Q: IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH?

Contemporary Religious Questions Q: IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH? A: We all know that we must eventually die. The question is: What happens then? Or as Job asked, If a man dies, will he live again?... (Job 14:14). A man in his 80s told a friend of mine that he was just waiting for the undertaker. My friend asked, But do you know where you ll be then? Yes, he replied, I ll either be six feet under the ground or in the crematorium. Was he right? Is that all there is after death? Men have always hoped that there is life after death. Robert Ingersoll, a noted agnostic of the nineteenth century, even hoped that life goes on beyond death. In his eulogy at his brother s grave, he said,... in the night of death hope sees a star and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing. He who sleeps here, when dying, mistaking the approach of death for the return of health, whispered with his latest breath, I am better now. Let us believe in spite of doubts and dogmas and tears and fears, that these dear words are true of all the countless dead. 1 Ingersoll wanted to believe in heaven. We all want to believe in life after death. But can we? The Bible answers that question with an unmistakable affirmative. But that does not exhaust biblical teaching. What else does the Bible teach about what happens to you after death? To make the answer to that question as plain as possible, let us tell the story of Joe Brown in life, in death, and after death. As we do this, though, we should keep in mind that Joe Brown is representative of every person. JOE BROWN IN LIFE The Psalmist asks, What is man, that Thou dost take thought of him?... (Psalms 8:4). In life, what is Joe Brown? 1 Complete Lectures of R. G. Ingersoll (Chicago: J. Regan & Co., n.d.), 60. He has, or is, a spirit. This is, in fact, the most basic thing about Joe Brown, or any human being. He was, after all, made in the image of God and God is spirit (John 4:24). Therefore, man is more than a body; he is, above all, a spiritual being. Paul speaks of man as being composed of both an inner man and an outer man (2 Corinthians 4:16; cf. Ecclesiastes 12:7). He also has a physical body. Paul wrote, I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice,... (Romans 12:1). He distinguishes between you and your bodies. The essence of the Christians in Rome was not to be found in their bodies; they had control of their bodies, but they were not to be equated with their bodies. He also has a personality. We are using the word personality for the totality of a person s mental (as opposed to his physical) make-up: John Brown is either friendly or sour, kind or rude, humble or arrogant. All of his experiences, habits, and character traits make up what he is. Without those characteristics, he is not himself. Joe Brown has the responsibility to serve God and his fellow man as long as he lives. Does he do so? Only he, and God, knows for sure. JOE BROWN IN DEATH What happens to Joe Brown in death? Death is a separation. James 2:26 says: For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. When the spirit leaves the body so that the body and the spirit are separated, then death occurs. Death is pictured as changing one s garments, taking off the earthly tent which is our house to being clothed with our dwelling from heaven (2 Corinthians 5:1, 2; cf. vv. 4, 8). If you lose a hand, you are still you. Even if you lose both arms and both legs, you are still 1

