God, is there life after death and if so what's it like?

In the New York Times Magazine during the beltway sniper attacks Ann Patchett wrote:  “The fact is, staving off death is one of our favourite national pastimes. Whether it’s exercise, checking our cholesterol or having a mammogram, we are always hedging against mortality. Find out what the profile is, and identify the ways in which you do not fit it. But a sniper taking a single clean shot, not into a crowd but through the sight, reminds us horribly of death itself. Despite our best intentions, it is still for the most part, random. And it is absolutely coming.”

We have a fascinating relationship with death don’t we? We know it’s coming, we know 1:1 die, yet we live as if it’ll never happen to us. We don’t talk about it, or if we do are never sure we’re saying the right thing. But it’s still there. A friend’s church did a survey and asked ‘What hurts the most?’ The number 1 answer was death. J K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books wrote this: “My books are largely about death… we are all frightened of it.”

Part of our fear about death is; not knowing. Is there life after death and if so what does it look like, or is there nothingness?

When the early explorers set out to discover the world, to see what was beyond the horizon, they had all sorts of ideas; the world was flat, there were no other people like them, there were lands totally different from any yet discovered and so on. They only had speculation and guesswork. But as explorers came back from their voyages further and further afield a clear idea of what was out there took shape, because someone had been there and come back people could know what the world was like.

In order to know that there is life after death and what it’s like we need to hear from someone who has been there and come back. Not in a vague I saw a light, near death experience, but from someone who actually died and came back to tell us what it’s like. The bible uniquely claims it gives us that. That Jesus lived, died and rose again and therefore can help us as we confront our fear of death.

Jesus proves there is life after death
Some words matter because they change everything. When you ask the question ‘will you marry me?’ the question and the answer changes your world. Whether the answer is ‘get lost’ or ‘yes’ matters, it changes your reality. Or the words “I’m pregnant” and then “It’s a boy”. Other words change life detrimentally, but they still change life.

We had read to us Luke’s account of Jesus’ resurrection, and it contains in it three words that you might have missed but which change everything forever, not just for one couple, not just for an extended family, community or nation but for the whole of the universe for the whole of time. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say these are the most important three words ever uttered in the whole of human history. (6)“he has risen”. Don’t rush past those words, let’s just think for a minute about what they’re saying. Life has always ended in death. Even those people that Jesus miraculously raised to life, were only temporarily raised, they each died again. But the words “he has risen” change everything because Jesus was really dead, rose again and didn’t die again. Jesus ascended into heaven, there’s no tomb Christians visit because he never died again.

And those three words change more than that. Death is the result of man’s rebellion against God. It’s described elsewhere as the wages of sin. But not for Jesus. Something amazing has happened which means death can’t hold him. And in those three words is the promise that everything is now different. The rule of sin and death is finished, Jesus has won. Because Jesus is risen there is hope for us, death is not the end.

But, let’s be honest it is an impossible claim isn’t it? That Jesus died and rose again. Resurrection just doesn’t happen does it? I’ve spoken at a few funerals and been to even more and no-one has risen again, in fact no-one there has even expected that to happen a few days later. So how can we believe this?

Luke the writer of this gospel was a doctor. He knows that dead people don’t come to life again. He writes a carefully studied and pieced together account because he is convinced having looked at the evidence that Jesus rose again. That, amazing as it is, it is the most likely explanation of the facts.

Just look at the details he includes. Jesus is definitely dead the Romans were expert torturers, Pilate is asked for the body, it is buried in a tomb. The soldier a the cross, Joseph, Pilate, those who handled the body all witnesses to Jesus death. The women go to the tomb expecting a dead body not a resurrection, they go with spices to anoint a dead body, not streamers and balloons to celebrate life. And the first witnesses are women, in the 1st century a woman’s evidence wasn’t admissible, so if this was all planned or even fabricated you wouldn’t have women as the first witnesses. And notice too the reactions of the women and the disciples, they are filled with wonder and (11)the disciples don’t believe them. They’re as incredulous about this as we are. But after they see Jesus they too testify that he has risen, in fact even people who didn’t believe Jesus was the Messiah before he died testify that he is after they see him resurrected.

