Let us pray together for God's blessing on our minds to understand his word. Heavenly Father, we come to you as people who are very much in need of your help as the scriptures describe us as helpless. And so we would ask that humbly of you now help us understand these important truths that we will read and walk through here this morning from your holy word. Help us to be attentive to it. to lay these things up in our hearts and practice them in our lives. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. This is God's Word. Then they journeyed from Bethel, and when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel labored in childbirth, and she had hard labor. Now it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said to her, Do not fear, you will have this son also. And so it was, as her soul was departing, for she died, that she called his name Ben-Ani. But his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar on her grave, which is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day. Then Israel journeyed and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. And it happened when Israel dwelt in that land that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard about it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. The sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant, were Dan and Naphtali. The sons of Zilpah, Leah's maidservant, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Padan Aram. Then Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kirjoth Arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had dwelt. Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. So Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people being old and full of days. And his sons, Esau and Jacob buried him. May God bless the reading of his infallible word. Our betrayal of the creator by our disobedience to his law has made all of us subject to death Men have throughout history, and it's no different today, have worked hard to distract themselves from death's certainty. Since it is an experience that so many billions of people have already gone through, it must not be that big of a deal, at least we suppose. And yet our lack of familiarity with it haunts us. No one living has experienced it. It is something we will experience only once, dying. And we all know it's coming, but because it seems to be somewhat far away, it tends not to occupy our thoughts very often. Ecclesiastes 7 verses 1 and 2 contains very wise words. Listen to these. A good name is better than precious ointment. And the day of death is better than the day of one's birth. Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. For that is the end of all men and the living will take it to heart. The Bible records for us the intervention of God into the lives of his chosen people. So far, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their families. Abraham and Isaac have now both died in the narrative and have both been, as the text tells us, gathered to his people. Abraham died and was gathered to his people. Isaac died and was gathered to his people. God has dramatically improved this world since the flood of Noah by the intervention of his divine grace in the hearts of men. And aren't you thankful for that? Remember, God only saved Noah and his family, eight people in the ark, because the whole world was filled with violence. And God looked down on the sons of men and saw that every inclination of their heart was only evil, and that continually. God has made the world much better by intervening, by having his church in the world. by having people whose hearts have been changed and turned away from the path of wickedness. Yes, men have tried their best to destroy, to pillage, to ruin this world through selfishness, covetousness, war, and the unmitigated pursuit of worldly pleasure, but God will not allow evil to have the last and greatest word in the world he created. The redeemed people of God are during their lifetimes on earth, salt and light in the dark and hopeless world in which they live. We occupy this place before we die. We occupy in order to spread the light of God's love and grace into the dark places round about us. There is always, my brothers and sisters, there is always so very much to be done in this world. You must first be as a Christian, a walking pillar of grace to your family, then to your workplace, then to your neighbors. There are so many people dying in their sins who need someone to explain the gospel to them, to answer their questions, and then call them to repent and believe and be baptized and take their place in the church. There are so many people in need in the world around us that need our help. And by the grace of God, He continues to redeem people everywhere and in every nation. And then He sprinkles those grains of salt upon the decaying places and cultures in which they live so that godly change will come. But our blessed hope will be enjoyed only after we die and when Jesus returns. The Christian longs to put off mortality and be clothed with immortality. As Paul himself in the inspired scripture said in first Corinthians 15 53, For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. The apostle Paul also wrote in Romans 8.23, he said, not only that, but we also have the first fruits of the Spirit. Even we ourselves grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, for the redemption of our bodies. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Our hope is primarily in the next world. We can rejoice that God has done so much to change this world, can't we? That hospitals have been built, that Christians have engaged in tremendous works of charity, that Christians have built godly families and have a godly legacy, that Christians have been in this world and every nation to make those places better in this life they have. But our hope is in the next world. Paul said himself, 1 Corinthians 15, 19, please hear this. