Program 199: Lazarus & what happens after death

The story of Lazarus proves there is no consciousness after death.

Welcome to WLC Radio, a subsidiary of World’s Last Chance Ministries, an online ministry dedicated to learning how to live in constant readiness for the Savior's return.

For two thousand years, believers of every generation have longed to be the last generation. Contrary to popular belief, though, Christ did not give believers “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, he repeatedly warned that his coming would take even the faithful by surprise. Yahushua urgently warned believers to be ready because, he said, “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” [Matthew 24:44]

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.

* * *Part 1: (Miles & Dave)

Miles Robey: Different cultures have different ideas as to what happens after death. Even within Christianity, there is a difference of opinion. Some believers say the disembodied soul goes directly to Heaven or Hell. Or Purgatory, if they believe in that. Others believe that the soul is unconscious after death.

Hello, I’m Miles Robey and this is World’s Last Chance Radio.

Today, Dave Wright is going to be taking us through the story of Lazarus and looking at what that story has to reveal about what happens after death. Later, in our Daily Mailbag segment, he’ll be talking about Christians and cremation. Is cremation something Christians should do? Keep listening and find out!

Dave. Let’s just jump right in and let me ask you: on which side of the great divide does the story of Lazarus come down? Does it support going to Heaven—of Hell—after death? Or does it support the idea of … “soul sleep” for want of a better term?

Dave Wright: Well, “soul sleep” is a great term and that is actually what the story of Lazarus supports and what the rest of Scripture teaches as well.

But before we get into that, let’s talk about the differing schools of thought regarding the state of the dead and where these two different schools of thought originate. The majority of Christians believe that the soul is separate from the body. Thus, at death when the body dies, something has to happen to the soul because, it is believed, the soul itself is immortal.

A widely-held Christian belief is that the souls of believers are taken directly to Heaven while those who are lost go to Hell. Those who aren’t bad enough to go to Hell but not yet good enough to go to Heaven, go to Purgatory where, after suffering, they eventually earn their way into Heaven.

Miles: Sooo … not salvation by faith.

Dave: Not really, no. The idea of an immortal soul actually comes from Hellenistic thought. It’s not supported by the Bible.

See, the early church “fathers”—and I’m not talking about the apostles—were often converts from paganism. They had been well-educated in pagan thought, so when they converted to Christianity, they brought with them the mindset and beliefs, the paradigm they’d learned in school. This mindset was shaped by the Greek philosopher, Plato.

James Strong was a 19^th-century academic, a well-respected Biblical scholar, as well as a theologian and professor. He’s remembered today for being the creator of Strong’s Concordance.

Miles: Oh! Okay, yeah. Can you imagine how long it must have taken to define and categorize every single Hebrew and Greek word in Scripture?

Dave: He had to have had the soul of patience! Anyway, as I said, he was quite the scholar. I have here a rather revealing comment he made and I’d like you to read it. Would you read that for us, please? Let’s see what the redoubtable James Strong has to say about the influence of pagan philosophy on the early church.

Miles: All right. It says, quote: “Towards the end of the 1st century, and during the 2nd, many learned men came over both from Judaism and paganism to Christianity. These brought with them into the Christian schools of theology their Platonic ideas and phraseology.”

Dave: Strong isn’t the only one. Many other scholars have also seen how platonic philosophy influenced early Christianity. One such scholar was William Inge. He was a Lady Margaret professor of divinity and fellow of Jesus College at Cambridge University from 1907 to 1911. In 1911 he was appointed Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral and he authored a number of books, among which was this one: The Philosophy of Plotinus.

I’ve marked a quote here I’d like you to read. Just—yeah. Where it’s marked.

Miles:

Platonism is part of the vital structure of Christian theology . . . . [If people would read Plotinus, who worked to reconcile Platonism with Scripture,] they would understand better the real continuity between the old culture and the new religion, and they might realize the utter impossibility of excising Platonism from Christianity without tearing Christianity to pieces. The Galilean Gospel, as it proceeded from the lips of Jesus, was doubtless unaffected by Greek philosophy . . . . But [early Christianity] from its very beginning was formed by a confluence of Jewish and Hellenic religious ideas.

