Is there life after death?
What is the purpose of religion? You’ll probably get many
different answers to that question, depending on who you’re talking with.
However, many religious skeptics claim that religion exists merely as a vehicle
for humanity to attempt to explain the unexplainable aspects of life and,
ultimately, mollify the masses’ fears about death. The logical conclusion when
deciding that religious thinking is man made mythology is that death is the
absolute end of life; there is no life, no hope, no existence at all beyond the
grave. Some people find comfort in this naturalistic point of view, because it
releases them from any responsibility toward any God and leaves them to enjoy
their lives as they see fit. This line of thinking grew in popularity
throughout the 20th century. This type of skepticism, however, doesn't stop
many people from wondering what, if anything, awaits us on the “other side” of
death. Death and the after life remain a source of confusion, mystery, and fear
for many people. Is there an afterlife? If so, is it immediate? Is it bodily or
spiritual? How is it different than the life we know now? Is everything bigger
and better? Do we gain more wisdom? More power? Where does this life take place? When does it
occur? We believe there is a plan to overcome death, and we can learn about
this plan from an absolutely authoritative source.
Any study of the nature of death begs an important
foundational question: Why must things die in the first place? Indeed, death is
a grand mystery. Throughout time, every major religion, philosophy, and
spiritual train of thought has sought to explain this mystery. It is a subject
that touches the life of every man and woman, uniting the entire human race
under a cloud of inevitable mortality. The rich and the poor alike meet the
same end; the black and the white both go to the grave; the powerful and the
humble all leave this planet eventually. Interestingly, scientific research
into single-celled organisms reveals that the nature of life, on a cellular
level, does not automatically include a self-destruct mechanism for death. In
other words, it appears that death is an unnatural part of life. Yet despite
this, everything on earth eventually dies. Many lines of religious thought
simply accept the inevitability of death and instead try to offer better
alternatives that await the faithful in the afterlife. These ideas bring
comfort to many people who have lost loved ones or are facing death themselves,
but they leave others wondering, “Why must death exist? Wouldn’t an
all-powerful God eradicate death? Shouldn’t all life inherently live forever? ”So
the question of the nature of death also brings profound implications about the
nature of God. Maybe, some reason, God is not as powerful as He says, since the
problem of death remains. Maybe God numbs our sensibilities after death, if we
are promised happiness in paradise despite the horrors unfolding on our loved
ones who are still alive. Maybe, if living a bad life truly results in eternal
torment afterward, God is not really as loving as so many people claim. Maybe
there are actually many pathways to God, or many such gods, and the mystery of
death will be solved differently for each person, depending on their philosophies
in life. Maybe there is no such thing as death, but instead a continual rebirth
through reincarnation. Maybe, according to a train of thought that has grown in
popularity since the 19th century, life is nothing more than a biochemical
accident, and death brings with it a never-ending state of nothingness; the
most common conclusion drawn from this line of thinking is that there is no God
at all.
The mystery of death is so profound that, despite the millennia of religious
doctrine, mythology, scientific research, and the many theories and
explanations that exist on the subject, people today are more confused than
ever about it. Even within individual religious groups there is often a stark
difference of opinion on the nature of death. To see this, walk around a
cemetery and note the different inscriptions on the tombstones. Clearly, the
only way to decipher this profound mystery is to find an authoritative source
of truth that will expose all error and remove the need for speculation. Are we
fortunate enough to have such an authority? We believe so.The subjects of death and
religion are inherently linked. If something does await us after we die, a
supernatural being like a god must be involved. It stands to reason, then, that
we should look to religious texts to find information about death.
However, there are many religious texts available today, and they do not all
say the same thing about death. In fact, one of the reasons there are so many
opinions about death is the diverse array of religious doctrines on the
subject. So how do we know which text, if any, will guide our search correctly?
First, we must look for a text that claims to be directly from God. After all,
if God holds the answers to death, then any real answer must come from Him.
This singular principle narrows the selection of texts considerably. For
example, the Buddhist texts contain many spiritual insights, but Buddha himself
never claimed to be God, or to speak on God’s behalf. Thus, the insights
contained there are Buddha’s, not God’s. In reality, there is only one
collection of texts in existence that makes the bold claim to contain direct
communications from God: The collection we call the Bible.
