What Happens at the Moment of Death?

Over the past couple of months, our community has been hit with a number of tragedies.  There have been many who have lost loved ones.  In times like these, I have found that a number of questions arise.  One question that has come up more than once is "What happens to a person immediately after they die?"

There are different answers to this question that are given in our world today: 

• Nothing - at the point of death, a person just ceases to exist.
• Reincarnation - the person comes back to life as another being.
• Sleep - the person enters a time of "sleep" until a future judgment or time.

While there are many different thoughts that are floating around, I have come to believe that we do not have to wonder about this subject.  There is a place that one can find answers to the deepest questions that we have.  That place is the Bible.  Since this question has been brought to me many times over the past couple of weeks, I would like to share what the Bible says about the moment after a person dies.

We all pretty much understand that each and every one of us is going to die at some point.  That is not morbid.  It is "just the facts, ma'am."  The Bible tells us in Hebrews 9:27 that death will come to each person.  This verse also shoots down the notion that a person ceases to exist or even just sleeps until a later time.  Hebrews 9:27 shows that there is a continuation of the person.  

The Bible teaches that each person is made up of two "parts": the body and the soul.  First, the body is the vessel that houses the soul here on earth (Genesis 2:7; 2 Corinthians 4:7).  The body is the physical parts of our being.  The body will at the point of death begin the process of returning to the earth (Genesis 3:19; Job 10:9).  Second, the soul is the immaterial part of each person.  The Bible uses the terms 'soul' and 'spirit' many times interchangeably (John 12:27; John 13:21; Luke 1:46-47). 

Death occurs when the body and the soul/spirit are separated.  James 2:26 tells us that "the body without the spirit is dead."  When death is mentioned in the Bible, there is always this idea of separation.  The apostle Paul speaks about being "absent from the body" when speaking of physical death (2 Corinthians 5:8).  

So what exactly happens when a person dies?  

The Bible gives evidence that the moment a person dies here on earth, they are immediately present in their eternal dwelling place.  Hebrews 9:27 (mentioned earlier) gives a good statement on this when it says, "...it is appointed for people to die once - and after this, judgment".  Also mentioned earlier, Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:8 that he would "rather be absent from the body and be at home with the Lord" (NASB).  Jesus Himself even shared a parable that spoke about the immediate moments after two people passed through death in Luke 16:19-31.  

One can see clearly that the Bible shows us that death is not the end of all things for us.  There is something that is on the other side of the grave.  There is not a cessation of existence.  We were created with eternity set in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  There is not a period of sleep as some might want to suggest.  The Bible states that when our lives here on earth end, the very next moment of time is spent in the place where we will be for all of eternity.  That is heaven - for those who have placed their faith and trust into Jesus Christ - or hell - for all who have not chosen to follow Jesus.  

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We Are The Champions: Over Death

INTRODUCTION

We are in a series that we are calling “We Are The Champions” where we are looking at some of the areas of life that we have been made champions over because of what Christ has done for us.  These victories that we are talking about pertain to those who have placed their faith and trust into Jesus Christ and the work that He has done on our behalf.

Romans 8:37 says, “…in all these things, we are more than victorious through Him [Jesus] who loved us.”  This love that Christ has loved us with is not one that is just in word only.  It is backed up by action.  Romans 5:8 tells us “God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Because God has chosen to demonstrate His love towards us, this has given us the victory over many areas that hold people captive in life.

This morning, I would like to follow up on last week’s message.  Last week, we talked about how Christ has given us victory and made us champions over the sin in our lives.  We talked about how each of us has sin in our lives.  The Bible showed us that this sin actually gives us a return on the investment: death (Romans 6:23).  This morning, I would like to take a look at how Christ has made us champions over death.

SOME FACTS ABOUT DEATH

As we get started, I would like to share with you some facts that I came across concerning death.

• There is a 100% mortality rate among the human race.
  • This means that 10 out of every 10 people in the world will die one day.
• Death is one of the leading fears that humans have.
  • No matter what survey you might look at, death is always in the top 10 of biggest fears among people.

WHY IS DEATH SO DREADED?

One of the biggest reasons that people have such a great fear of death is that it is so mysterious.  Mystery has a way of instilling fear within us.  When we do not know what the end result is on a situation, we are hesitant to go forward in it.  There are not many people who can say that they have been through death and tell about it.  They may have been some who have been at the point of death or had near-death experiences, but the testimony of those who have actually stepped across that final threshold and returned are few and far between.

