1. The End Times: Death & the Intermediate State
Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA)
Adult Sunday School
Fall 2016

2. Schedule General Eschatology Personal Eschatology
Death & the Intermediate State
The Final Judgment & the Judgment of Believers
Resurrection Life: what will it be like?
Heaven & Hell

3. The Reality of Death The certainty of death
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment…” (Heb 9:27)
An immediate judgment after death & a final judgment at the end
It is appointed for man to die once; it is not a matter of luck or chance. It is something that is a part of the sovereign determination of God.

4. The Reality of Death The universality of death
It is appointed for man [as male and female, humanity] to die once… (Heb 9:27)
Whether suddenly or over time, all die
The universality of death is a consequence of sin, not creation
“For the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23)
“all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23)

5. The Unnaturalness of Death
Unnatural = death is contrary to nature/creation
There is a sense in which we were not meant to die; had Adam trusted and obeyed, there would be no death
There is an unnatural separation of soul and body
“the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” (Ecc 12:7)
“For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened-- not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”” (2Co 5:4)
Death is not a natural part of created life

6. The Unnaturalness of Death
Death came through sin and spread to all
“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1Co 15:22)
“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Rom 5:12)
Genesis 2 – “in the day you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall surely die” – pointing to the certainty of death as a consequence of sin
Genesis 3 (the Fall) – Genesis 4 (the spread of sin) – Genesis 5 (the death of Adam’s descendants)
“And he died” (8x) and then “Enoch walked with God, then he was no more, because God took him” (Gen 5:24)

7. Biblical Metaphors for Death
Death is a terror
“the king of terrors” (Job 18:14)
“the fear of death” (Hebrews 2:15)
Death is an intruder
“Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin…” (Rom 5:12)
Death was not a part of creation; it intruded into the world through sin; it ruins what God has put together (a living body)

8. Biblical Metaphors for Death
Death is a shadow
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Ps 23:4)
“Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,” (Ps 107:10)
“You…have covered us with the shadow of death” (Ps 44:19)

9. Biblical Metaphors for Death
Death is an enemy
The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1Co 15:26)

10. Death is ignored in our culture
The Fear of Death
Death is feared
“deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” (Heb 2:14)
Death is ignored in our culture
Our society shuns the reality of death and what it means because there is a fear of death: What lies beyond?

11. The Christian’s Attitude toward Death
Death has lost its sting (1 Cor 15:55-57)
“"O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Man is entrapped in a lifestyle that leads to death (breaking God’s law leads to death), but there’s victory
Death still “bites” but the venom has been drawn

12. The Christian’s Attitude toward Death
The Bible speaks of death as a kind of sleep for believers (1 Cor 15:51)
Not sleep in the sense of unconsciousness (soul- sleep)
Sleep in what sense then?
Bodies rest until Christ returns (1 Thess 4:13- 14)
For those who fall asleep in Christ, death is non-threatening. Sleep is rest.

13. The Christian’s Attitude toward Death
Christian grieve with hope
In the face of death “Jesus wept” (Jn 11:35)
Like Jesus, we don’t ignore the loss, separation and sorrow caused by death
We grieve with hope because Jesus is the “resurrection and the life, whoever believes in him, though he die, yet shall he live” (Jn 11:25)
Makes the difference between despair and hope
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.” (1Th 4:13-14)

14. The Christian’s Attitude toward Death
Christians see death as gain
Death is not entering the “great unknown”
Death is gain (Phil 1:21) because to die is to be with Christ

15. The Christian’s Attitude toward Death
Christians can trust and worship God in the face of death
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21)

16. The Christian’s Attitude toward Death
Christians anticipate and prepare for death
Christians in the past used to speak of the Christian art of dying
Christians live packed up and ready to go
Not in the sense of abandoning our responsibilities in this life, but we live ready to step into eternity

17. The Christian’s Attitude toward Death
Christians set their hearts not on this world but on being with Christ
“I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (Phil 1:23)
Are we holding on to this world at all cost?

18. The Christian’s Attitude toward Death
Christians contemplate the blessings of the world to come
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1Co 13:12)

19. The Christian’s Attitude toward Death
Christians recognize the transience of this life and this present age; we are pilgrims
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16-18).

20. The Christian’s Attitude to Death
Christians view death is a defeated enemy
“For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 55 "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (1Co 15:53-55)

21. The Christian’s Attitude to Death
“I die every day” (1 Cor 15:31)
“No man would find it difficult to die who died every day. He would have practiced it so often, that he would only have to die but once more; like the singer who has been through his rehearsals, and is perfect in his part, and has but to pour forth the notes once for all, and have done. Happy are they who every morning go down to Jordan's brink, and wade into the stream in fellowship with Christ, dying in the Lord's death, being crucified on his cross, and raised in his resurrection. They, when they shall climb their Pisgah, shall behold nothing but what has been long familiar to them, as they have studied the map of death God teach us this art, and he shall have the glory of it.” C. H. Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit XIV

22. The Intermediate State
The Bible’s focus is on what we call the eternal state
Eternal state = the condition we will be in after the second coming of Christ
Life in the new heavens and new earth (Isaiah 65-66; 2 Peter 3:13)
But what about the time between death and resurrection?
What happens to me when I die? What happens to my soul immediately upon death? What is the nature my existence between death and the eternal state?

