Opening — Announcements and Hymn
Okay, why don't we get started? Good morning to everyone. It's good to be here on the Lord's Day morning. You can turn in your hymn books to 389.
Break off, what do I see and hear? The end of things created. The judge of mankind doth appear, on clouds of glory seated. ♪ The trumpets sound, the graves restore ♪ ♪ The dead which they contained before ♪ ♪ Prepare my soul to meet Him ♪ ♪ The dead in Christ shall first be born ♪ ♪ The last trumpet sounding ♪ ♪ Caught up to meet Him in the skies ♪ ♪ With joy their Lord surrounding ♪ ♪ No gloomy fears their soul shall find ♪ His presence sheds eternal day on those prepared Behold his wrath prevailing. For they shall rise and find their tears and sighs are unappealing.
The day of grace is past and gone Trembling they stand before the throne All unprepared to meet him Great God, what do I see and hear? The end of things created. The Judge of Mankind doth appear, on clouds of glory seated. Beneath his cross I view the day, When heaven and earth shall pass away, Let us prepare to meet Him.
Amen. Let's open in prayer.
Opening Prayer
God, we thank you for this Lord's Day Sabbath. Once again, we rejoice in you as the saints of Christ that we can gather together in this time before worship that we might learn of your truth. We pray that you'd be with us during this time. By your spirit, illumine our minds that we might behold your glory and we might have a grip upon the truth as you have revealed it to us in your holy scriptures.
And we do just pray that you prepare our hearts in this as we approach worship. And might we enter into that time worshiping you in spirit and in truth. And we pray in Christ's name. Amen.
You can turn in your confessions with me to chapter 31. Chapter 31. This is the chapter of the state of man after death and of the resurrection of the dead. I'm going to read all three paragraphs.
It's a shorter chapter. I'll read all three paragraphs and then we'll have a look at some of the things contained here.
Confession Study
The bodies of men after death return to dust and see corruption. But
The Soul at Death
their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them.
Souls of the Righteous: Paradise
The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into paradise, where they are with Christ and behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies. And
Souls of the Wicked: Hell
the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torment and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day. Besides these two places for souls separated from their bodies, the scripture acknowledgeth none.
The Saint at the Last Day
At the last day, such of the saints as are found alive shall not sleep, but be changed, and all the dead shall be raised up with the selfsame bodies and none other, although with different qualities, which shall be united again to their souls forever. The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonor. The bodies of the just, by his spirit, unto honor, and be made conformable to his own glorious body."
Introduction
So these two last paragraphs in the Confession of Faith concern what we call eschatology, Confession is moving from ecclesiology, the doctrine of the Church, now to the smallest section, we could say, in the Confession, which is eschatology, the doctrine or the study of last things. And as you may have heard before, Chapter 31 is individual eschatology, the doctrine of last things as it pertains to the individual. And then chapter 32 is a grander or a cosmic eschatology, which concerns the last judgment. So the doctrine of last things as it pertains to that great and last day of judgment.
So in this chapter on individual eschatology, there are two three simple paragraphs that we'll look at under two headings.
Death: Individual Eschatology
First, the individual eschatology as it pertains to death, and then secondly, individual eschatology as it pertains to the last day. Just by way of introduction, Dr. James Renahan writes this in his exposition of the Confession of Faith. In this final unit, the teaching of the Confession is cautious and reserved while expressing agreement on foundational matters.
It focuses on the specific issues of death, the resurrection, and final judgment without explicitly advocating a comprehensive eschatological system in the modern sense. As the last section of the entire confession, it draws upon threads of doctrine from the previous units and ought to be read with them in mind. It is a fitting conclusion to the whole." So, while the Confession of Faith, of course, would exclude certain systems of eschatology or hermeneutical approaches such as dispensationalism, and such as particular approaches to premillennialism, the focus of the confession is on a grander foundational sort of thrust. It's disclosing what the Bible most certainly says with regards to death and the last judgment. and the state of man after death.
