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A Mayan calendar ends its record of time on December 21st, 2012.  People start to wonder if this means the world is coming to an end. Just like a few years ago, when Y2K  madness hit the world by storm. No one is old enough to remember Y1K madness. The historian tells us…

The year 1000 was marked by widespread fear and anxiety throughout almost every part of the Christian world. It was extensively believed that the period of the Church was to last just one thousand years, and that, … this period was just about to come to a close. The end would be announced by fearful calamities, and then the last and terrifying judgment would begin. In point of fact, nothing very much happened…¹

Sound familiar? Although much of the Y2K madness centered on possible economic problems, there was an increase in eschatological interest among people the world over. Generally, that is a good thing. There is always a need for good biblical preaching on the 2nd coming of Christ, and now is as good a time as any to blow the dust off our prophetic charts, and hit the camp meeting trail.

But before we quit our day jobs, perhaps we should pay another visit to William Miller, and learn some very important lessons. Miller’s zeal was unsurpassed. He had something we all need to cultivate – call it eschatological courage. He had the courage to voice his convictions about the future because he knew that the God who gave us prophecies would see to it that they were fulfilled. Miller was not a David Koresh – wildly misapplying entire books of the bible to himself. He was enthusiastic, he was zealous, but he was not a raving heretic.

Miller made a mistake when he proclaimed that Christ would come back in the 1840s. Many like him were saying that Christ will come back in the 1990s. These were not all lunatics. They were just convinced by the evidence they saw that the time is at hand.  Like Miller, they were proven wrong. It seems that every year someone proclaims “This is it!” and gets a following. Sooner or later, one of these is going to be right – probably by accident. Eschatological courage is a good thing, but it needs to be balanced with a healthy restraint. Otherwise, we will face a series of disappointments which can only damage our witness for Christ.

I affirm without hesitation the doctrine of the Imminence of Christ’s Return.

Christ could come at any moment. His coming is due. This is what theologians mean by the doctrine of the imminence of Christ’s return. My affirmation goes a bit further. I believe Christ could come back personally, visibly, and loudly at any second. I base this expectation on 1 Thess 4:16-17. Here is a list of my expectations based on that passage.

• The Lord Himself will come down.
• He will come down from heaven.
• He will come with a loud command.
• He will come with a shout from the Archangel.
• He will come with a Trumpet Call of God.
• He will raise those who have fallen asleep in Him.
• He will rapture the rest of believers.

The Lord Himself will come down. He will not send a delegation. He will not call me up to Him. He will come to me. The Father has set a day on which this will happen. I don’t know what that day is, but I believe it will be soon!

He will come down from heaven. He is alive in heaven today. He is my king today, and I am in his kingdom today, but he has not yet begun his reign on earth. His present reign is in heaven. But in order to fulfill the prophecies written about him in scripture, he must come to earth.

He will come with a loud command. He will come with a shout from the Archangel. He will come with a Trumpet Call of God. What follows is a list of three rhetorical questions.

1. How can a loud command be secret?
2. How can a shout be secret?
3. How can a trumpet blast be secret?

If Christ’s coming for his saints is secret, it will be the worst kept secret in the history of communication. This is the coming described by Paul in which he says the saints will be “caught up” (vs. 17). If your prophetic system does not allow for a visible, personal, and loud coming of Christ – perhaps you need to reevaluate your prophetic system.

He will raise those who have fallen asleep in Him. The issue Paul was addressing was that of dead believers (vs.13). He affirms that the dead in Christ will be raised at the second advent.

He will rapture the rest of believers. The rapture will not be secret, but there will be a rapture. The dead in Christ will be raised and the alive in Christ will be caught up, so that all believers of all times will be with the Lord from that time on – never to be separated again.