Luke writes for someone struggling with faith and includes facts, details, evidence that means he reaches the conclusion Jesus rose from the dead. But that’s just impossible to believe you might think. Ok, if we don’t believe Jesus came back to life again what are the alternatives?

a. He didn’t die, just swooned, then walked out of the tomb and fooled the disciples. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a major operation, but afterwards even getting out of bed and walking is an effort, let alone appearing well enough to convince everyone you’re back from the dead. We tend to look more like death warmed up than risen to new life. Jesus is flogged to within an inch of his life, he’s so drained physically he can’t carry his cross up the hill where he’s to be crucified. Then he’s crucified – John tells us they check he’s dead by shoving a spear in his side and out flows blood and serum because his heart has stopped. Then he’s taken down, wrapped in burial clothes and put in a tomb, behind a sealed stone which the ladies know they have no hope of moving.

Is it possible that Roman expert executioners mistake serious illness for death? No. Is it possible that despite the blood loss, broken bones from flogging, excruciating agony on the cross, asphyxiation, the spear thrust, that he then revives without any medical treatment, takes off the clothes, rolls back the heavy stone, eludes the guards, and is then well enough to convince his disciples he isn’t just recovering, but resurrected having conquered death? No.

b. The disciples went to the wrong tomb. Luke tells us the ladies saw where they laid him, it wasn’t any old grave it was Joseph of Arimathea’s grave, they knew where it was. I don’t know about you but I remember where the graves are of those I’ve buried, I don’t forget. And if they had gone to the wrong tomb the Roman and Jewish authorities would just produce the body proving the lie of resurrection. But that never happens because they didn’t go to the wrong tomb.

c. The disciples stole the body. Do con men die for the lies they pedal? No. The disciples all fled when Jesus was arrested. So it would take something miraculous to make them stand before the same accusers and testify to Jesus not just as Messiah, but as risen Messiah. Paul tells us Jesus appears to over 500 people, some who hadn’t believed before but do after the resurrection. Those disciples die for their belief in Jesus’ resurrection because it’s true, you don’t die for a lie you know is a lie.

What best fits the evidence? That Jesus died and rose again. Sir Edward Clarke was a great barrister, here’s what he wrote having looked at Jesus resurrection:  "As a lawyer I have made a prolonged study of the evidences for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. To me the evidence is conclusive, and over and over again in the High Court I have secured the verdict on evidence not nearly so compelling...The Gospel evidence for the resurrection...I accept unreservedly as the testimony of truthful people to facts they were able to substantiate."

Who do you say Jesus is? Jesus rose again therefore we can know that there is life after death.

What will it be like?
I wonder how you think of life after death? It’s often portrayed as ghostly, a bit dull, all harps, clouds and choirs. But not in the Bible, in the Bible the stress is on the joy and relationships that mark life after death.

Jesus is the first fruit of the resurrection. It’s spring, soon the first fruit will appear on the trees. What does the first apple promise? That there’ll be more apples just like it. It shows what the rest will be like. You don’t see the first apple, then expect an orange, a kiwi and a mango to follow. The first fruit shows what’s following.

Jesus is the first fruit, a prototype of life after death. Firstly he tells us there’s definitely life after death. Secondly that it is physical. The promise Jesus makes is that he will raise the dead to new life and when he comes again give us physical bodied just like his. Here’s how one early Christian described it:

“The body that is sown [buried] is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.”

When Jesus returns those who trust him will be given a real, physical body, life will be physical. There will be a new heaven and earth that is physical, like this but where there’s no death, insecurity, illness, poverty, crying or pain.

