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"What Happens When You Die?"

What Happens When You Die?

by Dr. David R. Reagan

If several years ago you had asked me what happens when you die, I would have given you a pathetic answer. I would have told you that when you die your soul goes to sleep until the Lord returns. At the return of the Lord, your soul is resurrected and judged, and you are either consigned to Hell or allowed to enter Heaven. My conception of Heaven was that of a spirit world where the saved spend eternity as disembodied spirits, floating around on clouds, playing harps.

A Mistaken View

Needless to say, I couldn’t get very excited about all that. I sure didn’t like the idea of being unconscious in the grave for eons of time. Nor could I develop any enthusiasm for the prospect of being a disembodied spirit with no particular identity or personality. And the idea of playing a harp for all eternity was downright scandalous, for I had been taught that instrumental music in worship was an abomination! You can imagine, therefore, the sense of shock I felt when I started studying Bible prophecy and discovered that all these ideas of mine about life after death were foreign to God’s Word. But my shock quickly gave way to exhilaration when I discovered what the Lord really has in store for me.

The Biblical View

I learned from God’s Word that when those of us who are Christians die, our spirits never lose their consciousness (Philippians 1:21-23 and 2 Corinthians 5:8). Instead, our fully conscious spirits are immediately ushered into the presence of Jesus by His holy angels (Luke 16:22). Our spirits remain in the Lord’s presence until He appears for His Church. At that time, He brings our spirits with Him, resurrects our bodies, reunites our spirits with our bodies, and then glorifies our bodies, perfecting them and rendering them eternal (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). We return with Him to Heaven in our glorified bodies where we are judged for our works to determine our degrees of rewards (2 Corinthians 5:10). When this judgment is completed, we participate in a glorious wedding feast to celebrate the union of Jesus and His Bride, the Church (Revelation 19:7-9).

Witnesses of Glory

At the conclusion of the feast, we burst from the heavens with Jesus, returning with Him to the earth in glory (Revelation 19:14). We witness His victory at Armageddon, we shout “Hallelujah!” as He is crowned King of kings and Lord of lords, and we revel in His glory as He begins to reign over all the earth from Mt. Zion in Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:1-9 and Revelation 19: 17-21). For a thousand years we participate in that reign, assisting Him with the instruction, administration, and enpage 4 Bible Prophecy Insights January 2009 forcement of His perfect laws (Daniel 7:13-14, 18, 27 and Revelation 20:1-6). We see the earth regenerated and nature reconciled (Isaiah 11:6-9). We see holiness abound and the earth flooded with peace, righteousness and justice (Micah 4:1-7). At the end of the Millennium we witness the release of Satan to deceive the nations. We see the truly despicable nature of the heart of Man as millions rally to Satan in his attempt to overthrow the throne of Jesus. But we will shout “Hallelujah!” again when we witness God’s supernatural destruction of Satan’s armies and see Satan himself cast into Hell where he will be tormented forever (Revelation 20:7-10). We will next witness the Great White Throne Judgment when the unrighteous are resurrected to stand before God. We will see perfect holiness and justice in action as God pronounces His terrible judgment upon this congregation of the damned who have rejected His gift of love and mercy in Jesus Christ (Revelation 20:11- 13). Jesus will be fully vindicated as every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. Then the unrighteous will receive their just reward as they are cast into Hell (Revelation 20:14-15).

Witnesses of a New Creation

We will then witness the most spectacular fireworks display in all of history. We will be taken to the New Jerusalem, the eternal mansion prepared by Jesus for His Bride, and from there we will watch as God renovates this earth with fire, burning away all the filth and pollution left by Satan’s last battle (2 Peter 3:12-13). Just as the angels rejoiced when God created the universe, we will rejoice as we watch God superheat this earth and reshape it like a hot ball of wax into the New Earth, the eternal earth, the paradise where we will live forever in the presence of God (Revelation 21: 1-7). What a glorious moment it will be when we are lowered to the New Earth inside the fabulous New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2). God will come down from Heaven to dwell with us (Revelation 21:3). He will proclaim: “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5). We will see God face to face (Revelation 22:4). He will wipe away all our tears (Revelation 21:4). Death will be no more (Revelation 21:4). We will be given new names (Revelation 2:17), and we will exist as individual personalities encased in perfect bodies (Philippians 3:21). And we will grow eternally in knowledge and love of our infinite Creator, honoring Him with our talents and gifts. Now, I can get excited about that! January 2009 Bible Prophecy Insights page 5

