What Happens After I Die?
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What Happens After I Die?
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Overview
What does the Bible say about heaven and hell? How do I distinguish biblical promises from sentimental myths? How can I be ready?
Exploring the wonders of heaven while taking an honest look at the realities of hell, pastor Michael Allen Rogers provides us with a clear and accessible summary of all things related to the afterlife. This book is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to answer the crucial question of what happens after I die?
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781433533051 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Crossway |
| Publication date: | 02/28/2013 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 288 |
| File size: | 942 KB |
About the Author
Michael Allen Rogers (DMin, Westminster Theological Seminary) has been senior pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, since 1994, and he is the author of Baptism and the Covenant of Grace.
Michael Allen Rogers (DMin, Westminster Theological Seminary) has been senior pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, since 1994, and he is the author of Baptism and the Covenant of Grace.
Bryan Chapell is a bestselling author of many books, including Christ-Centered Preaching and Holiness by Grace. He is pastor emeritus of the historic Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria, Illinois; president emeritus of Covenant Theological Seminary; and president of Unlimited Grace Media (unlimitedgrace.com), which broadcasts daily messages of gospel hope in many nations.
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
THE LAND OF DEEP SHADE
A FASCINATION WITH OLD CEMETERIES first stirred in me when I was twelve. One Sunday afternoon I joined my maternal grandparents on their errand to prune rosebushes planted beside family graves in the rural western New York village of Griffin's Mills. For two centuries, the dead from the surrounding area had been transported to a level green beside a small Presbyterian church until their memorials stood rank upon rank across acres of shaded ground. If Easter Sunday congregants would have filled every pew at the nearby church, they could not equal ten percent of the deceased human beings whose several thousand granite guardians thronged the lawns. My grandparents pointed out markers representing immediate ancestors, but at age twelve I considered any associations I had with these folks a matter of indifference. While my escorts tended roses, I began an hour of curious meandering — my first ever free time spent in a large cemetery. As a naive adolescent I had no notion that I had trespassed upon a great human convocation until I was startled to overhear their murmurings. The dead testified.
Some of the oldest stones bore macabre carvings of skulls and crossbones, which I associated with the ensign of a pirate ship. Faded letters on mossy limestone quoted Victorian poetry or verses of Scripture no longer easily deciphered. I found crumbling headstones marking a final bivouac for soldiers of both the American Revolution and the Civil War. One Union army private was identified by his military unit, and I deduced that since his death occurred in the first week of July 1863, he could have fallen to a minié ball at Gettysburg.
Calculating from engraved dates of birth and death, I was surprised at how many pre–twentieth-century lives had tragically short spans. I wondered what a fifteen-year-old girl named Eunice might have looked like. What caused her early death in the 1870s? Could her final illness have been remedied by a dose of nonexistent penicillin? Who could tell me the wrenching story of parents with three small markers flanking their own, each guarding a baby that was either stillborn or less than one year old? Why was one particular citizen with the odd first name of Roscoe so prominent in the 1880s that he rated an eight-foot-tall marble plinth? Roscoe dominated the chessboard of stones like a bishop. What did the size of a grave marker signify seventy years later, when only a handful of his descendents might recall who Roscoe was?
The longer I explored, the more questions that cemetery proposed. My grandparents were surprised to find me reluctant to quit my newly discovered world of not-so-silent human dust. Any previous sense I had that my adolescent life would simply continue unendingly was left behind in that memorable hour. Death had asserted many mysteries. Without realizing it at the time, I went from there drawn to one of the famous resolutions Jonathan Edwards composed before he was twenty: "Resolved, to think much on all occasions of my own dying and of the common circumstances which attend death."
Cemeteries still interest me a half-century later, since my calling has taken me to dozens of them as a pastor presiding at burial ceremonies. Three years after that Sunday visit my grandmother was interred in the same plot she tended on that earlier day. My grandfather never guessed that twenty more years would pass beyond his wife's demise until his turn came. He could not have imagined I would be the minister presiding at the grave when his ninety-four-year-old body was laid to rest. Now I sometimes wonder — who among their widely scattered twenty-first-century descendants ever tends those rosebushes on a Sunday afternoon?
In 1999, purchase of adjacent acreage for a building expansion brought the church I pastor in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, into possession of a hilltop family graveyard situated within a copse of trees two hundred yards from our existing building. Historical society records informed us that forty-three known burials had occurred on that plot across a fifty-year span between the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth centuries, with the last recorded burial being in 1834. Neglect, ravages of time, and vandalism left only a few broken German-language stones to bear witness. On February 15, 2004, our church reopened that ground for its first burial in 170 years. The body interred that day was my father's. Now, many times annually, bodies or ashes of my sisters and brothers in Christ are placed in this earth, adjacent to the dust of early Mennonite settlers. Burial rights are reserved in that lovely hilltop cemetery, in anticipation of a coming day when my own clay will join that of my father and a growing "cloud of witnesses."
