In the 18th chapter of Matthew’s epistle we find a man asking Jesus for help.  The man is telling Him that, though his daughter is dead, if Jesus would lay His hand on her she would come back to life.  Death was part of everyday existence for the people of the middle-east in the days when Jesus walked the earth.  The man knew that his daughter was dead, as did the people Jesus would find upon entering his home.  By the time He and the disciples arrived the people were weeping and wailing.  The paid minstrels were playing funeral dredges on their flutes.  In spite of the fact that her heart and lungs had stopped functioning and her skin had undoubtedly begun to mottle, Jesus assured them that the girl was not (permanently) dead, but was “asleep.”  The people, having seen dead people before, knew she was dead and rebuked Him for telling them that they were wrong.  After putting them out of the room, He took the girl’s hand and life returned to her body (vss 18-26).   Fact: if Jesus had not miraculously headed her she would have remained dead.

In John 11 a similar situation had developed concerning the brother of a woman named Mary with whom Jesus had dealt earlier.  Mary and her sister had sent word to Him that their brother Lazarus was ill.  The sisters expected Jesus to immediately come to Bethany and heal him.  When Jesus heard the news He replied that the sickness was “not unto (permanent) death,” that: “Our friend Lazarus is asleep.  But I will go and wake him out of sleep.”  When the disciples heard this they assumed that Lazarus was sleeping in rest.  Then Jesus told them that Lazarus was dead.   After receiving the sisters’ message, Jesus and the disciples remained where they were for two days.  After spending two days in Judea they arrived in Bethany.  Jews bury their dead on the day of their deaths.  By the time Jesus and the disciples arrived in Bethany Lazarus had been dead four days.  If Jesus had not gone to Bethany, Lazarus would have remained dead.  We all know the story of his coming back to life.

The general focus of this posting is on the “sleep” of death.  Though the Lord makes it clear in His “fine print” that the dead are “asleep,” and that they will one day rise from the dead, the church has been deceived by Satan into believing that upon death those in “the church” go immediately to heaven and those not in THE church go immediately to a fiery hell, neither of which is Scripturally true, as previous series have proven.  Read Life After Death and Hope and Salvation.  Key words–Death and Hope respectively.  The specific subject of this posting concerns exactly where the dead remain until their eventual resurrection.  I repeatedly hear people saying that their dead loved ones are in heaven “looking down on” them and “cheering them on,” etc.  The “headline” relative to this error is found in the supposed “truth” that those in THE (true) church–which varies depending on who is speaking–went immediately “heaven” following their deaths.  Even the most evil among us are, upon death, proclaimed to be “in heaven with Jesus now” because he/she belonged to a religious organization that called itself “the church.”  The entire world recently saw this theological “truth” play out on television.  In this instance a notorious drug addicted, drug pushing, lying, fornicating, counterfeiting, thieving ex-convict had been killed by the police while trying to pass a counterfeit bill.  Nevertheless, because he was a member in good standing in his church, its pastor proclaimed during his funeral that “His Daddy has called him home.”  I have seen this so-called “son of God’s” triple-sized picture on the sides of buildings bearing wings and a halo.  Truly, Jesus was right: “Satan has deceived the whole world” (Rev. 12:9).

The question to be answered is: WHERE DO THE DEAD GO?  Do those in “THE church” go to heaven as the whole of professing Christendom believes?  We know that, upon death, the SPIRIT of everyone who has ever lived “returns to the Lord Who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7).  The question we are addressing is, where does the real person (the soul) go.  Jesus said that HE, THE SON OF MAN, THE REAL PERSON would be in the tomb three days and three nights.  His body (soul–nephesh)–the man Himself–would be dead and in the “heart of the earth” during those three days and nights.  Afterwards the actual man (soul) was born again (changed from flesh to spirit) and returned to the Father where He now sits beside His Father on His throne.  In accordance with my change-of-direction type of writing, I will try to whet your appetite for more “fine print.”  With that in mind, turn to I Timothy 2:5 where we find that it is “the MAN, Jesus Christ” Who sits beside His Father intervening on behalf of those who seek personal holiness in this life so as to be saved at the end of the age (Mat. 10:22).  Note that there is a MAN sitting beside the Lord God.  What does this say about those who are walking in holiness, as did that MAN? (I John 2:6) and overcoming Satan as did that MAN (Rev. 3:24)?  Does this Truth say anything to those who walk holy in this life?    We will explore God’s “fine print” relative to these subjects in a later posting.

To answer the question concerning where people “sleep'” following death, we will be studying I Thessalonians 4:14-18 where we will find the Apostle Paul, who received his gospel directly from Jesus the Christ (“anointed One”), addressing three questions: 1) the where do the dead sleep? question, 2) the rapture question and 3) the where will God’s true saints spend eternity? question.  One will find that the Lord’s “fine print” proves that man’s theories concerning His “headlines” are totally wrong, which is the case with the vast majority of “Bible truths” put forth by that which calls itself “Christianity.”  My commission from God is to expose professing Christendom’s false “Bible truths” and to tell those who crave God’s Truth what that Truth is and where to find it.   L.J.