01.05.05. Do Saints Go Tto Heaven at Death?

5. BUT DO NOT SAINTS AT DEATH “GO TO HEAVEN”? The death of Stephen presents the exact features seen at the death of his Lord. We are told that “he called upon the Lord, saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit ... and ... he fell asleep” (Acts 7:59-60). His body did not fall asleep: it was battered to death by brutal ill‑usage, and devout men buried it. It does not say that his spirit fell asleep, but that he surrendered it to his Lord. We shall see later that neither does the soul “sleep” in relation to that other realm to which it goes at death; so that the expression “fell asleep” can only mean as to its relation to this earth‑life which it leaves at death. But did not Stephen “go to heaven” when he died? Do not all who die in Christ do so? It has been the almost universal belief of Protestants, but there is no Scripture for it. If Solomon’s words, “the spirit returns to God who gave it,” mean this, then the saints before the time of Christ must have gone there, and, as before remarked, not saints only, but the ungodly also, for the statement applies to all men.

It has been often asserted that when the Lord rose he released from Hades the godly dead and removed them to Paradise in the presence of God, and that ever since all His people go there at death. The Scripture nowhere declares this, but is wholly against it.

It should be asked, Where were these multitudes of souls during the forty days before Christ himself ascended? Raised at His resurrection, as the theory asserts, what was their location during that period? But it is known definitely that one of the most renowned of Old Testament men of God did not ascend to heaven with the Lord, for at Pentecost, which was after the ascension, Peter distinctly stated that “David has not ascended into the heavens” (Darby, Acts 2:34). Why was David left behind? There is no reason to think he was: the other godly dead also stayed there, as far as Scripture is concerned.

Alford translates: “David himself [i.e., in contrast to Christ] is not ascended”: Whitby: “David is not (yet) ascended”: Canon Cook (Speaker’s Commentary) remarks: “David’s soul was still in the‑ intermediate state.” Had David in fact ascended even but a few weeks before Peter was speaking, the latter could not have made the assertion “David ascended not.” The aorist used (anabee) covered all pre­ceding time, from the death of David to the speech of Peter. Moreover, if at any time David had ascended the point and conclusiveness of Peter’s argument were gone. Its cogency lay in the fact that no one but Jesus Christ had ascended:therefore He and He alone fulfilled the prophecy; for if any one else had ascended from the grave to the throne of God how should it be certain that he did not fulfil the prediction? In his great work on The Creed (Art. 5, He descended into Hell) Bishop Pearson shows how little basis the opinion in question has. He says: “The next consideration, is whether by virtue of His descent, the souls of those who before believed in Him, the Patriarchs, Prophets, and all the people of God, were delivered from that place and state, in which they were before; and whether Christ descended into Hell to that end, that He might translate them into a place and state, far more glorious and happy. This has been, in the later ages of the Church, the vulgar opinion of most men ...

“But even this opinion, as general as it hath been, hath neither the consent of Antiquity, nor such certainty as it pretendeth. Indeed, very few (if any) for above five hundred years after Christ, did so believe that Christ delivered the saints out of Hell, as to leave all the damned there. Many of the Ancients believed not, that they were removed at all, and few acknowledged that they were removed alone.” But it is asked, What became of those who came forth from their graves after Christ had risen and who appeared unto many? (Matthew 27:52-53). Did they not “go to heaven” with the Lord? Let those say what became of these to whom God may have given private information upon the point; but it cannot be learned from Scripture that they went to heaven. And in return it may be asked, What became of Lazarus and the other persons who were resuscitated, as mentioned in Scripture? Did they go to heaven without dying again or, are they still on earth? or, did they not in due time go back to the death state, from which they had been temporarily recalled to exhibit the power of God? That Christ “led captivity captive” carries no suggestion that He took the godly dead to heaven. The figure itself forbids the idea. It is taken from the ancient practice that a victorious commander dragged many, and the most noble, of his captives to his capital city and exhibited them for his glory at his triumphal entry. The expression could in no wise apply to the possible recovery of some of his own subjects from captivity by his enemy and their return home with him in liberty. The sense may be seen plainly in the place in Judges 5:12, from which the phrase is quoted in the later passages. As the conqueror Barak returns from the victory over Sisera Deborah cries: “Arise, Barak, and lead away thy captives.” It is the Lord’s conquest of the hosts of dark­ness that is celebrated in the New Testament passages (Ephesians 4:8; Colossians 2:15), as it is also the theme in Psalms 68:18, from which the quotation is actually made. The figure is again military. God is pictured as among a mighty host: “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands upon thousands,” and then it is said, “Thou hast led away captives,” the phrase formerly used of Barak.