Why Foreign Missions? 22a The Good News: A
Personal Hope of Life in Heaven?
Introduction
Much of the present focus in New Testament studies
is on understanding the Gospel message in terms of prophetic passages in the
Old Testament that speak of Israel restored from captivity and entering God’s
rule. Well and good—this has been a needed
correction to our understanding of many New Testament passages. Also, much of the present focus in mission
studies has been on the social dimension of missions—not simply ‘pie in the sky’
but also and emphatically ‘steak on the plate.’
Thus we speak now of a ‘holistic Gospel,’ one that is not only about
spiritual matters but also about making a difference in people’s lives and
communities here and now. Both the focus
on Israel’s story and the focus on a holistic Gospel emphasise the social, corporate,
and community focus of the Gospel—and this is Scriptural.
However, one result of these emphases in Biblical
studies and mission studies is that a question arises: is the Good News, the
Gospel, really about a personal (not simply social) hope of life after death in
heaven? Were the personal call to give
my life to Jesus and the personal hope of life in heaven when I die off base?
What follows are texts that highlight the first
century context and New Testament texts that direct our faith to a personal
hope that those faithful to God—those in Christ—will not die but will go to
heaven to be with Jesus. The focus in
these texts is not the resurrection hope per se. Indeed, it is very important
to state that the Christian hope is not simply to go to heaven after we die but
to be resurrected from the dead. Christians have taught both that there is a
final day of resurrection in the future and that, in the interim, those who die
in Christ will go to heaven until that day of resurrection. Most of the New Testament focus is on the
future resurrection, but the New Testament also gives us a firm hope that,
until that day, we will not cease to exist upon death or enter a soul sleep
but, in fact, find a more wonderful life in heaven. Here, in what follows, is the evidence for
this hope, a hope that develops from the Old Testament to Intertestamental
Judaism and is fully represented in the New Testament. If so, then part of our mission proclamation
must remain offering individuals in Christ Jesus the hope of life after death
and, ultimately, of resurrection from the dead. The next post will focus on Biblical texts mentioning 'heaven'; this post examines what is said of 'Sheol' and 'Paradise.'
The Evidence
for Life After Death Before the Resurrection
1. In the Old
Testament, ‘Sheol’ is the place of the dead:
a. ‘Sheol’ often
implies a place where existence continues after one dies.
A mistaken perspective in some scholarship on this
issue states that ancient Judaism did not have a notion of life after death. The idea that is presented is that, for Jews,
a person did not consist of parts—a body and soul, e.g.—but was a whole being. Thus, the reasoning goes, ancient Judaism
could not entertain the notion of disembodied existence.
Yet this neither fits expectations in surrounding
cultures (think of the pyramids in Egypt, e.g., or the burial practices of the
Canaanites and Israelites that showed care for the dead) nor texts that speak
of going somewhere after death. To be
sure, ‘Sheol’ can be a way of speaking of death:
2 Samuel 22:5-6 For the waves of death encompassed
me, the torrents of perdition assailed me;
6 the cords of Sheol entangled me, the snares of death
confronted me.
Yet, while
the following texts do not represent the place of the dead as ‘paradise,’ most of them do show a belief that there is life after death—disembodied existence.
Not all do: some simply equate ‘Sheol’ with death. Some suggest Sheol as a place of punishment
for sin (e.g., Prov. 9.16-18; 15.24). Some
speak of deliverance from Sheol in the sense of deliverance from death. Yet those passages, when read with a belief
in the resurrection, can take on added hope in deliverance from death even
after one dies. Thus they can be
understood as a hope beyond the grave. The
New Testament, of course, brings much more hope that is based not only on a
theological development in Judaism about Paradise and the resurrection from the
death but also on the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead and conquered
death. The fact of the resurrection—our future resurrection assured because of
Jesus’ past resurrection—gives us assurance that upon the death of our bodies we
are in some sense still alive between this life and the resurrection life to
come. As we shall see, there is much more
to this belief by the time of the New Testament, but a study of ‘Sheol’ in the
Old Testament alone does offer some belief in life after death, no matter how
shadowy. (Thus, there is not a
discontinuity between the OT and the NT in the belief in life after death, only
a development that, for the godly or those in Christ, this life after death is
positive and not merely a shadowy existence apart from God.)
