To Depart and Be With Christ

While my husband and I chatted with friends over lunch, our 3-year-old daughter chimed in with an unrelated comment about Jesus’ coming. As Alyssa babbled enthusiastically about going to heaven and being with Jesus, our friend Cecilia smiled and patted her shoulder. “But not right now,” she said. “We don’t want you to go to heaven till after you’ve lived a good long life!”

Our friend’s comment reflected the popular Christian belief that the faithful go to heaven at death. While Cecilia thought this event should be put off as long as possible, some Christians portray death as a welcome release from this life of suffering into a better life with Jesus—something to be longed for and perhaps even hastened. Rather than focusing on the Second Coming and the resurrection as the “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13), they find comfort by imagining their dead loved ones embracing the Savior, walking on streets of gold, and reuniting with departed family and friends.

Obituaries and funeral sermons may say that the deceased “went home to be with his Lord and Savior,” “was peacefully welcomed into her heavenly home,” or “was ushered into the presence of God.” Sentiments such as “He’s in a better place” or “She’s up in heaven looking down on us” are often expressed to console the grieving.

Seventh-day Adventists counter such ideas with the biblical perspective: Death is a state of unconscious sleep. The “spirit” that returns to God at death (Eccl. 12:7) is the God-given breath of life, not a conscious entity that survives apart from the body. Christians receive their heavenly reward simultaneously at Jesus’ coming, not individually at the moment of death; they enjoy eternal life in their glorified bodies, not as disembodied souls.

Support for the Other Side

While Adventists marshal numerous Bible texts to support their view, Christians of other faiths also have a few texts on their side. There’s Jesus’ promise to the thief on the cross, which we explain by saying that the punctuation should read “Assuredly, I say to you today, you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43)—with “today” emphasizing Jesus’ assurance in the midst of their dire circumstances. There’s the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, which, we point out, is an allegorical tale meant to teach a lesson rather than a factual account of the afterlife.

But then there’s the apostle Paul. Didn’t he say that “to die is gain” because he would “depart and be with Christ, which is far better” than living on in this world (Phil. 1:21-23)? Didn’t he also say that he desired “to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8)?

It’s easy to see how these statements could be taken to mean that Paul expected to enter the presence of Jesus immediately at death—especially when many people come from a pagan-influenced mindset that envisions human souls living on in a conscious spirit world after death. Though these texts may not be easily explained, we should not ignore them, especially when sharing Bible truths with other Christians.

I once heard an evangelist ask: “If you study a topic in the Bible and find 99 texts that say one thing, and one text that says the opposite, which do you believe?”

“The 99,” I answered, along with others in the congregation.

We were wrong. “You believe all 100,” the evangelist told us. “Keep studying the Bible until you figure out how the contradictory text fits with the others.”

Present With the Lord

So how can we understand Paul’s statements in light of everything else the Bible says about death? Before you continue, I encourage you to read 2 Corinthians 4:7–5:10 and Philippians 1:19-26 to get the full context of Paul’s words.

Some Christians portray death as a welcome release from this life of suffering into a better life with Jesus.

Paul was very clear elsewhere in his writings that believers will receive their immortal bodies and go to be with the Lord when Jesus comes. Until then they are “asleep” (1 Thess. 4:13-18). His imagery in 2 Corinthians 5:1-4 of replacing our earthly “tent” or body with an eternal heavenly “house” closely parallels his description of the resurrection, written to those same believers at Corinth a short time earlier.[1] Notice the similar wording:

• “that mortality may be swallowed up by life” (2 Cor. 5:4);

• “This mortal must put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:53); “Death is swallowed up in victory” (verse 54).

Paul specifically stated that this exchange will take place at Jesus’ coming (verses 21-23, 52).

The apostle himself expected to receive his reward when Jesus returns. Speaking about his imminent “departure,” or death, when he would take the short trip from the land of the living to the grave (Eccl. 9:10),[2] Paul wrote that his “crown of righteousness” was “laid up” for him and that the Lord would give it to him “on that Day,” the day of Jesus’ “appearing” (2 Tim. 4:6-8; see also 1 Peter 5:4).

In both 2 Corinthians 5 and Philippians 1 Paul presented two alternatives:

• life on this earth—to be “at home in the body . . . absent from the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:6), or to “live on in the flesh” (Phil. 1:22);

• eternal life in glory—to be “absent from the body . . . present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8) or “to depart and be with Christ” (Phil. 1:23).

It’s not surprising that he preferred the latter!

What Happens in Between?

In 2 Corinthians 5 Paul depicted an intermediate state between this earthly life and our immortal life. He described it as being “naked,” or “unclothed” (verses 3, 4). This is “Paul’s image for death.”[3]

But Paul made it clear that Christians do not want to be “unclothed.” He wasn’t longing for his disembodied soul to fly to the presence of Christ at death. Instead he was looking past his time in the grave to Jesus’ coming, when he would receive his glorified body.