So first, let's have a look at paragraph one and individual eschatology as it pertains to death. The first thing perhaps to observe here is a reminder regarding the constitution of man. In this first clause here, we read, the bodies of men after death return to dust and see corruption, but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them.
Constitution of Man: Body and Soul
When we boil man down to his essential properties, we can say that man is composed of body and soul. This is the constitution of man. He is constituted of, made up of, body and soul. If you back up in your confessions with me first to paragraph 2 of chapter 4, The Confession of Faith doesn't have a chapter on anthropology, the doctrine of man, but it does teach an anthropology, a doctrine of man.
What is man? What is man composed of? And it's spread across a number of chapters, and what we find here in 4.2 is the creation of man, in addition to all other creatures, but the focus here is on man. After God had made all other creatures, he created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, rendering them fit unto that life up to God for which they were created, being made after the image of God in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, having the law of God written in their hearts and power to fulfill it, and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject to change.
So we see here that man is, well, we see two things. First, the true binary nature of man, male and female, the proliferation of gender ideologies falls upon the anvil of biblical and creative reality that God made man male and female. And notice, with reasonable and immortal soul, so in addition to the body that God created man from, from out of the dust, He breathed into him the spirit or the soul, the life that he has with respect to his immortal soul. But turn to chapter 6 with me, because there we have the language of the constitution of man captured within the context of the sinfulness of man.
In 6-2, notice here, our first parents, by this sin, the eating of the fruit, the forbidden fruit from paragraph one, by this sin fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and we in them, whereby death came upon all, all becoming dead in sin and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of, notice, soul and body. So the constitution of man is soul and body, or body and soul. So finding our way back to chapter 31, we see here a reiteration, if you will, of that anthropological truth. doctrine of man as being constituted of body and soul. And this is important as well.
When Christ assumes our humanity in the Incarnation, he assumes body and soul. He assumes the whole man so that the whole man will be redeemed. If he doesn't assume a human body, then man is not truly redeemed. If he doesn't assume a human soul, then man is not truly redeemed.
He assumes the fullness of mankind, yet without sin, body and soul, in order that he might redeem the whole man. So we see here a reminder regarding the constitution of man. And you can note Genesis 2-7. and James 2.26 as sort of biblical proof text with regards to that reality. Now, moving on then next to the body at death.
The body at death. The bodies of men after death return to dust and see corruption. You can turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis 3. There are more passages that we could go to, but notably Genesis 3, immediately upon the heels of the fall of man into sin, sets forth the reality of man, by the curse of death, returning to the dust from which he was created.
Notice, beginning at Genesis 3, in the curse pronounced upon the serpent, So the Lord, this is 314, so the Lord said, God said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. And on your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.
And we have, Subsequent text, the announcement to the woman, and then to Adam, notice he said in verse 17, because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for your sake, and toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground.
For out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return. So you can see where the confessionalists are getting their articulation of the state of man after death from. They're getting it from Genesis 319, among other texts as we continue through the particular statement. But the bodies of men after death return to the dust, and see corruption.
This is the body at death. God had raised man from out of the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of the spirit of life. Man falls into sin and therefore incurs the curse. inherits the curse of being cast back into the dust to see corruption. That is the curse for man's fall, for man's violation of the law of God.
And that's not just for Adam and Eve, but for all of their progeny that proceeds from them by ordinary generation. All of the generations that follow, save Christ, not born of ordinary generation and one who did not see corruption as we read in the book of Acts in chapters 2 and 13. So the bodies of men return to the dust. We also see the soul at death in the clauses that follow, but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence immediately returned to God who gave them." So that's the general statement with regards to the soul at death.
The confession, and we'll look at this in a moment, the confession goes on to articulate the souls of the righteous, where they go, and the souls of the wicked, where they go. But first of all, with regards to the soul at death, you can turn with me to the book of Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes chapter 12, we read the following with regards to this, capturing also The previous clause regarding the body at death, but notice in Ecclesiastes 12.7, So you can see explicitly that Ecclesiastes language here in the Confession immediately return to God who gave them, the souls which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence." So, Ecclesiastes 12, 7, the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. So, the soul at death does not go into the grave, does not go to the dust, but rather goes to God who gave man the soul.
