Death is the end of life of a biological organism, or so says Wikipedia. But is death more than that? I think so.

For thousands of years, people have wondered what happens to a person the split second after he or she dies and I often wonder the same thing for personal reasons.

For some, this message may create more questions than answers, so if you are looking for a clear answers, they might not be here. Then again, after reading this, you might rule out certain things you’ve been taught, so in that respect, this message may bring you closer to the truth.

I mean no disrespect for anyone’s beliefs. I’m just putting my mind on paper, so to speak.

I know the scripture that says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. I know the one that says it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this is the judgment, but things get begin to get fuzzy when I read in the twentieth chapter of Revelation where it says all those in hell will be cast into the lake of fire. There is some place worse than hell? The next two chapters describe a new heaven and a new earth.

Let’s look at some scriptures, shall we?

2 Corinthians 5:8 (King James Version)
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
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.

Paul wrote both of these passages. In one, it sounds like we immediately go to be with the Lord when we die, and in the other, the dead in Christ shall rise first…which sounds like their still here. If the dead in Christ are present with the Lord because they are absent from the body…or are they really no absent from the body when they die? Do you understand my frustration here? The first passage shoots the Dirt Nap thing to bits and the second one embraces it. C’mon Paul! If to be absent from the body means to be present with the Lord, what is the purpose of the resurrection? Why is a resurrection necessary if we are already in the presence of the Almighty? I can’t be the only one who wonders about these things. Some people say it is the resurrection of our bodies but if we’re getting new ones, what’s the point? That seems like a dramatic waste of time, which doesn’t make sense.

I’m sure someone will help clear this up for me if I just give it some time. Let’s get back the the passage in Revelation.

Where the Scriptures speak of the new heaven and new earth, it says the old passed away and the verbiage that is used gives the impression that they never existed, which I find interesting because they did exist, but in that scripture, it appears they never did. So, why create a new earth? Who is going to live there?

Few people have the courage to ask questions about the new heaven and earth because to do so would be to challenge the spiritual status quo who believe when we die, we immediately go to heaven…and then we hop a shuttle bus to the new heaven when construction is completed. I’m not being sacrilegious. I’m just trying to connect the dots on a very important subject and the new heaven and there is no suitable place for a new heaven and new earth in our fundamental Protestant doctrine, is there?

Perhaps the truth about death and the hereafter is closely connected to those scriptures. It’s hiding in plain sight.

Are you still with me? Tell the cowards to close the door on their way out. We’ll knock when we want it opened.

Some people think we take a big dirt nap when we die and are awakened at the resurrection, and I suppose they have scriptures to support that belief if they interpret sleep as being a temporal death. According to the Dirt Nap people, we don’t really die, but merely fall asleep and if that is true, dying is no big deal, right? Well, dying is a big deal that should not be trivialized by applying a sleep theory. Sleep is sleep and death is death, right? Are the Hebrew words the same for both? If so, when I go to sleepat night, I am near death, aren’t I, or am I dead? If not, why the confusion and I can’t be the only one who is confused about this.

Many who subscribe to The Big Dirt Nap theory also believe that unbelievers will eventually cease to exist and that the scriptural references to hell are simply figurative ways of describing that cessation. They apparently ignore the whole where the fire is not quenched and the worm dieth notpassages and dismiss the documented place of torment just in case their dirt nap thing is wrong. I even had one person tell me that passage was not in the original manuscripts, to which I asked, “Then why is it there now and what about the ones that refer to a lake of fire?” I got lost in the complicated dissertation that followed. Why do people try to make the Scriptures so complicated? It they take extensive massaging to explain, the base doctrine must be wrong.

So, in one camp we have dead and we are present with the Lord and our bodies will catch up to us later only to be thrown away when we get new ones. Got that? Then in another camp, we have asleepand are awakened at the resurrection, but I guess the unbelievers never wake up. Some toss hell in there for the unbelievers and others don’t. That’s weird. How can two wildly opposing beliefs come from the same scriptures? Answer: They can’t unless there’s a bit of massaging going on.

Let’s add something else to the mix, shall we? Let’s see what Jesus said about death.

Did you ever notice that in all of Jesus’ parables, He only mentioned names in the one about Lazarus and the rich man? Could it be that this parable is more than a parable? Did He even state that it was a parable? In the story, Lazarus, a beggar, died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. The rich man died, was buried, and in hell, he lifted up his eyes… He was tormented in the flame and asked Abraham if he would send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and touch his tongue. The whole things is a bit outside of what is preached from most pulpits when you think about it. For instance, where is Abraham’s bosomand why did Abraham talk to someone in hell? Moreover, how could a man in hell talk to Abraham in the first place? Shoots the dirt nap theory full of holes, doesn’t it? Notice the rich man didn’t cease to exist, but was truly tormented in the flames.