you. Picture death, then, as not just losing your arms and legs, but as losing your entire body. Just as the person who is you remains when you lose one hand, so the person who is you remains when you lose your body. Even so, when Joe Brown dies, he takes off his body, but he still continues to exist. JOE BROWN IN HADES What happens to Joe Brown immediately after death? In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man was gaily living in splendor every day, while the beggar Lazarus was hungry, sick, and poor. Luke 16:22-31 says, 2 Now it came about that the poor man died and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame. But Abraham said, Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able, and that none may cross over from here to us. And he said, Then I beg you Father, that you send him to my father s house for I have five brothers that he may warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment. But Abraham said, They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. But he said, No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent! But he said to him, If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead. From this we can learn, first, what a person is after death. He is still a spirit. Lazarus and the rich man left their bodies behind, but they still existed in a spiritual form. After death, a person has, or acquires, a spiritual body. Paul says that when we die we will not be unclothed, for we will put on a heavenly dwelling (2 Corinthians 5:2-4). He makes the same point when he answers the questions, How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come? (1 Corinthians 15:35). He states, It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.... (1 Corinthians 15:44). Why will we need spiritual bodies? Because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.... (1 Corinthians 15:50). Likewise, those who are alive when Christ returns shall all be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51) because this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality (1 Corinthians 15:53). Therefore, each one who has died will have a spiritual body. A person still has his former personality. The rich man and Lazarus retained their personalities. After death, a person is not an amorphous mass of nothing or a vague spirit. He has memory, consciousness, the ability to think, reason, feel, and the ability to be tortured. We do not die as one person and wake up as another. After death, we will still be what and who we are today. From this story, we learn where a person goes after death. This story is not talking about a time after Judgment Day because life was still going on back on earth; the rich man had five brothers who were still alive. But there will not be anyone still living on the earth after the judgment, since the earth will be dissolved when Christ returns (2 Peter 3:10). What do we learn about where people go after death? Some, like Lazarus, go to a place of rest. This is called Paradise, because, according to what Jesus said to the thief, that is where He went when He died (Luke 23:43). But Paradise must be a part of Hades, because the Bible also teaches that Jesus went to Hades. Peter said that David looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay (Acts 2:31). Others, like the rich man, go to a place of torment. The rich man was also said to be in Hades:... the rich man also died... and in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment (Luke 16:22, 23). How could both places, a place of comfort and a place of torment, be in Hades? Hades is the place of the dead, the place where all the dead, both righteous and unrighteous, go. It consists of two parts: a place of comfort and a place of torment. Apparently, Peter in 2 Peter 2:4 was speaking of the Hadean place of torment when he used the Greek word tartarus. This seems to be the place where the wicked of all the ages await their condemnation. In Hades, there is a great gulf between those who are in Paradise and those in Tartarus. The

rich man asked that Lazarus be sent to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue (Luke 16:24). Abraham responded, in part, Between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us (Luke 16:26). There is no crossing that gulf. Once one is being tormented, he is there to stay. Where does Joe Brown go immediately after death? The answer is that it depends on how he has lived, just as it depended on how the rich man and Lazarus had lived. Notice, though, that the account of Lazarus proves that having a comfortable life in this world does not necessarily guarantee a comfortable life in the next. You may be prospering now, gaily living in splendor every day ; yet, because you have neglected your responsibility to God, you may immediately after death find yourself, like the rich man, in terrible torment! JOE BROWN AT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST Fourth, consider Joe Brown at the second coming of Christ. Christ is coming again! An angel said, just after His ascension,... This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven (Acts 1:11). According to the New Testament, there is nothing to prevent His coming at any time. What will happen when Christ returns? When Christ comes again, Joe Brown and all the dead will be raised. Jesus said,... an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment (John 5:28, 29). The righteous and unrighteous will be raised, and all at the same time. When Christ comes again, those who are alive will be changed: Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,... at the last trumpet;... the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51-53). After the resurrection, Joe Brown will still have a body, but it will be a different kind of body. It will be, among other things, imperishable and spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). When Christ comes again, the world will be destroyed. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up (2 Peter 3:10). Everything in the world, the world itself, the universe that contains the world, and all those material things people live for will be burned up when Christ returns! What kind of people should we be then? (2 Peter 3:11). Certainly, we should not be the kind who live our lives for material things! JOE BROWN AT THE JUDGMENT Fifth, think about Joe Brown at the judgment. One other thing will happen when Christ returns. At that time there will be a judgment: But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:31, 32). Several questions need to be answered about the judgment: Who will be judged? Everyone! John said, They were judged, every one of them according to their deeds (Revelation 20:13; cf. Romans 14:10-12). Like it or not, ready or not, we will all be judged! That is one appointment we will all keep (Hebrews 9:27). Who will be the judge? God will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead (Acts 17:31). What will be the basis of judgment? We will be saved or lost depending on whether we have been washed in the blood of Christ (Revelation 7:14). In addition, the New Testament speaks of two bases for judgment. One, we will be judged by the words of Christ. Jesus said,... the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day (John 14:28). Two, we will be judged by our deeds.... each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:10; cf. Revelation 20:12, 13; Ecclesiastes 12:14). How 3