Now, this is a particular clause that is against Soul sleep, the doctrine of soul sleep, which says, which is, soul sleep is the teaching that at death, the soul does not go consciously into God's presence. Instead, it either sleeps unconscious or dies with the body until the resurrection. That's a doctrine that has been taught in many manifestations throughout the ages. There are two approaches to this idea of soul sleep.
If you like big words. If you don't, you're going to have to listen anyway. But there are two approaches to this. One is called psychopanicism, which means soul all night-ism. which is just that the soul sleeps for a whole significant period until such time as in the future, the second coming of Christ, when it is made to be awoken again.
The other one is called thnetopsychism, which means mortal soulism or soul death. So the soul dies with the body and is resurrected in the future when the body is also resurrected. In the history of the church, Eusebius, an ancient church historian, recorded that a 3rd century Arabian Christian group held that the soul dies with the body and is in the future raised with it. In the 14th century, Pope John XXII taught that departed saints do not see God until the last judgment.
Subsequent popes rejected that. So dies the infallibility of the papacy. John Calvin, in his first theological work, wrote actually against some radical reformers and Anabaptists who taught that souls sleep. In the 17th century, so in the context of the Confession of Faith, there were some men who taught the Soul Sleep Doctrine, Richard Overton, Thomas Hobbes, and John Milton.
And then among more, we could say, hitting closer to home with regards to the Second London Confession of Faith, and the Particular Baptists, there were some amongst the General or Arminian Baptists, so not the Particular Baptists, they're writing against it, some amongst the General or Arminian Baptists in Kent and Sussex who argued for, who were sort of called mortalists, who argued for a doctrine of soul sleep. So the Particular Baptists, are writing against that false doctrine, A, they're upholding what the Bible says with regards to man at death and after death, and B, they're writing against these errors by saying that their souls, which neither die nor sleep. having an immortal subsistence immediately returned to God who gave them. So the souls of all men after death returned to God who gave them.
Eternal State of Human Bodies
Now, the confession now goes on to particularly treat the souls of the righteous and the souls of the wicked. So first, with regards to the souls of the righteous after death, there is a difference here with regards to the Westminster Confession of Faith. The particular Baptists here have have a more Christological and Christ-focused clause than the Westminsterians. The Westminster Confession does not include this clause where they are with Christ, but the Baptists, not that the Westminsterians denied that the souls of the righteous go to be with Christ, with Christ, but it's just that the Baptists become a little bit more particular here in their clause.
So we have this wonderful Christological reality for the souls of the righteous, which are made perfect in holiness, received into paradise, a blessed clause with biblical weight behind it, where they are with Christ and behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies. This language speaks to what has been referred to in the history of the church as the beatific vision. Now, the beatific vision sort of has a two-fold reality. There is a true beatific vision at this state of man after death, but there is a more consummative beatific vision that comes with the stuff of the last day when body is reunited with soul in sort of that more consummative reality that will obtain in the future.
But nevertheless, the souls of the righteous behold the face of God in light and glory. We are with Christ waiting for the full redemption of our bodies. Some places in the Bible that we can turn to with regards to this, if you turn with me to the Gospel of Luke, In Luke chapter 23, that wonderful occasion at the crucifixion where that dying thief rejoiced in the Prince of Life. In Luke 23, you can turn to, let's see here, verse 43.
And Jesus said to him, This is to that dying saved thief, and Jesus said to him, assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. You know, that does a number of things with regards to what we've already talked about, but well, first, what it does is it provides the language of assurance to the thief, but also to the believer. There is an assuredliness, to the Christian salvation. Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.
We also have this against the soul sleep idea. Today, you will be with me in paradise. It's not at some point in the future when I return again, you will be with me in the eschaton, but rather today, he says to the thief, you will be with me in paradise. That's the language that the confessional, that the writers of the confession are picking up here, received into paradise where they are with Christ.
