by Gary L. Evans
(revised 7/28/2023)
Where are The Dead? — Part 1
Luk 16:19-23 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
The word “hell” is from the Greek word “hah’-dace” and means “properly unseen, that is, ‘Hades’ or the place (state) of departed souls.” So this word “hell” is not the same as the “hell” described in The Millennium, which is when all of that weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth will take place.
Luk 16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
However in Heaven there are two segregated areas, one for those who overcome the deception of Satan in this world and another for those who do not.
Note that “tormented” is from ” od-oo-nah’-o” which means “grief.”
Luk 16:25-26 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
There is an impassable divide between the two areas in Heaven. But obviously those on one side can see and even speak to some on the other.
Luk 16:27-31 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
And so it is even today that many have no respect for our Lord’s Sacrifice on The Cross and His Resurrection from the Dead, and even openly mock The Lord and God’s Word. Why? Because most likely they simply don’t believe, and unbelief is a form of ignorance.
Moses wrote the book of Genesis which declares that God Most High created the heavens and earth and all things in them. But if one does not even believe what Moses wrote, then how can one even begin to believe that God sent His Son to die for our sins? Moses prophesied about the coming of The Messiah, and commanded Israel to listen to Him when He would appear in the future.
Our Lord was teaching an important lesson in this text. And Jesus never told a lie in order to teach. Therefore the description The Lord gave us of The Divide in Heaven is The Truth.
Where are The Dead? — Part 2
To understand where the dead are now, we must first understand where we all came from.
Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
The word “God” is from the Hebrew “el-o-heem'” which is plural and means “gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative: – angels, X exceeding, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.”
In the Strong’s definition, the words listed after the dash “–” are the various translations of the word into the English language in the King James Bible, so note that it is often translated to “angels.” With this case of the word, “el-o-heem”, there is the article. Thus it says “The Elohim,” which is God and the angels.
This word is from “el-o’-ah” which means “a deity or the deity.” So “eloah” is singular and means god (angel) or God.
Note the phrase “Let us make,” because a plurality of beings declared these words. Who were these beings with supernatural power to make mankind in their own image?
Psa 82:6-7 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
The word “gods” in these verses of the Psalms is “elohim,” lower case without the article, which in this context means “the angels.” We are all declared by God to be His children. Note the decree against us: we all must die in the flesh.
But think back to those verses in Genesis, because it was us who, with The Most High, declared “Let us make man in our image.” We all said that, my friends, you did, I did. And this is a very important fact to fully comprehend.
Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
The word “image” is from “tseh’-lem” which means “to shade; a phantom, that is, (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence a representative figure, especially an idol.”
So our flesh bodies are “phantom resemblances” of our angelic bodies. And even our Lord’s body is a phantom resemblance of our Creator, and even more than that, because our Father did not have a body as such before He came in the flesh of The Man Christ Jesus, because our God is a Consuming Fire.
Focus on the fact that we all spoke these words recorded in Genesis, and our presence here on earth today is a direct result of our agreement to come here. And also our Father agreed to come here in the flesh along with us.
Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
So we see the making of all the races of mankind, and are told their various powers over other living things on earth. Some were given power over the “fish,” therefore some races were fishermen; and some were given power over the “birds,” therefore some races were fowlers; and some were given power over the “animals” that walked on the ground, therefore some races were hunters.
And thus mankind was made on earth by beings dwelling in heavenly places.
Where are The Dead? — Part 3
Gen 2:4-5 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
Our Creator had made the heavens (plural) and the earth, and also had made mankind on the sixth day, and rested on the seventh day. Now a day is a thousand years. But after all that, The Lord still did not have a man to till the soil. In other words, He did not have a farmer. The Lord had made fishermen, fowlers, and hunters, but no farmers.
So one or two thousand years after He had made mankind on the earth, our Father realizes that He did not yet have a farmer. Do you think God somehow forgot something important? Our Father does use a bit of very dry humor occasionally in the scriptures, and after you have read the Bible a few dozen times you will begin to see it.
Here we are, in the eighth millennium of this second earth age, and God discovers He did not have a farmer. Apparently, that was a very important thing in His Divine Plan.
Gen 2:6-7 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
The word “breathed” is from “naw-fakh'” which means “to puff, to blow hard with the breath.” The word “breath” is from “nesh-aw-maw'” and means “a puff, that is, wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect or (concretely) an animal.” Focus on the meaning, “intellect,” because that is what our life giving spirit actually is. It is our mind, our intellect. And it came into our flesh body by the will of God. “And man became a living soul.”
Our Father did not have a farmer, but here it is stated in the Hebrew with the article, “ayth aw-dawm'” more properly translated to “that certain man,” the one mentioned before regarding the one not yet made. It is reasonable to assume that all of the races of mankind were made of the dust of the earth and God-breathed just as this certain man was made, but what must be considered unique about him is his dominion, which was that of a farmer.
So all of mankind is God-breathed. Our life giving spirits are sent into our flesh bodies in the wombs of our mothers causing our bodies to become living souls. Recall that “God” is plural and includes us before we came here. Therefore “we breathed” into these flesh bodies. And that is how each one of us got here in the first place.
And when our bodies draw their last breath, we will simply go back home.
Where are The Dead? — Part 4
Gen 4:8-9 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?
The Eternal asked Cain a rhetorical question about where was Abel, because The Lord knew where Abel was. Now note the mind set of Cain the first murderer, who then replies arrogantly with a lie and a smart ass question as a counter argument, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Gen 4:10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.
