Based on WCF Chap 32.
Main passage: 2 Cor 5:1-8
【Introduction】Let us pray！
Father God, please speak to us through your words, grant us understanding, and help us to walk in your way, in Jesus’ name, amen!
Today’s sermon comes from Chapter 32 of the Westminster Confession of Faith. Yes, you heard that right — we’re still preaching through the Confession! In fact, we’ve now come to the final stretch. And as we near the end, it’s fitting that we turn our attention to the “last things”.
Chapter 32 is“Of the State of Men After Death, and of the Resurrection of the Dead.” Death might not be a pleasant word, but it is the destiny of every one of us. We know that we are all moving toward that same final destination from the very moment we are born, regardless of our age, gender, status, race, or religion.
Death is mysterious. No one knows how far they are from it. And death is like a one-way door — those who are still alive can never fully know what lies beyond it, and those who have gone through it can never return to tell us what they have seen.
The Puritan theologians who drafted WCF summarized from Scripture two possible conditions of human beings after death.
No. 1, the destiny of those who have died before the Last Day.
No. 2, the final outcome of every person when the Last Day arrives.
- The destiny of those who have died before the Last Day.
Before the last Day, the Confession teaches that when a person dies, the body decays and returns to dust, while the soul immediately returns to God. The souls of the righteous are with God, waiting for the redemption of their bodies. The souls of the wicked are in hell — a place of pain and darkness — awaiting judgment. There are only these two possible destinies for the human soul.
- The final outcome of every person when the Last Day arrives
The second situation is at the coming of the Last Day. At that time, even those who are still alive will be changed. And all of the bodies who have died will be raised up. Then the unjust will be raised to dishonor, while the just unto honor.
Next, I’ll explain these truths according to the Bible. And then, we’ll reflect together on how this message speaks to us and shapes the way we live today.
- The destiny of those who have died before the Last Day】
After death, the human body decays and returns once more to dust. In Genesis chapter 3 (Gen 3:19), God told Adam that he would have to toil and labor all his life until death. And when that time came, his body would return to the dust.
But the human soul does not die with the body. The Bible gives us many examples of this. For instance, in the Old Testament, when Jacob’s wife Rachel was dying, Genesis 35（Gen 35：16-19） tells us that “her soul was departing”.
- The believers
Where does the soul go? Those who trust in God and know Him — their souls go to be with God.
In the Old Testament, the psalmist prayed that God would not abandon his soul to the realm of the dead (Psalm 16:10). And in Psalm 49, the writer expressed his confidence that God would surely redeem his soul from the power of the grave and receive him to Himself (Psalm 49:15).
The New Testament puts it even more directly. One of the criminals crucified alongside Jesus believed that Jesus was the Son of God and asked Him to remember him. And Jesus immediately replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
When Stephen was martyred, he called out to the Lord Jesus, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
The Apostle Paul makes this very clear in his letter to the Corinthians. He says that believers live on earth only briefly, as if dwelling in a tent — a temporary dwelling. But when we leave this temporary tent, which is our body — we will be at home with the Lord in a building that is eternal and solid.
Being in God’s presence is so wonderful that Paul could not help but say that he would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord!
In 1650，Richard Baxter published a classic，The Saints’Everlasting Rest. At that time he was ill and thought that his own death was near，so he began to contemplate more seriously on the Everlasting Rest. He felt that the communication of what he knew was urgent, the heaven which God offered would be ‘that good which contains all other good in it’ but many were deaf to the offer. He intended ‘but the length of a sermon or two’ since the only book within his reach was the Bible, but he wrote some 800,000 words.[1]
B/S，when believers die, their souls go to be with God, where they experience all His goodness and abundance. This is the comfort and assurance from God.
- The wicked
Then how about the wicked?
In the book of Acts, it says that Judas, who betrayed Jesus, abandoned his ministry and “went to his own place.” That place was certainly not where the souls of believers go after death.
And in Jesus’ own teaching, we find the most vivid picture of life after death — the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19–31. During their lifetimes, the rich man never even noticed poor Lazarus. But after death, the rich man was in torment amid the flames, while Lazarus was carried by angels to rest in Abraham’s embrace. Between them lay a great chasm /ˈkaz(ə)m/ — one that no one could ever cross.