Over and over again,
it records God speaking directly to mankind; in fact, the Bible itself claims
that the Holy Spirit of God communicated the contents of the Scriptures to
God’s prophets on earth, who wrote them down. Thus, the true author of the
Bible is God Himself. Though some other religious texts also claim to be from
God, such as the Koran and the Book of Mormon, they do not claim to supersede
or replace the Bible. The Muslim faith claims its prophet, Mohammed, was a
descendant of Abraham’s son Ishmael, a character found in the book of Genesis;
the Book of Mormon claims that it is “another” testament of Jesus Christ. Thus,
both texts and the faiths that view them as authoritative ultimately
acknowledge the Bible as a communication from God. We should look to the Bible,
then, for answers about death. The Bible contains a record of the entire
history of mankind, from the moment man was created on the earth until the
close of earth’s history and beyond. It describes a world where death did not
exist, explains how death came to exist here, and reveals the steps God took to
eventually eliminate death and restore that planet to its originally intended
state. There are no gaps in the Bible’s record of history. Through an
understanding of the prophecies contained therein, we are able to identify our
modern day in texts written nearly two millennia ago and to peer into the
future to see what God has in store. The Bible also claims that God is the
source and originator of all life. It makes this claim many times. Therefore,
we have a detailed description of the nature of life and death from the One who
is responsible for life in the first place. In our view, this makes the Bible
the authoritative source to learn about issues relating to death.
Now you might
ask: “What if I belong to a non-Christian faith group? Does the Bible still
apply to me?” Good questions. The majority of the books written in the Bible
were written before the word “Christian” existed. In other words, most of the
authors of the Bible belonged to a non-Christian faith group. The Bible makes
the claim that all human life originated with God. Over the course of history,
different societies have emerged that have created their own image of God for
themselves, resulting in different religions and theological ideas. However,
these do not actually change God. God remains God, no matter what we do to his
word. Therefore, the Bible is for everyone. Its truths about God are not
limited to the Jews or the Christians. In fact, at varying points of history,
the Jews and the Christians alike have lost sight of God and misrepresented His
character to the world. While it is true that the Hebrew (Jewish) and Christian
people are the ones who wrote the Bible, God is available to everyone in the
world, regardless of church affiliation. We encourage you to consider what the
Bible says about death even if you do not identify yourself as Jewish or
Christian. We encourage you to learn about the God who claims everyone on earth
as His own. You might also say: “I don’t believe in God.” If this is true, then
you certainly don’t believe that the Bible is inspired or written by God. That
is your choice, and we respect it. However, ask yourself what it is you do
believe and why you believe it … and we encourage you to learn a different
perspective about life and death than you’ve likely heard before. The arguments
we make on this website are drawn exclusively from the Bible. We believe they
are authoritative for the reasons we’ve stated here. We believe they apply to
all people on earth, regardless of race, ethnicity, or church affiliation.
Millions of people throughout time have found peace and joy in the messages of
the Bible, and we hope you will be one of them as you study this important
topic with us.
Death is nearly as old as
life itself on this planet, and its roots are from even earlier. The Bible
records the origin of death on earth and also the events that happened
elsewhere that allowed for death to exist in the first place. The Scriptures
are perfectly clear that death is an abnormality and was never meant to exist
at all. To understand why everyone on this planet is subject to the strange
mystery of death, we must first travel elsewhere in the universe, to a place
the Bible calls heaven. Heaven is where God dwells. It is the headquarters of
the universe. Long before there was life on earth, there was life in heaven.
The Bible tells us that creatures we know as angels existed there. There were
many angels, “ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands and thousands” of
them, a number so high they are essentially “innumerable” (Revelation 5:11;
Hebrews 12:22). These beings lived in perfect harmony with each other. They
served God and each other. There was no death. God’s perfect creatures were
made to live forever, living ever more abundantly as time went on. But
something went wrong in this heavenly paradise. The Bible tells us of one of
these angels who was “perfect in [his] ways from the day [he was] created, till
iniquity was found in [him]” (Ezekiel 28:15).
