After Death Ps 17 1 Sam 28:3-20 2 Cor 5:1-10 John 14:1-14
Introduction
Whilst some boldly proclaim, “No one can know!” what happens after death the gospel is a clear revelation of what awaits us. In the New Testament believers in Jesus have already gone through a spiritual resurrection by being “raised up with Christ” into heavenly places (Eph 2:6.) This resurrection is not visible to the world, but for us it is a sure pledge of a later, bodily resurrection[1]. United with Christ we are already working the works of God. Because these things belong to the eternal heavenly world, they can never be seen with the natural eyes (2 Cor 4:17-18), but are visible to “the eyes of the heart” (Eph 1:18) in those born again through the Spirit.
The Intermediate State
The clearest passage in the New Testament dealing with what a Christian can expect immediately after death is 2 Corinthians 5:1-10. The context for this passage is the strain Paul expresses throughout this letter. In chapter one he speaks of an experience whereby he “despaired of life itself …we felt that we had received the sentence of death” (1:8-9). He is, “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies”. In this situation he recounts the consolation of which he is assured when death comes.
v.1 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
“For we know” indicates a revealed understanding of life beyond death (cf. 1 Cor 8:1, 4; Rom 2:2; 3:19; 8:28). Despite all the nail parlours, beauty treatments and gymns, this present body is like “tent” (John 1:14; 2 Pet 1:13) – it is on the way out. When this perishable body is done away with, we will inherit an eternal heavenly body (1 Cor 15:53-4). But not straight away[2].
2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.
The groaning to have an eternal body fit for heaven isn’t simply because we have a multitude of physical aches and pains; the Holy Spirit himself “groans” for the completion of God’s plan to [glorify and] eternalise the whole universe (Rom 8:18-30). If the glory of God is a human being “fully alive” there is something radically incomplete about the present character of our mortal broken condition. We groan to share the glory revealed in the resurrection of Jesus for us all.
At one level Paul’s cringing at the possibility of being “found naked” refers to the likelihood of a bodiless existence after death. Unlike the ancient Greeks, or modern spiritualists, the Hebrew mind found the notion of being permanently without a body to be less than a full life. the gospel teaches us to live forever bodiless would be to lack conformity to Jesus’ resurrection and the glorious works that go with it[3].
4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened[4] —not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
Whilst Paul is depressed by the thought of disembodied existence, he yearns for the resurrection body to cloak his present weak frame. We shouldn’t read this in a materialistic way. When the book of Revelation extols the consummation of God’s plan for creation in terms of a great bridal banquet, the marriage supper of the Lamb, the Bride has “made herself ready” by being clothed with bright garments which are “the righteous deeds of the saints” (Rev 19:8). We should understand these garments in a prophetic/mystical sense like the dazzling garments of the angels at the tomb of Jesus (Luke 24:4; Acts 1:10; 10:30). Like them, we will eternally radiate the glory of the Son of God. These “righteous deeds of the saints” are not founded on human effort but on “the obedience of faith” (Rom 1:5; 16:26) in Jesus (John 6:28-29)[5]. Apart from trust in Jesus, nothing means anything!
5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
God has created his people for heavenly bodies, and the gift to us of the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead (Rom 8:11) assures us the essential transformation of our existence will certainly happen at the climax of God’s plan to renew the whole universe (Matt 19:28).
6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
Paul’s “good courage” embraces the time between our present weakness and perfection by resurrection, even before the final glory of resurrection, there is no despair. In “walking by faith” Paul doesn’t imply Christ isn’t absent, just invisible. Every believer should have a strong heart because the Lord, who always keeps his promises, said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23). Dying means coming home to the Lord in a more intense way than anything that we can presently experience here on earth.
9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
The word “aim” here means zealous ambition, Paul is passionate about constantly pleasing his Lord and Saviour. Not in order to earn salvation, but because he is already assured of eternal life. Now comes the climax.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
This “appearing” at the judgement means a laying bear of character[6] so that in Jesus we will “appear” in resurrection splendour (1 John 3:2)[7]. “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Col 3:4). We will manifest to all the world Christ’s saving grace in our lives. We should not read this passage as about Christ distributing different rewards to Christians, according to how much works they have done, rather it means some who presently profess Christ will be found as true, resurrected fruit-bearing believers and some will not[8].
