Satan has caused many saints of God to allow the sting of death to return. He has influenced some into clinging to our mortal shells without any Godly reason. Yes, we want to live, we can't do much for the Kingdom when we are gone, but we will all step from time into eternity. There is no escape. It is, was and always will be appointed unto man ONCE to die.
There is a second death. It is the death of the lost. To the pagan, those lost for eternity, death does and should hold fear. I will not address those things that they fear. There is a way to enter into eternal life. I am here concerned with Christians who fear death needlessly. We need to know with confidence how that last breath happens and what it means.
What happens as we die? There is great confusion; it's the second time we go thru such a radical change in our lives. Change is confusing. All change is perceived as loss. Birth was confusing. Darkness to light, Warmth to something new and much colder. We cried out when we were born. It was a trauma.
We were confused in this transition. Uncertain. Scared. Frightened.
Death has the same effect on us. As we lay on our deathbed, sometimes with fear, sometimes amazement, a metaphysical roller coaster ride is taking place.
It is said that as Steve Jobs lay dying, just before he took his last breath, his eyes opened and he said, WOW! I don't know what that means but I am sure WOW fits. Some withdraw further and further. Sleeping more and more until they never wake up. Recognizing the end and accepting it without struggle. Some struggle right up till the end in fear. It's understandable. It’s a trauma.
Yet is there a way to understand death and overcome the fear, the sting, until we can say, “Oh Death where is your sting?”
Is there pain in death? Yes, sometimes; particularly in an unnatural death. A gunshot, stabbing, car accident, execution, torture, a painful death by drowning or a by suffocation.
Most people imagine they are going to die on a bed with friends and family surrounding them. That is not always the case. What of these more difficult unexpected situations of dying in pain. To deny pain is to deny the reality of death. There is good news, pain is the last ditch effort our flesh wields against eventual eternity to keep us here, in time.
Those who have gone thru this and come back from the edge say the pain was momentary, brief, intense and then erased from all memory. Like having a bad tooth pulled. Pain for a moment and then no more pain. Mortality is not sloughed off easily. Our flesh doesn't want to become an empty shell to be buried, burned or abandoned. It wants to hold on as long as it can. Something like a teenager who becomes such a pain in the neck that a parent is glad when they leave. So too our flesh will cause us more and more discomfort as we age until staying in it is no longer acceptable. It's very much the same syndrome that we can learn to accept as normal.
Not that there isn't regret and pain in the impending separation from those we love. That's part of it too. Yet to the Christian, it is those loved ones left behind that suffer. Once death happens for the Believer all pain is gone, all memories that produce grief dissolves into the dust. The sentiment then changes to “I'll see you soon”. Our eternal perspective offers that.
If as Christians we would grasp the temporary nature of dying we might not enter into it full of trepidation as some do. Much of the heroics we commit ourselves to in the false hope that we might live forever in our bodies (or longer anyway) are vain attempts to postpone that which will take us all. It's not a sin. Doing battle with disease is part of life.
Jesus (the great physician) healed the sick and raised the dead. Yet all He healed eventually died. It's that reality that must be recognized. We all step from time into eternity.
We come into a new reality as a believer who dies in Christ. No pain. No grief. No fear. It is important to know what happens right AFTER we die. What it's really like on the other side of the veil. There is a thin veil that stands between time and eternity. Most people don't understand this now but on the other side we will. If we can grasp it here, it will change us forever and we will live in victory --fearless and purposed.
What happens to us right after we die? It's the moment after we die, time has now ceased, we enter eternity, all pain is gone and our carcass is empty. We might even see it from a distance in that moment and wonder about it all. Body and soul are no longer one. What do we see or experience afterwards? What is that moment like?
There are scriptural evidences and testimonies of those who have witnessed these things and returned which help us grasp what happens. We can construct what it will be like using these clues and Biblical support. The song “I can only imagine”, as wonderful as it is, comes short of the mark. We can imagine and if we can grasp the vision, fear will dissolve.
The moment people who die in Christ, in that instant when you die here's what happens:
There is a shock into well being. We suddenly feel indescribable peace beyond all understanding. It overwhelms us. We can hardly take it in. There is unimaginable beauty. It is a manifestation of the fullness of Jesus in His beauty. Every color comes alive such that we can taste them. Music is everywhere, all at once. Not cacophony, a symphony of all music all at once. It will be full of joy.