And the greatest thing about life after death is that we’ll be with God, that’s the biggest promise Jesus makes. In the new creation Father, Son and Spirit will be there with us. And God’s presence guarantees its goodness, and its permanence. In the new creation we’ll be what we were made to be, what we long to be, with no discontent or searching. But enjoying the relationship with God we were made to know.

That’s the promise Jesus resurrection gives us.

What does that mean for now?
Have you ever looked at a holiday brochure and seen a sky so blue, a beach so perfect and a sea so inviting that you have to get there? I’ll save and save until I can go.

That’s the big question we’re left with as we think about life after death. A world with God, perfect relationship is the world we long for, how can I get there?

Jesus once visits the grieving sister of a dear, dear friend and promises: “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”

Jesus proves it by raising Lazarus from the dead, then some weeks later rising himself from the dead. If we want eternal life we have to trust in Jesus. That he dies for us in our place paying a price we never could, and wins for us eternal life with God and he gives it to us when we put our faith in him. Have you? Will you trust in him?

It also transforms life for us when we’ve trusted him. It means what I do now matters. It affects the way we view the physical. If eternity is physical then life now matters. It isn’t that the spiritual is good and the physical is bad, but God is concerned with the physical. It transforms us so that we live now in light of eternity.

It also means that we can be content in our circumstances now. Just think about it for a minute; if this life is all there is then I’d better spend it collecting as much as possible – as many tastes and smells as possible, seeing as many of the worlds wonders as possible, learning as much as I can about everything, because the clock is ticking. If I’ve only got this lifetime I better make it count.

But do you see how faith in Jesus brings rest and contentment. I don’t need to see everything now because one day I’ll enjoy an even better version. I don’t need to cram as many tastes, textures, experiences and so on in now because in eternity we’ll enjoy all the best God can give us without end.

Think of it like this. When you go on holiday and stay in a hotel you don’t redecorate the hotel room do you? You don’t go buy new curtains, strip the wallpaper, redecorate and buy new furniture for your week do you? But you do do that for your home. The hotel is a temporary dwelling, home is permanent. Knowing that through Jesus we have eternal life makes this life the hotel room and eternity with God our home, it changes what we are living for and therefore how we live.

Is there life after death? Yes. What’s it like? Physical, relational, joyful and secure, because we will be what we were made to be and be in the relationship with God we were made to live in. It’s ours for trusting in Jesus who can give us eternal life, and it transforms life now.

Something worth living for?

I guess we’d all express the perfect world differently for some it may involve lots of sport, for others laying on a beach, or sailing a boat, or shopping. But all of our perfect worlds would have something’s in common. It would be a world without poverty, a world without pollution, a world without crime, a world without sickness, a world where wealth is distributed evenly, a world where we wouldn’t grow old or have to lose those that we have loved, a world without terrorists, a place where loneliness is extinct, where we were never hurt by others and where we in turn never hurt others. Isn’t that the world we all want?

Is it just a dream? Like those of Martin Luther King and others, whose dreams were never realised. But this hope, this dream is different and Revelation 21 and 22 gives us a glimpse of just such a world and if you are a Christian, if you are following Jesus Christ that is your hope, a new earth with all the bad bits taken out.

Revelation is a little bit like the scene in the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy pulls back the curtain to reveal reality, not an all powerful wizard but an old man. But in Revelation as the curtains are pulled back, John, and we with him, get a glimpse not of a weak old fraud pulling the wool over peoples eyes BUT of the Almighty, majestic God in all his glory and we see him ruling. We get a glimpse of the real reality, of the events behind the events we see. And here at the end of the book are the final images before the curtain falls back in place and they are images to inspire and encourage, just like the rest of the book, because they show us the certain future of God’s people.

There are two images in these two chapters both of which have their roots in the Old Testament but which are transformed and fully realised in the believers future. They tell us that we will be:

1. Citizens in the New Jerusalem
The first image is of (2) “the Holy City, the New Jerusalem…” and the description of it is couched in terms that are hundreds of years old used by the prophet Isaiah 65:17-19.