Dave: As he admits, the pure gospel from Yahushua and the apostles was free of pagan philosophy, but it didn’t take long at all for these false ideas to worm their way into apostolic Christianity, corrupting it into Catholic Christianity.

Belief in an immortal soul and life after death is only one area of belief that was corrupted.

By contrast, Scripture repeatedly presents death as a sleep. Let’s take a look at several of these. Would you turn—

Miles: Yeah, just a second. Before we go on, there’s one text I’d like to share. It’s 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 16. I think this is an important text to share.

Dave: Sure, go ahead!

Miles: In this passage, Paul’s talking about Yahuwah here. He’s describing Him and then in verse 16 he says, quote: “He alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light, whom no human has ever seen or is able to see. To him be honor and eternal power! Amen.” Unquote.

So we have right here in Scripture a very clear statement that only Yahuwah is immortal. You can’t have an immortal soul when, right here, it explicitly states that Yahuwah alone possesses immortality.

Dave: That’s true. That’s a great text. Thank you for sharing it. It highlights the contrast between the platonic/modern Christian idea of an immortal soul versus what the Bible itself teaches, which is that immortality is a gift Yahuwah bestows on the obedient. No one besides Yahuwah has it naturally.

Throughout Scripture, death is likened to sleep. It’s a metaphor that is used over and over. Turn to Job 14 and read verses 11 and 12. This is very ancient. Job predated the Exodus, so as long ago as then, this is how death was viewed. Go ahead.

Miles:

As water disappears from the sea,
And a river becomes parched and dries up,
So man lies down and does not rise.
Till the heavens are no more,
They will not awake
Nor be roused from their sleep.

Dave: The Bible likens death to sleep because there is no conscious awareness after death. No immortal soul. What did Solomon say about death? I know you’ve got this one memorized. Ecclesiastes 9 verse 5.

Miles: “For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything; they have no further reward—and even the memory of them disappears.”

Dave: Earlier in that same chapter, Solomon said, “Everyone shares the same fate—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,” adding: “This is the unfortunate fact about everything that happens on earth: the same fate awaits everyone.” [Ecclesiastes 9:2a-3a]

Miles: Huh! That’s the exact opposite of what most Christians today believe. They believe a good person goes to Heaven and a bad person goes to Hell. That’s hardly “the same fate” awaiting everyone!

Dave: Exactly. Solomon was clearly speaking about death here, not the reward that is awarded after the final judgment. But see, Solomon, like all the Biblical writers, viewed death as a sleep.

Turn to 1 Kings chapter 2 and read verse 10: 1 Kings 2:10.

Miles: “So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.”

Dave: David … “slept with his fathers.” This is a phrase you find repeatedly in Scripture.

1 Kings 11:43: “Solomon slept with his fathers.”

1 Kings 22:40: “Ahab slept with his fathers.”

2 Kings 14:29: “Jeroboam slept with his fathers.”

2 Kings 16:20: “Ahaz slept with his fathers.”

2 Chronicles 12:16 “Rehoboam slept with his fathers.”

2 Chronicles 21:1: “Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers.”

I could go on and on, but you get the point. Death was regarded as sleep where the person was unconscious and unaware.

Daniel, also, quotes the angel Gabriel as referring to death as a sleep. Daniel 12 verse 2. What does that say?

Miles: Give me just a second and I’ll tell you.

Let’s see. It says: “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

Dave: In context, this is clearly speaking about after Yahushua returns, not a sudden giving of reward at death but of “sleeping in the grave” until Yahushua returns.

Centuries later, John the Revelator still holds the same belief. This is a point a lot of people overlook but it’s revealing. Read Revelation 22 verse 12. This is the very last chapter of the Bible, less than 10 verses from the last verse of the last chapter of the Bible, and what does Yahushua say?

Miles: “And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”

Dave: We don’t receive our reward at death, whether that’s Heaven or Hell. If believers were rewarded with Heaven at death, how could Yahushua say that he’s bringing his reward with him?

Miles: Hmmm. That’s a good point, isn’t it? Never thought of that before.

Dave: This way of viewing death was commonly understood in Christ’s day. In fact, we know from Matthew 22 and Acts 23 that the Sadducees didn’t believe in a resurrection from the dead at all, not even for the righteous. They certainly didn’t believe in some disembodied soul floating around after death.

