Jackson County journal., 1919-06-13


to it. It had two
compartments, as set forth in the pic
ture Of the rich man and Lazarus:
One a place Of torment; the other,
called "Abraham's BOSOM" or paha-
disc, place Of feasting and repose:
and between them was a great gulf
liked. Christ himself descended to
Sheol or Hades, and told the dying
thief he would be with him that day
in Paradise Uuke % :39-43).
Since the ascension of our Lord. the
location of Paradise seems changed :.
Stephen looked 'up" into heaven and
saw Jesus (Acts 1869 and Paul was
caught "up" to the third heaven, to
Paradise QI Cor. - Pa. 1t is sug-
gested in Ephesians AS that when
Christ ascended he delivered from Sheol
or Hades all the righteous dead, from
Abel onward, and carried them with
him into the presence of God. Hence
we understand that in this age the
righteous depart to be with Christ in
a Paradise which is on high.
The state of the dead in Christ
IS restful one. They "sleep in (or
through Jesus" q Thess. 4:14). He
died, bearing our sins on the cross !:
because of this fact we do not die.
but rather fell to sleep. Rest is very
attractive in this weary world; the
power Of this attraction is suggested
by the fact that Buddhism, the re-
lfg1on having the largest number Of
adherents, holds out annihilation as
the chief boon for man.
Are the Dead Conscious?
The state of the dead in Chist is a
conscious one. Some have inferred
from the scriptural language about
sleep that the soul slumbers in the in.
termediate state. But the Scripture
nowhere asserts that the souls of the
dead are asleep. Even in normal sleep
we are quite conscious. Charles Spur
geon once arose from his bed, light
ed lamp and wrote the full outline Of
a sermon which he preached the rext
morning. Yet he was sound asleep
while writing the sermon and could
hardly believe the testimony of his
own eyes when he saw the outline on
his desk in the morning. The Bible
clearly teaches that the dead are con-
scious. If it were otherwise how could
Paul say it would be better for him
to depart to be with Christ than to re-
main on earth to work for him (Phil.
:23)?
The state Of the righteous dead is q
blessed one. The expressions used in
the Scripture to describe it are full
of significance. For example, Para
disc was a name applied to a kings
park and suggests ordered and stately
beauty, together with noble society.
The dead are said to be "at home with
the Lord" II Cor 5:8 R. W. AS one
has put it, home is "the scene where
our whole being Is in sweet and vivid
harmony with surroundings" We
grieve over our departed friends as II
they had gone out into a world of
mystery where they will be strangers
and Ill at ease. How blessed to know
that they are ''at home with the Lord 20
They do not wait even a single mo-
ment to enter into this bliss, for ito de-
part is to be with Christ" (Phil. 1 :23).
State Of the Dead.
Finally, the state Of the dead may
be described as an unclothed one Paul
speaks in II Cor. 5 Of the "earthly
house of this tabernacle" being dis
solved. He goes on to say, in
verses two to four: "For In this we
groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed
upon with our house which is from
heaven: if so be that being clothed
we shall not be found naked. For
we that are in this tabernacle do
groan, being burdened: not for that
we would be unclothad, but clothed
upon, that mortality might be swal-
lowed up of life" In other words,
While glad at the prospect of being
absent from the body because he would
be at home with the Lord, yet he does
not consider this the highest possible
boon. The intermediate state would
find him unclothed, without a body.
Paul evidently felt he would not be
perfect until he received a glorified
body. Hence he hoped that the Lord
himself might come before death over
took him so that he might be clothed
upon" as with a garment, with his
house from heaven. What significance
this gives, for both the living and the
dead who are in Christ, to the words
of Paul: "Now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits of
them that slept!'