What Happens to Christians Who Die?, Part 1

I don't want your grief to be that dead-end grief, that grief that comes to people because there's no contemplation of reunion. I don't want you to think that Christians ever say a final goodbye because they don't. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Not just Christians, but even non-believers want to talk about the end of the world and life after death. Yet even with all the talk, it's clear that the vast number of voices have only caused more confusion. Well today, John MacArthur begins a series that will help clear up confusion you may have about the afterlife, prophecy, and end times events. It's titled The Rapture and the Day of the Lord. Now, people seem to react to the study of prophecy in one of two ways. They're fascinated by the prophecy and end times, and they can't get enough. Or they sort of ignore it, figuring that what's going to happen is going to happen, and they don't see any value in studying it. So John, what are your thoughts on that?

Yeah, I think that's right. You have the people who become fascinated with eschatology and end times prophecy and get caught up in all kinds of speculation, all kinds of silly things, like there are current books out, The Blood Moons and The Harbinger, and things that are basically fabricated that the Bible is really not teaching that go way beyond what Scripture would allow. On the other hand, you do have the extreme of saying, well, because of all the abuses, because of the craziness that goes on, I just choose not to get involved in that.

Let me tell you what the right position is. The right position is to know what the Bible does say about the end. Do we not think the end matters?

It matters. The whole of history is going toward the end, designed by God, and I want to know everything He's revealed about the end. So we are launching a study on the rapture, the rapture of the church and the day of the Lord from the Bible.

How about that? 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5, and we're going to explore what Scripture says God has planned for the future. Again, the title, The Rapture and the Day of the Lord.

And you want to hear this series. Stay with us. Thanks, John. Now, to begin this study and to answer a question you've probably asked, that is, what happens to Christians who die?

Here is John MacArthur with today's lesson. What happens to Christians who die? What happens to Christians who die? I'm often asked that, even by Christians, in fact usually by Christians, questions like, after we die, do we go directly to heaven?

Or what happens to our bodies? The details of those kinds of questions are very, very important to us, and they can be troubling if we don't know the answer. We want to know what happens after we die, and we would like to know what happens to the bodies of those we love when they go into the grave. Those are pressing issues, and they were equally pressing issues on the young believers in Thessalonica. Remember now, those to whom Paul wrote this letter had only been in Christ a matter of a few months, and they had only had just a few weeks, really, of exposure to Paul's ministry, so they were very much babes. And they had become very troubled about this issue of what happens to Christians when they die. They believed, certainly in life after death, because it says in chapter 1 verse 3 that they had hope. There's no question that Paul had told them about eternal life because he preached to them the gospel and they believed it and they turned from idols. And so we know they knew about eternal life.

They knew that salvation was synonymous with living forever with God in heaven. And they also knew about the coming of Jesus, that Jesus was going to someday return and gather all His people together and take them to be with Him. They knew about that great gathering event.

And so there were some questions in their mind about how that all sort of worked out. Like if you die now, do you miss the gathering? Apparently Paul had made that gathering event so glorious, he had made that gathering event so wonderful that they were very worried that some of them might miss it, even though they would be living an eternal life.

They would still be very concerned if they missed the gathering together. In fact, it was so much on their minds that when you go back to chapter 1, would you notice verses 9 and 10? As Paul describes them, he says they turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for His Son from heaven. Now there you have the three dimensions of their salvation.

The past, turning from the idols of the past. The present, serving a living and true God and the future, waiting for His Son from heaven. This was a waiting group. Chapter 2 verse 19, Paul refers to them as His hope and joy and crown in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming. So they must have known that the coming was something very special. First of all, they would meet Jesus and they were waiting for Him. Secondly, they would be the crown and joy and rejoicing of the apostle, and they were thrilled about that.

Beyond that, they knew a few other things. Look at chapter 5 verses 1 and 2. Paul says, Now as to the times and the epochs or seasons, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you, for you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. They also knew about the day of the Lord. They knew about a time of coming judgment on the ungodly. They knew then that when Jesus came, He would gather them to be with Him, and He would also judge the ungodly. They were waiting for Jesus to come. They were waiting for the gathering time. Now in their waiting, they had become somewhat disturbed. Some of them probably feared that they had missed it, that it had happened without them.

