Soul Sleep

I recently had a conversation on YouTube about “Soul Sleep”…

Opening Questions

I began by asking a few questions:

Q1. When a man dies, does he go straight to *judgement* , or straight to *sleep* ?

Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,

Hebrews 9:27

Q2. When we are away from the body and with the Lord, are we *asleep* with the Lord?

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:6–8

Q3. At the Transfiguration, were Moses and Elijah briefly woken up and brought up to speed with Jesus’ mission and then sent back to sleep?

Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.

Luke 9:30-31

Q4. In Hebrews we’re told that we’re surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, alluding to a stadium in which former winners are cheering on those currently running the race. However, is this great crowd all *asleep* ?

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

Hebrews 12:1

Q5. Will the “good thief” be unconscious with Christ until the Second Coming?

And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Luke 23:43

Q6. If all who die are sleeping, how is necromancy even possible, requiring God to ban it?

There shall not be found among you …any one who practices divination, a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

Deuteronomy 18:10-11

The Problematic Parable

However, the real problem for Soul Sleep is the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Jesus speaks about two men dying. Do they go to sleep? No – they go to Hades, where one receives blessing and the other receives torment.

If Soul Sleep were true, Jesus should describe them both going to sleep until the Final Judgement and then each being conscious of their eternal fate. However, Jesus doesn’t do this. Not only are they both fully conscious, the Rich Man is concerned for those back on earth.

This can’t just be dismissed because it’s a parable – in every other parable of Jesus he describes a real reality, such as a son leaving his father, a coin being lost, seed falling on different kinds of soil – this one is no different.