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. I praise God for the good he's doing in this world. for the setting back of darkness, for the retreat of the kingdom of Satan and the growth of the kingdom of God in this world. But our hope still lies in the next ultimately. And Paul said, if we only have hope in this life, we're the most pitiable people there are. Our hope is ultimately in heaven, the next world, that which is coming in the future. And so while we sojourn in this fallen world and have our seasons of grace, our seasons of trial, Our days of joy, our days of tears, what beats in the heart of the Christian is that blessed hope, which we presently do not see. I don't see it. I've never seen it. Neither have you. And you won't until your soul departs, until you leave, until you're gone. As Paul said, why does one still hope for what he sees? Why does one hope for what he sees? We can't see it yet, but it will come when we die. We eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Praise God for the incredible works of goodness and mercy that His redeemed people are carrying out in the world even to this very day. Everywhere they have found themselves. But our great hope, the thing we long for the most, is being with the Lord after our deaths and the ultimate climax of history when Christ returns on the last day. And we also, like Paul, if we're real Christians, see our own death. as the entrance into the very presence of Christ, our Savior. Paul said in Philippians 1.21, For to me, to live as Christ and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit for my labor. Yet what I shall choose I cannot tell, for I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better, he says. Those are only words that a Christian can say. To die is gain. To die is gain. For so many, to die is the ultimate loss because of the bondage to fear that they have to the unknown that they live in. What's going to happen after death? We don't know. And since all of their treasure is on earth, where moth and rust destroys and decays and where thieves break in and steal, to die is to lose all that they have and all that they are. But the Christian's treasure has always been somewhere else. in the very presence of Christ in heavenly glory. And therefore, to die is to at last embrace that true treasure and their first love, the Lord Jesus. But when a repentant true believer in the Lord Jesus dies, it is gain. To die is gain. Why? Because the world of sorrow and pain will for all of future eternity be banished from them. And when the unbeliever dies, He loses everything and gains nothing. When the believer dies, he loses nothing and gains everything. If only we could understand how eager our Lord is to welcome us into his kingdom. Jesus said in Matthew 25, the king will say to those on his right hand, when the son of man comes, and all the holy angels with him, he will say to those in his right hand, come you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. It's an amazing thing to think. He's eager. He can't wait to show it to you. What he's worked on all this time, this place he's prepared. Remember what he told his disciples in John 14? Don't be troubled. I go to prepare a place for you. my father's house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you and I will not leave you orphans I will come and get you and introduce you to it come inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world in this passage here this morning we have some some tough things we have incest we have a record of Jacob's twelve sons who would become the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel and we have two funerals so let's go ahead and walk through this I've given you a Four-point outline in your bulletin if you'd like to look at that and I've also given you some some thoughts I hope you will take a look at this afternoon and think about Meditate upon look at the passages discuss them with your families at home But this four-point outline I've given you Benjamin's birth and Rachel's death the first section second point Jacob's troubled family thirdly heaven before heaven and then finally I'd like to do a little doctrinal application regarding the intermediate state and what the Bible teaches about and So let's look at the first point, Benjamin's birth and Rachel's death, verse 16 through 20. Look at verse 16. Then they journeyed from Bethel, and when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel labored in childbirth, and she had hard labor. Now stop right there. Jacob probably was wanting to move all the way to Hebron with his father Isaac all along. That was the land that he and his heart had been wanting to go to anyway. He had longed for his father's house to be by Isaac. But along the way there, Rachel gave birth to her second son. And remember, Rachel was the mother of only one child at this point, even though Jacob had 11 sons, Rachel was the mother of only one of them, Joseph. She had expressed her faith in God by giving Joseph that name. Joseph in Hebrew means Yahweh shall add. And so she named her first son a name that means I'm expecting more. I'm expecting more children to come. Joseph means the Lord shall add now it took a long time before God finally answered that faith, but it happens Here as the text says Rachel's labor was hard. It wasn't normal. Something was wrong with her physically Rachel was probably getting a bit older at this point in her life and Jacob was probably most commentators think about a hundred and five when this happened and perhaps they're traveling and had caused her to go into labor premature. We don't know. She may have been dehydrated. There's no telling for sure. But her labor, we're told in the text, was abnormal and that it was said to be hard. And as we see, it claims her life very sadly. Look at verses 17 and 18. Now it came to pass when