As we
wrap up our discussion on the afterlife, we need to discuss these seeming
aberrations to the rule. Why aren’t “ghosts” in Heaven or Hell? Are they really
the spirits of once-living people coming back to say good-bye or to tend to
unfinished business?
There
are only two places where the Bible talks about ghosts. The first is 1 Samuel 28:3-15:
Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had
mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the
mediums and spiritists from the land. The Philistines assembled and came and
set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all the Israelites and set up camp
at Gilboa. When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his
heart. He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or
Urim or prophets. Saul then said to his attendants, "Find me a woman who
is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her."
"There is one in Endor," they said.
So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two
men went to the woman. "Consult a spirit for me," he said, "and
bring up for me the one I name."
But the woman said to him, "Surely you
know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the
land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?"
Saul swore to her by the LORD, "As
surely as the LORD lives, you will not be punished for this."
Then the woman asked, "Whom shall I
bring up for you?"
"Bring up Samuel," he said.
When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at
the top of her voice and said to Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are
Saul!"
The king said to her, "Don't be afraid.
What do you see?"
The woman said, "I see a spirit coming
up out of the ground."
"What does he look like?" he asked.
"An old man wearing a robe is coming
up," she said.
Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed
down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.
Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you
disturbed me by bringing me up?"
Is
this really the spirit of Samuel coming back from the dead, or is it a trick of
the medium?
In
this case, we have to assume that it really was Samuel being summoned because
we are given no indication that the event was inauthentic in any way. The key
here is that Samuel had to be summoned. He wasn’t wandering the earth or
haunting his old residence.
So,
where was Samuel being summoned from? He surely wasn’t in Hell, and he wasn’t
in Heaven yet. Samuel was being summoned from Sheol. And Samuel is only
summoned for a brief period of time. He is still bound in death after this and
unable to communicate or to leave death without being summoned again.
The
second mention of ghosts in the Bible is found in Luke 16:19-31:
Jesus said, “There was a rich man who was
dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was
laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell
from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time
came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The
rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked
up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him,
‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger
in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in
your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things,
but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this,
between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want
to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send
Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they
will not also come to this place of torment.’
“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the
Prophets; let them listen to them.’
“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if
someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to
Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from
the dead.’”
In this parable, Jesus is
portraying Lazarus and Abraham as being in Sheol but in separate parts. These
two characters are still in Sheol rather than Heaven and Hell because Jesus
hasn’t died yet.
When the rich man begs for
Lazarus to return as a ghost and to speak to his family, his request is denied.
Not because it is impossible, but because it is impractical. The sending of
people back from the dead is simply not done. It is ineffective in persuading
people to repent.
God did allow Samuel to be
summoned from Sheol, and maybe God allows the spirits of dead people to appear
sometimes, but this parable tells us that it doesn’t happen very often. For the
most part, people who are in Heaven or Hell will not leave those places again
until the time of Christ’s second coming and the final resurrection.
So, what about ghosts that
we see today? If people usually do not return to appear as ghosts to us, what
are the ‘ghosts’ that people see?
I believe that the ghosts
we see today are not people at all but demons disguising themselves as our
loved ones and the random dead. The reason they do this is to cast doubt on the
reality of Heaven and Hell. If the demons can make us believe that people
become ghosts and wander the earth for a time, then it takes away some of the
urgency of our eternal fate. It makes it seem like Heaven and Hell aren’t so
immediate. We don’t have to worry about it quite as much. We can finish what we
were doing on earth first. We can avenge our murderer. We can say good-bye to
our families first.
Whereas these are all nice
and comforting thoughts, they aren’t the reality. We don’t have any more time
after we die. We can’t change our minds or repent or do things differently. We
only have one life to do what needs to be done, and we only get one life to
make our decision for eternity. When we die, that’s it. Time’s up, and Heaven
and Hell are all that’s left. So, we better live like we understand that.
Demons appearing as ghosts only seek to distract us from this fact.
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