Sermon Central
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One Minute After Death Series
Contributed by Bob Marcaurelle on Oct 28, 2018 (message contributor)
Summary: A description of what the Bible says about where the saved and the unsaved go immediately after death. This is the time between death and the return of Christ.
The Christian Faith The End Times 1
1
ONE MINUTE AFTER DEATH
(The Intermediate State)
by
Bob Marcaurelle
Copyright 2009 by Bob Marcaurelle
A man laughed at a Christians comments about life after death, and said, “The only thing we can prove about a human being is that he is made of things like sulfur, iron, magnesium and water.” The Christian ignored the man and kept on talking.
The man sneered, “You can’t answer me can you?” The Christian said, “I can answer, but I am not in the habit of talking to a pile of sulfur, iron, magnesium and water.”
Death The term “death” means to cut or separate. When we die, the person we are, what we call the soul or spirit does not cease to exist; we enter the presence of God. Jesus’ dying prayer was, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23) Before that He had the criminal on the cross who trusted in Him, “Today, you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23)
That day, both of their bodies were buried, but they (who they were as persons) were alive and well in heaven. Looking death in the face Paul bravely said his desire was to be “absent from the body and present with the Lord.” (Philippians 1)
Scientists tell us we weigh less after death; and in recent years many people with near death experiences have reported leaving their bodies and looking down on them from above.
One little girl brought back to life, named people in the crowd around her. This may or may not be true. We base our beliefs on the afterlife, on the resurrection of Jesus.
For forty days after His resurrection, He talked, touched and ate with the disciples; and thousands of others (1 Corinthians 15:1f /Acts 1:1f). This and this alone explains the thousands of conversions in the Book of Acts (Chapters 1-6).
These converts were no doubt being beaten, robbed of their homes, and disowned by their families. And they could have easily found out if Jesus’ body was still in the grave.
Life is real, life is earnest
And the grave is not its goal
“Dust thou art and to dust returneth
Was not written of the soul.
The Intermediate (In Between) State Before The Return and Resurrection
At death we know our eternal destiny of heaven or hell. The saved go immediately into the presence of the Lord. Paul saw death as being “Absent from the body and present with the Lord.” (Philippians 2) Peter says they are “kept under punishment until the day of Judgment.” (2 Peter 2:9)
We do not, however, receive our resurrection bodies until the Return of Christ at the end of this age. At death we are with the Lord and when He comes back to earth, we will come back with Him and our bodies will rise from the ground and clothe our spirits for all eternity.
Our fellow Christians who are on earth with be changed and caught up to be with us and the Lord in the air. Paul wrote to those who will be on earth when Jesus returns:
“God will bring with Jesus those who have
fallen asleep (died) in Him. We who are alive and remain will not go before those who sleep (bodies) for the trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will rise (their bodies) first.”
“the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. And..”
“after that we who are alive and left will be caught up (the rapture) to meet the Lord in the air.”
The Mystery of the Time Between
The intermediate state, between our death and our return with the Lord, is an extremely difficult subject; and is open to many different interpretations. We who are bound to this earth and its images cannot even imagine heavenly realities.
For example, this is why Paul says it is “foolish” to ask what kind of body we will have in eternity and compares that body and the one we have now as being as different as an acorn and an oak tree. (1 Corinthians 15:35)
The Bible does not tell us much. When it does, it often uses symbolic language, and it’s hard to know what is literal and what is not.
A. CHRISTIANS AFTER DEATH
The wonderful hymn that says, “We’re marching to Zion” is based on:
Hebrews 12:1 / 22-23
“We have a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us/You have come to Mount Zion to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.
You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven.
You have come to God, the Judge of all men, and to the spirits of righteous men (people) made perfect, and to Jesus.”