Where Did Christ’s Soul Go After His Death? (part 4)

April 13, 2012 Leave a comment

Over the past few posts we’ve established that Christ’s soul went to a place called Hades when He died. The proof text is Acts 2:27, a Messianic passage that says of Christ:

For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

But what we’ve learned is that Hades is a fascinating place, one that actually has two sections. One section is a bliss section designed to hold the souls of the saved, and the other one is a torment section designed to hold the souls of the lost.

However, we’ve also learned that after Christ’s resurrection and ascension He emptied all the souls out of the bliss section and transported them on up to heaven. The text on this is Ephesians 4:8-10. So now when a saved person dies, his or her soul goes straight up to heaven. As 2 Corinthians 5:8 says of Christians:

We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

Okay, I realize that we are getting a bit off the specific question of where Christ’s soul went at death, but please bear with me for this post while I finish up the word about Hades. As things stand now, the torment section of Hades is still very much open for business and receiving lost souls every day. It is the place we have in mind when we talk about someone dying and going to “hell.” It’s where the souls of Osama Bin Laden, Adolph Hitler, and Joseph Stalin are right now. According to Luke 16:23-24 it’s a place of torment and literal flame. As bad as we might imagine it to be, it’s no doubt worse.

But will this torment section always remain open for business? No. Just as happened with the bliss section, there will come a time when the souls will all be emptied from the torment section and transported to another place. The time will be after Christ’s one-thousand-year reign upon this earth, and the place will be Gehenna, which is more commonly known as “the lake of fire.”

The word Gehenna literally refers to a burning “city dump.” The word occurs twelve times in the New Testament’s original Greek. In each instance the K.J.V. translates the word as “hell.” The passages are: Matthew 5:22; 5:29; 5:30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15; 23:33; Mark 9:43; 9:45; 9:47; Luke 12:5; and James 3:6.

Gehenna is actually the Greek representative of the Hebrew Ge-hinnom. An English translation of Ge-hinnom would be “valley of Hinnom.” This was a deep, narrow valley to the south of Jerusalem. It was here that the Jews, in some of their most wicked Old Testament times, sacrificed their children to the god Molech. When the practice was stopped, the site became the “city dump” for Jerusalem. The bodies of criminals, the carcasses of animals, and all sorts of trash and filth were cast into the valley. The constant burning and smoldering of the refuse caused a continual smoke to rise up from the valley. Jesus, the master illustrator, chose the site as a symbolic representation of eternal judgment.

Jesus described Gehenna as a place where “their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:43-48, in each instance “hell” translates Gehenna). The phrase “where their worm dies not” refers back to the “city dump” that was the valley of Hinnom. Those who took their trash out to the site could always see worms feasting on the waste, especially on the corpses and carcasses. These worms lived at the site without being annihilated by the flame and heat of the place. Other Bible passages that teach that the punishment of the wicked is eternal are Daniel 12:2, Matthew 25:46, 2 Thessalonians 1:9, and Revelation 14:10-11.

As I said, the New Testament’s other name for Gehenna is “the lake of fire.” This description is used in Revelation 19:20; 20:10; 20:14; 20:15; and 21:18. The Greek word that is translated as “lake” in these verses is the common Greek word for a lake. It is the same word that is used in reference to the famous “lake of Gennesaret” (the Sea of Galilee). This means that the best way to envision Gehenna is to think of a literal lake, but rather than being a lake of water it is a lake of everlasting fire.

In Matthew 25:41 Jesus speaks of an “everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” The Greek language doesn’t use the word Gehenna in this verse, but the Bible makes it clear that Jesus was talking about Gehenna. For one thing, the Bible never depicts Satan as being in Hades (see Job 1:7, Job 2:2, and 1 Peter 5:8). For another, the Bible plainly says that the lake of fire will be Satan’s eternal dwelling place (Revelation 20:10). So, obviously, Jesus was referring to Gehenna when he talked about an everlasting fire prepared for the devil and the other fallen angels. Sadly, even though the place was specifically prepared for fallen angels, lost humans will spend eternity there as well.

