Let us go on to see the Judaizers' concept concerning life after death. In other words, let us consider their concept about final judgment. In this matter the Judaizers make two serious mistakes. First, they believe that death is a kind of sleep in which the spirit, soul, and body all become dormant and lose all consciousness. Second, they say that after resurrection, there is no final judgment. They believe that after a man dies, his body, soul, and spirit are all annihilated. When we meet such ones, they will tell us this kind of teaching because this is their basic doctrine.
Is their teaching concerning the spirit and soul being asleep accurate? Let us find the answer from the Bible. The Bible does say that when a man dies, he is asleep, but this refers to the body, not to the soul. The Judaizers confuse the sleeping of the soul with the sleeping of the body. This is absolutely wrong. There are many passages in the Bible to refute this error. Matthew 27:52 says, "And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised." Here it clearly says that the bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. It is the body that is asleep, not the soul. John 11:11 says, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going that I may wake him out of sleep." This also refers to the body. When Stephen was stoned in Acts 7:59 and 60, he cried, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" Following this it says, "He fell asleep." Stephen's body was stoned to death. Clearly, sleeping refers to the sleeping of the body. First Corinthians 7:39 says, "Should the husband fall asleep, she is free to be married to whom she wishes." This clearly refers to the body also. First Corinthians 11:30 says, "Because of this many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep." Paul said that some in the church in Corinth were weak and sick. Both of these things refer to the body. We cannot say that weakness and sickness refer to the weakness and sickness of the soul. Therefore, sleeping in the very same verse must refer to the sleeping of the body, not to the soul.
First Corinthians 15:5-6 tells us that after Christ resurrected, He showed Himself to the apostles. "Then He appeared to over five hundred brothers at one time, of whom the majority remain until now." The five hundred brothers who remained until then were remaining in the body. The next clause but some have fallen asleep must also refer to the body, not to the soul. Verse 18 says, "Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished." Who are the ones who have fallen asleep in Christ? Verses 16 and 17 say, "For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." The sleeping ones in verse 18 refer to those who have slept in the body. Since this is the case, when verse 20 speaks of Christ having resurrected and having become the firstfruits, it refers to His body being raised from the dead; it does not refer to the resurrection of the soul. Hence, after the Lord resurrected, He purposely showed Himself to Thomas to tell him, "I have a body. You can touch Me." He wanted Thomas to touch His resurrected body. His resurrected body became the firstfruits. All fruits that come after the firstfruits, of course, bear the same resemblance as the firstfruits. He resurrected in His body. All those who have slept will also resurrect in the body. We who have believed in Him will be the same as the Lord is in resurrection, because our sleep is the same as the Lord's sleep. Hence, there is no sleeping of the soul, only sleeping of the body.
The Lord's own words also contradict the Judaizers' teaching. For example, in the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-23, we find "a certain rich man...making merry every day in splendor. And a certain beggar named Lazarus was laid at his gate....And the beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels into Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment." Both Lazarus and the rich man died, but their souls did not die or sleep. The rich man died and was buried. It must have been a very splendid burial. Yet after his death he suffered in Hades. Lazarus also died, but he rested in the bosom of Abraham. If this story stands, the Judaizers' teaching does not stand. In studying the Bible we have to learn to know what the Bible says. We preach according to what we believe. It is strange that some can conclude that the soul sleeps from such a passage. It is clear that an unbeliever's soul suffers after he dies, while a believer's soul is comforted after he dies. But these ones force their argument by quoting Scriptures that they do not understand. They are tainted in their concept. They like to say that the soul sleeps. Here, however, it says explicitly that the rich man did not sleep; he was suffering in Hades. It is a foolish thing for man to try to erase the feeling of sin by claiming that the soul will go to sleep.
The Judaizers have two things to say about this passage. First they say that this is a parable of the Lord. We know that in Luke 15 and 18, the Lord uses parables. But when he uses parables, He clearly says that He is speaking in parables. In Luke 16 the Lord does not say that He is speaking in parables. The other argument of the Judaizers is that this is merely a story. However, we should note the following facts. First, the Lord uses the names of some of the people. Abraham, Moses, and Lazarus were all real men. Second, the Lord gives many details in this so-called story. He speaks about the way the people lived while they were living, about the dogs, the sores, the rich man's suffering after his death, and his imploring for Lazarus to go to his brothers. Outwardly this is a story, but it is full of divine teaching. If this is merely a story, how can it cover all the conscious activities of a person after his death? How can such ones have these feelings of suffering and comfort? Through this story the Lord reveals the picture of a person after death. If this were a parable, at most it would contain a simple story to illustrate the point. For example, in preaching the gospel we sometimes illustrate our point by briefly speaking about a brother's repentance. Even if this were a parable, there must be some reality behind the various references. If a man does not have any feeling after he dies, such a parable would be useless. If the rich man does have feelings after he dies, this story cannot be treated merely as a parable. The Judaizers are too bold. Their teaching is absolutely based on the erroneous concept of Judaism. These ones are cut off from the revelation of God's word. They just want to hold on to their own concept. They have no regard for the Scripture.