she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, do not fear, you will have this son also. And so it was as her soul was departing, for she died and she called his name Ben-Ani. But his father called him Benjamin. Now this is very sad, a very sad scene here. The midwife that's helping her give birth assures her that she's going to successfully deliver this child, which she does. But as her soul was departing, she names him the Hebrew Ben-Ani, which means son of my sorrow. Jacob changes his name to something similar, Ben-Jamin, which means son of my right hand. Now we're not told exactly why he made this change, but commentators have speculated, and they're probably right, that Jacob himself did not want to be constantly reminded of the circumstances of his precious Rachel's death every time he called his son's name. Or he may not have wanted Benjamin to have to endure that thought that his mother died giving birth to him every time he considered and heard his own name. Imagine your name meaning son of my sorrow. Why did your mother name me that? Because she was dying when she gave you that name. This was definitely a hard providence. And these are the kinds of events that few people anticipate or ever could really be prepared for when they happen. But it is exactly this kind of thing that makes the eagerly waiting of which Paul spoke in Romans, such a glorious anchor for our soul. You see, it's in the moment when that happens, when something like that happens in our lives or in our families, that it makes the longing for heavenly glory intensify even more. Just like Paul said, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies. And Paul himself would have understood that having been stoned and left for dead once. And this guy was probably towards the end of his life, a pretty surly site. He had been beaten with rods. He had been scourged, shipwrecked, stoned once, and everybody thought he was dead. He was probably pretty beat up. And so the redemption of his body was probably something he really longed for. He groaned within himself, I can't wait to be rid of the aches and pains and for it to all be gone at last. But you see, it's only our bodies that die, not our souls. Your soul will live forever, for eternity. Our souls depart from our bodies when our bodies stop functioning. There is an intermediate state we are going to touch on at the end of the sermon this morning in point number four, but our blessed hope is the resurrection of our dead bodies, the redemption of our bodies, the fixing of the brokenness and glorified eternal life with God and the new heavens and the new earth. Rachel died, the text tells us, and her soul departed. That's a very important teaching point from this passage. That's what happens to a human being when they die. When they expire, their soul leaves their body. It departs from their body. Ecclesiastes 12, six and seven teaches us this. Remember your creator before the silver cord is loosed or the golden bowl is broken or the pitcher shattered at the fountain or the wheel broken at the well, then the dust will return to the earth as it was. And the spirit will return to God who gave it. Look at verse 19. So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath. That is Benjamin or Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar on her grave, which is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day." Okay, stop there. I'd like you to note, Matthew Henry points this out, great afflictions sometimes befall us immediately after great comforts. Lest Jacob should be lifted up with the visions of the Almighty with which he was honored. This was sent as a thorn in the flesh to humble him. You remember, which woman was the one that Jacob really wanted to marry in the first place? It was Rachel. It was this one, not the other three he ended up with. Matthew Henry says, those that enjoy the favors peculiar to the children of God must yet expect the troubles that are common to the children of men. God never promises us we won't suffer. God doesn't promise us we're not going to go through very hard things, very hard times, real heartache, real loss, real pain and suffering. He only promises that when we do, he won't, he'll never leave us. He'll walk with us through them and that he'll help us overcome them. Point number two, Jacob's troubled family. This is the hard part of the text here. Verses 21 to 22. Then Israel journeyed and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. And it happened when Israel dwelt in that land that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard about it. Here we have an evil, which Paul himself says was not even named among Gentiles. First Corinthians 5.1, remember that passage? It is actually reported that there are sexual immorality among you and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles. Not a man has his father's wife. Reuben was Jacob's oldest son. He was the firstborn child that Jacob had, the firstborn to Leah. And Reuben was probably about 30 years old at this point when this event took place. There were probably really no women available that Reuben could have married at this point in his life. The female servants in Jacob's house would have been off limits. because of his position as the firstborn of a prominent patriarchal family and their position as servants. They were not optional for them. And the encounter of Dinah with the Shechemites, remember that from a couple of weeks ago? And what that resulted in, the murder of every man in the city by Simeon and Levi, that event probably would have impressed very deeply upon Jacob's sons that the locals aren't an option either. And so what is a normal virile young man to do with no prospective brides anywhere? Well, we're not given any details about this affair. We're only told that it happened and there's the implication in the text that they tried to hide it from Jacob. You see the statement at the