“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
Nor will they come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice for ever in what I will create,
For I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.
I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people;
The sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.”

Do you see the words that Isaiah uses to describe God’s peoples future reality? It is a place that God makes for his people, a new heaven and a new earth, it is a place of joy and delight to those who will be there but which will also be a place God will rejoice over and in which he will delight in his people who are there. That is an amazing idea isn’t it God will delight in his people who are there. It is the New Jerusalem which God has prepared (2) a place where God’s people gather ready to enter relationship with God.

It is a place where there is no barrier to relationship that’s why in (1) it says there was no longer any sea, the sea was a symbol of conflict, chaos and separation. But in the New Jerusalem there is no sea why? Because there is no separation and no chaos and this new earth is marked by relationship and security.

Notice it is not heaven as the Simpsons portray it, there are no clouds, no harps, no sandals. It is a new heaven and a new earth with all the bad bits removed.

What marks this new creation (1) is relationship with God (3). In Revelation voices matter, the words that are spoken are important. That is what the voice announces from the throne as John watches this scene that is what he needs to understand, that is the cause of everything else that is good and wonderful about the new creation about the new Jerusalem, it is the direct result of God’s presence and relationship.

“Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.”

Sometimes we find relationship with God hard don’t we? Praying can be a battle, understanding the Bible can be hard, making sense of life can be difficult, and we constantly fight against ourselves and our sinful natures. Why is that? Is that we are not Christians? No. Is it that we are not very good Christians? No. It is that we are on the frontline living in a fallen world in the midst of the cosmic conflict between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of opposition, and because we have not fully realised our relationship with God yet.

It is because we live in a ruined world. But in the new creation, the promise is of a totally unfettered and unhindered relationship with God. That is the most significant feature of the new Jerusalem, in fact it is what makes it what it is, that’s why it is emphasized. Not only do we share a city but “They will be his people, and God himself will be their God.” It is not just a shared place but a realised relationship.

The things that we look forward to, the world with no death, or mourning, or crying or pain are the overflow of living in a world which is in relationship with God.

Why are those things absent? (4) Because God is there, God wipes away all their tears as he wipes away the old order of things.

2. A servant in Eden restored
In chapter 22 the image changes slightly to an image that is even older than that of Jerusalem, it is the image of the Garden of Eden. There are the rivers, and there is the tree of life, as in Eden in Genesis 1.

But this is not a return to Eden as we see it at the end of Genesis 3, and Eden scarred and barred, but Eden in all its glory of Genesis 1 and 2, a world which God says is “good”. Look at (3) “No longer will there be any curse.” It is Eden perfected, Adam and Eve removed the key stone that governed the kingdom when they challenged God’s rule. And every second of suffering since is a direct consequence of that challenging of God’s right to rule and our determination to depose him and usurp his throne. But God is bringing his people inexorably to a day when we will experience Eden again.

But though this is an image of Eden restored it is also Eden transformed. (1,3) Unlike Genesis 1-3 where we know God walked with Adam in the new creation God’s throne is there, there is no night, there is no need of the sun because God is its light, and his name marks his people, and the lamb is there.

This second image is marked again by relationship as the curse is undone, God’s people can serve him (3-4) and see him. There is no barrier to knowing God, no battle to serve God, no striving against temptation, and all made possible for all eternity because it is secured by the lamb.

Every moment of struggle for relationship, every second of frustration, every pang of pain, every death is meant to make us long for home. But how can we be certain of this future?

3. How can we be certain?
‘I want to stand where you’re standing’, those are the words you’ll find on a grave stone in America and underneath it is the story behind those words. During the American civil war, a group of confederates were lined up and about to be executed when a 19 year old Yankee soldier recognised the man he was about to shoot. He marched over to his senior officer and said Sir, I cannot shoot this man. I know if I shoot him I end the lives of his young children too. That young man walked over and stood before the condemned man and said those words, I want to stand where you’re standing, he took his place and the confederate soldier left to go home to his family, and that 19 year old was executed in his place. I want to stand where you’re standing.

