What About Death . . . and Beyond?
I am afraid to die. I have tried to get over this fear, but cannot. Is there anything one can do to overcome it?
The fear of death is a condition that is perfectly normal for any who have never come to Christ. Death is an experience from which we shrink, yet for the Christian, the fear is removed. He has the assurance that the sins for which he would be judged at death have been dealt with, whereas the non-Christian has no such assurance.
Many non-Christians try to convince themselves that they do not believe in the supernatural, nor in a hereafter. Try as they will, there lingers the deep consciousness that we have not been created for time alone. We instinctively know that justice alone demands some judgment day. Unless we have knowingly settled the question of our sinfulness, we have this fear. Until you acknowledge this basic truth, your fears will continue. If you would admit the possibility of the supernatural and acknowledge the facts of the Gospel as they apply to your own life, you would find the fear of death removed and the glorious peace of believing a part of your life.
Last night I dreamed I was dying and woke up in an agony of fear. Today I know I am not ready to die. What must I do?
God may have permitted you to have this dream to make you realize that you have neglected the most important thing in this life and in the next. You can have peace in your heart and the assurance of salvation if you will humbly acknowledge yourself as a sinner in God's sight, ask His forgiveness and cleaning and trust in Jesus Christ, God's Son as your Saviour from sin. Christ died on the Cross to do just this very thing for you. Let me urge you to get a Bible and read, or ask someone to help you read the following verses: Romans 3:12, Romans 3:23, II Timothy 3:5, Romans 3:19, Ephesians 2:8, Luke 19:10, Romans 5:8, Hebrews 7:25, Romans 10:13, and Romans 10:9, 10. These are not magic verses. They simply tell us about our need and how to find that need met in Jesus Christ. You do not have to do some wonderful thing to be saved. All you have to do is accept the wonderful thing Christ has done for you. After you have this assurance in your heart tell other people about it. Also, show by your daily life that Christ has changed it for His own glory.
I am a nurse working in a large city hospital. I love the work and get real satisfaction out of meeting the needs of those who are suffering. I also believe I have been able to bring cheer to those who are lonely. When I have to witness the death of some people, I am stricken with fear. That is the only time I don't like the work. Someone told me it was a spiritual problem, but I don't know. What do you think?
The fear of death is something that all people have sometime. With many, this fear is greatly aggravated. You did not tell me if you were a believer in Christ or not, for that makes a great difference. Christ has removed forever the fear of death for those who believe in Him. He has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. Man, by nature, fears death because death is always associated with judgment and with the unknown. We fear it because we do not know what lies ahead. But Christ has made the way for us through His own death. He provides eternal life and has promised His presence in all of life's experiences, and even in death. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil," said the Psalmist. You, too, can lose that fear when you commit your whole self to Christ, trust Him for salvation from sin, and He will remove the sting of death, which is sin.
I cannot get over a childhood fear. Frankly. I'm afraid to die, and when I went to a minister to receive help, he did his best to convince me that such fears can be overcome by saying that death will be a glorious adventure. Isn't that just what the Bible teaches?
No, not quite. Death will be a wonderful and glorious adventure for those who are prepared for it, but not for all. The fear of death is a fear that many have, but they manage to quiet their fear by refusing to think or speak about it. But, sadly, they never solve the problem by refusing to discuss it or think upon it. The Bible clearly warns us to "Prepare to meet thy God" and that means to meet Him in judgment. It is because one is not prepared that he has fears. The Bible says that "the sting of death is sin," and until we settle the sin problem, death remains something to be rightly feared. The Bible answer to that fear is to repent of sin and receive Christ as Saviour and Lord. With the sin problem settled, death will have no sting and most of its fears will be gone.
I have been in the Protestant branch of the church for many years. Now as I am growing older and facing the end, as we must all do, I fear that I am not ready spiritually. Is that because I haven't been faithful to my church? What can I do now that I am old?
At some time you got the notion that your church would secure your spiritual condition and ready you for heaven. You have made a very crucial mistake in this matter. The church does have a most important function in its proclamation of the Gospel message to the world and its instruction to believers. But important as this ministry is, it can only make the all-important announcement. The individual must himself become related to God through faith in Christ.
Many people confuse corporeal membership with spiritual membership in the church. Their names are written in the church roll, but they have never appropriated salvation through trust in Christ. Herein is your hope now. You can still make that decision and come to the end of your days with a deep inward peace. Jesus once said, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." Like the thief on the cross, you too can come, but I urge you not to delay a single day. Tomorrow may be too late.
I have a terrible fear of death. I am getting old and this fear haunts me by night and by day. Is this evidence that I am not a Christian? I have always thought that I was.
Let me begin by saying that everyone, including most devout people, have some fear about departing this life. It is human to dread the unknown, and death is a mysterious journey. But I do not believe that the true believer should cringe before, and be cowed by, the thought of death. Christ threw a radiant rainbow of hope around the grave when He said: "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." Christian faith is one which goes down into the grave with the firm confidence that Christ took the sting and stigma out of death. As Paul said when he faced the Last Enemy: "O death, where is thy sting: O grave, where is thy victory?"