A Sure Thing
There are two ways to think about post-mortem existence. A common and useless way is to look at our qualifications: “I am not a bad person/I am a good person”. This self-centred approach inevitably leads to arrogance or self-condemnation. If however you “look to Jesus” (Heb 12:2) and his qualifications to receive “honour and glory and blessing!” (Rev 5:12) at the Last Judgement and resurrection you can have complete assurance that will be with him forever.
Jesus last words were, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.” (Luke 23:46). Likewise, as he died from stoning Stephen exclaimed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” (Acts 7:59). Likewise, I recall a version of Evening Prayer which went, “Into your hands Lord I commit my spirit! Hallelujah, Hallelujah!” These scriptures are especially memorable to me because when I found myself as a 21-year-old new Christian caught in a rip and dragged out to sea and drowning these were the words that came out of my heart again and again, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”. I can truly say that whilst I was doing my very best to keep my head above water, I felt no fear.
If such a committal of our innermost being is the daily posture of our lives we have nothing to fear from death. Jesus versus death is no contest at all.
Application and Conclusion
The context of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians is hardship on the level of an existential threat i.e., danger to life itself[9], but danger submitted to the Lord who has conquered death and ascended into heaven. In recapitulating the living and dying of Christ in his frail humanity, Paul has insight in the Spirit into the eternal-heavenly world. This context makes sense in the Bible, but it creates a huge problem for us West Australians. Fires, floods and a global pandemic have hardly shaken our nation and its Church from a place of peaceful passivity to the spiritual crisis of a lost world, most of whose citizens will never see/enter the kingdom of heaven (John 3:3, 5).
Only a revelation of the power of the gospel can move us and save us from our cold-heartedness (Matt 24:12). Every time I used to lecture on the Last Judgement I would ask my students a question, one which always left them paralysed by the instability of their own consciences (Rom 3:19). “At the final tribunal when the books are open and the works of all the dead are laid bare to the whole universe[10], will your sins be exposed? The answer is ‘Yes’, as forgiven sins.”[11]
Paul challenges at the end of 2 Corinthians, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Cor 13:5). The criterion for passing the test of eternal life is whether Jesus lives in you. If you have put your faith in Jesus[12] you can, and indeed must, believe, that just as a home in heaven was prepared by the Father for his Son, so a home in the heavens has been prepared for you. John can say, “our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s.” (1 John 4:17)[13]. Even more strikingly and peace-bearing, “Christ is our righteousness (1 Cor 1:30). At death all genuine disciples of Jesus will be received into glory just as our Saviour was.
[1] The Spirit is a “guarantee” of these things (Eph 1:14; 2 Cor 1:22; 5:5).
[2] There is no biblical evidence that a believer “rises” at death. This would be to rob the Second Coming of its status as the Christian hope.
[3] “(“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”)” (Rev 16:15); “it is no surprise if his (Satan’s) servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” (2 Cor 11:15 cf. Matt 7:15-23).
[4] The Greek expression bears this connotation. As such the RSV translates this as, “sigh with anxiety”.
[5] Good works e.g. Matt 5:16; Eph 2:8-10 are the inevitable fruit of saving faith.
[6] Cf. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Heb 4:12-13).
[7] This will be the consummation of a process of Christification/being made like Christ, already begun. “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,5 are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” (2 Cor 3:18).
[8] Cf. “each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.” (1 Cor 3:13). This refers to those who are saved and those who will be judged at the End.
[9] “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.” (2 Cor 4:7-12).
[10] “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.” (Rev 20:11-12).
[11] According to the precept, “What goes deepest to the conscience goes widest to the world.” (P.T. Forsyth), a revelation of so great a thing will catapult the Church into mission.
[12] Not a nominal or external faith, but one of the heart. “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Rom 10:9). Or, in opposition to this, “You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.” (Acts 8:21).
[13] In this case I have used The Message, the more literal ESV has, “as he is so are we in this world”.