Ancient Beliefs: The Mystery of the Intermediary

A Most Important Concept

“Eternal life.” “Everlasting life.” These two phrases (representing one concept), one might argue (and I think argue well), is the most important concept in all of Scripture.

How to obtain eternal life was the question of the rich young ruler. “Good Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18).

It’s the teaching that caused the apostle Peter to cling to His Lord even when everyone else was deserting Him. Peter said, “Lord, where are we going to go? You have words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

Eternal life is the reason for which God sent His Son into the world: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Eternal life is God’s commandment to the world:

For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me. (John 12:49–50)

And eternal life is Jesus’s prayer for the world: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3).

Eternal Life in the Old and New Testament: A Significant Contrast

It should come as no surprise, then, that our New Testament Scriptures speak of “eternal life” (or “everlasting life”) in more than 40 verses. By contrast, the phrase appears in the Old Testament only one time.

So, 40+ times vs. 1 time on the most important concept. What significance is there to be seen in that contrast? A few things.

First, you and I live in a privileged age; ours is an age of revelation, a time of advantageous knowledge. Our knowledge of things regarding eternal life gives us power, and it gives us peace. That power and peace come only if you do, in fact, know the things taught about eternal life.

Our knowledge of things regarding eternal life gives us power, and it gives us peace.

The second point of significance is that your interest in knowing—your determination to live in that knowledge—is vital. It’s one thing to acknowledge eternal life as the most important concept, but it’s another thing entirely to embrace it, to live in that knowledge and pursuit it.

It’s one thing to acknowledge eternal life as the most important concept, but it’s another … to live in that knowledge and pursuit it.

I mentioned that there’s only one reference in the Old Testament to “eternal life.” Many people, even Christians, can’t name which book that phrase appears in. And that’s one reason I’m going to spend some time talking about it and then connect the concept to the resurrection of the dead—our current sermon series.

The book of Daniel is the sole place where eternal/everlasting life is mentioned in the Old Testament. Specifically, we find the phrase in chapter 12:

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2)

This verse isn’t talking about people who for some reason sleep on the ground. It’s talking about people who died. From our position looking backward, this verse clearly seems to reference a resurrection from the dead. And it’s backed up by verse 13:

But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age. (Daniel 12:13)

While those verses are clear, this verse about the end times is surrounded by mystery. Daniel 12 is going to introduce an archangel that has previously been unnamed, and it talks about a prince or great ruler who is going to arise on behalf of the people but in the midst of the worst distress ever brought upon a nation. It’s a passage that declares that knowledge will increase, while also stating that God’s prophet Daniel is not going to be able to completely understand what’s being said.

Here’s the entire chapter:

“Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.”

Then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two others were standing, one on this bank of the river and the other on that bank of the river. And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be until the end of these wonders?” I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time; and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed. As for me, I heard but could not understand; so I said, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?” He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days! But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.” (Daniel 12:1–13)

Let me tell you the secret of the 1,335 days: it’s the number of days that this sermon series on the Oracles of God will last. [Kidding!] In all seriousness, before we proceed, let me recap where this sermon falls within the context of our larger series.

The Last Pair of Oracles

I began preaching a series called the Oracles of God about two years ago (Easter of 2023). The fuller name is “the elementary principles of the oracles of God,” based on a phrase in the book of Hebrews (namely, 5:12), which is written to Jewish believers struggling to press on in the faith. Hebrews was written to those who had become dull of hearing—those who had become tired of the same topic. In their failure to push forward, they were reverting to a system in which they hoped to attain right standing with God through the Law, and therefore, they were rejecting, abandoning, or failing to fully grasp six foundational principles that we’re given as a list in Hebrews 6:1–2:

Repentance from dead works
Faith toward God
Baptisms¹
Laying on of hands
Resurrection from the dead
Eternal judgment

These six principles work in pairs, that we’ve characterized in various ways, and we’re now in the last pair: resurrection from the dead and eternal judgment.

It’s probably hardest to draw a neat border around these last two principles. We’re at a point where two subseries really blend together.

When we talk about resurrection from the dead—outside of talking about the resurrection of Christ—we are talking about an event that must take place in the future. Resurrection from the dead will occur as God judges the world, and it speaks of ongoing life—something eternal.

I could announce that, with this sermon, I’m entering into our sixth and final subseries, on eternal judgment, while continuing to talk about resurrection from the dead. But l’d like to be a bit more exact than that.

Let me tell you a few things in advance about what we’ll cover the rest of this study. That way, you can see (I hope) the value of a few more sermons on resurrection from the dead.

The chief area that remains when it comes to the resurrection of the dead is what I want to call “The Mystery of the Intermediary.”

We’re in an intermediary period in which we’re waiting upon the resurrection from the dead.

We’re in an intermediary period in which we’re waiting upon the resurrection from the dead.

