. Rachel's soul departing when she died (Genesis 35:18).Other biblical events make clear there is no soul sleep for believers but rather a conscious, immediate presence with God after death: Jesus, as God's Son, knew He would be spiritually present in the Father's "hands" at the very moment of His death, not asleep in the grave. (Philippians 1:21–24)Īnd Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit." Having said this, He breathed His last. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me and I do not know which to choose. (2 Corinthians 5:6–8, emphasis added)įor to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-for we walk by faith, not by sight-we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Scripture assures believers of their souls' destiny at death: Although this metaphor appears in Scripture, a thorough study shows that the metaphor of sleep refers only to the earthly body's inanimate state after death, not to the soul. "Soul sleep"-the belief that the soul rests after death in an unconscious state, or ceases to exist, until the final resurrection-finds its roots in the common "sleeping" metaphor for bodily death. Sadly, many fear their souls will have to wait indefinitely for heaven. When the believer dies, the body goes into the grave the soul and spirit go immediately to be with the Lord Jesus awaiting the body's resurrection, when they're joined together to be forever with the Lord in eternal bliss. Death raises many questions: When will it happen? What will it be like? What is the soul's destiny? Chuck Swindoll addresses that last question in Growing Deep in the Christian Life:
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