What Happens After Death? - Part 2

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In Spain, where Christopher Columbus died in 1506, there is a monument commemorating the great discoverer. The most interesting feature of that memorial is a statue of a lion. And the lion is destroying one of the Latin words that had been part of Spain's motto for centuries. Before Columbus made his voyages, the Spaniards thought they had reached the outer limits of the earth. And so, their motto in Latin was "no more beyond". And of course, because of Columbus and because of his discoveries, the statue commemorating those adventures has a lion and the lion is consuming the word "no" so that all that remains is "more beyond". Columbus discovered that that was true of the earth itself - there was more beyond what was thought at the time. And certainly, the Bible proves to us that there is more beyond this life.

We began last week to discuss what happens after death. And when we talk about what happens immediately after death, and yet before our resurrection, we are discussing what theologians call the intermediate state. Now, last week we looked really just at the common aberrant views, that is, the views that are in error about what happens between the moment of death and coming resurrection.

One common aberrant view is the view of soul sleep. Seventh Day Adventism and Jehovah's Witnesses believe that when you die, your soul becomes unconscious. You are just as you are when you normally sleep, unaware of your surroundings, and you continue in that state until the moment of resurrection. We looked at that view, and we refuted it. I won't take time to do that tonight.

Another common aberrant view is the Roman Catholic view of purgatory, that is, that there must be a time in which believers, who are not perfected in this life, are cleansed for the punishment of their temporal sins and prepared for what they call the "beatific vision", that is, the vision of God Himself. Again, we looked at this in detail and refuted it from the Scripture.

Another common view is the view of limbo. And limbo which... the word, the actual Latin word is limbus, and it means fringe or border. And there are two components of Catholic theology concerning limbo. One of them is limbus infantum. You recognize those Latin words. That is the place on the borders of hell that is not a place of punishment but not heaven either, to which unbaptized babies go.

Now, it's interesting that we covered that last week because some of you probably saw the news on Friday of this week, that the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict the 16th approved the findings of an international theological commission that did away with the doctrine of limbus infantum. The document concluded that all children who died do so in the expectation of universal salvation of God in the mediation of Christ. In other words, all children who die go to heaven.

Now, I personally agree with the conclusion, but I must say that I loved the theological two-step that this council did. This is a doctrine, you understand, that has been taught by the Catholic Church since the 13th century by great theologians including Thomas Aquinas. The concept of limbus infantum was given papal authority under Pope Pius X, the beginning part of the 20th century, and he even included it in the Roman Catholic catechism. Then, under John Paul II, it was quietly dropped without comment from the catechism. Now, they have said that it is not true. The Pope said, "Limbo was never a defined truth of faith, but only a 'hypothesis'". What does it take to be at defined truth of the church when it's been taught for 800 years and has been approved by the Pope and put into the catechism? But, nevertheless, that is no longer a belief held by the Catholic Church.

The other part of limbo, as far as I could tell from the articles I read, they still do believe. And that is that there was a place before the resurrection of Christ, near hell, where all of the Old Testament believers were kept or, as one person who comes from a Catholic background in our church said, all the Old Testament "behavers" because Roman Catholic view has far more to do with your behavior than your belief. But those who believed before Christ was resurrected, were kept in this holding cell, if you would, and they said that at that moment of His resurrection, Christ took them back to heaven with Him.

Those are all false views and we looked at all of those and refuted them from Scripture.

Tonight, I want to move forward to look at what the Scriptures teach about the intermediate state. What happens to those we love after death? Well, first of all, we have to look - if we're going to really examine this issue - we have to look at the key biblical words.

First is the word "sheol". It's in the Hebrew Old Testament some 65 times. It's used primarily in two ways - as a place of the wicked dead (we would say hell) and to describe the grave, that is, the place of the dead both good and evil. Now, I put those up here because you need to be especially aware of that. I'm not going to look at any of these texts. We'll print these notes out so you can look at these verses in the future. But I just want you to be aware of the fact that there are two uses of this word. So, when you come to the word "sheol", as it's often simply transliterated into our New American Standard bibles, realize that it could be referring to hell, the place of the departed wicked, or it could be referring generically to the grave, that is the place of the dead. Not so much to hole in the ground, but to that place where all go, the place where their bodies go but not their souls. This, by the way, is how it's used primarily in the Old Testament - as the grave, that is, this place where all of us, if the Lord tarries, will go. One of the lexicons of the Hebrew Old Testament puts it this way: "All the souls of men do not go (the souls of men do not go) to one place, but all people go to the grave. As to the destiny of the souls of men in the intermediate state, the Old Testament says little."

