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The Time Between
The Death And The Resurrection
What Do You Believe About the Intermediate
State?
Article
by
Matt Perman
Guest
Contributor
The
"intermediate state" is the time between the death and the
resurrection.
Some
have held that during this time we are unconscious or possibly even go out of
existence. We do not think that this is biblical.
The
biblical evidence is that our soul continues on after death and that we remain
conscious in the intermediate state while awaiting our final destiny of
resurrected existence in the new heavens and new earth.
First,
Paul spoke of having the desire "to depart and be with Christ, for that
is very much better" (Philippians
1:23).
Notice
first of all that Paul speaks of death as a departure (from
the body) not into temporary nothingness or unconsciousness but to be with Christ.
If
we are with Christ once we have died, then we continue existing.
Second,
notice that Paul speaks of this state as "very much better"
than the present state.
It
would be hard to say such a thing of a state of complete unconsciousness.
Particularly
when we consider that Paul's passion was to know Christ, it would seem that the
reason the state beyond death is better than this present life is because we
are with Christ and know it.
If
we were suddenly unconscious at death until the resurrection, wouldn't it be
better to remain in this life because at least
then we would have conscious fellowship with Christ?
Second,
Paul also said that "while we are at home in the body we are absent
from the Lord" and that therefore he would "prefer rather to
be absent from the body and to be at home with the
Lord" (2
Corinthians 5:6-8).
First,
it is significant that he speaks of the possibility of being absent from the body.
This
implies that we indeed do have souls which continue existing after the body
dies.
Second,
notice again that he speaks of this state as his preference, which indicates (as in Philippians
1:23)
that
we not only continue existing between death and the resurrection, but that we
are aware of our existence.
Third,
even though the thief on the cross has been used to prove about every point in
Christian theology, his case is still relevant here: "And He said to
him, 'Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise'" (Luke 23:43).
The
Jehovah's Witness's New World Translation punctuates
Jesus words as "Truly I say to you today, you shall be with Me in
Paradise," giving the impression that "today" refers
simply to the time of Jesus' statement.
But
the context demands that the "today" refer to when the thief
on the cross would be with Jesus in paradise, because Jesus is responding to
his request in the previous verse: "Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom!"
The
response, "Today you shall be with Me in
paradise" can in this context only be taken to mean, "Not only
will I remember you when I come in my kingdom, but already today you shall be
with me in heaven."
Fourth, Revelation
6:9 speaks of John seeing underneath the altar "the souls of those who had been slain because of the word
of God."
These
individuals are surely not in a state of soul sleep because in the next verse
they cry out "How long, O Lord."
Matt Perman is the director
of career navigation at The King’s College
NYC, a blogger, and
an author.
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