Many theologians today agree in principle to the doctrine of imminence, but then proceed to add so many restrictions that what they finally describe is a coming which is far from imminent. There were a great many prophecies about the interval between Christ’s first and second coming. Here is a short list:

• Jerusalem’s Unequaled Distress and Desolation (Mt 24:15-22; Lk 21:20-24)
• A Worldwide Great Tribulation, lasting Centuries  (Mt 24:4-13; Rev 7:13-17)
• A Great Apostasy in the Church, resulting in the Revealing of Antichrist. (2 Th 2:1-12; Rev 13:11-18)
• The Restoration of Israel to the land (Jer 30; Lk 21:24)

Jesus gave a time limit of one generation (40 years) for the fulfillment of Jerusalem’s Unequaled Distress and Desolation. He gave the prophecy in the year of his death. 40 years later (70 AD) a Roman siege destroyed both Jerusalem and its temple. It has been desolate ever since. In fact, an Islamic mosque stand on the site.

The distress felt during the  worldwide Great Tribulation would not be constant, but would appear and disappear many times over many ages. Jesus called these signs birth pains. He warned his listeners not to get excited when wars, famines, and earthquakes happened. These birth pains only showed that the end is coming. They could not foretell when the end would come.

John, in Rev 7 sees a vision of all believers from every nation, tribe, people, and language (vs.9). These are those who went through the Great Tribulation (vs. 14). God’s message to them is “Never again…” (vs. 16). This shows that these people are you and me. Therefore, this prophecy is being fulfilled now.

Paul tells us that before Christ comes, an Apostasy (rebellion) must occur. John calls the leader of this Great Apostasy – Antichrist (1Jn 2:18). He implies that Antichrist will lead the Church astray (2:20). This apostasy occurred around 500 AD, and the Church of Jesus Christ has yet to fully separate from the tremendous cult that emerged. The unclean spirit who has masterminded this rebellion is called The False Prophet, and his place is reserved in the fiery lake of burning sulfur (Rev 9:20). This will happen at the Return of Christ (2 Th 2:8).

And what of The Restoration of Israel? In case you haven’t noticed, there is a tiny spot of land between Africa and Asia which is once again called Israel. Since 1948 the descendants of Jacob have been migrating to that land. Since the 1967 Six Day War the land has included the city of Jerusalem. It appears that the “times of the Gentiles” are fulfilled.

I Deny that Christ Has to Come Back on December 21st in the Year 2012

With all this evidence I have presented for the imminence of Christ’s return, my title for this article seems a bit ridiculous. But there is method to my madness. I sincerely wish to be proven wrong on that title. Nothing would make me happier than to see the body of a Jewish carpenter’s stepson break the clouds with celebration. He is coming back, and I, with all my heart want it to be sooner, rather than later.

But what I want is not at issue here. The fact is that the year 2012  is prophetically insignificant. There is no biblical support whatsoever for dating the coming of Christ. No one knows when Christ will return (Mt 24:36).

In fact, the odds are against Christ returning on such a noteworthy date. What little we do know about that day suggests that it will be an ordinary day. No fireworks will precede it, no fanfare. Christ will come when he is not expected (24:37, 44, 50). The parables Jesus used to illustrate this eschatological discourse are all built around the premise of an unexpected arrival. Five foolish virgins are caught a midnight cry (25:1-13). A wicked, lazy servant is not prepared when his master comes back to settle accounts (25:14-30). Two are working in a field. One is taken, the other left (24:40). Two women are grinding. One is taken, the other left (24:41). The master comes when the stewards are not ready, so they are punished (24:45-51).

There is also that little matter of the gospel going out into all the world (Mt 24:14).  However, no one knows whether those ethnic groups listed as unreached now have never been exposed to the gospel. We only assume that those few thousand remote or hostile groups who do not have a viable church have never heard. Only God knows for sure.

And only God knows the day and the hour … and the YEAR of Christ’s return. My plea is that our eschatological zeal be balanced with humility’s restraint. After all, the best way to welcome my Master is not with the date of his arrival marked on my calendar (or anyone’s calendar). The best way to welcome him is with my work accomplished. Then he will say “Well Done!”

¹ Neill, Stephen. A History of Christian Missions. 1990 . NY: Penguin Books, 2nd edition reprint. p. 85.

This article is adapted from a previous one by the author which first appeared in The Advent Christian Witness

The biblical prophets had a double role. As representatives of the LORD, they were free to pronounce blessing upon the people if God willed it. Often, however, they predicted his impending judgment. John the Baptist was no exception. As the forerunner to the Messiah, he proclaimed the marvelous good news (or gospel) that Christ was coming to this earth. Yet the people were not ready for their king. Consequently, John’s message was one of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The good news of the Christ to come had to be taught alongside the bad news of the wrath to come. Two very similar verses from the record of John’s ministry in the New Testament highlight this message.

