TNG Heaven, Hell, and the Afterlife

A very famous verse is Ecclesiastes 3.11. This is God has made everything beautiful.

Some translations say appropriate in his time. He has set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. Eternity in our hearts. Think about that as we welcome you to today's edition of TNG Radio.

Alex McFarland here with Dylan Burrows. Dylan, it's good to be with you and good to talk about what the Bible has to say regarding eternity. Yes, and it's so common for people today to think about the here and now and what's going on in the moment, but the reality is we're all headed toward the next life, not just this life. And what we do in this life determines our eternity, and we want to talk about that today as we discuss heaven, hell, and the afterlife. And Ecclesiastes 3.11 is a good introduction to that. So what do we want listeners to take away from today as we talk about these issues of eternity, Alex? Well, the main thing that I think we want listeners to take away is to recognize that thinking on eternity is a universal human phenomenon.

I mean, people everywhere think about this. We've quoted Immanuel Kant, the philosopher, who said that two things fill the mind with ever-increasing awe and wonder. The story skies above me and the moral law within me.

And Dostoevsky, the writer, he thought about the basic questions of a Christian world view, even though at the time he probably wouldn't have been able to articulate it. But he asked these questions, you know, why am I here? What is the purpose of my existence? And what happens after I die? And so when Ecclesiastes 3.11 says that God has put eternity in our heart, it is a universal human phenomenon to think about eternity.

Dylan, I've debated atheists that would in front of an audience on a stage doggedly maintain that there is no such thing as God. And then back in the green room alone talk about their fear of death and their questions about what happens when we leave this world. Let me comment a little bit on Ecclesiastes 3.11 and then we'll come to another verse. Some translations render this, God has set eternity in our heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from beginning to the end.

That wording there, yet so that man will not find out. Really the more accurate rendering of the Hebrew is without which man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning. The bottom line is this, you're never really going to understand life, purpose, meaning, healing from wounds and being ready for the next world. You're never going to have that inner peace and those answers if you don't allow God into the equation. I think one of the reasons that people that are militant secularists can become angry is because you can't really do life, you can't get it, you can't really understand life without letting God into the equation.

Would you agree? Well certainly and it's interesting to me that even though everybody in every culture has some kind of view of the afterlife that there are many different aspects into how people determine what they believe about the next world. You have views of reincarnation for example and on the skeptical side you have those who say there is nothing after this life, you go into the ground and that is all. The question becomes where do we get accurate information about the afterlife?

Are these studies of near-death experiences, are these adequate or is there something else we need to look to? Now as believers the one place we look to as our source of truth is the Bible and that's what we want to look at today is what the Bible itself tells us about heaven and hell and the afterlife. And to be honest even many people who are Christians are not very clear about what the scriptures say on this. Well exactly, the question when people tell me, well you know I've always thought this or the way I see it dot dot dot and the question for all of us is what is your authority?

What is your authority? Now when we talk about the Bible says this or that some people might object and they'll say well I don't recognize the Bible, I don't believe in the Bible and we've talked a number of times about the Bible has an impeccable pedigree. Compelling lines of evidence point to the reality, the trustworthiness, the divine origin of the Bible. When we speak to matters of eternity we've got the clear content of the Bible, we've got the clear promises and warnings from Jesus who also has an amazing resume, virgin born, sinless life rose from the dead. So God has shown us answers to these questions about origin, purpose, destiny, eternity in our heart and we need to rise above just mere opinion, speculation, conventional wisdom.

We need the reality, the rock solid truth of God's revelation and that's what we have. Now let me just say this and we want to move on but there's so much rich meaning in that Ecclesiastes 3.11 where it says God has set eternity in our heart and the wording there really means perpetuity or timelessness. In other words think about it one of the greatest human forces is the will to live. Most rational people don't want to die and Dylan in fact I've had atheists who've said to me that they wished they could live forever and there is this drive, this spark that God has put in our heart and our soul and our psyche, the desire to live.

Yes God has made us for eternity. I had a professor at Liberty, I've mentioned him before John Morrison who has a PhD from the University of Virginia, brilliant scholar, thinker and John Morrison was giving a lecture about how all cultures have this aversion to death and we try to have a legacy and immortalize ourselves whether it's through art or reputation. I've seen this as a pastor, men especially that are in the hospital bed about to leave this world they want to know what mark they've made and if they've left a legacy and John Morrison at Liberty University said there's a reason that we recoil from death. The body and the soul he said is a separation that somehow intuitively we know was never meant to occur.