In fact, since Paul “did not desire to be unclothed, which . . . signifies the condition of death; but he did desire to be present with the Lord,” this passage actually shows that “in death . . . the Christian is not present with the Lord”![4]

In contrast, Philippians 1:23 makes no mention of this intervening state. Paul simply “passes over the state of death” as insignificant.[5] When Paul wrote that he wished to depart this life and be with Christ, he spoke of two widely separated events—death and Jesus’ coming—as if they were “almost simultaneous,” probably because he realized that in the unconscious sleep of death, the time between the two would seem like only a moment.[6] When Paul is resurrected, his thoughts will pick up where they left off, and “it will seem to him that the stroke of the executioner was his translation to glory.”[7]

Paul’s goal in these passages was not to show that believers will go directly from their mortal existence to their heavenly immortal life with Jesus—although believers who are alive at Jesus’ return will have that experience (1 Cor. 15:51). Instead, his point was that we can be “of good courage” in the face of death (2 Cor. 5:6, 8, NASB).

To Die Is Gain

If Paul didn’t expect to enjoy the bliss of heaven as soon as he died, it might seem strange that he sounded almost jubilant about his potential martyrdom. Why would he speak as if death is a good thing? (“Gain” [Phil. 1:21]; “far better” [verse 23]; “well pleased” [2 Cor. 5:8].)

Throughout his long career as a missionary, Paul endured countless hardships and risked his life, time after time, to share the gospel. He considered it a privilege to share in Christ’s sufferings, and even in His death (see Col. 1:24; Rom. 8:17; Phil. 3:10).

Writing from prison to the church in Philippi, where he had once been imprisoned and beaten because of his witness, Paul rejoiced in the prospect of “being poured out as a drink offering” by dying a martyr’s death (Phil. 2:17; see also 2 Tim. 4:6). The apostle considered it an honor to make this ultimate testimony for Christ. To give his life for Jesus would be gain because “Christ will be magnified in my body” (Phil. 1:20).

Instead of seeking comfort in erroneous ideas of the afterlife, we can rest secure in the knowledge that we belong to Christ.

Ellen White beautifully illuminates his meaning: Paul’s death would bring “gain to Christ; death itself would make manifest the power of His grace, and gather souls to Him.”[8]

Paul’s hope was fulfilled. Although the Scriptures do not describe Paul’s death, Ellen White poignantly depicts the impact of the apostle’s final moments. Though the authorities avoided making Paul’s death a public spectacle for fear of his influence on a crowd, some of the Roman soldiers who participated in his execution were so impressed with his peace of mind and his forgiving spirit that they ultimately accepted Jesus.[9]

With Christ in Life and Death

There is another reason that Paul had no fear of death: He had already died! He repeated this theme in his letters:

• “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).

• “For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:11).

• “I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him” (Phil. 3:8, 9).

• “For to me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21).

Paul had already given everything for Christ. His life now found meaning solely in Christ. And at death he would continue to be “with Christ” in much the same sense that he had been “with Christ” and “in Christ” throughout his Christian journey.

As he contemplated his probable demise, he wrote to the Colossians: “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory” (Col. 3:3, 4, NASB). Paul’s life after conversion was so closely identified with Christ that even if he lost his earthly existence, he knew his identity and his eternal future were safe in God’s hands.

Describing Paul’s last moments, Ellen White observed how this thought informed his positive outlook: “His life is hid with Christ in God, and he is persuaded that He who has conquered death is able to keep that which is committed to His trust. . . . His thoughts and hopes are centered on the second coming of his Lord.”[10]

Paul’s experience can be our testimony as well. Instead of seeking comfort in erroneous ideas of the afterlife, we can rest secure in the knowledge that we belong to Christ. No matter how much time passes while we lie “unclothed” in the grave, God has a new body and a glorious eternal existence in store for us at Jesus’ second coming.

If, like Paul, our aim is “to be well pleasing” to the Lord in either life or death (2 Cor. 5:9), we can share his confidence that “whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom. 14:8).

[1] Paul wrote 1 and 2 Corinthians less than a year apart. See Andrews Study Bible (Berrien Springs, Mich.: Andrews University Press, 2010), p. 1515. Peter uses similar imagery in 2 Peter 1:13-15.

[2] See J. N. Andrews, Departing and Being With Christ, available at https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/991.2.

[3] Andrews Study Bible, p. 1521.

[4] Uriah Smith, Here and Hereafter (Battle Creek, Mich.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1897), p. 201. (Emphasis supplied.) Available at https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/1311.938.

[5] Ibid., p. 208. Available at https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/1311.992.

[6] Joe Crews, Answers to Difficult Bible Texts (Amazing Facts, Inc., 2003), p. 69.

[7] Smith, p. 210. Available at https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/1311.992.

[8] Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1898, 1940), p. 549.

[9] Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1911), p. 509.

[10] Ibid., p. 512 (see also 2 Tim. 1:12).