View from Death's Door - Part 2 - Part A

What is the gospel?

At its core, it's this. Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose again from the dead. He died securing our salvation, buying our redemption, and then he rose again from the dead. So, this is how we know we're going to conquer death.

Because the one who said he would do it, did it. He predicted his death and he predicted his resurrection, then he died, then he rose. So when he makes a promise to us that we're going to conquer death, it means something.

It carries weight to it. Statistics are often very helpful for putting things into perspective. Did you know that out of the people who are born, 100 percent of them will die? That's right, the mortality rate of humanity is one death for every one person who is ever born. Now, I know that may seem like a rather morbid thought to dwell on, but if we're all going to die, wouldn't it be worthwhile to figure out what happens next? Well, today here on Connect with Skip Weekend Edition, Skip Heitzig reminds us that we can have confidence as we face our own mortality, because we can know what's coming in the afterlife. Learn more as we continue this teaching series from the edge of eternity.

But first, an update from the Connect with Skip Resource Center. Does God exist? And if He does, is it possible to know Him? Your answer to those two questions shapes how you see the world.

Skip Heitzig once wrestled with those very questions himself. You know, I've been teaching the Bible for over three decades. Before I became a Christian and when I was new to the faith, I studied science and philosophy alongside the Bible. As I studied, I grew confident that God does exist and yes, we can know Him. In Biography of God, the brand new book by Skip Heitzig, you'll learn to remove the limits you may have placed on your idea of who God is. Everything changes when you acknowledge and believe that God is who He says He is. Biography of God is our way to thank you when you give $35 or more today to help expand this Bible teaching outreach to more people.

Request your copy when you give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. And if you have a Bible or a mobile device to follow along with today, you'll want to turn it to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 as we begin. Here's Skip Heitzig. Last week I told you about the Greek god Thanatos that was part of the discussion in the ignorance of the early church. Thanatos was believed to be the god of death and yet though people hated him, they looked for all sorts of ways to cheat death, to escape death. And so there was a legend of a man who was walking through his city and he came face to face with death. And as they passed each other, the creature death looked at the man with a very surprised look but they passed each other without saying a word. Well, the young man who saw death went to his older wiser friend and said, what does this mean? And the older wiser friend said, I think death will call on you and take you away tomorrow. The young man freaked out and said, what do I got to do? He said, what you need to do is leave town.

You need to get on your horse and ride as far away from here as you can. So the young man got on his horse and he rode all evening, all through the night to the next morning to a very distant town. He got off his horse in that distant town and he sighed with relief thinking I have eluded death. Just then he felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned around and it was death who said, excuse me, but I've come for you today.

And the young man looked very surprised and he said, but I thought I saw you yesterday in my own town. And death said, exactly, that's why I looked at you so surprised for I was told to meet you here today in this city. You know, it is interesting that as Christians we talk a lot about living, Christian living, how to live the Christian life, which is so important. We rarely talk about Christian dying, though it will be the fate of us all should the Lord tarry. And Paul found it necessary to do exactly that, to dispel the ignorance that was prevalent even in the early church. For in verse 13, Paul says, I do not want you to be ignorant brethren concerning those who have fallen asleep.

We talked last week about all of the superstitious thought that the Greeks and the Romans had that would influence the Thessalonian believers. So how do we as New Testament believers know with assurance what's going to happen? Well, that's where Paul comes in verse 15 and says, this we say to you by the word of the Lord. The only way we could ever pierce beyond the veil of death and know what's going to happen and have assurance is not by human superstition or imagination but by divine revelation. So the word of the Lord applied to this area should give us assurance.

It's certainly a topic we must deal with. For you know what the Bible says in Hebrews 9, it is appointed to every man to die once and after this the judgment. Every single day, 365,340 people are born on the earth. But every single day, 147,276 people die. That means every second two people die. Every hour, 6,136 people die.

Governments around the world are discovering that with this high birth and now death rate we have a problem. Where do we put them all? Where do we bury them all? They're running out of space to bury people. Down in Brazil, one architect just came up with a cemetery that's actually a high rise building, 130, 140 some story building that is capable of housing 147,000 corpses.

That's the new cemetery, the high rise. The real problem however isn't where to put people when they die. Really the problem according to the Bible is where they go after they die. So we turn once again to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, a paragraph we began last week. You should know that this is a section of the Bible that I at least refer to in just about every funeral service because of the great comfort. Notice again, I do not want you to be ignorant brethren concerning those who have fallen asleep lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. Now when I do a funeral and I stare out at an audience, a sea of faces, there's an interesting couple of reactions that I see in that crowd.