The other word you need to be aware of is the Greek word "hades". You've encountered this word and, if you've read the Bible at all, it occurs in the Greek New Testament 10 times. It is the equivalent of the Old Testament word for "sheol". In fact, the Septuagint, that is, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, almost always uses this Greek word to translate the Hebrew word "sheol". This word also then, you would expect, is used primarily in two different ways.

It's used to refer to a place when it's referring to punishment and, specifically, hell. You can see that in Matthew 11:23, Luke 10:15, Luke 16:23. We'll look at one of those passages in a few minutes. And it also is used of the state of death, much like the grave in the Old Testament, which both believers and unbelievers enter when life is over. So, in that sense, we're talking about the grave just as we were with the word "sheol". And it's used this way in a number of different passages in the New Testament.

So, understand those words. When you encounter them, realize that both the word "sheol" and the word "hades" have those two meanings. It could be referring to hell, the place where the wicked go after death, or it could be generically referring to the place where all men go and that is the grave. And the context, of course, determines which of those senses are used and you should use when you translate that passage or when you interpret that passage.

I want to move on, though, from biblical words to the key biblical passages. The key arguments from the Scripture itself that designate the state - what happens to the soul after death but before the resurrection.

I want us to turn, first of all, to Luke 16. Perhaps one of the clearest descriptions that we have in all of Scripture of what happens or what it is like in that intermediate state, comes from the mouth of our Lord. Our Lord tells a story here. Now, there's some argument about whether or not these were two actual people that Jesus knew and is now recounting what happened after their death. Others believe, and I tend toward this, to think that in fact it is a story that He's telling. But the facts are true, that is, the relationships to death and the afterlife that He's describing are factual, even if the people here are not. So, we can trust His account of the intermediate state.

Now, notice what He says beginning in verse 19. "Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. 20 And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, 21 and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. 22 Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom [that's another expression for the Jewish people for heaven] ..."

So, the poor man died, and he goes to heaven. Now, again, there's some debate about whether the angels are involved in the process of death for all of us. Some would say no. I tend to believe that they are. Hebrews makes the point that angels are sent by God to be ministering spirits and I personally think that Jesus, here, is describing the truth of what happens at the moment of death. The angels transport us, if you will, (the soul) in this case into the presence of God, into heaven itself where Abraham is.

Now, "the rich man also died and was buried." So, now you have two deaths. What we're going to see from this point on gives us a snapshot, a glimpse, into the intermediate state - what happens with the soul from the moment of death to the moment of resurrection. You'll notice that in verses 23 and 24 there is an awareness of circumstances. "In Hades [there's our word. In this case, it's not the grave generically but it's hell itself. In hell] 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 so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.'"

There is as sensation of suffering. There is an awareness of circumstances. There's no reason to believe the same isn't true for Lazarus, although we're not told that he has that awareness of blessing and the absence of suffering, but rather the presence of joy. If this rich man is aware of his circumstances, there's a reason to believe that Lazarus was as well.

Notice in verses 27 and 28 there is memory - memory of the past. "And he said, 'Then I beg you, father [talking to Abraham], that you send him to my father's house - 28 for I have five brothers - in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'" So, there is memory. There is awareness. There is memory.

Notice verse 30: there is rational thought. "29 But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' 30 But he said [the rich man said], 'No, father Abraham [so he's arguing here. He has rational, cognitive thought], but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!'"

Notice that, throughout this passage, there is communication that occurs. Even though, at this point, we're dealing with spirits. So, there is awareness of circumstances. There is memory of the past. There is rational thought. There is communication with other spirits. We're going to see these same themes pop up in other passages.

Turn with me, secondly, to - let's see here - to 2 Corinthians 5. This is really the classic passage where Paul describes this intermediate state and his own anticipation of it. In verse 16 (really the passage begins back in chapter 4:16): "Therefore we do not lose heart [Paul says], but though our outer man is decaying [that's our body], yet our inner man [our spirit] is being renewed day by day." This is just the reality, isn't it? Look in the mirror! You see this process taking place every day.

