If death is another form of life, the dead are currently in another place. People then say that the dead are in ’the hereafter’, heaven or hell, in any case in a spiritual world. The dead are then not really dead, but are conscious in another place. There is, for example, consultation, as one concludes from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
myth
These ideas about death, however widespread, are foreign to the Bible. People do not listen to what Scripture says about the state of the dead, but consult philosophy and human traditions. This was no different in the time of Jesus and that is why He tells the scribes the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. A fictional story based on Jewish myths (Tit. 1:14), which the Lord tells them, because they do not listen to Moses and the prophets (Luke 16:29,31). We will return to this parable later.
no other form of life
It is often said that when a believer has died, ‘he now rejoices before God’s throne’. While the Bible emphatically and repeatedly states that this is not possible. In death there is nothing, because death is no other form of life. Death is the opposite of life.
Psalm 6
5 For in death there is no remembrance of You; in the grave who will rejoice in You?
the realm of the dead
The translation the realm of the dead can lead to misunderstandings. When we think of a ‘realm’, we quickly think of a physical place. The Hebrew word sheol, which is translated here as the realm of the dead, is rendered in various ways in the current translations, with: the realm of the dead, grave and hell. Sheol is derived from a word that literally means question. It has to do with ignorance. There is no knowledge in death.
Ecclesiastes 9
5 For the living know that they must die, but the dead know nothing (…)
hades
In the New Testament we find the (Greek) concept hades, for example in Acts 2:27. There Peter quotes Psalm 16:10, where sheol is written in Hebrew. Peter quotes the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Old Testament, and there sheol is rendered as hades. This is how we know that the Hebrew sheol and the Greek hades have the same meaning.
Hades literally means: the unobserved, or: the unseen. Death is a state of ignorance and is not a place that one can perceive.
Psalm 115
17 The dead cannot praise YAHWEH, nor any of those who go down into silence.
Isaiah 38
18 For the grave cannot praise You, death cannot celebrate You, and those who go down to the grave do not look forward to Your faithfulness.
the lie of the serpent
In death there is no knowledge, no hope, no counsel, no praise, no looking forward, etc. because the dead are not (Job 7:21). That death is not really dead has been the lie of the serpent from the beginning. He says: “You will not die, but God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened” (Gen. 3:4-5). Doesn’t this lie also apply to the doctrine of the immortal soul?
together
The dead do not live (Rev. 20:5), until God makes them alive (Job 14:14). In his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul encourages his readers concerning those who have fallen asleep (1 Thess. 4:13). He does not say that they are now in a better place, or that they are rejoicing before God’s throne.
Paul points them to the coming (>parousia) of the Lord. At that time, the dead in Christ will be raised and those who are alive will be changed. Together they will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:15-16).
The comfort for us as believers is not that those who have passed away through death are now with the Lord. We may encourage one another that at the coming of the Lord, when the trumpet sounds (1 Cor. 15:52), the resurrected dead and the living who remain, will go together to the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 4
18 Therefore encourage one another with these words!