23. Mistaken Views: Annihilationism
Two main types of annihilationism
Materialism: we cease to exist altogether when we die and there is no future prospect of life of any kind
Annihilationism proper: believers experience life after death, but unbelievers are annihilated as an act of judgment (they cease to exist)

24. Mistaken Views: Soul-Sleep (Psychopannychy)
Soul-sleep: just as sleep is characterized by the non-experience of the passage of time, so it is for believers between death and resurrection (state of unconsciousness)
Argument: the NT describes death as a “falling asleep” (Mt 27:52; 1 Cor 11:30; 15:20; Acts 7:60)

25. Mistaken Views: Soul-Sleep (Psychopannychy)
Arguments against soul-sleep
The Bible describes believers who experience fellowship with the Lord apart from their bodies (Heb 12:23; Rev 6:9-11)
It is particularly the body and the future resurrection that is in view when the NT describes believers “falling asleep” (John 11; 1 Cor 15; 1 Thess 4)
Biblically, death is a ‘falling asleep’ only for those who are in Christ (1 Cor 15:18)

26. Mistaken Views: Soul-Sleep (Psychopannychy)
Arguments against soul-sleep
The NT describes death in this way to show how its sting and terror has been removed for the believer
It is biblically unjustified to press the metaphor of sleep to insist it means believers are unconscious after death when other passages clearly teach otherwise
The biblical comfort of every believer who falls asleep in Jesus is that they go “to be with the Lord.” Upon death they enter into a new phase of unbroken and conscious fellowship with Christ and his people

27. Mistaken Views: Purgatory
What is purgatory? “an intermediate state after physical death in which those destined for heaven "undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven” (Catholic Catechism).
What is purgatory? Purgatory is the state of those who die in God’s friendship, assured of their eternal salvation, but who still have need of purification to enter into the happiness of heaven (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church)
Some Anglicans and Lutherans also have a doctrine of purgatory

28. Mistaken Views: Purgatory
Summary of doctrine of R.C. doctrine of purgatory
Majority of believers die in a state of grace and go to purgatory (‘saints’ who have lived righteous lives and fully satisfied for the temporal penalties of their sins go directly to heaven)
Believers go to purgatory, a place of anguish and suffering, to suffer punishment for their sins and endure a period of cleansing and purification
The length of a believer’s stay in purgatory depends on the nature of the venial sins committed
The time spent in purgatory can be shortened to some extent by help received from believers on earth (prayer, indulgences & masses spoken in their name )

29. Mistaken Views: Purgatory
The formal doctrine was established at the First Council of Lyon (1245), Second Council of Lyon (1274), the Council of Florence (1438–1445), and the Council of Trent (1545–63).
Accompanying doctrines were developed: prayers for the dead as they made their way through purgatory, the selling of indulgences (Tetzel: “as soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs”)

30. Mistaken Views: Purgatory
Problems with purgatory
Lack of biblical support
Shifts the emphasis in our salvation from God to the believer
Denies Christ the honor he deserves for his full and perfect work
Wrongly teaches that we can make satisfaction for certain sins
Robs believers of the comfort and assurance which is rightfully theirs in Christ

31. The Intermediate State in Scripture
Summary: though the Bible’s focus is on the resurrection, it does teach that believers, in their souls (spirits) will enjoy a state of conscious and unbroken communion with Christ. This state is provisional (temporary), while believers await the full redemption of the children of God, including participation in the resurrection harvest of which Christ’s resurrection was the first-fruits (1 Cor 15:20-23)

32. The Intermediate State in Scripture
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31)
Both are conscious after death
The rich man experiences conscious suffering while Lazarus experiences conscious blessing and honor
The two are separated by a “great chasm”
Without pressing the parable too far, it is fair to say the righteous and unrighteous enter into two separate, conscious modes of existence: the righteous are found in a state of provisional blessing while the wicked are in a state of provisional and inescapable torment

33. The Intermediate State in Scripture
Luke 23:42-43: the thief on the cross
And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." 43 And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Objection: Jehovah’s Witnesses: “Truly, I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise.”
Jesus has no reason to underscore the timing of his announcement
In none of the other “Truly I say to you” statements of Jesus is “today” present

34. The Intermediate State in Scripture
2 Corinthians 5:1-10
What does Paul mean by “we have a building from God (v. 1)? Paul is talking about the certainty of our future resurrection bodies. One day believers will be clothed with an imperishable body
What is the state of a believer before death? “While we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord” (v. 6)
What is the state of a believer who has died before the resurrection? “Away from the body and at home with the Lord” (v. 8)
What is the state of a resurrection believer? “We have a building from God, a house made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (v. 1)

35. The Intermediate State in Scripture
Revelation 6:9-10
“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with loud voice ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on earth?’”
Revelation 20:4
“Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

36. What happens to me when I die?
1. I am “annihilated” (Seventh-Day Adventism; World-Wide Church of God): As an unsaved soul, I am totally annihilated. 2. I go into a “suspended state of non-existence” (Anthony Hoekema): I immediately cease to exist living in time and space until the resurrection. 3. I go to “purgatory” (Roman Catholic Church): Prior to resurrection, people not good enough for heaven but not bad enough for hell. 4. I am “instantaneously resurrection” (W. D. Davies): I am immediately reclothed. **Quoted from Derek Thomas, “The Intermediate State”

37. What happens to me when I die?
5. I go into a “soul sleep” state (Martin Luther; Jehovah’s Witnesses; Seventh-Day Adventism; Early Anabaptists): My body goes to the ground to sleep and my soul goes into sleep, until the resurrection. 6. I go into a “disembodied state”: My soul is conscious but I exist without any body waiting my resurrection. 7. I go into an “intermediate state of existence” : I am clothed in a temporary spiritual body similar to mine but not the same as my glorified resurrected body.

38. Westminster Confession 32.1
“The bodies of men, after death, return to dust, and see corruption: but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them: the souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God, in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies. And the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day. Beside these two places, for souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledges none.”