Now speak to that for a moment. Death was not part of God's plan was it Dylan? No originally we see that death became a consequence of the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were there and part of their judgment was that they would experience death and that was not only physical death but also a spiritual separation and so when the New Testament comes about we see these comparisons between the first Adam and the last Adam Jesus Christ and how he came to give us eternal life and to give us a way to escape the effects of judgment that started back at that point. So when we look at what the Bible says about the afterlife we're given two clear categories we're given heaven and we're given hell and we want to speak about that when we come back because there are all kinds of alternative views as well. What about purgatory? What about soul sleep? What about the eternal state?

How do all these concepts fit in? And we'll talk about that more when we come back at truth for our new generation so stick with us we'll be right back. First Peter 3 15 tells us to be ready always to give an answer for the hope we have.

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Alex McFarland here with Dylan Burrows. We're talking about what the Bible says about heaven, hell, eternity, the afterlife. And know this folks, only God's Word reveals the truth, the truth about death and the afterlife.

Don't trust your eternity to wishful thinking or something you read on a horoscope. Only God's Word is the true story about death and the afterlife. And all cultures, Dylan, have thought about eternity and the burial customs of cultures throughout history. And many of the rituals related to death reflect what people have thought about or speculated.

And ultimately all cultures of people throughout history have recognized their own mortality and put together rituals to try to respond to that. But let's talk about what the Bible says. Because according to the Word of God, the afterlife is comprised of two places, heaven and hell. And yes folks, yes, the very same Bible that depicts the glories of heaven warns about the horrors of hell. Heaven though, Paul wrote about this, much was written by Paul about heaven in 1 Corinthians 2 verse 9. The Word of God says, quote, but as it is written, what no eye has seen and no ear has heard and what has never come into the heart of man is what God has prepared for those who love him. The mind struggles to really imagine the beauty and the glory and the joys that await those in heaven for all who have trusted Jesus.

Isn't that right? Yes, and there are several examples in the Bible that make it very clear that heaven and hell are the only two options. You often hear from other religious backgrounds that there is a different version such as a limbo or a purgatory where people can go or some different degree of the afterlife where you earn your way from one level to the next. But if you look in Scripture, some examples that I think are insightful, one is the Gospel of Luke where it talks about Lazarus and the poor man. And at the time of death, one goes to be at Abraham's side and the other is in torment. And there is no discussion of anything in between. There is no way one person could go from one side to the other.

It's simply two options and that is it. Another good example is the thief on the cross. We see Jesus on the cross and one of the people beside him eventually sees that their end is near and they want to do something different and says, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

And Jesus says, today you will be with me in paradise. So even though it was a last minute salvation in this man's case, there was nothing he had to do to earn it. There was nothing he could do to earn it. He could not be baptized.

He could not be trained in his faith. He simply believed and God respected his belief and gave him salvation. So these are just some of the examples we're given of the two options of heaven and hell. But we also want to be clear that there is heaven and there is a hell. It's become popular in our time to talk about hell as some state of mind or some temporary place that doesn't really exist, but the Bible talks a lot about hell as a real place and an eternal place of punishment, doesn't it, Alex?

Well, it really does. And not only does God's word talk about it, but it seems just innate that those who don't want to be in the presence of God shouldn't be forced to have to do that. And really, I think about it, for those that deny a final judgment or deny what the Bible and what Jesus himself clearly said about hell, think about it. How just would we believe God is if a Mother Teresa and an Adolf Hitler are in the same category? I mean, do we really believe eternity for a Billy Graham is going to be the same as an eternity for an Osama bin Laden?

Of course not. Now, it's not good work, so I want to be very clear. It's through Jesus' work that people are saved and made ready for eternity. But the Bible is very clear that, you know, I think in Matthew where it says these will go away into eternal punishment, those who rejected Christ, but the righteous into eternal life. And people are made righteous through believing in Jesus.

Let me say this. I know, Dylan, we're planning a trip to the Holy Land in the fall of 2019, and it's been my joy to go there before. And you see, if you're at the Garden of Gethsemane, you're facing the old city. To the left is this place called the Valley of Gehenna, and now it's slightly south of the Dung Gate where they took their trash out. But it was this burning garbage dump in the time of Jesus, and they called it the Valley of Gehenna. And Jesus compared that to hell, this terrible place that was always burning and smoking, and it was where the refuse was thrown away. And hell is compared to that, although it's much worse. And I don't think, Dylan, there's any physical thing in this world that can adequately depict the horrors of hell. I think about this.

