What is waiting for me?

Common Misconceptions

Old Testament followers of God believed in Heaven and Hell

The afterlife has been a consistent idea from the beginning

The Old Testament idea of what a soul is

Sheol

this is the most common OT idea of the afterlife

It is one that is all encompassing and very strange and different from our normal idea of what the afterlife is like

the idea of a place that is below

the idea of a place that is above

This is the complexity of the OT afterlife and I think it is that way with reason and we have something to gain from trying to understand their mindset

1 Samuel 28

Comes up out of the ground

Claims that Saul and Israel will be with him

Ezekiel 31

Even Eden and the greatest of kings and nations are swallowed up into this world below

Ecclesiastes 9

Our mortal life leads to this regardless of what we do with our lives

What Were They Working For?

All of these OT characters we study and learn about who did great things for God did not have the same eternity in mind as we did

So what was the point of all that they did if they weren’t seeking the same reward as us?

Hebrews 11

all of these worked really hard and the lives they lived reflected a great faith

They were all working toward and hoping in something, but none of them have the salvation in Christ that we have

So what were they hoping to receive?

Enoch

The first hint in scripture about something like this

A very curious case that truthfully gives more questions than answers

Here is the goal of our lives that the OT presents

It is crazy how it happened because its something that many think should not have been possible before the Christ came

Enoch walked with God

Elijah

2 Kings 2

They lived to be taken up into the place where God is and the distinction of what that is is important

Elijah goes as Enoch does and this should shape what it is that we are seeking to do as people who follow the same God and claim to love him.

They gave up their lives and when their work was done they were with God, even before the Christ

The other patriarchs and key figures were living to do the same, Moses, Abraham, Jacob, etc.

Application

Here is what I need you to see from all of this

There is a lot of vagueness and simplicity to the idea of the afterlife in the OT

All of it is extremely important because it will shape what is believed about the afterlife in the NT and we will see that next week