Facing the End of Life (Part Four)

He leads me …

In Part One of this series of four, we looked at some of the things required in planning for the end-of-life care. In Part Two we looked at the options for a person once they have died. And in the third part we looked at what happens to the deceased after they have either been buried or cremated. In this Part Four we look at what happens to believers who go to Heaven and unbelievers to go to Hell. As we saw in the previous blog the Bible says that there are no other options.

Christians know that once they die there are some major events that occur. The first is that the bodies of all the dead generally go into the ground or will be created. In some cases, the body will be buried at sea. All the spirits of both believers and unbelievers return to God (Ecclesiastes 12:7). The souls of the righteous go to Heaven (2 Corinthians 5:8 and Philippians 1:23). and the souls of the ungodly go to Hades, translated as ‘Hell’ (Revelation 20:13). Please note that when Jesus ascended to be with His Father He had already risen from Hades. The saved believers who were waiting in Hades (Abrahams Bosom in Luke 16: 19- 26) rose to be with Him in Heaven. and Paradise no longer existed after Jesus ascended into Heaven. 

Scripture says that ‘God is spirit’ (John 4:24) and therefore exists without a body. However, Adam’s body did imitate the life of God in the way that it was created in perfect health and was not subject to death. (Psalm 103:2-4; John 3:16). Humans are also made for communion with God, but while we are a little lower than the angels, God has set eternity in everyone’s spirit (John 3:16-17; 1 John 5:11-13) This means God has connected with our spirit and made us aware that we will one day find something so much greater than our existence here on Earth. (Ecclesiastes 3:11; Psalm 16:10; 2 Timothy 1:10 -11). Currently when people die the souls of the believers in Christ go to be with Him and the souls of the ungodly go to the lower part of Hades, translated as ‘Hell’ (Ezekiel 32:24; Ephesians 4:9).  

While God gives believers a resurrected body, there appears to be nowhere in the Bible that indicates unbelievers souls get a new body, but their souls will be able to see and hear and feel pain like a normal human’s body (Luke 16 19 – 31). There is no obvious mention in the Bible of unbelievers having a resurrection body lasting forever - which the believers will have (1 Corinthians 15:40–54).

For the unbeliever their resurrection will occur at the end of the age when Christ returns for the Great White Throne Judgement. There are two main ways the Scriptures indicate this.

In Daniel 12:2 an angel looks ahead to the resurrection which occurs at the end of the age. Some people go to (1) everlasting life and (2) some to shame and everlasting contempt (NLT). In John 6:40 Christ also declares that the resurrection will happen on the last day [the end of the age]: ‘For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.’ (See also John 6:39, 44, 54; cf. 11:24).

In 1 Corinthians 15:20 -23 Paul says that we will be raised at the return of Christ: ‘Each [will be raised] in his own order: Christ is the first fruits, [followed] by those who are Christ's at His coming.’ Our resurrection (in the form of our baptism) means Jesus forecasts our resurrection, and that we will be raised with a body like His (Romans 6:5). The resurrection of Jesus is also the firstfruits of our resurrection in the sense that He is our ‘entrance fee’ to our resurrection. Jesus paid for our admission to the resurrection!

If we look at the diagram alongside, we will see what this period of history looks like from a pre- tribulation point of view. First, we have the cross and the tomb which are almost together indicating Jesus’ death and resurrection happened just a few days apart. This is followed by the (New Testament) Church age which we are currently a part of. At the end of this period of life on Earth the rapture will occur before the tribulation period of seven years. When this happens, there will be a bodily transformation and catching up into the air of all Christians who are alive, to meet Christ in the air (Matthew 24:15- 21). There is no warning. People just disappear. Any dead Christians will have been resurrected either when Jesus ascended back to Heaven or at their death if their death happened after Jesus’ ascension. The souls of the unbelievers stay in lower Hades until the Great White Throne Judgement when everyone is judged by Jesus. 

The tribulation is a seven year period  after the rapture, During this time everyone who is alive on Earth will be a part of worldwide hardships, persecution, disasters, famine, war, pain, and suffering, which will affect all of creation. No one knows the day or the hour when this will take place.[1]  But this has not stopped Bible scholars from establishing that the rapture could occur pre- tribulation, mid- tribulation, or post- tribulation.

So, why consider a pretribulation rapture? There are some well documented cases for preferring the pre- tribulation option based on Scripture, but we do not have enough space to consider them all here except two verses which are clear and do not require careful consideration. They are Isaiah 57:1-2 and Matthew 24:15- 21. For further information it is worth googling the word ‘rapture’ and then weighing up what some of the sites say.

What we do not see though is whether there are any actual events that model whether God would cause the rapture to occur pre- tribulation, mid- tribulation, or post- tribulation.

There are several locations in the Bible where the Lord removed the righteous[2] before punishing the sinners. They include the rapture- the flood where Noah’s family were removed first- Abraham, and his families leaving Sodom and Gomorrah- the crossing of the Red Sea- An angel appearing to Joseph telling him to leave Bethlehem with Mary and Jesus and to go to Egypt so that Jesus would not be killed by Herod- Christ’s ascension to Heaven and the souls of the unbelievers staying in Hades until the Great White Throne Judgement where everyone is judged by Jesus.

We see from this that there are two quite distinct paths that lead to Eternity. The Matthew 24 wed read that Jesus was asked by His disciples how they would know that He was coming again as they thought it would be very soon after His crucifixion. Jesus warned, that when the Abomination of Desolation took place then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. It was a sign to flee the city, seemingly because a massive holocaust was about to occur followed by the tribulation. We do not have a lot of information about the rapture which is why the Bible strongly encourages all believers to be ready. Are we?s disciples ask Him when He will be

Dear Reader – If you have found some value in this blog, please feel free to send a copy on to your family and friends. Kind regards, John

[1] Matthew 24:36; John 6:39. Also Matthew 24:15- 21

[2] Righteousness is the quality of being right in the eyes of God,