He goes on to say (verse 1 of chapter 5), "For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down..." Now here, obviously he's describing the body. This is an image. He was a tent maker, you remember. That was his side occupation - how he supported himself. And he uses a tent as a picture of the human body. It is a temporary dwelling at best. And he says, "if our tent...is torn down". In other words, if it dies. He's already said it's decaying. If the body dies, he says it's okay because we will have, not another tent, but a building (a permanent structure) from God. In other words, we're going to get a glorified body. We're going to get a new and fresh body made like unto Christ's body, "a house not made with hands", he says, "eternal in the heavens." "For indeed in this house [in other words, in the tent that we have] we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven..." We want our glorified bodies.

And he says the intermediate state (verse 3) is not necessarily the one we ultimately long for: "inasmuch as we, having put it on [that is, having put on that permanent dwelling, our glorified bodies], will not be found naked [that is our souls will be clothed] ..." We were made to be two-part beings, to be material beings and immaterial. And death strips the two apart and that's unnatural, that's not as God intended. That's why death is called an enemy in the Scripture. But the time is coming when we will be reunited, not with our old decaying tent, but with a permanent structure - the glorified body described in 1 Corinthians 15.

Now, notice what he says in verse 4: "For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed..." He says, we want ultimately our resurrection bodies. And he said it's okay to go through this process because God prepared us for this very purpose. And He gave us the Spirit as a pledge. It's okay. This is part of God's plan. The decaying of the body and ultimately the death of the body, is God's plan. He's prepared for us this new house, this permanent structure, this glorified body.

Verse 6. Here's the conclusion: "Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord - for we walk by faith, not by sight - we are of good courage, I say [and watch this, verse 8], and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord." Notice that if we are in the body (verse 6), we are absent from the Lord. Therefore (verse 8), if we are absent from the body we are at home with the Lord.

By the way, this is a serious shot at soul sleep because Paul says, "I long for that intermediate state. I want to be absent from my body because that will mean I'm at home with the Lord." If in fact soul sleep is what the Scriptures teach - that your unconscious at death - then that's not a preferred state. Paul enjoyed communion with Christ while he was here on earth. So, then to have no communion with Christ, from the first century until Christ returns, that's not something he would prefer, just as you and I wouldn't prefer it. He says - instead, he says, to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord.

Turn to Philippians 1. You see this same point made by the Apostle Paul, as he nears the... as he grows closer, I should say, to the end of his life. Philippians 1:23. He says, "But I am hard-pressed from both directions..." Verse 22 gives us the directions - "to live on in the flesh" or (verse 21) "to die". "I don't know", he says. "I'm hard-pressed from the direction of living on in the flesh or of dying." "...having the desire to depart [talking about leaving the body. And what happens why I depart? I'm going to] be with Christ, for that is very much better..." Again, this emphasis on the fact that, even with the wonderful communion that Paul enjoyed with his Lord here, the intermediate state would usher him into a preferable relationship with Christ, a better - very much better - relationship with Christ and communion with Christ, even though he would be absent his body.

Turn to 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5:10. Back up to verse 8. He says, "But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us [watch verse 10], so that whether we are awake or asleep..."

Now, you got to go back - to pick up the image that Paul is using here, you have to go back to the end of chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians 4:13. He talked about those who were asleep. And so, that's the image he's pulling off of. He's talking about those who are dead versus those who are living.

Now, go back again to verse 10: "who [Christ] died for us, so that whether we are awake [that is alive, that is our bodies] or [whether we are] asleep [whether our bodies have died. Watch! Either way], we will live together with Him." Regardless of which of those realities is true, as he said in Philippians, we'll be with the Lord. We will be with Christ. And that's much better.

One final passage that - a key passage I want you to turn to his Revelation 6. Again, we get a glimpse into what that intermediate state is like as the Apostle John looks ahead into the future, and he sees a distinct group of Christians. Look at Revelation 6:9: "When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar [this is in heaven, now] the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained..." This distinct group of dead are those who have died during the tribulation period. They have remained true to Christ. They've come to faith during that time. They've remained true to Christ, and they have now been slain. And their souls are under the altar in heaven; their bodies are in the grave.

But watch how these souls interact. Verse 10: "and they [that is these souls who had been slain] cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?' And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also." What I want you to see here is that the rest, or to use the word of the rest of the New Testament "sleep", is not the absence of consciousness. They're told to continue to rest a little while longer, but they're obviously conscious. So, it's the sleep of the body and not the sleep of the soul.

Here they are communicating with God. They are praising God. They're praying to God. And they are communicated with by God that they should wait just a little while longer for that vengeance to occur, until God had completed His plan.

Now, those are the key passages that show these realities. Let me give you a couple of other arguments, a couple of other passages that sort of reinforce this. These are not the major arguments or major passages, but they are others that add to it.