Based on these passages, Chapter 32 of the Confession says, “the souls of the wicked are cast into hell.”
When we hear the word hell, many of us may picture terrifying, gruesome scenes — images shaped mostly by art or by the vivid descriptions of some preachers. A close study of the Bible will show that it is far less bloodthirsty or gory.[2]
The Gospels picture the hell in symbolic language. Jesus speaks of the fire that never goes out, the worm that does not die, and people weeping and gnashing their teeth in darkness.
The New Testament letters, on the other hand, describe it in broader terms — the false teachers who mislead others, the greedy and impure, those who persecute believers — their end is described as blackest darkness, destruction, perish, anguish, exclusion from the light of God, separation from the presence of the Lord, given up by God（2 Peter 2：3， 17；1 Thessalonians 2：16； 5：3；2 Thessalonians 1:6-12；Romans 1：24-32; 2:8-9）。
The Bible gives us no further details. What it emphasizes is the terrible darkness, agony, and destruction — because of the complete separation from God.
So rather than treating these as mere descriptions about hell, we should see them as warnings. They are a call for people to repent; and a solemn reminder to believers not to turn away from their faith. They are also warnings to those who cause others to stumble, to those who do evil.
Many times, we find it difficult to reconcile such agony, darkness, and destruction with a loving God. God loves every person He has created, and the self-destruction of even one soul is a heartbreaking tragedy. Surely, we think, a Creator who is both infinitely powerful and infinitely loving — our heavenly Father — would never allow such a thing to happen.
Indeed, it is God’s desire that all people be saved — the New Testament expresses this again and again. Yet at the same time, the Bible also makes clear the deep conflict between human evilness and God: people loved darkness instead of light, even though the light has come into the world.
(“This is the judgment: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).
From the beginning, God has given humanity the freedom to choose.
And anyone who knows what they are doing yet chooses to reject God’s salvation must face the consequences of that choice.
- S. Lewis said, “I willingly believe that the doors of Hell are locked on the inside.” in his book, After Death, David L. Edwards extended the image: God is always hammering for admission on hell’s locked doors – always hammering and always ignored. [3]
We as humans, have the tendency to think that power must be forceful, while love must be possessive. So we might think — if God is so powerful and loving, shouldn’t He break down the doors and make everyone accept Him?
But God’s power and love are completely different from ours. The value He puts on human freedom is astonishing, and His patience goes far beyond our expectation. He leaves people free to believe or not— and He does not take away even a sinner’s freedom to perish.
If a free person chooses to reject the life God offers and instead chooses self-destruction, then the result can only be separation from God — in darkness and pain.
It is harsh, yes — but it is true.
- There is no Purgatory
So far we already covered these: after death our souls could go to 2 places: be with God, or hell.
WCF32 also stated that, “Besides these two places for souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.”
What does it mean? It refers to Purgatory!
Purgatory is a belief that developed in the early Christian church and, by the Middle Ages, became a formal doctrine of the Church. [4]
It is described as a place where the remaining sins and imperfections in a person are purified by fire. According to this teaching, martyrs and truly holy saints go immediately to be with God after death, enjoying His presence. But the souls of ordinary believers are said to go first to purgatory, where they are refined by fire until all their sins are completely cleansed, and only then are they admitted into heaven.
The Protestants reject the idea of purgatory, because the Bible never mentions it. What’s more, the idea of purgatory assumes that believers are divided into different levels — the perfectly holy and faithful saints on one hand, and the ordinary believers, still weak and imperfect, on the other.
And if you think further, this way of thinking carries a dangerous implication — the idea that a person can be justified by what they do. It suggests that if you live well enough, holy and devout, you can go straight to heaven; but if not, you must suffer purification in purgatory first. Such a distinction places the emphasis on human effort and, in doing so, subtly denies the grace of God.
The Bible teaches that our salvation — and the soul’s being received by God after death — is entirely by God’s grace, not by human works. Those believers who receive special gifts, or the extraordinary courage to die for the Lord, are merely receivers of God’s grace.
In Christ Jesus, every believer is a child of God and is called a saint. There is no higher or lower rank among them. When our earthly bodies die, our souls are received into heaven to dwell with the Lord and to share in the joy of eternal life.
For example, as we mentioned earlier, both Stephen — the faithful martyr — and the criminal who repented at the very last moment were received by God.