Is this the same Lazarus that Jesus raised from the dead? The Jews seemed to think it was because the story was told after the come forth thingHe did at Lazarus’ tomb. This Lazarus died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s bosom. The Scriptures do not state he went to heaven or paradise. We presume he went to heaven and presumption can be dangerous when interpreting The Scriptures. Now, the Dirt Nap people would interpret this story differently, and there is trouble when they do. If Lazarus was taking a dirt nap, why did the angels carry him to Abraham’s bosom? Wouldn’t he just be asleep and not know anything until the resurrection…when he’d be awakened. I told you there’d be trouble making that doctrine fit. Perhaps the DN folks would say not to worry about it because it really is a parable after all even if Jesus did name names, and I suppose their entitled to that opinion.

I won’t ride the fence here. It is plain to me that believers will reside on the new earth, not in heaven. Consider this question. Does God change His mind? [Hint: No] Could He make such a monumental error in judgment that would cause Him to change his plan? [No] God created man to dwell in the garden and commune with Him. It was never His intention to transplant man into heaven. I can say that because if that was His intention, it would be mentioned in the Scriptures, but it isn’t, so it wasn’t.

Adam and Eve, because of their sin, were driven from the garden and separated from God, and because of that sin, death entered the world. There was absolutely no death before that time, yet since the fall, man and all of creation have been dying. Now, here’s another question. Does God eventually bring things around to fulfill His plan? Yes! In fact, that is why Jesus came and died for our sins and rose again, to restore man to communion with God, and with that in mind, the new earth also makes sense. It is a restoration of God’s original plan for man…and the animals. Remember, He made them first. Perhaps all of this is for another conversation. Right now, I’m still trying to understand death.

What happens to me, the real me, the split second my biological unit ceases to function? Where do I go and when do I go there? I’m not sure I subscribe to the dirt nap theory. Perhaps I did at one time, but it doesn’t seem to make sense when we consider Lazarus and the rich man….unless that is truly a parable and Paul didn’t know what he was talking about in 2 Corinthians 5:8. Here’s another nail in that coffin. Jesus’ last words were, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” He didn’t say, “Father, I’m going to take a dirt nap now. I’ll catch you at the resurrection.” In all His time on earth, Jesus said nothing about a dirt nap followed by a resurrection.

When Jesus died, the graves were opened and many dead saints arose. They couldn’t have eventually died again because it is appointed unto man once to die, or does that mean at least once? Where did those dead and then alive again saints go when they were done walking around? We don’t know because The Scriptures don’t tell us. Before they arose, were they taking a big dirt nap or sent back into their bodies from some other place? Were their bodies packed with worms and ravaged by decay as they walked around? I doubt it because obviously someone would have documented that Dawn of the Living Dead experience. I suspect those saints looked as good if not better than the day they died. Some commentaries state that this event signified that Christ conquered death. Whenever we don’t understand something in scripture, we say that it signifies something but in this case, that cowardly dismissal minimizes what happened that day, doesn’t it? It signifies those dead people came back to life and talked to people. That’s what it signifies.

There is a fine line between death and life and the death of the Son of God disturbed that line. He was clear about the transfer of his spirit and when it took place. He even said so. That spiritual transfer was more than a dirt nap.

Are the dead among us? Do they walk beside us? Are they watching us? Lazarus and Abraham saw the rich man in hell, but neither referenced watching men who are alive even though those who were alive were referenced. They have Moses and the prophets. They…the living.

If the veil that separates life and death is so thin, is it possible for men to speak with the dead? Yes, but we are not supposed. Saul went to the witch of Endor who conjured the ghost of Samuel. Some people say that it wasn’t really Samuel’s ghost, but the Scriptures clearly state that it was. There is no hint that it wasn’t. Saul believed Samuel was summoned from Sheol, the grave, the abode of the dead, the underworld. The scriptures do not state that Saul was mistaken.

Perhaps the existence of Sheol gives some credence to the dirt nap theory, (Read Ecclesiastes and Job) but Christians get Sheol and Gehenna and Hades and the grave and…and…and all of those after-life stations and stopping points confused because translators of the Scriptures lumped them all together and called them hell. Different denominations interpret them differently. Roman Catholics generally interpret Sheol simply as death. Jews who reject the Oral Torah believe that Sheol simply means the grave, a place where we put dead bodies. Protestants stereotypically believe Sheol is a holding place for saints and sinners alike where they await the resurrection. Where did the Protestants get that idea?

Who is right? Who is wrong? Does anyone reallyknow? Does anyone really understand or are they filling in the blanks with a nice story to make us feel better? Where in the Scriptures does it clearly state that Sheol is a holding place for saints and sinners who await the resurrection as though they are conscious and aware but cannot yet move on to their eternal home? I haven’t found that passage yet, but I hear it might be in the Book of Commentaries and I don’t trust the people that wrote that. To understand death, do we first need to understand the differences between Sheol, Gehenna, Hades, etc.? The Scriptures don’t give clear definitions and the only place those places are defined seems to be from the pulpit.