In Genesis 5:24, we read about Enoch. "Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." Here you have one of two men in the Scriptures who didn't die. What happened to them? There's no indication whatsoever that they went into any sort of pattern of sleep. Instead, "God took him". The implication is that he's with God.

In 2 Kings 2:11, you see the same picture with Elijah the prophet. "And Elijah went up by a whirlwind..." where? Not to purgatory. Not to soul sleep. Not to some sort of limbo – someplace on the fringes of hell - but, rather, "to heaven". There's no reason to believe that this was true for Elijah - that it wasn't likewise true for those who died for their souls.

In Luke 23:43, you remember Jesus on the cross. What did He say to the thief that believed? He said, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." That is contrary to every one of those aberrant views we looked at, because all of them would say, "If ever a man deserved purgatory, this man did." This is before the death of Christ and His - before His resurrection, I should say. So, where should he have gone according to limbo and its teaching? He should have gone to limbus patrum. And what about soul sleep? There's none of that in this passage whatsoever. Instead, Jesus says, "You shall be with Me in Paradise.

We looked at this passage, by the way, in a lot of detail back - not this past Easter but the one before. So, if you're interested, you can study that a little more. I'm not going to go into more detail tonight. I just want you to see the big picture of it.

Hebrews 12:23 - there we're described as believers who have come to the point of embracing the New Covenant. We have come he says, "to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and [we've come as it were] to God, the Judge of all, and [what else is in heaven?] to the spirits of the righteous made perfect [these who have not yet been resurrected but are still there in the presence of God]".

There's also one other line of argument, and that is those passages that present a different exit for body and soul. For example, Psalm 146:4: "His spirit departs, he [that is his body] returns to the earth..." Ecclesiastes 12:7: "...the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it." You see this sort of separate exit, if you will, for the body and the soul. Matthew 10:28, Jesus says, "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul..." So, those also are arguments that reinforce those major texts that make it clear that the intermediate state, from the moment of death until the moment of resurrection, those of you who have loved ones who have died - understand that they are very much alert, and they are able to interact, they are aware of their circumstances, they have their memories, and they are very much enjoying the joy and bliss of heaven, even as Lazarus was in the story Jesus told in Luke 16.

Now, with that in mind, what are the actual conditions, then, of this intermediate state? Well, first and foremost, you need to understand it's temporary. It's temporary because 1 Corinthians 15:52 as well as we saw in 2 Corinthians 5 - that's a temporary state. We want a permanent house, as it were, to live in. We want a glorified body. So, it's a temporary state but it is a state without a body. As Paul says, our tents torn down, but we don't have our new permanent house yet. We're in between houses.

It also is distinct for the unsaved and saved. For the unsaved, Luke 16 makes it clear as we saw that it's up time of suffering - intense suffering. For the saved, however, that period between death and the resurrection - immediately the believer is transported into the presence of the Lord. We saw that in a couple of passages. As I said, I believe the angels are involved. But it's a very short trip because to be absent from the body is, what? To be present with the Lord. They're also enjoying bliss and joy according to the passages, that we've already looked at together, state. And this intermediate state ends with the resurrection of the body, when Jesus returns.

Now, I want us to briefly consider, then, sort of the practical implications of this intermediate state. There are three of - there're many we could site. There're three of them I want to call to your attention.

First of all, understand that there are no second chances for anyone after death. Some have taught that there will be a second chance to believe in Christ after death. It's called "The Second Probation". Theologians define it this way: "It is the idea that, in the intermediate state, salvation will again be offered to those who died without Christ. This salvation", they believe, "will be offered on the same terms as it is today, and the loss will only be condemned if they reject this final offer." I wish that were true. If I were God, I think I would design it that way. But I'm not and He is wise and knows exactly what He's doing. Scripture contradicts this view of a second probation and makes it clear that the eternal state is fixed at death.

There're several passages that make this point. Luke 16:26. Abraham says to the rich man, "between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us." He was making it clear that those states are fixed states and permanent and eternal. In John 8:21, Jesus says to those who would not believe in Him - he says, "I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come." 2 Peter 2:4: "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment...the Lord knows...how to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment..." Very clear! There is no second chance. Jude 13, speaking of false teachers, says that they are like "wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever." No second chance. This becomes for us both a serious reminder to examine our own hearts, as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 13:5 and make sure we are in the faith, as well as an impetus to share the gospel with others. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6:2, "Behold, now is 'the acceptable time,' behold, now is 'the day of salvation'."