can these two be reconciled? We will be judged by the words of Christ according to our deeds, by whether we, in our actions, have obeyed his words. What then will be the verdict on Joe Brown in judgment? That verdict is actually being written every day he lives by Joe Brown himself. Since Joe Brown will be judged by whether or not he has obeyed Christ s will, as he obeys or disobeys the Lord he determines whether in judgment he will be saved or lost. So it is with your verdict and mine. We are now deciding whether we will be declared innocent or guilty on that day, depending on whether or not we are obeying Christ as we live from day to day. JOE BROWN IN ETERNITY Sixth, think about Joe Brown in eternity. What eternal possibilities are there for Joe Brown? Matthew 25:46 says, And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. For Joe Brown and the rest of us, only two possibilities exist: eternal punishment, hell, or eternal life, heaven. Notice that in Matthew 25:46 the two are parallel; we must conclude that one is as real, and lasts as long, as the other. If there is a heaven and if heaven lasts eternally, then there is a hell and hell lasts eternally. Is there really a heaven? In 1969 the Sydney Morning Herald contained an article headlined Is There a Heaven? It quoted the results of a quick earthly survey that gave the views of a number of people about heaven. 4... A humanist said, We reject the idea of heaven and hell. The latter we consider a diabolical concept.... A rabbi said that heaven is but a spiritual idea. A sculptor said he was content to think he would one day sail into oblivion, but he hoped to be moving towards something definite.... And the president of the Unidentified Flying Object Investigation Centre observed that heaven and hell are created by the imagination of man, but space could contain a better world with a more advanced civilization. Regardless of what people think, the Bible teaches that there is a heaven, and that is what counts. Is there really a hell? Some object to the view that hell is eternal punishment. They believe that hell is just a matter of a moment, that it does not last eternally. According to them, those who are evil are simply annihilated they cease to exist. But the Bible does not teach that the wicked will cease to exist. Rather it teaches that they will suffer eternally. Revelation 14:11 says, And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; and they have no rest day and night.. That is too cruel, someone objects. Men do not torment other men. Surely God would not torment those who reject Him and His Word. Think again: Why should God not condemn wicked people? They have sinned against the good God. They have spurned the sacrifice offered on their behalf. They have lived lives of rebellion. They have refused every opportunity to be saved. They have committed an infinite sin, a sin against an infinite God, and thus they deserve infinite punishment. What is hell like? The New Testament describes hell (among other things) as a lake of fire (Revelation 20:15), a furnace of fire and a place of wailing (Matthew 13:42), a place of torment (Luke 16:23), a place of outer darkness (Matthew 8:12), a place where people cry out for mercy (Luke 16:24), a place of everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46), a place prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41), and a place where one is tormented with brimstone (Revelation 21:8). Where will Joe Brown be throughout eternity? Obviously, in heaven or hell. Whether he is in one or the other depends on him. If he receives salvation through the blood of Christ by obeying the gospel of Christ, and then spends his life seeking to do God s will, he can be sure of being in heaven eternally. But if he lives in sin and for himself, he can be sure of being lost and being in hell forever. CONCLUSION Another question may be the most important question you will ever be asked: Where will you be throughout eternity? Only two possibilities exist: heaven or hell. There is no third alternative. Beyond that, we can say about your destiny what we said about Joe Brown s: It depends on you. You are, here and now, determining which it will be. If you are saved by Christ s blood by obeying the gospel, and then spend your life seeking to do His will, you can be sure that you will be in heaven eternally. But if you live in sin, you can

be sure of being lost and being in hell forever. Whether you go to heaven or hell is altogether up to you! In a dream one night, I was traveling by car up a lonely road in a forest in the middle of winter. I came to a fork in the road, took a left turn, and continued. The road got narrower and narrower and rougher and rougher and eventually gave out completely. I dreamed I got turned around and finally made it back to the fork in the road. Suddenly, I did not know where I was or where I was going. I felt totally desolate. It was a terrible feeling and a frightening experience. It woke me up, and the dream stayed with me. Many people are so preoccupied about the here that they have given no thought to the hereafter. They think so much about this life that they give no thought to life after this. They concentrate so much on time that they give no thought to eternity. They really do not know where they are or where they are going in one sense! If that is true about you, think carefully about the eternal consequences of what you are doing today. Make sure that you live in such a way that you know you are going to heaven! Coy Roper Copyright, 1991-1998 by Truth for Today ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 5