end of verse 22 again, you see the last phrase of verse 22, and Israel heard about it. That seems to indicate Reuben and Bilhah tried to hide this from him. But their cover-up didn't work for whatever reason. Secret sins have a way of finding us out eventually. Proverbs 28, 13 says, he who covers his sin will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. But Israel heard about it. Jacob knew what his oldest son, Reuben, had done. And just if you want to think forward, remember when Jacob's dying and he brings all of his sons before him and he pronounces certain things about each one of them, He has kind of a special message for Reuben because of this. He never forgot about it until the end of his life. Israel heard about it. It's hard to imagine his reaction to hearing such a thing. It would be on the same level as his finding out that Simeon and Levi had just murdered every man in the city of Shechem. Here again for Jacob, for the believer Jacob, more sleepless nights, more heartache on the part of Israel because of, once again, family troubles, Polygamy, it just doesn't work. Over and over again. The entire Old Testament history of polygamy is an object lesson in the reality that it's supposed to be one man and one woman for life. How many times must Jacob have revisited in his mind every time another thing happened because of his polygamy? Every time there was another massive family catastrophe like this, how many times must he have gone back in his thinking and remembered when Laban tricked him into marrying Leah, remember that? To extort another seven years of labor so he could have Rachel. And then there, those two rivals rivaling with each other and bringing their maids into the equation and Jacob trying to keep peace. It had to be a nonstop headache. How much of that was brought upon him by the evil doings of Laban all those years ago. And what about Reuben, the firstborn son Jacob had? Can you imagine how heartbreaking it was for Israel, for Jacob to find out what had happened? Proverbs 17, 25, a foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him. And we know because Jacob brings it up at the end of his life. Jacob never forgot about this episode, about this lurid thing that happened in his family. Now look at the rest of the section here at the end of verse 22, all the way through verse 26. Now the sons of Jacob were 12. The sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant, were Dan and Naphtali. And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's maidservant, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Padan Aram." So there's now 12 boys. And these 12 names are mentioned repeatedly throughout the rest of biblical history, throughout the prophets. These will be the heads of the 12 tribes of the people of Israel. that would one day become a vast multitude within the land of Egypt and will be redeemed and brought out by the mighty hand of Yahweh one day, the 12 tribes of Israel. And in fact, when Joshua and the armies of Israel conquer the promised land, they divided up under those names, the names of each of those 12 tribes. Thirdly, this morning, look at point number three, verses 27 through 29, heaven before heaven, verse 27. Then Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kirjoth Arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had dwelt. Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. So Isaac breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him." Now Isaac lived to be the oldest of all the patriarchs. He was 180 when he died. And this was probably after the time when Joseph was sold into Egypt. We get kind of a flash forward. But it is heartwarming, isn't it? To see that Esau and Jacob buried their father together. Isn't that a wonderful thing to know? Although the memories were probably painful for them both. Jacob knowing that Isaac loved Esau more than him. Remember that? He knew that. Esau was my father's favorite. And Esau knowing that Jacob had received the blessing he felt belonged to him. But by the grace of God, Esau's hard and angry heart had been supernaturally softened to love his brother Jacob. Remember when they see each other for the first time in 20 years? What does Esau do? He runs and falls on Jacob's neck and weeps and kisses him. He's happy to see him. And so it was an amazing thing. Jacob knew who Esau was, the man he once vowed he would kill once Isaac, his father, was dead. Remember that? All those years ago? Esau, as soon as my father's dead, I'm going to kill my brother Jacob. And here Isaac finally does die, but there are no threats of murder. There's no danger. God has intervened to keep Esau's hatred and his anger at bay. And there's a lesson that we can learn from that too. Esau being younger and being angry, very often the things that we do and say in our younger years, when our blood is hot, they need to be seen for what they are. The actions of the immature and the foolish. Point number four this morning, doctrinal application regarding the intermediate state. This is glorious. I hope that you will benefit from this here again. We see that beautiful phrase at the, at the close of our passage this morning. So Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people being old and full of days. Every year that goes by in life, it seems that the weight we carry grows a little bit heavier. and our ability to shoulder it grows a little bit weaker. And thus it is through our own slow breaking in life that we learn more and more that it was God who held up our limp hands to do what we needed to do and that it was God who strengthened our feeble knees so that we could go where we needed to go. But let us be sure to contemplate reality as it truly is. We are all burning out slowly but surely. Some of us will die suddenly and unexpectedly. Some in this room will die suddenly and unexpectedly. But our great vision for life while we still have it