Revelation 6:9-10: And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Luke 16:23-24: And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
Now, in the above Scriptures we read of dis-embodied souls that have not yet received their resurrection bodies, yet they have tongues; can speak, hear, touch, feel, have memories, thoughts, and therefore are still in full possession of all their previously held bodily functions before their bodies gave up the ghost, Gen.25:8. It is said in Luke 16:26 that there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot: neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. This great gulf is what separated the righteous and unrighteous dead in Hades*; is not a similar great gulf presently in place between the departed and the living? With this being the case, it is not too difficult to understand the truth of the unseen angels, as real as they are, there is a great gulf betwixt us and them; we cannot interact with that realm, and, of those angels which kept ...their proper habitation (Jude 1:6 RV) they will not step aside from God's decrees, as opposed to those that did, in order to wreak havoc, for all those fallen angels are now currently incarcerated, unable to cause any further harm until the appointed time when God releases them as described in Rev.9, to perform His future judgments on the inhabited earth. Angels are spirits, they too, have bodies, but are ethereal, not subject to the physical world as we are. So, the dis-embodied human souls now seem to share some of the characteristics of angels as described throughout Scripture, but are unable to manifest themselves to us here on earth, as depicted by Eccl. 9:5-6; for neither have they (the deceased) any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun. thereby proving that the departed are not able to come back as entities known as ghosts.
Many believers struggle to take on board the fact that the Bible clearly teaches that the dis-embodied soul still retains all its faculties at death (the physical body apart), they are also not able to communicate with those living on earth in any form or fashion. As Abraham said to Dives when he asked if Lazarus could be sent back to his surviving brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment, to which Abraham said unto him. If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. Luke 16:27-30. The same it is today, One has risen from the dead, and the Gospel proclaiming the truth as it is in Christ has been preached far and wide, and yet what unbelief persists! It is only the body that dies at death, not the soul, that never dies, the body is effectively dust, for dust thou art, Gen. 3:19, is what God said to Adam. Eccl. 12:7 says Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. We are but dust! and how many times throughout the ages has this been confirmed? for every time a body dies, that is what it eventually becomes. The spirit returns to God, for He says; behold, all souls are mine, Ezek. 18:4. Many struggle to be dogmatic on the tripartite nature of man, clearly we have a body, a soul that lives forever, but what of our spirit? I don't pretend this to be an easy subject, A.W. Pink remarked with words to the effect that it is not easy to distinguish between the soul and spirit. If we are tripartite beings as 1 Thess.5:23 and Heb.4:12 strongly suggest, then we have a spirit and soul and body, the body we know, and the soul is the life in the body, that living ethereal part of us that is immortal in the elect and the non-elect alike, then what of the spirit that is in us? The apostle says of the natural man that they are spiritually discerned. 1 Cor. 2:14. We must remember that the people he was addressing in 1 Thess.5:23 were his brethren, they were spiritually awake, they had the Spirit of God in them. The awakened spirit in a regenerate soul is something that obviously does not exist in an unregenerate person. In Heb.4:12, the dividing of soul and spirit (RV) strongly suggests that the two, though being separate entities are inextricably united, and only God alone can separate them. It is said in Rom.8:16 that The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, so the spirit in the regenerate person has an inherent consciousness of God's Holy Spirit in them as opposed to the unregenerate who whilst also being a living soul, has not a spirit that has been enlivened from above.
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. Rom.8:9. There is that spirit of antichrist, 1 Jn. 4:3, but can the unregenerate realize he has this spirit? Is it not true that practically the whole world has heard of the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. Rev.12:9, yet what multitudes think that he doesn't exist? truly a masterstroke of deception!
The death of the believer, despite all appearances to the contrary, does not not come about by accident, nor by consequence of any 'mistake' made by a doctor. The ultimate cause thereof proceeds from God in Christ Himself, promoting, or permitting certain things to terminate the life of a saint. As Bishop Thompson rightly remarks; "The literal translation of 1 Thess. 4:14, 'them...which sleep in Jesus' is 'them...which are laid to sleep by Jesus.' Here is a beautiful illustration and consoling fact." Death, therefore is analogous to sleep, or vice versa, and this doesn't warrant the awful (and unbiblical) soul-sleep theory, as the case of the Rich man and Lazarus clearly demonstrates, since both are in their disembodied state before the resurrection.