The Word vs. Tradition

Isn’t it amazing how far we can drift away from the Word of God when we stop reading His Word and start mouthing the traditions of men? As I kept making one discovery after another in God’s Prophetic Word that ran contrary to what I had been taught, I began to wonder about the origin of the doctrines I had learned. It didn’t take me long to discover that the source was Greek philosophy. The first attempt to mix the concepts of Greek philosophy with the teachings of God’s Word came very early in the history of the Church. The attempt was called Gnosticism. The Gnostic heresy arose among the first Gentile converts because they tried to Hellenize the Scriptures; that is, they tried to make the Scriptures conform to the basic tenets of Greek philosophy. The Greeks believed that the material universe, including the human body, was evil. This negative view of the creation was diametrically opposed to Hebrew thought, as revealed in the Bible. To the Hebrew mind, the world was created good (Genesis 1:31). And even though the goodness of the creation was corrupted by the sin of Man (Isaiah 24:5-6), the creation still reflects to some degree the glory of God (Psalm 19:1). Most important, the creation will someday be redeemed by God (Romans 8:18-23).

 The Gnostic Heresy When the first Gentiles were converted to the Gospel, their Greek mind-set immediately collided with some of the fundamental teachings of Christianity. For example, they wondered, “How could Jesus have come in the flesh if He was God? God is holy. How can He who is holy be encased in a body which is evil?” In short, because they viewed the material universe as evil, they could not accept the Bible’s teaching that God became incarnate in the flesh. Their response was to develop the Gnostic heresy that Jesus was a spirit being or phantom who never took on the flesh and therefore never experienced physical death. This heresy is denounced strongly in Scripture. In 1 John 4:1-2 we are told to test those who seek our spiritual fellowship by asking them to confess “that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.”

The Augustinian Corruption

About 400 A.D. a remarkable theologian by the name of St. Augustine attempted to Hellenize what the Scriptures taught about end time events and life after death. Augustine was very successful in his attempt. His views were adopted by the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D. and have remained Catholic dogma to this day. The influence of Greek philosophy would not allow Augustine to accept what the Bible taught about life after death. For example, the Bible says the saints will spend eternity in glorified bodies on a New Earth (Revelation 21:1-7). Such a concept was anathema to the Greek mind of Augustine. If the material world is evil, then he reasoned that the material world must cease to exist when the Lord returns. Augustine solved the problem by spiritualizing what the Bible said. He did this by arguing that the “new earth” of Revelation 21 is just symbolic language for Heaven. Augustine’s views are held by most professing Christians today, both Catholic and Protestant. That means that most of Christianity today teaches Greek philosophy rather than the Word of God when it comes to the realm of end time prophecy and life after death. page 6 Bible Prophecy Insights January 2009

The Intermediate State

Some of the greatest confusion about life after death relates to the intermediate state between death and eternity. Some people advocate a concept called “soul sleep.” They argue that both the saved and unsaved are unconscious after death until the return of Jesus. But the Bible makes it crystal clear that our spirit does not lose its consciousness at death. The only thing that “falls asleep” is our body — in a symbolic sense. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:8 that he would prefer to be “absent from the body and at home with the Lord.” In Philippians 1:21 he observes, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” He then adds in verse 23 that his desire is “to depart and be with Christ.” Paul certainly did not expect to be in a coma after he died! If then our spirits retain their consciousness after death, where do they go? The Bible teaches that prior to the resurrection of Jesus, the spirits of the dead went to a place called Hades (“Sheol” in the Old Testament). The spirits existed there consciously in one of two compartments, either Paradise or Torments. This concept is pictured graphically in Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). The Bible indicates that after the death of Jesus on the Cross, He descended into Hades to declare the good news that He had shed His blood for the sins of Mankind (1 Peter 3:18-19 and 4:6). The Bible also indicates that after His resurrection, when He ascended into Heaven, Jesus took Paradise with Him, transferring the spirits of dead saints from Hades to Heaven (Ephesians 4:8-9 and 2 Corinthians 12:1-4). The spirits of dead saints are thereafter pictured as being in Heaven before the throne of God (See Revelation 6:9 and 7:9). The spirits of the righteous dead could not go directly to Heaven before the Cross because their sins were not forgiven. Instead, their sins were merely covered by their faith. The forgiveness of their sins had to await the shedding of the blood of the Messiah (Leviticus 17:11; Romans 5:8-9, and Hebrews 9:22).

