Snoozeville or Heaven

I had a conversation with one of my new co-workers today while we were working together. He raised the subject about his own sense of assurance and security in Christ, and we had a very interesting time talking with one another. He's a very interesting man, and one thing that is refreshing about him that I experience so seldom among other believers, is that he has no problem calmly and rationally discussing Biblical subjects with me, even though he many be in complete disagreement with me about them.

One such subject he spoke with me about is the concept of "soul sleep." We discussed whether or not it is Biblical. He asked me if I thought it was, and I told him I didn't believe that it is. I believe that anyone who trusts in the Lord Jesus as her Savior and passes from this life, will go instantly to heaven and into the very presence of the Lord. It may be the case that one's body goes through the decomposition process, but the body's immaterial counterpart, the spirit, which is the person we really are, goes to be with God.

At the return of the Lord for His church, the "dead in Christ", meaning those who have died in faith and gone to heaven, will return with Him, and their dead earthly bodies will be raised to be reunited with their spirit and they will be given new, glorified bodies. It will also be at that point, that those who have the Spirit of God within them and are alive on the earth will be transformed and glorified. There is no waiting place, or time of sleep when we die as believers. Instead, believers go to be with the Lord, into His presence to worship Him.

"21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better." Philippians 1:21-23

Paul was most likely chained to a Roman soldier, under "house arrest" so-to-speak, when he penned that passage. The likelihood that he would soon meet his own death was undoubtedly on his mind as he waited for his trial to begin before a Roman court. He might have been thinking that he would be spared a physical death at that time, but he also spoke with authority that dying that death would mean that he would be instantly present with the Lord, and declared the prospect to be far more preferable. That doesn't really fit in with the notion of "soul sleep." Neither does 2 Corinthians 5:6-8;

"6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."

There isn't any fence-sitting there. For believers, it's one or the other. Paul is specifically telling the Corinthian believers (and us) that there are two possibilities for believers, we are either in our bodies and here, or we are shed of our bodies and in the presence of the Lord. The latter possibility again being more preferable. And then there is 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18;

"But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words."

Someone might say, "See, they are speaking of those who "sleep" in Christ. Their souls are asleep." A couple of things are wrong with that assessment of Paul's words. For one thing, Jesus is in heaven. The Bible says that He sits at the right hand of God the Father. This passage says that He is bringing the dead in Christ back with Him. So are they asleep in the grave, or in heaven, where Jesus is? Neither, I think. When Paul refers to "sleep" in this passage, he is speaking metaphorically, and he is comparing death with sleep. The reason he used the word sleep for believers who have passed on is because death resembles sleep. That's why the word "sleep" is used only of believers in the New Testament, but the reference needs to be understood in the context of the whole of Scripture.

Whenever Paul spoke of resurrection, it was always a bodily one. Sleep is a temporary state, and so it is with the death of the physical body. Paul's use of the word "sleep" is anticipatory of a bodily resurrection, and it is not meant to suggest that our souls will sleep. That is affirmed by the passages from Philippians 1 and 2 Corinthians 5. The Greek word used for "to sleep" is the verb, "koimao." It is used of natural sleep. Matthew 28:13 and Luke 12:6 are good examples. It is also used for death, but only for believers.