We believe that through faith in Jesus Christ we enter into the kingdom of God, which is spiritual. We speak of the spiritual nature of the kingdom. We speak of God dwelling with men. We affirm God's presence with us. We even affirm that we are in the new heavens and new earth. Yet many Christians deny that we are in such a place. We affirm our status before God as having immortality, eternal life, and the complete righteousness of God. In fact, we affirm that we are the righteousness of God. I believe that we have become God's righteousness through Christ becoming sin for us as said in 2 Corinthians 5:21. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Throughout the Scriptures heaven is equated with the dwelling place of
God, which is holiness and righteousness. Throughout Scripture God's people are
called God's tabernacle (Revelation 21); God's habitation (Psalm 132); and God's
rest (Psalm132 and Zephaniah 3). Through a careful study of God's dwelling we
can find that it was God's desire all along to DWELL IN US, REST IN US, and make
US His eternal habitation. But keep in mind that righteousness and holiness were
the foundation of His throne. They still are. It's just that we have now become
that righteousness and holiness. Heaven was where God dwelled. It still is. It's
just that we have become heaven, which is why the Scriptures teach that in the
New Covenant "the heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19:1-6). The question
remains: If we have all of this now, how does this translate into a proper view
of "the afterlife"? In other words, how does this translate into a hopeful
view of the afterlife? Keep in mind, it's "US" that makes up the body of Christ,
His Kingdom the New Jerusalem.
"He who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" Jesus
said this after Martha's brother Lazarus had physically died. She was a real
woman who had a real conscience and a real life experience. Lazarus was
physically dead; therefore we must take this into consideration as we try to
make sense of what Jesus was saying. Let's look at
John 11:23-26 (NASB)
23 Jesus *said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 24 Martha *said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." 25 Jesus
said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will
live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never
die. Do you believe this?"
First of all, from verse 24 we have previously learned the last day
already took place in the first age it was called "this age". We now live
in the second age "that age" known as the Christian Age But before then, the
Jews obviously believed in a resurrection of the dead. Martha did too. But Jesus
tells her that HE IS THE RESURRECTION and the life. However, He doesn't
stop there. He says "He that believes
in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." He's talking about physical life
at this point. but His next words
contradict that idea: "Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die." Let's
paraphrase His words in His view of resurrection: "I am the spiritual
resurrection and life. Your brother has died physically, but He will rise with a
'better resurrection' (Hebrews 11:35). He who believes in Me, though he were
physically dead like Lazarus yet he shall spiritually live in Me. And he who is
presently physically living shall never die spiritually." Some try to say Christ was speaking of two resurrections. But His
statement that He is the resurrection and the life prohibits that concept.
Finally, He is obviously not stating that he who lives and believes in Christ
will not physically die. If this were His meaning, then we would have to
conclude that no one is truly a believer in Him, for all of us still physically
die; or we would have to conclude that He was mistaken or was lying, neither of
which is an option within the parameters of Christianity.
Most would agree that there
is a conscious afterlife but that the Bible is silent on that after life. I once
held to this idea, but after examining the significance of our present consciousness
and awareness of redemptive elements and blessings we have in Christ, I have come
to understand these various blessings to be those same blessings which continue
after physical death, completely uninterrupted. First, let's consider some of
the blessings we can affirm and are present blessings to be
enjoyed by those physically alive.
This well known passage, concerning what is normally
perceived as an 'afterlife' passage is found in Revelation 21:
Revelation 21:1-4 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven
and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (2) And I John
saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared
as a bride adorned for her husband. (3) And I heard a great voice out of heaven
saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their
God. (4) And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be
no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:
for the former things are passed away.
From our previous studies we have shown this to be fulfilled in our kingdom now.
So, I will not elaborate as we already know the passage is
referring to elements under the Old Covenant and New Covenant as the Old Heavens
and Earth and the New Heavens and Earth. The
sea is the removal of the wall between Jews and Gentiles. And of
course they believe that God is with His people and the tears and death which
were removed represent the sorrows of sin and separation from God. At this point
we must agree that these blessings are present realities for the physically
living believer in Christ Jesus. But we must ask ourselves the question: If we
agree that there is an afterlife, and that the mentioned blessings are
eternal blessings, then we must conclude that those same blessings carry on
eternally into the afterlife, and thus are descriptors of the afterlife as well
as the present life. We agree that they do not represent our physical existence
but rather our spiritual existence within the kingdom of God.