How so? Well, they were entering into persecution and afflictions, and some of them probably thought that they were going to be gathered before that happened. So in chapter 3 verses 3 and 4, Paul has to say to them, So that no man may be disturbed by these afflictions, for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this, for indeed when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction, and so it came to pass, as you know.

He reminds them, Now wait a minute, you shouldn't be surprised by difficulty and persecution. I told you it was coming, but maybe there were some of them who thought they were going to be gathered together before that really took place. Certainly they were living in immense expectation and would fear that they might miss such a great event. In fact, in chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians, Paul says, We request you brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Somebody had been spreading the word around, either by supposedly an angelic messenger, a spirit, or some fabricated letter from Paul that the great event had already happened and the day of the Lord had arrived. And so there was an awful lot of concern and loss of composure.

They were disturbed. Had the day of the Lord already begun? Had they somehow missed the gathering together? And then the most imminent question was, What about the Christians who die? Will they miss it? It isn't that they didn't believe that they would go to heaven, it was, Will they miss this great event?

Will they somehow become second-class citizens in the future? Will we know them only eternally as sort of disembodied glorified spirits while we go in our glorified bodies so that they are sort of secondary or maybe we won't even have communion with them at all and there won't even be a reunion with these two kinds of beings? All of these questions were in their minds.

We can't identify anything more specific than that. But they were living in expectation of Christ's return. They were so excited about it that the best way to describe their hope was they were waiting for His Son. They wanted the Lord to come. They knew it was the climax, the culmination, the great event that signaled the pinnacle of redemptive history and they didn't want to miss it.

It's also interesting to note that they loved each other so much they didn't want each other to miss it. And so apparently they were feeling grieved as believers were dying for fear that they would therefore miss this great event. It is with their grief and their confusion that Paul intends to deal. If you look at the text in verse 13, he mentions being uninformed or ignorant and the fact that you are now grieving about it. And then in verse 18 he mentions the word comfort. His purpose was to eliminate their ignorance, thus to eliminate their grief and thus to bring them comfort.

Now summing that up, let me say this. The passage is more pastoral than it is theological. It is more intended to alleviate confusion, grief, distress and bring comfort than it is to give a theological, eschatological delineation of every factor in the gathering together. They were agitated. They were upset. They were confused. They were worried.

They were fearful. After all, they're baby Christians. They don't know very much. They're living every day waiting for the Son to come. And as some of them die in the months since Paul has left, their question is, what happens to those people?

Do they miss it? And their love for each other is so strong. Chapter 4, verse 9 says, as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another, for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren. They loved each other so much they were grieving because some might miss this great event. So Paul writes to alleviate their grief to bring them great measure of comfort. Their anticipation was very, very high about the return of Christ. And I believe it is fair to say that Paul had communicated to them that Jesus could come in their lifetime. If that was not what they believed, then the whole question is meaningless. Their concern was they were believing Jesus would come at any moment, and as some were dying, their fear was they're going to miss it. The only reason they would have that fear, they would have that anticipation, is because they believed it could happen soon. The major question then is, what happens to Christians who die before the Lord returns?

And since they had the impression that He could come at any moment, they were deeply concerned about this issue. And so Paul pens these verses. Let's start at verse 13, but we do not want you to be uninformed or ignorant, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. He says, I don't want you to be ignorant, and as a result of being ignorant, grieving.

I don't want you to worry about those who died having missed the Lord's return. You say, well, how did Paul even know they were thinking like this? Back in chapter 3, verse 1, you remember, he mentions how he couldn't endure any longer not knowing about them. And so in verse 2 he says, we sent Timothy, and then in verse 6 it says, Timothy has come back. And when Timothy came back, it says, he brought us good news of your faith and love. I like that because back in chapter 1, Paul commended them for their faith and their love and their hope. But when Timothy came back, apparently he only brought them good news about their faith and their love because their hope was a little messed up.

