What Happens after ? A Survey of Personal Eschatology

Intro - One of the most coveted decorations right now is a 12-foot tall skeleton o Halloween is weird…most of the year people avoid decorating their home with a giant reminder of death o Maybe it’s a way of trying to deal with mortality…feeling like they have some sort of control over death or at least can laugh at it in a way that makes it less scary ▪ An interesting description of the Grim Reaper (death personified) from a Halloween event brochure:

“The Grim Reaper has often – falsely – been depicted as an evil spirit that preys on mortals. In truth, he is merely a force of nature & order…” – Halloween in Greenfield Village

▪ People try to convince themselves that since everyone dies it’s natural and nothing to be feared

- Instinctively we know that death seems wrong…that it is not the way things should be o That is because death was not part of the original creation. It was brought into the universe by Adam’s sin & passed on to all his sinful descendants (Romans 5:12b) o Death is the last enemy, but for believers it is a defeated enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26) ▪ In some ways, death still holds sway over the earth…the time for its final elimination has not yet arrived ▪ Our bodies are mortal and unless Christ returns in our lifetime, we will experience physical death o So, what does the Bible say about what happens after death? ▪ Most of us probably have a general idea, but even people who have been Christians for a long time can have a hard time fitting all the pieces together ▪ Today you get an overview of personal eschatology (eschatology = study of last things)

Death (definitions) Spiritual Death: Separation from God - Genesis 2:16-17 – Adam and Eve were warned that death would overtake them when they decided that they could define good and evil for themselves in defiance of God’s command o i.e. when they chose to disobey God rather than trust him enough to obey him o Obviously, they didn’t drop dead the moment they ate the forbidden fruit, but their perfect relationship with God was ruined (Genesis 3:8)

- Ephesians 2:1-3 – This broken relationship with God is common to all humanity o We have a tendency to do whatever we please, and by doing that we are actually doing the will of Satan o That puts us in a situation where we are God’s enemies ▪ We deserve the wrath of holy God whom we have defied ▪ As dead people we are unable to help ourselves

- Ephesians 2:4-10 – But God intervenes o (4-7) Because of God’s love he graciously chose to bring us spiritually dead people to life through the death and resurrection of & shower us with blessings for eternity o (8-10) This rescue from spiritual death is given to us through faith in Jesus Christ ▪ Trust Jesus to save you rather than trusting in your own attempts at being good ▪ It is only after we are saved from wrath and made spiritually alive that we are truly able to do the good works that God has planned for us

- Even after we are saved, we are still subject to physical death Physical Death: Separation of Body & Soul/Spirit - Vocab note: for the purpose of this discussion I am using soul & spirit interchangeably

- Genesis 3:19 – When spiritual death entered the picture, so did physical death o Eventually our body stops functioning and decays o It is both a punishment and a mercy in that we are not tied forever to this broken, sin- cursed world

- James 2:26 – Physical death occurs when a persons soul/spirit is separated from their body o James’s main point is that true faith will produce good works, but he also gives us a nice concise definition of physical death o From the beginning, human beings were created to function as a united body & soul, but physical death disrupts this

- John 11:25-27 – Jesus declared that for those who trust in him, physical death is nothing to fear o This conversation takes place following the death of his friend Lazarus o For the one who trusts in Jesus to be who he claimed to be (Savior and Son of God), physical death is simply the portal to more and better life o Even the physical body will one day be resurrected (more on this later) o Jesus shows that these are not empty claims by resurrecting Lazarus (and later himself!)

- Unfortunately, there is one more category of death that we need to talk about Second Death: Eternal Separation from God in the - This is the state in which spiritual death becomes permanent and irreversible

- Revelation 21:8 – Those who refuse God’s offer of salvation and die in their sins and face the eternal wrath of God o Basically, they have chosen to follow in Satan’s footsteps and end up sharing his fate o This is not pleasant to talk about, but God’s Word is very clear that it is very real (more on this later) Aside: The in the Old Testament - If you base your understanding of what comes after physical death only on the OT, you will end up with a vague, incomplete picture. God revealed far more details about this in the NT

- The OT frequently speaks of death from the point of view of those still living (e.g. Psalm 6:4-5) o This causes some people to draw incorrect conclusions that directly contradict New Testament teachings (e.g. “soul sleep”) o The point of passages like this is that people who have physically died are no longer doing anything in this world…it is not a denial of the afterlife

- Godly people in the OT did have a general idea of a future resurrection (Job 19:26), eternal life for the righteous (Psalm 23:6) and, eternal punishment for the wicked (Daniel 12:2-3), but the grave (sheol) is usually viewed as dark and mysterious

Intermediate State - Even in the New Testament we are not told a lot about what happens between the time of a person’s physical death and their resurrection o God has revealed everything we need to know, not everything we want to know o What we are told should provide comfort for believers & warning to unbelievers

- Following death (the separation of body and spirit), the spirit continues conscious existence in one of two placed, in blessing or torment, depending on whether they are saved or unsaved o Luke 16:22-26 – Jesus tells a story about a poor beggar named Lazarus and a rich man who both die…this story provides us with a basic description of this ▪ There is a preliminary judgment/sorting takes place after death (vv. 22-4) ▪ There is no indication of there being any sort of “second chance” (vv. 25-26) ▪ This story reminds us that material prosperity is not an indication of a person’s standing with God (the end of the parable points to the need to give heed to what God has revealed) o Hebrews 9:27-28 – This life is your one chance to get right with God ▪ Jesus has already paid for our sins and we must trust in that now, in the time before he returns or death takes us out of this world ▪ There is no or second chances: you live, you die, you are judged based on whether you are trusting in him to save you o This also means that the spirits of dead people do not have “unfinished business” that allows them to interact with the living ▪ Not haunting the location of their death ▪ No showing up to say “hi” at a séance or through a medium ▪ Attempts to communicate with the dead are strongly forbidden in Scripture ▪ The instances that aren’t pure con-man tricks are communication with the demonic rather than with anything human

