Hi 5nva...!"My question is in reference to 1 Samuel 28:19 where it says "therefore tomorrow you and your sons will be with me".I believe it was Saul that went to the medium. I'm not sure if it was Samuel that spoke to Saul through the medium but if it was what did he mean by the above statement "you will be with me". Was not Samuel with the Lord? Was Samuel saying Saul would be with the Lord or before the Lord?"That is an interesting question! Some time ago, there was a forum discussing the judgment. In it, we discussed the concept of eternity. What happens when someone dies? There are several ideas on this, but most agree on one of the following:1. There are those who believe that the dead are are immediately standing before the Lord. They are judged and those who died long ago have already received their judgment at the Judgment Seat of Christ, while the unbelievers will wait to be condemned at the Great White Throne. There are alot of "testimonies" of people who claim to have died and visited Heaven, and while there, saw dead believers (including family members). 2. There are those who believe that believers are immediately taken to Abraham's Bosom (or paradise). This has been interpreted to range anywhere from a sort of "judgment purgatory" to literally standing with Abraham and the rest of the righteous as they await judgment. In this ideology, paradise (or Abraham's Bosom) is seen as the holding place for believers and the righteous, while hell is seen as the holding place for the unrighteous that await the final judgment (where death and hell will be thrown in the Lake of Fire). 3. There are those who believe that those who die (both saved and unsaved) are asleep. They are awaiting the "trumpet sound of God" to awaken them from the physical and spiritual slumber. According to this theory, all that have died in the past and in the future will awaken at the same time -- at the trumpet call of God. At this point, the Lord will return to seperate and judge the nations. There are those of us who believe that the concept of "eternity" is misunderstood by many theologians. There are some concepts in the Word of God that seemingly contradict one another concerning the idea of eternity. For instance, Jesus told the thief on the cross that, "Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43 KJV. There is also the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. It tells how the rich man dies and goes to Hell while Lazarus is taken to Abraham's bosom. Yet there are also other Scriptures that speak of the dead in Christ will arise first at the Lord's return. And of course, there are verses that indicate that the dead are still asleep here on the earth, where they rest. One of those is the passage in which you indicated, where Samuel is summoned from his rest by the witch of Endor. Other verses that contend for the "sleep theory" are the stories in which Jesus told people not to weep for the dead, because they are "only asleep," like Mary and Martha's brother, Lazarus, and the little girl he raised from the dead (Luke 8:52, John 11, etc...). Remember, time is an earthly concept. Such a created concept has no grasp on eternity. I believe that when a person dies, they rest. At the moment of the "trumpet call," we will arise from our rest. At that point, those who have died throughout human history will arise or awaken from their slumber. We pass from what is earthly (and temporary) into a realm of eternity (which has neither a past nor future). To those who have died, this slumber seems almost instantaneous. They die, and they seem to immediately awake to see those who died before them -- and even those who died after them. Time has no meaning in eternity. That is why "a day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day." From eternity, the earthly universe that God created can be seen -- from start to finish. It is my belief that the spirit that spoke to Saul was that of Samuel. The story is written in the third person, who was inspired by God to write it down. At least five times in this passage, the third person writer wrote down that the spirit was indeed that of Samuel (verse 12, 14, 15, 16, 20). When Samuel told Saul that "...to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me," he didn't mean that Saul was going to be with him in Abraham's bosom, or in Hell, or in any other type of holding place. He meant that he would be in the grave -- dead. So it appears that Samuel was literally brought up from his slumber (or rest) in the grave.I Samuel 28:12-20 KJV12And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. 13And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. 14And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself. 15And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do. 16Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? 17And the LORD hath done to him, as he spake by me: for the LORD hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David: 18Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the LORD done this thing unto thee this day. 19Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. 20Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel: and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night. :-)