But just when will Satan be cast into Gehenna? Well, there is a distinct order to how Gehenna goes from being unoccupied (which it is now) to being occupied. The order is as follows:

1. Jesus will return for His second coming to this earth during the battle of Armageddon. (Revelation 19:11-19)

2. As a part of Christ’s resounding victory at Armageddon, the Anti-Christ and the False Prophet from the seven-year tribulation period will be cast into Gehenna, the lake of fire. These two men will be Gehenna’s very first occupants and they will never get out of the place. (Revelation 19:20-21)

3. Immediately after this, Satan will be chained up in the bottomless pit, which is a place 2 Peter 2:4 refers to as Tartarus. And Satan will remain there in Tartarus for the thousand years of Christ’s reign upon this earth. (Revelation 20:1-6)

4. At the end of this thousand years, Satan will be loosed for a time to mount one final rebellion against God. God the Father will put down that rebellion and then Satan will be cast into Gehenna, the lake of fire. There he will join the Anti-Christ and the False Prophet who have already been in there for one thousand years. (Revelation 20:7-10).

5. Immediately following this will come the Great White Throne Judgment where all of history’s lost will stand before Christ. For this awesome judgment the torment section of Hades will at last be emptied so that all those lost souls can be formally moved into Gehenna. Revelation 20:12-15 says of this time:

And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

In closing, let me say one last word about the souls who will be called forth from the torment section of Hades to stand before the Great White Judgment. For that Judgment, those souls will be reunited with the bodies they once inhabited. This is why Revelation 20:13-14 speaks of not only Hades delivering up its dead but also Death delivering up its dead. You see, Hades will deliver up the lost soul and Death will deliver up the body. This will necessitate those bodies experiencing some type of resurrection. Obviously it won’t be the resurrection unto glorification that the bodies of the saved will experience, but it will be some type of resurrection so that the lost can be cast body and soul into Gehenna.

If you doubt this let me remind you that in John 5:29 Jesus names two distinct kinds of resurrections. They are “the resurrection of life” and “the resurrection of condemnation.” Let me also remind you that in Matthew 5:29-30 and 10:28 Jesus talks about the whole body being cast into “hell” (Greek word Gehenna). You see, by the time God’s program is completed for the human race there won’t be one soul (saved or lost) left in either section of Hades or one body left unaccounted for by either the “resurrection of life” or the “resurrection of condemnation.”

Filed under Angels, Christ's Second Coming, Christ's Resurrection, death, Demons, Heaven, hell, Prophecy, Satan, The Devil Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

The Young Man & His Reason

January 5, 2012 Leave a comment

A Christian once asked a young man if he wanted to believe in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. The young man answered, “No.” When the Christian asked him to give a reason for his refusal, he did so. The reason was this:

Several years ago, I was in a man’s kitchen. When he found me there he swore at me and kicked me out. That man was a professing Christian, and from that time I decided never to have anything to do with religion. And I never have to this day.

After hearing that, the Christian asked the young man to write the reason down, word for word, and sign it. The young man played along and did so. Then the Christian handed the signed document back to him and said, “Take this, and when you are asked for your excuse on the day of judgment, hand this up.”

We should learn two lessons from this illustration. First, we Christians should mind our behavior. We do untold damage to the cause of Christ when we our lives slip into sin and compromise. Second, there is no valid excuse for refusing to believe in Christ as Savior. If you think you have one, write it down, sign it, and carry it with you always. You can try using it in the afterlife. Don’t expect it to work, though.

Filed under Backsliding, Belief, Coming Judgment, death, Evangelism, God's Wrath, God's judgment, hell, Personal Holiness, salvation, Witnessing Tagged with , , ,

The Days of Our Lives

June 6, 2011 Leave a comment

Yesterday I spoke at the funeral of Jean Gouge Burleson. She was a good friend of mine, an elderly woman who will surely be missed by many. I used Psalm 90:10 as an opening text:

The days of our lives are seventy years. And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

I recently went to Google and searched out the average lifespan of human beings. According to a United Nations list that was compiled from 2005 to 2010, the world average for a lifespan is 67 years, 2 months. It’s 65 years exactly for men, and 69 years, 5 months for women.

Of course, that’s taking the entire world into account. The fact is, the average lifespan in many countries is much higher than the world average. For example, the people of Japan top the list with an average life expectancy of 82 years, 6 months. As for the United States, it ranks a respectable 36th on the list. American males live an average of 75 years, 6 months. American females live an average of 80 years, 8 months. (So hang in there ladies, you’re winning.)

At any rate, it’s plain to see that the Bible isn’t hopelessly outdated or irrelevant in what it says about the average lifespan. Even with all the medical advancements the world has seen in the thousands of years since Moses wrote Psalm 90, humans still typically live in the ballpark of 70 and 80 years. I mentioned this yesterday in my remarks about Jean. She died at 76.

Of course, 70 or 80 years is just a general guideline. Some people live to see 100, but others die at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60. So the question is not, “How old will I be when I die?”, but rather, “How will I live the days I have left?” My advice is to live them all out, full bore, no-holds-barred for Jesus Christ. That way you’ll be able to “fly away” with no regrets.

Filed under Attitude, Choices, death, Doing Good, Human Life, Personal Holiness, preaching, Scripture, The Bible Tagged with , , , , , ,

The Foolish Man & His Diamond

May 5, 2011 Leave a comment

A wealthy man sold all his possessions for cash and bought an incredibly expensive diamond. He put the diamond in his pocket and took a voyage from England to America. On the deck of the ship, he pulled out the diamond and began flipping it in his hand. Some of his fellow passengers warned him not to be so careless with something so valuable, but he took great delight in how much they worried over his actions. To increase that worrying, he walked over to the ship’s rail and started flipping the diamond there. But as you’ve probably already guessed, during one flip the ship lurched forward unexpectedly and the diamond went down into the sea.

True story? I’d be shocked if it was. No one would be so foolish, right? But the fact is that millions of people act even more foolishly every day as they take the ultimate gamble with the ultimate prize, their soul. What I mean is, they walk around literally one breath out of hell.

Oh, there I went and used an inconvenient word, didn’t I? In this modern era we aren’t supposed to use the word “hell” unless it is for the purposes of profanity or explaining where despicable people such as Osama bin Laden go in the afterlife. But the Bible is still God’s written word, and it still teaches that the souls of all those who die without Christ as Savior go to that awful place called hell.

The New Testament original Greek word for this place is Hades, and in Luke 16:19-31 no less an authority than Jesus Himself described it as a place of torment, flame, separation, remembrance, and regret. In Matthew 13:42, He called it “the furnace of fire” and said it produces “wailing” and “gnashing of teeth.” Obviously, Jesus didn’t shy away from letting people know just how gruesome hell is.

You say, “Okay Russell, I’ll go along with you that hell exists and that the souls of certain people go there in the afterlife. But God only sends murderers, terrorists, pedophiles, rapists, and all the other ‘worst of the worst’ there.” Well, that certainly sounds logical and reasonable to our modern mindsets, but it simply isn’t correct theology. There are so many verses that I could cite here, but I’ll just use a few from the third chapter of the gospel of John:

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18)

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36)

And so, you see, the only way for you to escape the horrors of hell is to place your belief in Jesus as your personal Savior. Anything less than that and you are still flipping up the priceless diamond of your soul as you stand next to the ship’s rail of the afterlife. Why act so foolishly? If you’ve never done so, why don’t you ask Jesus to be your Savior right now?