When the ancients talked about resurrection from the dead, they were talking about a two-stage process. It’s not death and immediately resurrection from the dead. So we said that resurrection from the dead represents life after life after death. (There’s death. Then there’s life after death. And then there’s the resurrection—the afterlife that comes after the afterlife.)

Resurrection from the dead represents life after life after death.

The questions at hand are:

What is the state of the dead prior to resurrection?
What is the state of those who died prior to Christ’s resurrection?
Is that state the same or different as those who died after Christ’s resurrection?

In covering this mystery, I’d like to entertain a couple of ideas:

The sorrow of a place called Sheol²
The promise of a place called Paradise

There are some odds and ends to be discussed as well, though not all in this sermon. For example, we need to cover what in the world is going on with a story like the rich man and Lazarus—and specifically the places named in it (Hades, Abraham’s bosom). These things I’ll cover prior to Easter, and then I’ll tackle some specifics about eternal judgement (e.g., millennial kingdoms, rapture, heaven, hell).

But now, let me take one giant step back and frame everything with this general observation: The problem of the audience to which Hebrews was written was that they were rejecting the truth of revelation about the present and the future in favor of what they’d always believed—in favor of what was familiar.

We do well to learn from this error.

And we do so, in part, by getting a good understanding of those past beliefs and by embracing, with gratitude, our present knowledge revealed to us in this age of grace.

Ancient Beliefs

What, then, were some of the ancient beliefs about the dead in the Old Testament period? The short answer is that their beliefs were varied and contradictory.³

Let’s establish some categories.

We could divide thought on the afterlife in terms of Gentile (pagan) beliefs versus Jewish beliefs.

We could also categorize beliefs in terms of logical possibilities regarding afterlife. In particular, the simple options are we either cease to exist or we do not cease to exist after we die; we exist or don’t exist in the afterlife. (If we do exist, that existence could be pleasant or unpleasant.)

Rejection of Existence in Afterlife and Resurrection

Let’s examine the “non-existence” option. If we do not exist in the afterlife, then right off the bat, we can see that the thinking in terms of Gentile/Jewish beliefs will blend together because there were both Jews and pagans who adopted the philosophy that this life is “all there is”—you die, then it’s over.

The pagans that would have adopted that philosophy were the Epicureans. That’s one of the groups Paul was arguing with in Athens.⁴

The other group was the Sadducees.⁵

The Sadducees

The best place to see the Sadducees’ beliefs about death is in Acts 23:6-10, which offers a good snapshot of the varying beliefs and rivalries associated with these beliefs. Paul is on trial in this passage (he’s on trial a lot!), standing before the Sanhedrin. The high priest is present.

But perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the Council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!” As he said this, there occurred a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.⁶ For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. And there occurred a great uproar; and some of the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and began to argue heatedly, saying, “We find nothing wrong with this man; suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” And as a great dissension was developing, the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks.

On first glance, this passage seems to indicate that the Sadducees don’t believe in angels and spirits. We think the Sadducees rejected all of the Old Testament outside of the first five books, and yet, those books do mention angels and spirits. So, these verses are probably not saying that Sadducees denied that angels or spirits existed, but rather that they denied the otherwise popular belief that becoming an angel or spirit was the “post-death but pre-resurrection state of someone.”⁷

For purposes of clarification, when you die, your spirit persists in the afterlife, but even now, there’s a popular and wrong belief that we turn into angels when we die. We don’t turn into angels; the Bible is clear on this. Instead, believers actually will judge the angels,⁸ and we become not like angels but like Jesus—who has been made greater than the angels⁹—at the resurrection of the dead. (So don’t settle for being an angel; you’ll be something greater!)

That is the Scriptural explanation of the difference in beliefs between the Sadducees and Pharisees. It’s helpful to consult historical sources, too, as they can corroborate what we see in Scripture.

Josephus was an historian who played both sides—he was friendly to the Jews and the Romans. He noted that the Sadducees did not believe in “the persistence of the soul after death, penalties in the underworld, and rewards.”¹⁰ The Sadducees, he said, “hold that the soul perishes along with the body.”¹¹

Belief in Resurrection and Existence in Afterlife

Conscious vs. Unconscious Existence

Enough on the groups that believe this life is all there is. Next, I want to turn to those who do believe in an existence in the afterlife. But before I do, I should add one other option.

I mentioned that existence in the afterlife could be a pleasant/blissful one or an unpleasant/sorrowful one. But that presupposes that you are conscious (otherwise, you wouldn’t know if it’s pleasant or unpleasant). There’s another category that some might call soul sleep, or unconscious existence: you’re not gone, but you’re not conscious; you’re simply asleep. In future sermons, I’ll explain why that notion should be rejected.

For now, let’s turn to the Pharisees, who are an example of those who believe in a conscious existence after death. (You’ll see here how their beliefs illustrate how resurrection from the dead and eternal judgment are a blended topic.)

