Biblical Evidence Against Soul Sleep
By David J. Stewart
Biblical Evidence Against Soul Sleep
By David J. Stewart
Mark 12:27,“He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.”
I was listening to the King James Bible on DVD today by Alexander Scourby and an awesome truth jumped out from this Scripture passage. The Sadducees came to Jesus and presented a question to Him. They said that a woman in her lifetime had been married to seven different men. They asked Jesus whose wife she would be when she is resurrected. The answer Jesus gave evidences that there is no soul sleep...
Mark 12:26-27, “And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.”
Clearly Jesus is teaching that the saints are already alive in eternity and not dead. There will be a resurrection of our body at the Rapture, when corruption shall put on incorruption and our mortal body shall be changed into an immortal body (1st Corinthians 15:52-53), fashioned like unto Christ's glorious resurrected body (Philippians 3:21). Our resurrected body will unite with our soul and spirit from Heaven. God told Moses that He is (present tense) the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, meaning that they are alive in Heaven. Jesus proclaimed in Mark 12:27 that God is not the God of the DEAD, But of the LIVING. Jesus said the Sadducees did greatly err in their thinking. Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh-Day Adventists teach the false doctrine of Soul Sleep. As you have just plainly seen, God is the God of the living.
2nd Corinthians 5:8 says, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” Paul said that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
Stephen had just finished preaching a red-hot, Biblical, sermon and the unbelieving Jews were bloodthirsty, enraged with anger, and they gnashed upon Stephen and stoned him. Acts 7:55-56, “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” Amen, Stephen looked up to Heaven while gasping for his last breath and saw Jesus giving him a standing ovation. The heavens were opened and ready to receive Stephen home. How strange it would be, after seeing the heavens open and Jesus standing at the Father's right-hand, if Stephen were to have fallen asleep for thousands of years awaiting the Rapture. That simply didn't happen. Stephen clearly went to Heaven to be with the Lord that moment, just as 2nd Corinthians 5:8 teaches.
Jesus told the repentant thief upon the cross in Luke 23:43, “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Amen. Jesus didn't say, someday or tomorrow. No, Jesus said TODAY!
The Promise Of Eternal Life
The Bible tells us that salvation comes only to those who enter through the DOOR into Heaven. John 10:1, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” This door is the STRAIGHT GATE which leadeth unto life...
Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
Christ died, He was was buried and then miraculously resurrected after three days (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). If you'll simply receive Christ's sacrifice as payment for your sins, then you'll be saved immediately and forever. Salvation is by grace through faith plus or minus nothing. God is an awesome God...
This website has been created in Jesus' name—the name above every other name (Philippians 2:9-10).
“It is the only happy life to live for the salvation of souls.”
—Pastor Dwight L. Moody
This website has been created in Jesus' name—the name above every other name (Philippians 2:9-10).
"...Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts." —Zechariah 4:6
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This website has been created in Jesus' name—the name above every other name (Philippians 2:9-10).