It's the language here of the thief, which is prototypical for every Christian that ever was and ever will be, those at least who die. There will be Christians at the last day, the confession speaks to those who don't die but are changed, transformed into that glorious reality of last things. But here we see Christ with the language of certainty saying today you will be with me in paradise. You can turn as well with me to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 5.
Notice at verse eight, we are confident, yes, well-pleased rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. That's a blessed reality here that the confession is upholding, informed by the Bible, informed by passages specifically like this, that the soul immediately goes to God who gave it, and for the righteous, it is the case that they are present with the Lord as well Well, as well, I didn't write down that verse properly. I just said chapter 1, verse 23. So if anyone wants to find that in the 66 books of the Bible, you can go right ahead.
But the wonderful language here of the confession of faith is that the souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness. That's a blessed reality too, isn't it? Being made perfect in holiness. No more sin.
No more effects of sin and implications of sin and just the mess and the muckiness that sin causes. The souls of the righteous are made perfect in holiness. What a blessed thing. The inability to sin because of this transformed reality that we have in the presence of God and with Christ.
We're made perfect in holiness. a wonderful blessing, a wonderful promise, a wonderful reality for the souls of the righteous at and after death. We next have a particular clause here that treats the souls of the wicked. Notice the language of the confession, and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell where they remain in torment and utter darkness reserved to the judgment of the great day. So quite a contrast to the wonder and the glory for the souls of the righteous is this reality for the souls of the wicked.
They're cast into hell, and notice that that still is, that the wicked, the souls of the wicked, they return to God who gave them. The souls of the wicked are not away from God when they're cast into hell. They're cast away from the goodness of God. They're cast away from a state of common condescending benevolence that they enjoyed while they breathed breath.
But they still immediately return to God who gave them. But unlike the righteous, the presence of God is the presence of an unmitigated, wholesome severity and holiness. visited upon them for their rejection of God and for the rejection of the Christ whom he has sent. And so it's a terrible state for those who are wicked, for those who are not believers, for those who die outside of Christ. They're cast into hell where they remain in torment and utter darkness reserved to the judgment of the great day.
So that will be the stuff of chapter 32 that Pastor Butler will treat in a couple of weeks, but that is the significant reality, and that is then, or that informs or fuels the burden of gospel proclamation. It is one of the motivations for the proclamation of Jesus Christ Him crucified and Him raised again, is that we want to see those presently under the abiding wrath of God to be brought from out of that state of wrath to a state of glory by grace through faith in our precious Christ. Paragraph one closes with the exclusivity of these two destinations, the exclusivity of the two destinations.
Exclusivity of Two Destinations
Besides these two places, for souls separated from their bodies, the scripture acknowledgeth none." There is, once again, an obvious and simple upholding of the biblical witness to those two places, but also this is a polemical statement against the Roman Catholic doctrines of purgatory and limbo. The Catholics have a doctrine of purgatory, which is, A state after death, according to them, remember this is false doctrine, a terrible doctrine. Purgatory is the state after death in which those who die in God's grace and are therefore certain of heaven, but are still imperfectly purified, undergo a final cleansing and pay the temporal punishment still due for their forgiven sins before entering the vision of God. What a terrible doctrine.
On so many fronts, it's a terrible doctrine, but it does obvious violence to the perfection of the work of Christ. He didn't secure the forgiveness of sins. You still have to pay. You still have to be purified.
Christ did not actually do that. do the work of salvation perfectly. A number of passages speak against this particular doctrine in the Holy Scriptures. One that we already cited, Luke 23, 43, the thief on the cross. Today, you will be with me in paradise, but you can also turn with me to the book of Hebrews and chapter 1.
Hebrews chapter 1, just a small sampling of texts that speak clearly against the doctrine of purgatory. There are multitudinous others. Hebrews 1, notice Well, we'll just read from verse one. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, notice, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high." That language of purge is in purgatory, the purgation, the purging of sins.
We clearly see here that the Great One Christ, very God and very man, yet one Christ, has purged our sins and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. There is no requirement for the righteous, for Christians, for those saved by grace, to have any sort of further purging other than what Christ has once for all done by virtue of the perfection of his cross work. It's absolute madness. You can turn as well to Hebrews 10.