Genesis 37:35 All
his sons and all his daughters sought to comfort him; but he refused to be
comforted, and said, "No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son,
mourning." Thus his father bewailed him.
Genesis 42:38 But he said, "My son shall not go down
with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should come to
him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs
with sorrow to Sheol." [So also Gen. 44.29, 31.]
Numbers 16:30 But if the LORD creates something new, and the
ground opens its mouth and swallows them up, with all that belongs to them, and
they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised
the LORD." [Here, Sheol is pictured as below the earth. Also v. 33.
Hence the expression, ‘the depths of Sheol,’ Dt. 32.22.]
Psalm 139:7-8 7 Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence? 8
If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
1 Kings 2:6 Act
therefore according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to
Sheol in peace.
1 Kings 2:9-10 9
Therefore do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; you will know what
you ought to do to him, and you must bring his gray head down with blood to
Sheol." 10 Then David
slept with his ancestors, and was buried in the city of David. [‘Sleep’ is a
euphemism for death from the perspective of what the living see when a person
dies; it is not a statement of what happens to the person who dies—who has
descended to Sheol.]
Job 11:7-8 Can you find out the deep things of God? Can
you find out the limit of the Almighty? 8
It is higher than heaven-- what can you do? Deeper than Sheol-- what can you
know?
Job 14:10-22 10 But mortals die, and are laid
low; humans expire, and where are they? 11
As waters fail from a lake, and a river wastes away and dries up, 12 so mortals lie down and do not
rise again; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake or be roused out
of their sleep. 13 Oh that
you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me! 14 If mortals die, will they live
again? All the days of my service I would wait until my release should
come. 15 You would call, and I
would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands. 16 For then you would not number
my steps, you would not keep watch over my sin;
17 my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you
would cover over my iniquity. 18
"But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from
its place; 19 the waters wear
away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so you destroy
the hope of mortals. 20 You
prevail forever against them, and they pass away; you change their countenance,
and send them away. 21 Their
children come to honor, and they do not know it; they are brought low, and it
goes unnoticed. 22 They feel
only the pain of their own bodies, and mourn only for themselves."
Job 17:13-16 13
If I look for Sheol as my house, if I spread my couch in darkness, 14 if I say to the Pit, 'You are
my father,' and to the worm, 'My mother,' or 'My sister,' 15 where then is my hope? Who will
see my hope? 16 Will it go
down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?"
Job 21:13 They [the wicked
who live on into old age] spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go
down to Sheol. [Yet ‘Sheol’ is said to ‘snatch away’ sinners, Job 24.19.]
Job 26:6 Sheol is naked
before God, and Abaddon has no covering. [Here is hope because God is greater
than Sheol, death.]
Psalm 6:5 For in death there
is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who can give you praise? [Here, the place of
death is separation from God—a different notion from Ps. 139. The focus in Ps. 6 is on death, whereas Ps.
139 or Job 26.6 express a hope about Sheol that is based rather on God’s
greatness.]
Psalm 9:17 The wicked shall depart to Sheol, all the
nations that forget God.
Psalm 31:17 Do not let me be put to shame, O LORD, for I
call on you; let the wicked be put to shame; let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.
Psalm 55:15 Let death come upon them; let them go
down alive to Sheol; for evil is in their homes and in their hearts.
Psalm 86:13 For great is your steadfast love toward me;
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
Psalm 88:1-7, 10-12 O LORD, God of my salvation, when, at night, I
cry out in your presence, 2
let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry. 3 For my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draws near to Sheol. 4
I am counted among those who go down to the Pit; I am like those who have no
help, 5 like those forsaken
among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you
remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand. 6 You have put me in the depths of
the Pit, in the regions dark and deep. 7
Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah….
10 Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praise
you? Selah 11 Is your
steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? 12 Are your wonders known in the
darkness, or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?
Psalm 89:48 Who can live and never see death? Who
can escape the power of Sheol? Selah
Psalm 116:3 The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs
of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.
Psalm 141:7 Like a rock that one breaks apart and shatters
on the land, so shall their bones be strewn at the mouth of Sheol.
