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WHERE ARE THE DEAD?

Introduction:

Our topic is: WHERE ARE THE DEAD? But before giving careful consideration unto it lets first explore just what is man. The psalmist inquires at:

Psalm 8:4, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (This inquiry is repeated in the New Testament at Heb. 2:6).But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?

We look unto the Bible for the answer. Well first of all, we learn at:

Gen. 2:7, “And the LORD God formed manofthe dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

Eccl. 12:7, Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

From what we just stated we might conclude that man is nothing more than a physical being like animals. If that were true then he would cease to exist when his physical life ceases. But there is more to man than being physical.

The following passages speak of a spirit within the human body.

Job 32:8, “Butthere isa spirit in man:”

Dan. 7:15, “I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst ofmybody,”

Zech. 12:1, “…the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.”

Combining those passages we learn that man is a composite being; he is composed of a body, personality (soul) and a spirit. In relation to this truth what is life? Physical life exists as long as the spirit remains within its body. A person dies when the spirit and body are separated.

James 2:26, “For as the body without the spirit is dead,”

With that in mind let us now pursue our topic:

  1. WHERE ARE THE DEAD?
  1. First of all, let us consider where the spirit does not go.
  1. It does not go into the grave with its physical body.

II Cor. 5:1, “For we know that if our earthly house ofthistabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

  1. Secondly, it does not go into a purgatorial realm.
  1. This is based upon superstition that has no Biblical support.
  1. Thirdly, the spirit does not go directly to Heaven.
  1. This truth is evident concerning the events related to the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of the Son of God.
  2. One of the thieves who were crucified along with Jesus railed against Him saying, “If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us.” The other thief being penitent said unto the other thief: “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done mothering amiss.” He then said unto Jesus, “Lord, remember me when thou comest unto thy kingdom.” Our Lord responded: “Verily, I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Lk. 23:43).
  3. Jesus and the penitent thief entered into paradise on that very day. Three days later on the day of His resurrection one of the godly women approached Him and would have touched Him. But Jesus said, “Touch me not, I am not yet ascended to my Father” (John 20:17). Our Lord had died three days prior to that, but had not yet ascended unto Heaven to be with the Heavenly Father. Therefore paradise where He and the penitent thief had gone was not Heaven.
  1. From a positive standpoint can we determine what paradise is?
  1. On the day of Pentecost the Apostle Peter referred to the following prophecy of David: “For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Acts 2:25-27).
  2. The ASV has verse 27 as follows: “Thou wilt not leave my soul unto Hades, neither will thou give thine holy one to see corruption.” In the KJV the word hell is used for both hades and Gehenna, the eternal place of torment. Jesus was not in Gehenna for three days, but in hades, the unseen realm of the dead.
  3. From that passage we learn that the Lord’s body would not remain in the tomb until it decayed; and His soul (spirit) would not remain in Hades. He had not been in Heaven during those three days; therefore, hades is not Heaven.
  1. Is there any passage that describes the Hadean world?
  1. The answer is “Yes, there is!” Jesus speaks of the rich man and Lazarus. Someone may be ready to say, “But that is only a parable!” Are those who make that statement claiming that it is not true? Keep in mind that a parable is for the purpose of teaching truth. I’m not sure that it is because it does not state that it is a parable. It mentions a specific person which is not characteristic of parables. But whether it is or not a parable it teaches truth.

Lk. 16:19-31,

19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,

21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

‘Abraham’s Bosom’ was the Jewish name for paradise in the afterlife.

23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

Hell rightly is the place of departed spirits or Hades, he is in torments, so it is not paradise.

24 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.

25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

26 And beside all this, between us and you 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.

27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house:

