There is life after death, which is our common experience. But there is also the future resurrection at the time Jesus Christ appears again Re-embodiment happens at the future resurrection but the present afterlife is disembodied. This post will further unpack the essence of life after death and the life after the life after death at the time of the Second Coming.
Jesus’ parable in Luke 16:19-31 describes a certain rich man living in the lap of luxury alongside that poor beggar named Lazarus, who was infected with sores and yearning for the scraps that fell the rich man’s table. Upon death their fortunes are dramatically reversed. Angels carried Lazarus off to Abraham’s bosom, a place of comfort and rest, whereas the rich man finds himself in Hades, a place of torment.
What does the parable of Lazarus and the rich man tell us about life after death? William Hendriksen cautions “much of what is here conveyed cannot be interpreted literally. For example, we read about the lifting up of the eyes, of seeing people afar off, of a finger and of a tongue, even though we have been told that the rich man had been buried.” [1] But qualifies, “This does not take away the fact, however, that certain definite truths concerning the life hereafter are conveyed here, one of them being that the departed ones are not asleep but fully awake; another, that some are saved, others are suffering.”[2]
Jesus’ parable of Lazarus and the rich man encourages an eternal perspective with respect towards wealth and poverty. “If you cannot remember everything, instead of everything, I beg you, remember this without fail, that not to share our own wealth with the poor is theft from the poor and deprivation of their means of life; we do not possess our own wealth but theirs. If we have this attitude, we will certainly offer our money; and by nourishing Christ in poverty here and laying up great profit hereafter, we will be able to attain the good things which are to come, by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ,” writes John Chrysostom (Second Sermon on Lazarus and the Rich Man).[3]
We are reminded about three things about our future in Jesus’ parable of Lazarus and the rich man. “The story,” observes Walter Leifeld, “makes a powerful case for (1) the future reversal of the human condition (cf. 6:20–26), (2) the reality of future judgment based on one’s decisions in this life, and (3) the futility of even a resurrection to persuade those who persist in rejecting God’s revealed word.”[4] God ultimately sets all things to right. This parable is then a significant tile within the larger mosaic on the afterlife and beyond offered in the panoply of the Scriptures.
What happens after we die? Upon death, the body and soul are separated; hence the expression, “your soul is required of you” (Lk. 12:20). The death of Jesus Christ is similarly expressed as the separation of the body and soul. Hence, “Jesus…yielded up his spirit” (Matt. 27:50; cf. Jn. 19:30).
Death is the unnatural rending of body and soul. Human mortality came as the result of the original sin of our first parents Adam and Eve (Gen. 2-3). Paul tells us that “Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Rm. 5:12). Yet, it is on account of Jesus Christ’s own death and resurrection that the Christian has hope. “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ” (Rm. 5:17; cf. 1 Cor. 15:20-22).[5]
Presently, the saints who pass away are absent from the body yet present with the Lord. “So we are always of good courage” states Paul, “We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:6-8; cf. Phil. 1:18b-26). John likewise witnessed an apocalyptic vision of “the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne” underneath the altar in heaven crying out, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’” (Rev. 6:9, 10). Despite the death of the body, the soul of the Christian saint is absent in body yet present with the Lord, but the unrighteous are separated from the Lord in torment, as in the case of the rich man.
The postmortem experience of Lazarus and the rich man depicts conditions between death and resurrection. “This is the intermediate state, for the bodily resurrection and the final judgment are still future,” writes theologian Timothy R. Philips, “Jesus’ point is that Hades foreshadows the rich man’s final judgment. Similarly, Lazarus rests at Abraham’s side, connoting the joyous abode of the righteous dead.”[6]
Now there is still yet the future life after the afterlife. This will be the resurrection at the end of the age. Christ Jesus taught, “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28-29; cf. Dan. 12:2). All will be raised to life, the righteous to everlasting life and the unrighteous to everlasting condemnation. Paul also encouraged the Corinthians with these words about the future resurrection: “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 imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:51-53).
This future resurrection coincides with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.[7] Paul instructed the Philippians, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Phil. 3:20-21). To the Thessalonians, Paul similarly wrote, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16-17).
