Intermediate
State of the Dead
And the LORD said to Moses, Behold,
you will sleep with your fathers --- (Deuteronomy 31:16)
But man dies, and wastes away: yea, man
gives up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decays
and dries up: So man lies down, and rises not: till the heavens be no more, they will not
awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. (Job 14:10-12)
If a man die, will he live again? all the
days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. (Job 14:14)
If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have
made my bed in the darkness. (Job 17:13)
For in death there is no remembrance of you:
in the grave who will give you thanks?(Psalms 6:5)
The dead praise not the LORD, neither any
that go down into silence. (Psalms 115:17)
His breath goes forth, he returns to his
earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. (Psalms 146:4)
For the living know that they will die: but
the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them
is forgotten. (Ecclesiastes 9:5)
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with
your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave,
where you go. (Ecclesiastes 9:10)
And many of them that sleep in the dust of
the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt. (Daniel 12:2)
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud
voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
(Acts 7:60)
But I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have
no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we
which are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord will not prevent them which are
asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ will rise first: Then we
which are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the
Lord in the air: and so will we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17)
And saying, Where is the promise of his
coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation. (2 Peter 3:4)
After that, he was seen of above five
hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain to this present, but some are
fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:6)
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ
raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins. Then
they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. (1 Corinthians 15:16-18)
Men and brethren, let me freely speak to you
of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us to
this day. (Acts 2:29)
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and
become the firstfruits of them that slept. (1 Corinthians 15:20)
Peter says that David had not gone to heaven
even though he had been dead and buried for centuries. For David is not ascended into the
heavens: but he says himself, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit you on my right hand, Until I
make your foes your footstool. (Acts 2:34,35)
REF: E:375-400; S:19, 20; Z’95-237; Z’97-231;
Z’01-29, 122.
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