Filed under Belief, Choices, Coming Judgment, death, God's Wrath, God's judgment, hell, Priorities, salvation Tagged with , , , , ,

The Awesome Seriousness of Unbelief

March 23, 2011 Leave a comment

Revelation 21:7-8 contrasts the two potential eternal destinations. First, in verse 7, Jesus says:

“He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be His God and he shall be My son.”

This brings up the all-important question, “How does one overcome?” We find that answer in 1 John 5:1,4-5, which says:

“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him…For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

So, when a person places his or her belief (faith) in Jesus Christ as Savior, that person becomes an “overcomer.” And all “overcomers” will spend eternity with Christ.

But now let’s turn to the other potential destination. Revelation 21:8 says:

But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

You say, “I’m no coward. I’m not abominable. I’ve never murdered anyone. I’m not sexually immoral. I’m certainly not a sorcerer. I don’t have an idol that I worship. And I don’t lie.” Okay, I’ll give you credit for living a life of bravery and morality. But did you notice that the word “unbelieving” is also on that sordid list? And the “unbelief” in question relates to Jesus.

You see, even if you have the rest of the list covered, but you have not believed in Christ as Savior upon your death, you will experience what the verse calls “the second death.” And this “second death” is nothing less than spending eternity in “the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.”

This is how high the stakes are concerning your belief (or lack of it) in Jesus as Savior. Most people wouldn’t rate this unbelief as a heinous sin on par with the likes of murder, sexual immorality, or sorcery, but God does. As a matter of fact, while those other sins will all be forgiven the moment a person believes in Christ, there is no forgiveness to be found (in this life or eternity) for the sin of refusing to yield such belief.

Filed under Belief, Coming Judgment, death, Doing Good, faith, Forgiveness, God's Wrath, God's judgment, Heaven, hell, salvation Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Man’s Body

February 18, 2011 Leave a comment

This will be the last post in a little three-part series on the subject of man’s spirit, soul, and body. This time we’ll deal with man’s body. I’ll grant you that the body is more easily understood than the spirit or the soul, but my guess is that there are still some important things that you need to learn about it.

The best way to describe yourself is like this: You are a soul; you possess a spirit; and you live in a body. Really, the only thing that others see of you is your body. Furthermore, whatever you get done in this world, you’ll do it via your body. As mysterious and wonderful as the spirit and soul are, they aren’t much for mowing the yard, cooking a meal, holding down a job, reading the Bible, going to church, witnessing, etc. You need body parts (eyes, ears, arms, legs, feet, a brain, a skeletal structure, etc.) to get those things done.

This is why, at the moment of a person’s salvation, God the Holy Spirit comes to indwell the person’s body, not the person’s spirit or soul (Romans 5:5; Romans 8:5-11; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Corinthians 5:5). Just as a pilot flies an airplane, a captain steers a ship, or a driver drives a car, the indwelling Holy Spirit wants to be at the controls of the person’s body. Also, having God the Holy Spirit inside your body automatically turns your body into a temple. Please understand that everyone’s body is not a temple. That honor is reserved exclusively for the Spirit-indwelt believer (the genuine Christian). The body-builder, the yoga instructor, the fitness guru, and the health- food advocate may all have bodies that are in peak condition, but if these people don’t know Christ as Savior their bodies aren’t temples. Only Christians have “temple bodies.”

Still, though, just because a Christian’s body is a temple and the indwelling Holy Spirit is in there, that doesn’t mean that the Christian has handed over the controls to the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul understood this and said to the Christians of the city of Rome:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1)

That term “living sacrifice” is an odd one, isn’t it? How can a sacrifice survive an altar of death? How can it live once it has become a sacrifice? The answer is: The Christian’s body remains alive, but the inner will, which is sin-tainted, corrupt, and prone to take destructive paths, dies on the altar. The body will now be used to carry out that which is “holy, acceptable to God.” The indwelling Holy Spirit will be given the controls unreservedly. He will now fly the plane, captain the ship, and drive the car.

