Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, MO
What Happens When a Person Dies Series
Four Lies About Death
Hebrews 9:27-28
A book of children’s letters to God contains this entry: Dear God, what is it like when a person dies? Nobody will tell me. I just want to know, I don’t want to DO it. Signed, Your Friend, Mike. Another youngster, Jane, suggests to the Lord, “Dear God, Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don’t you keep the ones you got now?”
Actor and director Woody Allen voiced the same sentiments when he said, “I am not afraid to die. I just don’t want to be their when it happens.”
We are all curious about death and what happens next. But it is not just an intellectual matter. This topic is really a matter of the heart. It is a personal matter. We know, like it or not, that this is part of our future. Paul Azinger learned this the hard way.
Professional golfer Paul Azinger was diagnosed with cancer at age 33. He had just won a PGA championship and had ten tournament victories to his credit. He wrote, "A genuine feeling of fear came over me. I could die from cancer. Then another reality hit me even harder. I’m going to die eventually anyway, whether from cancer or something else. It’s just a question of when.” Before, Azinger lived for golf. No more. Now all he wanted to do was live!
One day in the early stages of the panic following his diagnosis, Azinger remember some words he had once heard in a Bible study. “We’re not in the land of the living going to the land of the dying, “the teacher had said, “We’re in the land of the dying trying to get to the land of the living." That reality led him to a living hope through faith in Jesus Christ.
Golfer Paul Azinger recovered from chemotherapy and returned to the PGA tour. But the bout with cancer changed his perspective. He would later write, "I’ve learned that happiness is only temporary. The only way to true contentment is in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I’m not saying that nothing ever bothers me and I don’t have problems, but I feel like I’ve found the answer to the six-foot hole."
Until we find the answers to the six-foot hope, we don’t know the facts of life. The most important lessons in life are wrapped-up in three short statements: Life is short. Death is certain. Eternity is forever. These are the lessons I hope we can master
Where do we go for information about life, death, and eternity? One place! God’s Word revealed to us in Jesus Christ! Who better help you plan for your future than someone who has been there? Who better to take you into eternity that someone who holds the keys to life and death? That’s what we want to explore. Let’s begin our exploration by contrasting four commonly believed lies about death with the revelation of God’s Word.
Lie Number One: I am going to live forever. Of course, we know that isn’t true. But we often act like. Three buddies were discussing death and one asked the group: "What would you like people to say about you at your funeral?" The first one responded, "I’d like them to say ’He was a great humanitarian, who cared about his community.’" The friend who initiated the conversation replied "I’d like them to say ’He was a great husband and father, who was an example for many to follow.’" They nodded in agreement and looked to the third buddy who’d been silent. Without hesitation he concluded, "I’d like them to say ’Look, he’s moving!!’"
Note how our text states the truth: it is appointed unto man to die! Death is a part of life.
In 1969, a research psychologist named Elizabeth Kubler-Ross changed the way people talk about death and dying. Her research methods left a lot to be desired. None the less, her stage theory has affected the way all of us think about the last days of life. Based on interviews with dying hospital patients, Kubler-Ross contended that people go through five emotional stages as they near life’s end. Those grieving the death of someone else often experience the same.
First, they live in denial. Not me! If I don’t believe, it won’t happen. I am going to wake up and it will all be a bad dream. When reality sets in, anger takes over. A person cries out to God, “Why me?” Patients will often turn on their family, nurses or doctors. Fortunately, the anger only lasts for a season. Bargaining soon follows. This is often a secret stage. A patient will pray to live long enough to see some event. He may promise all kinds of good if only God will allow them to live.
The bargaining seldom lasts long. Soon depression takes over. Reality sets in. The person begins to mourn past losses, past opportunities and all of the things that will never be. The fifth and final stage doesn’t always come. When it does, the depression gives way to acceptance. Some fight until the very end. Others accept the inevitability of death. Sometimes this is resignation, a giving way to hopeless and even deeper form of despair. But for others, this acceptance means hope that goes beyond the grave. That is a good thing to behold.
Lie Number Two: If I mess up, I’ll get a do over. Golfers may get “mulligans.” Batters get three strikes. But note how that verse stated it, “It is appointed to man to die once!” This life is not a test. It is not a practice drill. This is for real. We get one shot.
Lie number two comes in two popular myths. Reincarnation is a key doctrine of the Eastern religion of Hinduism. According to this notion, when a person dies his or her soul is recycled in some kind of new life form. When you die, you might come back as a tree, or a fly, or a cow, or a king, or a beggar. We have all heard interviews with Shirley McClain or other celebrities of dubious sanity waxing eloquent about their former reincarnated lives.
Some can sound very convincing. Of course, Madam Cleo the Caribbean psychic will sound convincing for $9.95 a minute also. If you want convincing, I am sure you can find someone willing to sell you swamp land in Florida or an ocean front view in Arizona. Just because you hear it on TV, read about it in the latest edition of the supermarket tabloid or find that your favorite movie star believes it doesn’t make it true.
Proponents seldom tell the whole truth about the doctrine of reincarnation. In Hindu teaching reincarnation is bad. It is a part of the rule of karma that traps your soul in a prison of flesh until finally you earn enough spiritual points to be released into eternal nothingness. Reincarnation is part of a religious system that has no heaven and offers no forgiveness. All reincarnation offers is an on going enslavement to self-salvation and a promise of nothingness. Surely you want better than that!
The Bible is clear. It is appointed unto man once to die and after that, not another life and another death and another life and another, --after that judgment.
Certain religious groups propose a non-biblical doctrine called “purgatory”—and after death existence in which a person can in some way or another pay for the mistakes of the past life and be purified for the heavenly home that everyone desires. The doctrine also proposes ways that living loved ones of the departed can speed the process of purgatory along. Special gifts to the church, candles lit and prayers offered, and masses sponsored in the name of the deceased all promise a quicker release from purgatory to heaven.
This option is built on the false premise that we must atone for our own sins, that what Jesus accomplished on the cross in our behalf was just the beginning. The truth of the Bible is that you cannot pay for your own sins or your loved in this life or any life to come. But best of all, the Bible teaches that you don’t have to because Jesus has already done it. Your account before heaven is marked “paid in full.” It is yours for the asking—by faith in Christ Jesus alone! The notion of a second chance after death is unbiblical and unnecessary!
One is the doctrine of purgatory. A few religious groups teach that when people die they receive an opportunity to make up for sins in the afterlife. One version is based on a passage from the apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees (one of those extra books in the Catholic Bible). Actually, the passage never speaks of purgatory. It only refers to praying for and offering sacrifices for the death. From that to the doctrine of purgatory is huge stretch. The Mormon doctrine of “proxy baptism” is a similar notion. It offers hope that a person who dies in unbelief can be saved by the faith and actions of believing relative later. That concept is totally foreign to the Bible. The bottom line: we are appointed once to die and then the judgment.
The truth is, unless Jesus comes first, we will al die once. No second chances. No do overs. This is not a test. Life is for real.
Lie number three: death is all there is. It is the end of existence. Note that verse again. “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that the judgment.” Jesus spoke to the same issue. “I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. 28“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. (John 5:25-29)
Did you hear the one about the older lady who was riding on a crowded bus. She was quietly reading her Bible when a rather distinguished looking man took the seat beside her. After a while he noticed her reading material. He introduced himself. “Hello, I am Professor Smith. I teach philosophy at the university. Don’t tell me you actually believe that stuff you are reading?”
“I certainly do,” the elderly lady replied. “Every word of it.” “Even that story about the Jonah and the whale,” challenged the professor with a smirk. “Of course,” was the quick reply. “Can you prove to me that the story is true?” he asked next. Knowing what she believed but also knowing she wasn’t about to win any arguments with the professor, she simply said, “Well, when I get to Heaven, I’ll ask Jonah.” The professor smiled, “Well, what if Jonah’s not in Heaven?” The little lady laid her Bible down, looked the professor square in the eye and sternly delared, “Then you can ask him!”
