A Look Back Before We Go - Part 1

Dirt and Stone for Flesh and Bone - Part 14

In 2021, the Pew Research Center polled Americans on their view of the afterlife. Surprisingly, it showed that 73% of Americans believe in some form of “heaven.”

In this study, it was found that

…respondents who believe in neither heaven nor hell but do still believe in an afterlife were given the opportunity to describe their idea of this afterlife in the form of an open-ended question that asked: “In your own words, what do you think the afterlife is like?”

Within this group, about one-in-five people (21%) express belief in an afterlife where one’s spirit, consciousness or energy lives on after their physical body has passed away, or in a continued existence in an alternate dimension or reality. One respondent describes their view as “a resting place for our spirits and energy. I don’t think it’s like the traditional view of heaven but I’m also not sure that death is the end.” And another says, “I believe that life continues and after my current life is done, I will go on in some other form. It won’t be me, as in my traits and personality, but something of me will carry on.”¹

The funny thing is, the views of those who reject the biblical view of heaven or hell were not that far off from those who claim to be Bible-believing Christians. What I mean by that is that many, if not most Christians, think heaven, as in our final resting place, is immaterial, and that we will carry on into eternity in some mystical, spiritual form wholly different from our old existence. Even many pastors present heaven as anything from people-turned-into-angels playing harps as they recline on fluffy clouds to our souls existing in some weird, transcendent, disembodied state of bliss that words cannot describe.

For a very long time, I was one of those pastors. But, as you know, a text in Luke’s gospel changed all that. I shared it with you at the beginning of our series on heaven, Dirt and Stone for Flesh and Bone. For weeks now, we’ve been following the thread that text gave us, and it shattered our misconceptions. As this series comes to a close, I want to recap what we’ve discovered this week and next week, then close with a message that answers the question, “So What?”

So let’s begin where it all started in Luke 24. Jesus was crucified and buried, but stories went around that he’d come back from the dead. As the disciples gathered together, excitedly but fearfully chattering about it all, this happened:  

36 Now while they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace to you.” 37 But being startled and frightened, they were thinking that they were seeing a spirit. 38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 And while they still were not believing because of their joy and were still marveling, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, 43 and He took it and ate it before them. Luke 24:36–43 (LSB)

Note, brothers and sisters, that Jesus assures them of who he is by showing them his hands and feet, which still carry marks of the crucifixion. Then, he assures them of what he is not. He is not a ghost, because they are immaterial. He, however, is—and I am quoting him—made of FLESH AND BONE. There’s no interpretive dilemma here. It’s one of the few places in God’s Word where we can say with doubtless certainty what is intended. Jesus was there literally, bodily, physically.

This, brothers and sisters, is what implodes our fallacies of heaven.

If heaven is an immaterial, indescribable place, why was Jesus’ resurrected body material? What sense does it make for all of us to be “spiritual,” floating around heaven like whisps of steam, while Jesus walks around in a body made of “flesh and bone”?

Follow this thread to what the Apostle Paul declares about the resurrection chapter of 1 Corinthians.

20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming. 24 Then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. 1 Corinthians 15:20–24 (LSB)

Jesus’ resurrection 2,000 years ago is the first fruits of the coming resurrection of all God’s people when he returns. First fruits is an agricultural term; they are the harvest’s early ripeners. If the first fruits are grain, the harvest is grain. If Jesus was resurrected in a physical body and he is the first fruits of the coming harvest at the end of the age, when we are resurrected, then our resurrection bodies must be flesh and bone as well, not ethereal or just spiritual. And, here it comes, physical bodies are meant to live in a material, physical place of dirt and stone.

Does the Scripture support this? It most definitely does! But in order to affirm that, we first had to come to terms with our term: heaven.

Heaven, for most folks, means the eternal place where saints go when they die, or, in other words, the final destination of Christians. But it’s more nuanced than that. You see, the Bible employs the word heaven in two specific ways. The first is physical, where heaven(s) is the Earth’s atmosphere and/or outer space.

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; Genesis 1:14 (LSB)

The second is non-physical, where heaven is the dwelling place of God.

4 Yahweh is in His holy temple; Yahweh’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. Psalm 11:4 (LSB)

Note that heaven, in this sense, is still a real place, more like a dimension, that exists alongside and yet outside time, space, and matter.

Here’s the problem. We know that the atmosphere or outer space is not the final resting place of saints, but we think that the dwelling place of God is. And that’s partly what fuels our misconceptions about heaven—as in our final destination—because we know that God’s dwelling place is not physical or material in the same sense as the created order.

Our thinking goes like this. Uncle Bobby loved the Lord. He died and went to heaven, the dwelling place of God. He’s there right now, and he will spend eternity there. It’s his final resting place. But if—and we’ve already conclusively shown this from the flesh and bone text—Jesus’ resurrection body is physical, and our future resurrection bodies will be physical, how does that gee and haw with us living in heaven for all eternity, as in the dwelling place of God, which is a spiritual dimension? That’s kind of weird, isn't it?

The muddy waters clear when we correctly understand and define our term. To do that, we must make room for a more refined and, I believe, more biblical view of heaven. That requires distinguishing between the present heaven (intermediate state) and the future heaven (final, eternal destination of believers). In our series, we learned that present heaven is where all believers go when they die prior to Christ’s return. The New Heaven and Earth (eternal heaven) are the final work of God described in Revelation, where all believers dwell forever after Christ returns.

A story Jesus told in Luke 16, known as the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, gave us insight into this.

19 “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. 20 “But a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, 21 and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. 22 “Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 “And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ 25 “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things. But now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 ‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you are not able, and none may cross over from there to us.’ Luke 16:19–26 (LSB)

Note how the story of Lazarus and the rich man confirms that upon death, the unjust immediately go to a place of torment, and the just go to a place of blessedness. At first, that appears to support the idea that at their last breath, people either go to heaven (in the traditional sense, the dwelling place of God) or hell (the Lake of Fire) as described in the closing chapters of Revelation.

However, does that square with how John describes the afterlife in those closing chapters? In the New Heaven and Earth he details, there is no suffering, no pain, no tears. How could that be if we can see the torment of the unrighteous across a chasm? And consider this: the events John sees on the Last Day have not happened yet.

Look at verse 26 again.

26 ‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you are not able, and none may cross over from there to us.’ Luke 16:26 (LSB)

It’s almost as if Jesus talks about the afterlife as a place with two chambers connected by an impassable gorge. Hmmm… could Jesus be describing the present heaven? As in a temporary holding place for the dead until the Last Day?

I think it’s very possible, and the key is found in verses 22-23.

22 “Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 “And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. Luke 16:22–23 (LSB)

The opposing experiences are described as Abraham’s bosom (also known as Paradise among the Jews) and Hades. Could that have something to do with the present heaven as well? There’s a case to be made that it does. You see, I believe Jesus is describing the afterlife in terms of a temporary existence that stays in effect until he returns at the end of the age.

Think about the audience who listened to the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the Jews. This story made perfect sense to them because it fit their understanding of what happened when you died from a first-century Jew’s perspective. For them, when you passed away, you went to a place called Sheol, sometimes translated as the grave.

Sheol, simply put, is the abode of the dead. Just so you know, Sheol in the OT is a bit vague, referring to the place all go when they die, or the place the wicked go when they die, and sometimes even the personification of the grave or death. You come across it for the first time in the book of Genesis. Joseph had been sold into slavery by his brothers, who told their father, Jacob, he’d been eaten by an animal.

34 Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. Genesis 37:34–35 (ESV)

Sheol is used about 65 other times in the OT, and all are associated with death. In the KJV, Sheol is often translated as hell. That’s unfortunate because it takes a NT concept and projects it backwards on the OT.