Fear, especially the fear of death, can cripple a person’s life.  This does not and should not be the case.  Jesus said in John 10:10 that He has come to give us life to the fullest – one that is not crippled by fear, even the fear of death.

WHY SHOULD WE NOT FEAR DEATH?

In order to show why we do not have to fear death, I would like to look at some of the experiences that Jesus had with death.

• Luke 7:11-17 = The widow’s son
  • Jesus and His disciples along with a large crowd were going about and come across the funeral of a widow’s only son.  Jesus had compassion on the widow and raised her son back to life by the word of His mouth.
• Luke 8:49-56 = Jairus’ daughter
  • Jairus was a synagogue leader whose daughter was deathly ill.  He came to Jesus and asked if He would come to his house and heal her.  On the way there, report came that the little girl died.  Jesus continued on to the house where He once again brought life to a dead body through His words.
• John 11:38-44 = Lazarus
  • Lazarus, one of Jesus’ best friends on earth, dies from some illness.  As Jesus comes to where he is buried, Jesus calls Lazarus back from the dead – four days after his funeral.

We can see from these passages that Jesus is not a real fan of death.  He recognizes that death is the result of sin that has come upon human beings, and that was not the original purpose for them.

We also see that the reason that Jesus came to earth in the first place was to confront death firsthand.  As He came to the end of His earthly ministry, He was arrested, tried, convicted, and put to death on the cross – all according to Old Testament prophecies.  Numerous times during His teachings, He spoke of “His time”.  Confronting death face-to-face was “His time.” It was upon the cross that He broke the power of sin’s grasp.  The only enemy left was death, and He conquered it three days after His crucifixion by rising from the grave Himself.

It is because of Jesus’ resurrection and defeat of death that we have victory over death.  Because of the sin that is present in our lives, we will all have to face the death of this body one day.  The real issue – and the power that fuels the fear of death – is what happens afterwards.  Hebrews 9:27 says, “… it is appointed for people to die once – and after this, judgment”. 

When God created us, He created us for eternity – to live forever.  Sin entered the scene and caused two kinds of death: (1) physical – the death of our bodies, and (2) spiritual – the death of our souls.  This spiritual death is not a ceasing to exist, but rather a separation from the blessings and goodness of God.  If our sins are not paid for by the sacrifice of Jesus, then we will fall under the wrath of God.  This is commonly known as hell.

Hell was not the intentions of God for human beings.  Hell was created for Satan and the angels/demons that followed him in his rebellion (Matthew 24:41).  But if a person rejects the gift of God provided through Jesus, they choose to reserve their place right alongside of them.

If a person has heard the call of Holy Spirit to come and receive the gift of God and answered that call, then death looks totally different.  The gift of God is not only forgiveness of sins but also a new life and destination after this life is over.  For the Christian, death is just a time of moving.

Paul writes in Philippians 1:21 that “For me, living is Christ and dying is gain.”  How can Paul say that dying is gain?  It is because he has come to realize that when Jesus defeated death by His resurrection, He also made every person who places their faith and trust in Jesus champions over death.  When a Christian dies, they no longer have to deal with the sin, pain, and sorrow that are a part of this life.  They move into the permanent residence that Christ Himself has been building for them since He left this earth.

John 14:2-3 says, “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if not, I would have told you.  I am going away to prepare a place for you.  If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also.”

It is no coincidence that Jesus was a carpenter for much of His earthly life.  He is a master builder.  When He left the earth, He went to build a place for those who would trust in Him, and He has promised that when this body dies, He will be there to take them to heaven to be with Him forever.

This is how He has made us champions over death.  Will we have to face death one day? Yes, but it should not be something that cripples our life with fear.  It is a moving into experiencing the glory of God like we can never imagine.  When you look at death through this lens, both death and this life look completely different.  We can say along with Paul, “living is Christ – learning more about Him and sharing His love with others – and dying is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

CONCLUSION

How do you view death?  Is it something that brings fear to your heart, or is it something that is just a bridge to the permanent residence that Christ has made for you?  We do not have to fear death.  If we have a relationship with Jesus where He is our LORD and Savior, our death has already been defeated.  Jesus Christ has provided the way for us to be champions over death.  Will we live that way?

Read More

We Are The Champions: Over Death

INTRODUCTION

We are in a series that we are calling "We Are The Champions" where we are looking at some of the areas of life that we have been made champions over because of what Christ has done for us.  These victories that we are talking about pertain to those who have placed their faith and trust into Jesus Christ and the work that He has done on our behalf.

