Pre-Existence
Next Part Pre-existence Stated in Scripture
Introduction Where have we come from, and where are we going? Can we know the answers? One person certainly did. ‘I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father,’ he said (John 16: 28). The man of the world believes this life is the only life he has, and lives and acts according to that belief. If there is an after life, he thinks, we do not know much if anything about it, and the best thing to do is to enjoy the life we have on this earth and make the most of it.
Most religions, on the other hand, place a strong emphasis on the after life. Most religious people believe that the next life will either be wonderfully happy in heaven or horribly miserable in hell for ever. Our final destination depends on our faith or actions in this life. Many people hold this theory, but few of them are able to live in accordance with what they believe. Most of them watch the majority of their fellow beings, usually including many of their own relations, heading for eternal torment, and feel powerless to do anything about it.
Hindus and Buddhists believe in reincarnation. We progress through many lives on this earth, they believe, hopefully making spiritual progress each time we come, until we finally attain enlightenment and do not need to return. I do not believe this teaching, but I do find it more logical than the idea that we have one short - maybe very short - life on earth after which we will go immediately to eternal bliss or eternal torment (more probably the latter) depending on decisions often made with little on which to base them.
I believe in the eventual restitution of all things or universal reconciliation. God plans ‘to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross’ (Col 1: 20). I also believe that we pre-existed as spirits with God before we entered our earthly bodies.
These two beliefs change the whole perspective of our earthly life. It becomes a smaller part of something very much larger. The vast differences in our experiences and opportunities in this world become much smaller when seen against a background of what went before and what comes afterwards.
We will examine the scriptural evidence for our pre-existence, but, before we do so, we will consider how such a view could be correct if so few people now believe it or have seen it in scripture.
Why Truth is Hidden
Why is truth so often hidden from man’s eyes?
Firstly, truth is hidden until God chooses to reveal it. In the old covenant, truth was hidden in types and shadows - pictures and stories - and later revealed when Jesus came as the mediator of the new covenant. The truth was there, but hidden until the time came for its revelation.
Most obviously this was true when the apostle Paul re-read the Hebrew scriptures with enlightened eyes, and saw things which he said were ‘the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him’ (Rom 16: 25, 26).
In the new testament, Jesus spoke in parables so that truth could be revealed to those whom he chose, but not to the multitudes.
So we will find some truth stated clearly in scripture for all to understand. Other truth we will find hidden in all kinds of ways, limited only by the imagination of God. Laws, stories, words, numbers and much more, all contain truth that God is able and willing to reveal when and to whom he pleases.
Secondly, we find that truth is hidden by man’s sin and corruption. The doctrine of universal reconciliation is hidden by mistranslation of key Greek words. The church in general knew little of a gospel of grace and mercy, and needed a doctrine of eternal damnation to control its members and frighten them into submission. The ecclesiastical authorities were more than happy with inaccurate translation.
Thirdly we find that truth is hidden behind other truth. The traditional church view of eternal judgement makes it quite impossible for anyone to believe in any kind of pre-existence. Jesus said that he came from the Father and went back to the Father. Could it make any sense that we also came into this world from the Father, and the majority of us then went on to the devil? What father could send his children on any venture that in all probability would end in their suffering unspeakable torment for ever and ever?
If you hold the traditional majority teaching that most of the human race is destined for perpetual and indescribable torment, then pre-existence with God becomes an absurd impossibility.
The teachings of universal reconciliation and pre-existence are linked. If you believe in eternal damnation, you cannot possibly believe in pre-existence as a spirit with God. If you believe in pre-existence, it is a strong argument for believing in universal reconciliation.
Fourthly, I must add that many in the early church believed both in universal reconciliation and in pre-existence. I’ve read that ‘Until the sixth century A.D., early Christianity taught that we had a pre-earth life. Then the doctrine of a pre-existence was condemned by the council of Constantinople in A.D. 553.’ Like many other truths, these truths were lost until the reformation and more recent times.
We will look now at universal reconciliation. I have written separately on this subject, under the titles Universal Reconciliation and The Hidden Aeonian Realm, and so will write only briefly here.
The Life to Come
Does the Bible really teach that unbelievers will suffer eternal torment? I believe the answer is an emphatic NO.
Most English Bible translations contradict themselves on the subject of salvation. The following verses state directly or indirectly that all mankind will eventually be saved:
• For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive (1 Co 15: 22)
• For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross (Col 1: 19, 20).
• And every created thing that is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honour and glory and dominion and power for ever and ever” (Rev 5: 13).
• For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things (Rom 11: 36).
Other scriptures indicate that the majority of mankind will go into everlasting torment. Here are 4 of them:
• Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels (Mat 25:41).
• They will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever ... (Rev 14: 10,11).
• Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life (Mat 25: 46).
• They will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power (2 Thes 1: 9).
Future, corrective punishment exists, but its duration is not for ever and ever. Fire and brimstone (sulphur) are both purifying agents. The lake of fire - the second death - will serve its purifying purpose, and will cease to exist when Christ overcomes death, the last enemy. The time will then come when, according to John’s vision, ‘every created thing that is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, (will be) heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honour and glory and dominion and power for ever and ever”’ (Rev 5: 13).
We can now consider the scriptural arguments for pre-existence as spirits with God.
Next Part Pre-existence Stated in Scripture