Sometimes I'll share this section of scriptures and others and you'll see people nodding, some even smiling. The truth connects with them, it means something, they're filled with hope, they're filled with comfort though great sorrow is theirs. But there are other faces in that same crowd, blank, hopeless, in total and utter despair.

These truths do not connect. Well we want to connect with them because in this section of scripture there are four truths that bring confidence and assurance regarding death. I think it was Woody Allen who said, I'm not afraid to die I just don't want to be there when it happens. The truth is you'll be very there when it happens, you'll be way there when it happens.

More than that you'll be there after it happens and that's why people are skittish and not everyone finds assurance. So let's look at once again death for the believer and the assurance we have at death. First of all the assurance that a Christian has at death is based upon redemption. Look at verse 14, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again.

Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus Christ died and rose again? Because everything else is attached to that belief. Even so, he continues, God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. Now in that verse Paul gives the irreducible core of the gospel.

What is the gospel? At its core it's this, Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose again from the dead. He died securing our salvation, buying our redemption, and then he rose again from the dead. So this is how we know we're going to conquer death.

Because the one who said he would do it, did it. He predicted his death and he predicted his resurrection, then he died, then he rose. So when he makes a promise to us that we're going to conquer death, it means something.

It carries weight to it. You know if a guy says don't worry I'm gonna die and rise again from the dead so that you all will have life but just died and didn't get up again, it doesn't mean much. It's based upon our redemption. That's why when Jesus said to Martha in John chapter 11, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me though he may die yet shall he live.

Now that promise means something because of what he did. Listen to this verse, it's 1st Corinthians 15, a text that we'll look at more in-depth in future studies. Paul writes, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of all those who have fallen asleep in him. In other words, his resurrection is the proof and the pledge of our resurrection.

It's going to happen because it already happened with him. In the year 1506, Christopher Columbus died and he died in a town in Spain called Valladolid, Spain. That's where there's still a monument to Christopher Columbus to this day. On the monument is something interesting, I want to describe it to you.

There's a carved lion tearing away at a word in Latin that once formed the motto for the country of Spain. You see, before Christopher Columbus in 1492 sailed the ocean blue, the Spaniards believed they reached the end of the world. They had seen the outer limits of the earth.

They discovered all that was discoverable. So their motto in Latin was ne plus ultra, which means no more beyond. There's nothing beyond this. Then Christopher Columbus went and came back and discovered, guess what, there's way more beyond this.

And so there's the lion tearing out the word ne from the motto or no. So the motto then read plus ultra, there is more beyond. And we know it's true because here we are in America.

There's more beyond Spain. One day we'll be in heaven looking at each other going, yeah, remember that sermon? That's right, here we are.

There's way more beyond that. No wonder Walter Scott said, is death the last sleep? Oh no, it is the final awakening. So this gives us great assurance. It's based upon redemption.

Jesus died and rose from the dead. So we have assurance. The second thing that gives us assurance is that death will be marked by relation. We have a relationship right now. If you're a believer, you have a relationship with God through his son.

The relationship you have now will go on. In fact, it will get better after death. Go back to verse 14 and notice that little phrase, sleep in Jesus. That's Christian death, somebody who is asleep in Christ, in Jesus. And then verse 16, the dead in Christ.

Now those are words that define relationship. You're asleep in Jesus, you've died in Christ. And then verse 17, so we will always be with the Lord. Then go back again to verse 14. Notice God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. That happens at his coming for the church, the rapture.

Well, obviously they have to first go to him before they can be with him when he comes at this day. Now death brings separation. That's why we weep when somebody dies. There's a separation. First of all, there's a separation from the body. When a person dies, their soul is immediately taken into God's presence.

There's consciousness, there's awareness, but their body is here. Their spirit or soul goes to be with the Lord. There's separation of the spirit from the body. There's also separation from loved ones, friends, parents, et cetera, et cetera. But there will never be, ever be at death for a believer separation from the relationship that person has with God.

In fact, that's when it gets deeper, more intimate, much better. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord as the spirit is in God's presence. I was going through a familiar passage this week, John chapter 14, and it struck me how Jesus talked about heaven. You know the passage. He said, let not your hearts be troubled.

Don't be afraid. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house, there are many mansions.

If it were not so, I would have told you. I'm going to prepare a place for you. You know, he didn't refer to it as heaven. He didn't say, in heaven, there are many mansions.

He spoke of it in relational terms. My father's house. I like that.

That's very descriptive to me. In my father's house. See, the greatest thing about heaven isn't, well, where is heaven exactly? Or, well, you tell me, what will we be doing in heaven? Will I get to play football in heaven or watch football or bring my iPod or whatever? Will there be pets in heaven? The greatest aspect of heaven isn't where or what, but whom. And the greatest whom is your father.

