Objection 76: We agree that those who died before the time of Christ remained unconscious in their graves, as the Old Testament Scriptures prove. (See, e.g., Eccl. 9:5-6, 10).
But when Christ came He declared that "whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die." John 11:26. This proves that in the Christian era, those who believe in Christ go directly to heaven when they “die.” See, also, Paul's declaration that Christ “abolished death” (2 Tim. 1:10), and Scripture’s repeated statements that Christians now possesses everlasting life.
We agree that the Old Testament saints are yet in the grave. The Scriptural evidence is overwhelming. On the day of Pentecost, Peter said to the multitude: “ . . . Let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. . . . For David is not ascended into the heavens." Acts 2:29, 34.
But this admission is fatal to their whole case. Why do most believe that a Christian goes to heaven at death? Because they believe that there resides within man an immortal soul that must go either to heaven or to hell when the body dies and is buried. To admit that this was not so during the pre-Christian dispensation would seem to be a comprehensive denial of the immortal-soul doctrine.
But let us leave that to one side and demonstrate that the Bible makes no distinction between the state the dead in the two dispensations:
“We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep). For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout ...: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” 1 Thess. 4:15-17. The dead in Christ—that is the dead who have accepted Christ in the New Testament era—are asleep in the grave until the Second Coming.
“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors. And their works do follow them.” Rev. 14:13. The dead who die in the Lord are resting.
“After he had said this, he went on to tell them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.’ His disciples replied, ‘Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.’ Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’” John 11:11-16 Here, Jesus describes death as sleep. Yet Lazarus was a believer in Jesus, and a New Testament figure; clearly, there is no difference between Old and New Testament where it concerns the state of the dead.
What then are we to make of verses such as John 11:25-26?:
“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”
Jesus is speaking of spiritual realities, not the mechanics of life and death as we think of them. He is not telling Martha “you’ll never die but go straight to heaven,” he’s telling her, “if you believe on me, your eternal destiny is certain; you will have life everlasting.” In light of Rev. 20:6 [“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power”], Jesus is telling Martha, “one short sleep past, and you’ll come up in the first resurrection and spend eternity with me.”
There are many passages in the New Testament that speak of life and death in spiritual terms:
“He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, bath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:24. Obviously the person John here describes was not literally dead when he believed on Jesus, and then literally came to life. No, he was spiritually dead, then believed on Jesus and passed from a spiritually dead condition to spiritual life. He will still die and be resurrected in the first resurrection, but the important spiritual decision that secured eternal life for him has been made.
“We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loves not his brother abides in death.” 1 John 3:14. John is here making the same point again, talking about spiritual life and death.
“For to be carnally minded is death; but to he spiritually minded is life and peace." Rom. 8:6. Again, the same point is made by Paul. The carnally minded are literally alive, but spiritually dead.
Christ declared to the unbelieving Jews, "You will not come to me, that you might have life." John 5:40. They were, of course, literally alive when he said this to them, but they were spiritually dead.
When we understand the spiritual realities Christ is talking about in John chapter 11, we do not need to give His words a strained interpretation. We do not have to make ourselves believe the plainly un-Scriptural idea that there is a difference between the condition of deceased Old and New Testament saints. We do not have to claim that when the Christian goes into the grave he really goes to heaven.
We simply understand Christ to mean that those who accept His proffered salvation are freed from the penalty of death that hangs over all men. They will never suffer that “second death,” which is death in the ultimate sense of the word, because there is no return from the second death. Of the one who has eternal life, or everlasting life, it can be said that the “second death” has no power over him.
Adam Clarke, Methodist theologian, in his commentary, says this in comment on the phrase in John 11, "shall never die":
"Shall not die for ever. Though he die a temporal death, he shall not continue under its power for ever; but shall have a resurrection to life eternal."
In the light of the foregoing, Paul's statement that Christ "abolished death" (2 Tim. 1:10) may most naturally be understood to mean this: Christ, having risen from the grave, has the victory over death, and has provided thereby absolute assurance that it will be abolished. But the actual abolition of death awaits the second coming of Christ, when the righteous dead are raised. Then it is that "death is swallowed up in victory." 1 Cor. 15:54.
Compare John's description of the final consuming fires that are to burn up every trace of sin: "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire." Rev. 20:14. Only then will death truly be abolished. Christ's resurrection made certain the abolition of death, even as it made certain the resurrection of all who have died in Christ. But even as the resurrection of the righteous awaits the end of the world, even so the abolition of death awaits that great hour.