Events at Death

So, what happens when you die? If you are a child of God, your spirit is immediately ushered into the bosom of Jesus by His holy angels. Your spirit remains in Heaven, in the presence of God, until the time of the Rapture. When Jesus comes for His Church, He brings your spirit with Him, resurrects and glorifies your body, making it eternal in nature (1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4). You reign with Jesus for a thousand years and then live eternally with Him on the new earth (Revelation 20-22). If you are not a child of God, then your spirit goes to Hades at your death. This is a place of torments where your spirit is held until the resurrection of the unrighteous which takes place at the end of the millennial reign of Jesus. At that resurrection you are taken before the Great White Throne of God where you are judged by your works and then condemned to the “second death,” which is the “lake of fire” or Hell (Revelation 20:11-15).

Preparing for Eternity

One thing is certain: “Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that ‘Jesus is Lord!’” (Isaiah 45:23 and Romans 14:11). Your eternal destiny will be determined by when you make this confession. If it is made before you die, then you will spend eternity with God. If not, then you will make the confession at the Great White Throne judgment before you are cast into Hell. To spend eternity with God, your confession of Jesus as Lord must be made now. “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” — Romans 10:9 ] January 2009 Bible Prophecy Insights page 7

“Live Forever!”

Dennis Pollock

When the Science Fiction author Ray Bradbury was 13 years old, a carnival came to his town. As he walked past the various rides and booths, a man dressed in a strange costume approached him. This man was known as “Mr. Electrico” and he carried a battery-operated wand which gave off a faint charge of electric current. Touching young Bradbury’s forehead with his wand, he solemnly commanded, “Live Forever!” Not long afterwards the young teen was in his family’s car as they made their way to the graveyard to bury his uncle. The boy surprised everyone when he jumped from the car and raced away. He made his way back to the carnival as fast as he could, desperate to find Mr. Electrico. Bradbury noted, “I realized later I was running from death back to life.” Death is the cold reality that the world has no answers for. It is not for lack of trying. Every philosophy and religion has something to say on the subject. Even atheists take a stab at it. One author, writing in the Humanist Magazine defined death thus: “Death is . . . universal, intrinsic to human experience, and inevitable . . . death is a natural event.” Of course this is a fancy way of saying that we all die, which is not exactly earthshattering news! (Or as my kids would say, “Well, Duh!”)

The Secular Perspective

Those who hold a secular view of life tell us that death is exactly what it seems to be. When you die, you cease to exist. In other words, you are not in your body; you are your body. The famous humanitarian, Albert Schweitzer, once said that he could not “conceive of an individual that survives his physical death. Let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egotism, cherish such thoughts.” This does not exactly put a sunny face on the nature of human experience. If we are all headed for extinction, if the grave and non-existence are all we can hope for, life becomes nothing more than a cruel joke. Meaning and purpose are stripped from us. Some of the more hardy (and honest) atheists admit this. Robert Ingersoll, the brilliant atheist and evolutionist of the 1800’s lost his brother to death suddenly. He had loved his brother dearly and was determined to show respect by a proper funeral. But how does an atheist have a funeral? In his funeral “sermon” Ingersoll stated, “Every life, no matter if its every hour is rich with love and every moment jeweled with joy, will, at its close, become a tragedy, as sad and deep, and dark as can be woven of the warp and woof of mystery and death. . . Life is a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities. We strive in vain to look beyond the heights. We cry aloud, and the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry.” Not exactly Rebecca of Sunnybrook farm kind of stuff! Former Prime Minister of France, Francois Mitterand, was another brilliant atheist, who wrestled with the issue of death. It became a very personal struggle when he developed cancer and realized that he was, himself, dying. During his last year he poured himself into trying to find a satisfactory answer to the mystery of death. He was said to have known the final resting places of many of France’s greatest figures and made frequent visits to their tombs. He constantly read books and articles on death and questioned the so-called experts on the subject. (One wonders how you get to be an authority on death without actually dying!) A few days before he succumbed to prostate cancer, he felt he had an answer that satisfied him. He told a close friend, “Now I have my philosophy.” With his philosophy in place, he stopped taking his cancer medication, delivered hand written instructions for his funeral to his doctor, and completed the finishing touches on his 800 page memoirs. With his newfound philosophy in hand, he marched bravely toward the valley of the shadow of death, not realizing that it was not a philosophy he needed, but a Savior.