THE ONLY REMAINING TABOO
What awaits us after death? We begin consideration of the Bible's teaching on the subjects of death, divine judgment, and the final destinations of either hell or heaven. Only the last of these topics is normally allowed today in social conversation by obstinately death-avoiding people. Heaven can be discussed, but the conversation usually pursues a harmless fantasy, malleable to any fanciful shape the speaker's imagination devises: "She's dancing on golden streets now, for sure ..." The heaven most moderns conceive of is a creation of wishful thinking, a spiritual placebo. It tends to be a light-hearted, harmless way of forecasting the inconceivable. After mentioning it, many people realize they only half believe in it. The heaven of popular discussion these days certainly is not proscribed by the dictates of Christian biblical revelation.
Death as God's righteous judgment and an eternal hell are taboos that secular people steadfastly refuse to discuss, except to tell you how much they disdain all thoughts of them. Avoidance of the subject has a long history. Legend says King Louis the XV of France once banned all people in his kingdom from mentioning the word "death" in his presence. Nevertheless, King Louis most assuredly died.
A pastor friend once made a call upon a church member, a woman advanced in years who was fully aware that she was dying of congestive heart failure. As a mature saint resting in Christ this nursing home patient had no illusions about her future. She was brimful of hope as the pastor read Scripture about heaven, and they discussed the believer's future with confidence. However, in the midst of that pastoral visit, the woman's unbelieving daughter entered the room. She heard the conversation and looked agitated but said nothing. The pastor prayed and excused himself to leave. He was surprised to have the daughter follow him into the hallway, where she verbally tore into him with eyes blazing. She said, "How dare you talk to my mother about death! We are doing everything possible to surround her with positive encouragement and you come here telling her she is going to die. How dare you!" Not long afterward that lady attended her mother's funeral. Perhaps she blamed that event on the pastor's negative attitude.
No matter how doggedly you avoid the topic, every single person will die. After decades of superefficient operation, that great engineering marvel — your human body — will shut down and cease thousands of functions in a matter of minutes. Your heart muscle will stop pumping and masses of neurons in the brain will switch off. Your body's core temperature will cool and rigor mortis will begin. What then becomes of the unseen essence of you?
Millions seem to think they will continue uninterrupted life upon this earth. At least, they are striving mightily in that direction, running hard to delay facing a terminal certainty. I drive past a fitness and racquet center every day that has expanded its parking lot several times in ten years just to accommodate hundreds of cars parked there daily by suburbanites arriving in Audis, Volvos, and BMWs, eager to tone up their bound-for-the-grave bodies.
John Lennon of the Beatles wrote in his song "Imagine": "Imagine there's no heaven ... No hell below us ... Imagine all the people, living for today ..." Lennon's theology enjoys wide appeal: inviting us to live exclusively for right now; supposing we can be carefree and without consequences in this present moment if we look no further ahead. One evening years ago, on the sidewalk outside his New York apartment, a man with a pistol snuffed out Lennon's vain illusion. Despite the efforts of our death-avoidance, those graveyards really do keep filling up. But unlike fitness center parking lots, the cemetery keeps all its occupants for the long term.
It causes strong concern to realize that of all groups, evangelical Christianity has almost ceased to provide a preaching and teaching emphasis on the biblical hope of life beyond death, based in Jesus Christ. Pulpits today are more often dedicated to preaching topical, seeker-sensitive messages that concentrate on how to have a fulfilling marriage, how to manage your finances, or how to implement sound principles of child-raising. How many "seeker" congregations hear much from Scripture about preparing for the hour of death and for eternity? When, for instance, did you last hear a sermon about hell? Richard Baxter long ago urged pastors to preach "chiefly on the greatest, most certain and most necessary truths. Many other things," he said, "are desirable to be known, but this must be known or our people are undone forever."
Countering this trend of neglecting essentials, I propose to carefully examine the Bible's consideration of death across a broad range of texts, Old Testament and New. We shall find that Scripture offers no death-denial or escapism, just clear-eyed realism. God's Word proclaims hope for eternity in a life secured by Christ's great resurrection victory, which effectually changes all who trust in him as Lord over life and death, heaven and hell. Martin Luther once said, "We should familiarize ourselves with death during our lifetime, inviting death into our presence when it is still at a distance and not on the move." By "on the move" I assume Luther meant when it is gathering speed in my direction. Nancy Guthrie adds, "You must look at death while you are alive and see sin in the light of grace and hell in the light of heaven, permitting nothing to divert you from that view."