Another well known passage is found in Isaiah 11:
Isaiah 11:6-9 (NASB)
6 And the wolf will dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard will lie down with the young goat,
And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little boy will lead them.
7 Also the cow and the bear will graze,
Their young will lie down together,
And the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra,
And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.
Again, we affirm that there is presently peace among physically living
believers in Christ Jesus, and that this peace metaphorically described by
Isaiah represents the peace brought about by the cross of Christ Jesus, which is
said to have brought "peace to those who are near and those who are far off"
(Ephesians 2:17); and of which Christ said, Peace I leave with you; My
peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your
heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. John 14:27 (NASB)
We affirm that
in the kingdom there is no more hurt or destruction and that through the Gospel,
the earth (land) is full of the knowledge of the Lord. Here we must ask, is this
peace an eternal blessing in the kingdom of God? If so, then we affirm again
that it is a blessing that is not only present now but also continues in the
afterlife and is therefore a description of the afterlife.
For the last passage, we turn again to Isaiah 65 and 66, which is also proven
from Revelation 21:
Isaiah 65:17-25 (NASB)
New Heavens and a New Earth
17 "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.
18 "But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create;
For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing
And her people for gladness.
19 "I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people;
And there will no longer be heard in her
The voice of weeping and the sound of crying.
20 "No longer will there be ]in it an infant who lives but a few days,
Or an old man who does not live out his days;
For the youth will die at the age of one hundred
And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred
Will be thought accursed.
21 "They will build houses and inhabit them;
They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 "They will not build and another inhabit,
They will not plant and another eat;
For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people,
And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands.
23 "They will not labor in vain,
Or bear children for calamity;
For they are the offspring of those blessed by the Lord,
And their descendants with them.
24 It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while
they are still speaking, I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will graze
together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the
serpent's food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain," says the
Lord.
Isaiah 66:22-24 (NASB)
22 "For just as the new heavens and the new earth
Which I make will endure before Me," declares the Lord,
"So your offspring and your name will endure.
23 "And it shall be from new moon to new moon
And from sabbath to sabbath,
All mankind will come to bow down before Me," says the Lord.
24 "Then they will go forth and look
On the corpses of the men
Who have transgressed against Me.
For their worm will not die
And their fire will not be quenched;
And they will be an abhorrence to all mankind."
Between the passage in Revelation and the passages in Isaiah, we have the
following elements which we affirm as present blessings for those who
have believed in Christ Jesus:
A new heavens and earth
Gladness and rejoicing among the people
God rejoicing in His people
No more weeping or crying
No more children dying in infancy
No more elderly dying before they grow old
Prosperity in building and planting
No more vain labor
The wolf and the lamb feeding together
Dust as the serpent's meat
No more hurting and destruction
Children playing by vipers' dens and not being hurt
All flesh coming and worshipping before God
Now, these are what we might call the positive aspects of the present reality
for believers. And we would also affirm that these blessings are eternal and
thus describe the afterlife for believers as well as our present life in Christ.
I believe God wants us to experience a little bit of heaven here in the
spiritual kingdom on earth.
Unfortunately there are a great number of people who will disagree. Something to consider:
We once believed that all of those blessings were blessings to be received once
we inhabited heaven. But now, we affirm
that those same blessings were present realities for those IN Christ. Now as we
contemplate the beauty of those blessings, and contemplate their eternality,
wouldn't it seem unwise to contend that these blessings (the new heaven and new
earth, gladness, God rejoicing in His people, no more weeping, prosperity, the
wolf and the lamb dwelling together, no more hurting, no more crying, no more
death, no more sorrow, children playing by vipers' dens, and all flesh
worshipping before God) are not actually describing heaven, and would actually
cease when we physically die? Most of us would agree that the idea is absurd.
Therefore, if we agree that these elements are key descriptions of our eternal
life, which we have now and which continues after physical death, then it makes
sense that all the above also refer to our experience in the afterlife. And if,
as Paul says, "we are seated in heavenly places with Christ" now, then it would
also make sense that we will still be seated in heavenly places in the
afterlife. And if, as the writer of Hebrews states, "we have come to the
heavenly Jerusalem, Mt. Zion, the City of the Living God, to an innumerable
company of angels, and to the spirits of just men made perfect," it makes sense
that those beautiful elements will also continue in the afterlife. We presently
have all these things and will continue to have them in the afterlife.
So when we are confronted with the question, "Does the Bible say anything about
what happens after we die?," we can answer with an absolute, "Yes!" We simply
need to clarify that it is already happening before we die. Obviously those who
question this idea will ask questions like, "So this is heaven, huh?" By "this" their
minds usually gravitate back to what they see, hear, and feel and not to what
the Scripture says. They fail to make a distinction between the physical realm
and the spiritual realm. We must remind them that even they will confess that
Jesus Christ dwells in their hearts. They would never say that this is a
physical dwelling place. In fact they will gladly tell us that our hearts are
the spiritual dwelling place of Christ, a fact with which we would agree. So it
should not seem a strange thing that all the blessings mentioned above are bound
up in the affirmation that Christ dwells in our hearts. Christ does not cease to
dwell in our hearts in the afterlife. He merely continues to live out His
presence with us both here and hereafter.
If we
have come to agreement that the blessings described above are present in the
believer's life and will continue to be after the physical body dies, then we
should consider possibilities of what the experience of these blessings might
look like in the afterlife. It is common among many Christians to assume that our
knowledge suddenly increases the moment we physically die. But what
scripture supports this? God has created us as unique individuals connected with the body of Christ. Faulty views assume that consciousness ceases.
We are not going to lose our memory! This we deny because the Bible gives
no indication of a cessation of individual consciousness upon faith or after
physical death.
Each of us contributes to the body of Christ that
will last for eternity. Our uniqueness and love contributes to the body of
Christ. We are extraordinary members of the eternal body of Christ.
Positions within that body in our present spiritual life will continue after
physical life ends
It is the members of the body of Christ who need mercy, love and relationship;
and therefore if we need mercy, love, and relationship within the body of Christ
before we exit this physical life, we will also need the same in the afterlife.
We will continue to learn and bless the body of Christ in our present life
and will continue to learn and bless the body of Christ in the afterlife. We
must focus the fact that we will continue to learn about God, the knowledge of which can never be exhausted. Therefore our search for
understanding His Fatherhood and character will never cease. There is nothing
about physical death which suggests that we will have all the understanding and
Knowledge of God. There is nothing about physical death which suggests an instantaneous
transformation of thought. In fact, everything we know is based upon two
factors, experience, through which we learn and develop thought, and
divine revelation, which is demonstrated through the faith given by God.
Many Christians and teachers believe that we will not have any
recollection of earthly things in the afterlife. This too is an enormous
assumption. We have already shown that creation is the eternal representation of
God and His kingdom. Why would we forget
the beauty of the cosmos, by which we remember God and His kingdom? It is also
assumed that because our physical nature ceases, our ability to perceive physically
ceases. This too is an erroneous conclusion and faulty assumption. God is a
spirit, and He certainly sees the cosmological creation. There is no reason to
assume that we won't, as we too "have come to the spirits of just men made
perfect" and are spiritual beings. Spirituality or spiritual nature does not
keep us from perceiving physical things. Again, to argue that is to argue
that God cannot perceive physical things. Why would God
declare that such elements of the cosmos as the sun and stars represent Christ
and those in His kingdom, and then either cause those things to cease or cause
His people's perception of those things to cease?
The afterlife is taught in the Bible by the blessings being eternal. If they are present now, then they will be present in
the afterlife and therefore they describe the afterlife. We have
no reason to assume that our ability to learn gets better or faster. It may, but
it is irrelevant in the grand scheme of eternity. After all, what is better or
faster in eternity? Our learning will be an eternally joyous and challenging
process through which we develop an ever increasing view of Christ Jesus and His
kingdom.
Adapted in part from Ward Fenley