The Pharisees

The Pharisees¹² believed in resurrection from the dead. They began to enact changes in the way in which the death penalty was carried out within Israel. They wanted to use a method that would not do damage to the bone structure. Why? In Ezekiel, there’s a passage about prophesying to the dry bones¹³—that’s one source to which they could appeal; the thinking was that resurrection from the dead is physical (as I’ve talked about in another sermon) and the bones are the base for this resurrection. So, if you need the bones, you need to moderate how you stone people. (I’m not sure how good that was for the people getting stoned—sounds perhaps more painful than being killed.)

Burning was another form of punishment at that time. Instead of just burning the whole body up, the Pharisees advocated for pouring burning liquid down the throat—again painful, but it preserved the bones.

Cremation was avoided because of the belief about resurrection from the dead.¹⁴

It was during this period that secondary burials were most prevalent. This helps us understand something about the burial of Jesus. When people had a reburial at that time, it’s not that they went and dug up a body and then buried it in the dirt in another place. They would have gone to a tomb—let’s say a tomb like Jesus’s, for example, hewn out of a cave. At some point, the body decomposes, and they would gather up the bones of the body for preservation because, in the Pharisees’ minds, that’s most important. They would then put the bones in a box, called an ossuary; it’s a box that would just fit all the bones (not a whole body), being long enough to fit the longest bone in the human body (the femur or upper leg).

Corroborating Scripture: Josephus and Other Writings

Let’s look at some later writings that followed the traditions of the Pharisees. You’ll see they didn’t miss a chance to take a dig at the Sadducees:

The Sadducees asked Rabban Gamaliel whence it could be proved that the Holy One, blessed be He, makes the dead live again. He [Gamaliel] said to them: From the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. But they would not accept this.¹⁵

From this, we see that some understood that resurrection from the dead was taught in the Old Testament.

Here’s another writing:

All Israelites have a share in the world to come¹⁶ … And these are they that have no share in the world to come: he that says that there is no resurrection of the dead prescribed in the Law; and that says that the Law is not from Heaven; and an Epicurean.¹⁷

We’ve covered the Epicureans before.¹⁸ These people were materialists (philosophically) who believed that the physical world is all there is, and thus they believed in no afterlife. Therefore, the goal of life for the Epicurean was pleasure in this life. But this was not hedonism, as their view of pleasure was much more virtuous. Nevertheless, to be called an “epicurean” was a dig if you were religious—it amounted to the accusation of hedonism as well as referenced their beliefs regarding future life. As such, the reference probably has the Sadducees in mind; they’re being called epicurean as an insult to their beliefs about the material world.

Here’s another writing from Josephus. The Pharisees, he wrote, “hold that every soul is immortal, but that only the souls of the virtuous pass on into another body, while those of the wicked are punished with an everlasting vengeance.”¹⁹

With this quote, we see the blending of the sixth and final oracle (eternal judgment) with the fifth oracle (resurrection from the dead).

Of interest is Josephus’s own view of the afterlife—this is his view, not that of the Pharisees or Sadducees; it’s actually a quote of his thoughts on suicide, but it provides a snapshot of his view of the afterlife:

People who depart from this life in accordance with nature’s law,²⁰ thus repaying what god had lent them, when the giver wants to claim it back again, win everlasting fame. Their houses and families are secure. Their souls remain without blemish, and obedient, and receive the most holy place in heaven. From there, when the ages come round again, they come back again to live instead in holy bodies. But when people lay hands upon themselves in a fit of madness,²¹ the darker regions of Hades receive their souls; and god, their father, pays back their descendants for the arrogant acts of their parents.²²

None of what Josephus is saying is true; those who commit suicide don’t receive a special penalty for their act. Even believers who make that illogical and unfortunate choice are still protected by the blood of Christ. But this quote offers an insight into what the ancients believed regarding whether there’s an afterlife or not, what happened to bodies and souls after death, and whether that judgment was eternal.

How can the very leaders of Israel have been so all over the place on this important topic?

We need to remember that in the time of Christ and beforehand, there was no New Testament to aid in clarification. There were some prophecies from the time of exile, but those come toward the end of the Old Testament, and that’s about as clear as it gets. These prophecies come from books like Ezekiel and Daniel, which aren’t exactly straightforward.

Additional Scriptures on the Afterlife

Here are just a few more examples of afterlife theology in the Old Testament.

