DO WE SLEEP AND AWAIT A FINAL JUDGMENT?

In his provocative Foolishness to the Greeks, Leslie Newbigin, longtime ecumenical leader, calls the modern church to judgment in reference to how it has allowed culture to impact its values rather than the other way around. In his list of things the church must do to regain the initiative in bearing witness to the secular world is to recover a viable eschatology or a doctrine of last things. His admonition set me to thinking about what the average church member believes about life after death, the resurrection, and a final judgment. So in this piece I am raising a few questions with some suggested answers.

While we are to avoid sheer speculation, we must show courage in venturing into areas where we have but little information, for even sparse revelation is precious when it enlightens us in reference to the "one hope of your calling." Where God discloses much on a subject we should desire to learn much, where he has disclosed but little we should desire to know that little. Dt. 29:29 seems appropriate in any age: "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."

It is commonly believed that when we die we "sleep in Jesus," to use the language of I Thess. 4:13, until the resurrection, at which time our bodies will be raised, as 1 Thess. 4 goes on to indicate, and then we gather with all mankind in a general judgment, where the sheep are separated from the goats, the righteous from the unrighteous, as Mt. 25:32f. is presumed to teach. Once our destiny is determined at this final judgment, we go to heaven or hell.

Recently I asked several members of the Church of Christ about this scenario of last things, and while they were a bit uncomfortable with the questions they generally agreed that that is what they believe. A recent graduate of ACU was not hesitant as he assured me "I am convinced that that is what the Bible teaches." I respect his confidence, for these notions are generally believed by all Christians.

I am persuaded, however, that this is an area where we have done hardly any critical thinking, and we seem oblivious to the glaring contradictions in our position. We will, for example, hold to a "soul sleeping" view as we speak of dear old grandmother now being with the Lord or a beloved brother now being in heaven. Are our loved ones now in heaven before the resurrection and before the final judgment? If so, what happens to the notion of a final judgment where one's eternal destiny is determined?

Do we really believe some of the things we say we believe? Take the old Scottish divine, who, upon dedicating a new cemetery, said: "What a lovely place to be buried! On resurrection morning those who lie here can awake to the scenes of this beautiful garden."

Do we believe that graves will be literally opened and bodies will literally come forth? In the long history of humankind most graves have disappeared in the shifting, eroding earth, and graves are stacked on top of each other. The remains have become a part of the natural elements from which they came. What kind of graves have the multitudes that "sleep" in the sea, and how literally are we to take such language as "The sea gave up the dead that were in it" (Rev. 20:13)?

Paul was himself uncertain enough about how these things will be to write, "But someone will say, 'How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?' Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain   perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body" (1 Cor. 15:35-38).

It is enough for us to believe that it will be as God pleases. And Paul makes it clear that the body that is laid in the grave is not the body that shall be. May we not therefore conclude that "the resurrection of the body" is a symbol of the great truth that the believer will have life beyond the grave. Death is not the end of life but the beginning of the life which is life indeed. And we shall have bodies like unto Christ's glorious body, according to Philip. 3:21. There is therefore no place for an actual opening of graves or a coming forth of bodies. Graves disappear and bodies turn to dust, but while this is happening the believers who once occupied those bodies are already with Christ in eternity. This is the meaning of "resurrection."

I take this to mean that the body in which I live has no destiny beyond the "grave," and I put that word in quotation marks since my body will not likely be buried in the usual sense. As the card that I carry in my wallet indicates, my body upon death is to be transferred to Southwestern Medical School in Dallas to be used in medical research. It will eventually be disposed of. I never expect to see it again. It is like a house I leave behind when I move to a better one or like an old garment laid aside never to be used again. I am through with it, forever. It will no longer be part of me. I will have moved out, leaving it vacant. If those left behind can make some use of it, I will be pleased.

But I will have a body, and if I read 2 Cor. 5:1-3 aright, I will have it immediately upon leaving my old body, else "We shall not be found naked" has no meaning. I am persuaded in the light of Scripture that there is no such thing as a disembodied spirit or soul. There may even be a temporary "building" (2 Cor. 5 again) until we eventually have "the body like unto his glory" at the consummation of all things. In any event, Paul seemed assured that he would never "be found naked," either on earth or in heaven, which means to be without a body, even though he had an earth-to-heaven experience that was so breathtaking that he did not know whether he was in the body or out (2 Cor. 12). While this indicates that a Christian might have "out of body" experiences, he does not have "out of body" permanent existence.

