Experimental Investigation of the Spirit Manifestations / Demonstrating the existence of spirits and their communion with mortals. Doctrine of the spirit world respecting heaven, hell, morality, and God. Also, the influence of Scripture on the morals of Christians.

by Robert Hare

The eternal years of God are hers.’

784. “The Saviour said to the penitent thief on the cross—‘To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.’ Now the question arises, Where and what is that paradise in which the Saviour promised the dying penitent that he should be with him that day? This can be seen by referring to other passages in the Scriptures where the word paradise is used, and where its sense cannot be mistaken. This can be seen by reference to 2 Cor. xii. There it is said that Paul was caught up into paradise; and in the same passage the place into which he was taken is called the third heaven—the highest and holiest place in the universe. In Rev. ii. 7 we are told that the tree of life stands in the midst of the paradise of God; and in Rev. xxii. 2, we are told that that same tree of life stands by the side of the river which flows from the throne of God and the Lamb. From this it is evident that paradise is the heaven where God dwells and the Lamb. Is then the middle abode, Hades, the kingdom of shades, the peculiar abode of God and the Lamb?

785. “The objection that the Saviour himself did not go to heaven that day, but was for forty days afterward on the earth, and that therefore he could not be with the penitent thief in paradise, has no force. During the three days that intervened between his death and resurrection, he could as well be in heaven as in Hades. Indeed, it is evident that he was in heaven during those three days, from what he says to his disciples shortly before his death: ‘A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.’ Moreover, his tarrying on the earth and appearing among his disciples does not conflict with the idea that he was also in paradise. When he was yet in the flesh on earth, he could say: ‘And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but that he came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.’ In the same way that he was in heaven at that time, he may have been in heaven with the penitent thief during the forty days between his death and ascension.

786. “The history of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke xvi.) plainly teaches that both the righteous and the wicked, at death, pass into a fixed and eternal abode, where no change is possible. No comment on the passage is necessary. This portion of Scripture has a thousand times been tortured out of its meaning by errorists of various kinds, and as often has its testimony fallen back into the church’s healthful stream of sound views. As a sheep, carried away from the fold, returns when set free, so this passage always comes back again; for the voice of a stranger it heareth not, nor followeth!

787. “In the Revelation, John, in his vision, saw the souls of departed martyrs and saints ‘in heaven,’ ‘under the altar,’ ‘before the throne of God,’ &c., and in the company of each other, of God, of Christ, and of angels, in the central and highest heavens, and in that place where the saints go no more out forever. Let it be remembered, also, that all this is before the resurrection; and if the following passages are carefully considered, they will leave no doubt on any candid mind that the saints are, immediately after death, admitted into heaven. To quote them all would be too tedious; a reference to them is sufficient: Rev. v. 6-14; vi. 9-12; vii. 9-17; xiv. 1-6; xiv. 12, 13.

788. “For further proof still the reader is referred to Acts vii. 59; 2 Cor. v. 1-9; Phil. i. 21-24; 2 Tim. iv. 6-9; Eph. iii. 15. In this last passage, the whole family of Christ is represented to be at two places, in heaven and on earth; but according to the other theory, there ought also to be some in Hades, or the third place.

789. “It may also be remarked that the misery of the wicked commences, according to the Scripture, immediately after death, and before the resurrection, and that their condition is unchangeably fixed. This is evident from Luke xvi.; and also from that passage in Jude where he says that those who had died impenitent in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah were, at the time he wrote, ‘suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.’ In like manner it is said of the righteous at death, that they are blessed ‘from henceforth;’ and of those who were clothed in white robes, having come up through great tribulation, it is said, ‘therefore are they before the throne of God.’

790. “These passages are plain, and it would, in all probability, never have been attempted to make them mean any thing different from their plain sense, were it not for some difficulties, which, it is thought, stood in the way of the doctrine that the souls of the saints pass immediately at death into heaven. Let us look at these, and see whether they are not fancied difficulties, which one glance at the truth ought to remove:

791. (1.) “It is said that the soul, in a state of separation from the body, cannot be in the same state, nor properly in the same place, as it will be after the resurrection; and as heaven is to be the eternal abode of the saints after the resurrection, it cannot be a proper abode for them before. This objection has, however, no force. There is, for instance, in this world, a great difference between a person in childhood and old age, yea, before he is born and after, or between his sleeping and waking state; and yet he is in all these in the same world, in the same place, and is the same person. The state and condition of the Saviour differs widely from that of any saint or angel, and yet both are in heaven. So angels and human spirits differ, and yet both are in one company and in one place. So in heaven the condition of the saints before and after the resurrection may differ much, and yet they may be, in both cases, in the same place.

792. “(2.) The saints cannot enter heaven, it is said, before they are judged; and as the day of judgment is represented to be after the resurrection, the saints cannot enter heaven until after that, and consequently not immediately at death. We may, however, consider, as is generally done, that the day of judgment is only a public and final consummation of the decision of man’s destiny. Although God can, and no doubt, does, for himself, judge and decide for each one when he dies, yet it seems necessary for the glorious praise of his justice and righteousness that all other intelligences should see the propriety of his decision. This is necessary, that every mouth may be stopped; and in order to do this he has appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained.