AFTER HERE, WHAT’S HEREAFTER? (PART 3)
THE GIFT
1. A REVIEW OF LAST WEEK – SUMMARY
2. REVIEW LUKE 16:23-26
a. Point – Tormented rich man not in hades because he was rich.
i. Bible teaches riches, or lack of them does not dictate our eternal destiny.
b. Christ told story to jolt greedy Pharisees into realization that their riches cannot save them; poor people might be better off in the life to come
c. Christ describing the radically different destinies of a believer and unbeliever.
d. Remember the rich man Lutzer spoke of.. the one who for whom a “quick” funeral was prepared?
e.
i. Both he and the rich man in the parable, and millions like them have discovered too late that their worldly influence could not save them; nor could their wealth and reputation extricate them from this bind. Instead of victors, they were now victims; rather than bragging about their freedom, they now had to confess their enslavement.
3. POINT ONE: The man was fully conscious immediately after death.
a. Memory, speaking, pain, and bliss – all of these were a part of his experience.
i. “Have mercy on me and sent Lazarus………
1. Still giving orders
a. Relationship continues
b. In hades, an alcoholic will thirst. The drug addict will crave but will not receive.
c. There will be increased desire with decreased satisfaction
4. POINT TWO: The eternal destiny of this man was irrevocably fixed.
a. “Between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from there to us cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.”
i. The man had an overwhelming realization that his destiny was irrevocably fixed. And the future of his predicament became worse, never better.
5. POINT THREE: This man knew himself well enough to know that what he was experiencing was fair and just.
a. Apparently the man believed what was happening to him was just for two reasons.
i. First, never says anything about how unfair it is for him to be there.
1. Complains about the pain, but not injustice.
ii. Second, and more important, he knew exactly what his brothers would have to do if they were to avoid his own fate.
1. If they would repent, they would be kept from joining him in misery.
b. Incredibly, the man suddenly became interested in missions.
i. Begged Abraham to warn his five brothers
1. Realized unforgiven sin led to a place of agony.
ii. With his heightened perception and a better understanding, he could see that his relationship with Jesus should have been his highest priority.
c. Instead of wanting his brothers to join him in hades for the sake of companionship, he was more than willing to never see them again if only he knew they would be on the other side of the gulf.
i. Apparently even in hades there is great compassion, a natural human concern about the fate of those who are loved.
d. Abraham’s answer is instructive.
i. “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if some rises from the dead.”
e. JESUS TOLD THIS STORY BEFORE HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION.
i. Yet today, even though the evidence for His resurrections is overwhelming, as Abraham prophesized, many men and women still do not believe.
6. POINT FOUR: The rich man in Luke 16 was not yet in hell, but hades.
a. The Bible is clear that no one is yet in hell today. Someday, hades will be thrown into hell, but that has as yet not happened.
7. Read (Revelations 20:11-15)
8. SUMMARY
a. At this point in our study, in “Hades/Sheol” there are two regions.
b. In either region, we maintain, with an apparent heightened awareness:
i. Our Memory
ii. Concern for those we love
iii. Recognition of others
iv. Awareness of our circumstances.
9. No exit from hades
a. Remember, hades is not purgatory
i. Purgatory believed to have an exit
ii. Some faiths believe no one good enough to enter heaven
1. Must go to purgatory first to be purified
a. Length of stay depends on degree of badness!
iii. I could not find the word purgatory in the Bible
1. There is no Biblical truth to purgatory!
b. 2 Peter chapter 2
i. Peter finishing telling of the punishment of disobedient angels – spoke of God’s judgment on the world
1. Brought the flood to ungodly people while sparing Noah
2. Burned Sodom & Gomorrah as an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly
a. But rescued Lot – a righteous man, tormented in his soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard.
ii. 2 Peter 2:9:
1. ”The Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the Day of Judgment, while continuing their punishment.”
a. All translations read same
i. Indicates ongoing punishment while awaiting future
1. Remember, no hell yet (Rev 20:14)
10. But what about Lazarus?
11. In the region called “Abrahams Bosom”
12. There is an important story – an event which may help explain what has taken place in hades.
a. Remember, two regions
i. One in torment
ii. The other “Abrahams Bosom” or…. Paradise or….. heaven?
13. Let’s go to Luke, chapter 23, verse 42, 43 – Not in you bulletin, but very important.
14. Christ’ important response to the thief.
a. “I tell you the truth, TODAY you will be with me in paradise.”
b. Some believe that today only refers to the time that Christ spoke the words. They interpret Christ’s words as telling the thief not that he would actually go to Paradise on that day. Instead, Christ simply made a promise to the thief on that day… paradise is yet to come.
c. Problem with that argument –
i. Most Greek scholars today agree that this rearranging of the words is “grammatically senseless.”(1) Death and the Afterlife by Robert Morey – 1984)
ii. Already rather obvious that Christ was speaking to the thief on that day. (could Christ have been speaking to him yesterday or tomorrow?)
1. Seems clear Christ was comforting the thief by telling him that they would yet meet in paradise before the end of that very day.
2. To force any other meaning seems a disservice to the plain sense of Scripture!
15. Therefore, most theologians, including myself, believe that that part of hades that was “Paradise was removed from hades and lifted to the heavens.
a. Hades, in the earth, now has but one region.
i. There the unrighteous await judgment and the outcome will not be pleasant.
16. In heaven, the righteous have been judged and await the final resurrection.
17. WHAT ABOUT THE GOOD PEOPLE WE ALL HAVE KNOWN. THOSE WHO HAVE DONE GOOD THINGS FOR OTHERS, BUT DENY CHRIST?
a. GOOD NEWS & BAD NEWS.
i. Bad new first.
1. Their eternal destiny is fixed. Nothing can be done to change there final destination.
ii. Good News.
1. Whatever God does will be just…….God will not overlook one single fact.
2. There is no possibility that information will be misinterpreted or the penalty unfairly administered.
18. So we have so far learned that death has two faces.
a. For the unbeliever the very thought of death is terrifying, or at least, it should be.
b. For the believer, death is a means of redemption, a doorway into a blissful eternity as we shall explore further during this series.
19. SO IMPORTANT TO REALIZE AND REMEMBER, WHEN THAT CURTAIN PARTS FOR US, NOTHING CAN KEEP US FROM ANSWERING THE SUMMONS. THE INSTANT WE DIE, WE WILL BE EITHER ELATED, OR TERRIFIED. IT WILL BE TOO LATE TO REROUTE OUR TRAVEL PLANS.
20. WELL, WE’VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT SOME PRETTY HEAVY STUFF. SOME THINGS THAT MAY BE SCARY, AND THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE. THIS IS NOT AN EASY SUNDAY MORNING LESSON. WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT HERE HAS ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES AND I WOULD NOT BE HONORING THE RESPONSIBILITY GOD HAS PLACED UPON ME IF I DID NOT SPEAK THE TRUTH TO EACH OF YOU.
21. NOW ON TO THE MUCH BRIGHTER SIDE OF DEATH.
22. The doctor has just told you news that you thought could only happen to someone else. You have a terminal illness
a. You turn to family and friends for comfort as you need them now more than ever.
i. You know they will not let you walk through the dark days alone.
b. Of course, you also turn to God
i. You have come to know Christ personally
ii. You have lived your life with single minded devotion to Him and His agenda – being a witness with you life to Him
iii. You know the promises of God by memory and in a sense, you have been prepared for this hour ever since you transferred your trust to Christ.
23. You will probably vacillate between despair and hope, denial and determination.
a. May have more concern for those left behind than yourself.
i. None of us can know for sure how we will react when we hear the news.
24. Yet, the Bible presents an entirely differently picture of death that should give us hope!
25. Remember, after Adam & Eve sinned, they died spiritually as well as physically.
a. Sending them out of the garden, far from being an act of cruelty, was actually proof of God’s kindness.
26. Read Genesis 3:22,23:
a. “And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever. So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.”
27. Had Adam & Eve eaten of the Tree of Life, they would have been immortalized in their sinful condition and never qualified for the heaven that God wanted them to enjoy.
a. Imagine living forever as sinners, with no possibility of redemption and permanent transformation. Although they would never have had to face the finality of death, they would have been condemned to a pitiful existence.
28. Thus, God prevented Adam and Eve from eternal sinfulness and separation from Himself by giving them the “Gift of Death,” the ability to exit this life and arrive safely in the wondrous life to come.
29. Only through death can we go to God – Unless of course, we are still living when Christ returns!
30. The apostle Paul included death as one of the possessions of the Christian.
a. 1 Cor 3: 21 – 23:
i. “So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future-all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.”
b. Here death listed as one of the gifts that belong to us. Only death can give us the gift of eternity.
31. Consider how powerless death really is.
a. Rather than rid of us wealth
i. Introduces us to “riches eternal.”
b. In exchange for poor health, death gives us a right to the Tree of Life that is for as stated in Rev 22:2 “the healing of the nations.”
32. Death might temporarily separate us from our friends, but only for a short time, and it introduces us to that land in which there will never be another goodbye!
33. Why Christ says in Mt 10:28:
a. “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Fear/Respect God – The One)
34. Our body might temporarily be in the possession of cancer, or of evil men, but these enemies cannot prevent the soul from going to God!
35. New Testament Descriptions of the gift:
36. A Departure – Luke 9:31 John 13:36
a. On the Mount of Transfiguration Luke 9: vs 30, 31 – Moses and Elijah appear and speak with Jesus. In verse 31 they speak of Jesus’ “Departure. (In Greek the word departure is exodus, from which we get our word “exit.”)
i. In the Book of John, chapter 13 Jesus tells Peter that where He is going, Peter cannot follow just now, not on this departure, but promises Peter he will follow later.
37. Just as Moses lead his people out of slavery, so now Christ passed through His own Red Sea, routing the enemies and preparing to lead His people to the Promised Land. His Exodus is proof that He can safely lead us all the way from earth to Heaven!
a. We not need fear our final “exodus” because we are following our leader, just as did Peter, who has gone on ahead.
i. We will not only find Jesus on the other side of the curtain, we will realize that He is the One who led us toward the curtain in the first place.
38. A Restful Sleep – 1 Corinthians 15:51 Body not Soul
a. “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed –
b. A little review.
i. Christ to the thief – in Paradise with me today
ii. In Acts 7:59,60 Stephen was about to die, stoned to death, he looked not to the grave, but the Heavens and cried out “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
iii. Paul certainly expected to be with Christ when he died. In Philippians Paul states he prefers to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better. In 2Corinthians 5:8, he states his preference to be “away from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”
c. So how can we interpret Paul’s words other than he fully expected to be “with Christ” immediately after death?
d. “SLEEP” is used in the NT to describe what happens to the body until the day of resurrection, not what happens to the soul.
i. Sleep is used as a picture of death because it is a means of rejuvenation.
1. We look forward to falling asleep when our day is done.
a. For most, there is no fear in falling asleep for we have the assurance that we shall awake in the morning; we have proved a thousand times that daylight will come!
e. The difference with death of course is that we’ve never had the experience of death, so we aren’t quite sure exactly what it will be like to wake up in eternity.
f. But of this we can be sure; Those who die in the Lord need not fear the unknown, for we fall asleep to awaken in the arms of GOD!
g. It’s difficult to fall asleep when we’re not tired. And so, those of us who enjoy good health, a fulfilling vocation and full life don’t look forward to “falling asleep in Jesus.”
i. But, the day will come when it will no longer be our choice; we will have to obey our summons. If we live long enough to be weary of life, falling asleep will b e more inviting. Indeed, many of the saints looked forward with increasing joy to the day of their final rest.
39. A Collapsing Tent – 2 Corinthians 5:1
a. The New Living Translation of 2Cor reads Paul’s words this way:
i. “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down-when we die and leave these bodies-we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body make for us by God Himself and not by human hands.”
ii. Our present bodies are like a tent where our spirit dwells; it is a temporary structure.
1. Tents deteriorate over time in normal weather, and storms. A tattered tent is a sign we will soon have to move.
a. Death takes us from the tent to the palace!
2. I love to camp in a tent. Ok, so I have a motorhome, but I still like to tent camp when on the motorcycle. Don’t mind rain storms too much if I take care of the tent and set it up properly. But when the weather gets cold, I’m ready to move inside. And, as much as I love the motorhome, and I really do, it always feels good to come back to my house.
3. So it is with those who are infirmed and/or persecuted. They long for heaven, while those of us who are healthy are willing to live here forever…. Or as long as we remain healthy and all is well
a. But the time ultimately comes for all of us to leave the tent behind.
b. Someone said we shouldn’t drive our stakes in too deeply, for we are leaving in the morning.
40. A Sailing Ship – Philippians 1:23
a. NIV reads: “I am torn between the two; I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.”
i. Some interpret “depart” to mean “the loosing of an anchor.
b. I am reminded of a poem I often use to describe death at the time of a funeral:
c. "We are standing on a shore. A large sailing ship is about to pull out. Friends and relatives of ours are standing on the deck, waving goodbye, throwing streamers, calling to us, calling our names. And we call to them and to each other. ‘Look, there’s Grandma…there’s Uncle Joe…there’s Uncle Bill.’ A bell sounds. The ships begin to move away.
d. "We stand silently for a very long time and watch as the ship goes further and further away until, finally, the mast is just a vertical pencil line on the distant horizon. Then it too goes down, until we can no longer see it. And we sigh, ‘Oh, she’s gone.’
e. "But gone from where? Gone from our sight. That’s all.
f. "For at the very moment we sigh, ‘Oh, she’s gone,’ another cried on another shore is jumping up and down, laughing and yelling and pointing excitedly out to sea saying, ‘Look! She’s coming. Look, the ship Is coming home! Look! There’s Grandma…there’s Uncle Joe…there’s Uncle Bill.’"
g. The ship is coming home. There is another shore, another dimension in which we have already begun to live. We are filled with the Spirit of our Risen Savior—forever.
41. A Permanent Home – John 14:2,3
a. Christ give us a snapshot or our permanent home:
i. “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.”
42. SUMMARY:
a. Covered a lot this morning
i. Paradise removed from Hades and placed in the heavens
ii. God is just and fair – to believers and unbelievers alike.
1. though unbelievers’ final destination fixed, God will judge fairly.
iii. Bible paints picture of death as a gift
1. Cannot enter eternal relationship with God without death.
iv. A Departure
v. A Restful Sleep
vi. A Collapsing Tent
vii. A Sailing Ship
viii. A Permanent Home
43. Death is not something to be feared. In the end, upon Biblical reflection, we realize it truly is a Gift from God.