Proverbs 1:10-12 10 My child, if sinners entice you,
do not consent. 11 If they
say, "Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us wantonly ambush
the innocent; 12 like Sheol
let us swallow them alive and whole, like those who go down to the Pit.
Proverbs 5:3-5 3 For the lips of a loose woman
drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; 4 but in the end she is bitter as
wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. 5
Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol.
Proverbs 7:27 Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to
the chambers of death.
Proverbs 9:16-18 16 "You who are simple, turn
in here!" And to those without sense she says, 17 "Stolen water is sweet,
and bread eaten in secret is pleasant."
18 But they do not know that the dead are there, that her
guests are in the depths of Sheol.
Proverbs 15:24 24
For the wise the path of life leads upward, in order to avoid Sheol below.
Proverbs 23:14 If you beat them with the rod, you will save
their lives from Sheol.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your
might; for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to
which you are going. [Unlike Prov. 15.24 and 23.14, here ‘Sheol’ is
unavoidable.]
Isaiah 5:14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and
opened its mouth beyond measure; the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude go
down, her throng and all who exult in her.
Isaiah 7:11 Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be
deep as Sheol or high as heaven. [Here is an interesting contrast between
heaven and Sheol.]
Isaiah 14:15 But you are brought down to Sheol, to
the depths of the Pit. [See Is. 14.9-15. The ruler is brought low, down to Sheol.]
Isaiah 28:18 Then your covenant with death will be
annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming
scourge passes through you will be beaten down by it. [See Is. 28.15-18.]
Isaiah 38:10 I said: In the noontide of my days I must
depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years. [This
appears to offer a belief that there is life after death, not annihilation.]
Isaiah 38:18 For Sheol cannot thank you, death cannot
praise you; those who go down to the Pit cannot hope for your faithfulness. [Cf. Pss. 6 and 88.]
Isaiah 57:9 You journeyed to Molech with oil, and
multiplied your perfumes; you sent your envoys far away, and sent down even to
Sheol. [Note communication with the dead
implies a belief in life after death.
Cf. 1 Sam. 28.7’s medium at Endor.]
Ezekiel 31:14-18 14 All this is in order that no
trees by the waters may grow to lofty height or set their tops among the clouds,
and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height. For all of
them are handed over to death, to the world below; along with all mortals, with
those who go down to the Pit. 15
Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day it went down to Sheol I closed the deep over
it and covered it; I restrained its rivers, and its mighty waters were checked.
I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted
because of it. 16 I made the
nations quake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those
who go down to the Pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of
Lebanon, all that were well watered, were consoled in the world below. 17 They also went down to Sheol
with it, to those killed by the sword, along with its allies, those who lived
in its shade among the nations. 18
Which among the trees of Eden was like you in glory and in greatness? Now you
shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below; you shall lie
among the uncircumcised, with those who are killed by the sword. This is
Pharaoh and all his horde, says the Lord GOD.
[Note: ‘the world below,’ Sheol (vv. 14, 18). Cf. Ez. 32.21, 27.
Hosea 13:14 Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol
[LXX: Hades, death]? Shall I redeem
them from Death? O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your
destruction [LXX: kentron, sting]?
Compassion is hidden from my eyes. [The
text refers to being saved from death, but read in light of the resurrection,
the passage is applied to a doctrine of life after death—so Paul in 1 Cor. 15.55-56.]
Amos 9:2 Though they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; though
they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down.
Jonah 2:2 saying, "I called to the LORD out of my distress, and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. [The belly of the fish that swallowed Jonah
is called ‘Sheol,’ death. Jesus applies
this to his own death—and resurrection: Mt. 12.39-41, par. Lk. 11.29-32; Mt. 16.4.]
Habakkuk 2:5 Moreover, wealth is treacherous; the arrogant do not endure. They open
their throats wide as Sheol; like Death they never have enough. They gather all
nations for themselves, and collect all peoples as their own.
b. Two Places of the Dead:
‘Abaddon’ is mentioned with ‘Sheol’ as a place of the dead. Abaddon can simply be a reference to the
place of the dead—or a place of the dead—and so function as a reference to
death (as can ‘Sheol’). Yet it more
specifically appears to be the place of sinners, as Rev. 9.11 states
explicitly. Of course, a separation of
places means continued existence for those who have died.
