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“Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.” – 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Nearly every day one or more of the newspaper obituaries will read, “He or she is now in heaven with Jesus.” What a glorious thought that one day we will leave this world with its troubles and suffering and immediately fly to heaven where all will be glorious. Does the Bible back up this concept?
The passage from 1 Corinthians 15:55 is a staple at many funerals, “O Grave, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?” But just a few verses earlier Paul writes, “We will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.” Thus, we are changed not at the moment of death, but at the 7th and last trumpet when our new eternal bodies will be resurrected and fly to heaven to meet Jesus. Prior to that great day, the scriptures say the spirit of all who die will “sleep.”
Paul again describes the 1st Resurrection in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 as follows: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” The dead that belong to Christ will rise into the heavens and then be joined in the air with the living (raptured) Christ followers. So if people believe the dead immediately enter heaven, how can they rise from the dead again at the last trumpet? The answer is they can’t.
Jesus is very clear in John 11:11-15 when he tells his disciples that “Our friend Lazarus sleeps.” The disciples replied that “if he sleeps he will get well. However, Jesus spoke of his death” and he told “them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead.’ ”
The scripture is also clear in 1 Samuel 28 that tells of the prophet Samuel being raised from the dead by a medium so King Saul can ask his spirit advice about an upcoming battle. The medium says: “I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth.” Samuel asks Saul: “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Samuel’s spirit did not descend from heaven; he was brought up from his resting place in the earth.
So why do most people believe their deceased loved ones have ascended into heaven with Jesus? It started when false doctrine entered the church about 2000 years ago. Paul warned in 2 Timothy 2:18 of people who say the resurrection had already occurred, implying the dead were already in heaven. Paul warns Timothy to stay away from this “godless chatter” that had departed from the truth.
Both the Old Testament and the New Testament has numerous passages that confirm we fall into a restful, sleep state when we die. For example:
- “All the kings of the nations, all of them sleep in glory.” – Isaiah 14:18
- “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” – Daniel 12:2
- “Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death.” – Psalm 13:3
- “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.” – Hosea 13:14
- “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” – Ephesian 5:14
- “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.” – 1 Thessalonians 4:14
But what about Luke 23:43 people ask? Jesus told the criminal on the cross beside him: “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” That means they both went to heaven together that day, right?
The common teaching in Jesus’ time was that when people died, their soul remained on earth in Sheol (an underground spiritual world). Nearly all Old Testament references to Paradise were in relation to the Garden of Eden, not heaven. The underground entrance to the Garden was guarded by angels. Many people believed if you were good, your soul would go into the Garden of Eden (Paradise).
When the people heard Jesus tell the criminal that “today you will be with me in Paradise” most of the crowd understood they would go in the underground caves that lead to the Garden; that Jesus would get the criminal past the angel guards – not that he would take him to heaven.
Jesus also said “today you will be with me” not three days later when he went to visit his father in heaven. In 1 Peter 3:19, the scriptures tell after Jesus’ death and before his resurrection, His spirit visited other spirits imprisoned in Sheol and he preached to them, some who had been there since the days of Noah.
All these passages should lead us to believe the spirits of those in Christ sleep on earth until the 1st resurrection. The remainder of the spirits will continue sleeping until after the 1000 year reign is over, when the 2nd resurrection takes them to the white throne of judgment.
The next time you read an obituary or hear someone say their loved one is in heaven with Jesus, just smile and know, like the martyrs in Revelation 6:9-11, they are to “rest a little while longer” before they join Jesus in heaven.