The Intermediate Place of People According to the Bible

I finished reading though Professor McKay's book The Bond of Love, and would recommend reading it if you already have a good grasp of systematic theology and want to read a book that can make connections between all the different parts of the Bible and help you reach some conclusions.

I've have already referred to Professor McKay's work about Theonomy in an earlier post. For this post, however, I'm going to share a bit about McKay's insights into the state between death and the resurrection.

Prof. McKay is handling the subject in the midst of chapter 11, which is about The Final Triumph, under the section titled of Death and Beyond on pages 285 - 286.

McKay makes a distinction between the Bible being chiefly concerned with the state of people after death; but, that for these two pages he will address the location of people after death. McKay cautions that there is very little from the Scriptures that we can say about this topic, but that hasn't stopped Christians and non-Christians from talking about the issue.

For example, consider the Philadelphia Cream Cheese ads that play off of a relationship between multiple people who died and what their life is like after they become angels:

Star Wars also deals with the after life in Return of the Jedi:

In Christian circles recently, we also have books like Heaven is for Real, which is more about a near-death experience but is telling us about heaven nonetheless, and older works like Dante's The Comedy. Clive James new translation is the most accessible in my opinion.

The Roman Communion speaks and teaches about Purgatory in paragraphs 1030 - 1032 for "[a]ll who die in God's grace and friendship ..." in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994), but the Scriptures don't speak that way about the intermediate state, and the reason why Purgatory makes sense within the Roman Communion is because the Roman Catholic Church denies the active obedience of Christ for believers.

One place McKay points us to is Revelation 6:9-10 which says:

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 a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"

McKay points out that the setting for the souls under the alter is in heaven in God's presence. He then gets into a brief overview of the debated meanings about the Hebrew word Sheol and the Greek word Hades which both apply to the place of the dead.

In terms of Sheol, McKay seems to suggest that its the realm of death, a state with separate places for the ones who Christ has made righteous and the unrighteous. The unrighteous should fear entering Sheol (Psalm 73:27), but the righteous should have confidence that through death they will be with the Lord (Psalm 73:24). Sheol is not a 'geographical' place, and not an underworld.

When considering Hades, the debate does not stop. Luke 16:19-31, would indicate that Hades can refer to intermediate place of punishment for the wicked, in terms of the rich man. However, it also seems to refer to the state of death or grave in Acts 2:27:

For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.

Along with Acts 2:31:

... he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

Therefore, some diversity in meaning must be allowed.

In conclusion, though, the Scriptures are clear that there is no break in covenant fellowship between God and his people and as pointed out last week both the righteous and the unrighteous are waiting for the final reckoning spoken of, by Christ, in Matthew 25:31 - 46. The WCF in 33.1 - 3 speaks of that day in the following way:

God has appointed a day, wherein He will judge the world, in righteousness, by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father. In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged, but likewise all persons that have lived upon earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds; and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil. The end of God's appointing this day is for the manifestation of the glory of His mercy, in the eternal salvation of the elect; and of His justice, in the damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient. For then shall the righteous go into everlasting life, and receive that fulness of joy and refreshing, which shall come from the presence of the Lord; but the wicked who know not God, and obey not the Gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast into eternal torments, and be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power. As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment, both to deter all men from sin; and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity: so will He have that day unknown to men, that they may shake off all carnal security, and be always watchful, because they know not at what hour the Lord will come; and may be ever prepared to say, Come Lord Jesus, come quickly, Amen.

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: