SERIES: Heaven and Hell
One Minute After You Die
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Introduction: Today we conclude a series we began three months ago on heaven and hell. We have by no means exhausted these topics, but my hope and prayer is that we have whetted your appetite to dig deeper. I would like to suggest a few good books for further study. First, I recommend One Minute After You Die, by Erwin W. Lutzer. Erwin was my big brother in seminary and is now Pastor of the historic Moody Church in Chicago. In fact, I have borrowed his book title as the title of my sermon this morning. A second book I would recommend is Crucial Questions about Hell, by Ajith Fernando. And a third is Heaven, Your Real Home, by Joni Eareckson Tada. The first two are very theological. Joni’s book is a delightful combination of theology and imagination. (Note added in 2024: Randy Alcorn’s great book, Heaven, was published after this series was preached. It is an excellent book that has been an encouragement to many approaching death).
This morning I want to ask and answer four questions, the first being,
What happens to a person at death?
The first line in Dwight L. Moody’s autobiography is, “Some day you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody, of East Northfield, is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now.” Upon death, of course, the body immediately begins to decay (I should say that decay begins to rapidly accelerate, because many of us can attest that the body begins the decaying process long before death). But the person who lived in that body does not die, for the human soul is immortal. Death is not the end but the beginning. However, it is not the same beginning for everyone.
Each person will experience either glory or gloom.
Pastor Lutzer writes,
“One minute after you slip behind the parted curtain, you will either be enjoying a personal welcome from Christ or catching your first glimpse of gloom as you have never known it….
Those who find themselves in heaven will be surrounded with friends whom they have known on earth. Friendships, once rudely interrupted by death, will continue where they left off. Every description of heaven they have ever heard will pale in the light of reality. All this, forever.
Others–indeed many others–will be shrouded in darkness, a region of deprivation and unending regret. There, with their memories and feelings fully intact, images of their life on earth will return to haunt them. They will think back to their friends, family, and relatives; they will brood over opportunities they squandered and intuitively know that their future is both hopeless and unending. For them, death will be far worse than they imagined.”[i]
A Roman emperor was once asked about the distinguishing feature of the Christians his empire was persecuting and trying to exterminate. He said with grudging admiration, “Christians die well.” They die well because they have confidence that this world is not their final home and this life is not all there is. I have done hundreds of funerals in my years as a pastor. Some of the most joyous and profound worship experiences I have ever had have been at the home-going celebrations of dear friends and parishioners who knew the Lord. But I would have to say also that some of the most difficult, hopeless and desperate situations I have ever witnessed have been at the funerals of those whose loved ones had no hope.
Unfortunately, there are those in our society who are working hard to remove the fear and hopelessness of death from those who should fear it. Ever since Raymond Moody published his book, Life After Life, there has been a great deal of interest in near-death experiences, most of which are reported to be very positive. But I want you to know that …
Near-death experiences cannot be trusted. In a typical account, someone reports seeing a being of white light who appears to engulf them in love and peace. Some who have been resuscitated have expressed regret at their return to this life. Melvin Morse, in Closer to the Light, recounts the stories of children who have had near-death experiences. And more recently, Betty Eadie, in her book, Embraced by the Light, gives a fantastic account of her visit to the “other side.” She claims to have seen Christ and thus even dedicated her book to Him: “To the Light, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom I owe all that I have. He is the ‘staff’ that I lean on; without Him I would fail.”[ii] But if you read her book, it doesn’t take long to realize that the Christ this Mormon author tells us about is very different from the Jesus of the New Testament.
I want to suggest another possible source for the experiences these authors share. Turn with me to 2 Cor. 11, beginning in verse 3:
” …I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough….” (2 Corinthians 11:3-15)
Paul then goes on to talk about the false teachers who were preaching another Jesus. Look at verses 13-15:
“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”
Friends, I have no doubt that scores of people have seen a being of light in near-death experiences. I have grave doubt that they have all seen Jesus.
There are others who try to remove the fear of death by claiming they have communicated with those who have died and have been assured that everything’s OK. So let me tell you also that …
Communication with the dead cannot be trusted. Channeling has become big business as people seek proof that their dead loved ones are in good hands. Mediums, seances, tarot cards, palm readers, Ouija boards, and all kinds of occult activity are used to bring messages to those left behind. But friends, attempting to talk with the dead is consistently condemned in God’s Word, and those who claim to do it are more than likely communicating, not with the dead, but with familiar spirits, i.e., demons. Demons can impersonate the dead and they have significant knowledge of the dead person’s life, so it’s not difficult for them to fool people. But all information about life after death that comes from mediums or spiritists or channelers is unreliable. (Isaiah 8:19-20)
If you want accurate information about the afterlife, go to the Scriptures. They won’t tell you everything you’d like to know, but everything they tell you can be counted on.
Only God’s Word can be trusted. Interestingly, the Scriptures give us the accounts of three individuals who actually saw the other side and revealed at least something of what they saw. One is the first Christian martyr, Stephen. Before he was stoned to death God gave him a glimpse into heaven. Stephen said, “Look, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:56) That is an account you can trust.
A second person who apparently had first-hand experience of the afterlife is Paul. In 2 Cor. 12:2-4 we have a brief but fascinating account of his experience:
“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know–God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.”
Most biblical scholars believe the man Paul professes to know is Paul himself and that this event coincided with his experience at Lystra, where he was stoned and left for dead. If that is the circumstance, then this is probably a near-death experience or perhaps even a resurrection experience. So incredible were the revelations Paul received that God went to extraordinary lengths to keep him from getting a big head from it all. Look at verse 7:
“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)
Jesus, of course, is a third person who had first-hand experience with heaven. He lived there from eternity past before He became incarnate in Bethlehem. He ruled there. He was worshiped there. He returned there after His resurrection. And someday He will come once again from there and take us to be with Himself. He has more to say about heaven than anyone else, and whatever He says, you can take to the bank.
But we simply cannot accept without scrutiny what people claim they have seen or experienced. The only credible account of heaven or hell, and the only reliable map of how to get there, is what God has given us in His Word.
Now a second key question I want to deal with this morning is one that has troubled thinking believers for centuries, and that is …
What happens to the believer between death and the Second Coming of Christ?
To help you think through the issues, I want you to use your imagination. Suppose there was a strong believer in the 3rd century named Clement. He died of old age and was buried in Alexandria, Egypt, but over the years his tombstone was destroyed by the weather. Later an invading army obliterated all evidence of the cemetery. And still later, the site was inundated by the spreading Nile River. Today archaeologists are not even certain where Alexandria stood. Clement’s body has long since dissolved into the elements. Not a trace of him could be found even if one knew where to look.
In the 17 centuries since Clement died, where has he been? I mean the real Clement, for we all recognize that our bodies are not the real “us” but rather just the temporary home we live in. Where is Clement today and in what form does he exist? Is he just a disembodied spirit, floating around the universe waiting for the Great Resurrection, at which time he will be reunited with his resurrection body? Is he experiencing soul-sleep? Does he live in an intermediate body God created for him until the Resurrection?
Suppose Jesus comes again on January 1, 2000, like some people are predicting (don’t hold your breath!). When He does return, according to 1 Thes. 4, “the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” How is Clement’s body going to come out of the tomb, because it’s not in any tomb. Besides, if he’s gotten along for 17 centuries without his body, why would he want it back now?
These questions arise because there are two sets of Scripture passages that seem on the surface to teach contradictory truths. On the one hand, it appears that the believer goes directly to be with the Lord upon death. For example, in 2 Cor. 5 Paul talks as though absence from the body means immediate presence with the Lord. In Philippians 1:23 he says, “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.” And on the Cross Jesus told the repentant thief, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
On the other hand, there are a myriad of passages which speak of the believer as waiting for the resurrection. For example, in 1 Cor. 15:22-24 we are told, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.” Revelation 6:9-11 pictures the souls of the martyred saints calling out, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” They seem to be waiting for the judgment and the Resurrection.
The most natural reading of John 14 suggests a possible gap between death and full enjoyment of the mansions Jesus is preparing: “I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” Does Jesus come back for each individual believer or does He come back for all of us at one time–at the Second Coming? And if the latter, what is the state of dead believers in the meantime?
Among the solutions suggested for this problem are several I want to examine. The first is that …
We will exist as disembodied spirits.
After all, the real “you” is not the tent you live in; it’s the immaterial part of you. The real “you” can go to heaven and enjoy the presence of Christ and wait for your body to catch up. In fact, in Revelation 6:9 that sounds like what the Apostle John is revealing: “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.” He doesn’t speak of bodies; he speaks of souls.
If the concept of a bodiless person troubles you, just consider the angels. Aren’t they spirits without bodies? Though angels sometimes appear in bodily form, they don’t seem to have permanent bodies in the same sense we do. They can appear and disappear, they are often called “spirits,” and they seem to have none of the limitations of space, time, and travel that we have. So, according to this view, we will be disembodied spirits until Jesus comes and the dead in Christ are raised. Then we will receive our resurrection bodies, and from that point on we will no longer be disembodied. I think this is possible. But others believe …
Our souls will sleep.
Some cults, like Jehovah’s Witnesses, have opted for this solution, but there are also some evangelicals who accept it. It is the view that between the time of death and the Second Coming, the believer’s soul is unconscious. In fact, there are at least seven occasions in the NT when deceased believers are referred to as those who are “asleep.” Jesus said of his close friend who had died, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” But then, after His disciples reveal their total misunderstanding of His point, Jesus had to tell them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.” The term “sleep” is clearly a euphemism for death, referring to rest, freedom from the trials and tribulations of life, and the kind of peace that only sleep brings in this life. It is not an indication of a state of unconsciousness.
Besides, in virtually every reference to departed believers (from the other Lazarus in the parable of the Rich Man in Luke 16 to the martyrs of Revelation) they are shown to be conscious–talking, singing and worshiping. I reject soul-sleep as a valid understanding of the biblical material. Still another notion is that …
We will receive an intermediate body.
There is little clear-cut evidence for this view in the Bible, but that hasn’t kept some very godly Bible students from holding it. They would call it a necessary theological deduction. After all, if the Lazarus of the parable has a finger to dip in water and cool the rich man’s tongue, the dead must have bodies. But since the Great Resurrection hasn’t occurred, they can’t have their own bodies. So, they must have intermediate bodies, temporary bodies that God has created for them. Some also see evidence for this view in 2 Cor. 5:1-2, where Paul speaks of our earthly tent being replaced with “a building from God.” All I can say about this view is that it is possible. Option four is that …
We will receive our resurrection bodies immediately upon death, as time, for us, is swallowed up by eternity.
Frankly, I incline toward this view, though not dogmatically. I have shared it in private and even occasionally in classroom settings, but I have never preached it as it is difficult to explain. But I found the view last week in a book by Ray Stedman, a highly respected evangelical pastor, who is now with the Lord and knows for sure whether this view is true or not, so I will go ahead and share it.
This solution hinges on the differences between time and eternity. Here on earth we must wait patiently for things to run their chronological course; but we probably need not do this in eternity. As best we can understand eternity is one great “now.” That is why God, who is an eternal Being, sees the future as clearly as the past. He does not have to wait for things to happen; for Him they have already happened. So it may be for us in eternity.
I have previously used the analogy of watching a parade in downtown Chicago. We watch the parade from streetside, and there is a definite sequence to the event. A huge float is followed by a high school band, which is followed by a group of beautiful horses, which is followed by another float. We don’t know what’s coming next until it turns the corner.
But if we were on the top of the Sears Tower, we wouldn’t have to wait to see what is coming. We could see it all at one glance. We could tell that one thing is before something else, so sequence is real, but we could see it all simultaneously, and therefore we would be in no doubt about what’s coming next.
Does it not make sense that at death we will join God, exiting time and entering eternity? If so, then perhaps at death the believer immediately experiences the coming of Christ for His church, receives his resurrection body, stands before the Judgment Seat of Christ, and is ushered into God’s presence, along with all the other saints of all ages.
Consider some implications of this view:
If I am right, then your loved one who died last year, or ten years ago, is not watching your every move, pining away the time, waiting for you to join them. You may be pining away waiting to join them, but not vice versa.
If I am right, then perhaps we have an explanation for such a difficult passage as Rev. 13:8, which talks about “the Lamb of God, slain from before the foundation of the world.” What in the world does that mean? The Cross occurred at a moment in history; we can date it; we know precisely when and where the Lamb of God was slain. Yet the Bible says it occurred before the foundation of the world. What do you do with that passage? How can an historical event at a certain place on earth be said to occur before the earth was even created? Stedman responds, “Well, if you are projecting all the thoughts and relationships of time into eternity, you are bound to have great difficulty with this. But if you remember that in eternity all things are present at one time, then of course it is no problem.”[iii]
If I am right, then perhaps we even find some help with the dilemma of how to reconcile divine sovereignty and human free will. Last Sunday I asked the question, “Can names be expunged from the Book of Life?” Those of you who love the doctrine of “eternal security” may have been troubled by the fact I would even ask such a question. And those of you who entertain the notion that a person can lose his salvation may have been troubled that I didn’t answer with a clear, “Yes, names can be expunged,” because there are passages that seem to say so. But if God sees everything at once, then both the writing of the names and the subsequent blotting out of names are probably anthropomorphic expressions, i.e., they are simply describing God’s actions in terms we humans can understand, not in absolute terms. Eternal decisions are being described in the language of time.
I don’t think it is possible for us to be certain about the state of believers between death and the Second Coming, except that they will be blessed, and they will be with Christ. But then, we apparently don’t need to know for certain. In 1 John 3 the Apostle says:
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!… Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will behas not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3)
A third question I want to ask this morning, and answer very briefly, is this:
What happens to the believer at the second Coming of Christ? (1 Cor. 15)
For the sake of simplicity this morning I am treating the Rapture of the Church and the Second Coming as one event, though there are some who see them as events separated by seven years or 3 ½ years or by an even shorter period. At any rate, when Jesus returns, the graves are going to be opened and the dead in Christ will rise according to 1 Thes. 4.
Death results in a separation of the soul from the body, but it is only a temporary separation. We are a spiritual and physical unity, and God intends to put us back together again. Those whose bodies are in a casket will come to life and emerge from their graves. Those whose bodies have disintegrated or been lost at sea will not be left behind. It’s no problem for God to gather the molecules of their bodies, wherever they may be, and put them back together, if He chooses. And those believers who have not yet died will have their bodies transformed into resurrection bodies without experiencing death.
But the key issue is that our resurrection bodies will not be identical to our mortal bodies. There will be continuity but there will also be discontinuity. Here’s how Paul describes the difference in 1 Cor. 15:42-44: “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.”
I don’t have the time I need to expound upon these contrasts. I will simply say that all of us who are over 50 understand it, and the rest of you will in the future. The human body is perishable and weak. The corpse is in a state of dishonor and that is why they always put a white sheet over it until delivery is made to the Funeral Home. I’ve heard a lot of strange things said at the side of a casket. “He looks so good.” “She just looks like she’s sleeping.” “He must be with the Lord because there’s such a look of peace on his face.” Believe me, none of that would be said if it weren’t for the mortician’s magic in hiding the ugliness of death. I’ve seen a lot of dead bodies before the mortician arrived, and friends, it’s not pretty. Death is grotesque, it’s ugly, it’s dishonorable.
But when God’s children are resurrected, they will receive bodies that can only be described by such terms as “imperishable, power, strength, and spiritual bodies.” That word “spiritual” is not the opposite of “physical” but of “natural.” In other words, they will be supernatural bodies.
My final question this morning is simply this:
Are you ready for Home?
I don’t mean, are you anxious? I mean, are you ready? You say, “I don’t know. I’m scared of death.” I understand that, but are you afraid of the process or are you afraid of the result? If it’s just the process, I’m not too concerned, because God will give you dying grace when you need it. And, as Charles Spurgeon said, you don’t need dying grace until dying moments.
When Corrie ten Boom was a little girl, her first experience with death came after visiting the home of a neighbor who had just died. When she became fearful of the fact that her parents would die someday, her father comforted her by asking, “When we go to Amsterdam (20 miles from her home), when do I give you your ticket?” “Just before we get on the train,” said Corrie. “Exactly,” her father said, “Just so, your heavenly Father will give you exactly what you need when we die–He’ll give it to you just when you need it.”
But if you’re not only afraid of the process but also of the result, then dying grace is not what you need–it’s saving grace. Jesus Christ went to the Cross to save you from your sins. He paid the penalty, and he offers you the gift of salvation if you will turn from your sins and receive Him as your Savior.
I love the story Donald Grey Barnhouse told about the car ride home from the funeral of his first wife. He was trying to think of some way of comforting his children. Just then a huge moving van passed by their car and its shadow swept over them. Instantly, Barnhouse asked, “Children, would you rather be run over by a truck or by its shadow?” The children replied, “Of course, we’d prefer the shadow!” To which he replied, “Two thousand years ago the truck of death ran over the Lord Jesus. Now only the shadow of death can run over us!”
The Psalmist prayed, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” May we have that confidence ourselves as we put our faith and trust in Messiah Jesus.
Prayer: Lord, give us a longing to be with you. Help us to be able to say with Paul, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” And Father, for those who are in desperate straits of one kind or another, may they be able to say with the songwriter,
It will be worth it all when we see Jesus,
Life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race ‘til we see Christ.
Tags:
Heaven
Hell
Death
Near-death experiences
Intermediate body
Resurrection of the body
Soul sleep
DATE: January 24, 1999
[i] Erwin Lutzer, One Minute After You Die, 9-10.
[ii] Lutzer, 23.
[iii] I regret that I do not have bibliographical information on this Stedman quote, only that it was from page 6. I believe it was from one of his sermons on the Peninsula Bible Church website.