In other words, the seed of sin
festered in this angel’s heart until it finally erupted into a full rebellion. Unfortunately,
this was no ordinary angel. He was the “anointed cherub who covers;” he
ministered “on the holy mountain of God,” walking “back and forth in the midst
of fiery stones” (Ezekiel 28:14). He had the highest position of all the angels,
ministering directly to God. As such, there was no one in heaven with more
power, more authority, or more influence than this angel, except only God
Himself. What was the nature of this angel’s sin? The Bible says: “Your heart
was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of
your splendor” (Ezekiel 28:17). His sin was pride. As a perfect creature made
by God, his beauty was remarkable and his wisdom was splendid. However, rather
than give glory to God for these gifts, he became proud because of them. He saw
them not as gifts but as self-earned attributes. The Bible gives more details
still. This angel’s name was Lucifer, we’re told in (Isaiah 14:12). He became
so prideful that he began to covet the worship the other angels gave to God. He
desired to usurp the throne of God and take His place. The Bible declares of
Lucifer,
“You have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my
throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds, I will be like the Most High’” (Isaiah 14:13,14).
Because Lucifer could not declare open rebellion against God without help, he
gathered the support of many of the other angels and, eventually, a “war broke
out in heaven” (Revelation 12:7). Lucifer, now renamed Satan (the accuser)
because of his rebellion, lost this war, and he and his followers were
banished. “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the
Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and
his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:9). And so this sinful angel
came to earth. We can reasonably infer from the Bible that this drama occurred
before God created life on earth, because Satan was already present on the
earth at the beginning. God gave the first man and the first woman free reign to
explore, to do and eat anything they desired in their original, perfect home …
except for a single thing. God made one tree off-limits to them as a test of
their loyalty, and Satan was ready to do what was necessary to make them fail
that test.
Let’s stop for a moment to consider something important: Why did God not
destroy Satan in the beginning? That would have prevented him from coming to
Earth and spared all of us from sin and death. Why did God permit Satan to live
when the rest of us must die? This question is of the greatest significance,
and it gets right to the heart of who God is and why we should learn about Him.
The Bible tells us that God
is love (1 John 4:8, 16). The Bible also says that love is not provoked but
rejoices in the truth (1 Corinthians 13:4-6. Just as we are free to make our
own decisions each day, so too are the angels. Satan accused God of being
unfair, of hoarding to Himself power and worship that rightly belonged to
others including Satan himself. If God destroyed Satan immediately as a result
of his rebellion, the remaining angels would see that God was easily provoked
and might be afraid of Him. They might serve Him out of fear and not love. In
order for God to demonstrate the truth about His character of love, He must allow
Satan’s rebellion to reveal its own results and to play out. God wants His
angels and people to serve Him because His way is righteous, just, and leads to
life, happiness, and prosperity—not out of fear of destruction if they rebel.
When Satan’s rebellion in heaven and on earth reveals that its results are
death, disease, destruction, heartache, divorce, starvation, torture, war,
homicide, suicide, genocide, and “all kinds of evil,” all created beings will
see for themselves that God deserves our worship and is, truly, love (1 Timothy
6:10). Satan chose earth to continue his rebellion and determined to cause the
first man and woman to disobey God’s only prohibition. Genesis 2:16 records
God’s instruction to the man regarding this boundary. It says,
“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden
you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall
not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’”
The instruction was plain. Eating from the forbidden tree would result in
death. Death did not exist at that time, and would not have ever existed on
earth if the man and woman had obeyed this simple command. We must ask
ourselves why the penalty for this small infraction was so severe. The answer
is simple. The Bible is clear that God “alone has immortality” and that “the
gift of God is eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:16; Romans 6:23). So immortality can
only exist through a connection with God. If that connection is severed,
immortality ceases and death ensues. The Bible uses the word “sin” to describe
this separation from God; though it is used to label specific actions that are
contrary to God’s will, such as adultery and murder, God sees sin as a much
bigger problem because it severs His children from Himself and makes them
subject to death. Sin is a state of being apart from God. Therefore, even a
small act of rebellion separates the sinner from God and results in death. Satan
succeeded in tricking the first woman into disobeying God, and she in turn
caused the man to disobey as well. Taking the form of a talking serpent (which
would baffle and amaze just about anybody, wouldn’t it?), Satan claimed that
disobeying God would not result in death, but would instead give them powers
and understanding beyond what they currently possessed. The Bible records this
deception in Genesis 3:1-5 which reads:
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD
God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, “You shall not
eat of every tree of the garden”?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may
eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is
in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you
touch it, lest you die.”’ Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not
surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be
opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”
Satan told the woman that
her disobedience would cause her to be like God. This, we remember, was
Lucifer’s original sin. Like Lucifer, the woman fell victim to this temptation
and ate the forbidden fruit. Genesis 3:6 tells us, “So when the woman saw that
the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree
desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her
husband with her, and he ate.”
Since the man and the woman had sinned, they now knew the nature of evil. God
is good; God is love. To be separate from goodness and love is to be joined
with badness and evil. Evil cannot inherit immortality, for God alone is
immortal and God is not evil. God declares, in Genesis 3:22,23:
“‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now,
lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live
forever’— therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the
ground from which he was taken.”
The man and woman eventually had children, and every person ever born is
ultimately descended from this original pair. Everyone born since that time has
been subject to death. This sad tale has affected everyone who has ever lived.
Through no fault of our own, we were born into a world that is separated from
the God who created it, and as such we all must face the day when we must
eventually die. But there is hope! The same God who made mankind “in His own
image” cares too much to allow us to die in despair (Genesis 1:27). Through
Jesus Christ, we have the hope of immortality restored to us. Humanity cannot
overcome death by itself. The Bible tells us plainly that “the wages of sin is
death,” so death is the penalty we all must pay (Romans 6:23). But God chose to
pay our ultimate penalty for us. Jesus Christ, who is God took on human flesh,
lived a life free from sin yet died anyway. He took the sins of the entire
world upon Himself and suffered our consequence so we might live eternally
according to His righteousness. The mystery of salvation is greater even than
the mystery of death, yet the truth of the matter is that God loves each person
so much that He chose to impart eternal life to sinners even though they don’t
deserve it, and the only thing He asks in return is faith that He has done this
remarkable thing. To all who understand this, God freely imparts the promise of
eternal life in paradise, where they will never be subject to death again. The
Bible declares triumphantly, “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians
15:54). The mystery of death will become the memory of death, and its horror
will disappear from reality forever. Until that time, however, we must live
with the reality of death, and there has been much confusion and
misunderstanding over the issue. Even Christian churches throughout time have
stumbled over this topic. We believe, however, that a thorough and honest study
of the Scriptures reveals the true nature of death and the beauty of God’s
solution to it.
So what, exactly, happens when we die? Heaven? Hell?
Reincarnation? Nothing?
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through Me,” and also, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who
believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 14:6; John 11:25). Because
of these bold claims, followers of Jesus’ teachings have often claimed to know
the “truth about death,” claiming the Bible as their authority on the matter. Yet
how can this approach be foolproof when the “truth about death” varies even
between Christian churches? How can we
be confident in our Bible study technique so that we are also confident in the
result it yields?
The answer lies in the Bible itself, offering a
prescription for finding God’s truth:
“Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the
message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? For
precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon
line, Here a little, there a little” (Isaiah 28:9,10).
In other words, a mature study of God’s message (one that contains more than
just the “milk” of the Scriptures) demands that each passage about a subject
must be compared to every other passage on the subject in the Bible. If we fail
to do this, we might look at only part of the message and declare it to be the
entire truth. Worse yet, we might misunderstand the message and declare blatant
falsehood as truth. Which can lead others and yourself astray. So let’s begin
at the beginning and see if the message we find there remains consistent as the
rest of the Bible unfolds. The first chapter of Genesis says that the heavens
and the Earth were all created by God as He spoke them into existence.
“Then God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into
one place, and let the dry land appear’; and it was so” (Genesis 1:9).
God’s words create matter and energy. He is so powerful
that He must merely say something for it to become reality. Yet the Bible tells
us that God did not speak mankind into existence. Rather, He molded the first
man with His own hands. “The LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being”
(Genesis 2:7). God cares for mankind so much that He used His own hands to make
man perfect. Then, because the body must be animated to become alive, God
breathed the “breath of life” into the body, and the man lived. It is important
to recognize this formula for life. The body without the breath is not alive;
neither is the breath alive without a body. Only when the two elements are
joined together does life occur. When we look at the same passage in the King
James translation, it says, “Man became a living soul.” The word “soul” has
been used to describe an intangible part of the human that is separate from the
body and lives on after death, but the Bible defines a “soul” as the
combination of a body and the breath, or spirit, from God. A person does not HAVE a soul; a person IS a soul, according to the Word of God. Life,
then, comes from God as a gift. The Old Testament patriarch Job understood this
when he said, “As long as my breath is in me, And the breath of God in my
nostrils,” he would not commit sin (Job 27:3). He knew that the breath inside
of him was truly the breath from God. The author of the book of Ecclesiastes,
most likely King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, demonstrated this equation
in reverse. He wrote, describing death, “Then the dust will return to the earth
as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Therefore,
we acknowledge that there is an invisible, intangible part of human life that
exists apart from the body. However, the Bible tells us that it is not an
immortal human soul, but rather a spirit from God. God lends us a part of
Himself while we are alive, but that part returns to God when we die because it
was always on loan from God to begin
with. The Bible records this same truth in the Christian era. The apostle James
declares that “the body without the spirit is dead,” and thus recognizes that
life is a combination of those two elements and ceases to exist when they are
separated. This concept is easy to understand when we consider the elements of
artificial light. We create light by starting with a light bulb and adding an
electric current to it. The product of those two elements is light. When we
break the bulb or stop the electricity, the light ceases to exist. The light,
like our lives, cannot exist in the absence of either of the two components
that make it up. This teaching obviously differs from what most Christian
churches teach. While we respect their views and their faith, we encourage
every person to take an honest look at what the Scriptures say about the
subject of death. Not only is its formula for life clear, as we’ve
demonstrated, but it has an abundance to say about the human experience after
death as well. Consider these few thoughts on the matter:
“The dead do not praise the LORD, Nor any who
go down into silence” (Psalm 115:17).
This tells us that death brings silence, and not praise, for God. Wouldn’t you
praise God if you were in His presence in heaven?
“[A man’s] spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his
plans perish” (Psalm 146:4).
Our plans do not continue beyond the grave because death means the cessation of
life. Life stops at death.
“For in death there is no remembrance of [God]; In the grave who will give
You thanks?” (Psalm 6:5).
How can we not remember God if we are with Him each day?
“For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to
the pit cannot hope for Your truth” (Isaiah 38:18).
Death holds no thanks, praise, or hope for God.
“Yet he shall be brought to the grave, And a vigil kept over the tomb” (Job
21:32).
The dead go to the grave and stay there.
“For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they
have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love,
their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a
share In anything done under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 9:5,6).
This speaks for itself, doesn’t it?
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work
or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going”
(Ecclesiastes 9:10).
The Bible is overwhelmingly clear that death means death. When we die, we
return to the same state of consciousness we had before we were born: none. It
is understandable why pagan religions and cultures often immortalize their dead
and why this doctrine crept into both the Jewish and, eventually, Christian
religions over time. The grief that survivors must endure after a loved one
dies can be unbearable, and the thought of this loved one in a perfect paradise
looking down upon the survivors can bring a sense of relief and comfort. If this were the story the Bible gave us, we
would believe it. However, the Bible tells us plainly that death means a loss
of consciousness and a loss of life. Though this understanding highlights how
horrible death really is, it also should alleviate our fears about it. No
matter how painful a method of death is, no matter how many unresolved issues
you leave behind, no matter how scared of the dark you are, at the moment of
death you will cease to be aware of anything, even your own death. Just as you
can never tell the moment you fall asleep, so too is death. There is nothing to
fear, because there is nothing at all. Consider the alternative for a moment.
If you could actually look down upon the remaining earthlings from your divine
heavenly paradise, you would see that the people you love continue to struggle,
get sick, and die. You would witness their lies and their hurts. You would see
the secret things they never wanted you to see when you were alive. If they
rebel against God, you would know ahead of time that they would not join you in
heaven. It is hard to imagine paradise including those things. Also consider
that the idea that death brings an immediate reward that includes greater
knowledge and abilities than you had before is the same lie that Satan told the
first woman to get her to rebel against God in the garden of Eden! He told her,
“You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes
will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis
3:4,5). The devil made sin, which leads to death, seem like an attractive
thing; death seemed like a reward. The devil has been telling this lie since
the beginning. He has told the same story all throughout time.
Another Bible text confirms that the dead go to sleep
when they die, but it also gives a hint as to how God will eventually correct
this problem. Consider Job 14:10-12:
“But man dies and is laid away; Indeed he breathes his last And where is he?
As water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up, So
man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, They will not
awake Nor be roused from their sleep.”
This text tells us that a man’s death is like a river drying up and promises
that the sleep of death will not be disturbed until “the heavens are no more.”
Did you know that the Bible talks about a time when the heavens will, indeed,
be no more? At that time, the dead will be roused from their sleep. God loves
His children too much to allow them to die forever. Jesus Christ makes a
promise to everyone who will believe it and accept it regarding the time when
the dead will wake up. He says:
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In
My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I
will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be
also” (John 14:1-3).
So Christ tells us that when He returns to Earth, He will raise the dead and
bring them to heaven with Him, so everyone can be together in a land with no
more death. The Bible describes Christ’s return by saying, “The stars of heaven
fell to the earth, and the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up”
(Revelation 6:13, 14). The heavens, as we know them, will be no more, and life
will never be the same again. Death might be a sleep of unconsciousness, but it
is only temporary. For those who trust in God to keep His promises, eternal
life without death awaits. Jesus
Christ, who is God incarnate, came to earth to live a sinless life and die
bearing the sins of every man, woman, and child throughout time, thus redeeming
the fallen race from the plague of death and offering eternal life to anyone
who is willing to accept it. But how, exactly, will this solution come about?
Christ lived nearly two millennia ago, and we are still living in a world with
death and sin. Clearly, the controversy is not over yet … but it will be soon.
Jesus Christ promised to return and told us about many signs in the world that
act as indicators that His return is drawing near. Every single one of those
signs is being fulfilled in today’s world.
But what do we have to look forward to when Jesus comes back?
We find an amazing Bible promise in 1 Thessalonians 4:16….it says: “For the
Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an
archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
”When Jesus returns, everyone will know it. It will not be a secret. God’s
voice is so loud that even the dead hear it (John 5:28). Just as God’s voice
created the earth and all that is in it in the first place, His voice recreates
life for the dead throughout time who hoped for a better life in heaven
someday. The “dead in Christ” will come out of their graves into eternal life
without end. The promise continues in verse 17, saying, “Then we who are alive
and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”God’s people who remain
alive until the moment Christ returns are not left out of this amazing event.
They will join the risen dead to meet Jesus in the air and will enjoy eternal
life without ever experiencing death. We hope to be part of that group. We hope
you are too. But what will this new life be like? Will we exist as spirit
beings, playing harps on clouds for eternity? Or does God have something else
in store?
1 Corinthians 15:51,52 describes the great resurrection day by saying,
"We shall all be changed, 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 new body we will received at Christ's return will not be the same as the one we have now. The author continues his description in verse 53 which says, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortaility." The new body will not be subject to corruption. It will never die. It will not grow old, diseased, or decrepit. We will live forever in the presence of God in bodies that reflect His goodness and glory. Never again will out bodies be separated from the breath of life. Never again will out souls die. Much more can be said about the resurrection body and a life without death, but that is a topic for another time as Revelation 22 describes a little but of what heaven will be like. We know from the Bible that death is an abnormality. It was never part of God's plan, it exists due to rebellion against God; death is the cessation of life, and it holds nothing but silence and unconsciousness; God paid the ultimate price for sin and death in the person of Jesus Christ, and one day....very soon....all who accept God's free gift of eternal life will be changed and will never experience death again. Jesus paid the price for you to receive eternal life without death, but you have the power to accept or reject that gift. It is our sincere hope that you accept that gift today and set your heart on the life to come, when death, disease, and all misery will be things of the past. We hope to see you in heaven someday. Won't you join us? Won't you make a decision for God today?