Hebrews 10, a wonderful clause, a wonderful phrase, a wonderful verse. Verse 14, for by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. By one offering, he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. This language that the confession picks up here with regards to the souls of the righteous being then made perfect in holiness, there's a connection there.
Having been perfectly redeemed and having enjoyed that salvation even prior to death, at death, they are perfected in that holiness, secured by Jesus Christ, our precious Savior. You can turn as well to 1st John. 1st John chapter 1. The clarity of the Bible is clear. The clarity of the Bible is just, it's so significant with regards to this point.
Again, the language, but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. The language of that purging, that the Apostle Paul uses in Hebrews 1 is the language of John the Baptist with regards to Christ and His judgment coming and thoroughly cleansing the threshing floor. There's this thorough cleansing that takes place in Christ's purging of our sins, in Christ cleansing us from all sin. Just like the threshing floor cleanses all that is within its confines, so Christ cleanses and perfectly purges our sins and deals with them extensively and perfectly and completely and finally.
This idea of purgatory is abominable and blasphemous. They also have a doctrine called limbo, which is usually separated into two limbos. Limbus patrum, which is the limbo for the fathers, those who died before the coming of Christ, are held in a compartment until the coming of Christ. And also limbus infantum, which is a limbo for infants who die prior to being baptized.
So anyway, they just... Like many of their doctrines, it falls upon the strong anvil of biblical truth and is dashed to a thousand pieces. We should note as well, just before we move on to the last two paragraphs here,
Personal Identity Through Death
we should note that personal identity continues through the soul when When soul is separated from body at death, there is not a loss of identity. And what I mean by that is we noted at the outset of the study that man is comprised of, man is constituted of body and soul. Okay, but then if the body goes to the dust and sees corruption at death, and the soul goes to God who gave it, then does man somehow lose his humanity? Man does not lose his humanity.
Personal identity continues through the soul, but human nature is incomplete in the separated state. So while man does not lose his identity or his reality of manhood, being body and soul, nevertheless there is an incompletion that is sort of, if we could say, consummated and perfected at the resurrection. Some texts to make a note of, Matthew 22, 32, Matthew 17.3, Revelation 6.9-10, and Hebrews 12.23. You can actually turn to the Hebrews passage for a moment, Hebrews 12.23, just on, you know, we don't need to entertain any sort of silliness that we somehow lose our identities when our souls are separated from our bodies.
In Hebrews 12.23, we see, well, just backing up to 22, but, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, and notice, to the spirits of just men made perfect. to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. So there are these who have departed to be with the Lord, and they're referred to as the spirits of just men made perfect. You can see that sort of being a concise statement of what the confession is saying here. The souls of the righteous, just men, made perfect in holiness, made perfect, and the spirits or the souls of the righteous going to be with God, with Christ, to behold the face of light and glory, the spirits of those just men.
So there is still identity and humanity that obtains, even though the body and soul for a time are separated. And that passage in Revelation 6, we see that this reality asserted as well. In Revelation 6 at verse 9, we see these souls before the throne crying out. We see in verse 9 of Revelation 6, then he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held, and they cried with a loud voice saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth.
So there is the retention of, the non-cessation of, personal identity at death, even though the soul is separated from the body. Well,
Last Day: Individual Eschatology
moving on to the last two paragraphs here under the simple heading, individual eschatology as it pertains to the last day, I say simple heading, one single heading, individual eschatology as it pertains to the last day. The first thing that we see is the saint at the last day, and then we see in paragraph three, the eternal state of human bodies. So first, in paragraph two, we see the saint at the last day. At the last day, such of the saints as are found alive shall not sleep, but be changed, and all the dead shall be raised up with the selfsame bodies and none other, although with different qualities, which shall be united again to their souls forever.
So we see first off what I had mentioned only briefly previously, that the Christians who are alive at the last day don't somehow enter into death and then are raised. They shall not sleep, it says, or they shall not die, but be changed. I may be speaking out of turn, but I think it's the case that maybe it's the Westminster that says, shall not die, the Baptists change it to sleep. Someone can maybe Google that. to tell me during the question and answer period, but I think it's the case that the Baptists use the language here and they soften it.
