Word of Salvation – Vol.46 No.40 – October 2001
Comfort At The End
Sermon by Rev. M. P. Geluk on Lord’s Day 22 (Q&A 57-58 Heid Cat)
Scripture Reading: 1Corinthians 15:35-58
Suggested Hymns: BoW 161:1,2; 16:1,2,5,6; 514:1-4; 423:1,7,8
Beloved in the Lord.
Most of us are quite familiar with Question and Answer 1 of the Heidelberg Catechism: “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” Part of the answer goes: “That I am not my own but belong body and soul in life and in death to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.” Generally speaking Christians are more interested to have this comfort in life than at death. The question of many is: how can I cope with life? Our attention is on the here and now. Unless we have a morbid preoccupation with death, we don’t dwell on that subject all that much. We might from time to time think about death and what it will be like to go through death’s door as a Christian. But that’s about it.
Yet, that first question of the Catechism also speaks of Christ’s comfort in death. Not only belonging to Christ in life but also in death. Like at a funeral. The coffin with the dead body inside is lowered into the grave and we hear the minister say: “Seeing that it has pleased Almighty God to take to Himself our brother [or sister] – then the full name will be mentioned – we therefore commit his [or her] body to the ground, looking for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.”
Those standing around the grave are very much aware that death is real and that there are things happening after death. Yes, what will it be like to go through death’s door and enter into God’s presence in heaven?
How will it be when we are clothed with our new resurrected body on the new earth? The Christian who died and whose body we buried already knows what it is like to die and be with the Lord. Those around the grave don’t as yet. But soon after we leave the cemetery, our minds will be busy again with life. What do we still have to do today? What are we having for our evening meal? How much time left before the kids have to be picked up from school?
We are so much attached to this life that even those who hear for the first time that they have cancer will not straight away think about life after death but about their life before death. How long have I still got? How much suffering will I have to go through? What’s going to happen when I can’t cope anymore? All questions and thoughts about this life – which is all very natural, of course. We are concerned with the circumstances of our own life. And we have seen the circumstances of others who battle with cancer, heart disease, or whatever. And then we imagine ourselves in that kind of situation. Yes, it is a good thing that Christ comforts us in life. As Christians we would not want to live without Him. But the Lord will also comfort us in death and we are now going to think about that a little.
Lord’s Day 22 deals with the last two articles of the Apostles’ Creed and the theme of this sermon is, COMFORT AT THE END.
- The Resurrection of the Body
“I believe in the resurrection of the body”, we say, and it may well be one of the most incredible things Christians believe. By comparison it almost seems easier to believe that God created all things from nothing. We can enjoy the beauty of nature and be amazed at the marvels of the human body. We easily see the hand of God. But the resurrection of the body seems harder to believe. None of us have seen a resurrected body. We have only seen dead ones. The Bible speaks of a few people who were raised from the dead, and, of course the resurrected Lord Jesus Himself is the most convincing proof. But those people from the Bible who were raised died again, and the risen Lord went back to heaven. So we only have the evidence of the Bible about the resurrection. It is very much a matter of faith.
Now the Lord Jesus said, “Don’t be amazed at this, for a time is coming, when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out – those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.” (Jn.5:28). Did you notice that Jesus here speaks of a resurrection of both believers and unbelievers? Yes, all people will be raised, not just those who are Christ’s. Also those who do not belong to Him. At Jesus’ coming non-Christians will rise to be bodily condemned in hell, whilst Christians will rise to live bodily with God on the new earth. But the Bible speaks much more about the resurrected believer than about the resurrected unbeliever.
The Christians at Corinth in the first century had no difficulty in believing in Christ’s bodily resurrection. There was plenty of evidence for that. The risen Christ had appeared to the women, to Peter, then to all the disciples. And also to a group of five hundred believers at the same time. But it was the resurrection of the believer’s body they found hard to believe. For unlike Jesus, the bodies of some of their fellow believers in times of persecution had been torn to pieces by wild animals in the Roman arenas. Some were burned at the stake. And some believers who died of old age or from disease might well have looked terrible in their bodies.
We can understand the unbelief of the Corinthians Christians. Some bodies drown, some waste away through terminal illness, some are blown apart in war, some are smashed up in accidents, and so on. How are those bodies going to be raised? And you know what happens to a dead body in the ground! But the Corinthian Christians had to learn that the new body will not be a continuation of the old body. And the things told them by the apostle Paul help us realise that the resurrection body has nothing to do with our present body. But it remains incredible that after we have died, and with time our earthly bodies not being there any more, the same believer will live in a new body.
However, on the other hand, it does make sense to believe in the resurrection of the body. If God is able to create Adam from the ground in the first paradise, then surely He is also able to give new bodies to all the saved in the new paradise. God did not create Adam and Eve as just spirits but human beings, consisting of both a spirit and a body. The whole creation was, in fact, very much a material, physical world. And God said that all He had made was very good.