If you're here this evening - I'm assuming in a congregation this size, there are undoubtedly some people here who are not believers. And you know in your heart that you've never committed yourself to follow Christ. You have never repented of your sins and turned from all that you know to be sin and embraced Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I plead with you. Don't even leave this place without - in your heart, falling on your knees before God and begging for His mercy, because there is no second chance after death. All of us are one beat away from eternity. Today is the day of salvation. After death, Hebrews 9:27 says, is judgment. And that judgment is based on the decisions and actions of this life according to Romans 2:6, 2 Corinthians 5:10, 1 Peter 1:17. So, there are no second chances after death. The intermediate state is a fixed state that, while it's temporary, will ultimately usher us into a permanent fixed state.

Second implication that I call your attention - and this is a wonderful joyous one to us as believers: the intermediate state is better than life here. As Paul said in Philippians 1:23 - we saw it a few minutes ago: "But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better." You see, although that intermediate state is not the absolute best circumstance, that resurrection someday will be when we have our glorified bodies. At the same time, the state into which death ushers us and those we love is far better than the life we have here.

You know it's hard for us to believe that, isn't it, because this is what we know. I've often used the illustration, and those of you who've been in our church anytime at all I've heard me use it, but I think it's perfect to make this point - the illustration C.S. Lewis used about heaven. He said you know it's hard for us to long for heaven and desire heaven in one sense because this is all we know. We don't know heaven. We trust God. We know that it'll be a wonderful place, but we really don't know what heaven is like. But we know what this life is like. And so, he says it's a lot like a little boy with a candy bar. And you go up to that boy with a candy bar and you say, "Son, look, in exchange for that candy bar - you give me the candy bar and I will give you all the joys of married love." And that little boy clings to his candy bar because that's all he knows. That's how we are with this life. We cling to it because it's what we know. But Paul says the intermediate state, what comes after death is very much better.

It's a great encouragement for us, isn't it? I have a number of family members there. My wife's parents, my parents, grandparents, friends whom I've buried, who are with the Lord. It's wonderful to know that our Christian family and friends who have died are in a very much better situation than this life. In fact, they are currently enjoying unmixed, undiminished, unending joy. The psalmist says in Psalm 16:11: "In Your presence [God] is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever." There are a lot of good things in this life, things we all enjoy very much. But this life can't even be compared. What even the intermediate state ushers us into, is very much better.

They're also enjoying loving fellowship (those who've gone before us into the presence of the Lord) because we're told that their love there will be perfect. 1 Corinthians 13:13: "But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love." Why is love the greatest? Because it's the only one, according to Paul here in this context, that is eternal. In heaven there'll be no hope because hope will be fulfilled. In heaven faith will become, as Paul says, what? Sight! But there'll always be love. And there, we will enjoy perfect love and they are enjoying perfect love for God and perfect love for each other.

Some of our parents who are with the Lord sometimes struggled to get along with each other, didn't they? Just as we sometimes do. But in heaven their relationships are absolutely perfect. They're also enjoying sinless perfection. Hebrews 12 tells us that they are the spirits of the righteous made perfect.

But you know what really makes heaven, heaven? It's the presence of Jesus Christ. That's what they're enjoying. Paul says I want to depart because I want to be with Christ. Think about that a moment. That isn't just Paul's hope and expectation. If you're in Christ, that is your hope and expectation. One day you will see the face of Jesus Christ. And you will be with Him. Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:8 says, "we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord."

Although Fanny Crosby was blinded at the age of six weeks of age, she never became bitter. In fact, she ended up writing over 6000 gospel songs. One of the songs that she wrote was so personal, so private, that for years she kept it to herself. One hymnologist explains how it became public. He says one day at the Bible conference in Northfield, Massachusetts, D.L. Moody asked Fanny Crosby to give her personal testimony. At first she hesitated, and then she quietly rose and she said, "There's one hymn that I have written, which has never been published. I call it my soul's poem. Sometimes when I'm troubled, I repeat it to myself for it brings comfort to my heart." She then recited this stanza while many in the audience looked at blind Fanny Crosby and wept. She said, "Some day the silver cord will break, / And I no more as now shall sing; / But oh, the joy when I shall wake / Within the palace of the King! And I shall see Him face to face, / And tell the story - Saved by grace..."

At the age of 95, the first face for most of those years that Fanny Crosby saw, was the face of Christ her Lord. That's what makes heaven, heaven and that's what we live in anticipation of. We don't look forward to death itself, but we do look forward to the results that it produces, because we'll be with Christ.