Longfellow said: "The grave itself is but a covered bridge, leading from light to light, through a brief darkness!"
On the grave of Henry Alford, who wrote the hymn "Ten Thousand Times Ten Thousand" are these words: "The inn of a pilgrim journeying to Jerusalem."
You should make sure about your personal relationship to Christ. Remember David said: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me." Make sure Christ is with you and you will not fear.
I've always believed in God, but since our precious baby lived only a week, I'm despondent. I can't seem to pray any more. How can I find courage to go on?
I wish I could sit down and talk to you, and give a full hour to answering your question. A situation like yours puts Christianity to the supreme test. Don't imagine that you are the only one who has had moments of spiritual blindness. Even the saints had their dark days. But they found God again. You can, too. Do these four things:
1. Each morning kneel and thank God for all the joy He has brought through the years. Surrender your day to Him. Ask Christ to guide and direct you. Then all through the day think of Him as walking by your side.2. Read your Bible. There you will find words of wisdom and comfort, as "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known" (I Corinthians 13:12).
3. Seek opportunities to help those in need. There is someone who needs your love and care. Ask God to show you who it is.
4. Hold fast to your belief in Eternal Life. Death is not the end, but the doorway into Heaven.
This is a difficult hour for you. Remember that Jesus did not promise that His followers would escape suffering and heartache. No, He promised instead that they would have peace in the midst of pain, and be given a divine strength to support them in hours of weakness. Know for a certainty that your child is in the loving presence of Christ. The Bible says: "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (I John 5:4).
Recently my aged mother died, and instead of a conventional burial I had her cremated. I would have respected her wishes but she never indicated any preference. Recently someone told me that it was contrary to the teaching of the Bible, because it destroyed the body which God would raise up at the last day. Was I un-Christian in doing this thing?
It is true that cremation is of pagan tradition, but that does not necessarily make it a sinful act. As an alternative to burial, it has been generally accepted by many people, both Christian and non-Christian. I am confident that it has nothing whatever to do with the resurrection of the body. Many Christians have been accidentally burned, some were burned as martyrs, but this certainly will not limit God in the resurrection.
The Bible teaches that we will have a new body in the resurrection. The Bible says: "But God giveth it a body even as it pleased Him, and to each seed a body of its own" (I Corinthian 15:38).
It appears that the actual mode of disposing of the dead is not the crucial issue and it need cause you no remorse. If your mother had her personal faith in Christ, she then met the only condition for sharing in the glorious resurrection of the just. That is why the Christian can assuredly say that the grave is not the end.
Recently a very close friend of mine, one that I love dearly, died and left me behind. What I am concerned about now is whether or not we forget our loved ones after death. Has my friend forgotten me? Does she know anything about me? When I die will I remember the people that I leave behind?
Frankly, the Bible is silent concerning this matter. It does not tell whether those who have gone to be with the Lord, or whether those who are dead without Christ are able to remember anything about their loved ones. There is at least one scripture that indicates that the unconverted will remember the condition of their unconverted friends. This story Jesus tells in Luke 16:19-31. He describes a man who is dead and in hell as looking up and pleading for his brothers whom he knows are unconverted. Read this tragic story and you will see. On the other hand we are given to believe that those who have died and gone to be with the Lord, are free from any kind of earthly anxiety. If they are able to remember their loved ones, it is only because those loved ones have already committed their lives into the care and keeping of a loving Saviour. God is merciful and permits those who are dead in Christ to forget all of those things that would diminish their joy.
There are many good reasons for being a Christian. In this life one has the presence and comfort of God's presence throughout all of the trials that come to us in our daily activities. Then, when it comes to the matter of facing eternity, we have the added comfort of knowing that all of our sins have been forgiven and Christ is ready to receive us. Philippians 1:23 clearly describes the fact that "to depart and to be with Christ is very far better."
Many people want to live more than anything else. The Christian who wants to live has a definite object. He wants to live to serve Christ, but he neither fears death nor tries to avoid it because he knows that to be dead and to be in the presence of Christ is the greatest reward one can have.
Can a man live in sin all his life and yet have God save his soul at the time he dies?
One's salvation is not determined by the time of life at which we repent and accept Christ as our Saviour. There have been those who have repented on their deathbeds and have been saved. In the Bible we have the incident where one of the thieves crucified with Jesus turned to Christ in repentance and was told, "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise." However, for one to deliberately wait until near the end of life is to take a desperately dangerous course. None of us knows when we may die; for thousands, sudden death occurs each day. But more important even than the foolishness of deliberately waiting is the fact that every day we delay we are losing the joy of being a Christian and also losing the opportunity to witness and live for Christ. There are some who think of being a Christian as something lacking in joy. As a matter of fact, the only people in the world who have any right to be happy are Christians, as they know where they are now and where they are going. The Bible says: "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." While there is always hope for the repentant sinner, the longer one waits to accept Christ the more difficult it becomes. His grace is always ready and willing but the heart of man grows harder all the time.
