What Is the Condition of the Dead?
FEAR of the dead rests on one premise—that the deceased has a soul or spirit that lives on after death. If the Bible plainly teaches that this concept is false, then the question of whether the dead can harm you is laid to rest. So, then, what does the Bible say?
Concerning the condition of the dead, God’s Word says: “The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun.”—Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6.
In view of that, can the dead help or harm you? No, say the Scriptures. The dead are unconscious and in silence. They are incapable of communicating with the living or of expressing any emotion—love or hate—or of carrying out any action. You need not have any fear of them.
‘Well, yes, that may be true if you refer to death of the physical body,’ some may say. ‘But a physical death is not the end of life; it just releases the spirit from the body. That spirit could help or harm the living.’ Millions of people earth wide feel that way.
For example, in Madagascar life is considered a mere transition, so a funeral and an exhumation are considered more important than a wedding. It is thought that the person came from his ancestors and returns to them at death. Hence, houses for the living are made of wood and adobe, materials that disintegrate in time, whereas tombs, the “homes” for the dead, are generally more elaborate and durable. At an exhumation, family and friends feel that they will be blessed, and women believe that if they touch the bones of the dead relative, they will become fertile. But, again, what does God’s Word say?
Death Not Intended for Mankind
It is interesting to note that Jehovah God created man to live, and he spoke of death only as a consequence of disobedience. (Genesis 2:17) Regrettably, the first man and woman did sin, and as a result, sin spread to all humankind as a death-dealing inheritance. (Romans 5:12) So you could say that death has been a fact of life ever since the disobedience of the first human pair, yes, a painful fact of life. We were created to live, which partially explains why it is so hard for countless millions to face up to death as being the end.
According to the Bible account, Satan tried to deceive the first human pair about death by contradicting God’s warning that disobedience would bring death. (Genesis 3:4) With the passing of time, though, it became clearly apparent that humans die just as God said they would. Thus, over the centuries Satan responded with yet another lie—that some spirit part of man survives the death of the body. Such a deception fits Satan the Devil, whom Jesus described as “the father of the lie.” (John 8:44) On the contrary, God’s answer to death is an encouraging promise.
What Promise?
It is the promise of a resurrection for many. The Greek word translated “resurrection” is a·naʹsta·sis. It literally means “a standing up again,” and it refers to a raising up from death. Yes, man lies down in death, but God by his power can raise a person up again. Man loses life, but God can give him life again. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, said that “the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out.” (John 5:28, 29) The apostle Paul expressed his “hope toward God . . . that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Acts 24:15) Job, a faithful servant of God in pre-Christian times, also declared his hope in a resurrection: “If an able-bodied man dies can he live again? All the days of my compulsory service I shall wait, until my relief comes. You [God] will call, and I myself shall answer you.”—Job 14:14, 15.
Does not the clear promise of the resurrection give the lie to the idea that the dead are alive in a spirit form? If the dead were alive and enjoying existence in heaven or some spirit world, what would be the purpose of the resurrection? Would they not have already received their reward or destiny? A study of God’s Word reveals that the dead are really dead, unconscious, asleep until the great awakening by resurrection in a new world—a paradise—promised by our loving Father, Jehovah. But if death does not mean a separation of body and spirit and if the spirit does not live on, what about the cases of seeming communications from the spirit world?
Communications From the Spirit Realm
Innumerable cases have been reported of communications supposedly received from the spirit realm. What really is their origin? The Bible warns us that “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is therefore a simple thing for his agents to masquerade as agents of good.” (2 Corinthians 11:14, 15, The New English Bible) Yes, to deceive and mislead people more easily, the demons (rebellious angels) have communicated with the living, sometimes pretending to be helpful.
The apostle Paul gives further warning of this campaign of deception: “Some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired utterances and teachings of demons.” (1 Timothy 4:1) So any response attributed to the dead may well be from the demons who masquerade as “agents of good” and promote a religious lie, enslaving people to superstitions that lead them away from the truth of God’s Word.
Confirming that the dead cannot say anything, do anything, or feel anything, Psalm 146:3, 4 states: “Do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs. His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish.” What spirit is it that “goes out”? It is the person’s life-force that is sustained by breathing. Therefore, when the deceased stopped breathing, his senses no longer functioned. He enters into a state of complete unconsciousness. So it is impossible for him to hold mastery over the living.
That is why the Bible compares the death of a human to that of an animal, stating that both reach unconsciousness at death and return to the dust from which they were made. Ecclesiastes 3:19, 20 says: “There is an eventuality as respects the sons of mankind and an eventuality as respects the beast, and they have the same eventuality. As the one dies, so the other dies; and they all have but one spirit, so that there is no superiority of the man over the beast, for everything is vanity. All are going to one place. They have all come to be from the dust, and they are all returning to the dust.”
Knowing that the demons try to deceive people into thinking they can communicate with and be affected by the dead, Jehovah God warned his people, the ancient Israelites: “There should not be found in you . . . anyone who employs divination, a practicer of magic or anyone who looks for omens or a sorcerer, or one who binds others with a spell or anyone who consults a spirit medium or a professional foreteller of events or anyone who inquires of the dead. For everybody doing these things is something detestable to Jehovah.”—Deuteronomy 18:10-12.
Clearly, the idea that the dead can harm us does not come from God. He is a God of truth. (Psalm 31:5; John 17:17) And he has a marvelous future in store for lovers of truth who worship him “with spirit and truth.”—John 4:23, 24.
Jehovah, a God of Truth and Love
Our loving heavenly Father, “who cannot lie,” has given his word: Millions upon millions who have died and have been put in tombs will be resurrected with the prospect of eternal life in a new world of righteousness! (Titus 1:1, 2; John 5:28) This loving promise of a resurrection reveals that Jehovah has a deep interest in the well-being of his human creation and a heartfelt desire to do away with death, sorrow, and pain. So there is no need to fear the dead or to be unduly concerned about them and their prospects. (Isaiah 25:8, 9; Revelation 21:3, 4) Our loving and just God, Jehovah, can and will resurrect them, undoing the pain of death.
God’s Word, the Bible, abounds with descriptions of what conditions on earth will be like in that promised new world of righteousness. (Psalm 37:29; 2 Peter 3:13) It will be a time of peace and happiness and of love for all fellowmen. (Psalm 72:7; Isaiah 9:7; 11:6-9; Micah 4:3, 4) All will have secure, fine homes, as well as enjoyable work. (Isaiah 65:21-23) There will be plenty of good things for all to eat. (Psalm 67:6; 72:16) All will enjoy abundant health. (Isaiah 33:24; 35:5, 6) While the apostles and an additional limited number will rule in heaven with Jesus, the Bible makes no mention of blessed conditions in heaven for the souls of others after death. (Revelation 5:9, 10; 20:6) This would be odd if the billions of those who have died live on after death.
But it is not odd when we know the Bible’s clear teaching: The dead have ceased to exist as living souls. They cannot harm you. Those in the memorial tombs simply rest, unconscious until their resurrection in God’s due time. (Ecclesiastes 9:10; John 11:11-14, 38-44) Our hopes and aspirations, then, rest in God. “Let us be joyful and rejoice in the salvation by him.”—Isaiah 25:9.
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As God’s Word clearly shows, the dead are completely inactive until the resurrection