Most folks don’t realize the OT idea of the afterlife was underdeveloped (try forming your idea of it solely on Gen - Malachi!). Jews more or less just thought of death in terms of going to the grave, going to Sheol, the abode of the dead, and that was it. But by the time of Jesus, that concept had evolved much more. Jesus fleshed it out for us, too, as recorded in the Gospels. Believe it or not, the Jews’ idea of the hereafter in Jesus’ day was influenced by the Greek understanding of the same. In Greek mythology, Hades is the prince of the netherworld, and the dead reside in his kingdom called the “house of Hades.”

Are you saying the Jews’ understanding of the afterlife in Jesus’ day lined up with the Greeks’? Isn’t it dangerous to associate the teachings of Scripture with the myths of pagans?

They say all myths—if you trace them back far enough—point to some truth. It’s fascinating that almost all cultures, modern and ancient, have some concept of the abode of the dead. It’s almost as if in ancient history, mankind was all together and then scattered.

Jesus and the NT writers carried over the idea of OT Sheol using the Greek term Hades. That doesn’t mean the Greek mythology was right, just that the idea worked into their understanding of the afterlife. They appropriated it. For example,

18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Matthew 16:18 (LSB)

14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. Revelation 20:14 (LSB)

Jesus and the NT writers also referred to a place related to the afterlife called Gehenna (always translated as hell), which seems to be distinct in some way from Hades. Here are some examples.

22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. Matthew 5:22 (ESV)

6 And the tongue is a fire, the very world of unrighteousness; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our existence, and is set on fire by hell. James 3:6 (LSB)

Gehenna refers to a literal place, the valley of Hinnom, just outside the city of Jerusalem. At the time of Christ, it was used as a garbage dump. The methane gas from rotting garbage caught fire and had been burning for years. It was also the place in Israelite history where great wickedness occurred, such as the sacrifice of children.

Of all the instances of Gehenna save one, Jesus spoke of it in the context of judgment, compared to the instances of Hades, where the context is death only (Luke 16 and the parable of Lazarus and the rich man is the exception). Because of this, some conclude that hell and Hades are not synonymous. Hell, or Gehenna, is the as yet unpopulated eternal abode of the wicked called the Lake of Fire in Revelation. And Hades is the temporary dwelling of the dead in general, with the parable of Lazarus and the rich man being an actual account of two people who died and entered the afterlife, where one was ushered into the holding place of torment and the other the holding place of bliss.

There isn’t enough evidence in the Bible to definitively prove this, but it does make sense of what happens when people die before the Last Day, since the Lake of Fire and the New Heaven and Earth aren’t populated yet. Maybe that’s how it works. It certainly gives meaning to the words of Christ to the thief on the cross.

And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43 (ESV) emphasis mine

Four years, one month, and two weeks ago, just before Easter, my mom unexpectedly passed away. It is a great comfort to know two things. One, right now, she is in a place called Paradise. And she’s there with Jesus and my older brother, Michael, who died three days after he was born. She very well might be there with our sweet old cat, Rosie, and our precious dog, Maple. One day, Jesus will call Mom and everyone else together and say, “It’s time.” She will get her new, flesh-and-bone resurrection body and be taken to a newly remade earth, a place of dirt and stone. And I will meet her there. And we will never have to say goodbye again.

Understanding clearly what the Bible says about these things gives me so much more hope than I would have if all I knew were the vague notion of an immaterial existence in an immaterial place!

Next time, we will continue our review by revisiting Genesis to see how the beginning gives us details about the end. But for now, I can’t help but think about something else that study I mentioned at the beginning of the message found: “respondents who expressed belief in heaven were asked about who they think will be allowed to go there. Four-in-ten U.S. adults (39%) say they think people who do not believe in God can enter heaven, compared with about one-third (32%) who say only believers can gain access.”²

The Gospel, the Good News that Jesus lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died, is unquestionably exclusive. It is only for those who come to God through Jesus. So it is not a matter of Saint Peter weighing your good works against the bad, but of receiving Jesus’ perfect works into your life like a gift. And yet, at the same time, the Good News is unbelievably inclusive in that it is open for ANYONE to receive.

13 for “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13 (LSB)

1. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/11/23/views-on-the-afterlife/#:~:text=This perspective is nearly unanimous,or probably can meet Satan.

2. Ibid.