So now, with this understanding, let’s take a look at the story of Lazarus. Would you please turn to John 11 and start reading with verse … oh, just start with verse 1.

Miles:

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Yahushua, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” [John 11:1-3]

Dave: I love this lack of detail in their message. It shows what a close friendship they shared. The sisters knew that Yahushua would know precisely whom they were talking about without naming him. It’s beautiful. That’s what good friends they were.

Go on.

Miles:

When he heard this, Yahushua said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for [Yahuwah’s] glory so that [Yah’s] son may be glorified through it.” Now Yahushua loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” [John 11:4-7]

Dave: Don’t you love it? “Now Yahushua loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” “So, when he heard that Lazarus was sick,” what did he do? He stayed where he was!” It sounds funny, but it reveals that Yahushua had a plan and he was working out his plan.

Go on. What does verse 11 say?

Miles:

After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Yahushua had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” [John 11:11-15]

Dave: Okay, disciples. You’re being a bit slow on the uptake. Lazarus is dead and I’m glad because I’ve got a plan that will ultimately help increase your faith.

Miles: If this idea of death being like sleep was so common in ancient Israel—and it clearly was—why do you think the disciples didn’t understand what he was telling them?

Dave: They were human. Just like us. We don’t go around speaking in metaphors and analogies. They were human and missed that he was using a metaphor rather than speaking literally. They just assumed he was speaking literally so, when Yahushua understood that, he told them explicitly “Lazarus is dead.”

Miles: Sure, okay. Because, yeah, when you’ve been sick, sleep helps you get better.

Dave: Notice that when talking about Lazarus, Yahushua isn’t speaking of his “soul” or his “body.” He doesn’t separate the two. He simply talked about Lazarus as a whole person, this is why the disciples didn’t clue into the fact that he was speaking metaphorically when the Savior said Lazarus was “sleeping.”

Yahushua wasn’t headed to Bethany to reunite Lazarus’ soul with his body. No mention is made of that. Instead, Yahushua clearly stated what his reason for traveling to Bethany was. He was going to awaken Lazarus from the “sleep” of death. No more, no less.

Miles: Do you get the feeling that the story of Lazarus is special in some way? I mean, there are details here and clearly, as you said, Yahushua had a plan he was working out by letting Lazarus die instead of healing him. But what was the point? It’s not like this was the only dead person he ever raised.

In … what was it? Luke 7? We’ve got the widow of Nain’s son raised back to life and there’s the story of Jairus daughter. Why was it necessary for Lazarus to die when he wasn’t even the first dead person Christ had raised back to life?

Dave: That’s a good question. The answer, I believe, is that the experience with Lazarus was deliberately designed to be very attention-getting. This was fulfilling the Messiah’s mission!

But, see, when he raised the widow of Nain’s son, the young man had died just that day. We know this because it was part of the Levitical requirements to bury someone the very same day he or she died. This was for cleanliness and health purposes.

Miles: Makes sense. In a hot climate without embalming liquids, you wouldn’t want the body lying around for a few days.

Dave: The same was true with Jairus’s daughter. In fact, she’d been dead for even less time than the widow of Nain’s son! They, at least, had time to cleanse the body, wrap it in a burial shroud, and form a funeral cortege, carrying it to wherever they were planning on interring it.

But with Jairus daughter, she’d still been alive when messengers were sent for Yahushua. But between when the messengers were sent and when Yahushua started walking back with them, she died. That wasn’t long at all. So, while I’m sure the news spread of these other resurrections, it was very easy for doubters to say, “Oh, they weren’t really dead.”

It could be argued that they’d been in a coma or unconscious and Yahushua healed and roused them.

Miles: Yeah, I can see how the Pharisees would jump at an interpretation like that. You know they would!

Dave: But, as we’ll see as we get deeper into the story of Lazarus, such claims could not have been made with him. In fact, we can see that Yahushua deliberately waited just so he could get there after Lazarus had been buried. There was no denying his resurrection!

Okay. So. Moving on: Yahushua told the disciples that Lazarus was dead. Would you pick up the story at verse 17 of John 11?

