Dear forum members,
today I had a conversation with somebody who claimed that Jesus compared death to just a kind of sleep, using the example of Lazarus where Jesus says he is only “sleeping” (John 11, 11-13).
I tried to explain to her how I has thought that was meant: That Jesus used that picture of sleeping here just in order to say that lazarus had not died for good, but that he would “wake him from the dead”.
But that this didn’t mean at all that Jesus death IN GENERAL compared to just a sleep.
I am not sure though if I put that right… just thinking now, does it say somewhere anyway that when we die, at first we will be in a kind of sleep, until we resurrect on the last day?
I think I never really thought so much about Jesus’ choice of words in the Lazarus story. Any comments that might help me say the right thing when I talk to that other person again?
You are right to say that Jesus was comparing Lazarus’ death to sleep to show his death was only temporary, like sleep is. There’s no reason to think that Jesus believed that we are unconscious after death.
Your friend sounds like she might be a Seventh Day Adventist, since they believe in something called soul sleep, which basically says that the soul goes into an unconscious limbo state until the resurrection. It’s based on a faulty interpretation of certain verses in the Old Testament.
There are some Old Testament texts which do sound on the surface like the soul is unconscious. But this is because in the Old Testament they didn’t have the full revelation that we do in the New Testament. There was a gradual progression in their understanding of the afterlife. So the older books like Psalms and Ecclesiastes and Job (which are the typical ones they will cite as evidence for their teaching) have a dim view of death and describe it as a dull existence, where later books like Wisdom and 2 Maccabees describe those who died not as unconscious, but as alive and with God. Maccabees even shows Jeremiah the prophet and Onias the high priest, who were both dead when the book was written, praying for Israel’s army.
It would probably be helpful to explain that concept to her and then to show her what the New Testament says about the afterlife. She may not accept Maccabees as Scripture, but she will accept the Gospels.
Lk 16:19-26
There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; 23 and in Hades, being in torment, **he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.’ **25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’
Lazarus, Abraham, and the rich man are clearly conscious here, even after they died. If the afterlife really is just an unconscious existence, then this story really doesn’t make sense. Jesus is trying to show here what happens if we don’t love our neighbor and God. But the same truth can be conveyed by just saying that at the resurrection the rich man will be punished and Lazarus rewarded. So why not just say that, if we really are unconscious until the resurrection? Why would he describe this fictional existence after death if that’s not the truth?
There’s also Luke 20:38, where Jesus says God is "not God of the dead, but of the living;
for all live to him.” In other words, people who die are not gone and dead, they are alive with God.
My favorite though is Phillipians 1:21-24:
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If it is to be life in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and
be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
St. Paul says he wishes to die and be with the Lord. Not be unconscious. And notice he says this is
far better than being alive. Being unconscious is not far better than being alive. This saying of Paul makes no sense if soul sleep is true.
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