What Happens When We Die?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Luke 16, 2 Corinthians 5, 1 Thessalonians 4, Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 3, Acts 2, Psalm 16

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--what-happens-when-we-die
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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all right let's take this in two parts the first part is the story of the rich man in lazarus that jesus gave now some debate whether it's a parable or an actual story because unlike other parables that lazarus is lazarus is named but really to me that's not a crucial point because a parable is a true to life story so it's meant to represent the reality that we're talking about so let's just take that story as it is what you find is lazarus dies as a saved person as a jew under the old covenant and he goes to a place of rest and peace which is called abraham's bosom the rich man dies as a sinner unsaved he goes to a place of torment but it's pictured as two compartments of this place the old testament calls it in the hebrew shield the new testament in greek calls it hades the king james version translates that word oftentimes by the word hell but that's a little misleading in english because the word hell is also translated for the greek gehenna which is the lake of fire the two different places and so we might translate it as the place of the dead and so it appears that both the rich man and lazarus are in the same place of the dead but lazarus is in a compartment if you will of rest and peace with the saints and the rich man is in a place of torment or unrest and he can see where lazarus is and at least he thinks that lazarus might be able to visit him because he asks for that and of course the answer is no lazarus cannot come to help you now if that's a depiction of what it was like in the old testament that would or at the time of christ which would be before the new covenants instituted that would accord with the data we have from the old testament that people go to the place of the dead and they await the future now i think the situation is a little different now because as of that story you're still dealing with the old testament the old covenant even though it's in the gospels it's before the death burial and resurrection of jesus so it's before the new covenant is instituted now think about this we believe that the saved people of all the ages are saved by jesus christ that no one could be saved by their works that no one could be saved by animal sacrifices the book of hebrews says animal sacrifices were inadequate they just pointed the way toward the true sacrifice the true sacrifice is jesus christ he his sacrifice covers the sins of all the ages of everybody who had faith in god and obey god's word and follow god's word for their day they're saved through the atoning sacrifice of jesus christ since that truth that's true then we understand that not all the benefits could be realized until jesus actually died was buried rose again paid the price won the victory so it appears that the old testament saints were a place of waiting they were not being punished they were in a place of rest and peace but they could not enter into their ultimate eternal destiny because they had to wait until jesus paid the price now we do find some interesting indications and i cannot establish this as absolute dogma there's there's more we don't know than what we do know so in this explanation i'm giving you my opinion i think there's scriptural support but many different people may have some different ways of looking at it so i believe that during the time of christ the old testament saints were in this place of conscious rest so when the bible talks about sleep their body is asleep but every human being has the inner component of the outward the spirit and the flesh some would further divide the inner component to soul and spirit but be that as it may they're closely aligned so that we can say maybe we could say that the soul is the human consciousness the spirit is the god consciousness but we look at that as a whole so the inner person the soul slash spirit the inner that's the true person so the body is in the grave decaying and so it's sleeping but the inner person is still conscious and awaiting so in the old testament times and the time of christ they were awaiting the resurrection they're awaiting deliverance but in ephesians 4 we have this interesting statement that when jesus christ was incarnate he came down this world and even says he went to the lower parts of the earth and he led captivity captive then first peter chapter 3 talks about christ preaching unto the souls who are dead it's not the greek word for evangelism or preaching the gospel to the lost but it's the greek word caruso meaning proclamation so it appears to me and then also you have acts chapter 2 which quotes from psalm 16 that when jesus died his soul was not left in hell sheol hades in other words his soul did not descend to the dead and remain there but he was resurrected his body did not decay his soul did not stay in the place of the dead but was he was resurrected and he ascended to heaven so putting all those together jesus was a true human like us in every way except for sin so whatever our experience of death is he experienced that so not only did his body go to the grave but his inner person his soul spirit went to the place of the dead wherever that is but what seems to be different when jesus went to that place he took the old testament saints which would include abraham and lazarus and the thief on the cross he said you'll see me today in paradise paradise being another term for abraham's bosom or the compartment within hades where the righteous souls were so it appears that when jesus died his soul went into the place of the dead but he gathered all the righteous souls as i said including abraham lazarus the thief who had just died he believed in him he took all of them from this place of abraham's bosom or paradise the compartment of hades or sheol where the righteous were and he brought them into the presence of god so that was the benefit one of the benefits of the atonement so now paul doesn't talk about i'm going to abraham's bosom when i die or i'm going to paradise or i'm going to the place of the dead and wait and i'll be asleep he says to be absent from the body is to be present with the lord and to the philippians he said you know i'm torn i want to be with you and help you but i'd rather be with christ which is far better so paul as after the resurrection of jesus under the new covenant doesn't seem to be just thinking of a nice place of rest he's looking at being in god's presence so i do think there has been a difference after the resurrection of jesus that now when christians die their body still goes to the grave in that sense we can speak of sleep but their soul spirit their inner person their consciousness goes into the presence of the lord and we typically use the word heaven and again like the word hell it can mean different things the word heaven and it's most fundamental means wherever god is now i do believe there's going to be a place of heaven but right now the best i can say our bodies go to the grave which could still be called um hades in a sense maybe but it's the grave and our spirit soul inner consciousness goes in the presence of god to await the resurrection we're conscious but we're waiting because it's our salvation is not complete but then when jesus christ comes back for his church the dead will be raised the dead in christ will be resurrected with a glorified body the souls will be united with their bodies in a glorified immortal body and then we will live in the presence of god forever in a real place called heaven we'll be where jesus is in his glorified human body will be with him for eternity so we're still awaiting the resurrection but as the dead in christ await the resurrection i believe they're in a conscious place of rest in the presence of the lord