These are the first major texts in the New Testament that address the issue of final punishment of the wicked. They reflect the fact that John encountered multitudes of Israelites who felt ready to embrace the coming of their Messiah, but they were actually not ready. So, John’s message was to get ready for him or face his wrath.

The crowds, and particularly the religious elite, felt that the Messiah’s coming would bring victory against Israel’s enemies, and blessing to all of those who were physical descendants of Abraham and Jacob. John’s message was that physical lineage meant nothing. If God wanted to, he could produce children to Abraham out of stones. In fact, being children of Israel meant that these people stood to be the first to fall when God’s wrath is unleashed. Thus, John’s message was that the nation had to get right with its God.

the wrath of the orchard owner

The nature of this wrath is spelled out by John with two familiar images. First, he pictures the Messiah as an orchard owner, whose axe is laid at the root of the trees.[3] He had planted the trees for the purpose of bearing fruit. If they are fruitless when he comes, they will serve as firewood. Their destruction would be fair because they will have not served their master’s purpose.

The threat that these people face could in no way be construed as any kind of eternal existence at all. They were in danger of being cut down and destroyed. The wrath that John described was not an ongoing process of perpetual wrath, but an event. That event would be eternal, in the sense of permanent. It would result in death forever – the second death.

the wrath of the wheat farmer

The second image John uses to describe the wrath to come is that of a wheat farmer during harvest time. The Messiah would gather the authentic wheat into the barn for preservation. He will then set out to remove all the chaff that is left over. He will do this by burning the chaff up.[4]

The image illustrates essentially the same teaching as the axe image did. Those who are not prepared for the Messiah’s arrival will not take part in his kingdom. They will be excluded from it because they will have been destroyed by the Messiah’s wrath. Mere appearance will not save them. Unfruitful chaff will be eliminated in the same way that the unfruitful trees will. The wrath is fire, and the fire destroys.

But John’s use of the wheat farmer imagery adds one more element to the theology he is defining. This element makes explicit what was merely implied in the use of the orchard owner image. John further describes the fire of God’s wrath as “unquenchable.”[5]

Piper insists that “the term “unquenchable fire” implies a fire that will not be extinguished and therefore a punishment that will not end.”[6] Neither the image, nor the teaching of John the Baptist support that assumption. The adjective asbestos only appears three times in the New Testament.[7] In each reference, the word describes the nature of the fire, not the process of burning. It is a warning that anyone thrown into the fire will not be able to extinguish it. It contains no promise that the process of burning will go on forever.

In both of the images John the Baptist uses, it is clear that the subjects thrown into the fire are destructible – that is the point. The trees and chaff are not thrown into fire to be tortured, but to be destroyed. The punishment is destruction. The masters of the orchard and wheat fields gain neither pleasure nor profit from this fire. It is only there to eliminate what will not meet their objectives. Likewise, God will not be pleased when he puts people into the fire of Gehenna hell. His wrath only exists because eternity is for the recipients of his grace alone. His wrath is subservient to — not coequal to – his love.

The conditionalist teaching on hell is that it will be a necessary reality at the end of the age. It does not take place at death. It takes place in conjunction with the second coming of Christ. This is in line with John the Baptist’s teaching on the wrath to come. John never mentioned the intermediate state. To him, what happens at death is eschatologically insignificant. Judgment will happen when the Judge returns.

Traditionalists have bought into the unbiblical concept of immortal souls, and must do something with those souls in the intermediate state. Thus, they highjack passages like these, and make them serve another purpose. For them, the wrath of God is not something that Christ brings with him, it is something that the wicked go to. In so doing, major elements of the text have to be explained away, because they do not fit the new referent.

1. John taught that the wrath is coming from God. Traditionalists teach that God’s wrath is something that souls go to.

2. John taught that the wrath will accompany the Messiah when he returns. Traditionalists teach that God’s wrath is currently ongoing, and is experienced immediately after death.

3. John taught that the subjects of the wrath will be destroyed by fire (burned up). Traditionalists teach that the subjects are immortal souls, who cannot be destroyed, and therefore must continue to suffer eternally.