Romans 8:37 says, "…in all these things, we are more than victorious through Him [Jesus] who loved us."  This love that Christ has loved us with is not one that is just in word only.  It is backed up by action.  Romans 5:8 tells us "God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Because God has chosen to demonstrate His love towards us, this has given us the victory over many areas that hold people captive in life.

This morning, I would like to follow up on last week's message.  Last week, we talked about how Christ has given us victory and made us champions over the sin in our lives.  We talked about how each of us has sin in our lives.  The Bible showed us that this sin actually gives us a return on the investment: death (Romans 6:23).  This morning, I would like to take a look at how Christ has made us champions over death.

SOME FACTS ABOUT DEATH

As we get started, I would like to share with you some facts that I came across concerning death.

• There is a 100% mortality rate among the human race.
  
  
  
  • This means that 10 out of every 10 people in the world will die one day.
  
  
  
  


• Death is one of the leading fears that humans have.
  
  
  
  • No matter what survey you might look at, death is always in the top 10 of biggest fears among people.
  
  
  
  

WHY IS DEATH SO DREADED?

One of the biggest reasons that people have such a great fear of death is that it is so mysterious.  Mystery has a way of instilling fear within us.  When we do not know what the end result is on a situation, we are hesitant to go forward in it.  There are not many people who can say that they have been through death and tell about it.  They may have been some who have been at the point of death or had near-death experiences, but the testimony of those who have actually stepped across that final threshold and returned are few and far between.

Fear, especially the fear of death, can cripple a person's life.  This does not and should not be the case.  Jesus said in John 10:10 that He has come to give us life to the fullest – one that is not crippled by fear, even the fear of death.

WHY SHOULD WE NOT FEAR DEATH?

In order to show why we do not have to fear death, I would like to look at some of the experiences that Jesus had with death.

• Luke 7:11-17 = The widow's son
  
  
  
  • Jesus and His disciples along with a large crowd were going about and come across the funeral of a widow's only son.  Jesus had compassion on the widow and raised her son back to life by the word of His mouth.
  
  
  
  


• Luke 8:49-56 = Jairus' daughter
  
  
  
  • Jairus was a synagogue leader whose daughter was deathly ill.  He came to Jesus and asked if He would come to his house and heal her.  On the way there, report came that the little girl died.  Jesus continued on to the house where He once again brought life to a dead body through His words.
  
  
  
  


• John 11:38-44 = Lazarus
  
  
  
  • Lazarus, one of Jesus' best friends on earth, dies from some illness.  As Jesus comes to where he is buried, Jesus calls Lazarus back from the dead – four days after his funeral.
  
  
  
  

We can see from these passages that Jesus is not a real fan of death.  He recognizes that death is the result of sin that has come upon human beings, and that was not the original purpose for them.

We also see that the reason that Jesus came to earth in the first place was to confront death firsthand.  As He came to the end of His earthly ministry, He was arrested, tried, convicted, and put to death on the cross – all according to Old Testament prophecies.  Numerous times during His teachings, He spoke of "His time".  Confronting death face-to-face was "His time." It was upon the cross that He broke the power of sin's grasp.  The only enemy left was death, and He conquered it three days after His crucifixion by rising from the grave Himself.

It is because of Jesus' resurrection and defeat of death that we have victory over death.  Because of the sin that is present in our lives, we will all have to face the death of this body one day.  The real issue – and the power that fuels the fear of death – is what happens afterwards.  Hebrews 9:27 says, "… it is appointed for people to die once – and after this, judgment". 

When God created us, He created us for eternity – to live forever.  Sin entered the scene and caused two kinds of death: (1) physical – the death of our bodies, and (2) spiritual – the death of our souls.  This spiritual death is not a ceasing to exist, but rather a separation from the blessings and goodness of God.  If our sins are not paid for by the sacrifice of Jesus, then we will fall under the wrath of God.  This is commonly known as hell.

Hell was not the intentions of God for human beings.  Hell was created for Satan and the angels/demons that followed him in his rebellion (Matthew 24:41).  But if a person rejects the gift of God provided through Jesus, they choose to reserve their place right alongside of them.

If a person has heard the call of Holy Spirit to come and receive the gift of God and answered that call, then death looks totally different.  The gift of God is not only forgiveness of sins but also a new life and destination after this life is over.  For the Christian, death is just a time of moving.