Final judgment will then take place with the return of Jesus and the resurrection of the dead. [8] Jesus’ parables about the wheat and tares (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43), the dragnet (Matt. 13:47-50), the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-13), the talents and minas (Matt. 25:14-30; cf. Lk. 19:11-27), and the sheep and goats (Matt.25:31-46) concern that future day of reckoning.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” writes Paul (2 Cor. 5:10). The Epistle to the Hebrews similarly states, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Heb. 9:27).
One of the most memorable apocalyptic vignettes concerning final judgment is given by John from Patmos: “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:11-15).
Jesus Christ will then appear a second time to judge the living and the dead.
The Second Coming, resurrection, and final judgment culminates with the restoration of all things: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:1-2; cf. 2 Pet. 3:13; Isa. 65:17-25; 66:22-23). Concerning the new heaven and new earth, New Testament professor Alan F. Johnson indicates, “The Greek word for “new” (kainē) means new in quality, fresh, rather than recent or new in time (neos)…It is the newness of the endless eschatological ages (2:17; 3:12; 5:9; cf. Eph 2:7).”[9] The end of Christianity is never about going up somewhere to live for eternity in an ethereal city upon clouds with angels. Future glory is far from immaterial, as if our physical bodies are a sort of temporal fleshly prison and the rest of the material creation just burns to nothing in the end. God’s plan of redemption includes the resurrection of the cosmos ((Rm. 8:19-23). Both Heaven and Earth will be merged. Paradise lost will be Paradise restored. God will dwell with us, He will be our God, and we will be His people. No more tears. No more death. All things will be set to right.
Jesus Christ’s Lazarus and rich man parable offers an evocative glimpse at the intermediate state between death and resurrection. Through the power of storytelling, we receive instruction from the Lord on the continuation of consciousness after death, the finality of one’s eternal fate upon dying, and the contrasting destinies of the righteous and the unrighteous. This parable redirects us towards an eternal perspective on wealth and poverty. If there could be an epilogue to the Lazarus and rich man parable, it would be a flash forward glimpse into the life after the afterlife. When Jesus Christ returns, the righteous will rise to eternal life, while the unrighteous will face eternal condemnation.
— WGN
[1] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke, vol. 11, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 785.
[2]Ibid., 785.
[3] Cited from St. John Chrysostom, One Wealth and Poverty, trans. Catharine P. Roth (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1981).
[4] Walter L. Liefeld, “Luke,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 991.
[5] Nonetheless, Jesus never sinned in the same manner as Adam, and though never faulted with the mortality that came through fall of Adam, Christ gave up His life to redeem sinners. Paul explains, Again Paul writes, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith” (Gal. 3:13-14) and “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Christ said, “I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again” (Jn. 10:17-18). Both death and resurrection were under the authority of Christ.
[6] Timothy R. Phillips, “Hades,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, electronic ed., Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996), 322.
[7] After Jesus ascended, angels appeared and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).
[8] The second coming of Jesus, resurrection, and final judgment comprise the primary end time doctrines. Christianity has never arrived at a consensus on whether the great tribulation spoken of in Jesus’ Olivet Discourse is future crisis preceding the Second Coming or the Jewish war with Rome that ended with the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple in AD 70 (Matt. 24:1-51; cf. Ml. 13:1-37; Lk. 21:5-48). If the great tribulation occurs in the future, whether the Church will be removed prior before, during, or after that tribulation is debated. The meaning of the millennium — premillennialism, postmillennialism, or amillennialism — is also likewise debated. Maybe these topics will be discussed in a future post. Whereas most evangelical Christian resources on the great tribulation contend for a still yet future crisis prior to the Second Coming, explication of the AD 70 fulfillment can be found in Hank Hanegraaff, The Apocalypse Code: Find Out What the Bible Really Says about the End Times and Why it Matters Today (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2007),Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness: Obsession of the Modern Church (Atlanta, GA: America Vision, 1999), R.C. Spoul, The Last Days According to Jesus: When Did Jesus Say He Would Return? (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998), and Milton S. Terry, Biblical Apocalyptics: A Study of the Most Notable Revelations of God and of Christ in the Canonical Scriptures (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2001). Regarding the rapture question, I recommend Three Views on the Rapture, ed. Gleason L. Archer Jr. and Stanley N. Gundry(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996). For exploration on the millennium, see Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond, ed. Darrell L. Bock (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999).
[9] Alan F. Johnson, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews through Revelation, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 12 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981), 592–593.
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