Quite unlike some Greek philosophers who thought that the soul was all-important and the body a mere container for the soul. But the Bible has always shown the body to be an integral part of God’s creation. The idea of freeing the spirit from the body, as though the body was some packaging material to be thrown away, is totally foreign to the Bible. It is one of the reasons why the Christian faith is so different from eastern religions and new age thinking, which regards the body as being less important than the soul. When the Bible describes salvation then it does so more in terms of the whole person than just the spirit of a person. The whole person is saved, body and soul, and the physical creation will be renewed. Just keep on going back to Jesus. He was raised in the body and ascended with that body into heaven. And He promised a new heaven and earth.
At this point we should say a bit more about what happens when Christians die. Some of you have seen your marriage partner die, or your parent, or a child. I am now thinking about this as a Christian and I am assuming that the one who died was a believer. The point of death came when the breathing stopped. For those of us who were at the bedside we remember looking at that body. It had become completely still. It was no longer alive. But where was the person who lived in that body? We are not atheists or agnostics who believe that the whole person has ceased to exist. We’re thinking about this as Christians whom Christ gave eternal life.
It’s curious that some prefer to think of a so-called soul-sleep. They believe that when believers die they no longer know or are aware of anything. Then when they come alive in the great resurrection then the last thing they will remember is when they died. That whole period of time from their death to Jesus’ second coming is just a blank but they will not even have experienced it as a gap.
Now in one way this idea is understandable. The Bible quite often refers to believers who die as having fallen asleep in Christ. But the expression, ‘falling asleep’, was apparently a standard expression for death among pagans as well as Jews and Christians. It had no particular reference to the state of the soul or consciousness of the deceased.
And also consider this. The Bible always talks about the saved sinner having received eternal life from Christ from the moment of faith and conversion. Not eternal life as from Jesus’ second coming, but as from when a sinner is made a Christian. From that moment he passes from spiritual death to spiritual life. And eternal life must mean what it says, an unbroken life with Christ. If there is a break in that life with Christ then it’s not eternal.
Those who argue for soul-sleep will say that the believer is unaware of this time between death and the resurrection. They say the last thing the believer remembers is dying as a Christian and the next thing he knows he is with Christ in the new body on the new earth. As far as that believer is concerned it is eternal life. But of course that time in between is still there even if the believer is not conscious of it. Eternal life is not just a personal thing for the believer only. The comfort of always belonging to Christ is for the whole church, for all believers whether they are in the body or out of the body. It’s no comfort to us if we have to believe that fellow Christians who died are put on hold, frozen in time, as it were, until the Lord’s coming.
The evidence from Scripture against soul-sleep is quite strong. Jesus said to the saved thief on the cross next to Him, “Today you will be with me in paradise!” (Lk.23:43). Revelation speaks of the believers who died for their faith that their souls are with the Lord in heaven. They are conscious, fully aware of their surroundings, and they are asking the Lord as to how long before He will judge the earth and avenge their blood shed on the earth. They are told to wait a little longer for more things are still to happen before Jesus comes again (Rev.6:9-11). The apostle Paul, faced with many hardships, and longing for peace in heaven with God, yet also conscious of the task the Lord gave to him for the church, says, “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.” (Phil 1:2,3). At another time he wrote, “We… prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (2Cor.5:8). His longing to be with Christ and away from this body can only mean that he was thinking of the soul’s conscious existence in the intermediate state.
Then there is what Jesus said to some Sadducees who did not believe in life after death. “Have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’.” Not, I was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but, I am still the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, even though they have died. His relationship with them continues. Such an ongoing relationship with believers after death would be meaningless if they were not conscious of it. And to drive home what he was saying to the Sadducees, Jesus added, “He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” (Mat.22:32). Abraham, Isaac and Jacob died a long time ago, but they, and all other believers who have died, are alive in their soul right now, and God at present is their God.
With that Scriptural support we can say confidently that the believer’s soul or spirit remains with the Lord, even when his or her dead body is buried. Then at Jesus’ coming all believers will receive a new body. How that will be, was explained by the apostle Paul to the Christians at Corinth (1Cor.15:35ff). They asked, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body…?”
Paul answered these questions with an illustration we can all follow. A seed is put in the ground. There in the soil the shoot of a new plant begins to emerge from the seed. The shoot develops roots which draw the nutrients from the soil and works its way to the surface in search of light and sun. The seed from which it came literally rots away. It is no more. So what comes up is not the same as what was put into the ground.