Paul writes in Philippians 1:21 that "For me, living is Christ and dying is gain."  How can Paul say that dying is gain?  It is because he has come to realize that when Jesus defeated death by His resurrection, He also made every person who places their faith and trust in Jesus champions over death.  When a Christian dies, they no longer have to deal with the sin, pain, and sorrow that are a part of this life.  They move into the permanent residence that Christ Himself has been building for them since He left this earth.

John 14:2-3 says, "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if not, I would have told you.  I am going away to prepare a place for you.  If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also."

It is no coincidence that Jesus was a carpenter for much of His earthly life.  He is a master builder.  When He left the earth, He went to build a place for those who would trust in Him, and He has promised that when this body dies, He will be there to take them to heaven to be with Him forever.

This is how He has made us champions over death.  Will we have to face death one day? Yes, but it should not be something that cripples our life with fear.  It is a moving into experiencing the glory of God like we can never imagine.  When you look at death through this lens, both death and this life look completely different.  We can say along with Paul, "living is Christ – learning more about Him and sharing His love with others – and dying is gain" (Philippians 1:21).

CONCLUSION

How do you view death?  Is it something that brings fear to your heart, or is it something that is just a bridge to the permanent residence that Christ has made for you?  We do not have to fear death.  If we have a relationship with Jesus where He is our LORD and Savior, our death has already been defeated.  Jesus Christ has provided the way for us to be champions over death.  Will we live that way?

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Latest Series

As a youth pastor, I like to do series of messages.  I feel that it gives me more clear direction and great help in staying focused and preparing.  The current message series has been one that we've called "Fear Factor."  I think that most every youth ministry in the USA has probably done this theme before, but it has been great for ours.  We have had a competition that has gone on all month long.  The students have participated in gross challenges for the prize: not having to pay for the next big event on our student ministry calendar.  That has definitely proven to be interesting.  I have come to realize that with some of the games that we've had the students do (live cricket spitting, pulling peanuts from a dirty diaper, and frozen mayo sundae eating contest), there's something not right about us youth ministers who make these poor souls do these crazy games.

The messages in the series have dealt with fears of different kinds.  Here's a breakdown of each week.

1. Tools to Conquer Fear - "For God didn't give us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." (2 Timothy 1:7 NLT)  This message was about dealing with any fear that comes our way and how fear tries to sideline us in life.


2. The Fear of Death - Death is the most common fear among people living today.  That's mainly because people aren't sure as to what happens afterwards.  We discussed that for a Christian, death is just another step and nothing to be afraid of.  This message came at a key time as one student shared with me about how he had been to the funeral of a friend who overdosed on heroin.


3. The Fear of Rejection - This has been my favorite so far.  So many students are scarred from rejection and look to find their value in other people's opinions.  We looked at how "value lies in the eyes of our Creator."


4. The Fear of Failure - This is coming up next week as we face the fact that there will be times that we fall short, but that doesn't have to be the end of our story.

What are some fears that you see people struggling with?

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Weekend Update

Wow... this has been an eventful weekend in my life. We took about 20 teenagers and 7 adults to a lake house in Guntersville to wrap up the summer. It was great. Some of our regular students reached out and brought some friends who had never done anything with our church before. It was a hit. There was fishing, tubing, and I even attempted to ski for the first time in my life (and I'm paying the price for it today). Everything was going good until I received the phone call early Saturday morning that my uncle had lost his battle with liver cancer. It is never easy to hear that you will not be able to hang out with a loved one here on earth again. All I could think about was the memories of times past when we were able to do so. The good thing was that he seemed to have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Knowing that definitely helps soften the blow because I will be able to see him once again.

Yesterday was a very interesting day in our church. Sunday morning, we had a Romanian pastor speak. It was awesome. It was amazing to hear about what God was doing on the other side of the world. It was great to hear about what faith looks like when it comes through intense persecution. I was greatly encouraged and reminded once again that we in the "West" are dealing with an attack from the evil one on a different front from others. While there are people who are losing their lives and families because they worship in a church, we are being rocked to sleep by the enemy. If you think I'm just making a big deal out of nothing, ask yourself a couple of questions...

1. When was the last time you were arrested for telling someone about Jesus?
2. When was the last time your family signed a death warrant on you for following Jesus?
3. How many Bibles do you own? Now, how many people have you shared the message of those Bibles with this week?
4. Do you get angry when a church service goes longer than an hour?

So what was your weekend like?

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