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WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO YOU?
INTRODUCTION: ★ THE QUESTION- What is going to happen to you? At the moment of your departure from this earth… are you going to float towards a great light? Or is everything simply going to go black? Will your soul sleep or be ushered immediately into God’s presence?
The last question in our little series of hard questions from you, the congregation is this: What happens to a Christian at death?
★ GOD’S DIFFERENT VIEW- Before we even approach the question, let’s consider two Scriptures- Matt 8:21-22 21 Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." 22 But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." (NIV) Rev 20:13-15 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (NIV) According to Scripture- God has an entirely different view of death than we do as we live our physical lives, on this temporary earth. There is a death before we die, in the conventional sense; and there is a death after! Three deaths! And if we use the weight of Scripture as a guideline; the death we consider most significant, is really the least significant in God’s big picture.
There are people dead, even as they live. Many of us have seen something we’d describe that way- the person who has just given up on life- dead in hope, dead in vision for the future, dead in morals or emotion. It’s a sad thing.
But Jesus points out an even more profound living death. He talked to a group of them like this: Luke 11: 44. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.''
The most profound type of living dead is death of the spirit. It is disconnected from God- it does not understand, it cannot experience God. You can even walk right over this grave and not realize it’s a burial sight. The person may be beautiful, intelligent, admired… even religious… but they are simply a walking corpse. They are dead, even before they die.
Then Revelation 20 talks of the “second death.” In the full context of Scripture, it is really a third type of death. It is the death after our physical death. To us, physical death is permanent- but God says no, don’t be fooled. There is a time coming when the God of life will come in such a direct manner that the grave will give up her dead. And then there will be a second death. And this second death will be so profound… so thorough… so final… so powerful; that even conventional death will die there. Everything disconnected from God will die there- Satan, his angels, the rebellious, and the grave.
It is described as a lake of fire. What exactly is that lake? I don’t know- It’s so far beyond my experience in this physical world- I have no way of relating to it. The second death is so horrific; God used the ugliest possible metaphor of Biblical times to describe it- Gehenna. –The Valley of Hinnom, outside the walls of Jerusalem where children were once burned alive to the demon-god Molech. It was a place of such violation and suffering, that future generations turned it into a garbage dump out of revulsion.
According to God’s Word, even the worst physical death we know in this life; is a walk in the park compared to this second death. God does not see death as we see death. And as we have the privilege and blessing to take on the mind of Christ, we start seeing death very differently as well.
And then, there is a logical flip side to this- God does not see life, as we see life.
Paul explained this to the Greeks in Corinth- 2 Corinthians 5 1. For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven.
The word for “tent” means literally; a temporary family dwelling. Keith just got back from a hunting trip- I believe he did some camping out. I haven’t asked Keith, but there are a few things I am quite certain about: He and his buddies didn’t spend a wad of money putting beautiful curtains on the tent windows. Even though Keith’s an electrician, I bet there was no talk about wiring the tent, or building an addition. Why? Because it was temporary; it was designed to be temporary. Those guys knew, after a few short weeks, they’d be going back to their permanent homes.
2 Cor 5: 4. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed [i.e. Dead], but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
If you dabble in the original Bible languages- you probably know “spirit” in Greek is “pneuma”, meaning “breath.” That’s where we get our word “pneumonia.” But it also means- the rational soul, vital principle, mental disposition, mind, Christ's spirit, or the Holy Spirit.
If we put that all together; it says our guarantee is the vital principle, cultivated in the very reasoning of our soul; by Christ’s spirit. That principle is a picture of what life and death really are. It has grabbed us and it does not let go.
6. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.
The original language puts it even clearer. The word-for-word phrasing is- “we are away from home, from the Lord. We are never at home in the physical body- it is always a “camping tent.” It is always seen as a camping tent until the trip’s over and we go to our real home… our permanent home.
When we realize death and life occur- before, during, and after our conventional thinking; it adds a new dimension to the question:
★ WHAT HAPPENS TO THE CHRISTIAN AT DEATH? That being said; there are 2 schools of thought: Some lean on the verse of Eccl 9: 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten.
The passage is used to support the idea of “soul sleep.” We simply sleep in the grave until the return of Christ when we are resurrected.
