11. Soul Sleep

The word "Dead" as used in the Scriptures does not always apply to the body. The unregenerate are spoken of as dead. "And you hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." Eph. 2:1. When the "Prodigal Son" came home, his father said—"This my son was dead, and is alive again." Luke 15:24. The Apostle Paul in writing to Timothy said of worldly women, "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth." 1 Tim. 5:6. From these passages we see that death does not mean non-existence or unconsciousness, that there is a sense in which a person may be said to be dead and yet have a conscious existence. Death is not the terminus of a man's existence; it is only a station. The death of the believer is described as "falling asleep." But the sleep has reference to the body only. Jesus said of Lazarus—"Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said His Disciples, Lord if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death; but they thought that He had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus IS DEAD." John 11:11-14. Here Jesus speaks of death as a sleep, but it is clear that He refers not to the soul but to the body of Lazarus, for He said "I go to awake him out of sleep," which He did by raising his body from the dead. This is confirmed by the words of Martha, "By this time he stinketh," showing that only the body and not the soul of Lazarus was in the mind of the Disciples as that which was asleep.

In Matt. 27:52 it is recorded, that after the Resurrection of Jesus—"Many bodies of the Saints which 'slept' arose." The use of the word bodies implies that the word "slept" refers to them, and not to the soul of the dead, otherwise the word "bodies" would have been omitted and it would read "Many of the Saints which slept arose." In Acts 7:54-60, we have the account of the death of Stephen, in which we are told that Stephen as a result of the stoning he received "fell asleep," that is, died. But the words "fell asleep" cannot mean that Stephen's soul passed into a state of unconsciousness, for in verse 55 we read that "Being full of the Holy Ghost, he looked up steadfastly into Heaven, and saw the 'Glory of God,' and JESUS standing on the right hand of God." And in verse 59 we are told that Stephen in dying said—"Lord Jesus receive my SPIRIT." Why such a prayer if the soul at death passes into a state of unconsciousness? In similar manner Jesus in dying commended His "SPIRIT" to God, and having done so, yielded up His "SPIRIT," that is permitted it to depart from His body, while His body was afterwards taken down from the Cross and buried. Luke 23:46.

In Acts 13:36, it is said of King David that, "after he had served his own generation by the will of God, he 'fell on sleep' (died), and was laid unto his fathers, and saw CORRUPTION." What part of David saw corruption, his body or his soul? Surely not his soul. The words "fell on sleep" then refer only to David's body. This is confirmed by what follows in the next verse—"But He (Jesus), whom God raised again, saw no corruption." This surely can refer only to the body of Jesus, for His soul did not sleep during the three days His body lay in Joseph's Tomb, for when it parted from His body as it hung on the Cross, it went immediately to Paradise to meet the soul of the "Penitent Thief" as promised. Luke 23:43. To avoid this clear evidence that the "Soul" of Jesus did not sleep while His body slept in Joseph's Tomb, there are those who claim that the sentence—"Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise," is wrongly punctuated. That the comma before the word "Today," should be placed after it, making the sentence read—"Verily I say unto thee today, shalt thou be with me in Paradise," thus completely altering the sense, and making the passage read as if Jesus said—"I make known to you today, that at some future time you shall be with me in Paradise." As refutation of this latter interpretation it may be said, that

SOUL SLEEP this is the only passage in which Jesus uses the word "Today." In many passages He said "Verily I say unto you," etc., but did not add the word "Today." Hence Jesus by the use of the word in the above passage must have meant that very day. As confirmation of this the Apostle Paul tells us in Eph. 4:8-10, that Jesus before He Ascended, descended into the lower parts of the earth, that is, into the "Underworld," and that must have occurred between His death and resurrection, for it was at that time that He fulfilled His promise to meet the Penitent Thief in the "Paradise" section of the "Underworld," and not at some time still future. While the bodies of Jesus and the Penitent Thief still hung on their respective crosses, their spirits were in communion in Paradise. Christ was the "First-fruits" of them that SLEPT. 1 Cor. 15:20. Here "sleep" clearly refers to the body and not the soul, for it is the RESURRECTION OF THE BODY that the Apostle is talking about in this chapter.