4. John taught that the masters of the orchard and wheat farms had complete control over their dominions. They had unproductive elements which they intended to remove by destruction, and nothing could stop them. They would put an end to the problems. Traditionalists teach that God’s wrath is a process that cannot ever end. It will never stop tormenting the lost because it cannot.

Rob Bell questioned how God could be a winner in such circumstances.[8] He was right to do so. The traditionalist doctrine of hell makes God’s wrath the end. John taught that the Messiah’s wrath would be necessary, but the purpose was different. Wrath is necessary to make room for eternal peace and love. In the traditionalist approach, God’s wrath never makes an end of sin. It is eternally affected by it.

the purpose of the wrath to come

These snapshots from John the Baptist’s ministry teach of a wrath which will accomplish the greater purpose of establishing a world without evil and sin, where love and righteousness will reign eternally. They envision a harvest that will outlast the judgment. They see fruit trees productive forever, and wheat gathered safely into the barn forever. The burning fires that remove the impediments in this vision are inevitable, and they cannot be put out until they accomplish this vision of forever. But the fires are not the purpose. They will be unquenchable until they accomplish the purpose.

If this is not so, then the coming wrath serves absolutely no purpose. Today we live in a world where good and evil already coexist. There are productive trees, and hypocritical trees. There is wheat, and there is chaff. Both exist together, so God’s glory is limited by the unholy combination. The traditionalist teaching is that God’s wrath will merely separate the unrighteous, but that they will continue to live eternally in the same universe as the righteous. God’s universe will be eternally marred by the existence of this blight, and his wrath will not be able to change that. The God who once saw all creation and pronounced it “very good” will never be able to say that again.

Conditionalists suggest a different scenario. we suggest that John’s description of hell is much more realistic. Hell is a tool God uses for eliminating the undesirable elements, and that is all. The fire is real, and it does what fires do. It destroys, and makes way for something better, something indestructible. God’s love will win, not because he eventually pulls people out of hell, but because after hell has served its purpose, there will be no need for wrath. The Christ whose wrath will destroy the old things will make “all things new.”[9]

[1] Matthew 3:7 ESV.

[2] Luke 3:7 ESV.

[3] Matthew 3:10; Luke 3:9.

[4] Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17.

[5] Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17.

[6] John Piper, Let The Nations Be Glad. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1993), 121.

[7] Matthew 3:12; Mark 9:43; Luke 3:17.

[8] Rob Bell, LOVE WINS: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. (Robert H. Bell, Jr. Trust, 2011). See my review here: http://www.afterlife.co.nz/2011/featured-article/review-of-love-wins-by-rob-bell/

[9] Revelation 21:5.

The process of theological debate requires a constant stating and restating of one’s position so that all parties are aware of where each other stands. If this does not happen, we run the risk of misrepresenting each other in the conversation. Some of my recent articles were presented in hopes of accurately defining the position of evangelical conditionalism.[1] This is another attempt to clarify what evangelical conditionalists believe.

1. Evangelical Conditionalists believe that only Jesus can save sinners.

Many in the theological debate wrongly conclude that anyone who challenges the traditionalist teaching on hell must be a theological liberal. In reality, conditionalists are usually quite conservative in their view of God, the Bible, and especially salvation. We believe that there is only one way to salvation, and his name is Jesus Christ. Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”[2] Other religions, or inspired human effort might help people change their ways, but they are not the way back into a relationship with the Father. Only Jesus is the Way. Other religions, or inspired human effort might come to some aspects of the truth, but only Jesus is the Truth himself. Other religions, or inspired human effort may improve someone’s quality of life, but they can never impart eternal life. Only Jesus can do that.

At this juncture, traditionalists might argue that this is a point of essential agreement between themselves and conditionalists. Indeed it is. Yet we challenge our traditionalist brothers and sisters to embrace that final aspect of John 14:6 in its entirety. Traditionalism teaches that all human beings are born with a soul which has immortality regardless of whether that soul has accepted Christ or not. Thus, that immortal soul has no need for Jesus, and is in no danger of losing eternal life. Their destiny is to live forever whether or not they have come to Christ. Christ does not mean exclusive life to them, but life in a better location.

