06.02 - Chapter 36 - The State of the Soul After Death
Chapter 36 THE STATE OF THE SOUL AFTER DEATH A Confession of Faith
“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 paradise, where they are with Christ, and 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 torment and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day; besides these two places, for souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.” (The Baptist Confession Of Faith Of 1689, Chapter 31 Section 1; study Genesis 3:19; Acts 13:36; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Luke 23:43; 2 Corinthians 5:1, 2 Corinthians 5:6, 2 Corinthians 5:8; Php 1:23; Hebrews 12:23; Jude 1:6-7; 1 Peter 3:9; Luke 16:23-24).
What Happens at Death?
What happens at death? Materialism says that the soul ceases to exist. Pantheism and Christian Science teach that the soul returns to the pool of being from which it arose. Jehovah Witnesses say that the soul sleeps until the resurrection. Catholic theology teaches that the soul goes to an intermediate place such as purgatory--which is really a hell for Christians prior to heaven. The Bible teaches that the soul enters that sphere of existence to receive either eternal reward or punishment (Luke 16:19-31; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Luke 23:43; 2 Corinthians 12:4; Revelation 2:7; Revelation 22:1-2).
What happens at death? The soul of the saint ceases to suffer. "In his suffering he was asking me to make him well. I could not." (Autobiography, 1924) What President Calvin Coolidge could not do for his sixteen year old son, God can. He can make the pain cease. There is peace. During the Korean War one Christmas eve, a young Marine lay dying on Heartbreak Ridge. The chaplain climbed up the slope and stooped over the Marine and whispered, "May I help you, son?" "No, it’s all right," was the answer. The chaplain marveled at the young soldier’s complacency in such an hour; then, glancing down, the chaplain noticed a New Testament clutched in the Marine’s hand. And the reaon for the young man’s tranquility was found on the page where his finger was resting: "My peace I give unto you."
What happens at death? The soul of the sinner never ceases to suffer. Dr. J. Gresham Machen (d. 1937) warned his generation by saying plainly, "Many people think that the paymaster can be cheated, that after a life of sin we can present ourselves hopefully at the cashier’s window and be paid in some different coin from that which we have earned." The Benefit of Death
Because there is hope for the resurrection of the body, the sting of death is taken out for the believer. The Christian faith teaches that death itself has a benefit for those who are saved by the blood of Christ in that the soul of every believer is made perfect in holiness at death. While the soul of the saint is graduated into glory, rests in the grave until the resurrection morning. And what a morning that will be. The story is told of how Winston Churchill had planned his funeral which took place in St. Paul’s Cathedral. He included many of the great hymns of the church and used the beauty of the Anglican liturgy. At his direction, a bugler, positioned high in the dome of St. Paul’s, intoned, after the benediction, the sound of "Taps" the universal signal that say the day is over. But then came the most dramatic moment for, still according to Churchill’s instruction, as soon as "Taps" was finished, another bugler, placed on the other side of the great dome, played the notes of "Reveille"--"It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up in the morning!" That was Churchill’s testimony. At the end of history, the last note will not be "Taps"; it will be "Resurrection" It will be "Reveille." It will be time to get up in the morning!