Why Be Religious?
Why Be Religious?
Our first lesson may have raised the question in your mind, “Where are the Dead?” as well as questions about what state the dead are in.
This present lesson will try, as far as the revealed word of God will allow, to satisfy some questions concerning the place and state of the dead. The lesson is not essential to the theme question, "Why Be Religious?" So you may skip this lesson if you like.
The Bible is clear in answering the question, “Where are the dead?” Their bodies are in the grave, and their souls or spirits are in Hades. The Bible is also clear in telling us that this is only a temporary state. One day all bodies will be raised from the dust and ashes; or from the depths of the sea; and the spirits of the dead will be called out of Hades (Rev 20:11-13, Jhn 5:28-29).
That, however, is as far as the Bible goes in making this matter clear. We will see what more we can glean from the scripture. However I warn you that, although you will be informed, you may not be wholly satisfied. There's no point me making stuff up, so I'll simply do the best I can to give you a Bible answer.
The dead are in an obscure place called Hades or Sheol (cf Acts 2:27,31, Psa 16:10). The Bible names this place as the temporary abode of the dead until the resurrection.
The few mentions of this place in scripture are not very enlightening as to what it's like. The Greek name hades may come from the prefix a- (meaning not) combined with oida (meaning "see" or "know"). Thus, Hades might mean "unseen" or "unknown" which is not much help!
The story of the rich man and Lazarus takes place in Hades (Lke 16:19-31). Many seem to think that we can learn what Hades is like from the descriptions in this story.
However (and it's a pretty significant however) our Lord pictures people in Hades as having bodies, when we have already learned that the dead have lost their natural bodies, and do not yet have their immortal bodies. This raises speculation about how literal a picture Jesus intended to give us in the setting he provided for the story.
The point of telling the story, is not to answer the question, “Where are the Dead?” nor to inform us about what it is like to be dead, or what Hades looks like. Rather, the point of the story is to show us that in Hades there is no opportunity to change one's eternal destiny (Rev 20:11-15).
This life is the time to hear, believe, and obey God's word. It's issues like that which ought to be foremost. To keep this important issue foremost, and to relegate the question of what Hades is like to the backdrop, Jesus paints an imaginary and symbolic picture of Hades rather than attempting to explain what that out-of-this-world place is really like.
Questions of mere curiosity have a place. But don't let them distract you from the real issues.
In Part 2 we will consider three related questions...
Word study on hades
Three Related Questions