Life ends in death. Death is followed by judgment and judgment by eternity. Jesus makes it clear. Judgment will not be same for all.
You often hear people contend that spiritual matters aren’t really all that important because we are headed to the same place any way. Those who make that claim are at least partly right. We are all headed to the same place. The judgment of God! There the path separates. Jesus said there are roads—the straight and narrow and the broad and wide. One is popular, the other less so. One leads to life and the other to destruction. Death is not the end. We are appointed once to die and then the judgment.
Finally, lie number four: death means uncertainty and fear. Note the rest of our passage. “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Heb 9:27-28).
The Bible makes it clear. Death is ultimately a spiritual matter not just a physical issue. Our creator did not make us to simply die. He made us for life and fellowship with him forever. But sin entered the picture. Ultimately life is all about living in a personal relationship with the God who made us. Sin is rejecting our maker and not wanting to walk in his ways. Physical death is a result of living in a world of sin and rebellion. And that’s why Jesus came.
This is the Good News of Easter Week. Jesus came to show us that God still loves us and wants us back. Jesus’ words and works show us God. He said he came to lay down his life as a ransom for men’s sins, to pay the price for our transgressions. The Bible says, “he died for our sins, was buried, and was raised from the dead just as the Scripture says.” Easter is about his death, burial and resurrection that proves the purpose of the cross.
Here’s the Good news. Jesus put it this way, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who send me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (Jn 5:24). To believe the message of Jesus in your heart, to confess him as Lord with your lips, and commit your life to him in baptism transfers you from death to life. A person who the hope that is in Jesus Christ can have a totally different perspective about death. The future is no longer dark and unknown. We may not know everything about what’s beyond death and the grave. But we know this much—Jesus Christ has prepared a place for us. He never breaks his word.
That knowledge affects the way a person lives and the way he dies. I have stood at the bedside of dozens dying people. I have stood at scores and scores of gravesides and spoken those fateful words “dust to dust and ashes to ashes.” I can tell you from first hand experience--there is a difference between dying in fear and despair and dying in faith and hope. I have seen both.
This doesn’t mean we eagerly look forward to dying. That’s not true at all. It doesn’t mean we don’t mourn and hurt when a loved one dies. Of course, not. God made us with the capacity to love and care. Of course, it hurts when we lose a loved one. But we can, if we and our loved one is a follower of Jesus, mourn with hope. We know what’s ahead. We know that death has been defeated. That Jesus is coming. That we’re waiting for a reunion in heaven. That’s our Easter faith!
Conclusion: A story in Max Lucado’s book, Six Hours One Friday, offers a good parable of the Easter message. Lucado tells the story of a missionary in Brazil who discovered a tribe of Indians in a remote part of the jungle. They lived near a large river. The tribe was in need of medical attention. People were dying daily.
A hospital was not too terribly far away—across the river, but the Indians would not cross it because they believed it was inhabited by evil monsters. To enter the water would mean certain death. The missionary explained how he had crossed the river and was unharmed. They were not impressed. He then took them to the bank and placed his hand in the water. They still wouldn’t go in. He walked into the water up to his waist and splashed water on his face. It didn’t matter. They were still afraid to enter the river. Finally, he dove into the river, swam beneath the surface until he emerged on the other side. He punched a triumphant fist into the air. He had entered the water and escaped. It was then that the Indians broke out into a cheer and followed him across.
That’s exactly what Jesus did! He told the people of His day that they need not fear the river of death, but they wouldn’t believe. He touched a dead boy and called him back to life. They still didn’t believe. He whispered life into the body of a dead girl and got the same result. He let a dead man spend 4 days in a tomb and then called him out and the people still didn’t believe Him. Finally, He entered the river of death and came out on the other side. That’s the Easter story.
Jesus is the answer to the six-foot whole. He has the truth about life and death.
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College of the Bible, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