Job 26:6 Sheol is naked
before God, and Abaddon has no covering.
Job 28:22 Abaddon and Death say, 'We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.'
Job 31:12 for that would be a fire consuming down to Abaddon, and it would burn to
the root all my harvest.
Psalm 88:11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in
Abaddo
Proverbs 15:11 Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD,
how much more human hearts!
Proverbs 27:20 20 Sheol and Abaddon are never
satisfied….
Revelation 9:11 They have as king over them the angel of the
bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called
Apollyon.
c. Life after ‘Sheol’:
Job 7:9-10 As the cloud fades and vanishes, so those who
go down to Sheol do not come up; 10
they return no more to their houses, nor do their places know them any more.
1 Samuel 2:6 The LORD kills and brings to life; he
brings down to Sheol and raises up. [Unlike Job, 1 Samuel offers hope beyond
Sheol.]
Psalm 16:10 For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let
your faithful one see the Pit. [What is an expression of deliverance from death
in this life in this psalm becomes a hope of life beyond death as this Psalm is
read in the light of Jesus’ resurrection—Peter quotes this psalm in Acts 2.25-28.]
Psalm 30:3 O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit. [Again, being saved
from death is expressed in a way that could be applied differently when the
hope of resurrection is in view.]
Psalm 49:14-15 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; Death
shall be their shepherd; straight to the grave they descend, and their form
shall waste away; Sheol shall be their home.
15 But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for
he will receive me. Selah.
2.
The Septuagint (LXX) uses ‘Paradise’ (paradei,soj) to refer to a garden and, at times, to the Garden in
Eden = Garden of God. The ‘Garden of God’ becomes a notion that is, in time,
applied to a heavenly place.
a. Garden: For example:
Ecc 2:5 I made myself gardens (paradei,souj) and parks, and planted
in them all kinds of fruit trees.
b. The Garden of God:
Gen 2:8 And the Lord God planted a garden (para,deison) in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom
he had formed.
Isaiah 51:3 For the LORD will comfort Zion; he will
comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her
desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.
Eze 31:8 The cedars in the garden (paradei,sw) of God could not rival
it, nor the fir trees equal its boughs; the plane trees were as nothing
compared with its branches; no tree in the garden (paradei,sw) of God was like it in
beauty [also v. 9].
Ezekiel 28:13 13
[To the king of Tyre] You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone
was your covering….
3. Late
Judaism (the Second Temple period in particular) uses the term or idea of the
Garden of Eden to refer to where the righteous dead go:
a.
Paradise Regained:
Eze 36:35And they will say, `This land that was desolate has become
like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now
inhabited and fortified.' [Jeremias, "Paradei,soj", Theological Dictionary of the New Testament
(TDNT), Vol. V, p. 767: Ezek. is the
first "explicitly to compare the expected time of salvation with the
Paradise of the first age".]
Song of Solomon 14.1-5 (LXX addition): ‘The Lord is faithful to those
who love him in truth, to those who endure his discipline, to those who proceed
in the righteousness of his commandments in the Law which give direction to us for
our life. The Lord’s devout ones will
live in it forever; the paradise of the Lord, the trees of life, his devoted
ones, their planting is rooted in eternity, they will not be uprooted all the
days of heaven, for Israel is a portion, an inheritance of God [my
translation].
TLevi 18.2, 3c, 6-12: Then will the Lord raise up a new priest, To whom
all the words of the Lord will be revealed; And he will execute true judgement
on earth for many days...And he will rank as great in the world until he is
taken up....The heavens will be opened, And from the temple of glory will come
his call to his sacred office With the Father's voice, as from Abraham Isaac's
father. And the glory of the Most High
will be uttered over him, And the spirit of understanding and holiness will
rest upon him in the water. He will declare
the majesty of the Lord to his sons in truth for evermore, And there will be no
successor to him from generation to generation for ever. And in his priesthood the Gentiles will
increase in knowledge on the earth, And be enlightened through the grace of the
Lord; But Israel will be weakened through ignorance, And plunged into darkness
by sorrow. In his priesthood will all
sin come to an end, And the lawless cease to do evil; And the righteous will
rest in him. And he will open the gates
of Paradise, And destroy the power of the sword that threatened Adam. And he will give the saints the right to eat from the tree of life,
And the spirit of holiness will be on them.
And Beliar will be bound by him, And he will give power to his children
to tread the evil spirits underfoot.
(Trans. M. DeJonge, Testaments of
the Twelve Patriarchs, The Apocryphal
Old Testament, Ed. H. F. D. Sparks (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984).)
1Enoch 51.3-5: And in those days the Chosen One will sit on his throne,
and all the secrets of wisdom will flow out from the counsel of his mouth...the
mountains will leap like rams, and the hills will skip like lambs satisfied
with milk, and all will become angels in heaven. Their faces will shine with joy, for in those
days the Chosen One will have risen; and the earth will rejoice, and the
righteous will dwell upon it, and the chosen will go and walk upon it. (Trans. M. A. Knibb, Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, The Apocryphal Old Testament, Ed. H. F. D. Sparks (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1984).)
2 Baruch 4.1-7: And the Lord said to me, This city [Zion] shall be given
up for a time, and for a time the people shall be chastened; yet the world will
not be consigned to oblivion....This building [the Temple], which now stands in
your midst, is not the one that is to be revealed, that is with me now, that
was prepared beforehand here at the time when I determined to make Paradise,
and showed it to Adam before he sinned (though when he disobeyed my commandment it was taken away from him, as was
also Paradise). And after this I showed
it to my servant Abraham by night among the divided pieces of the victims. And again I showed it also to Moses on mount
Sinai when I showed him the pattern of the tabernacle and all its vessels. And now it is preserved with me, as is also
Paradise. Go, then, and do as I command
you. (Trans. R. H. Charles, rev. trans.
by L. H. Brockington, The Syriac
Apocalypse of Baruch, The Apocryphal
Old Testament, Ed. H. F. D. Sparks (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984).)
b.
Paradise Hidden:
1. Where the souls of the departed patriarchs are:
1 Enoch 70.1-4: And it happened after this that his living name was
raised up before that Son of Man and to the Lord from among those who dwell
upon the earth; it was lifted up in a wind chariot and it disappeared from
among them. From that day on, I was not
counted among them. But he placed me
between two winds, between the northeast and the west, where the angels took a
cord to measure for me the place for the elect and righteous ones. And there I saw the first (human) ancestors
and the righteous ones of old, dwelling in that place. (Trans. E. Isaac, "1 (Ethiopic)
Enoch", The Old Testament
Pseudepigrapha: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments, Vol. 1, ed. J.
Charlesworth (New York: Doubleday, 1983).)
Apc. Mos. 37.3-5: When the angels had shouted out these things, one of
the six-winged seraphim came and carried Adam off to the Lake of Acheron and
washed him three times in the presence of God.
He lay three hours, and so the LORD of all, sitting on his holy throne,
stretched out his hands and took Adam and handed him over to the archangel
Michael, saying to him, 'Take him up into Paradise, to the third heaven, and
leave (him) there until that great and fearful day which I am about to
establish for the world.' (Trans. M. D.
Johnson, The Old Testament
Pseudepigrapha: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments, Vol. 1, ed. J.
Charlesworth (New York: Doubleday, 1983).)
T.Abr. 20A:9-15: For Death deceived Abraham. And he kissed his hand and immediately his
soul cleaved to the hand of Death. And
immediately Michael the archangel stood beside him with multitudes of angels,
and they bore his precious soul in their hands in divinely woven linen...while
the angels escorted his precious soul and ascended into heaven singing the
thrice-holy hymn to God, the master of all, and they set it (down) for the
worship of the God and Father. And after
great praise in song and glorification had been offered to the Lord, and when
Abraham had worshiped, the undefiled voice of the God and Father came speaking
thus: 'Take, then, my friend Abraham into Paradise, where there are the tents
of my righteous ones and (where) the mansions of my holy ones, Isaac and Jacob,
are in his bosom, where there is no toil, no grief, no moaning, but peace and
exultation and endless life. Let us,
too, my beloved brothers, imitate the hospitality of the patriarch Abraham and
let us attain to his virtuous behaviour, so that we may be worthy of eternal
life, glorifying the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; to whom be the
glory and the power forever. Amen.' (E. P. Sanders, "Testament of
Abraham", in The Old Testament
Pseudepigrapha: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments, Vol. 1, ed. J.
Charlesworth (New York: Doubleday, 1983).)
2. Where the souls of the righteous are:
1 Enoch 60.7f, 23: On that day, two monsters will be parted--one
monster, a female named Leviathan, in order to dwell in the abyss of the ocean
over the fountains of water, and (the other), a male called Behemoth, which
holds his chest in an invisible desert whose name is Dundayin, east of the garden
of Eden, wherein the elect and the righteous ones dwell, wherein my grandfather
was taken, the seventh from Adam, the first man whom the Lord of the Spirits
created....All these things I saw as far as the garden of the righteous ones. (Trans. E. Isaac, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments,
Vol. 1, ed. J. Charlesworth (New York: Doubleday, 1983).)
1 Enoch 61.12: All the vigilant ones in heaven above shall bless him;
all the holy ones who are in heaven shall bless him [the Lord of the Spirits];
all the elect ones who dwell in the garden of life (shall bless him (every
spirit of light that is capable of blessing, glorifying, extolling, and
sanctifying your blessed name (shall bless him).... (Trans. E. Isaac, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments,
Vol. 1, ed. J. Charlesworth (New York: Doubleday, 1983).)
2 Enoch 9.1: "This place, Enoch, has been prepared for the
righteous, who suffer every kind of calamity in their life and who afflict
their souls, and who avert their eyes from injustice, and who carry out
righteous judgment.... 10.4:
"...This place, Enoch, has been prepared for those who do not glorify God,
who practice on the earth the sin which is against nature, which is child corruption
in the anus in the manner of Sodom, of witchcraft, enchantments, divinations,
trafficking with demons, who boast about their evil deeds.... (Trans. F. I. Andersen, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments, Vol. 1, ed.
J. Charlesworth (New York: Doubleday, 1983).)
2 Enoch 42.3A: And from there I went up into the paradise, even of the
righteous, and there I saw a blessed place, and every creature is blessed, and
all live there in joy and in gladness and in an immeasurable light and in
eternal life. (Trans. F. I. Andersen, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha:
Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments, Vol. 1, ed. J. Charlesworth (New
York: Doubleday, 1983).)
2 Enoch 42.3J: And I ascended to the east, into the paradise of Edem,
where rest is prepared for the righteous.
And it is open as far as the 3rd heaven; but it is closed off from this
world. And the guards are appointed at
the very large gates to the east of the sun, angels of flame, singing victory
songs, never silent, rejoicing at the arrival of the righteous.
Apocalypse of Abraham 21.6f: And I saw there the garden of Eden and its
fruits, and the source and the river flowing from it, and its trees and their
flowering, making fruits, and I saw men doing justice in it, their food and
their rest.
[Talmud] bTem. 16a:
"When Moses departed [this world] for the Garden of Eden he said to
Joshua...." (Trans. L. Miller, "Temurah", Babylonian Talmud, Ed.
I. Epstein [London: Soncino Press, 1948].)
Apocalypse of Sedrach 16.3-6: "...and whoever remembers your name
will not see the place of punishment but he will be with the just ones in a
place of refreshment and rest, and the sin of him who copies this admirable
sermon will not be reckoned for ever and ever..." And God took him [Sedrach] and put him in
Paradise with all the saints.
c.
Multiple Layers of Heaven, including Paradise
TLevi 3.1-10: Hear, then, about the seven heavens. The lowest is the gloomiest because it
witnesses all the unrighteous deeds of men.
The second holds fire, snow, ice, ready for the day which the Lord has
decreed in the righteous judgement of God: in it are all the spirits of
retribution for vengeance on the wicked.
In the third are the warrior hosts appointed to wreak vengeance on the
spirits of error and of Beliar at the day of judgement. But the heavens
down to the fourth above these are holy.
For in the highest of all the Great Glory dwells, in the holy of holies,
far above all holiness. And in the heaven next to it are the angels of the
Lord's presence, who minister and make expiation to the Lord for all the sins
committed unwittingly by the righteous; and they offer to the Lord a soothing
odour, a spiritual and bloodless offering.
And in the heaven below it are the angels who bear the answers
to the angels of the Lord's presence.
And in the heaven next to it are thrones and powers, in which praises, are offered to God continually. And when the Lord looks upon us, all of us
are shaken; and the heavens and the earth and the abysses are shaken at the presence
of his majesty. Yet men do not perceive
these things, and they sin and provoke the Most High. (Trans. M. DeJonge, The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, The Apocryphal Old Testament, Ed. H. F. D. Sparks (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1984).)
TLevi 5.1: And the angel opened to me the gates of heaven, and I saw the
holy temple, and the Most High sitting on a throne of glory. (Trans. M. DeJonge, The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, The Apocryphal Old Testament, Ed. H. F. D. Sparks (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1984).)
b.Sanh. 110a: A Tanna taught: It has been said on the
authority of Moses our Master: A place was set apart for them in the Gehenna,
where they sat and sang praises [to God].
(Sanhedrin, trans. ed. I.
Epstein, Babylonian Talmud, vol. 12 (London:
Soncino Press, 1935).)
d.
New Testament References
1. Places using the actual term:
Luke 23:43 He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with
me in Paradise."
2 Corinthians 12:2-4 2
I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third
heaven-- whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. 3 And I know that such a person--
whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows-- 4 was caught up into Paradise and
heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat.
[There is some connection
between the "third heaven"--v. 2--and Paradise--v.4-- in Slav. En. 42.3A: "the intervening Paradise is in the East, but is opened to
the third heaven" (Jeremias, "Paradeisoj", TDNT, Vol. 5, p. 768 n.31--but cf.
Jeremias' uncertainty on p. 770 about whether v. 2 and v. 4 of 2 Cor. refer to
the same thing.]
Revelation 2:7 Let anyone who
has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who
conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the
paradise of God.
2. Other references to Paradise without term used in
the NT:
The notion that at death the believer goes to be with Jesus is
elsewhere taught in the NT:
(It is not a new teaching, since in Eth.
En. 39.4ff; 70.1-4 the Son of Man is with the righteous dead.)
Luke 16:22-26 22 The poor man died and was
carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was
buried. 23 In Hades, where he
was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his
side. 24 He called out,
'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his
finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.' 25 But Abraham said, 'Child,
remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus
in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in
agony. 26 Besides all this,
between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want
to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.'
Jn. 14.2-3: In my Father's house are many rooms; if it
were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And
when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to
myself, that where I am you may be also.
Acts 7.59: Stephen says "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
2 Cor. 5.8: the intermediate state is one in which the believer is with
Jesus: "We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body
and at home with the Lord."
Phl. 1.23: "I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to
depart and be with Christ, for that is far better."
Jn. 12.25-6: 25 He who loves his
life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal
life.
26 If any one serves me, he must
follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves
me, the Father will honor him.
2 Tim. 4.18: The Lord will rescue me from every evil and save me for
his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Hebrews 12:22-24 [comparing the covenant of Moses to the covenant of
Christ] 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in
festal gathering, 23 and to
the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge
of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a
new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the
blood of Abel.
Rev. 22.1: Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as
crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of
the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life
with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves
of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 There shall no more be
anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and
his servants shall worship him; 4 they shall see his face, and his name shall
be on their foreheads. 5 And night shall be no more; they need no light of lamp
or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they shall reign for ever and
ever.
Conclusion
This study has presented evidence in the Old
Testament, Intertestamental Judaism, and the New Testament for a belief in life
after death—before the day of resurrection.
This is a developing notion—the New Testament presents a much clearer
and more positive view than the shadowy existence in Sheol of the Old
Testament. The positive view of life
after death is described in terms of ‘Paradise,’ which is described in terms of
the Garden of Eden. It entailed in
Judaism being in the bosom of Abraham, and in Christianity being in the
presence of Jesus. While we lack a literal
description of this after-death existence, we are assured by Paul that it is a
better existence than the present one.
My purpose in exploring this theology is to
suggest that this hope is an important part of the hope to be offered
believers. It is not the full hope that
those who die in Christ will be raised from the dead in the future. But this positive, intermediate state between
death and resurrection is a part of the hope that Christians have regarding what
it means to be Christians.