And it needed to be straightened down a little bit because they were so confused. So Paul writes to deal with that confusion and its consequence grief. Now would you note at the beginning of verse 13, we're going to take our time with this, but I want to do it very carefully because this is a very, very important passage and a very important subject.

You'll note at the beginning, he says, but we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren. That opening statement is Paul's favorite way to change the subject. That's his favorite way either in a positive or a negative format to change the subject. It marks a change in the subject to a new topic with no direct connection to the one previous. And it's rather emphatic, but marks a change in course. Brethren is a call to attention which signals something they need to give their attention to. We're done with that and I'm calling you back again to a new discussion, brethren.

It's a term of affection, obviously, and he had immense affection for them as the end of chapter 2 indicates when it says that he was burdened, bereft really, because of the great desire he had to see their face. And so he turns the corner with the word but, he grabs their attention for the new subject with the word, brethren, and then he says we would not have you uninformed or ignorant. This then introduces a new subject. This introduces not only a new subject, but in this case, new teaching, new revelation indicated in verse 15 by the Word of the Lord, a revelation that He has received. So here he will deal with their ignorance which has led to their confusion and grief, restlessness and lack of comfort.

And what is it that he's going to talk about? We do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep. Why does he use the word asleep?

Why doesn't he just say dead? Because sleep is the unique way to speak of Christians in repose, in temporary repose. By the way, the word asleep, koi ma'o, to cause to sleep, is the word from which we get our word, cemetery, which was the early Christian's optimistic name for a graveyard. It really meant a sleeping place.

It really was a synonym for a dormitory, a place where people sleep. Now how is it that Christians are spoken of as sleeping? You'll notice as I answer that question, first of all, that it's in a present tense form, this participle here, and it has the idea of those who are continually falling asleep. That is, believers who fall asleep from time to time as a regular course of life in the church. They're saying, what about these Christians that just continue to die? I mean, life is like that, it ends, right?

And they keep dying. And he says, I don't want you to be ignorant about what happens to people after they die. Now the word sleep in the Bible is used of normal sleep, a recovery process by which the body goes into rest temporarily. John 11, 12 uses it in its normal sense. But the word for sleep is also used uniquely of Christians, and it's used a number of times for Christians. Now listen carefully, and it always refers to their bodies.

It always refers to their bodies. The only part of us that goes into any state of unconsciousness at death is the body. In John, you remember chapter 11 and verse 11, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, Jesus said, but I go that I may awaken him out of sleep. Now everybody knew Lazarus was what? He was dead. He'd been dead for three days. His sister said by this time his body sinketh.

Decay had set in. He had been entombed. He was dead. From Jesus' view, He was only asleep. His soul was alive, not bound in the grave.

We don't know where it was or what it experienced because the Scripture doesn't tell us, but it does not pass out of existence since it is eternal and it is eternally conscious. But His body was at rest, and Jesus saw that as temporary. That's why He calls it sleep. Sleep is something you wake up from. If you don't wake up, you're dead or you eventually will die. And so Jesus sees the death of Lazarus as temporary repose of His body. Look at Acts chapter 7.

Just to give you a full understanding of this, you remember when Stephen was being stoned, it says in verse 60, falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And having said this, he fell asleep. He fell asleep. It was death from the human viewpoint.

It was death from the clinical viewpoint. It was sleep because it was only temporary repose for His body. His spirit didn't go into unconsciousness.

If you don't think so, look at verse 59. He said, Lord Jesus...what?...receive my spirit. It was only His body that was to be in repose, to be asleep. Asleep, by the way, from which even His body would awaken.

And that's the main point that I want you to understand. When in 1 Corinthians 11, 30, Paul says of Christians, many among you are weak and sick and a number asleep. He again refers to death for a Christian as sleep because it is the temporary repose of the physical body. In chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians, verse 6, it talks about Christians who saw the resurrected Christ. Many of them remain until now, that is to the writing of this epistle, but some have fallen asleep.