In 2 Corinthians 5:8 Paul said, "We are of good courage then and are well pleased rather to be abroad from the body and at home with the Lord." In Philippians 1:23 he said, "But I am constrained between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for this is far better." Even the Judaizers admit that the Lord is resurrected. How can we be with the Lord if our souls are still asleep? If a man has no consciousness after he dies, how can his presence with the Lord be felt? Paul said that it is better to be with Christ. Without a consciousness of the better presence, no one will want to be a martyr for Christ. Stephen said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" The Bible says that after a man dies he will still have consciousness. For a person to consider death to be better means that he has more feelings in death than when he is alive. This proves that a man still has consciousness after he dies. If unbelievers do not have to suffer after death, the power of our gospel will be much diminished. We believe that the Lord has died and resurrected. We also believe that those who do not believe and who are not saved will perish. The Lord says that worms do not die and fire is not quenched in Hades. An unbeliever will suffer eternal punishment. How else can we explain worms that do not die and fire that cannot be quenched? Revelation 20 says that the final judgment is eternal. Many will be thrown into the lake of fire. Fire will come down from heaven and burn the inhabitants of Gog and Magog. They will suffer day and night in the lake of fire forever.
Revelation 20:14 says, "And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire." The lake of fire is the second death. We should consider how long this lake of fire will last. Since the New Jerusalem will last for eternity, the lake of fire must also last for eternity. The Judaizers say that eternity is determined by the ages. But in the original language, eternity means the ages of the ages; it does not specify which age, but the ages of the ages, that is, eternal. Eternal life and eternal death are both unto the ages of the ages. God is unto the ages of the ages. The Judaizers argue that the word eternity means different things when used in different places. For example, they say that when applied to a grasshopper it means one thing; their eternity is only for three months. Human perdition is also eternal only in the sense of a period of time. But how do we know that the eternity of a sinner is relative, like that of a grasshopper? If a sinner's suffering is not eternal and his judgment is not eternal, the Lord would not have needed to die. There is the need for salvation because suffering and judgment are eternal. The arguments of the Judaizers are a kind of deception.
In summary there are three basic errors with the Judaizers. The first concerns the law, the second concerns the Lord's redemption, and the third concerns man's salvation after death. There are a few problems associated with them: First, according to their 1887 statistics, they had 260,000 converts. By now they must have over a million. But their teaching says that the Bible only grants 144,000 to be the overcomers. Only these ones will be able to go to heaven. If this is the case, they cannot preach their gospel anymore because the more they preach the more their elect will be displaced. Second, they consider all those who make Sunday the Sabbath to be sealed by the beast. Third, they even say that the tribulation will not be seven years. Rather it will be seven plagues within a year. How absurd this is! Fourth, some of them even claim that they are the third angel who blows the trumpet in Revelation. Now we can see the confusion of the Judaizers' system. They take advantage of the deadness of Protestantism to gain power for themselves. On the one hand, they have the Ten Commandments on their chapel walls. On the other hand, they will not read the Bible. If they are willing to read the Bible, they will not understand the verses we present to them. They are trained in their own way. They will bring out many unrelated passages to argue with us. When we talk with them, we have to be clear. We must not be led away by them. It is better for new ones not to contact them at all. If we reject them, they will not come back again.
They act in the same principle as the Jews in Revelation 2 and 3. The Seventh-day Adventists can be considered Judaizers. It is very difficult to bring a Seventh-day Adventist to salvation. The more a person is of the devil, the harder it is for him to turn to the Lord. We get an uneasy feeling whenever we are around a Hindu. Men like Gandhi may love to talk about the truth of love, but this cannot cause them to be saved because their love is not the love of Christ. When we listen to them, something bothers us within. The same is true, if not more so, when we talk with the Judaizers. Their teachings are too far off from the truth. We have to protect the brothers and sisters from falling into this darkness. Their teachings are too dangerous. We should only speak such things to the new ones briefly. There is no need to enumerate the names of all the heretics and evil teachers. We know the seriousness of the danger, but the new ones do not know. We have to help them not to contact these teachings so that they will be spared from such troubles.
A hundred years ago when the Brethren were raised up, they refuted the teaching of the Judaizers in the course of shaking up the Protestants. The Brethren are very good at Bible exposition. They are also very knowledgeable about the Lord's second coming. The proper attitude towards the Judaizers is to touch them as little as possible. Protestantism has disregarded one thing in the Bible — the Lord's second coming, and the Judaizers seize this point and use it to confuse the church. Among the Brethren, there are sixteen different interpretations concerning Daniel 9 in regards to the Lord's coming. All of them are trustworthy interpretations. The Judaizers are simply talking nonsense when it comes to interpreting Daniel and Revelation. These two books are not that hard. If any brother is distracted by the Judaizers, we have to bear the responsibility. Their propaganda rests heavily on the fact that Protestants do not read their Bible and that they have something to say about the Lord's second coming. We have to help new ones know the errors of the Judaizers so that they will guard themselves against the wrong teachings.