In eternity everything is now. Our experience in eternity non linear, time has ceased. It's all now happening as if all at once. It’s hard for those of us trapped in time to grasp, but to get a small glimpse of what that might be like, think back to a wonderful childhood memory, a good one. Think of it. All the color, music, joy, fun, and love you felt. Now let that emotion come over you.
You do not experience it in linear fashion, but as one good memory, all at once. The parts you really enjoyed come back again and again. That's a weak imitation of what eternity is like. Happening all at once, but able to be parceled out as experiences.
People ask what kind of music will I hear. It will be whatever your fullness of joy is to experience... whatever fits your moment; For some hymns, for some chants, for some choruses, for some classical, for some a gospel song, or even a joyful rap. It's your eternity and Father will speak to you in the context you understand. You will grasp that it's all one. Yet differentiated to you, yet we will not know of the differences others have.
You will have unspeakable joy. No remembrances from earth that contain any regret or pain follow you into heaven ... the pain you had in life will fit into your understanding and there will be no questions. The Idea that you are going to ask questions of Jesus when you get there will be needless. You will have full understanding of all. You will know who you really are. There will be no more self doubt.
How you fit into the whole of life while on earth will make perfect sense. That is why there is no recognized hierarchy in heaven. One saint is as another. Fullness and fitly joined together in unspeakable joy.
This sudden recognition of your place in the universe will take your breath away. The value your life contributed to the Kingdom will be revealed and add to your joy.
Your capacity for any experience will multiply a thousand times or more. You will experience heaven as if you had 5000 senses instead of 5. Every color, every sound, every taste, everything you hear, everything you feel, and the fragrance... it will be amazing. You will understand what a vapid colorless place life on earth was. You won't regret it...but wish everyone could experience what you are experiencing.
You will live without confusion. No questions. Your desire will be to worship. It will all be so clear. Bowing in worship, raising hands. Singing. The Sea of Glass experience is a desire deep inside every believer. Eternity is hidden in the hearts of men. We want to be there in this place and out of the constraints of time. Whatever we do will make sense...in heaven. It will be automatic. You will want to enter into who HE is so completely as to be lost in Him. You were created for this. The beauty of Jesus will be revealed again and again. It will be all one but eternal. It will never be boring. Love will be overwhelming.
You will have a form. A spirit form, that is the spirit of you will cause your form to allow others to see you as you were remembered best by them. Known as you were known. Recognized... yet it the spirit that they see.. the rest is construct for them, not you. In fact you are a spirit. You always were, a spirit, with a soul living for a short time in a body.
It's hard to explain, but you will be completely a spirit being, but to those who see you in heaven, you will look as you did to them in bodily form while on earth.
To understand, think of a child who dies young. Her daddy is 25 years old. She will see him thus in heaven. His brother who dies at 50 will remember him as about his age and his wife who follows him in death will see that man thru the eyes of love. His mother who bore him and died in childbirth will see him as a young boy. They will all know him, but all in context and construct. Its how people who die see grandparents and such waiting for them... as they knew them.
It will not seem an unfamiliar place to be explored. You will already know all about it. It will seem normal, someplace you already knew. In a strange way, heaven has always been in your heart. You’ve have had glimpses of it. This is why the idea of reincarnation keeps coming up in false religions. There is a sense of going back after you die, so people try to explain life birth and death as reincarnation. The Father started it (and you) by saying “let there be”. It's not reincarnation. But it is a type of returning to the Father ... Remember, once there, all here is now. Eternity.
To grasp this scripturally, “you are already seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus” ...yet you are here. In that way you return to heaven. It is impossible to describe so those who have had a glimpse of Heaven are lost for words.
One thing is certain, once you have been there and come back the fear of death, even the fear of the pain of death is gone. I have known people like that who after such a transformation don’t fear death at all. They received a gift. We can learn from them.
People don't GO to heaven. They enter heaven. Heaven is infinite in proximity. Right here. Right there. Just there. The other side of the veil. It is easier to think of it a long away somehow out there, but it's right here. Not on earth as such, dimensionally proximate.
When people die they step from the cloak of time into the uncloaking of eternity. We are locked in a box called time and enter into an unlimited vista called NOW.. Eternity.
That day comes sooner for some than others, but the Word says, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.”
You have hope.. His name is JESUS.. and it’s more appropriate for those who must leave early to say, “See you soon”.
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