Recently, some friends and I were discussing whether we go immediately to Heaven when we die. Can you help us with the answer to this question?
The Bible clearly teaches that when a believer in Christ dies, he goes to be with the Lord. "Absent from the body, at home with the Lord" is what Paul said about it (II Corinthians 5:8). Also, in one of Jesus' parables he told of the rich man and Lazarus who were already at their destination. But the Bible also teaches that there is a day of resurrection and judgment which is yet future (II Timothy 2:18). Here reference to a past resurrection is misleading and in error. It is the coming event when Jesus comes again. The Bible says: "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him . . . For the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we that are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord" (I Thessalonians 4:14, 17). The answer seems to be that there is an intermediate state when we are with the Lord, but have not yet received the glorious body of the resurrection.
If we are fortunate enough to go to heaven, will we know our loved ones there? Would you tell me the Scripture for this?
We have no reason to believe that we shall be less intelligent in Heaven than we are upon earth. The Bible says: "Now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face; now I know in part; but then shall I know even also as I am known" (I Corinthians 13:12).
But if your question suggests that we will see our loved ones in the same light as we see them upon this earth, I will have to say that we will not. While the family is a sacred institution, and much in the Bible is addressed to family love, family responsibility, and family loyalty, "when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." God instituted family life for a two-fold purpose: propagation of the race, and Divine instruction. In the resurrection, Christ said, "They neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in Heaven."
We will know our loved ones in Heaven, of course, and will remember them, even as the rich man in hell remembered his brothers. But we will find fellowship with all members of the family of the redeemed, and not just with our flesh and blood. "When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part, will be done away."
It is difficult to rationalize on the unknown. We can but cite Scriptures related to the subject. This we do know: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard . . . what God has prepared for those who love Him."
Will we be in body and spirit in heaven or just in spirit? I believe the Bible says that we will have a new body. If so, where is the reference in the Bible?
Our finite minds cannot fully perceive all of the mysteries of the future life. The Bible does say: "We look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body . . ." (Philippians 3:21).
After the resurrection, Jesus appeared in a glorified, heavenly body. He ate, talked, and was capable of being felt, as in the case of Thomas who felt His wounds and said: "My Lord and my God." But this body was indestructible, it passed through stone walls, and finally ascended into heaven. There is every indication in the Bible that Christians will be clothed in immortality, even as was Christ. Paul said: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality." Our earthly bodies are fairly well suited to conditions of our earthly existence, but the Bible says that these bodies must undergo a transformation to fit them for heavenly conditions. This promise of a glorified body is given only to those who have trusted Christ for salvation. Heaven is a quality and state of life given only to the redeemed.
After a person has died and gone to another life, does he know or realize what he did while on this earth?
While it is not given us to know all of the details about the afterlife, we are given some insights into some aspects of it.
In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Christ indicated that the rich man could recall many of the events of earth. Particularly did he remember the sins of omission. He remembered that he had ignored the need of the beggar Lazarus. He remembered his five brothers and feared that they might also end up in hell, and asked that a messenger might be sent to earth to warn them.
There are evidences that we will remember many of the events of life. In the light of eternity, we will see that the things we thought so important were unimportant, and that the things we considered unimportant were really the things we should have attended to. Part of hell's torments will be the suffering of remorse, and of regretful memory.
For the saved, there will be the joys of having been faithful, and the thrill of unfolding knowledge throughout eternity. The Bible says: "Now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part, but then shall I know even also as I am known" (I Corinthians 13:12).
In the afterlife, will a man and woman who have been married remain married? When a person dies, will he remain the same age throughout eternity?
The marriage contract terminates at death. "Until death do us part" is the clause we repeat when we are wed. Legally, and in the sight of God, all marriages are dissolved when one or the other of the partners enters eternity.
The Sadducees asked Jesus this same question and He said: "The children of this world marry and are given in marriage: but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage" (Luke 20:34-35).
Yet I am certain that in Heaven everything will be there that is needful for our complete happiness. I am equally certain that married couples will know and love each other in the afterlife — though the relationship will be no longer physical but spiritual.
As to remaining the same age throughout eternity, Heaven has no clocks nor calendars, and "time will be no more." The thing with which we should be most concerned is preparing for eternity, and though we may find the answer to every mystery, but fail to prepare to meet God, we will be in hopeless straits in the world to come.
What is your opinion with regard to the soul after death? Does it lie in the grave until the resurrection or does it go straight to God?
It is unwise to speculate beyond those things clearly stated in the Bible. To the repentant thief on the Cross, Jesus said: "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." This would indicate that the soul of a Christian at death goes immediately to be with the Lord in glory. At the same time, that is not the final state of the believer for at the resurrection, the bodies and souls of believers will be reunited and we will be given a glorified body which will live forever in God's presence. In the first book of Thessalonians we are told: "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." There are many mysteries which have been withheld from our knowledge. But this we can affirm; the person who puts his trust in Jesus Christ and what He has done for us is immediately changed from death to life; he has been born again and physical death can never separate him from God. If you believe in Christ, you have eternal life now and death is but a transition into His presence.