Ray Bradbury

Robert Ingersoll

Francois Mitterand

 page 8 Bible Prophecy Insights January 2009

Raymond Burr is another example of a secular approach to death. As the Perry Mason star began a real life struggle with cancer, he liked to quote Dylan Thomas’ famous line: “Do not go gently into that good night.” He fought hard to survive. At one point in his struggle he sat up in bed for 30 hours, afraid that if he lay down he would die. But that was one case that even Perry Mason was not going to win. At last, exhaustion overcame him, and he lay down in his bed. Within 48 hours he was dead. While he was fighting so tenaciously to live, someone asked him what he had learned from his struggle. He replied that he had learned that “death is ugly and messy and not one whit romantic.” Alfred Hitchcock was known as the master of suspense to a previous generation. This talented director and producer made movies that were extremely intense, and nearly all revolved around a murder or a potential murder. His shower murder in Psycho was so vivid (without even showing the murder weapon) that it motivated more than a few folks to stop taking showers. Despite Hitchcock’s preoccupation with death and murder, when it came his own time to die, he had no inner resources to face it. The movie master of suspense, horror, and murder had tears streaming down his face when, on his deathbed, he told actress Ingrid Bergman of his terror before the grim reaper. He who had done it so well on the silver screen was pitifully unprepared for the real thing.

The Secular Dilemma

It has always been thus. Atheists, skeptics, and worldlings often talk proudly about life and death in their youth, but as they get closer and closer to the big event, much of their bravado evaporates. Al Brumley, a writer for the Dallas Morning News, put it this way: If we’re honest with ourselves . . . we might admit that what’s really bothering us is that troubling little voice we pretend not to hear whenever someone we admired has died. It’s the voice whispering ever so softly that nothing — no amount of talent, no measure of grace, no list of accomplishments — can separate us from our own mortality. And the only way to quiet that voice is to forget . . . This “troubling little voice” is mentioned in the Scriptures. In Hebrews 2:15 there is a statement that most people live their lives in lifelong bondage to the fear of death. Most people without Christ are not in daily terror of death. It is not so much a constant conscious dread that puts them in bondage. It is more likely a subtle nagging thought that lies half-hidden in their subconscious. It is the thought that no matter how nice things are now, no matter how beautiful and wonderful your life is at present, it will eventually collapse, and you will die.

The New Age Answer

If the secular world’s view of death is pessimistic, the New Age perspective is incredibly optimistic. The secularist says you die, you rot, you cease to exist. The New Age folks tell us that death is merely a transition — one of many that the soul makes as it wends its way toward godhood. George Lucas, famed creator of the Star Wars movies, is a passionate New-Ager, as is easily apparent in his movies. Take, for example, the famous statement from his first Star Wars film: “The Force is with you, Luke, close your eyes and depend on the Force.” Try doing that in rush hour traffic on a major freeway and see how useful the Force is! Lucas gave his personal view of death to a reporter for Time magazine, opining: When you are born, you have an energy field around you . . . When you die, your energy field joins all other energy fields in the universe. While you’re living that larger energy field is sympathetic to your own energy field. According to Lucas, death is not the cessation of existence; it is a joining up with all the others and becoming part of the God force.