If that's not the case, it is a nice softening anyway that the Bible itself uses with regards to the death of the believer. They sleep, not in order to support this idea of soul sleep, but in order to speak to the rest that Christians receive in dying. With regards to the believers at the last day who are found alive, they don't die or they shall not sleep, but they shall be changed, the confession says. That speaks with regards to the, although with different qualities, with regards to their body, when the bodies are united to their souls forever.
One of the things we should observe here, besides that, is with regards to this language of self-same bodies and none other. This, once again, is a clause that is asserting a biblical truth against error. There was an error at the time of the confession on the part of Sassinians and Quakers, Sassinians on the continent, but Sassinianism sort of finding its way through men like John Biddle and John Best in England, where they held a particular doctrine that a new spiritual body, and not the flesh that is laid in the grave, is received by those who die in the Lord. The Quakers, similarly to the Sassanians, argued that saints receive a spiritual heavenly body, not a resurrection of the same carnal flesh or the same body that they had while living.
The Bible upholds and the confession concluding from the Bible that all the dead shall be raised up with the self same bodies and none other. The wonderful reality though here is what the confession goes on to say, although with different qualities. which shall be united again to their souls forever. So there will be this reality that our bodies are the self-same bodies, but not with those things that attended the sort of the reality of the fall that we incurred. There will be no common infirmities of the human body.
There will be these different qualities, End of paragraph three speaks to this fact, and they will be made conformable to Christ's own glorious body. So we have this wonderful promise, this wonderful reality that awaits us on that great and last day. Some of the texts that we can turn to that speak to a particular reality here, you can turn first with me to Acts 24. Acts 24.
This is speaking to this resurrection of both the just and the unjust. Notice in Acts 24 at verse 15, I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men. So the confession is simply capturing texts like this to articulate its eschatology.
I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. Backing up a little bit canonically to John 5. John 5 and verse 28. It's a wonderful language. of our Lord Jesus Christ in this extended section. where he is preaching regarding a number of things, touching upon his own glory as he has with the Father.
Notice in John 5 at verse 28, do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. And notice in the context here, it's speaking with regards to the Son of God who is also Son of Man. In other words, Christ has the power wherewith, with which, to call forth bodies from the grave. Well, the whole context is an argument for Christ's divinity, and this is no stranger to that particular argument.
Those who hear His voice do not marvel at this for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice. It's quite a testament to the glory of Christ. The Bible doesn't give us a low Christology, it gives us a high Christology. He is very God of very God.
He is one in substance with the Father, and we see this wonderful reality regarding the resurrection of the dead, the bodies of both the just and the unjust come forth. And notice in paragraph three, it's an interesting statement, and there's a distinction here between the unjust raised by the power of Christ and the just raised by his spirit. It's different language. Notice, the bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonor.
We usually think of the power of Christ as active in the salvation of sinners. Here, the power of Christ is not a redemptive power because these are the unjust that are raised to dishonor. The power of Christ here is with regards to his power as just judge. as the one who has the power over life and death, who is the judge of the quick and the dead, who raises by his own creative and divine power the unjust, sending them to dishonor. But then we do have this wonderful grace-filled and redemptive reality with regards to the bodies of the just. the bodies of the just by his spirit, we should read here and insert, are raised unto honor and are made conformable to his own glorious body.
You know, in the context here, what we should, when I read Renahan's sort of introduction here at the beginning, he says, As the last section of the entire confession, it draws upon threads of doctrine from the previous units and ought to be read with them in mind. It's a fitting conclusion to the whole. With regards to this judgment of the last day and this language of raised to honor and raised to dishonor, turn with me back to chapter two for a moment just to to sort of vindicate Renahan's statement here, not that it needs vindication, but to prove it when he says that it ought to be read with those other units in mind. Chapter 31, read with these other units in mind.