Conditionalists, on the other hand, believe and teach what we call life only in Christ. We see life not as an innate possession, but as a potential possession. The difference is Christ. Instead of trusting in an inborn quality in our nature, we trust in Christ. Our hope is built on nothing less that Jesus’ blood and righteousness. Christ is our life.

2. Evangelical Conditionalists believe that only God has immortality.

Although conditionalism is usually defined as an anthropological

tenant, it has just as rightful a place among the doctrines of theology proper. At the heart of our teaching is what Paul declared about God: that he “alone has immortality.”[3] That is, if there were a box in which all the beings of this universe who could not die were placed, it would be occupied by the LORD alone. No created being – not even the angels in heaven – share that attribute with him, for since they owe their existence and life to God, they cannot claim immortality.

Human beings (even human souls) are just as much created beings as the angels, and therefore share their mortality. The hope being immortal is just that: it is a hope. The Bible never speaks of human immortality this side of the resurrection at Christ’s return. Human immortality is a promise. We possess it only in that potential form. It is the inheritance of the saints.

3. Evangelical Conditionalists believe that only the Saved will Live Forever.

Biblical eschatology presents a series of prophesied events that will take place simultaneously with – or be initiated by – Christ’s second coming. At the end of that stream of events there will be an ultimate consummation of all things. The Judgment Day will be one of those events, but it too will have an end – “the second death.”[4] After this, Jesus will recreate heaven and earth for our eternal habitation and his eternal glory.[5]

Eternity is an exclusive club, and non-members are not allowed. Those whose names are not listed in the Lamb’s book of life will have been destroyed (soul and body) in hell.[6] That would make it impossible for them to participate in eternity. Traditionalists teach that God is obligated to keep human souls alive forever because he made them immortal. The Bible does not teach that. Traditionalists teach that God will torment these souls for eternity. The Bible teaches that those in hell will be tormented as punishment for their particular sins, some with few stripes, others with many.[7] That reflects the justice that was prescribed in the Old Testament law.[8] God is just. His justice does not require torturing people for eternity for the sins of a few years. But even if one could justify punishing people forever, it would still require immortality, which the Bible is clear that sinners do not have.

Another point in which traditionalists and conditionalists disagree is that most traditionalists insist that punishment in hell begins the moment the sinner dies. Conditionalists place reward and punishment at the point in time that the Bible does. The Bible says “the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”[9] Both destinies begin at the second coming of Christ. Neither the believer’s eternal life nor the damnation of hell begin at death. Instead, death is a period of unconscious sleep for both. For traditionalists, hell begins at death, is interrupted by an unnecessary second judgment, and then resumes again.

Conditionalists love the message that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life..”[10] We do not choose to redefine that message – by changing the reward to something else besides eternal life. Immortal existence in God’s recreated universe is OK with us. We do not have to go to our reward at death. We prefer to wait for our reward to come to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Only after he returns will eternal life be meaningful.

Conditionalists believe that this present world consists of haves and have nots. The Bible says “that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”[11] Only the saved will live forever. The lost will be … well… lost.

[1] http://www.afterlife.co.nz/2012/featured-article/defining-conditionalism-conditional-immortality/ and http://www.afterlife.co.nz/2012/featured-article/what-is-an-evangelical/ and http://www.afterlife.co.nz/2011/featured-article/the-logic-of-conditionalism/

[2] John 14:6 ESV.

[3] 1 Timothy 6:16.

[4] Revelation 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8.

[5] Revelation 21:1-2.

[6] Matthew 10:28; Revelation 20:15.

[7] Luke 12:48.

[8] Deuteronomy 25:3.

[9] John 5:28-29 KJV.

[10] John 3:16 ESV.

[11] 1 John 5:11-12 ESV.

In Plato’s Phaedo, Socrates is in prison, awaiting his execution. A number of his faithful disciples are gathered around him, discussing his fate. Socrates seeks to cheer them up by explaining his belief that he will soon be set free from his incarceration. The prison he expects to be released from is that of his body. Plato uses the dialog between these people to prove his belief that the soul is set free from the prison of the body at death.

“Do we believe that there is such a thing as death?

To be sure, replied Simmias.

