I am dying - Part 1, What Comes Next?

I dedicate these posts to all those who have been told that their death is imminent, to those who are facing death even now in the present and who will experience it in the all too near future.  God knows your heart and has heard the cry of your voice weeping at the approach of the enemy we call death. God has made a promise through Christ and has an answer to death!

Introduction

Until Christ returns to us, physical death is a certainty. The Bible reassures us that  “¹ For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: ² a time to be born, and a time to die….” Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 (ESV) and so the process of dying and what happens afterward touches every person no matter their age, race, nationality, culture, or gender.

"What happens when I die and do I somehow live past physical death?" There are as many answers to this question as there are religions and even the atheist is forced to give an answer. So who do we believe? What is the criteria we should use to discern the truth about death and the afterlife, and based on what is true, how do we prepare to die well and face death with courage and faith?

Who to believe – the criteria for truth!

If I want to build a home, I do not go to a car mechanic.  Rather, I find someone in construction who has built a home from laying the foundation to putting on the finishing touches to the roof.  This simple principle can help us identify the person who we need to trust to tell us about death and the afterlife.  We need to listen to and learn from someone who has died (and not just for a few minutes but in fact was buried by others who witnessed the death) and having died returned to life again (not as a ghost or vague specter but as a living person as witnessed by others).  Unless this simple criteria is accomplished, we can not discern between someone weaving a fantasy about death and the afterlife from one who knows the truth because it was experienced first hand. The credentials of our expert are very clear then: he must be a real person who has genuinely died and then returned from the dead as a living person, all of which has been witnessed and documented by other people.

We must be very clear here about what we mean by death and resurrection. There are stories about those who were clinically dead for several minutes and then seemed to return to life. There are stories of those who were thought to be dead but  were only in a coma. There are stories of those who took  drugs which made them appear as if dead but were just in a suspended state of consciousness. None of these were truly and irrevocably dead. That is, their bodies did not become completely dysfunctional so as to demand a miracle of healing to return to life.  What they experienced during the short time of their “death” was both distorted by the body’s initial reaction to the strain of dying, and limited by the fact that they were not totally dead.

If we apply this criteria to the leaders of the world’s religions we come to a rather dramatic conclusion: only one of them qualifies as our expert!  Buddha entered into nirvana and died but did not return.  Mohammad was supposedly carried away into heaven so he did not die, but most importantly he did not return.  There is only one world religious leader who qualifies, Jesus Christ who in fact did physically die and then 3 days later returned from the dead in a new resurrection body,  This was witnessed by many of his followers in a 40 day period, and was well documented by those who knew him and who gave testimony of both his death and His return to life.

In His own words, Jesus said of his experience: ¹⁸ I am the Living One. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Revelation 1:18 (ESV) .  Now if we look very carefully at this Scripture we see that Jesus was making 4 basic declarations about his experience with death:

1. He identifies Himself as the “Living One” which is a title for the God of the living and the God of Life.
2. He states that he was truly dead. Not for a few minutes but for days and that he was not just unconscious or in a coma but that his body had lost the capacity for life.
3. He states that after his death, a resurrection took place and He returned to life “forevermore” which means that He can not die again. This alone separates Him from all those who were raised from the dead in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, including those who were restored to life by His own hand.  They came back from the dead only to experience death once more.
4. Finally, He said that he holds the keys of Death and Hades. So Jesus Christ is the authority, the expert, the master builder of our understanding of our death and resurrection.  No one else holds the proper credentials! 

If your death is near and if you are trying to find out what will happen to you, then it is absolutely necessary for you to claim the expert, to claim Jesus Christ as the one you can believe and place your faith in His word.  I do not care what religion you have practiced all your life (if any), but since the time of your death is at hand, you do not have time to waste. Listen to the Lord of Life who died, was buried and yet rose from the dead to live forevermore. He is the one who has the answers you seek and the reassurance you need when you are facing the issue of the afterlife.  Remember, you have the choice to die alone or to die while in the protection and comfort of the arms of the Lord Jesus. In the next several posts on this topic we will look at what He said about death and life.

Overcoming Death - Step 1
It is apparent that Jesus knows what He is talking about when it comes to death and life. For you to bring His wisdom and power into your own struggle, you must accept Him and get to know Him in whatever time remains to you.  To get into a personal relationship with Him you must confess that you have violated God's will and desires for your life, and accept His work on the cross so you can be forgiven. Death can be overcome as simply as that - just make Jesus your partner in life and in death.

Conclusion
Because this is a serious topic that can bring peace and confidence to a lot of folk who are suffering, I  am going to bring to these posts all I have experienced, know and believe about death and the afterlife. Be patient and come back to read the next post.


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