Memorial
OPC: Fall Adult Sunday School -
Q37 What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death? A The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united in Christ, do rest in their graves, till the resurrection.
The
I. There is an
intermediate state for those who die before Christ returns.
Luke
16.19-31 Luke23.42.43
Acts 7.59-60 Philippians
1.21-23
2 Corinthians 5.6-9 Hebrews
12.22-24
Death does not usher in a state of unconsciousness.
The soul is truly alive and fully conscious - this does not
mean we fully understand this.
Only two places for disembodied souls - heaven and hell.
II. For Unbelievers this a state of provisional torment for the soul.
cf.
Luke 16
A
loss of all good
A loss of all hope
An infliction of intensified misery (see also Jude 7)
III. For Believers this is a state of provisional glory for
the soul.
Comfort
and Rest (Revelation 14.13)
With the Lord
Free from all sin and troubles
Enjoyment of the fullness of God's love
Gain of honor and dignity
In the midst of a glorious and good company
IV.
For Believers this is a state of expectant waiting for
the body.
1 Thessalonians 4.14 - still united to Christ.
"This means that Christ still regards the
human bodies of his people, even though dead and buried, as something
exceedingly precious, because he intends to raise them up again at the Last
Day. Therefore he does not regard the dead bodies of his people as something
worthless, to be disregarded because of no more use, but as something valuable,
to be watched over until the resurrection....the real and highest usefulness
[of the Christian's body ] lies beyond the present
life, in the life of eternity; therefore the dead body of a Christian is not
something which has no further purpose or function " (J.G. Vos).