Hi Jackie,
My question is when we are resurrected will it seem as if we just went to sleep even though it could be many years?
I put together some emails that I think will help your understanding.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,6460.0.html ---------
Dear Ray, can you please tell me why did Jesus said in Luke 8 that the little girl was not dead but sleeping? don't they mean the exact same thing? please explain.
thanks
Jim
Dear Jim: The reason is that to God people who die are no different to Him than people who are sleeping are to us. We can WAKE UP a sleeping person easily and quickly. In like manner God can WAKE UP a dead person easily and quickly just as if he were only sleeping.
http://www.forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,2542.0.html -------
> Phil 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 But if I am to
> live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not
> know which to choose. 23 But I am hard-pressed from both directions,
> having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much
> better; 24 yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.
> 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all
> for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that your proud confidence
> in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again.
>
> I know you commented on II Cor 5:8, about how being abscent from the body
> does not automatically mean being present with the lord, but I was
> confused by the meaning of the verses above where Paul talks about "having
> a desire to depart and be with Christ". The fact that he contracts being
> alive with being away from Christ, it sounds as though he is implying that
> to die is to be with Christ, immediately. If you could clarify these
> verses, I would be most grateful. thanks in advance.
>
> Jason
Dear Jason:
Things are not always what they "sounds as though." Paul knew that "the living
know that they shall die, but the dead know not ANYTHING" (Ecc. 9:5). Therefore,
to Paul, when he died, he would be "immediately" with the Lord, even though it might
not literally happen for seveal thousands of years. Paul SPECIFICALLY stated how
and WHEN he expected to be resurrected to life--"AT THE LAST TRUMP" (I Cor. 15:52),
NOT immediately upon death.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,5112.msg40285.html#msg40285 -
Dear Joyce: There is nothing about the Truth or God's Word that should make us sad. When people die, they are dead. This is not a terrible thing. God likens death to sleep in many many Scriptures. The only hope of the dead is a resurrection from the dead (a doctrine that has no value or importance in the Church any longer). Read my short paper: "An Encouraging Word About Death" on my home page.
There is no consciousness in death, hence no one will ever experience being dead. Many will experience the act of dying (unless one is killed instantly or dies in one's sleep), but once we are dead we experience and know nothing (Ecc. 9:5). In resurrection, God in effect, awakens us out of our sleep of death (Psalm 13:3). Our hope is not in heaven, but in resurrection (I Cor. 15 whole chapter).
Now John 14:2--"In my Father's house are many mansions [Greek, abodes--same word translated abode in verse 23] : if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will COME AGAIN, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am [ON THIS EARTH, not heaven], THERE ye may be also...Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and COME AGAIN UNTO YOU..." (Also verse 28). What will happen to all the Believing Saints who have died over the centuries? When and where will they receive the "abodes in the Father's House?" They will live and reign as kings and priests with Jesus at resurrection (Rev. 20:4). "And has made us unto our God kings and priests: and WE SHALL REIGN ON THE EARTH" (Rev. 5:10). Our reward, our special office or abode in God's Kingdom is to SAVE THE REST OF HUMANITY.
http://www.forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,3747.0.html ------
True, at death one's spirit returns to God, but it has no consciousness whatsoever. The consciousness is in the soul. Man IS a living soul, and when He dies, he is a dead soul. It is neither the soul, nor the body which are said to "sleep" in death, but rather that death itself is called "sleep." We are not resurrected with the dead body we died in, but are given a new, spiritual body (I Cor. 15:42-54). Read the first five pages of my Critique of Dr. Kennedy's sermon on Africans, and the Part C of my HELL series for detailed information on the body, soul, and spirit.
http://www.forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,1850.0.html -------
All who have ever died will think that they have been resurrected in less than a second after they experienced DYING. One God has created a human with consciousness, such a creature will never ever experience NON-existence. There can be periods of unconsciousness, as in deep sleep, operations, comas, etc. But the person himself does not "experience" any of these things, only the LIVING CAN BE CONSCIOUS OF DEATH!
"The Living know that they shall DIE, but the DEAD KNOW NOT ANYTHING..." (Ecc. 9:5).
It will all work out for good in the end--TRUST GOD.
http://bible-truths.com/email16.htm#absent --------------------
[Ray Replies]
Of the millions of times a year that this Scripture in II Cor. 5:8 is quoted, probably only about twice is it ever quoted properly. And THAT is partly the reason why most do not understand this verse.
Paul never said: "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." There is NO SUCH SCRIPTURE.
Let's quote it properly:
"We are confident, I say, and willing rather TO BE absent from the body, and TO BE present with the Lord."
Or as Concordant Literal New Testament renders it:
"...rather to be away from home out of the body and to be at home with the Lord."
There is a giant difference between the two words "is" and "and." Just the fact of being "absent or separated" from our bodies, does not automatically equate with being instantaneously "WITH" the Lord.
First we DIE and thereby become absent from or separated from our bodies--they decay back into the dust of the ground. But some time AFTER our death we are taken home to be with the Lord. Notice how Paul himself understood this. Are we "at home with the Lord" at the instant of DEATH? No. I Thes. 4:16-17--
"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and THE DEAD in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be [at home] with the Lord."
Notice that all the DEAD in Christ rise at the SAME TIME, at His presence in the air. But, not all of the DEAD in Christ DIED AT THE SAME TIME. Hence they were NOT 'at home with the Lord' at the very time of their death.
Hope that helps your understanding a little better.
Ray