Miles:

So when Yahushua came, he found that [Lazarus] had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Yahushua was coming, went and met him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Yahushua, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of [Yahuwah], [Yah] will give you.”

Yahushua said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Yahushua said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of [Yah], who is to come into the world.” [John 11:17-27]

Dave: This is a very important conversation. Too often, we skim past it to get to the good part, but there are some vital nuances here I want to focus on.

First, the home is filled with friends and family who’ve come to support the sisters. It appears the siblings were on their own so presumably the parents had already died. When word reaches Martha that Yahushua is arriving, she hurries out to meet him. Her first words show her faith: “If you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”

Miles: Was she accusing him of letting it happen?

Dave: Mmm. Maybe. She’s human. In times of pain and grief, humans often say things they otherwise wouldn’t. But whether she was lashing out or not, we can see her very strong faith in the Savior. Her very next words were, “Even now”—even though he’s already dead—“I know that Yahuwah will give you whatever you ask of Him.” So she still had strong faith in him.

The Savior’s reply is very significant. What were his first words to Martha?

Miles: Uhh … “Your brother will rise again.”

Dave: Your brother … will rise … again. Notice, that’s future tense. He didn’t say, as I’ve heard it said at some funerals, “Your brother is even now rejoicing in Heaven.”

Miles: Yeah, I remember one funeral I attended, the preacher said that the dearly departed was “more alive than ever!” As though that’s supposed to comfort the family left behind.

Dave: But Yahushua didn’t say that. Clearly, Lazarus was dead. D.E.A.D. Dead. His rising again was future.

What was Martha’s response to Yahushua’s words? Did she argue and say, “No. I know his soul is in Heaven”?

Miles: Uhhh …

Dave: Verse 24.

Miles: Oh! No. She agreed with him. She said, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Dave: “At the last day.”

See, Martha didn’t adhere to Plato’s dualistic philosophy. She wasn’t a student of Greek philosophy. There’s nothing in her response to suggest she believed that Lazarus was still aware as a disembodied but still conscious spirit. She was an Israelite woman and held the Jewish belief that death was as sleep. She wasn’t expecting to see Lazarus again before “the resurrection at the last day.”

Miles: If her belief were incorrect, you’d think now would have been the perfect time to set her straight, but Yahushua didn’t.

Dave: You’re right. We know Lazarus was a good man, a believer. If he were in Heaven, why didn’t Yahushua comfort Martha with the words we hear so frequently today, “Well … he’s in a better place.” Or, how about this? “He’s with your parents and you’ll see him again someday in heaven”? But he didn’t say any of that because Martha wasn’t wrong.

Miles: Yeah, you’d think if Lazarus truly were in “a better place,” Yahushua would have been telling Martha all of the things said to bereaved family members nowadays. But he didn’t.

Dave: Because she wasn’t wrong. She knew he was gone from her until the resurrection at the last day. So Yahushua’s words to her were to see where her faith was at; had she lost faith when she lost her brother? But Martha’s prompt response showed that her faith was as strong as ever. And that’s important.

I think one of the saddest accounts in Scripture was where Yahushua returned to Nazareth. The locals who had seen him grow up were all scoffing and disbelieving. Do you remember what Yahushua said to them?

Miles: “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” [Matthew 13:57]

Dave: Right. The final comment was that the Savior, quote, “did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” [Matthew 13:58]

Yahuwah will never force His will upon us, so exercising faith is a vital part of having any prayer answered. Martha had that kind of faith.

So. What happened next? Verse, uh … 28.

Miles:

And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to him. Now Yahushua had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”

Then, when Mary came where Yahushua was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” [John 11:28-32]

Dave: Whether this was said in accusation or not—and it does kind of sound that way—it really doesn’t matter. It’s a very human sentiment and Yahushua understood the pain behind it. The important thing, though, is that Martha and Mary both truly believed it. They had faith that Christ had the power to have healed their brother if he’d just arrived in time.

Go on.

Miles:

Therefore, when Yahushua saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled.

And he said, “Where have you laid him?”

They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”

Yahushua wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

And some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” [Matthew 11:33-37]

Dave: I’m glad Matthew added the detail that Yahushua himself wept. He knew he would be raising Lazarus to life again in just a few minutes, but that didn’t make him impervious to their pain.