It is appropriate to ask what Jesus believed about death, resurrection, and final judgment - particularly in terms of sleeping in the grave awaiting the resurrection.

I am convinced that Jesus believed what Paul believed when he wrote, "I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better" (Philip. 1:23), for he spoke with that same certainty when he told the thief on the cross beside him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise" (Lk. 23:43). Just as Paul believed that when he died (the moment he died!) he would be with Christ, so Jesus believed (Assuredly, he said) that the dying thief would be with him in heaven in a matter of hours.

Think of it, from a cross to the glories of heaven in the blink of an eye! The same promise is for us: while they are poking around on us to see if we are dead or alive we will already be in heavenly glory, and when that glad day comes we will be amazed that we could have ever had any fear of "death." In fact we will then know, as we should now believe, that there is no such thing as death for the believer, if by death is meant the end of life.

There is also the experience that Jesus had with his disciples on the mount of transfiguration (Lk. 9) when Moses and Elijah "appeared in glory" and spoke with Christ concerning the ordeal he faced. It shows that Moses and Elijah were not asleep in some tomb awaiting resurrection and judgment, but were "in glory" and knew what was going on. Jesus taught similarly in Lk. 20:38 when he said, "He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live unto Him." He was saying that while Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had "died" they were still alive. God is not the God of the dead because there are no dead - "All live unto him," our Lord assures us - at least no dead believers.

The story of Jairus' daughter in Mt. 9 is tantalizingly interesting in reference to what Jesus believed about death. All around her insisted that she was dead - and we even insist that she was! - but Jesus said that she was only asleep. Does this suggest that Jesus believed that "death" doesn't make all that much difference?

Since the Scriptures, including the teaching of Jesus, is unequivocal in placing the believer in the presence of God upon death - such a forceful affirmation as "When we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8), being another instance - we may wonder why a "resting in their graves till the resurrection and judgment" doctrine could ever have become widely believed.

It is because of a misunderstanding of what the Bible says about a coming judgment, particularly the parable of the sheep and the goats in Mt. 25. It is supposed that Jesus here pictures all individuals who ever lived gathered in a great assize, and that their destiny is determined then and there, depending upon their works, and so they are separated, the sheep from the goats.

Such an interpretation has grave difficulties, one being that it assumes as true what the Scriptures consistently contradict, that the destiny of a soul has to await a final judgment. If so, Jesus could never have assured the thief the way he did. He could only have said, "I'll see what I can do for you when the time comes."

The Bible definitely teaches that there is a judgment to come (and in one sense already here) but such a judgment is not to determine whether one goes to heaven or hell.

Since Mt. 25 has the righteous going into eternal life and the wicked into eternal punishment, it appears that we have a confirmation of this doctrine. But this is a judgment of nations ("All nations will be gathered before him," verse 32), not of individuals. This would figure, for individuals could hardly be judged by the drawing of a line, the righteous on one side, the wicked on the other, for there is too much of both good and evil in us all for that kind of judgment. But such a judgment can be made of nations.

Pictures of judgment can be symbols of God's authority, depicting him as the one to whom we must give account. Or judgment may symbolize the determination of awards - "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:10).

But such judgment does not determine destiny, for that is already determined. We determine that for ourselves each day of our lives by the decisions we make and the things we do, and by our appeal to the gospel of Christ and the mercy of God. And so we can know our eternal destiny now. But our awards are not yet determined.

There is no necessary connection between facing judgment and a determination of destiny. Even in earthly courts a man is found guilty by his peers and they often determine his punishment. Yet at a later time he goes before the judge for judgment. The judge issues a sentence that has already been determined, which makes it only a symbol or a formalizing of what has already been done.

Life is a continual judgment. We know when we do right and when we do wrong. We only need to look to Christ whose presence in our lives is a continual judgment. To be sure, the day of death will be a day of judgment, for Christ will then be clearer to us than ever before and we will know as we are known.

Some of us who have had difficulty in being assured may be in for a glorious surprise - that we have lived much closer to Christ than we realized! -the Editor