Alfred Hitchcock

George Lucas — New Age Film Producer

January 2009 Bible Prophecy Insights page 9

Betty Eadie’s book, Embraced by the Light, was a mega best-seller in the nineties. It is loaded with New Age gobbledygook. Like every good New-Ager, Betty believes that even the most wicked of people will eventually find their way, even if it takes many lifetimes and many experiences. She states: Some who die as atheists . . . find it difficult to move on and they become earthbound. They lack the faith and power to reach for . . . the energy and light that pulls us toward God. These spirits stay on the earth until they learn to accept the greater power around them and let go of the world. They reside there as long as they want to in its love and warmth, accepting its healing influence, but eventually they learn to move on to accept the greater warmth and security of God. Warmth and love and energy — quite a contrast with the secular view of cold and stiff and worms! Where both views miss it is that they base their ideas upon opinion. How can people who have not died come up with definite conclusions about death? We have seen this side, but we have not seen the other side. We can muse, we can speculate, we can opine, but we cannot make definitive judgments. That is, we cannot apart from divine revelation. What would be nice is if we had a true “expert” on matters of life and death. Francois Mitterand went around to quiz the experts on death, but of course there were no true death experts. None of them had been on the other side. The best they could give him was a philosophy.

Close Encounter of the Divine Kind

There is an Expert who has come from the other side. His name is Jesus Christ, and He is the One who holds the keys of death and Hades. His view of death is neither the fatalism of the secularists nor the pretentious fantasies of the New-Agers. He spoke of two different types of deaths — the death of the sinner and the death of those who belonged to Him. For the sinner, He declared that he would enter “into the fire that shall never be quenched, where ‘their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched’” (Mark 9:43-44). He told us that our greatest fear should not be of death, but of the One who has the power over us after death: 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 (Matthew 10:28). He called this fearful place Hell, and described it as “outer darkness” and a place of torment, using the expression “gnashing of teeth” over and over again to emphasize its misery. He warned us that if it took us cutting off our hands, or plucking out our eyes to stay out of it, we should by all means do so. This is the eventual end of those who die apart from the grace of Jesus Christ. We have it on the testimony of an expert witness. The death of the believer is altogether different, according to Jesus. He tells us that: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life” (John 3:36). “In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7). (To the thief on the cross) “Today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). In His revelation to John, Jesus grants him a view of the glories of this Paradise that is prepared for those who trust in Him (Revelation 21-22). It is a place where there are no tears, no sorrow, and no death. We shall live with our God in joyful bliss forever. Sound too good to be true? Believe it. We have it on very good opinion. ] Dennis Pollock was an evangelist with Lamb & Lion Ministries for 12 years before he formed his own ministry called Spirit of Grace. His ministry focuses on Africa and India where he conducts evangelistic crusades and trains native ministers. His website can be found at www.sogmin.org.

page 10 Bible Prophecy Insights January 2009

Thoughts Concerning Death

Revelation 14:13 — “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.” (NASB) Psalm 116:15 — “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones.” (NASB) Psalm 23:4 — “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff comfort me.” (NASB) 2 Corinthians 5:1 — “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” (NIV) Philippians 1:21 — “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (NASB — The Apostle Paul speaking.) Dwight L. Moody — “Folks, someday you will hear the news that Dwight L. Moody is dead. Don’t you believe it. I shall be more alive than I ever was!”

C. S. Lewis — “It is hard to have patience with people who say, ‘There is no death’ or ‘Death doesn’t matter.’ There is death. And whatever is matters. And whatever happens has consequences, and it and they are irrevocable and irreversible.”

A Grief Observed (1961)

1 Corinthians 15:51-57 — “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, ‘DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY. O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” (NASB — The scripture passage quoted within the passage above is Hosea 13:14.)

John Wesley — One of the proudest accomplishments of my ministry is that my people die well. Do you know why they die well? Because they are prepared to die.” Woody Allen — “I’m not afraid of death. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” Winston Churchill — I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether He is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.

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