It’s funny, the things we get finicky about and the things we relax about when someone dies isn’t it? I was intrigued by one conversation I observed on social media following the death of the late pope. It was in response to Stephen Kneale’s excellent article about how we should respond to the news. As is often the case, comments tended to answer the question in the headline rather than engage with Steve’s article itself.
One person suggested that we should respond by hoping/praying that we would get to see the Pope again in Heaven. This drew an objection but perhaps not the one you might expect. It wasn’t from a strict Protestant questioning whether the Pope held to the Gospel of Salvation, a question that Steve raises in his article. Rather, the challenge was to the effect that we should not talk about seeing people in Heaven because our sure and certain hope is for the Resurrection of the dead when Jesus returns. We look forward to life in God’s new creation, in fact, this creation made new. We are not to look forward to going to heaven, a form of disembodied existence. In fact, the person argued, such talk of going to heaven was a Platonic heresy.
Were they right? What actually does happen when we die? This is a question not just pertinent to the late pope’s current status but something we are likely to be asking about our own loved ones. In fact, I’m not too interested in where Francis is now. I’m more likely to be concerned about my mum, my nanna and other loved ones gone on before.
There are pastoral implications to this. What for example are we to make of accounts from people saying that they have experienced the presence of a departed love one. Should we believe in the existence of ghosts? Should we keep talking to them, hoping that somehow they will hear? Are they looking down, watching over us? What about wishing them a heavenly happy birthday on Facebook? These are the kinds of things that we even hear Christians talking about and doing. Are those realistic things, just sentiment, confused thinking based on heresy or something worse?
Well, first of all, the person I mentioned was right to talk about sure and certain hope of the resurrection. This is what the Bible describes as our future hope. It seems that when Scripture talks about a new heaven and a new earth that it is thinking of this world, purified and made right. The image at the end of Scripture is not of us floating off to heaven, rather, God and heaven comes down to earth. God makes his home with us here for ever.
The idea of escape from physical matter reflects a pagan world-view. We associate it with Greek religion and philosophy as well as Gnosticism. The ancient near Eastern world, saw the physical body as a prison, a cage to escape from. Jesus’ physical resurrection tells us that this view is wrong. Just as Jesus rose, physically from the dead, so too will we. Although this creation and our present bodies are fallen, God made this world, physical matter and human bodies good. Our eternal future is not a disembodied existence.
However, that leaves open quite a big question. What happens in between? You see, we might describe that final resurrection in Tom Wright’s words as “Life-after-life-after-death.” We still haven’t answered what happens immediately after death.
Some people talk about this time as “soul sleep”. The belief then is that yes, our souls are kept safe with God in Heaven but we do not have a conscious existence. After all, if we experience life through our bodily senses, if we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, think with our brains, speak with our mouths, then is conscious existence possible without a body. The Biblical basis for this view is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
“13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
Paul here certainly describes the dead as “asleep.” However, does this mean that they do not have a conscious existence? It is worth considering two things here. First, that this may simply be a euphemistic term. After all, Jesus himself uses the term “sleeping” to describe Lazarus’ death. Secondly, sleep, when we mean usually nightly rest does not mean a complete absence of consciousness. We are alert to our surroundings and of course our minds are still working through our dreams. Thirdly, I’m cautious of a description of conscious-less existence that goes beyond this, because if we insist that our souls are dependent upon their bodies for any meaningful existence then it is beginning to sound like this soul sleep isn’t existing at all and we have defaulted to the Jehovah’s Witness position.
Now, one possibility is that when someone dies, they move outside of time-and-space-bound existence into eternity and so we might envision their experience as being like our experience of sleep on those nights when we have good rest and are not troubled by pain or intrusive dreams. It feels like no time at all has passed when we wake. It is possible that we will simply go to sleep of one final time and it will be as though we immediately wake up as our bodies are raised.
There are clues though that we are right to think in terms of conscious existence between death and the final resurrection. First of all, we have Jesus parable of Lazarus and Dives. Of course, it is not meant to be treated as a literal report but the fact that Jesus thinks and talks in terms of conscious existence shouldn’t be simply ignored. Then, secondly of course we have Jesus’ words to the man on the other cross: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” This hints at something more than just “You are about to go to sleep for a long time and when you wake up , you will be with me.” It is possible to reconcile Jesus’ words with the suggestion that our experience is of immediate transfer to the New Creation. There is also though, how Paul speaks in Philippians 1:21-23 where he says:
21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;
Again, here, Paul seems to describe something more than just going to sleep for a bit. He is looking forward to being with Christ in a way that he will experience. Again, it is possible that he is expecting to experience the resurrection as instantaneous but his words do fit well with the suggestion that our interim experience will be conscious.
So, whilst the Bible doesn’t go into detail about what will happen between our death and resurrection, and that is perhaps for good reasons, it certainly doesn’t preclude the possibility that we will consciously experience Heaven.
What then does this mean when it comes to the examples of issues that I mentioned above? First, we need to be clear, that we should not expect and in fact Scripture forbids us from seeking contact with the dead. Whether their conscious experience is of rest with Christ in Heaven or they are from their experience waking up on resurrection day, their interests are not in what is happening here and now. This may seem like a tough thing to say. However, that’s because our concern is often for ourselves and wanting to feel better about life now, to feel less alone. Yet, our assurance is not in a loved one looking and watching over us but rather in the presence of the Holy Spirit with us. Our joy should be for our loved ones that they are now with Christ, which is better by far for them.
What about those weird experiences I described above of people having a very tangible sense of their loved one’s presence? Well, again we need to be clear that whatever this is, it isn’t about the deceased’s spirit hanging around a bit. Perhaps there is a sense in which they left behind such a strong impression that it feels as though their presence lingers, kind of like the fragrance of strong perfume. Perhaps, there are occasional, unlooked for touching points between now and eternity if our future existence will be here. I’m not convinced of this and think the former more likely. However, perhaps too we may simply say that there are lots of things that we don’t really understand about how this world functions and leave it at that.
What about those of us who find ourselves talking out loud to loved ones or writing on their facebook pages, or even simply asking God to pass on messages in our prayers. Well, I expect that in most of these cases, it’s primarily for ourselves that we do it, it’s part of a grieving process which may take a few weeks or may even take many years. I personally would be relaxed about this.
I think the crucial points are this.
- We look forward to future resurrection. This will be better than life now and better too than any form of disembodied heavenly experience.
- We are not to seek to communicate with the dead.
- We have assurance that those who know the Lord will be safe with him when they die.
- Our own comfort is not from the presence of loved ones who have gone on before but the far better presence of the Lord.
Faithroots 