There's one final implication I want to share with you, briefly, and it's that not only are there no second chances after death, not only is the intermediate state better than life here, but our only hope of life after death is found in Christ alone. So important that we end here. Turn with me to John 11. I love this passage. It gives such great joy and comfort. You remember the story of course. Jesus waits, after he hears of Lazarus' death, and then He comes after several days to the home of his friends, finds Mary and Martha, and then He carries on a brief conversation with Martha.

Notice in verse 23: "Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.' Martha said to Him, 'I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.'" You see, Jesus and Martha and the other Jews believed that every individual - or most of them did anyway - that every individual would live beyond this life. Death, as we know it, is not the ultimate end of anyone. And so, in response to Martha's belief in a coming resurrection, Jesus makes what is really the fifth in a series of seven statements about Himself in the Gospel of John called the "I AM" statements.

Notice what He says. Verse 25: "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life..." I am. You see Jesus is moving Martha from her confidence in a future event, to realizing that all her trust and confidence must be in a person, must be in Himself. He wants to take our focus away from some abstract belief on what takes place in the last day, to a very personalized belief in Him who alone can provide it. Notice the two sentences that follow - those really further explain what Jesus means. When Jesus says that He is the resurrection, verse 25 explains, by that I mean "he who believes in Me will live even if he dies". You see, death for the believer is not final because our Lord is the resurrection.

He also says, "I am the life". He explains that in verse 26: "everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die." In other words, "everyone who already enjoys eternal life and believes in Me will never truly die." Those who die in Christ are more alive than they have ever been. Knowing Christ takes the sting out of death.

A person who was worried about death once asked Bishop Berggrav of Norway for an explanation of death. And the Bishop told them this story in reply. He said, "You know one day a man took his small son with him on a visit to a village some distance away. Along the road, they crossed a swift river that was spanned by this rickety old bridge. But it was daylight, and they were able to cross without any trouble. It was dusk, however, when they started for home and the boy remembered the river, and he remembered that old rickety bridge, and he became frightened. How in the world would they be able to cross that turbulent water in the dark? His father, of course, noticed his fear and picked him up and carried him in his arms, and the boy's fears quickly subsided. And before the boy knew it, he was fast asleep in his father's arms. As the sun of a new day streamed through his window, the boy awoke and discovered that he was safe at home." The bishop said, "Death is like that for us. What we fear most - the river of death - we cross unafraid if we fall asleep in Jesus. And then, we awake in the presence of God." If you're a believer in Jesus Christ that's true of you, and you don't need to fear death. The one you believe in is the resurrection and the life.

R.L. Dabney was an outstanding Presbyterian theologian during the mid-19th century. He served as a minister, as a chaplain, as the Chief of Staff to General Stonewall Jackson, and as a seminary professor. He also helped establish a seminary in Austin, Texas. As he aged, R.L. Dabney, a brilliant theologian that he was, began to worry about his impending death. And he expressed his fears in a letter to a former student and now theologian in his own rite, C.R. Vaughn. Dabney wondered in the letter, about his ability to die honorably and to hold on to his Christian faith in the midst, in the face of death. Here's what Vaughn wrote to his friend Dabney: "Dear Friend, let me advise you now, as you often have me. If you were about to cross a deep chasm and there were a bridge over it, would you stand there looking at yourself wondering if you trusted enough in bridges to be able to cross, or would you not rather go and examine the beams and timbers of the bridge and the quality of its construction and determine whether the bridge itself were trustworthy, and then pass over it in confidence? Our faith, dear Brother, is in Christ. Spend yourself focusing on Him and His sufficiency, rather than on yourself. Jesus said, 'I am the resurrection and the life'. So, there's no fear for us."

Let's pray together.

Our Father, we thank You for the time we've had together tonight. We thank You for all the wonderful joys of this life even as we celebrated together these new little lives and this parent dedication. And yet Father, we thank You that this life is not all there is, that what awaits us who are in Christ, from the moment of death, is very much better. We thank You that we can rest in peace and confidence that those who have died, whom we loved and who are now in Your presence, that they enjoy being at home with You. Father help us, who are still here, not to fear death but rather to put our confidence, not in ourselves, not in our faith, but rather in the one who said that He is the resurrection and the life. And help us to face death unafraid, with confidence in Him, knowing that we shall awake in His presence. We pray it in Jesus' name, Amen!