- Those who are saved go to be with Jesus (and other saved people), awaiting resurrection o Luke 23:42-43 – Jesus tells the dying thief that he will be with him in paradise today o Philippians 1:23-24 & 2 Corinthians 5:8 both speak of being away from the body as being present with Jesus o All of this rules out the false doctrine of “soul sleep” that says we remain in a dormant state like dreamless sleep until the resurrection o We don’t know a lot of details of what our life will be like as we await the resurrection of our physical bodies, but we know… ▪ It will be far better than this broken, sin-cursed world ▪ We will be with Jesus and free from all effects of sin

Resurrections (& Accompanying Judgments) - There is disagreement among good, Bible-believing Christians on the exact timing or sequence of these yet-future events, and that’s okay o This is not an issue over which to break fellowship or call each other heretics o We’re not going to focus on timing, but on the nature of these events

- 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 & 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 – At some point in the future, Jesus returns to take everyone who belongs to him to be with him forever o Those who have physically died return with him and their spirit is reunited with their now-perfect immortal resurrected body o Those who are still alive receive perfect, immortal bodies without experiencing physical death o We will be made perfectly like Jesus and go to our true home (Philippians 3:20-21)

- Most events described in the book of Revelation take place at this point; the short version: o For 7 years we are in heaven while God judges those who are left on earth ▪ Some are saved during this time, and many of them are martyred ▪ At the end of the 7 years Jesus returns to earth to slay the wicked (Armageddon), resurrect the , and set up his kingdom o For 1,000 years Jesus and his saints reign over a “refurbished” nearly perfect earth in what is known as the Millennial Kingdom

- 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 – Sometime between physical death and the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom, believers will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to determine what additional rewards we receive for faithful service o (10-12) Paul uses the metaphor of a building ▪ Jesus is the foundation that secures our salvation ▪ how we live our life builds on that foundation with building materials of different value and durability o (13-15) Like a purifying fire, Jesus will evaluate which of our deeds were of eternal value (motivated by the fruit of the Spirit, done in service to him, showing love to others, etc.) ▪ Some people will discover that they didn’t do much of value in this life; it will be as if their whole life “went up in smoke”…they are saved, but embarassed ▪ Others will receive praise from Jesus and the rewards and responsibilities in the kingdom that come with that - Revelation 20:10-15 – At the end of the Millennial Kingdom is the final judgment of sin o (10) First, Satan is finally removed forever from the picture ▪ The lake of fire was created for his punishment (e.g. Matthew 25:41) ▪ Those who follow in his ways without accepting God’s gift of salvation end up sharing his fate o (11-13) Unbelievers are raised from the dead and judged with complete impartiality for the sins they have committed and all fall short of the glory of God o (14-15) Their name does not appear in the book of those who belong to Jesus (cf. Luke 10:29, Philippians 4:3, Revelation 3:5) so they are cast, body & soul, into the lake of fire ▪ Many have tried to make themselves feel better by explaining the lake of fire as a person simply ceasing to exist after a while (“they burn up”), but there are too many verses that speak of eternal ongoing punishment to accept that view ▪ Revelation 20:10 – “…they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” ▪ Mark 9:48-49 – “…hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire.”

- A person’s eternal fate is not something to play around with o Have you trusted Jesus to forgive your sins and transform your life? o Do your actions and words to others draw them toward Jesus or push them away from the Gospel?

…remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal…it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. – C. S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory

- And what does that everlasting splendor look like?

Eternity - The saved live in “our resurrected bodies in a resurrected heaven and earth with our resurrected Savior” – Randy Alcorn

- Revelation 21:1-8 describes the eternal kingdom of God, prepared for his children o (1-4) Sin and everything that it brought into the universe are removed from the picture forever ▪ No more pain, sickness, death, sadness, or suffering of any kind ▪ No more temptation or desire to sin…no more having to stop and thing “is this something that I should do?” o (5-7) A new universe to live in, explore, and enjoy with a face-to-face relationship with Almighty God who has promised to satisfy our deepest desires ▪ The feeling of being strangers and foreigners will be gone as we live in the kingdom planned for us since before creation ▪ “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” – C. S. Lewis in Mere

- 1 John 3:1-3 – God is going to do all this because he loves us. o This is our motivation to push on and become more and more like Jesus Christ as we wait for the day that we are made absolutely perfect in his presence o This is our living hope that makes death nothing more than a portal into more and better life!

Applications - Trust Jesus to save you on the basis of his death and resurrection o Ask him to forgive your sins and transform your life because he is gracious and loving o Without this faith, you have every reason to fear death because he is also holy and all powerful and must punish unforgiven sin

- Live with courage and thankfulness o We have nothing to fear: death, the most seemingly final and inevitable thing on earth has no power to really harm us ▪ Don’t live with constant anxiety about what will happen if the “wrong person” gets elected, coronavirus surges to new highs, or hornets invade the US ▪ We have a heavenly Father who has broken the power of death…why would we act as if lesser things are somehow out of his control? ▪ We can choose to live in obedience to him regardless of what we think the immediate consequences might be o Our life can be an act of worship and praise to him ▪ Allowing our words and actions to be motivated by the fruit of the Spirit ▪ Telling others the Good News of salvation ▪ Showing others the same self-sacrificing love that he has shown us ▪ Looking forward to the day when life on this earth is over and we can hear from him “Well done good and faithful servant.”