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TextsTexts• I Thess. 4:13 (NIV):–“Brothers, we do not want you to

be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.”

• II Cor. 5:8 (NIV):–“We are confident, I say, and

willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”

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IntroductionIntroduction

• Last Sunday I introduced the subject of the Intermediate Heaven.–Today, we will pick up where we

left off in part two of this lesson and look at a few more issues associated with the subject.

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Do We Remain Conscious After Death?

Do We Remain Conscious After Death?

• Eccl. 12:7 says:–“The dust returns to the ground it

came from and the spirit returns to God.”

• I Thess. 5:23 says:–“And the very God of peace

sanctify you wholly; . . .

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–“. . . and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

–I have emphasized the words spirit, soul and body in this verse for a reason.

–This verse distinguishes between these three components that make up the whole of our being.

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• Humans are tripartite beings.–We are spirit beings who possess

a soul (intellect, emotions, memory) and our spirit and soul are temporarily housed in a mortal body, or ‘earth suit’.

• At death, the human spirit goes either to Heaven or Hell.–In Luke 16:22-31, Christ depicted

Lazarus and the rich man.

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• Both men were conscious immediately after they died – one in Heaven, the other in Hell.–They were totally conscious.

• Jesus told the dying thief on the Cross, –“Today you will be with me in

Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

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• The Apostle Paul said that to die was to be with Christ (Philip. 1:23), and to be absent from the body was to be present with the Lord (II Cor. 5:8).

• After their deaths, martyrs are pictured in Heaven crying out to God to bring justice on Earth (Rev. 6:9-11).

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• These passages make it clear that there is no such thing as “soul sleep.”–Those who believe in soul sleep

wrongly assume that when we die we enter into a long period of unconsciousness between our life on earth and our life in Heaven.

• As mentioned last week, the phrase “fallen asleep,” in I Thess. 4:13, et al, is a euphemism.

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• A euphemism is defined as:–“The act or an example of

substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive.”

–In this case, “fallen asleep” is a euphemism for “death,” (i.e., the physical body’s death).

• The physical body “sleeps” (dies) until the resurrection, but the soul and spirit remain alive.

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• Every reference to human beings in Revelation talking and worshipping in Heaven (prior to the resurrection of the dead) demonstrates that our spiritual beings are conscious after the body dies.–Nearly everyone who believes in

soul sleep believes that souls are disembodied after death.

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• They don’t make clear how they believe disembodied beings could sleep, because sleeping involves a physical body!–For these reasons, I cannot

believe in soul sleep.

• I am firmly convinced that when the body dies, we go immediately to either Heaven or Hell.

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Will We Be Judged When We Die?

Will We Be Judged When We Die?

• When we die, we face judgment – what theologians call the “judgment of faith”.–The outcome of this judgment

determines whether we go to the intermediate Heaven or the intermediate Hell.

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• This initial judgment does not depend on our works, but on our faith.–It is not about what we have done

during our lives but about what Christ has done for us.

–If we have accepted Christ’s atoning death for us, then when God judges us after we die, He sees His Son’s sacrifice for us and not our sin.

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• Salvation is a free gift, to which we can contribute ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

• Eph. 2:8-9 says:–“For by grace are ye saved through

faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (emphasis mine).

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• Titus 3:5 says salvation is,–“Not by works of righteousness

which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”

• The judgment of faith is not to be confused with the “judgment of works” which will take place at the judgment seat of Christ.

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• Both believers and nonbelievers face a final judgment.–The Bible indicates that all

believers will stand before the bema, or the Judgment Seat of Christ, to give an account of their lives. (see: Rom. 14:10-12; II Cor. 5:10).

• It is critical to understand that this is a judgment of works, not of salvation by faith. (I Cor. 3:13-14).

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• Our works do not affect our salvation, but they do affect our rewards.–Our rewards are about our work

for God, empowered by His Spirit.• Rewards are conditional,

depending on our faithfulness (see: II Tim. 2:12; Rev. 2:26-28; 3:21).

• Unbelievers face a final judgment as well.

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• The unbeliever’s final judgment will come at the “Great White Throne Judgment”.–This will likely occur at about the

time of the burning up of the old Earth, and just before the beginning of the renovated New Earth (Rev. 20:11-13).

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• Opinions vary as to when the judgment of works will take place, because the Bible doesn’t state it for a fact.–The only thing we know for

certain is that it will happen.

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IS THE INTERMEDIATE HEAVEN A PART OF OUR UNIVERSE OR ANOTHER?

IS THE INTERMEDIATE HEAVEN A PART OF OUR UNIVERSE OR ANOTHER?

• The present (intermediate) Heaven is normally invisible to those who are here on earth.–For those who have trouble

accepting the reality of an unseen realm, consider the following:

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• Cutting edge researchers embrace something called the “string theory”.–Scientists at Yale, Princeton and

Stanford, among others, postulate that there are ten unobservable dimensions, and likely an infinite number of imperceptible universes. (“Sight Unseen,” World, Nov. 8, 2003): 13, article, “One Unseen Divinity”.

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• If this is what leading scientists believe, why should anyone feel self-conscious about believing in one unobservable dimension?–This unobservable dimension is

the realm of the spirit, which contains angels and demons and Heaven and Hell.

• Sometimes humans have been allowed to see into Heaven.

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• For example, when Stephen was being stoned because of his faith in Christ, he gazed up into Heaven, according to Acts 7:55-56 (NIV):–“But Stephen, full of the Holy

Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God…

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– 56“. . . ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’”

–Stephen actually saw this.

• Stephen did not see mere symbols of a state of existence. –Rather, his eyes were opened to

see a spiritual dimension humans don’t usually see.