I want to say this and then get your response. People talk about the punishment of hell. But here is one of the horrific realities of hell that we have never experienced yet, and that's to be cut off from the presence of God. And atheists often talk about hell in joking terms, but look, we have never experienced what it means like to be estranged from the very, very presence of God.

And friend, don't go there, because one minute in you can realize what a tragic choice it was, and there's no recourse or going back. So allow God into your life, and allow your own soul into his kingdom once you leave this world. Yes, I always say during difficult times, I don't know how someone who doesn't have God in their life makes it, because even with God in my life, there are times where I think that life is hard, all I had to lean on is God and his presence in my life. Well, unbelievers experience that in this life and in this world, but they will also experience that for eternity after this life. And to me, that would be the greatest punishment of all, to go not only all of this life without God in your life, and to be separated from his presence, but to go for all eternity, knowing that God had sent his son Jesus Christ to provide a way for you to have eternal life, that he had paid the price for your life, and that you have eternal life, that he had paid the price, and all you had to do was believe, and you missed out.

So the ultimate disgrace, I think, is that we will be for all eternity separated from the one who made us, and created us, and provided a way for us to have salvation. So I want people to understand, we're not talking about hell because we're out to be mean or out to get people, but at the same time, we want to tell the truth of what the Bible speaks on this topic, that there are only two options, and that those without Christ in their life will be without him for eternity, which makes the call to salvation all that much more important in our lives now, as well as our call to tell our friends and neighbors and other people in our lives about the Lord as well. So when we come back in a moment, we'll talk more about this in our final segment at Truth for a New Generation. Stick with us.

We'll be right back in a moment. If you're a Christian parent, you of course want to instill a biblical view of life in the hearts of your children. If you're a pastor, you want to offer ministry that draws young families to your church. This is Alex McFarland encouraging you to check out my new book and video curriculum, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity. Why do bad things happen? I interviewed hundreds of children, ages 5 to 12, and we address actual questions from actual children, the spiritual issues that are on the minds of your kids.

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That's AFASTORE.net. Over centuries, the Bible has inspired humanity and shaped the very world we live in. But how do we know this book is the Word of God and not merely the words of men? What we believe about the Bible is based on what we believe about its source. The God Who Speaks explores the evidence of the Bible's inspiration and authority through some of the world's most respected biblical scholars. We have essentially a dual authorship. So it's true to say that Paul wrote Romans. It's equally true to say that God wrote Romans.

He says, we saw this. And that sets the Bible apart from almost everything else in the ancient world and its religious pantheon of gods and goddesses. The God Who Speaks is a feature-length documentary from the American Family Association. Available now at TheGodWhoSpeaks.org. Second Thessalonians 1 verse 9, the Bible warns of those that reject Jesus, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might. Welcome back to the program.

Dylan Burrows and Alex McFarland here. We're going to continue our talk about eternity and what the Bible says about heaven and hell. But I do want to remind you to pray for this ministry. We are in some exciting days. I will tell you that we are on the road bringing the truth for a new generation of apologetics conferences to cities all around America. And we're seeing God touch a lot of lives.

God has been opening so many doors. And let me say, a lot of what skeptics and those that are unbelievers will say in objection to the gospel of Jesus Christ, we've answered in a lot of our books. And I do want to give two websites. One is the Truth for a New Generation website, truthforanewgeneration.com. We've got an app, a mobile device with a searchable database of topics that we've written on. Skeptics designed to help you in your Christian growth and your Christian walk.

And then my own website, which is alexmcfarland.com. There's an e-bookstore, Dylan, and we've got over a thousand things there. Books like 10 Answers for Skeptics, the 10 Most Common Objections to Christianity and How to Answer Them, the 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About God, and so many more. A brand new book, brand new, that I wrote with Dr. Tony Beam from North Greenville on life answers. It's a curriculum. People are always asking us about how to teach this in Sunday school or at church or in the home.

And so you can go to our websites, look at these resources. You can call us if you want to at 1-877-YES-GOD-1. And the point of this all is to see the church equipped to rise to the challenge of 1 Peter 3.15 and be ready to give an answer. So Dylan, back to the topic at hand. You know, I've often thought about Daniel 12 verse 2, speaking about the final judgment. It says in many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Interesting wording there. Dylan, I think one of the tragic things of hell, those that are separated from God, to know for eternity, I did this to myself. The shame and the everlasting contempt of Daniel 12 might be a reference to the knowledge that the people in hell are there of their own choice.

C.S. Lewis said this, God would move heaven and earth, and in fact Jesus came from heaven to earth. But here's what Lewis says, God will do everything to keep you out of hell, short of overriding your free will. He will offer heaven, but he won't force it, said Lewis.

That's a good way to put it. And referring back to the story of Lazarus, Luke 16, 22-23 says the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side, talking about heaven. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And the reason I mention that is that even though we may not know all the details of what happens in the afterlife, you can just imagine the rich man being torment and looking out and seeing what he's missing out on and wishing that he had made a different choice with his life. And for people who are listening today, maybe you've been that person who has been living life for yourself. You've been thinking, I'll put it off until another time to get right with God. But we do not know when our time will come.

And that's a very risky chance to take to say that I'll wait until some other time. We need to be living for God starting today and every day to pursue Him, not only for eternal life, but to have the best life we can in living for Him moment by moment, day by day, so that we can make an impact in the lives of those around us. You know, I want to throw this out while we're talking about these very serious issues of life and death and salvation and coming to Jesus. You know, I don't want to be macabre and morose, but I will tell you this.

My wife, being a nurse, I've been around a lot of medical people for a long time, and I've been around people that are in hospitals. And there was a man that died in a hospital bed, and in his final moments was screaming and crying, and he said, don't you see my feet? My feet is in that fire.

Pull me out. And he was grabbing the headboard of the bed as if he was trying to lift himself out of the fire. And they knew I was going to go to seminary, and so some of the nurses were asking me questions about this. You know, Gary Habermas, the great scholar, talks about near-death experiences and those that have seen visions of heaven. Well, it's not often talked about, and frankly it's not comfortable to think about, but it's reality. There are near-death experiences of those that are not facing salvation but going into death unprepared. Folks, the reason that we're taking time to talk about this is because this is real, and God cares about your soul. And the Bible talks about Jesus Christ, who has spoiled the grave. In other words, Jesus, it says in the New Testament that he, by the blood of his cross, has abolished death.

I love that verse. And so yes, there's punishment for sin, but you don't have to experience it. Yes, there is a warning of hell, but you don't have to go there. And the Bible says that whoever calls on the name of the Lord for salvation, you can be saved. That's Romans 10.13.

So let's talk about this, Dylan, in just the brief amount of time we have left. God offers salvation, forgiveness, and for those who have found Christ, then we've got a mission in life to tell others who need Christ, don't we? We do, and I want to encourage people who are believers, especially right now, that so many times we get caught up in the same busyness of this world that everyone else does.

But the truth is that people are going one place or the other. They're either going to heaven or they're going to hell, and we have a role to play in calling people into the light to be those who share the truth of Jesus with others so that they can enjoy the salvation that we have and be with us for all eternity. My own father had passed away at the age of 49 years old after fighting cancer for some time. I was 24 at the time, and he knew the Lord, and the last time I saw him before he passed away, he very clearly told me he was ready to meet God. And by that, he meant that he had made a choice at one point in his life to receive salvation through Jesus Christ. If you're not sure that you've done that, I encourage you to pray to call out to Jesus, even now as we speak, to say, Jesus, be the Lord of my life. Be my Savior. Forgive me of my sins.

Take me to heaven with you for eternity when I die in this life. We hope you've been encouraged through these words, and if you are a believer or if you just made that decision today, we want to encourage you to keep living out that faith, and if we can help you in any way, find us at truthfornewgeneration.com and let us know more. We'll talk with you next time.

Thanks for being with us. Truth for a New Generation, in association with Alex McFarland Evangelistic Ministries, exists to equip Christians with a biblical world view through conferences and camps. For information about upcoming events, visit truthforanewgeneration.com or give us a call at 877-YES-GOD-1. That's 877-YES-GOD and the number 1.

TNG radio is made possible by the friends of Alex McFarland Evangelistic Ministries. P. O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. That's P. O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. Or give online at alexmcfarland.com or truthforanewgeneration.com. Thanks for listening and join us again next time as we bring you more truth for a new generation on TNG radio.