There's that same familiar one. Verse 18, those who have fallen asleep in Christ. And then in verse 51, I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, again referring to Christians in death.

2 Peter 3, 4 mentions it. Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. There it is the wistful anticipation of unbelievers that those who have died have died only a temporary death. But for Christians, the term is accurate, for it is a temporary thing. Even for pagans, there will be a resurrection. There is a sense in which the pagan bodies only sleep, for they too will be raised. However, they will be raised to eternal damnation and death. And so thus it is not appropriate to speak of theirs as a temporary death, therefore a sleep, but as a permanent death and not a sleep at all.

Now let me go a step further. The term sleep or the concept of sleep does not refer to the soul. There is no such thing as souls sleeping. When Stephen was dying, he said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he had the anticipation of entering into the conscious presence of Jesus Christ. Nowhere does the Scripture ever teach that at any time forever the spirit of a person is ever unconscious.

That's what makes hell so terrible. It is consciousness in the absence of God forever. That's what makes heaven so wonderful. It is consciousness of the presence of God forever. You remember in Luke 16 as Jesus told the story of Lazarus the beggar and the rich man that when Lazarus died, he was immediately and consciously in Abraham's bosom and comforted.

And you remember when the rich man died, he was immediately and consciously in torment and cried out for someone to give him water to touch his tormented tongue. You will remember that in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, the Apostle Paul looks at death for a believer and in verse 8 he says, to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord. There's no purgatory, there's no intermediary condition, there's no state of unconsciousness or semi-consciousness, there's no spiritual coma, to be absent from the body to be present with the Lord. In Philippians 1 23, the Apostle Paul says far better to depart and be with Christ. You're either here or with Christ.

There's no intermediary condition for the saved. They go to be received into the presence of Jesus Christ. There's no intermediary place for the damned.

They go into conscious punishment and torment. But while the spirit of that dead Christian goes immediately into the presence of Christ, that body is asleep, it is in repose, it is in rest, it is in a dormitory, as it were. Now the question comes, well, why is Paul so concerned to tell them about these Christians who have died? Verse 13 says that you may not grieve. They were grieving about it. You say, well now wait a minute, anybody grieves when a Christian dies that they know and they love and they care about? Don't Christians grieve and don't they sorrow and don't they lament and don't they shed tears when loved ones die? That's normal, isn't it? Yes, very normal and certainly the Spirit of God instructs us in Romans 12 15 to weep with those that weep. There's a normal sorrow, reasonable, sensible release of the pain of separation and loneliness that God has designed for our benefit.

He's not talking about that. Follow along in the verse. He says I don't want you to grieve like people who have what?

No hope. I don't want your grief to be that dead end grief, that grief that comes to people because there's no contemplation of reunion. I don't want you to think that Christians ever say a final goodbye because they don't. That's a great thought, isn't it? You never say goodbye to a believer for the last time.

There'll always be another time. When you face the sadness of saying goodbye to a fellow Christian when he dies, there should be great comfort in knowing that your goodbye is not final. A great reminder from John MacArthur here on Grace to You. The title of his current series is The Rapture and the Day of the Lord.

Well, there's more comfort to consider along with some truly terrifying events in the rest of this series. So if you'd like to download this study on the Rapture and the Day of the Lord for free, go to our website today, our web address, gty.org. If you know someone who would benefit from this series on CD, you can order the seven CD album when you call us at 855-GRACE. But again, you can download John's series on the Rapture and the Day of the Lord for free at gty.org. There you'll also find other studies on prophecy and just about any biblical topic.

Just go to gty.org. And if you've benefited from John's Bible teaching, know that you can help support Grace to You for generations to come by including Grace to You in your will, your living trust, your life insurance plan. You can help make sure that your children, your grandchildren, even your great-grandchildren can benefit from our verse-by-verse Bible teaching. To find out more about planned giving, call 855-GRACE or visit our planned giving page at gty.org. Now for John MacArthur and the entire staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for starting your week off with Grace to You and be here tomorrow when John helps answer this question, What Happens to Christians Who Die Before the Rapture? It's another half hour of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time, on Grace to You.