How can we be certain of this future? Because Jesus came and stood where we are standing, because of the presence of the Lamb in the city, the Lamb who in chapter 5 we see slain. The Lamb who came to earth and gave us glimpses of what the world we all want looks like in reality. Who gives us a glimmer of what our future will be like in the new creation as citizens of the New Jerusalem and servants in Eden restored.

Jesus does it as he calms the storm, as he heals a sick woman, as he feeds the hungry, as he delivers the oppressed, as he raises the dead back to life. As he stands where we should be standing as he goes to the cross and dies in our place for our rebellion. We know it’s our future as he rises and ascends into heaven to prepare a place for his blood bought people.

Why does Jesus do that? Because he has to. Look at (21:27) “Nothing impure will ever enter it…but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Jesus has to die in our place because nothing impure can enter this new creation. This future is only for those who are pure because otherwise it will not be the world we all want.

How can you be made pure, you have your name written in the Lamb’s book of life. You confess your opposition to God and your longing for a world marked by relationship with him and you trust that Jesus came and stood in your place so that you can stand in his as a citizen and servant in the new creation for eternity.

The Lamb wins – The simple three word slogan was all the poster said on the sign erected outside the small Methodist church in Prague. It was Nov 27th 1989, the day communist domination came to an end in Czechoslovakia. Until that day even displaying the title church was forbidden. But now the message was blatantly and strikingly displayed for all to see; The Lamb wins. Not in the sense of victory over communism at last, but Christ the lamb is always the winner. He was winning when the church was being harassed and seemingly crushed by the communists, but now the church could proclaim what it had always believed, what had always been the truth; ‘The Lamb wins.’

If you want a tag line for Revelation, a snappy but accurate summary of the book, it is: The Lamb Wins! The Lamb wins, that is reality, and because the Lamb wins he secures our future for us as citizens of the New Jerusalem and servants in Eden Restored because he stands in our place. Live as if the Lamb wins because that is reality, it is where history in inevitably heading.

Do you see the encouragement for us in these chapters, it is the destination of those who believe and put their faith in Jesus. That is our destination no matter what happens now and it is certain, because of Jesus, because of the Lamb.

Pressure

We live in a world full of pressure. Adverts present us with the perfect couples, immaculately dressed and beautiful, yet also with perfectly presented and behaved children complete with colgate smiles. They both have successful careers, fun hobbies, strong family ties and close friendships. Oh yes and both drive fantastic washed and polished cars and live in immaculate houses.

How do we ever attain that? It is a subtle pressure to strive to be more like them, to have the same things, to live the same lifestyle. That is one source of pressure, one set of messages that we are bombarded with day by day.

When our lives don't measure up to the ideal the consequence is guilt or a sense of failure; oh no my children are missing out, shouldn't I be able to do this and that too! There must be something wrong with me I just can't cope. Just look at so and so...

Who puts that pressure on us? The reality is that I do, I put that pressure on myself. I want to be seen as successful, I want to measure up, I want others to think I am coping, no more than that, that I am thriving. That's so often what mitigates against us stepping off the treadmill.

But the remedy to that is that gospel, that tells me I am valued because I am in the image of God and he gave his Son to save me. It tells me that I can never reach God's standard so he sent his son to do it for me and then credits me with the perfect life, whilst he willingly pays for my failure.

Such love frees me from the expectations of the world around me. If God accepts me I am truly accepted. If God loves me I am truly loved. If God promises me a future I have a future worth looking forward too.

Often my problem is that I am too wedded to this world and its definition of success and the future it sets before me. In his book Mere Christianity CS Lewis wrote this; “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.”

This world is the hotel room, the new creation will be home, I need to re-orientate my life to live in the light of that reality.