Their souls both went directly to be with Him.
- The resurrection of the body at the last day】
The second point of WCF Chapter 32 is this: when Christ returns, every person who has died will be raised bodily from the dead.
In his 1st letter to the Corinthian church, Paul spoke with great seriousness about the truth of resurrection — the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 15 is devoted to it! We often reflect on this chapter during Easter, so today I’ll just highlight a few key verses to summarize its message.
First of all, Jesus Christ rose from the dead – and it was a bodily resurrection.
The message of His resurrection is just as important as the message of His death for our sins.
Second, Christ’s resurrection is the foundation and guarantee of the future resurrection of every believer.
We might then ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” Paul doesn’t tell us what our resurrected bodies will look like — their appearance, personality, age, or clothing. Instead, he uses four striking contrasts to describe their nature:
Our present bodies are perishable, but the resurrected body will be imperishable, no longer defiled by sin.
Our present bodies are dishonored because of sin and death, but the resurrected body will be glorious, pure, and victorious over death.
Our present bodies are weak, subject to sickness and decay, but the resurrected body will be powerful, never growing frail, full of strength forever.
Our present bodies are natural, made of flesh and blood, but the resurrected body will be a spiritual body — transformed and made new by the Spirit of God, like the resurrected body of Jesus.
Even though it’s hard for us to imagine what this resurrected body will truly be like, when we pause and reflect on these words —imperishable, glorious, powerful，and spiritual, we can’t help but say “Wa!” and give thanks to God.
- How Shall We Then Live?】
Brothers and sisters, these are what we learnt today:
Before the last day, when believers die, their souls go to be with God, where they experience all His goodness and abundance. While The souls of the wicked go to Hell.
And at the last day, all the dead shall be raised up, God will give us a new and glorious body!
So then — what does all of this have to do with us today?
Life and death are the great matters of human existence. The Bible does not give us every detail about what happens after death — but what it does reveal is more than enough to shape the way we live now.
It gives us a firm conviction: that our days on earth, whether long or short, are all in God’s hands; and that each of us will one day return to Him. In both life and death, God’s love and righteousness are completely worthy of our trust.
The same God who has faithfully cared for us, guided us, and revealed Himself to us in this life will continue to do so beyond that door. Here and now, we cannot see Him clearly — it’s as if a veil still lies between us. But when we cross to the other side, we will see Him face to face — truly, clearly, and forever.
It is our ultimate hope. This hope gives us courage to press on, like an anchor that holds us fast through life’s storms and uncertainties, and we certainly know where we are heading.
As our bodies grow weaker and older, we do not face that final moment with fear or anxiety. Because we know that beyond life’s end, there is not nothingness, not despair — but home, a place lovingly prepared for us, where our God, our creator and loving Father, awaits. And one day, when the Lord returns, our bodies too will be raised — gloriously, and forever.
In Aug last year, an uncle in his 80s fell and was hospitalized. Several days later, doctor transformed him to palliative /ˈpalɪətɪv/ care ward. On my way to the hospital, I prayed for words of comfort. Then when we met, before I said anything, he told me, “Pastor, I know where I am, I’m not worried, I’m not scared.” I see light in his eyes, he continued saying, “I’m joyful, I’m going to see the Lord Jesus soon, He’s been with me all the years, and I’m gonna see Him face to face. I am going to a glorious and wonderful place. ”
This assurance also gives us a mission — it shapes our purpose and meaning in this life. Such confidence, such hope, compels us to bear witness to the greatness of our Father’s grace.
Before I became a Christian, I couldn’t understand why my Christian friends kept telling me about God, urging me to go to church, and encouraging me to believe in Jesus. What would they gain from my conversion?
But after encountering God myself, I came to understand — those who have truly experienced God cannot keep His goodness to themselves. There’s a deep passion in their hearts to share it with those they love.
So whether in times of strength, stability, and peace, or as we journey toward life’s end, we will testify — not only with our words, but with our very lives — to the God who has given us the eternal and beautiful life.
Let us pray:
Gracious Father,
we thank You for the living hope we have in Christ Jesus — that through His death our sins are forgiven, and through His resurrection, we are promised eternal life.
Teach us to live each day with that hope in our hearts, to face both life and death with faith and peace, and to bear witness to Your grace in all we do.
In the name of our risen Lord, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