Is it not the separation of soul and body? And to be dead is the completion if this; when the soul exists in herself, and is released from the body and the body is released from the soul, what is this but death?”[1]

“And what is purification but the separation of the soul from the body … the release of the soul from the chains of the body?”[2]

So, Socrates could comfort his disciples by assuring them that death would not be a defeat for him. He could confidently drink the hemlock because it would offer him true freedom – not just a physical release from his body’s bondage, but a greater release – release from the prison of his body itself.

Many Christian theologians and preachers have suggested that Socrates was right in that confidence. They teach the same thing about death that Socrates taught: that it brings freedom. Does the Bible affirm this, or did these theologians and preachers borrow the idea from pagan philosophers?

Death to be Feared

The Bible consistently teaches that death is an enemy to be feared,[3] rather than a solution to our present problems. God’s warning to the residents in Eden was “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”[4] If death were a good thing, bringing release from the prison of their body, God’s warning would not make sense.

Death is Darkness

The Bible associates death with darkness, not freedom and light.[5] It is pictured as a place void of all awareness, a place where the souls and bodies lie and await the next event – a resurrection and its accompanying judgment. The dead are described as unconscious of what is going on around them. This is not freedom.

Death is Sleep

The term “sleep” is the single most used description of death in the Bible. It is used in the Old Testament and in the New. It is used of believers and unbelievers. It is used of people before the atonement and afterward.

“Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death”[6]

“After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died”[7]

“The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised”[8]

“Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.”[9]

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”[10]

“For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.”[11]

The image of sleep is especially important as a description of death because it speaks of the reality that death is not permanent. To die is to sleep, but to be raised is to be awakened. In the interval, people reside in a state of unconsciousness called (in Hebrew) Sheol, and (in Greek) Hades. In a previous article I wrote on this intermediate state, I concluded:

“Sheol, then, is a silent, dark state or condition in which everyone exists at death, and can only live again by a resurrection from the LORD. It is always contrasted with heaven, and never equated with it. It is not the hope of the saints; rescue from it is the hope of the saints.”[12]

Resurrection: rescue from death

The biblical hope is not death itself, but rescue from it. Jesus is the one who has the keys to set people free, and the prison that we are incarcerated in is not our physical body, but death and Hades.

“I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”[13]

“And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.”[14]

The New Testament consistently presents the hope of believers as their resurrection to full bodily life by Jesus at his return.

“for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.”[15]

“Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.””[16]

“that I may know him and the power of his resurrection”[17]

“that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”[18]

Paul made it clear that his hope was not a disembodied state (being unclothed) but a resurrection to eternal life.

“For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened–not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”[19]

Believers will be set free only at that time. Until then, we are still suffering the consequences of our ancestors’ sin – we die and return to the dust.[20] But Jesus can raise us to life again. That is the blessed hope: “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”[21] who comes to rescue us from death.

Summary

Teaching that death sets people free fails to reflect the Bible in three crucial areas. It is inconsistent with what the Bible says about death, it contradicts the Bible’s description of the intermediate state, and it detracts from the importance the Bible places on the resurrection.

[1] Plato, Phaedo, Kindle version, location 705.

[2] Plato, location 754.

[3] 1 Corinthians 15:26.

[4] Genesis 2:17 ESV.

[5] Job 38:17; Psa. 107:10, 14; Matt. 4:16; Luke 1:79.

[6] Psalm 13:3 ESV.

[7] John 11:11-14 ESV.

[8] Matthew 27:52 ESV.

[9] 1 Corinthians 15:6 ESV.

[10] 1 Corinthians 15:20 ESV.

[11] 1 Thessalonians 4:15 ESV.

[12] Jefferson Vann, Sheol: The Old Testament Consensus.

[13] Revelation 1:18 ESV.

[14] Revelation 20:13 ESV.

[15] Luke 20:36 ESV.

[16] John 11:24 ESV.

[17] Philippians 3:10 ESV.

[18] Philippians 3:11 ESV.

[19] 2 Corinthians 5:2-4 ESV.

[20] Gen. 3:19; Job 10:9; 34:15; Psa. 90:3; 104:29; Eccl. 3:20.

[21] Titus 2:13 ESV.