Many Christians are troubled by the fact that certain close relatives and friends who profess no faith in Christ (and may never do so), will be eternally separated from them, and even worse, that their destiny will be one of everlasting ruin where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Mk.9:48. So, how can one of God's elect having an eternally conscious soul be eternally in bliss, whilst mourning over the never ending ruin of a loved one? How do we reconcile this dilemma?
I don't know, but it may be that Paul had some very close family members in mind when he exclaimed I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. Rom.9:1-3. Scripture, as ever, should guide all truth seekers, and the apostle in 1 Cor.13:12 said; For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. Are these inspired words telling us that when all is revealed to us, that we will then see clearly, that is that those whom we hitherto had loved, we will now see them as they really are - children of Satan? Now, I am bordering somewhat into speculation here, but going as far as I perceive is allowable from what I believe is taught in Scripture. At this juncture we may take a lesson or two from the Redeemer Himself; I have heard it said more than once that He was more than a tad too harsh with His earthly family in Matt.12:46-50, where He said Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. (emphasis's all mine). Is this not a hard pill to swallow? What did the Saviour mean by these (very hard?) words? If we are not brutally honest with ourselves; is He not telling us in very plain English, so to speak, that we should love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. The second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Matt. 22:37-39? How can we claim to belong to Him if we reject these plain words of His? In other words, He is telling us in no uncertain terms that we should obey (or at least make every effort to try to!) the Ten Commandments that were thundered down from Sinai in Exodus 20! But, how is it possible for one to even attempt to do this if he, or she doesn't believe? All prejudices aside, any sane thinking individual would surely agree?
If we can glean anything from this, one thing is for sure, God will not countenance any god before Him; Exodus 20.3.
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*Those that have died in Christ since the crucifixion, do not now enter into Hades, which the righteous OT saints entered. When Christ led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men...He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth. (Eph. 4:8-9). What was Christ doing down there in the depths? or rather as the Scripture says; He was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Matt. 12:40. Truly He led captivity captive, for has He not the keys of hell and of death? (Hades and death RV). Some errantly think it to be a "Popish notion" (John Gill on Eph.4:9-10) that Christ descended down into hell (Gk. Hades), yet "the Scripture plainly declares that the soul of our Lord was in Hades during the time that His body was in the grave, it is equally evident that that part of Hades in which His blessed and holy soul was, was not a place of torment, or of suffering." (B.W. Newton). Would our Lord have used words such as so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth if He only meant that His blessed body was going to rest in a ground level tomb for that duration of time? No! the heart of the earth is a subterranean place far deeper below than man is capable of digging. The Patriarchs fully expected to go to Sheol upon death as depicted in Gen. 37:35, 42:38, 44:29, Job 14:13 etc. In Luke 16:26 the great gulf fixed was evidently an impassable barrier between the righteous and unrighteous dead in the subterranean regions known as Hades or Sheol. So, the dis-embodied saints that were in Hades/Sheol at the time of the cross ascended with the Saviour When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts unto men, Eph.4:8, Ps.68:8. Subsequently, after the cross all the righteous who die thereafter also ascend upwards to heaven; their bodies are left in the grave awaiting bodily resurrection, and their dis-embodied souls are now present with the Lord, 2 Cor.5:8, awaiting union with the new spiritual body, 1 Cor.15:42-44. 1 Thess.4.16 says; the dead in Christ shall rise first, this obviously means those decomposed dust particles, or even ashes, shall miraculously formulate into a glorified spiritual body which will house the soul that descends from heaven to meet it, for there is nothing dead in heaven! Some may think that 'poor' old righteous Abel (being the first man to die) has had a rather long wait! some near 6000 years, awaiting the resurrection, as maybe suggested from Rev.6:10; How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? But, as Abel is now with Christ (and has always been in His keeping), is it not true that a thousand years is as one day with the Lord? (2 Pet.3:8) Then, now being in eternity as it were, that long passage of time may seem to him as only six days!
"There was in Hades a division prepared for the souls of the blessed, and another division called the lowest Sheol (Hades) RV Deut.32:22 assigned to the souls of the lost; and that the souls of those who died in the faith of a promised Saviour, did until the resurrection and ascension of that Saviour, remain in that division of Hades that was allotted to the souls of the blessed, being there sustained and comforted by the power of God, and proving the words of the Psalmist, if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou [Jehovah] art there. Ps.139:8." (B.W. Newton).
A work in progress; to be continued and edited.
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