Job 14:1–12 (NET) says this (Job is talking to God in this passage):

Man, born of woman, lives but a few days, and they are full of trouble. He grows up like a flower and then withers away; he flees like a shadow, and does not remain. Do you fix your eye on such a one? And do you bring me before you for judgment? Who can make a clean thing come from an unclean? No one! Since man’s days are determined, the number of his months is under your control; you have set his limit and he cannot pass it. Look away from him and let him desist, until he fulfills his time like a hired man. But there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Although its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump begins to die in the soil, at the scent of water it will flourish and put forth shoots like a new plant. But man dies and is powerless; he expires—and where is he? As water disappears from the sea, or a river drains away and dries up, so man lies down and does not rise; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor arise from their sleep.

On the face, this passage may lead you to believe that Job is a man who thinks this life is it—though we begin to get a hint of mystery, maybe even hope, at the end as he speaks of a time “until the heavens are no more.”

Here’s one more passage from Job, five chapters later. Remember, the speaker is the same guy who was lamenting the condition of man as being less than a cut-down tree:

As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that as the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God, whom I will see for myself, and whom my own eyes will behold, and not another. My heart grows faint within me. (Job 19:25–27 NET)

Is there more to this life or not?

What does the psalmist say? In Psalm 49 he writes (as he often does) about the foolish:

This is the way of those who are foolish,
And of those after them who approve their words.
As sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
Death shall be their shepherd;
And the upright shall rule over them in the morning,
And their form shall be for Sheol to consume
So that they have no habitation.
But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol,
For He will receive me. (Psalm 49:13–15, italics mine)

Which is it? Who gets which fate?

In covering this sampling of verses, I want you to come to this realization: There was a sense of confusion regarding the afterlife, even for those who worshiped God and sought answers from Scripture. There was mystery regarding life after death.

[In the Old Testament period] there was a sense of confusion regarding the afterlife, even for those who worshiped God.

Do all suffer the same fate? Is there reward for the righteous and punishment for the wicked? What of the verses that speak of people living again? When does this happen? And for how long? (Is it for time, times, or half a time?) If there is a resurrection, who attains to it? Is it just for Israel?

Consider the following verses that speak well to this uncertainty:

For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity. All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust. Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth? (Ecclesiastes 3:19–21)

“Who knows …?”

Ah, but maybe that’s just Ecclesiastes being Ecclesiastes.

Well, consider the words of Isaiah, the prophet who tells us of the coming Messiah:

The dead will not live, the departed spirits will not rise;
Therefore You have punished and destroyed them,
And You have wiped out all remembrance of them. (Isaiah 26:14)

Contrast that verse with one in the same chapter:

Your dead will live;
Their corpses will rise.
You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy,
For your dew is as the dew of the dawn,
And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits. (Isaiah 26:19)

We study this topic resurrection from the dead so that we don’t live in the same confusion—so that we don’t enter a season like Easter without the blessed assurance of our glorious future.

Christ brings hope in the face of uncertainty, of the inclination to surrender to some unknown future fate. Think about all we’ve just read from the Old Testament, and contrast that with the words found in 1 John 5:13:

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

We live in the age in which writings tell us “you may know that you have eternal life” (italics added).

There is a written and reliable source of revelation to those who believe. The advantage for us as believers is that we have eternal life, and we know that eternal life is linked to the resurrection of the dead. And while we may have gotten that concept from the book of Daniel, we’ve been told it not once but 40-plus times (in the New Testament).

The advantage for believers is not only that we have eternal life, but also that we can know we have eternal life. It’s one thing to find out at the end (“Oh good, I had it!”); it’s another to know now that we possess it, that we will possess it.

The advantage for believers is not only that we have eternal life, but also that we can know we have eternal life.

Application

How do we apply these things? I said at the beginning that our knowledge of things regarding eternal life gives us power and it gives us peace.

You can now live in the peace of gratitude knowing that you have eternal life.
You can live in the peace of freedom (from fear, from pressure, from falsehood) knowing that you have eternal life.
You now have the power to pursue living works, not dead works (that’s why we’re raised from the dead—because we’re made like the Living One to serve the living).

Let’s get even more specific, applying the (above) applications of this sermon.

Ask yourself the following:

What am I grateful for? Am I a grateful person?²³ To what extent does my lack of gratitude stem from a lack of embracing this concept of the resurrection from the dead? (There’s a link.)
Do I live in freedom? To what extent does my lack of freedom stem from my lack of embracing this concept of the resurrection from the dead?
What living work will I pursue? To what extent does my lack of this righteous pursuit stem from my lack of embracing this concept of resurrection from the dead?

You might wonder, How do I pursue living works? There are a couple of key ways:

Read the Scriptures. (Where else can we go? These are the words of eternal life, as Peter said.²⁴)
Reach out to people—to someone (even just one person). You might think, But I don’t have anything to offer. If you pursue gratitude and freedom, you will have something to offer. Your presence will be a gift to someone, because most people don’t live out of gratitude and freedom.

The knowledge of the resurrection from the dead should change us. Let’s embrace this knowledge as we worship our risen Savior this Easter season.

The knowledge of the resurrection from the dead should change us.

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