Yeah, I’m a unless I read it in the Scriptures, I won’t believe it kind of guy.

We are expected to believe that to understand death, we must first understand the differences between Hades, Sheol, Gehenna, etc., and that’s simply not true. To understand death, we must first understand life including its boundaries or lack thereof. Life is more than breathing every day. Life is more than watching a baby being born and grow up to be an adult who eventually dies. Life is a part of eternity and to understand death, we must first understand eternity. That’s the rub, isn’t it? People can expound long and loud on death, hell and the grave, but become mumble faced when asked to describe eternity because it is something they cannot mentally grasp and (brace yourself) those who cannot grasp the concept of eternity are secretly unsure of their relationship with God. Deep down inside, they have doubts because they cannot logically consider their presence in eternity.

I think I have a grasp on eternity to the point it’s the focus of a chapter in The Journey, one of the books I have written. The episode is entitled Through a Glass Darkly, and in it, one of the book’s characters explains things he sees and hears that others cannot. You see, I don’t believe in time. No one who really believes in eternity believes in time because time does not exist. It isn’t real, but if it was, it would not be in a straight line. It would fold all over itself and blend with itself. It would be an infinite number of layers with each one touching all of the others, spreading out farther than the eye could see or the mind could imagine. No, eternity is not a longer line of time than we know. It is…eternity. It is forever. Always was and always will be.

I believe in the clarity of near death experiences, glimpses into another realm, but researchers are quick explain the euphoria as a brain mis-fire of one sort or another, which could either mean that there is actually no spiritual realm or the spiritual and physical realms are more closely connected than we realize, the latter being the obvious truth. The scientists use their synapse research to explain away the spiritual, but perhaps they are closer than they realize to catching a glimpse of another realm.

Eternity is eternity and our present existence is temporarily relegated to these biological units we call bodies. This is our beginning, the place where we are grafted into an eternal existence. We are prisoners, trapped in cages of flesh. How we handle this assignment determines our placement in eternity, placement being a relative term. You see, man is comfortable with a time/spatial understanding. It is a way for him (or her) to define his place in the world. Hades, Gehenna, Sheol and the like are all spatial in man’s understanding. They are a tangible placement in the overall scheme of eternity. Even the terms death and sleep are a matter of placement. Eliminate the time/spatial definition and man becomes frightened because he is incapable of understanding the eternal, spiritual realm. Man is sinful and so is his understanding. Anything that is not of God is of sin and God’s presence is no respecter of time and space.

If time and space do not exist, and they don’t, death or sleep or however you wish to explain the malfunction of a biological unit, are merely a passing from one realm of existence into another, the ultimate understanding and acceptance of eternity.

Did I just answer my own questions about death? I’m not sure.

To be absent (placement) from the body is to be present (placement) with the Lord. Removing the time/spatial boundaries, we see that the absence and presence is not a placement, but rather a, existential transition, which makes sense…to me anyway.

Things get a little skewed when we try to apply the concept of a soul into our essence and presence. The word soul is technically not in the Scriptures and was manufactured to describe the difference between man and the animals. The Hebrew words nephesh chayah are use for both man and animals, yet the translators call the animals living (nephesh) things (chayah) and called man a living (nephesh) soul (chayah). God breathed his ruach (breath, wind, spirit) in to the animals and into man and they became living things (nephesh chayah). You don’t usually hear that from the pulpit because it doesn’t fit into the overall man is greater than the animals and less than the angels doctrine.

To understand life and death, we must consider what life is, what life in Jesus means and then how we fit into eternity. At the moment of death, the breath (ruach), our breath returns to God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes 12:7
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Then again…

Psalm 146:4
His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

Psalm 115:17
The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.

Ecclesiastes 9:5
For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Is this the Big Dirt Nap or a complete cessation from any and all comprehensive existence? Neither. These scriptures offer no consideration for spiritual disposition after death, rather explain physical death. Subsequent scriptures do not offer addition insight to a spiritual realm. If we were to take these scriptures as the end-all of life, we would believe that dead is dead and there is nothing else. Consequently, people anxiously pluck these scriptures out of context and hammer them into their favorite life after death doctrine and the technically don’t belong there.

Ah, but there is more to life after death.

John 14:1-6

1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Before you jump up and down and say these scriptures prove that we will live in heaven, understand that the word mansionsdoes not mean a permanent dwelling place. It means a stop over point. Look it up or ask your pastor. Either way, we will be dwelling with God and communing with Him, whether in heaven or on the new earth. The placement is inconsequential when you think about it, right?

So, from what I can tell, our bodies go to the grave and our breath returns to God when we die. He doesn’t toss it into the wind.  We don’t disappear.

I’m still looking for answers and I’ll let you know what I find.

• Topic: Bible Study

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