But would you believe that even the indwelling Holy Spirit will not stop the aging process? Mark it down, the bodies of non-Christians and Christians alike wear down over time and eventually cease working. This goes back to the sin in the garden of Eden. Genesis 2:16-17 says:

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Hebrew scholars tell us that the original Hebrew behind the words “you shall surely die” literally mean “dying you shall die.” You see, when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit their bodies began the long, long process of dying, and eventually that process culminated in their physical deaths. Genesis 5:5 says that Adam actually lived 930 years, but that verse ends with the words “and he died.” And the members of his race have been dying ever since, haven’t they?

But did you know that when all of the various stages of God’s sweeping, eons-long, prophetic program have played themselves out, not one body will be left unresurrected? This isn’t the time or place for me to go into every last detail of that prophetic program, but concerning the resurrections John 5:28-29 is a good summation passage. There Jesus says:

“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”

Notice that Jesus spoke of two categories of resurrection. There will be the resurrection of life, and there will be the resurrection of condemnation. Scripture teaches that the saved believers from all of history will have their bodies resurrected and glorified, even though there won’t be one general “resurrection day” upon which it all happens. (As I said, there are multiple stages to God’s grand plan of prophecy.) But what about the bodies of the lost people from all history? Well, those bodies will all be resurrected too, but for them the resurrection will not involve glorification. Also, their bodies will all be resurrected on a single day. This day will occur at the end of Christ’s 1,000-year reign upon this earth, and it is described in Revelation 20:11-15.

You can read that passage for your homework, but I’ll go ahead and tell you that the bodies of the lost are called forth from wherever their final resting places are (graves, the sea, etc.). Each body is then reunited with the soul that once inhabited it, as each soul is called forth from that unimaginably horrific place we know as “hell.” And it is then that the lost person will be cast resurrected body and reunited soul into an even worse “hell” that is known as “the eternal lake of fire.” There the souls will not be annihilated and the bodies will not be burned up. Instead (and this is beyond tragic) each lost person will spend all eternity, body and soul, in that place of torment.

The Greek word for this eternal lake of fire is Gehenna, and Jesus says in Matthew 10:28:

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna).”

You see, the “Him” who is able to cast both soul and resurrected body into the eternal lake of fire called Gehenna is Jesus. But listen, He doesn’t want to do that to you! What He wants is for you to experience salvation by placing your belief in Him as your personal Savior. Once you do that, you won’t have to ever worry about the eternal fate of either your soul or your body, and you’ll be able to present your body as a living sacrifice to Him in this life and enjoy the awesome rewards of the afterlife. So, if you haven’t made this decision for Christ, won’t you do so right now? And, one last thing, get used to that body of yours because you’re going to be spending all eternity in it.

Filed under Belief, Church attendance, Coming Judgment, death, dieting, fear, God's Wrath, God's judgment, God's Will, Heaven, hell, Human Life, Personal Holiness, Prophecy, Reward, salvation, submission, The Holy Spirit Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Man’s Soul

February 17, 2011 Leave a comment

In my last post, I talked about man’s spirit. With this post I want to say some things about his soul. I suppose I should begin by pointing out that some people teach that the “spirit” and the “soul” are simply interchangeable terms. For you theological experts out there, this view of man is known as the dichotomist view. But, as I study the Bible, I find that it really does differentiate between the two. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 and Hebrews 4:12, the apostle Paul makes a point of listing each one separately. So I find myself in agreement with those who hold to the trichotomist view of man.

Actually, the fact of the matter is that each person doesn’t have a soul; each person is a soul. Consider the following passages:

1. Genesis 2:7 says: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living nephesh (the Hebrew word for “soul”).”

2. Genesis 12:5 describes the servants that Abram had acquired in Haran as “the souls (nephesh) whom they had acquired.” This is just one of numerous places in the Old Testament where groups of people are referred to as groups of “souls.”

3. 1 Peter 3:20 says that eight “souls” were saved by way of Noah’s ark.

4. James 5:20 talks about saving a “soul” from death.

5. Romans 13:1 commands that every “soul” be subject to the governing authorities. Obviously, this means that every “person” should be subject to the governing authorities.

6. In Revelation 6:9, John sees heaven’s altar and under it the “souls” of many martyrs. Then, in 6:10, he hears those souls actually speak.

7. In Revelation 20:4, John sees the “souls” of those who had been martyred for Jesus during the Tribulation period.

When you understand that each person is a soul, you’ll understand how the Hebrew behind Amos 6:8, which says “The Lord God has sworn by Himself,” can rightly employ the word nephesh. The point is that God Himself is a soul. Furthermore, you’ll also understand why the Bible talks about the need for the human soul to get saved. You see, the term “soul saving” is just another way of saying “person saving.” Passages that speak of “the saving of the soul” are: Hebrews 10:39; James 1:21; and 1 Peter 1:9.

For the record, I should also mention that creatures and animals are also “souls” in the strictest technical sense. Verses such as Genesis 1:21,24; 2:19; and 9:10,12,15,16 all use the Hebrew word nephesh and translate it as “creatures.” Unlike the case of man, however, this doesn’t mean that creatures go to any kind of afterlife. Believe me, I like to think of my favorite dog, Tramp, as being out there in eternity waiting for me, but the Bible really doesn’t teach that he is. It does mention animals as being a part of Christ’s future 1,000-year reign upon this earth (Isaiah 11:6-9), and if you take Revelation 19:11-14 literally (and I do) there will be horses in heaven. But all that is not the same as saying that the souls of animals depart to an afterlife at death. I know there is a movie called “All Dogs Go To Heaven,” but I can’t find that verse in the Book.

But where does the soul of the individual go in the afterlife? Since the soul is eternal it must go somewhere, right? Well, first let me say that, like the spirit, the soul immediately departs from the body at death. Genesis 35:18 describes Rachel’s death in this way:

“And so it was, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-Oni; but his father called him Benjamin.”

There is, however, a serious difference concerning the spirit’s departure and the soul’s departure. As I said in my previous post, each person’s spirit returns to God at death (Ecclesiastes 12:7). But the soul passes on to one of two locations. It either goes to a place of eternal salvation with God or a place of eternal damnation apart from him. The proof texts here are: Luke 16:19-31; Acts 2:27,31; 1 Corinthians 15:50; Matthew 5:11-12; Romans 8:16-18; 1 Peter 1:3-5; Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 25:41; and Romans 2:5-9.

And so, when everything is said and done, the main thing that you need to pull from all this is that you are a soul and you are going to spend eternity either with God in perfect bliss or separated from Him in indescribable torment. And the deciding factor on where you end up is your belief in or lack of belief in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. 1 Peter 2:24-25 says this to Christians:

“who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

Jesus really is the Shepherd and Overseer of my soul. I wonder, can the same be said of your soul?

Filed under Belief, Bible Study, Christ's Second Coming, Coming Judgment, death, Evangelism, God's Wrath, God's judgment, Government, Heaven, hell, Human Life, Prophecy, Reward, salvation, Scripture, The Bible, Witnessing Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Those Who Mourn

February 8, 2010 2 Comments

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:4

The Greek word for “mourn” in this verse is pentheo, which specifically refers to the strongest, most intensive kind of mourning. In the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament, this word is used to describe Jacob’s grief when he thought his beloved son Joseph was dead (Genesis 37:34). 

Still, the question is, how can such mourning equate to blessedness? The typical commentator’s explanation is to make the mourning a mourning over one’s sins. The person who is under extreme conviction over his sinful condition, to the point of gut-wreching mourning over it, will find forgiveness and comfort in Christ.

Certainly this is a doctrinally sound thought, but I can’t help but wonder if we should be so quick to explain away the literalness of Christ’s words. Would His disciples really have understood the mourning to be mourning over one’s sins? I have to question that.