In Chapter 2, it is the doctrine of God, and notice with regards to the doctrine of God at the end of paragraph one, near the end. Most loving, God is most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, the rewarder of them that diligently seek him, and with all most just and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty. You see how we read this with other units in mind. The doctrine of God is intimately behind the doctrine of the state of man after death and the resurrection of the dead.
With regards to those righteous souls, he is abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, the rewarder of them that diligently seek him. For the souls of the wicked, who are raised to dishonor by the power of Christ, he is with all most just and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty. If we move to the chapter on the doctrine of Christ, which is chapter eight, of Christ the mediator. Notice what we read in a couple different paragraphs here regarding this chapter 31.
In chapter 8, paragraph 1, it pleased God in His eternal purpose to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, according to the covenant made between them both, to be the mediator between God and man, the prophet, priest, and king, head and savior of His church, the heir of all things, and judge of the world. In paragraph 3, we read with regards to Christ, in the last clause there, that the Father also put all power and judgment in His hand and gave Him commandment to execute the same, that is, his office as mediator. And then we also see in paragraph four some of the stuff relating to Christ, but specifically with regards to our chapter 31, the last clause, and shall return to judge men and angels at the end of the world. And so while Chapter 31 speaks specifically to the doctrine of eschatology, the study or doctrine of last things, it is, as other chapters in the Confession, very intimately connected to previous heads of doctrine.
The doctrine of God, the doctrine of Christ, the scattered doctrine of man that exists through other paragraphs. the doctrine of creation, and the doctrine of the fall of man into sin, and those sorts of things. So when we read the Confession, which is a summary of what the Bible teaches, it's a helpful practice to move back and forth between the chapters to see the interconnectedness between the respective heads of doctrine. Well, that is the state of man after death and the resurrection of the dead. I'll close in prayer, and then if there are any questions, we have about five minutes.
Let's pray.
Closing Prayer
God, we thank you for this time together. We rejoice in your goodness to us. We thank you that as saints saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, we have to look forward to this being with Christ, to behold the face of God. We look forward to the resurrection of the body after death and being raised not to dishonor, but to honor.
And we long for that day to be found perfect in holiness. Until that time, we pray that you would bless us here, that you would watch over us in this lower sojourn, that you would bring us to worship in 35 minutes' time, that we might, by your Spirit, be prepared for worship, rejoicing in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, rejoicing in Gospel grace. And we pray in Christ's name. Amen.
Questions and Answers
Any questions? Any of that? Yeah? Good questions.
Chapter 1, verse 23, that would be Philippians, right? Ah, thank you. Yeah, yeah. Do you have it there?
Yeah. Nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. Oh, sorry, that was 24. For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart Christ, which is far better.
Yes, that's right. Yeah, thank you. Very good. I think I would substantially agree with chapter 31 and 32.
That I guess. Yeah, I guess with what would take place between death and the last day. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, I'd say so. Yeah. And I was just thinking about the faculties of the soul versus the body, because things like mind, conversation, language, English, whatever, that's all part of the body, so that's dead.
So we talk about the soul, that those things are crying out. or mentally, that's just spiritual crying out, right? What remains in that intermediate state? It's a mysterious thing because our bodies are the instruments by which the soul gives voice and gives movement to things. And so yeah, it's an interesting thing there.
How does a spirit, departed from it, separated from its body, does not have a voice box and the means to, it doesn't have a diaphragm that's pushing air through lungs and through the throat across voice boxes and out the mouth. So yeah, it's interesting, it's mysterious. Yeah, yeah. Neurons, which is dead.
What's stored in our soul? I don't know. We don't know. Yeah, yeah, that's a mystery.
Yeah, yeah, there is no, there are no neural synapses that are firing as you're engaging in crying out as a spirit separated from its body. It's a, yeah, it's an interesting mystery. Yeah. Oh, oh, yep?
I don't know, I can't remember exactly what you just said. OPC was, I think they were going to combine another combination of PC, like Presbyterian, but they had a pre-milk leader. Yeah, yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, the, yeah, a dispensational sort of pre-trib or mid-trib view is, they'd have to change it.
Yeah, yeah. All right, thanks everybody.