Yahushua sympathizes with us. Yahuwah Himself feels our pain.

Miles: I think verse 37 is interesting. The Jews are saying, “Hey! He opened the eyes of the blind. Couldn’t he have healed Lazarus, too?” It shows they had some level of belief in Christ, too.

Dave: I think they did.

So what happened next? Verse 38. Here’s where it gets very interesting.

Miles:

Then Yahushua, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Yahushua said, “Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

Yahushua said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of [Yah]?”

Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Yahushua lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard me. And I know that You always hear me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent me.”

Now when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Yahushua said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Yahushua did, believed in him. [John 11:38-45]

Dave: This was why Yahushua had allowed Lazarus to die before being raised back to life. And the fact that Martha protested when Yahushua asked them to open the tomb is significant. There’d be absolutely no denying that Lazarus had been dead! And, when they opened it, there was a stench. No way to deny this miracle. He had been dead and his body had already started decaying!

Miles: Can you imagine how freaky that would have been? This shrouded figure shuffling to the front of the cave?

Dave: Which is why Yahushua said, “Loose him, and let him go.”

But now what happened next? What’s the next verse.

Miles: Uhh … that’s the end of the story.

Dave: What?

Miles: It just says “some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Yahushua did.” [John 11:46]

Dave: There’s nothing there about what Lazarus said?

Miles: Nope!

Dave: Now ask yourself, if Lazarus had spent those days up in Heaven, only to find himself back down on earth, gagging at the stench of his own recently decaying body, don’t you think he would have had grounds to be angry. Don’t you think he’d have demanded, “What’d you bring me back here for?”

Miles: I know I would have!

Dave: And what if he’d spent those few days in hell? Now, we know the Jews didn’t believe in an ever-burning hell. That doctrine was brought in much later. But just suppose, for the sake of argument, that he’d actually spent time in the Christian hell and been brought back. Don’t you think he would have fallen to his knees and kissed the hem of Christ’s robe while he sobbed out, “Oh, thank you! Thank you so much for saving me!”

I mean, those are your only two possibilities if you believe in an immortal soul. And yet Scripture doesn’t record anything of the sort.

Miles: That’s true. This would have been the opening to establish faith forever in going to Heaven or Hell after death. Talk about a very convincing, compelling first-hand account!

Dave: And yet there’s nothing whatsoever. Why not?

On February 1, 2023, the online edition of The Guardian published an article by Josiah Hesse entitled “I grew up evangelical. Terrifying rapture films scarred me forever.”

What Hesse was talking about, of course, are a number of different films based on the idea that the saints will be removed from earth in a secret rapture, leaving everyone else behind to experience seven years of sheer hell on earth. This brand of last-generation theology got a major boost from the Left Behind book series written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.

Miles: It’s a huge franchise. There’re 16 books in the series and there have been several film adaptions, spinoff series, an audio drama, and even a computer game. You ever read them?

Dave: No, but I’ve heard they traumatized a lot of people. In fact, in his article, Hesse wrote, quote: “I don’t know how many times I’d meet a new face at youth group or church camp saying the books had scared them straight.”

Okay. We know that Yahuwah will save as many souls as He possibly can. Now if a series of books with questionable theology could “scare straight” scores of young people, what do you think a first-person account of Hell could do?

That’s the stick. What about the carrot? Wouldn’t a first-person account of Heaven also strengthen the faith of multitudes? And yet it’s not there.

Miles: And you know, if Lazarus had had anything to say about any of that, John would certainly have recorded it.

Dave: Of course! But he didn’t, which begs the question, why?

Well, I would suggest that John didn’t record anything of that nature because Lazarus didn’t say anything at all about having been in either Heaven or Hell. He didn’t because he couldn’t. He’d been “sleeping” in the tomb.

His last moment of awareness was when he slipped into unconsciousness and then died, and his next moment of awareness was hearing the Savior’s voice call him. There was nothing in between because he was “asleep.”

Miles: He probably didn’t even know he’d died.

Dave: Probably not. After all, “the dead know not anything.” Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10 expounds on that, saying, quote: “There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”

Miles: Psalm 115:17: “The dead praise not Yahuwah, neither any that go down into silence.”

Dave: Well said. That’s what you can expect after death. Nothingness . . . until the resurrection. No pain, no suffering, no awareness. Just sleep.

Sleep is the perfect metaphor for death because when we die, our brain dies. Without a functioning, “live” brain, we can’t think, or sense, or experience. We have to have a brain in order to have consciousness.

Would you turn to Genesis 2 and read verse 7? This is the account of the creation of man. What does it say?

Miles: “And Yahuwah Elohim formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

Dave: It was the combination of the breath of life from Yahuwah, with a body, that created a living soul. Separate the breath from the body, and you no longer have a living soul. It’s that simple.

Miles: Yeah, and you’ve got to admit, bringing disembodied souls back from Heaven and sticking them into bodies and calling that a resurrection doesn’t really make sense.

Dave: Nor does Scripture say anything about that.

I’d like to close with a couple of verses from John 5. Would you please read verses 25, 28 and 29?

Miles:

Truly, truly I say to you, an hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of Yahuwah and those who hear shall live. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice and shall come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

Dave: We don’t have to fear death. It’s nothing more than a sleep while we await the return of the Savior, and the story of Lazarus confirms this.

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* * *Daily Mailbag (Miles & Dave)

Miles: We’ve got an interesting question coming to us from … the country that has a couple of towns which hold the dubious record of having the most annual rainfall in the entire world.

Dave: Hmmm . . . I’d say London but that would probably be too obvious. Someplace in India?

Miles: Nope! Not London. Not Seattle. Not India. Colombia in South America has two towns that are just about neck-and-neck for the most annual precipitation in the entire world. Lloró gets an average annual precipitation of over 12.7 meters, while the town of López de Micay averages just shy of 13 meters. For those stuck in the 18^th century, that’s over 42 feet of rain. A year.

Dave: That’s insane! What, do they swim everywhere?

Miles: You’d think! Just for comparison purposes, London—which is known for its wet, rainy weather—averages 690 millimeters, or only 27 inches. The other city you mentioned? Seattle? Also known for it’s rainy weather?

Dave: Yeah?

Miles: Thirty-four inches, or 863 millimeters.

Dave: Seattle gets more than London?

Miles: Feeling a little competitive, are we?

Dave: As a matter of fact, I am!

Miles laughs: By over 170 millimeters.

Dave: Wow.

Miles: Anyway. . . Isaac Morales writes: “My mother is very elderly and in declining health. She is not expected to live much longer. My siblings and I are disagreeing on the best arrangements to make for when she passes. Cremation is more economical, but some are insisting that it’s not Christian to cremate and she should be buried. Is burial really the only option for Christians?”

Dave: What an interesting question! Well, first, we need to acknowledge that this is a topic that is going to be heavily influenced by one’s cultural background. For example, in India, cremation has been the modus operandi for … pfft! Who knows how long?

In the Christian cultures of the West, burial has been the most common method, along with funeral services that, in one form or another, speak of the promise of the Resurrection. It’s come to be called a “Christian burial.”

That said, that doesn’t make other forms of … um, disposing of the body, unchristian.

Miles: What was done in Bible times?

Dave: Well, burial in a cave was quite common. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their wives were buried in the cave of Machpelah. Wealthy individuals tended to be buried in above-ground tombs while the poor tended to be interred in graves.

Miles: Didn’t there used to be some sort of taboo against burning bodies in the West?

Dave: I think so, which is why so many people were martyred that way. The fact that the Jews and the early Christians practiced burial exclusively, as well as the fact that, in the Bible, people were burned as punishment for heinous crimes, may have contributed to the belief that believers should never be cremated.

But obviously, a person who’s given their life for Yahuwah is not going to miss out on the resurrection just because they were killed by being burned to death. Same goes with cremation. What’s far more important is to have the hope of the resurrection when we shall be gifted with new unfallen natures and brand-new bodies.

Turn to 1 Corinthians 15 and read verses 42 to 44.

Miles: “So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”

Dave: In other words, our natural bodies aren’t what’s important because, when Yahushua returns, we’re all going to get new bodies anyway.

Read 1 John 3, verses 2 and 3 now.

Miles: “Beloved, now we are children of [Yahuwah]; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure.”