I lean toward thinking that Jesus was emphasizing that He was the answer for death. Mourning has always walked hand in hand with death. Perhaps then Jesus was saying, “There’s now One on the scene who can provide the greatest comfort to those who have lost loved ones.”

In the Luke version of the sermon, Jesus says nothing about those who mourn. Instead, He says, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh” (Luke 6:21). But just as mourning walks hand in hand with death, weeping walks hand in hand with mourning. Therefore, it isn’t hard to link ”Blessed are those who mourn” and “Blessed are you who weep now” together. The fact that Jesus got more individually specific in the Luke version by using the word “you” seems to be a case of tailoring a sermon to fit an audience.    

In Revelation 1:18, Jesus says, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and Death.” Since Hades was the general realm of the dead, Jesus was pointing out that He has complete charge over the afterlife. If a person knew Him as Savior in life, that relationship would continue in death. As Paul wrote to the Christians of Corinth, “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent (body), is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens…So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord…We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:1,6,8).

Speaking for myself, it brings me indescribable comfort to know that the souls of my loved ones who died in Christ went to heaven to be with Him. For them, death was a promotion and a call home. Rather than mourn a Christian’s passing, we should celebrate it. After all, as Paul said in another passage, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better” (Philippians 1:21,23).

I’ve preached more funerals than I can remember, and in each one I tried to bring some comfort to the family. I have to say, though, that the greatest comfort I ever gave anybody came from assuring them that the soul of their Christian loved one was with the Lord in heaven. Such funerals preach themselves. And it is because of these experiences that I can say with certainty that Jesus really does provide comfort for the blessed (the saved) who mourn the deaths of their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Filed under death, Heaven, salvation

Life Is A Vapor, But Then What?

October 6, 2009 Leave a comment

I got the call yesterday morning that a faithful member of our church passed away during the night. What made the news so shocking was the fact that Bill had seemed fine Sunday morning. He and his wife, Celeine, had taken their usual seats in church and enjoyed the service just like they always did. 

I myself wasn’t fine that Sunday morning, and Bill picked up on it as soon as he saw me. For various reasons, I didn’t sleep well Saturday night. Then I woke up Sunday morning with a fair amount of vertigo. That was only the second time in my life I had experienced vertigo, and I don’t want there to ever be a third. As I walked into church, I put up a brave front and figured that nobody would be able to tell that I was struggling a little just to remain upright. But when I walked over to shake hands with Bill and Celeine, Bill looked right at me and said, “You’re sick.” I’ve got to admit that I was taken aback by the straightforwardness of his remark and the accuracy of his diagnosis.

After I explained to him what was going on with me, he asked me something I will never forget. His question was, “When was the last time you had a physical?” I stuttered and stammered a little and then finally got out the answer, “Oh, I don’t know, I guess it was five or so years ago.” The truth was, I couldn’t remember. Bill’s reply was, “You ought to go have one. You might have some high blood pressure.” (For the record, I’ve had my blood pressure checked in the past few months. It was fine.)

After the Sunday service, I got involved talking to other people and didn’t really say much to Bill and Celeine. I regret that now. If I had known that was the last time I would see Bill on this earth, I would have made a point of spending a lot of time with him. But we never know such things, do we? Life really is “a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14).

We don’t know exactly what took Bill’s life around 1:00 a.m. Monday morning. He lived each day with a garden variety of physical ailments. I can’t even begin to remember the number of hospital stays he endured, the surgeries and the procedures. At his home yesterday afternoon the family showed me the list of medications that he took. It looked like an encyclopedia of Latin. He had to have a chart just to keep it all straight. I think that’s why he encouraged me to get a physical. He knew far better than most how quickly your health can deteriorate.

I took great joy in informing the family that Bill no longer needs all his pills or his oxygen machine. His soul has now departed (Genesis 35:18-19) from his “body of death” (Romans 7:24). I’m happy for him. I’m also a little envious. I’ve noticed that something strange has happened to me over the past few years. I’ve begun longing for heaven to a degree I didn’t expect to reach until I was much older.

