“‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked’” (Isaiah 57:21). According to Scripture, a person who dies without Christ is not “resting in peace” (see John 3:18). Hell is described as a place of torment (verse 23), not a place of rest. Lazarus, who possessed nothing on earth but a pure heart, was taken to paradise. In this account, the rich man, who had given no thought of God during his earthly life, went to hell when he died. He gave a vivid picture of those two options in the story of the rich man and Lazarus, found in Luke 16:19–31. Jesus taught that there are only two options for every human being: heaven and hell (Matthew 10:28 25:46 Mark 9:43 ). The Bible is clear that physical death is not the end (Hebrews 9:27 John 3:16–18). But we must not ignore what Scripture teaches. They try to assure themselves and others that, regardless of the deceased’s relationship with God while on earth, he or she is in heaven now. People who never have time for God suddenly grow religious at a funeral. When someone dies, we often hear unbiblical statements such as “She’s an angel now” and “God needed another angel in heaven” sometimes, we hear the bromide “He’s in a better place,” spoken with no thought that he might actually be in a worse place. Still, the exact words rest in peace are not used.īecause the thought of death can be frightening, people through the years have invented some platitudes with which to comfort themselves. These two passages are the closest the Bible comes to the idea behind RIP. And the prophet Isaiah says, “Those who walk uprightly enter into peace they find rest as they lie in death” (Isaiah 57:2). So, in that sense, saying “Rest in peace,” is not expressly biblical.Īt the end of the book of Daniel, an angel speaks of Daniel’s death, saying, “You will rest” (Daniel 12:13). Is it biblical to say, “Rest in peace”? The expression “rest in peace” is never used in Scripture in connection with a person who had died. It comes from the Latin blessing requiescat in pace (literally, “may he begin to rest in peace”). The acronym RIP (or R.I.P.) is often seen carved on tombstones, and the words rest in peace are often heard at wakes and funerals.
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