Our Lord declares an important precept using a similitude, “the voice of your brother’s blood cries.” Does blood have a voice? Can it literally cry? Only a soul has a voice and is able to cry, and yet Abel was crying to The Lord.
Back to The Eternal’s first question, where was Abel?
Ecc 12:6-7 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Using various metaphors, our Lord speaks of the eventual death of the flesh body. We know we must die in the flesh. So the important precept here is that it is declared explicitly that then “the spirit returns back to God who gave it.”
Also note that the word “God” is from “el-o-heem'” with the article which means The Most High and His children. Therefore all of us, the good and the bad, return back to The Elohim after the death of our flesh bodies.
Where are The Dead? — Part 5
Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
The “spirit” is what gives “life” to the body. The flesh body has no lasting value, because it will eventually return to the dust of the earth.
Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
The Lord had declared thousands of years before that because of Adam’s sin he would eventually die and his flesh body decay back into the elements. And this process applies to all of mankind.
1Co 15:35-38 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
Paul, by The Holy Mind, speaks of the resurrection of the spirit after the death of the flesh body. Do not confuse this universal resurrection with The Inheritance of Eternal Life, which is only for those who overcome the deception of Satan in this world.
God “breathed” our spirit into our flesh body being formed in our mother’s womb, and upon the death of our flesh body, our spirit returns back to God. What Paul is teaching here is that when our spirit does return, it returns in our angelic body.
1Co 15:39-40 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
Paul uses a number of analogies to get this simple point across. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies (of God’s children), and they are very different. But we know from Genesis that they appear almost identical. From reading all of God’s Word, every appearance of an angel is that of a male of about 30 years old. So angels appear to be men at peak maturity but that never get old or sick. Note that angels do not have wings, any more than men have wings.
1Co 15:41-44 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
There is a “natural” or flesh body, and there is a “spiritual” or angelic body.
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
This is an important precept, that “flesh and blood” cannot enter The Kingdom of God. Recall that our Lord’s blood was drained out of His body on the cross, and after three days in the tomb He resurrected in His Transfigured Body. Our Lord kept His flesh body for the eternity, however without the blood which He had shed for the Redemption Price of our souls to free us from slavery to sin (Satan).
1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
Paul is teaching about the change of body that must take place when our Lord returns to this earth, because His return will mark the beginning of The Kingdom of God on earth. And no flesh and blood bodies can be there.
This is one of the mysteries. Not everyone will die before our Lord returns. But everyone still walking this earth at that moment must be changed.
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
In the blink of the eye, at The Seventh Trumpet, all will be raised together into incorruptible bodies. Incorruptible means they cannot be corrupted, that is, become sick and die and rot. Those who are “dead” at this time are spiritually dead, meaning they have not overcome the deception of Satan in order to receive Life. And the “we” Paul refers to are The Elect, in contrast to the dead, who do overcome and take part in The First Resurrection into Eternal Life.
Note that both good and bad are resurrected into angelic bodies in an instant.
1Co 15:53-54 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
When our Lord returns to start His Millennial Reign, all flesh will pass away, and all of God’s children will assemble before Him in our angelic bodies. But this change of body process already occurs every time anyone dies in the flesh. They are changed into their angelic body and in that body return to God.
Where are The Dead? — Part 6
1Th 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
Paul is teaching a precept regarding those who are “asleep,” which is figurative for those who have died in the flesh.
1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
We believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, and then ascended into Heaven. Therefore we also believe that everyone else who has died believing in Jesus has done the same (although not in transfigured bodies but in their angelic bodies), and will return with Christ.
1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
The word translated to “prevent” is the Greek word “fthan’-o” which means “to go before hand, that is, anticipate or precede.” So according to God’s Word, we who remain on earth at the moment our Lord returns cannot go before those who have already died and returned to Him, because they are already there with Him.
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
At The Seventh Trumpet, The Lord will descend and stand on earth again, and all who have died and returned to heaven to be with Him will return with Him. They will suddenly appear standing on earth with Him. The phrase “shall rise first” is better translated to “will have resurrected already.”
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
And we who are here, after our change of body, will gather together with them.
The word “clouds” is figurative, referring to “clouds of witnesses.” And the word “air” is from the Greek “ah-ayr'” which means “to breathe unconsciously, that is, respire; by analogy to blow.” Thus it means “respiration, breath” which is figurative for our spiritual or angelic body. This verse does not say that we will go up into the sky, because that is a different word.
So everyone who has lived and died in the flesh and is already in Heaven will return with Christ, and we who are here will be changed into our angelic bodies instantly and we all will assemble together at the feet of our Lord.
1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
It should be a comfort to know that our friends and relatives who have lived and died before us are not in some hole in the ground, but instead are with The Lord in Heaven. This is true of all people, not just the over-comers. But it is especially comforting regarding those who were true believers.
Where are The Dead? — Part 7
Rev 19:9-10 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
John fell down to worship the angel who was telling him about these things. But the angel rebuked him and said, “Don’t do it! Worship God.” Note what else this angel told him, that he was a fellow servant of God who had been among his ancestors.
Rev 22:8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
John was a little slow to grasp this simple precept the angel already told him. Here he goes bowing down in worship to him again.
Rev 22:9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
Then the angel gets more specific and explains that not only was he one of John’s ancestors but he was also one of the prophets. Which prophet? Was he Isaiah? Or Amos? Or Ezekiel? We don’t know.
What is critical to our thinking is that our ancestors and friends who have already passed away are not in some hole in the ground, but are in Heaven with our Lord.
Whosoever has eyes to see and ears to hear, let him hear.