Growintheword's Blog

Life after Death Part I
Bible Study 06/01/05

In this series, we want to aim our focus around one specific question. What happens when people cross over (or pass away)?
Our goal is simply to answer questions for some and aide in the grieving process for others. Knowing more about this subject is considered therapeutic.

1. God knows how long we are going to be here on this earth from the time of birth. Job 14:1 – “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. This scripture points to us being of a few days of trouble, not only because we are born into sin, but also to make us aware that no matter what, you can’t go past those few days ( our designated time here on earth ).
2. Because of the tree, in the Garden of Eden, sin came into this world. With this entrance, sin entered the body as well. Death was all that awaited us, until Christ came and died for our sins. Remember the wages of sin is death. You cannot escape your deadline (your set time here).
3. Where do we go when we die? During funerals we try to preach or sing a person into heaven. The simple fact of the matter is, no matter what song is sung or what sermon is preached, it will not have any bearing on where you go. Some try to make things seem better by having the funeral at the church, as opposed to the funeral home, but this is a pointless effort. If the deceased did not go to church while they were alive, it is pointless to think this will add to where this person will spend eternity.
4. If there is no life after death, Christianity would have no purpose. 1 Corinthians 15:13-19 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; 14 if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. 17 If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied. This scripture simply implies that those who are dead in Christ get to share the presence of Christ. If Christ died and was raised, then we to must be raised at death. We must be alive in him. Else our faith would be pointless.
5. It is painful when people die. If to die is to gain, why shouldn’t we want to die now?
a. There is a proper way. A life time. Psalms 90:10 – The years of our life are threescore and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. A score is 20yrs. So a lifetime, according to the scripture would be 20*3+10=70. Even by reason of strength, it could only be 80yrs (fourscore). Now this is only an average span, not guaranteed. After our lifetime, the scripture says we fly away.
b. We serve our purpose.
6. What happens to a believer when they die? First of all we need to know what a believer is. A Believer is a person who is saved. This has nothing to do with a churchman or a churchgoer. There is a difference. Saved folk are sealed for the Day of Redemption. The death of a believer or saved folk is often referred to in the Bible as sleep. 54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth against him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. This scripture tells of Stephen, a saved proclaimer of the word, being stoned for spreading the word. The question from this scripture then becomes, how do we prove that Stephen was saved? For one, the scripture refers to his death as “he fell asleep”. Secondly, Stephen asked the Lord not to hold the stoning of him, against them. This is the heart of a saved person. Stephen did just as Jesus did on the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”. John 11:11-1511 Thus he spoke, and then he said to them, “Our friend Laz’arus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Laz’arus is dead; 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” When a believer passes, they are sleep (dead), as we said before. Jesus specifically told the disciples that Laz’ a rus was sleep, but because they didn’t understand, he had to say he was dead.
7. Some have comp up with the doctrine of “Soul Sleep “. This simply means that that when people die, saved or not, they are not aware that they are dead, until the great trumpet sounds. There are Immediate Consequences at the death of a believer.
a. In the death of a believer, they wake up somewhere, knowing where they are. Jesus told a dying, repenting thief, that today he would be in paradise with him. Luke 23:43 – And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” This scripture demonstrates that after the thief’s life expired, he would wake up in the same place as Jesus would be, Paradise. He would wake up knowing where he was.