here on earth must be to fear God and to obey his commandments, to repent of our sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ unto the everlasting salvation of our souls, that part that departs from us when we die. Our hope as individuals is not in the here and now. Ultimately, there is a final destination that God has planned for His children. And that is contained beautifully in the Greek verb, predestined. That beautiful verb, that beautiful Greek verb, praorizo, predestined. God has the destination planned from before the foundation of the world. That destination is secured and planned by God. That word means to destine beforehand. That is, to plan the final place we will occupy beforehand. And praise God, that final place is a new, recreated heavens and earth wherein righteousness dwells. There is a glorious line describing this final destination for believers that I hope will be precious to you as a Christian. Meditate on this this afternoon. When the Bible describes the final destination of the believer, It says in the first phrase of Revelation 22, verse 3, And there shall be no more curse. Remember what God said to Adam and Eve in the garden? Cursed is the ground because of you. Because you have done this thing. Thorns and thistles from the sweat of your brow, and you will return to the dust. But in the new heavens and the new earth, no more of that. No more curse. It's gone. Remember the illustration about the fish not understanding that water is wet? There's a sense in which what awaits us is entirely unknown to us. We don't know what it's like to live outside from the curse. We were born into it. The moment we came into being, the moment God formed our souls in our mother's womb, we were cursed under God's curse. To imagine a world without God's curse, it's possible. We can imagine it, but the experience of it is just going to have to wait. That's what Paul's talking about when he says, we eagerly wait for it. Can't wait to be there. That passage in Revelation 22 continues, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve him. They shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there. They need no lamp nor light of the sun for the Lord God gives them light and they shall reign forever and ever. But prior to the bodily resurrection and the inheriting of the new heavens and the new earth, There is in the Bible taught to us an intermediate state. It's an unnatural condition, but a glorious and wonderful one. Nonetheless, at least that's how it's described in the Bible for us. Think about that phrase that God gave us as a source of hope for the dying. He was gathered to his people. He was gathered to his people. That's beautiful, isn't it? He died, but there was part of him that continued to live and was taken somewhere else gathered to others who have died in the same condition, to the place of all the faithful. There is a conscious afterlife prior to the final day of history when Christ returns and raises the dead. We do not sleep. We do not enter into some kind of unconscious state of hibernation. Paul spoke clearly to this issue, even though the intermediate state, and when I say intermediate, I mean the condition of our soul after we die prior to Jesus coming back to the earth the day of the resurrection and the final judgment. That intermediate state, yes indeed, it's unnatural for us. God created our souls to be always joined together with our bodies. So it is an unnatural condition, but it will still be a glorious and marvelous existence for us. Listen to Paul's own description again. To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor. Yet what I shall choose I cannot tell, for I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ." Think about that. What does it say about Rachel? Her soul departed. That same thing will happen to us when we die physically. We will depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. Does it sound to you like Paul believes in soul sleep or suspended animation or some kind of sleeping existence where we're not conscious of anything? He's saying, I can't wait. I'm hard pressed. I know that staying here means fruit from my labor and preaching the gospel and doing more good to the souls of others. But I desire to depart and be with Christ. My soul lusts for it. I can't wait to finally see him and be with him. Forever. He says it's far better. We must not be careless or reckless with our lives because of this. We still need to preserve ourselves and take care of ourselves and desire to live. Death is an enemy. We're not to embrace it. But there is this glorious promise that when we die, we depart and are with Christ, which is far better. Think of it. The people you know and love who have died in faith, the moment their soul departed, they were with Christ. amazing to think about. Did you notice Genesis 35, 18, that phrase? And so it was as her soul was departing before she died. There is in physical death, the separation of our immortal part, our soul from the mortal part that's dead, our body. And we must know as well that there is absolutely nothing natural about death. Death was introduced into creation as a result of sin, just like our bodily ailments and sicknesses and injuries and everything. That's all part of a punishment for sin. God told Adam and Eve. He told, not Eve, but Adam before Eve was formed. Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. The departing of our soul from our body, that's not natural. That's a punishment for sin. Romans 5.12, just as through one man sin entered the world and death through sin, thus death spread to all men because all sinned. Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. We were not created to die. We were created to live forever in our bodies. Death is our great enemy and the thing from which we long and hope to be ultimately, finally, and forever delivered. Death is the reality of the curse of sin upon us. Now that does raise a question. That does raise an important question, especially for Christians. Listen to the way the theologian Louis Burkhoff describes this. I think this is an outstanding answer to this question. The question of course being, why do we as believers still have to do it? Why do we still have to die? If God has taken away the punishment, why do we still have to experience physical death? Listen to Burkhoff quote, the Bible speaks of physical death as a punishment and as the wages of sin. Since believers are set free from the guilt of sin, the question actually rises, why must they die? It is evident that death cannot be a punishment for them since they are no more under condemnation. Why then does God cause them to pass through the harrowing experience of death? In their case, death must evidently be regarded as the culmination of the chastisements, which God has ordained for the sanctification of his people. You hear that? Death for me, for you, if you're a Christian, is not a punishment. It's a means of sanctification. Listen to Berkhoff, the very thought of death bereavement through death, the feeling that sicknesses and sufferings are harbingers of death, and the consciousness of the approach of death. These all have a very beneficial effect on the people of God. They serve to humble the proud, to mortify the flesh, to check worldliness, and to foster spiritual mindedness. Isn't that perfect? It's exactly right. The thought of death The knowledge we're going to go through it, it has beneficial effects upon us. It humbles the proud, it mortifies the flesh, it checks our worldliness and fosters spiritual mindedness. How can we be so attached to the things of the world when we know we're going to die? And it could be today, it could be in 20 years. Who knows? We don't know, but it's going to happen one way or the other. Death will silence every one of us. Turn in your Bible, if you would, to 2 Corinthians 5. I want you to walk through this final passage with me. 2 Corinthians 5, verses 1-8. 2 Corinthians 5, verses 1-8. 2 Corinthians 5, verses 1-8. Listen to the confidence that the Apostle Paul has about the intermediate state prior to the resurrection, but after physical death. Listen to him. 2 Corinthians 5. For we know that if our earthly house, this tent is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. For in this, we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation, which is from heaven. If indeed having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent grown, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now he who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has also given us the spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased, rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. And thus, there is a spiritual existence that awaits us in the afterlife. It will be a conscious existence of perfection and glory, but not yet the resurrection and the new heavens and the new earth yet, which will have to wait until the last day when our Lord Jesus returns to the earth. Remember those precious words of assurance that Jesus gave that repentant thief? Remember what he said to him? Today, you will be with me. In other words, our souls, yours and mine, are departing and going to the same You will be with me. You will know and recognize me today when your life expires. We'll be together in that place Jesus calls paradise. Yes, there is a disembodied spiritual paradise of some kind that awaits the true repentant believer in Christ the moment they die. God has promised it to us. We just read it. Paul said we are confident, yes, well-pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. It is an existence that is not bodily and yet is somehow present with the Lord Himself. The catechism, shorter catechism asks, what benefits do believers receive from Christ at death? And then it asks the next question, what benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection? You see, there's benefits that accrue in both states. The souls of believers are at their death, made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory. And their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection. In the same way, my dear friends, there is a place of torment and punishment prior to the resurrection to which the unbeliever will go when they die, awaiting their final condemnation on the day of judgment when Christ returns and raises them to life as well. Remember when the apostles selected Matthias to replace Judas after Judas hung himself? They prayed this way. Listen carefully to the way that the apostles prayed in Acts 1. You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two you have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas, by transgression, fell, that he might go to his own place. Believers, when they die, are gathered to their people. Aren't there believers you're going to be excited to see when your soul departs, that you knew, that helped you, that loved you? We are gathered to our people and are present with the Lord because they're all with Him. Just like Jesus told that thief, you'll be with me. Like all of your deceased ones that died in faith, they'll be with me too. You'll all be together. Jude in the book of Jude verses six and seven says, but the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode. He has reserved an everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. You hear that there is this place of chains and darkness prior to that great day. Prior to the final judgment, there was a holding place for the wicked and there was paradise for those that know Christ. Jude continues as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them in a similar manner to these having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. That's the way that other place is described. And thus prior to the judgment of the great day, there is a disembodied