The hope of believers after death

On March 16th, I finished reading John Murray's 1955 classic volume Redemption Accomplished and Applied. There is lot of material in this short book to consider and wrestle with, so I anticipate that I will be returning to this book frequently. The subject of the final chapter on Glorification and Murray's particular way of dealing with the subject under consideration, however, immediately drew my interest. Here's why: Murray highlights the difference between glorification and the blessedness that believers enjoy after death.

How many times do we attend funerals for both believers and unbelievers in Christ as their Savior from both the wrath of God and their right standing before God and are told something to the effect that the deceased "is in a better place forever"? Game's over for this person, there is nothing more that needs to be done other then that at some point we will join them again when we die.

However, Murray rightfully points out that this ignores the Second Coming of Christ. It ignores that the last enemy, death, has not yet been destroyed. As a consequence, Murray contends that to:

substitute the blessedness upon which believers enter at death for the glory that is to be revealed when "this corruptible will put on incorruption and this mortal will put on immortality" (1 Cor. 15:54) (pg. 175)

is to dishonor Christ and undermine the nature of the Christian hope. Murray goes on to talk about how

[p]reoccuption with the event of death indicates a deflection of faith, of love, and of hope. (pg. 175)

The teaching of Paul in Romans 8:17-23 is of a eschatological hope, not of hope in this present age by means of death. Paul is looking forward to Christ's second coming, not to his death which is the focus of passages like 2 Cor. 5:8, Heb. 12:23, and Phil. 1:23.

One interesting difference between glorification and death is that at the point of glorification all the people of God will enter together at the identical point in time. Death, however, is a highly individualized event to depart and be with Christ.

Near the end of his chapter (pgs. 179 - 181), Murray addresses two heresies that have afflicted the Christian church about physical matter. The second one views salvation as a release of the soul from the impediments and entanglements of the soul's association with the body. This is a very common heresy which finds expression in lots of entertainment and even otherwise orthodox churches. Science fiction stories, which I love to read and watch, are, in my mind, one obvious place to commonly hear this idea. Murray rightfully calls it "beautiful paganism" (pg. 180). It denies the following two truths:

1. God created man with body and soul and that he [meaning man] was very good.
2. The biblical doctrine of sin - sin has its origin and seat in the spirit of man, not the material and fleshly.

The connection between this heresy and the subject of glorification is that this heresy appeals to the immortality of the soul. The biblical doctrine of "immortality" is the doctrine of glorification and glorification is resurrection. Murray makes this point clear in the following quote:

Without resurrection of the body from the grave and the restoration of human nature to its completeness after the pattern of Christ's resurrection on the third day and according to the likeness of the glorified human nature in which he will appear on the clouds of heaven with great power and glory there is no glorification. (pg. 181)

The Christian's hope recognizes that God's creation was cursed because of human apostasy. Likewise, the creation will be delivered from that curse along with believers in the final act of redemption applied known as glorification.

Therefore, when we morn the death of a loved one we should not think that all they have reached their final state. Yes, they are delivered from the conditions of this present age, but God has one final act of redemption to be applied to them and that is their glorification.

Postscript:

After I finished this post, I remembered the 1969 song by Peggy Lee, Is That All There Is? The question I want to ask other Christians is are we really being faithful to all that God has revealed if we only stop the good news at the point a person dies? I think Professor Murray has made the case that we need to go farther with our explanation of life after death because the Scriptures tell us, and show us, that the dead are still waiting for the Day of the Lord. Here's the Peggy Lee song, by the way: