“Thoughts Concerning the Dead”

Rightfully so, the cold touch of death raises many questions and concerns for those left behind, for death is that single experience of life that the living find wholly foreign. Save but a few (such as the infamous Lazarus), none of us have felt the sting of death personally. To be sure, when a person approaches death, it is divinely intended and most fitting that he approaches in the fellowship of others, but he must at last cross the bridge alone: None can go with him.

One of the most poignant and most often asked questions of the living concerning the departed runs along these lines: “What of the one I love? Is she in heaven now, or will that be later? Will we recognize each other in heaven? Is she aware of things on earth?” Questions like these were raised to me just the other day, and my thoughts included the following...

What we know of the afterlife is limited to what has been revealed of it in the scriptures, chiefly in the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ. Of course, the Old Testament paid very little attention to the afterlife – and for very good reason. What's more is that the New Testament, while undoubtedly offering some information concerning this subject, offers what is a far cry from an exhaustive theology of death and the afterlife. Rather, what we have are more like photographs, images capturing but moments and scenes. Here, there are no maps to heaven and hell or of heaven and hell, for that matter – only pictures captured along the way, mere glimpses upon their paths.

Biblically-speaking, death is that terrible separation of the soul from the body. It is important here to note that this is no insignificant matter, even in the scope of eternity, for we were created not as mere souls inhabiting bodies as though they were simply the habitats of our “true being” (or, the “real” person as if there were also a fake). Such affirmations seek only to soothe wounds that otherwise hurt too deeply, but they indeed are not grounded in the clear affirmations of scripture. Neither also were we created simply as bodies that will one day die, nothing remaining. Rather, we were created as a unity of both body and soul. In other words, we are spiritually physical and likewise physically spiritual.

The scriptures tell us that –for the faithful– to be absent from the body (i.e., dead) is to be present with the Lord (i.e., in heaven). They further tell us that the precious souls in heaven await the day of the Lord, a day in which they –like Him– will be reunited with their bodies. Indeed, as foreshadowed in the Resurrection of Christ, their bodies are to be resurrected. How it happens, none can tell, but we are led to believe that at the call of Christ, the ground will give up its corpses, these bodies being reknit and reunited with their souls.

Certainly, these bodies will be changed, but they will likewise be the same. In many ways, I have changed in the past ten years. During that time, I have proposed to my then girlfriend, graduated from college, been married to my now wife, entered ecclesial ministry, held two different teaching appointments, all but finished seminary, and witnessed the birth of our three children (with another on the way). Surely, I have changed, but I'm still essentially me. In fact, what it is to be me has developed and even clarified.

In the Gospel accounts, after the morning of the Resurrection, the disciples were able to recognize the risen Lord, though they at times mistook Him for a stranger. He invited Thomas to touch the wounds of His hands and side, and yet He was able to suddenly appear in rooms. He was able to cook breakfast for His disciples on the seaside and even partake of meals Himself, but we also read that He was able to suddenly disappear, leaving his company astonished and in wonder. Without a doubt, His physicality had changed dramatically, but also without a doubt, His body clearly remained physical.

That being said, what of those ever-poignant questions, the questions which are so commonly asked? Please understand that I do not intend here to exhaustively answer these questions, for to do so would be tricky to say the least. Rather, I simply intend to shed the light of scripture on them to whatever extent I can briefly do so.

Firstly, are the departed in heaven now, or will that be later?

It seems evident to me that the scriptures would have us believe that upon death the faithful are instantaneously ushered into the presence of God in Christ. Our lives are hidden in Christ, and to be absent from the body is to be present to the Lord. Such being the case, it seems that those who die in Christ are in the moment of their death found in heaven, while those who die apart from Him are in the same moment found in hell, both awaiting the resurrection of their bodies, after which they will inherit the destined home they have personally claimed and made to be their own.

Secondly, will we recognize each other in heaven?

What survives death is personal identity: all that makes a person who he is. Personal identity is made up of a myriad of personally acquired –or, better yet, developed– components; namely, personalities, experiences, interests, memories, relationships, and more. This identity –no question– remains in tact, particularly for those faithful in Christ, though perhaps not so for those poor souls of hell, such being part of their undoing. With this in mind, it would seem incumbent to affirm that the inhabitants of heaven who knew one another on earth would recognize one another in the afterlife and that those who had not previously known one another would then have the opportunity to begin doing so.

Lastly, are the departed aware of things on earth?

While even such a thought often leads to sincere and sensitive angst for most protestants, we should be careful to not overstate the case of scripture, neither to understate it. What we do read is that in the world to come God will wipe away every tear and that there will be no more sorrow or suffering, but what we do not read is that this happens at death. Rather, we read that this happens after the resurrection of the dead and the recreation of a future heaven and earth, when the new and holy Jerusalem descends from the heaven to come as the city of God on the earth to come. Beyond that, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews calls to his readers' minds countless saints who had already tasted the bitterness of death and were then in the presence of God in Christ. Upon doing so, he turns to the earthly call of his readers to run the race of faith in their present lives, looking unto Jesus, while affirming that the departed faithful surround them presently as a great cloud of witnesses (i.e., observers, confessors). And beyond this, we see in scripture that the resurrected Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for the saints of earth, even as the elders of heaven lift the prayers of the saints to the throne of heaven.

Again, these thoughts are merely the edge of what could be said on the present subject. Nevertheless, it is in the hope toward helpfulness that I offer them. While death is the last enemy to be defeated and the final shame of defeat that we must all one day share, the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus stands as the great icon of hope beyond despair, life beyond the grave. As Bonhoeffer said years before his own untimely death, faith in the Resurrected One of history has the capacity to transform death itself from shame and defeat into glory and victory.