28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

29 Abraham saith unto him, they have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.

30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

  1. Let us consider what we have discussed thus far.
  1. Life is the union of body and spirit; while death is their separation.
  2. At death the body goes into the grave and returns to dust; while the spirit wings its way into the Hadean realm. A righteous spirit enters into a place described both as Abraham’s bosom and paradise. While the lost enter into a place described as torment. The expression “Abraham’s bosom” was a figure of speech well known to the Jews. In Oriental countries as well as the Middle East it was customary to eat at a low elevated table. Those eating at it sat on the floor. The host sat at the head of the table and the guest of honor sat immediately to his right. From this the figure of speech was that the guest sat in the bosom of the host.
  1. LET US NOW CONSIDER ANY POSSIBLE OBJECTIONS CONCERNING HADES AS THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF THE DEAD.
  1. Some might say, “How do you know but that is a picture oftheir eternal state, either in Heaven or hell? There are several reasons why this could not already be their eternal abode.
  1. First, it was a place of disembodied spirits. It states that the rich man was buried. No one will go to Heaven or hell until the resurrection at the end of time and the Day of Judgment.
  2. Secondly, it pictures a period of time before the Christian dispensation. When the rich man pleaded with Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brother to repent. Abraham said, “They’ve got Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them.” That was before the Christian age and therefore before the Judgment and mankind’s consignment to their eternal destiny.
  1. Others may be ready to point out that in the King James translation it plainly says, “The rich man lifted up his eyes in hell.”
  1. Those who bring that up believe that is speaking of the eternal place of torment. In the Greek testament there are two words translated by our English word “hell.” One of the words is “hades,” which means the unseen, the realm, where the disembodied spirits remain until the Day of Judgment. The other word translated in the KJV as hell is Gehenna, the place of eternal torment.
  1. Another objection to an intermediate place for those who died is as follows: “If their destination is already fixed then why will there be a Judgment?
  1. It will not be necessary for the Lord to hold court to determine the innocence or guilt of anyone. Each and every person’s eternal destination was determined when they died. The Day of Judgment will not be for the purpose of holding a trial, but to pass sentence. Both those who were still living in the physical realm at the second coming of Christ and those who had been retained in the hadean world will be there. Whatever spiritual state a person is in when they die will be how they face the Lord on the Day of Judgment.

Heb. 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”

Jude 6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

1Pe 3:19,20 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

2Pe 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.

Hell here is the Greek Tartarus, a prison where fallen angels and men were bound. A waiting place for judgment. This is the only place where Tartarus is used in the scriptures, including the Septuagint.

  1. Another might object by claiming the Bible teaches that the dead are in an unconscious state.
  1. Materialist, if they know any Scripture, are apt to bring up the following passage as their proof that the dead either cease to exist are in an unconscious state.

Eccl. 9:5, “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything,”

  1. Note that they either do not quote the whole passage or place emphasis upon the part we just referred to. A person could handle that passage in such a dishonest manner and quote the next phrase which would leave the impression that when one dies they will not have any reward after their death. Listen to it with the additional phrase.

“For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward;”

  1. That would be dishonest and mislead folks. Now let’s recite the whole verse along with the following related verse.

Eccl. 9:5-6, “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anythingthat is done under the sun.”

  1. That passage reveals that those who die no longer have any reward in this life and know not anything that happens under the sun. Why? Because they are no longer living in the physical realm. Those who claim to be able to speak to the dead ‘necromancy’, spiritualists, mediums may speak to spirits, but evil spirits, not departed human spirits.
  1. AT THE END OF TIME BOTH THOSE WHO WILL BE LIVING AT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST AND THOSE WHO ARE NOW IN THE HADEAN REALM WILL RECEIVE SENTENCE OF THEIR ETERNAL DESTINATION.

John 5:28-29, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”

II Cor. 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the thingsdoneinhisbody, according to that he hath done, whetherit begood or bad.”

  1. Both the righteous living and those in paradise will receive eternal life.
  1. Those living at the second coming of Christ who are in a spiritual lost state and those in torment in Hades will be sentenced to eternal damnation in Gehenna, the eternal hell.

Mat 25:33-46 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

The same Greek word is used for everlasting and for eternal.

DIAGRAM

Closing:

Whether we are living when the Son of God returns or have already died our eternal destiny will have been determined. While we are now living it behooves us to make our life right in the sight of the Lord.

If you have not obeyed the gospel then we urge you to come forward, acknowledge your faith in Jesus as being the Son of God and in penitence be baptized for the remission of your sins.

If you have already obeyed the gospel but need to make things right unto the Lord and before the brethren then we encourage you to come forward, confess your sins, and request the brethren pray in your behalf.

Originally from a lesson by Guy N. Woods,

modified by Dub Mowery and edited by Keith Sisman 2013.