Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 32: The State of Men after Death, and the Resurrection of the Dead

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Sermon Title: The State of Men after Death and the Resurrection of the Dead

Scripture: Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 32

I. Man as an Embodied Soul

A. Man is composed of body and soul — Genesis 2:7

1. The body is formed from dust; God breathed life into man
2. Man is complete only as an embodied, living soul

B. The fall introduces separation of body and soul — Genesis 3:19

1. The body returns to dust (corruption) as part of the curse
2. Corruption = decay of the body to dust; contrast with Christ's body, which did not see corruption

C. The soul is immortal — Ecclesiastes 12:7

1. The dust returns to the earth; the spirit returns to God who gave it
2. This verse is not simply a positive statement about heaven — Solomon follows it with "vanity of vanities, all is vanity"
3. For Solomon and the Hebrews, the severance of soul from body — whether the soul goes to heaven or hell — is itself a sign of something gone awry, needing restoration
4. Popular modern conceptions of heaven as disembodied bliss are unbiblical; full restoration requires body and soul together

II. The Destiny of the Soul

A. The souls of the righteous immediately enter the presence of God

1. The confession stresses the word immediately, ruling out the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory
2. The righteous are made perfect in holiness and received into the highest heavens — Hebrews 12:22-23
3. Perfection in holiness is not achieved by self-purging but by the blood of Christ, which speaks a better word than the blood of Abel

B. Christ's promise to the thief on the cross illustrates the soul's immediate destiny

1. "Today you will be with me in paradise" — the thief had no time to purge sin, yet believed and was received immediately
2. The soul can be spoken of as the person themselves — the thief himself, not half a man, will be with Christ

C. The souls of the wicked go immediately to hell — Luke 16:22-23

1. The parable of Lazarus and the rich man: the rich man's body is buried, but his soul goes to Hades in torment
2. Scripture acknowledges only two destinations for the soul: heaven or hell — no third option

D. Hell is a real and vivid biblical teaching — Jude 5-7

1. Wicked angels and wicked human beings alike undergo the punishment of eternal fire
2. It is a great tragedy that the church today is often reluctant to speak plainly about hell

E. For those in Christ, death means entering the blessed presence of the Lord — Philippians 1:21-23

1. Paul says departing to be with Christ is "far better" — not merely preferable, but vastly superior
2. All who die in Christ will behold him in paradise

III. The Destiny of the Body

A. The body's return to dust is not its final destination

1. The confession speaks of "the last day" — the day of judgment and ultimate redemption when Christ comes again
2. We currently live in the last days, awaiting the one remaining redemptive act: Christ's return

B. At the last day, the dead are raised with the self-same bodies — 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17

1. Those who are alive at Christ's coming will not precede those who have died
2. The dead in Christ rise first; then the living are caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air
3. Christ returns as he ascended — on the clouds — as the angels declared in Acts 1

C. The resurrected body is changed in quality, though the same body — 1 Corinthians 15:50-55

1. Flesh and blood in its present perishable state cannot inherit the kingdom of God
2. At the last trumpet, the dead are raised imperishable and the living are changed — in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye
3. The perishable puts on the imperishable; the mortal puts on immortality — a glorified, incorruptible body fit for the consummated kingdom

D. Only at the resurrection of the body can the full victory cry be proclaimed: "Death is swallowed up in victory"

1. Funerals confront us with the sting of death still present — the body severed from the soul is vanity, as Solomon saw
2. Christians grieve with hope, not without it — 1 Thessalonians 4:13
3. Christ is the firstfruits of the resurrection harvest — his own bodily resurrection, incorruptible and glorified, is the guarantee and downpayment of our full restoration
4. When Christ comes again and body and soul are reunited, we will say together with our risen Lord: "O death, where is your sting? O death, where is your victory?"