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.