It's my father's house. Dwight L. Moody said, it's not the jeweled walls and the pearly gates that are going to make heaven so attractive. It's being with God. You see, folks, that's where the relation with God gets really intimate. Now, we have a relationship with God today. We call it a personal relationship.

That's sort of a favorite evangelical watchword. Do you have a personal relationship with God? And we understand what that means, but honestly, how personal can you be with someone you never see? The real personal relationship aspect of it will come in eternity. We only experience a level of intimacy.

And there have been times where it's greater than others. You've had worship services you've gone to where it's like, oh man, I felt God's presence so amazing tonight or this morning. Or maybe you have a devotional time and it's like, you connect. It's so close you feel.

Jesus did say, wherever two or three are gathered, I'm in the midst of them. And he also promised, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. But real, total intimacy will never be reached. Full satisfaction will never be enjoyed until then.

That's when the relationship really gets close. The psalmist, Psalm 17 verse 15, said, I will be fully satisfied for I will see you face to face. I have a friend who's a doctor who actually wrote on a piece of paper, he handed it to me, something he read in a graveyard. He was walking by a tombstone, had the fella's name on it. And then Psalm 17, 16, and then one big word underneath in quotes, satisfied.

There's a man who's now satisfied. Well, when this happens, when death happens for the Christians, there will never again be any distractions that you have to push out of your mind. You know how it is? You're sitting down with the Bible, you're sitting down to pray, okay, this is God's time. And then the phone rings or forget the phone, your thoughts go in a million directions. You got to pull them back and concentrate. Or it's second service Sunday morning and it's like, I can't concentrate on what this guy is saying.

He's way out there. You got to discipline yourself to pull you. You'll never again be distracted.

Never again will anything tempt you. Never will anything ever compete for time with God. Never again will you have to close your eyes and concentrate to pray or depend on a certain mood of the worship music. You'll be in his presence face to face.

Now I want to talk about something in brief that I'll develop in the next several weeks. At the moment of death, at the moment of death, which by the way, the best Bible description that I read about death is James chapter 2 verse 26. It says this, for as the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead.

Think about that first part. That defines death. The body without the Spirit is dead. Now when that happens, when a Christian dies today, their body remains, their spirit is gone from the body and goes to be in the presence of God.

What is that state like? Theologians give that a term. They call this the intermediate state. This is before the resurrected body. Before you get resurrected, you're in heaven, your spirit's in heaven. Well, what's that like? Theologians call it.

Funny, theologians are funny people. It's like what's the most unattractive term? The intermediate state. Where are you going to go when you die? I'm going to go to the intermediate state. Are you punished or something? So what is that like? Well, here's where it gets cloudy.

Now follow me. There's not a whole lot definitive in the Bible about this intermediate state where the Spirit leaves the body and goes to be with the Lord. Even Wilbur Smith wrote, however abundant the scriptural data is on the resurrection and life in heaven, the state of the soul between death and resurrection is rarely referred to.

So I'm going to shoot out a couple possibilities just to trigger some thinking. Some people believe that when a Christian dies and their spirit goes to be with the Lord, that God gives them a temporary form, a temporary body before the resurrected body. Because how could we relate to Christ? How could we relate to each other otherwise? Okay, that's just a thought.

Now push it aside because we'll deal with it later. Some people think that when a Christian dies, their spirit goes to be with the Lord, that their soul, their spirit takes on some functions like a body or like a form. Because there's a text, one of them in Revelation chapter 6, it says the souls that were under the altar, these were souls, these are people who were killed for their faith in the tribulation period, and their souls awaiting resurrection are with the Lord under the altar.

And the souls under the altar cry out, how long, oh Lord, until you avenge our enemies. So here these souls, these spirits, are able to articulate and feel having some kind of ability like a body would. We'll get more on that in studies to come.

The most important thing to remember, since it's sketchy, is that you will be fully conscious, and the relationship gets really good. However you imagine that is how you imagine it. Whatever may actually happen to our bodies when we die, one thing we do know for sure, without Christ, we can't experience eternal life.

We're all going to spend eternity somewhere after we die, and the choice is entirely up to you. Today's teaching is titled View from Death's Door, and part of our weekend teaching series, From the Edge of Eternity, and it's available for you to order now at connectwithskip.com, for only $39 plus shipping for all 17 messages. Find out more at connectwithskip.com, or for assistance with your order, feel free to call us at 1-800-922-1888.

You know, death comes to everyone, so what happens when it's our turn? We'll learn more next time here in Connect with Skip Weekend Edition, a presentation of Connection Communications. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on His word. Make a connection, a connection, a connection. Connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.