DEATH AS A FEARFUL MYSTERY
On few other subjects is the Bible's principle of progressive revelation better seen than this one. Many vital Scripture truths were only half-baked after centuries in the oven of Old Testament revelation. Old Testament saints held a hope of an eternal future beyond death that was vague and often sounded contradictory. Israelites lived for generations staring into a tenuous future, with mystery and darkness as dominant characteristics. Only after many centuries did these dim hopes give way to the full-orbed resurrection confidence of the early Christian church. The keystone event of Christ's bodily resurrection was needed before the Holy Spirit could bestow clear images of life after death that we hold to today. Modern Judaism still depends only upon the Old Testament for its revelation of eternity; thus even the most religious Jews in our century are generally more fixated on quality of life issues in this present world than they are on hoping for ultimate heavenly reward or weighing a fear of hell.
Job 10:18–22 presents the Old Testament view of death in highly pessimistic tones, from a man of faith. The famous sufferer Job was in a deep valley of depression when he said, "I loathe my life" (10:1)! He pleaded with God to make some sense of his harsh suffering. Yet his challenge to the Lord was so plaintive, it did not appear that Job expected any positive divine answer. He peevishly prayed, "Why did you bring me out from the womb?" (10:18). His birth seemed pointless. He spoke of going to the place of no return, "to the land of darkness and deep shadow, the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness" (vv. 21–22). Job used several different Hebrew words for "darkness," piling one upon the next for a suffocating effect. The land beyond death was to Job in his distress a pit of anxiety, chaos, and despair.
The Old Testament testifies to a master destination beyond death called Sheol (or "Hades" in the Greek Old Testament): a place where dead souls consciously survive in varying degrees of blessedness, or perhaps in continued suffering. Old Testament texts often depict Sheol simply as a vast gathering corral for all departed souls. The wicked and the godly go side by side into Sheol, although the two groups may have quite different experiences there. Numbers 16:33 refers to sons of Korah who died under God's wrathful judgment: "They and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly." That picture would lead you to assume that Sheol is hell. But Genesis 25:8 appears to have the same destination in mind when it reports: "Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people." Abraham's future prospect was peaceable. Sheol was for him a blissful family reunion.
Other texts confirm the hope of reunion with generations already departed, as when David predicted in 2 Samuel 12:23 that in Sheol he would see his son conceived by Bathsheba, a son who died shortly after birth. Continuous identity with your earth personality also seems to be guaranteed, since 1 Samuel 28:14 describes the other-worldly resuscitation of Samuel, whose form was immediately recognized by King Saul. Job 3:17–19 paints Sheol as a place of rest and relative freedom: "There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster. The small and great are there, and the slave is free from his master."
Sheol — a word used sixty-six times in the Hebrew Old Testament — might be visualized as a great cavern into which all persons are indiscriminately swept. The expectation was that all living men and women should anticipate going there. Psalm 89:48 asks, "What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?" Sheol's location was understood frequently as in the "depths of the earth." One always descends "downward" to Sheol, which probably gave rise to the persistent yet groundless notion of hell being located literally beneath the surface of planet Earth.
On a few occasions Sheol is painted as a prison with barred gates: "They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished" (Isa. 24:22). Isaiah at least on one occasion visualized hopeless permanency in that dwelling: "They are dead, they will not live; they are shades, they will not arise; to that end you have visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them" (Isa. 26:14). These gloomy sentences speak of the wicked man, the nonbeliever, who placed no hope in Jehovah. God was not praised or thanked by unbelievers in their lifetimes on earth, and so their religion does not change in the next existence. In a better-case scenario, Old Testament people of faith who believed God was their Lord looked toward secure rest and peace in Sheol: "But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me" (Ps. 49:15). Divine intervention was required to realize this blessed result. Only God who first gave man the breath of life can by his Spirit restore a life from the depths of Sheol.
The overall concept of Sheol was mysterious to say the least. At times it appeared to be contradictory. It was a place more fearsome than encouraging. Job was not the only godly person who sometimes lost his afterlife confidence while awaiting such a vague future. Yet other biblical witnesses appeared untroubled by the prospect of Sheol's deep shadows. Notwithstanding all fears expressed, total extinction of living persons never seems to be considered. Biblical teaching about Sheol showed that man continued to exist, and that he existed for a purpose.
AN OLD TESTAMENT SHAFT OF SUNLIGHT
Having painted a gray view of Old Testament Sheol, we nevertheless find Scripture presenting some distinctly positive affirmations on life after death. Prominently, Psalm 16:11 describes "pleasures forevermore" to be enjoyed at God's right hand. David declared that his "whole being rejoices" and "my flesh also dwells secure" (16:9). Familiar bold assertions of eternal security occur in Psalm 23, where David emphasizes every believer's ability to walk undisturbed "through the valley of the shadow of death" and "dwell in the house of the LORD forever." It is easy to see why the beloved Twenty-third Psalm conveys psychological/spiritual confidence in the face of death. Many persons other than gospel believers seize the literary assertions in Psalm 23 as valued supports in times of crisis. Majesty of the language alone carries some comfort to those who may not know the great Shepherd as Lord.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "What Happens After I Die?"
by .