And here’s the shocking thing (at least it’s shocking to me): My increased longing for heaven springs much more from a desire to leave behind the pain, suffering, injustice, and wickedness of this world than it does a desire to see the splendors of heaven. I’ve begun to see heaven not so much as a desirable location but as an escape from an undesirable one. I’m as excited about getting to leave this world as I am about getting to enter into heaven.            

Do I still love my wife and want to spend our “golden years” together? Yes. Do I still love my two boys and want to watch them finish growing up? Yes. Do I want to hold grandbabies in my arms and get to spoil them? Yes. Do I want to keep on enjoying all the pleasures of life? Yes. But do I now see this life for what it is and look forward to a better afterlife? Most definitely! I think it’s quite appropriate that the text God has given me for Bill’s funeral sermon is Job 14:1-6, a passage which begins with the words: “Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.”

Bill is out of that trouble now. He is in that better place that we like to talk about. But his is only a better place because he knew Jesus as his personal Savior. Can you imagine how awful it would be if this life was the highlight of your eternal existence? Can you imagine being born of woman, living out your ”few” days (few in relation to eternity), experiencing all of life’s trouble, and then having your soul depart for a gruesome place of suffering and anguish? Can you imagine lifting up your eyes in hell and being in torment (Luke 16:19-23)? I don’t even want to think about such a horror.      

But the stark reality is that most of the people on earth right now are staring straight down the gun-barrel of that horror. They don’t know Christ as Savior and if they die tonight their souls will not go to heaven. This should compel us Christians to be all the more involved in evangelism. We must share the good news of Christ’s gospel with those who need it. Someone once shared that gospel with Bill, and he responded by placing his belief in Jesus as his personal Savior. For that reason, I won’t have problems preaching his funeral and his family won’t have to search fruitlessly for comfort. But that puts us in the minority, not the majority. And that, Christian, is not a good thing.

You say, “But Russell, I’m just one person and the task of world evangelism is far too overwhelming.” You’re right, it is. That’s why Jesus doesn’t expect you to take on that task. What He expects you to do is engage in individual evangelism. Don’t focus on winning the masses of China to Christ. Focus on that one person the Lord puts right in front of you today. You know the one, the one with your name on them.

Maybe the person is a family member. Maybe the person is a friend. Maybe the person is a co-worker. Maybe the person is a neighbor. Maybe the person is a fellow parent from your kid’s ball team. What I’m saying is, door-to-door evangelism to rank strangers has its place, but so does relational evangelism to people you already know.    

You see, the fact is, some “Bills” will die tonight, and one of them might just be a lost person you know. That person needs Christ, which means that he or she needs you to tell them about Him. Stop talking about politics, the weather, the economy, or the ball game, and press on into spiritual matters, eternal matters. Be tactful, but get the conversation there. Tell that person about Jesus.

If you don’t feel comfortable quoting scripture, at least tell the person what Jesus has done for you. Talk about the trouble you’ve experienced in this world and then talk about heaven. Make a point of explaining that you are guaranteed heaven only because Jesus died on the cross for your sins and you have believed in Him as Savior. You don’t have to hold an evangelistic crusade. You don’t have to try to be someone you’re not. But you do need to be a witness who’s trying. And don’t worry about how the person responds to what you say. That’s not your department. Your job is simply the telling.      

I will miss my friend Bill, but I know his soul now resides in heaven’s glory. He has been reunited with Christian loved ones who passed on before him. Most importantly, he now sees Jesus face to face. That Savior that he only knew by faith he now knows by personal appearance. That’s a joy that everyone should get to experience. I realize that’s not going to happen, but you and I can help it happen for some folks if we will open up our closed lips and share the gospel.

Filed under Adversity, Belief, Christ's Death, Coming Judgment, death, Evangelism, Heaven, hell, salvation, trials, Witnessing Tagged with , , , , , ,

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 40 other followers