soulish place in which we are reserved The reprobate, the wicked under chains where they suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. And then there's the place of peace, which is far better paradise for those that know Christ. And so where did Isaac go when his soul departed? He like Abraham, his father, the text tells us was gathered to his people and he died full. He went to that paradise of which Jesus spoke to the repentant man on the cross beside him. Isaac entered into that place of rest, of joy, blessedness, perfect and holiness, and glorious. There's one last passage I'd like you to turn to because it's just so beautiful. Turn with me to Isaiah 57. Isaiah chapter 57 verses 1 and 2. Isaiah chapter 57 verses 1 and 2. Isaiah 57 verses 1 and 2. There's another glorious one. Listen to this. Hear this. The righteous perishes, and no man takes it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, while no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil. He shall enter into peace. They shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness." You see, the world around us as Christians, on the days that we die, they come to our funerals Oh, there's another dead person. We all die. It happens to all of us. But they don't consider that for us, it's very different from the death of the non-believer. Because the righteous are taken away from evil. From its presence forever. When they die. Death will most certainly come to us. But if we know Christ, we can rejoice that when our souls depart, we are finally and for eternity taken away from evil. We shall enter into peace and we shall rest walking in uprightness. No more curse. And yet even then, even then the best is still yet to come because there's still the resurrection and the final vindication of the people of God. They're being pronounced righteous on the day of judgment because they're clothed in the white robe of Christ's righteousness and their entrance into the new heavens and the new earth. Seeing that our Creator has seen fit to give us such great and precious promises, how ought we to live in this world then, in light of this? Like Paul said, it must be our goal, whether we are present with the Lord or absent, to be pleasing to Him. He created this beautiful place, this beautiful world for us. He has been so faithful to us. He has not remained silent, but spoken to us in the pages of Scripture. He has shown us His will. And if you're a Christian, He has intervened in your life. and given you faith and repentance to adopt you to be his own special child and has given you the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of your final and ultimate redemption, a guarantee of your eternal rest, your eternal inheritance, and the receiving of that great eternal treasure in the heavens, Christ himself. Like Rachel, like Isaac, one day your soul will depart in exactly the same way Rachel's did. Let that passage bear down on you. As her soul departed, she named him Ben-Ani. One day, the same thing will happen to us. Soul will depart. The body expires. Soul will depart. Where is that place for you? Where does your treasure reside? What soul master do you serve? Remember, I've been preaching on the Sermon on the Mount. You're hardwired by God to only have one. You can only have one master. He's the God of the world. Is it God or money? Is it God or mammon? Is it God or something in this world? When you consider your life and your death, do you cling to the cross of Jesus and to his righteousness? Do you know where you are going? And like Paul, do you have no fear? No fear of it. Paul's looking forward to it. We are well pleased to be absent from the body. Can't wait for it to happen, to be with the Lord, which is far better. Or is it, I just don't know. Not sure about that. There is surely life after death. right after we die, right after we die. There is conscious existence immediately following the departing of our soul and either eternal happiness and bliss or eternal misery. This is perhaps the teaching of God's holy word that is the most mocked, rejected and despised by heretics and by unbelievers. And it certainly makes some sense, doesn't it? God gave every man a conscience that testifies against them, that warns them that there is most certainly a day of judgment they will face. and rejoice, you who know Christ, that you have fled for refuge against that day of judgment into the all-loving and sufficient arms of Christ, whose death has fully discharged the debt and punishment of your sin, and whose perfect righteousness is imputed to your account, so that you will most certainly be justified on that great day." Can you understand why the false teachers and unbelievers don't like this idea? Their conscience tells them it's not going to go well for you. And so let's just deny that it's even there. The next question there in our catechism, I'll close with this, is question 38. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection? Answer, at the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment and made fully blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity. And so when you depart, where are you going? It will be one or the other, and there will be a conscious existence, either a happy one or a miserable one, the moment You die is the beginning of eternity. Make sure with Paul, with God's people, that you know where you're going. Let's pray. Our heavenly father, we bless you and praise you that you've given us this blessed hope. That as Paul said, we know that if our earthly tent, this body is destroyed, we have a building in the heavenly places that is indestructible because it's created by you. where Christ is and where all believers throughout the ages have gone to be. Father, we pray you'd help us to rejoice in that blessed truth, to live under the cross, to love you, and to serve only you, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.