Dave: There’s just one more thing I’d like to add. I know this isn’t part of Isaac’s question, but I just want to encourage him and his siblings to be careful that the disagreement over this isn’t allowed to become a huge mountain that causes estrangement between them.

Often, when we’re under a lot of stress, a problem that would ordinarily be resolved quite easily becomes this huge problem no one is willing to compromise on. It becomes the focus of their stress and an outlet for that stress and pain. Don’t choose this as your mountain to die on. Losing a parent is a very difficult thing to do. Don’t let a disagreement over what to do with her body drive you apart.

Miles: Good advice.

Okay. We’ve got time for one more question.

Grace in … somewhere in the United States writes:

My husband is wanting to return to school. We can do that, but it would mean I would need to work outside the home. We were both raised in extremely conservative Christian homes. Our parents love Yah but they are all dead set against my working outside the home. They insist that a woman’s place is in the home. We wish to honor our parents but their outspoken opinions are really causing a lot of stress. I don’t mind working and supporting us while he goes to school. It would help us a lot more in the long run for him to do this.

I guess I’ve got two questions. First, what does the Bible say, if anything, about women working outside the home; and second, what is our responsibility to our parents in matters like this where they are adamantly opposed to something we feel is right for us?

Dave: Well, first, women have always worked. And women have always worked outside the home. It was only in the years following World War II that some countries experienced a boom where women were able—and even expected—to be housewives and stay at home.

There is nothing inherently sinful about a woman working outside the home.

Turn to Proverbs 31. Now, most of the Proverbs were written by Solomon, but not this one. This one was actually written by a woman and, although we don’t know her name, it was considered sound enough advice that Yahuwah preserved it in sacred Scripture. It says it’s the words of King Lemuel which his mother taught him, so this wisdom comes from a godly woman.

Miles: Proverbs 31 and which verse?

Dave: Uh, why don’t you start at verse 10?

Miles:

Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her; So he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax, and willingly works with her hands. She is like the merchant ships, she brings her food from afar. She also rises while it is yet night, and provides food for her household, and a portion for her maidservants.

She considers a field and buys it; from her profits she plants a vineyard. She girds herself with strength, and strengthens her arms. She perceives that her merchandise is good, and her lamp does not go out by night. She stretches out her hands to the distaff, and her hand holds the spindle. She extends her hand to the poor, yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household is clothed with scarlet. She makes tapestry for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple.

Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies sashes for the merchants. Strength and honor are her clothing; she shall rejoice in time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness. She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.” Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears Yahuwah, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates.

Dave: Certainly a lot of what is being described here is work that has traditionally been considered the work of a housewife. But not all of it. Notice: she considers a field … and she purchases it. With the profits, she plants a vineyard. She makes and sells things others desire.

Miles: She sounds very entrepreneurial.

Dave: She does, doesn’t she? She works and works hard, but it’s not work that is exclusively in the home.

Miles: Well, there’s Lydia in the New Testament. She was very wealthy and a seller of purple.

Dave: Right. So there’s nothing in Scripture that says a woman cannot or should not work outside the home. Each situation is different, each culture is different and none of us should decide for someone else the right choice to make.

Which brings us to Grace’s second question. They’re obviously close to both parents, and that’s wonderful. This question is a bit tricky to answer simply because, here again, culture plays a big role in the expectations of the interpersonal relationships between grown children and their parents.

Miles: My wife has a really good friend who is from … well, a country in Asia. She told us once that in her home country, most women don’t want to marry the eldest son because of the demands placed on him and whichever woman he marries. The parents-in-law can be very cruel, but their word is law.

Dave: It’s difficult. We’re a worldwide ministry and I want to be respectful of the many very different cultures in which we broadcast. So I’m just going to say this. First, yes. We should always treat our parents with respect. That’s the fifth commandment. We should always treat parents, as well as everyone else, with the same compassion and respect that Christ treated others.

I do believe that Scripture establishes that a couple’s first loyalty should be to each other and that a lot of unhappiness in marriages would be resolved if this principle were adhered to. Would you read Genesis 2 verse 24, please?

Adam had just been introduced to Eve. He says the timeless, “This now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” What’s next? Verse 24.

