Soul Sleep? Today Thou Shalt Be With Me in Paradise

Revelation 6:9-11

2 Corinthians 5:1-8

Soul sleep: almost every heresy that is around today found its origins in early church history, there is nothing new under the sun.  Soul sleep originated in Arabia and then raised its head in the times of the Reformation, and even in the present day there are those who believe in soul sleep.  Why would some people believe in it?  Because of faulty human reason, (they say) "God couldn't condemn us until we are proven guilty, or bring us into heaven until we are proven innocent.  So since the judgment is at the end of time,  if we die now our souls must sleep until the judgment and then we either go to heaven or to hell."  That is absolutely faulty human reason.  It assumes that we are innocent until proven guilty at the judgment, but the bible says we are guilty now and condemned already.  John 3:18 "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."   Some people say that the scriptures talk about "sleeping in Jesus" and they take that literally as sleeping but they are wrong.  In the bible, sleep is a metaphor for death.  Lazarus was "asleep" but he was dead.  Jairus' daughter was dead, not just sleeping. 

Those who believe in soul sleep could say regarding these examples,  "we agree but all you are doing is shooting down something that we do not believe.  We agree that Lazarus was dead, that Jairus daughter was dead, we do not believe in body sleep, but soul sleep.  A Christian's body dies but their soul sleeps until the last judgment and you did not refute that view."   This morning I will, by God's grace, prove that soul sleep is wrong. 

The first difference between those who teach soul sleep and those who are believers is the view of death.  Those who teach soul sleep say that death is that the body dies and the soul sleeps.  However, if the body dies and the soul sleeps, where does the soul sleep?  But  Christians, say "what is death?"  Death according to the bible is separation of soul from body.  The body dies and the soul is removed from the body.  Death is not sleep.  It is a separation of body from soul.  Here are 7 bible passages that show that souls do not sleep but live on consciously.

-Solomon says "The soul or spirit returns to the God who gave it.  Eccl 12:6-5-7 "...man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets.  Or ever the silver cord be loosed, ...then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."  The context is getting old, dying.  He is talking about the separation of the soul from body.  Notice it says "then shall the dust return" not after it sleeps until the judgment.   At death the body turns to dust and the soul (spirit) returns to God and it doesn't say anything about soul sleep.  No unconsciousness is mentioned.  

Who Lives in Heaven?

Hebrews 12:18-29 

It is necessary and pleasant to study heaven.  If we are saved, we are already a citizen of heaven. Yes, we are citizens of heaven who are exiled in this world, this world for believers is not their home.  The believer is on a pilgrimage to heaven, and every Christian is presently an ambassador of heaven in this world.  Heb 13:14 "For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come."   Believers look forward to heaven.  Even though heaven is in eternity, it is very near, very close.

Who lives in heaven?  who is presently in heaven?  There are three categories: 

 God lives in heaven, the triune God lives in heaven.   That makes the God of Christianity different from any other God, the triune God that is one God but three persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.  Three persons, one God.  This is a foundation of Christian doctrine.  Same in substance, equal in power and in glory.  Same in essence.  The essence of God is holiness, God the Father is holy, God the Son is the holy child, and the Holy Spirit.  Some people might say they don't understand so they can't believe it  but the answer is, of course you can't understand it, nobody can understand it.  How can a finite limited human mind understand the infinite God?  We cannot comprehend infinity because to understand it you would have to be equal with God.  But we believe it just the same because God has revealed himself in the bible. That is faith.  The bible says 1 John 5:7 "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." In John 1:1 the apostle John refers to the Lord Jesus as the Word.  Jesus says I and my Father are one.  The bible says that God's dwelling place is in heaven.  We have faith and trust in God's word that what it says is true even though some of it is beyond our full grasp.  It is the greatest fallacy that we need to understand something before we can believe it.  You don't understand exactly how airplanes work but you trust that they can fly.

The Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man: Why Was the Rich Man in Hell?

Luke 16:19-31

The parable of Lazarus and the rich man is very well known, it is about a beggar who is covered with sores, and a rich man who has all his wants and needs met.  But what happens when they both die is the key to the reason for this parable, told by the Lord Jesus Christ.



This passage teaches that life does not end at death.  Jesus plainly teaches in this section of scripture, in perfect alignment with the rest of the bible, that there are places where the human soul goes after death and continues to exist.  All true churches believe that because they all believe what Jesus says and they follow Jesus Christ.  A Christian is a follower of Jesus and believes Jesus.   These days a belief in hell is fading fast, and compromised churches are leading the way in unbelief.  As well as this, students in bible colleges are no longer interested in the subject.   It's the churches' neglect of the subject of everlasting punishment which has happened in the same period of time when the world is becoming more rebellious, more permissive, more violent and more godless.   The church is a pale reflection of the world and the world's views.  But the bible has not changed, the bible and the words of Jesus Christ are unchanged.  The eternal destinies of those who die have not changed, nothing has changed.  God has not changed his mind and it's completely irrelevant that society does not like or believe the doctrine or that they don't want the doctrine.  Hell still exists.   The opinion of men is not the measure of truth nor reality.  God's word is the measure of truth.  He is the ultimate reality.   Even if you don't believe in hell, you will still end up there if you are not a Christian.  Hell is a real and remote place, a place of fire and darkness, a place of everlasting punishment.  Think about it.

What does Jesus say about the passage in Luke 16?  he is speaking to people who were religious but not converted, not saved.  V14 "And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him." 

There were once two men:  V19-21 "There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day.  And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores."   We see in these verses a description of the two men.  The rich man is described as being clothed in purple and fine linen, same thing in Rev 18:12, it means that this emphasizes luxury, the best.  The labels of the day, the rich man was clothed in. V19 tells us of his diet.  He had plenty to eat every day.  But then the beggar is also described.  His name is Lazarus, the rich man is not named.  Lazarus is the complete opposite of the rich man:  lying at the gate, outside the home.  He is full of sores, the Lord says the dogs came and licked his sores, so the sores were not bandaged, no one was looking after him.  What was the beggar's desire?  He simply wanted the crumbs, the leftovers, the scraps that fell from the rich man's table.  What a pitiful picture.  The Lord is describing two men who are vastly different.