Faith Simplifiedનમૂનો

Day 8: GOD REIGNS

THE GOOD NEWS (FOR CHRISTIANS) ABOUT DEATH NOT BEING THE END

As with virtually every other religion, Christianity agrees that death is not the end—for anyone. This is true no matter if a person loves Jesus, hates him, or is publicly ambivalent toward him. All people, everywhere, across space and time, have a future awaiting them following their physical death. But unlike American folk religion, death isn’t instant access to a vaguely defined heaven, nor does it begin a new cycle of existence, as in reincarnation. It is the beginning of an eternal existence.

Christians understand death to be the beginning of eternal life for those who believe the gospel. When a Christian dies, he or she immediately enters the presence of the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).

When Jesus told the thief who was crucified beside him that the thief would join him where he was going, Jesus called this place “paradise,” not because of what this place is like, but because of who is present—Christ, God himself (Luke 23:43). But even this is not the end. It is something of an intermediate state, which is why the New Testament authors metaphorically refer to faithful believers who have died as merely being asleep. It is a precursor to our final state, the bodily resurrection that all will experience when Christ returns at the end of all things (1 Corinthians 15:50‑57).

For some, the term “intermediate state” might seem reminiscent of the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory, or even the Mormon spirit prison, but they are nothing alike. In Catholic teaching, purgatory is an intermediary state where the dead are purged of whatever sin remains before they are allowed to enter heaven. (Mormonism’s spirit prison serves a similar function.) But despite attempts to equate it with the Old Testament concept of Sheol (Deuteronomy 32:22; Job 14:13; Psalm 30:3)—the realm of the dead in Jewish thought—purgatory, neither in form nor function, is found in the Bible itself. When death comes, the work is finished. The race is won, and we have completed the fight of faith (2 Timothy 4:7). Christians do not need additional purification before we can be welcomed into Christ’s presence. “To be absent from the body” is “to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8 NKJV). When Christians die, we are with him. And Jesus says to all who enter, “Welcome.”

---

We hope this plan was helpful to you. You can read more from Aaron Armstrong in his book, Faith Simplified, available here.