8. If when a believer dies, he is in immediate company of Christ, why do we call it sleep? The sleep is what our bodies are doing, while waiting for the resurrection. The body is waiting on the trumpet or the return of the Lord. Our spirit goes immediately up to be with Christ. Remember the scripture that says, Acts 1:10 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Sama’ria and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” When Jesus left this earth for the last time, after appearing to the disciples for forty days, he was taken up into the heavens. This is what our spirit does when we die.
9. When a loved one passes, they go originally where they came from. Philippians 3:20-21 20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Conversation means citizenship. Our citizenship is in heaven. Verse 21 says your body will be transformed (fashioned like unto his glorious body). Now to sum it up, your spirit is with Jesus and your body is asleep. Whatever killed you is not in your spirit. We have seed in previous lessons, that you are not your body, but you are your spirit. What has killed you is not in your spirit, so you are separated from what has killed you. Jesus said on the cross, “into thy hands, I commend or commit my spirit”. Jesus left that abused body behind and went to join his father. Like him, we will leave this body behind, asleep, and enjoy the company of Jesus.
10. Theologians call this state of our spirit being out of the body, the “Intermediate State “. We call it “Heaven”.
11. What is the place God set up for us in the beginning? It was paradise. The Garden of Eden. We lost it to sin. Jesus died and found paradise again. It was reestablished in heaven. Paul says in the next scripture, he didn’t know if the man was in the body or in an out of body experience, but God allowed him to see heaven. 2 Corinthians 12:1-7 1 I must boast; there is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven–whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. 3 And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise–whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows– 4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 5 On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. 6 Though if I wish to boast, I shall not be a fool, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. 7 And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. First let’s explain what 3rd heaven is. 1st heaven is where the birds fly, 2nd heaven is where the stars are, 3rd heaven is where we assume God dwells. The man discussed in the text saw the 3rd heaven and in it was Paradise. It was so beautiful; he said it was unlawful for him to explain it. He didn’t want anyone to think more of him that he sees or hears from him.
12. Paul says he was caught up in the heaven. Why would God give Paul such a revelation? We don’t know, but we know he got a thorn in his flesh right after, to keep him grounded.
13. When God comes back, he will bring those who sleep, with him. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. The dead will have the encounter before us. The spirit of those, whose bodies are sleep, will come back with Jesus and their spirits will reunite with their bodies. When our spirits reunite with our bodies, we actually will have new ones. We will be spirit and body again, but without limitations.
14. What will our new bodies look like? We don’t know, but we do know it will look like God. In the garden, we were created in God’s own image. When sin entered and our eyes were open and we hide, because we were naked. We therefore, forgot what we were supposed to look like originally. We will get to see in the end, what we really were supposed to look like. We will bare the image of God. 1 Corinthians 15:49 – Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. Jesus was in a new body, when he came back, after his resurrection, he was in a new body. The disciples were scared, because they did not recognize Jesus in his new body. He had to show them his crucifixion wounds, before they would believe him. Luke 24:36-39 36 As they were saying this, Jesus himself stood among them. 37 But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Like Jesus, we will have new bodies after death. They will look like him and have no limitations as we do know.
15. There will come a day, when we will become uncomfortable in our new bodies. Then our bodies will fall asleep. 2 Corinthians 5:4 – For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

Resurrection- Jesus went to the father, went to hell to give the folks in hell a chance to be saved, he took the keys of hell from Satan, then he went to the apostles, and then ascended back into heaven. This is a perfect example of the non limitations that our new bodies will have.

Life after Death Part II
Bible Study 06/08/05

1. To recap when a believer passes away, there is a separation from Spirit and Body at resurrection, then at the time of rapture, there is a rejoining of the body and spirit only it will be a new body without limitations.

I. What Happens when non believers die?
1. There is an intermediate place of death: In the Old Testament, it was called Sheal. In the New Testament, we call it Hades.
2. Hades is not Hell. Hell is really called Gehenna-place where condemned souls abide.
3. New Testament says Hades is paradise, but for the non believer somewhere quite the opposite. Hebrews 9:27 – And forasmuch as it is the portion of men once to die, and after this judgment -you have a choice if you die once or die twice. You can be born once die in the earth realm and then die again or you can be born once and die once in the earth realm, to live again in Christ.
II. What happens to the non believer?
1. A nonbeliever is person that we call, “The lost”. Luke 16:19 – 19 Now there was a rich man and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, making good cheer in splendour every day. 20 And [there was] a poor man, by name Lazarus, [who] was laid at his gateway full of sores, 21 and desiring to be filled with the crumbs which fell from the table of the rich man; but the dogs also coming licked his sores. 22 And it came to pass that the poor man died, and that he was carried away by the angels into the bosom of Abraham. And the rich man also died and was buried. 23 And in hades lifting up his eyes, being in torments, he sees Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he crying out said, Father Abraham, have compassion on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Child, recollect that *thou* hast fully received thy good things in thy lifetime, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted here, and *thou* art in suffering. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm is fixed, so that those who desire to pass hence to you cannot, nor do they who [desire to cross] from there pass over unto us. 27 And he said, I beseech thee then, father, that thou wouldest send him to the house of my father, 28 for I have five brothers, so that he may earnestly testify to them, that they also may not come to this place of torment. 29 But Abraham says to him, They have Moses and the prophets: let them hear them. 30 But he said, Nay, father Abraham, but if one from the dead should go to them, they will repent. 31 And he said to him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, not even if one rise from among [the] dead will they be persuaded. – The moment a person dies they close their eyes here and open their eyes in Hades. Remember Hades holds soles of the condemned. Abraham tells the rich man that if the lost soles won’t listen toe the prophets, they certainly won’t listen to the dead.
2. What some characteristics of Hades?
i. Is a conscious place
ii. A place of recollection-you remember
iii. A place of torment.
iv. A place of immediate access-you close your eyes and when you open them and you are there.
III. What is does Hades look like?
1. It has 2sides- Abraham’s bosom (side 1) and torment (side 2). There is a Gulf separating the two.
2. The only person talking is the one in hell (or torment). The rich guy, in torment, is not doing the talking in the in the begging of the scripture. This does not mean you can’t be rich and make into heaven. However, Jesus does talk about it being hard for a rich person to make it in. Mark 10:25 – It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
IV. What happened to soul’s before Jesus came?
1. Those believers went to Hades also.
2. The bosom of Abraham represents Paradise.
3. In the beginning, Jesus hadn’t come. So the righteous folk went to Abraham’s bosom. The lost went to torment. Both are Hades. One simply is a desired state (paradise) and the other is not (torment).

V. Why did Satan try to kill Jesus at birth?
1. Satan knew Jesus came to take control of Hades. 1 Peter 3:18 – For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; Hades ( Prison )-again Hades is simply a holding place ( good or bad ).
2. In the rapture, those that passed on and those who die in him will come back with him. Those that passed on are those that were righteous, who died before Christ came. Those who died in Christ are those who died righteous, after Christ came.
3. Being saved, we have been sealed and written in the Lambs book of life. Resurrection doesn’t faze us. The fact that we didn’t wake up in torment, let’s us know we made it.
4. The Devil tried to kill Jesus, because he knew what he was going to be. His dying gave us more to look forward to in eternity. Instead of dying and going to the Bosom of Abraham, we live in the company of Christ.
5. I have to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. John 3:18 – He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
6. When I am saved, I have to know that my sins are forgiven. Romans 8:1 – There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Psalms 103:11-12-For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
7. Non believers go to torment, but believers go to Paradise. Both are considered Hades.
8. When Jesus saw the place where they prosecuted the criminals, Jesus said “This place looks like what Hell looks like”. This is where Hell gets its name.
9. Judgment, fire, and prison are all types of Hell. Hell is simply the separation of us from God.
10. When the son of man returns, he will reward us for some of our works. Matthew 16:27 – For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done. Romans 2:6- Something will be given in rapture that has to do with our deeds. Romans 2:5-9 5 But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 For he will render to every man according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury.
11. Notice, in the previous scripture, the rich man that was in torment saw Lazarus (Paradise or the bosom of Abraham), but the scripture doesn’t make mention that Lazarus saw the rich man. This leads us to the final point.
VI. Are there days you wonder if your deceased loved ones are missing you the way you are missing them?
1. When you die, if you are in paradise, you must put on immortality, and then shall the past be gone. In death, Jesus’ goes to Paradise (the bosom of Abraham) and says come go with me. When you put on corruption, you won’t age, have pain, or any worries1 1 Corinthians 15:53 – For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” In Luke 16, the beggar never said anything; he had no awareness of hell or earth. If you died and had consciousness of what you left or what caused you to leave, it would worry you half to death. What kind of paradise would that be? Ex. Mother dies and leaves her children behind. How could she enjoy paradise, if she is worried about her children she left behind?
2. The issue is not them (the deceased) letting us go, but us letting them go. Job 14-says let it go. We try to bring heaven into the earth realm or carnality, but heaven is too big for that. 18 “But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place; 19 the waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so thou destroyest the hope of man. 20 Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passes; thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. 21 His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; they are brought low, and he perceives it not. 22 He feels only the pain of his own body, and he mourns only for himself.”