On the other hand, we have the story of the penitent thief on the cross: Luke 23:42-43 42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." 43 Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." (NIV) A major text used to claim we immediately go to God’s presence in heaven. So which is it?
Do we sleep? The book of Ecclesiastes is the journal of Solomon performing a great and futile experiment- trying to find fulfillment in life without God. He tries materialism, philanthropy, impressive achievements, status; even a form of religion- but none of it means anything. It is written from the standpoint of a man without God. This is how a man without God views death: Eccl 9:4-7 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished…
The hollowness of a life disconnected from God faces the futility of a death; disconnected from God. That is the thrust of the entire book; in life, and in death .
But what about the Luke 23: 43: Why the use of the word “Paradise” instead of heaven? The word “Paradise” is actually a Persian word meaning “a walled garden.” When a Persian king wanted to give special honor to someone, he would invite them for a walk in his royal garden, which was walled.
Think about what was happening on those crosses! Here was a criminal, someone who led a life that was a mess, speaking to the King of the Universe. And because of his surrender and acceptance, even at this late hour; this criminal is promised a place of special honor in the courts of heaven… even before the day is through.
What a message of hope! No matter how messed up a life might be; there is the possibility of a destiny beyond what we can appreciate in this life.
So does every Christian go immediately into the presence of God? 2 Cor 5: 8. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
There is a powerful subtlety lost in the translation. The original phrasing goes like this: Think it good rather to go away from home out of the body, and to come home to the Lord.
The two words for “home” are different in the original language. “Home” in the physical body, is a word meaning- a point of origin. The “home” to the Lord, means one’s own country.
The passage is telling us: We are either at the beginning of the journey, or we made it on to native soil. This life is just the starting point! We are present at one, and absent in the other, or absent from one and present in the other.
But there still one last unknown in this great story- 1 Cor 15: 51. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed 52. in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. The Gospel promise starts in our physical bodies, and it ends in our glorified bodies. But what’s the nature of our existence between those two events. Do we get some kind of “loaner body”? Are we disembodied?
Paul goes on to say: 1 Cor 15: 35. But someone will say, "How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?'' 36. Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. 37. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain perhaps wheat or some other grain. 38. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.
Paul says, even in terms of physical life- bodies transform in remarkable ways. At one point of existence there is a round hard seed, and ultimately, there is a large fleshy plant- there is an amazing progression and transformation in between.
The illustration is even more dramatic in the animal kingdom. [Butterfly video] At one point, there is an ugly little caterpillar, and ultimately, a beautiful butterfly. But in the interim- in that amorphous goo inside the crysolis- what is the body there?
If the transformation of an insect; a creature that only lasts a few weeks -is so profound a mystery- how much more- your transformation from a temporary to an eternal body!
CONCLUSION: These bodies… mummified, left to the dirt, or cremated- it doesn’t matter. The glorified body won’t be made from ashes or dirt from this world- it’s all passing away.
Scripture doesn’t tell us everything; but it tells us enough for intelligent hope. Scripture doesn’t tell us everything, because that is not even the point. Then what is?
During the Second World War, there was a certain church in London that was set up for their harvest thanksgiving. In the center of the gifts was a sheaf of corn. But that thanksgiving never took place. The night before, there was a savage air raid and the church was obliterated. The months went by and spring came. Then as someone was passing the bomb site, they noticed shoots of green. And by autumn, there was an entire patch of corn. …Not even the power of the bombs could kill the life of those seeds.
That little bit of corn wasn’t enough to feed a bombed out city; but it was enough to give the people who saw, this hope: Life is stronger than death.
And that’s exactly what God’s Word is giving us! 1Cor 15: 54. …Death is swallowed up in victory. 55. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
Let’s broaden the question: What happens when any person dies? It depends. -On what? …On whether you are alive or dead right now. ALIVE –Not by the physical breeze blowing through this “tent”; but the God-breath blowing through a transformed mind and a soul connected to the Source.
…Let me entreat you with something that most of the human race tragically misses: LIVE BEFORE YOU DIE.
If you tolerate, entertain, or in essence, believe in Christ- don’t waste your time. -Live Christ; body, mind, and soul. He is life; and that’s how you- live before you die. There are three deaths, but there’s only one life to get it right.
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