Copyright © 2013 Michael Allen Rogers.
Excerpted by permission of Good News Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Bryan Chapell,
Preface,
PART 1: DEATH'S TYRANNY OVERTHROWN,
1 The Land of Deep Shade,
2 Death's Universal Reign,
3 Death's Power Destroyed,
4 Because He Lives,
PART 2: THE DESTINY OF UNBELIEF,
5 The Default Destination,
6 The Strange Disappearance of Hell,
7 What Jesus Taught about Hell,
8 Does Hell Last Forever?,
PART 3: ONE MINUTE AFTER A CHRISTIAN'S DEATH,
9 The Immediate Heaven,
10 Immortality Is Not Enough,
PART 4: HISTORY'S CONSUMMATION,
11 The Final Heaven Inaugurated,
12 We Shall All Be Changed,
13 The Day of the Lord,
14 Are Christians Judged for Rewards?,
PART 5: THE FINAL HEAVEN,
15 New Heavens and a New Earth,
16 A Sabbath Rest for God's People,
17 In Emmanuel's Land,
PART 6: THE SECURITY OF A BELIEVER'S HOPE,
18 My Flesh Dwells Secure,
19 Precious in the Sight of the Lord,
20 He Has Borne Our Griefs,
21 Is My Child in Heaven?,
22 To Live Is Christ, To Die Is Gain,
Appendix: Is There Time in Heaven?,
Notes,
What People are Saying About This
“Michael Rogers has given the church a fascinating study of the Christian hope of heaven. With pastoral skill, careful interpretation, and logical force, the ultimate destinies of the soul are portrayed. This engaging book will bless laymen and clergy alike. Highly recommended!”—Peter A. Lillback, President, Westminster Theological Seminary
“What happens after I die? Who has not asked that question? And very obviously believers want to know what the Bible says. Michael Rogers in this marvelous book has provided a thorough yet readable treatment of Scripture focused upon the triumph of Christ over sin and death. It is convicting and encouraging, challenging yet attractive in handling what the Scriptures say concerning the matters of eternity. It compiles and arranges what the Bible affirms and reveals yet avoids exotic speculation where the Bible is silent. This book is at one and the same time a great read and a great resource.”—Harry L. Reeder III, Senior Pastor, Briarwood Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, Alabama; author, From Embers to a Flame; The Leadership Dynamic; and 3D Leadership
“Death is the great modern taboo, the thing which we all fear more than anything else and yet which is rarely mentioned, even in Christian circles. It is thus useful to have available a helpful book on the topic. Michael Rogers here addresses the issue head on with theological care and pastoral concern. This is a thoughtful and sensitive exploration of questions surrounding the afterlife and will repay the time spent reading it. Highly recommended.”—Carl R. Trueman, Professor of Biblical and Religious Studies, Grove City College; author, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self
“Though death, along with taxes, is for certain, surprisingly little has been written on the subject. And most of what is out there may actually be counterproductive. This book stands in the gap. Filled to the brim with keen biblical insight, sound theological engagement, and warm pastoral care, this book will be your first—and maybe only—stop for guidance on any and all issues related to death. Speaking personally, my family and I have been richly nourished by the pastoral ministry of Michael Rogers for fifteen years. I am delighted to see that wider audiences may now experience his edifying teaching.”—Stephen J. Nichols, President, Reformation Bible College; Chief Academic Officer, Ligonier Ministries
“After nearly forty years of fruitful pastoral ministry you would expect Michael Rogers to be wise in guiding believers through the challenging question, what’s next after this life? In What Happens After I Die? those expectations are exceeded. These pages reflect a depth of biblical reflection and practical help through which Dr. Rogers now extends his thoughtful understanding of Scripture to all who will read. What does the Bible say about heaven and hell? How will this world end? How can I be ready? These and many other questions are addressed with skill and Christ-centered hope. This is not dry eschatology; it is biblical truth that both challenges and encourages, enlightens and engages.” —Timothy Z. Witmer, author, The Shepherd Leader; Professor Emeritus of Practical Theology, Westminster Theological Seminary
“Is it pie in the sky when you die? Or is it seventy virgins? Or both? Or neither? Michael Rogers does an outstanding job of leading a search of the Scriptures to see what is true about the future destiny of God’s children—and of everyone else. This book will shape your prayers and your life so that both are more ‘conformed to the image of his Son.’ I commend it highly.”—Samuel T. Logan Jr., Associate International Director, The World Reformed Fellowship