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• It was a spiritual dimension of reality which is very real, but normally invisible to us.–It is a dimension where Jesus and

those who die in the Lord now live, waiting for a time when He and they will return to earth.

–It could be part of our Universe, but doesn’t have to be.

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• It may be in a different, parallel universe.–It could be a universe ‘next door’

that is normally hidden, but sometimes opened to human eyes.

• In any case, it seems likely that God didn’t merely create a vision for Stephen in order to make Heaven appear physical.

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• The prophet Elisha asked God to give his servant, Gehazi, a glimpse of the invisible realm in II Kings 6:17 (NIV):–“And Elisha prayed, ‘O LORD,

open his eyes so he may see.’ Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

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• I believe that God’s holy angels exist beside us in our universe, but we are normally blind to them.–Or they may be in a parallel

universe beside ours that opens into ours so that angelic beings can move between our known dimension and the spiritual.

–It is the (normally) invisible spirit world.

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• Keep in mind that Acts 7 and II Kings 6 are narrative accounts, historical in nature; they are not apocalyptic literature or parables.–The text is clear that Stephen and

Gehazi saw actual things that seemed physical to them.

–This supports the view that Heaven is a “physical” realm.

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• “Physical” and “spiritual” are neither opposite nor contradictory.–In fact, the Apostle Paul referred

to the resurrection body as a “spiritual body”:

• I Cor. 15:42-44 (NIV) says:–“So will it be with the resurrection

of the dead. The body that is sown [buried] is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; . . .

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–“. . . it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If [since] there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”

• God is Spirit, (John 4:24) and angels are spirit beings.–But both do (and will) live on the

New Earth) in a physical environment.

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• We have an Old Testament passage that illustrates that spirits have some sort of body.

• In II Chron. 18:20 we read:–“Then there came out a spirit, and

stood before the LORD, and said, I will entice him. And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith?”

–Here, a spirit being in heaven stood and spoke.

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• This is a concrete example from the Bible that spirits do indeed have some sort of tangible body.–Whenever men have been

privileged to see spiritual beings, they had some sort of body.

–When angelic spirit beings have interaction with humans in the Bible, they have bodies that usually appear to be human.

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Is the Intermediate Heaven A Physical Place?

Is the Intermediate Heaven A Physical Place?

• Yes. Just because Heaven is physical, it doesn’t mean it is a less sacred or special place.–Many view physical and sacred

as opposites.

–Saying that “God is Spirit” is very different from saying that Heaven is spirit.

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• Heaven, after all, is not the same as God.–God created Heaven and all the

universes.–The Heaven of Heavens cannot

contain God, who is omnipresent.• God made Heaven in another

dimension, but it and its inhabitants are as tangible in their realm as we and the earth are in ours.

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• God created Heaven, therefore He did not always dwell there.–Though God chooses to dwell in

Heaven, He does not need a dwelling place.

• However, as finite humans, we do need a tangible place.–It is no problem for God, who is

Spirit, to dwell in a physical or a spiritual realm, or both.

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• The more appropriate question is whether people, being by nature both spiritual and physical, can dwell in a realm without physical properties?–I believe that the physical,

renovated, New Earth will be the ultimate dwelling place of those saved by God’s grace and mercy.

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• So, I don’t believe we should find it surprising that God would provide a waiting place (the Intermediate Heaven) which is also physical.–It seems reasonable to infer that

the Intermediate Heaven will be a temporary place where God, His angels and believers who die will live, awaiting the Resurrection.

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• It therefore makes sense that Heaven would be accommodated to mankind because God needs no accommodation.–We know that angels can exist in

a physical world because they exist in this one, and not just in Heaven.

• In fact, angels sometimes (maybe often) take on human form.

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• Heb. 13:2 (NIV) says:–“Do not forget to entertain

strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”

• If we are to draw inferences about the nature of Heaven, we shouldn’t derive them from the nature of God.

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• After all, God is a one-of-a-kind being who is infinite, existing outside of space and time.–Instead, we should base our

deductions on the nature of humanity.

• It is no problem, for the infinite, omnipresent God to dwell where mankind dwells.

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• The question is whether finite humans can exist as God does – outside of space and time.–I’m not certain we can.

• But I am certain that if we can, it is only as a temporary aberration that will be permanently fixed so we can when we receive our new, resurrected body in preparation for life on the New Earth.

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• Why are some so resistant to the idea that Heaven could be physical?–I think it is based in an unbiblical

belief that the spirit realm is good and the material world is bad.

• Some call this view “Christoplatonism”.–Much of this philosophy was

derived from Plato.

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• Plato was a Greek philosopher who believed that material things (including the human body and earth) are evil, while immaterial things such as the soul and Heaven are good.–This view is called “Platonism”.

–The Christian Church was highly influenced by Platonism through the teachings of Philo and Origen.

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• As a result, many early Church theologians came to embrace the “spiritual view” that human spirits are better off without bodies, and Heaven is a disembodied state.–They rejected the idea of Heaven

as a physical realm, and spiritualized or entirely ignored the biblical teaching of resurrected people inhabiting a renovated New Earth.

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• Christoplatonism has had a devastating effect on people’s ability to understand what the Bible says about Heaven.–This applies particularly to the

eternal Heaven and the New Earth.

–Christoplatonism has also closed many minds to the possibility that the Intermediate Heaven may actually be a physical realm.

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• Heaven will indeed be an actual, tangible, physical realm.–If we look at Scripture we can see

considerable evidence that the present Heaven has tangible, physical properties and is described in physical terms.

In ClosingIn Closing

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• In our next lesson we will look at the following areas:–Heaven as Substance, Earth as

Shadow.

–Does “Paradise” suggest a physical place?

–Do people have intermediate bodies in the Intermediate Heaven?

End of Lesson