Those who teach the doctrine of "Soul-Sleep" draw their arguments mainly from the Old Testament, where the light as to the state of the dead between the death and resurrection of the body is only in the "Twilight Stage." They lay much stress on the expression "Gathered unto His People," as if it meant the grave. "Then Abraham gave up the 'Ghost' (surrendered his 'Spirit'), and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was GATHERED TO HIS PEOPLE." Gen. 25:8. The expression "Gathered to His People" has no reference to the "Grave" or "Family Burial Place," for in Abraham's case the "Family Burial Plot" was over in Chaldea, while Abraham was buried in his own sepulchre, the "Cave of Machpelah." What "Gathered to His People" means is, that the soul of Abraham went to the "Underworld" (Sheol), where the souls of his ancestors had gone, and where he would be united to them. The same statement is made of Isaac (Gen. 35:29), with the additional statement, "and his sons BURIED HIM," thus showing that while his "soul" was "Gathered to His People" in the "Underworld," his body was buried in the "Cave of Machpelah." Gen. 49:29-31. When Jacob was led to believe that his son Joseph was dead his sons and daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, and said—"I will go down into the 'grave' unto my son mourning." Gen. 37:29-35. The word for "grave" in the Hebrew is "SHEOL" (the "Underworld"). So we see that Jacob did not mean that he would go into the "grave" to meet Joseph, but into the "Underworld." As proof of this we know that Jacob did not believe that Joseph was in the grave. He thought that a "wild beast" had devoured him (vs. 33), and there would be no comfort to go down into the grave to meet Joseph, if he was there, if the dead know nothing.

Of Moses and Aaron it is said that they were "Gathered unto Their People," yet we know that neither of them were buried with their people. Aaron was stripped of his Priestly robes by Moses on Mount Hor, and died, and presumably was buried there (Num. 20:23-29), while Moses died on Mount Pisgah and the Lord buried him in a valley of the land of Moab, and no one ever knew the place of his sepulchre. Deu. 34:1-6. So the statement "Gathered unto His People" in their case must mean the same as in the case of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not slumbering in the grave is clear from the words of Jesus to the Sadducees, when He declared that God said to Moses at the "Burning Bush"—"I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Jesus added—"He (God) is not the God of the dead, but the God of the LIVING." Mark 12:26-27. In other words while the bodies of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob rest in the "Cave of Machpelah," their souls are alive and conscious in Paradise.

Such passages as the following seem to teach at first sight that the soul passes into a state of unconsciousness at death: "For in death there is no remembrance of Thee: in the grave who shall give Thee thanks?" Psa. 6:5. "The dead know not anything." Ecc. 9:5. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Ecc. 9:10. However when we examine the context of these passages

SOUL SLEEP we see that the writer was balancing the temporal benefits of living, with their loss by dying, and humanly speaking a dead man knows nothing of the affairs of this world, and neither does the soul that has departed to another sphere of existence. Death breaks the connection and cuts off all intercourse between this world and the "Spirit" world. 2 Kings 22:20.

The "Key" to the Book of Ecclesiastes is—"UNDER THE SUN." Ecc. 1:14. In it Solomon was giving his estimate of life from a worldly viewpoint, and declared that "Under the Sun" all things were vanity, and humanly speaking to die was the end of knowledge. But when he rises "above the Sun" in the last chapter, and sees things from a Heavenly viewpoint, he says—"Then shall the 'dust' (the body return to the earth as it was: and the 'Spirit' shall RETURN TO GOD who gave it" (Ecc. 12:7), thus teaching that it is only the "body" that goes into the grave and that the "Spirit" returns to God.

In the case of the son of the widow of Zarephath, whom Elijah raised from the dead, Elijah prayed—"O Lord my God, I pray Thee, let this child's SOUL come into him again. And the SOUL of the Child came into him again, and he (his body) revived." 1 Kings 17:17-23. When Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus (Luke 8:49-56) we read that—"Her SPIRIT came again." That is, it returned to her body. If there is to be a resurrection of the body, the "soul" and "spirit" must be somewhere waiting to re-inhabit their body.

XII

The Intermediate State

Having seen that "Soul Sleep" is not taught in the Bible, let us now inquire into the state of the dead in the "Intermediate State" between the death and the resurrection of the body.