Miles: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

Dave: This is a biblical principle established at the first marriage. Our first loyalty, of course, is always to Yah, our second to our spouse, while still treating our parents with respect. A husband and wife are to be one flesh, an entity separate from their parents. So, if you’re looking for Biblical permission to do what you believe is right for you as a couple, even if your parents disapprove? There it is.

Miles: All right! Thanks, Dave.

Dave: I know we’re almost out of time, but there’s one final point I want to make before we close, and that is why it is so important to have a correct understanding of what happens at death.

Error always opens us up to being deceived by Satan but especially when it comes to the state of the dead, this is doubly true.

If you know that there is no conscious awareness without the vessel of the body, then you’re not going to be deceived when demons impersonate people who have lived.

Miles: Yeah, I’ve thought before about Saul and the witch of Endor. Clear back then, they thought of death as a sleep. So to have a witch, a necromancer, try and call someone up from the dead, that was just wrong. So wrong.

Dave: And Saul knew it was wrong! It was just opening Saul up to be deceived and manipulated by a lying demon impersonating Samuel.

And that very well could happen again between now and the end. We believe that Revelation 9 is a prophecy of demons pretending to be aliens. Well, why couldn’t they also pretend to be apostles? Why couldn’t they pretend to be Martin Luther, or … I don’t know. Your grandmother. Someone you knew.

Miles: Pope John Paul II.

Dave: Sure! There is plenty to suggest that Pope John Paul II may very well be one whom a demon will impersonate. What would Mormons do if a demon pretended to be Joseph Smith or Brigham Young? What would a Seventh-day Adventist do if one pretended to be Ellen White and the voice and mannerisms, the handwriting, all matched?

And then what if, in this assumed disguise, these demons preached against the truth for these last days? Do you think people would be deceived?

Miles: Oh, yeah! Being demons, they would have the intelligence to know how to be very convincing and compelling. Even hypnotizing. They could make just the right arguments to get people to accept the mark of the beast.

Dave: Right.

However, if you know that Scripture unequivocally states that “the dead know not anything,” if you know that Yahushua brings his reward with him, if you know that only Yahuwah has immortality and that those who’ve died are resting in the grave until Yahushua returns, you’re not going to fall for these advanced delusions.

Turn really quickly in your Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. There’s a passage I want to look at before we close: 1 Corinthians 15 and start at verse 20.

Miles: “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

Dave: There it is again: the dead are being said to have fallen asleep. Keep going.

Miles: “For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” [1 Corinthians 15:21-22]

Dave: Notice the grammatical tense of that statement: “in Christ all shall be made alive.” That’s future tense. It hasn’t happened yet, but it will. Go on.

Miles: “But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at his coming.” [1 Corinthians 15:23]

Dave: That’s speaking of those who have died and again, that’s future tense. It hasn’t happened yet, but it will at Christ’s return.

Drop down now to verse 42. What does that say?

Miles: “So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.”

Dave: If souls go to Heaven or Hell at death, then there is no need for a “resurrection of the dead.” Why would they need to be brought back down from Heaven? They would already have been enjoying their reward! Or why would they need to be given a reprieve from their punishment in hell if they were already down there being burned?

I’m not saying I believe in an ever-burning hell, but you can see the gaping logistical fallacies, can’t you?

Miles: You really can.

Dave: Okay, let’s close with verses 51 to 54.

Miles:

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

Dave: The only way this passage makes any sense at all is if the dead have not already been given their reward. In fact, even here, Paul is still talking about death as sleep when he says “We shall not all sleep.” Some will die before Christ comes, but some will still be alive.

And it is then—and only then—that the righteous are gifted with immortality. It is Yahuwah’s gift to give and that is bestowed upon the righteous at Christ’s return. We don’t have it before then; we certainly don’t have immortal souls. Rather, that is one of the gifts of salvation.

Miles: And, as the old hymn says, “What a day of rejoicing that will be!”

Dave: Amen.

Miles: We hope you’ll be able to join us again tomorrow, and until then, remember: Yahuwah loves you . . . and He is safe to trust!

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In his teachings and parables, the Savior gave no “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, the thrust of his message was constant … vigilance. Join us again tomorrow for another truth-filled message as we explore various topics focused on the Savior's return and how to live in constant readiness to welcome him warmly when he comes.

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