The same principle applies to the resurrected body. It’s nothing like the old body for that body is subject to deterioration and death, whilst the new body will never age nor die. And in case we still find that hard to believe, then look around the creation now. See the variety of bodies God has made. We humans have one kind of body, animals have another, as do the birds and the fish. Each species has a body unique to the purpose for which God created it. Then think also of the heavenly bodies, meaning now the sun, moon and stars. They are not the same. And stars differ among themselves as to the amount of light they give. God gave each planet and star a different shape, size and existence to suit the very purpose for which He made them. Now if our mighty Creator can make all those different kinds of bodies on earth or in space for whatever purpose He had for them, then surely He can also make for us a body which will perfectly suit our existence on the new earth. You might still say, “but doesn’t it also say in 1Corinthians 15 that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God?” Yes, that’s what it says (vs.50). But it’s not referring to the nature of the resurrected body. When you have a chance later on to look at the context, then you will see that Paul has in mind the flesh and blood of our present earthly bodies. He is saying that man, as he is now, is a fallen creature and as such has become subject to ‘perishableness’ and death. In that state, man cannot enter the kingdom of God. We need to be changed to the likeness of Christ. Here on this earth all men have the flesh and blood of fallen Adam. That cannot get us to heaven. We need to be born again and converted and have Christ’s nature put in us. Then at His coming we will also receive a new body that will be like Christ’s resurrected body.
Now in all of that, in our soul-consciousness after bodily death, right up to Jesus’ coming, and then receiving our new heavenly bodies, we will always be with the Lord. That’s a wonderful comfort and that’s what we are to think of when we confess that we belong to Christ in body and soul, in life and in death.
- Life on the New Earth
The Bible speaks of a spiritual body. A spiritual body is really a contradiction isn’t it? Spirit and matter are two different things. So what is meant by it? Well, a spiritual body is a Christ-like body, the one the Lord had after He had risen from the dead. The Bible shows us a few things about that. After His resurrection, matter or space no longer limited Jesus’ spiritual body. The two disciples walking to Emmaus discovered Jesus to be alongside them, as though He had appeared from nowhere. And later on He just disappeared from them. He then all of a sudden came into the room where the disciples were and not through the door which was locked. He just materialised.
Before Jesus’ death and resurrection His body was not quite like that. We say ‘not quite’, because He did walk on the sea to the boat where His disciples were. Then His body was not subject to gravity like it normally was. But after the resurrection these changes stood out more. And His spiritual body, although capable of appearing and disappearing just like that, was not just spirit. No, they could see Him, touch Him, and He even ate a piece of fish in their presence. So there was a change in that matter and space did not limit His body. And yet in other ways there was no change, for His disciples recognised Him as the same Lord Jesus they had known before His death and resurrection.
Now all believers will have a spiritual body like Jesus. The Bible says when Jesus appears, “we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is” (1Jn.3:2). Yes, we shall see Him face to face. He will know us and we will know Him.
But not only will believers in their spiritual bodies recognise Jesus. They will recognise other believers who are also there in their spiritual bodies. Jesus described our being together on the new earth as a great feast where those who are present have come from the east and the west. And there, with that great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, are also Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Mat.8:11). We mentioned them before already and heard from Scripture that they are not dead but alive. Somehow we will know who they are even though we have never seen them before.
And when Jesus was momentarily transfigured into heavenly glory on that mountain, then Peter, James and John saw Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus (Mat.17:3). They had never met Moses and Elijah for they were believers from another era. But somehow they knew that it was Moses and Elijah. You see what this means? We have never seen Jesus, yet after death in the body and on the new earth we shall see Him face to face and know who He is. It must also mean that when we, in life after death, see and recognise Jesus, we will also see and recognise other believers.
In heaven now, and later on the new earth, all of God’s children are there and they will know each other as the redeemed. Believers in this life, who now already enjoy the communion of saints, can look forward to recognise each other in life after death. How exactly that will be, we now do not know. There will be a tremendous change but the fellowship we now have will not be gone, it will be made perfect. But we need to remember that this fellowship in heaven will not be like the blood ties, family ties and marriage ties we have here on earth. Marriage and family are of this earth. They do not continue in heaven. In heaven it is the fellowship of all who belong to Christ. And because it will be perfect we will not miss the earthly ties.
Many questions remain and we haven’t got answers to all of them. But we do know from the Bible that there will be no pain, no crying, no sorrow, no mourning and no death. Even that’s hard to imagine. Can you and I, as Christians, think of anything here on this imperfect world which is entirely free of pain, sorrow, tears and death? I don’t think we can. It’s therefore hard to imagine a life after death free from all those things. But the Bible says, and the Catechism in Lord’s Day 22 repeats it, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has planned for those who love him- but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit” (1Cor.2:9). Sometimes we have to stop asking questions about things which God has not yet revealed to us. We just have to hope and trust that what God has promised will come true. And it will. The Spirit of God enlightens the things God’s Word has given us. It’s not all clear but there is enough for us to believe that life after death will be just great.
Amen.