Some friends were hanging out one
day and the conversation turned to the subject of death. One of the friends asked: "What would
you like people to say about you at your funeral?" One friend answered, "I would hope
people would say, He was a great humanitarian, a generous philanthropist, who
cared about his community.” A second
replied: "I would want people to say, 'He was a great husband and
father, an example for many to follow.”
The third friend gave it some thought and answered: "I would
hope someone says, 'Look, he's moving!’”
We often use humor when speaking about death.
We also use humor when talking
about heaven, like the story about three women who die and go to heaven:
St. Peter tells
them he’s tied up at the moment and asks them to wait outside the heavenly
gates. Later, St. Peter returns and
calls the first woman into his office. He
apologizes for making her wait so long. “Oh,
I don’t mind at all she replies, I’m just so happy and humbled to be here.” St. Peter is delighted by her attitude. “Well, he says, if you will just answer one
question, we can finish processing your papers.
“How do you spell God?” The woman
spells it and enters the celestial realm.
St. Peter calls
in the next woman and also apologizes for making her wait. She says: “Oh that’s okay, I’m willing to
wait a 1,000 years if necessary, just to see God face to face.” St. Peter is pleased. He asks her: “Tell me, how to you spell God.” The woman spells it and enters the celestial
realm. St. Peter calls in the third
woman. He starts to apologize, but the
woman angrily interrupts him: “How rude of you to make me wait, do you know who
I am? I’m going to get you fired for
being so incompetent!” St. Peter replies,
“I’m so sorry, if you’ll just answer this one question. How do you spell Czechoslovakia
In this Easter season we are
reminded of a universal truth – we humans are mortal, sooner or later, everyone
dies. I think being active in the
church puts us closer to the reality of death than many people, because we
witness the death of church friends and family members throughout the year. How foolish to go through life unprepared
for what we know is inevitable.
A Gallup Poll reports that more
Americans believe in heaven today than in 1981, up from 71% to 78%. This goes along with an increase in those who
believe in hell, up from 53% to 60%. I
think that as 70 million baby boomers approach retirement, they are becoming
more interested in the Hereafter.
The Bible depicts two conceptions
of the afterlife - heaven and hell. We
see this pictured in literature in Dante’s 14th century classic story The
Divine Comedy. The plot of The
Divine Comedy is that a man is miraculously taken on a tour of the
afterlife, to visit the souls in Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise . He has two guides; the Roman poet, Virgil,
leads him through the Inferno and Purgatory.
The young woman, Beatrice, to whom the story is dedicated, leads him on
a tour of Paradise .
Do you believe in an after-life, in
a life-hereafter, in heaven and hell? It
really is about what we believe, what we accept as true; not what is a fact or
what we can prove. It is a truth claim. Some people don’t believe in God and they
don’t believe in an after-life. They
don’t believe God exists and that one’s life is extinguished at death, like one
would extinguish a candle. They might be
right or they might be wrong. But
fundamentally it is still about belief.
Some people don’t believe because
they hold a materialistic view of life.
They believe that reality, that the universe, that all that exists, is
physical. There is no God or spiritual
reality. Truth they believe is empirical, that what is truly known or can be
known comes only through our 5 senses, taste, touch, see, smell, and hear.
I was speaking to a scientist
from our congregation last week. She
said even science acknowledges that there are phenomena that are true or real, even
if we can’t identify them through our senses.
Some examples are time, magnetic fields, thoughts, air, oxygen, gravity,
sound and radio waves. Until the
invention of the electron microscope, atoms, molecules, and sub-atomic
particles were nothing but a hypothesis or theory.
I do believe in an after-life. I know it in the depths of my heart. Remember this, knowing in your heart is still
a type of knowing, a valid knowing, even if not a scientific knowing. I am sure you can think of things you have
known or know today, you know in your heart that cannot be proven. I believe in heaven and I believe in hell. Why? I
agree with the apostle Paul in I Corinthians 15: “If for this life only we
have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
I believe in hell because the
Bible declares that God is holy, moral, righteous, just, fair. For example, the 6th commandment “Thou
Shall Not Murder” declares God’s will for all humanity. There is a price to pay if you violate God’s
commandment. The Bible says there are
consequences for our behavior, the wages of sin is death; the consequence of
evil is punishment. The prophet Amos
says: “Seek good and not evil, that you may live.”
I also believe in hell because
Jesus, the Son of God, speaks of hell. Jesus
said to his disciple, “You are Peter, upon you I shall build my church and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The Bible uses different words for death and
hell and each means something slightly different – sheol, gehenna and hades. Hell is described as the abode of the dead, a
place of judgment, punishment, loneliness, darkness, and separation from God, family
and the faith community.
I also firmly believe in heaven. Clearly, the Bible focuses not only on your
and my life today, and living a Christ-like life, a loving life, an ethical
life, a joyful life, a servant life, but also upon the life to come, everlasting
life, glory. In heaven we live a new
life of joy and peace in God’s presence forever. Imagine that for just a moment. The stirring words in the book of Revelation
paint this picture: “God will dwell with mortals, God himself will be with
them, he will wipe every tear from their eyes, death will cease, grieving and
crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” Here is a beautiful picture of heaven. One I think, given the stress and demands of
life, that we should keep daily in our minds.
I believe in heaven because Jesus
taught about it and because Jesus’ promises it in our future. Jesus said: “Because
I live, you shall live also!” “I
am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, even though they die,
will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Jesus said: “Rejoice and be glad, for your
reward is great in heaven.” Jesus taught: “Our Father who art in heaven,”
and “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus says: “Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father’s house are many rooms; I am
going there to prepare a place for you. I
will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may
be also.” Jesus says: “Do not
store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume, and
where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”
I also believe in heaven because
on Easter God raised Jesus from death to life.
Jesus’ resurrection defeated the power of death. Jesus appeared to many of his followers after
his resurrection. The book of Acts says:
“After his suffering Jesus presented himself alive to them by many
convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the Kingdom of God
I further believe in heaven
because of the countless numbers of people who have testified to the after-life
due to near-death experiences. I have
spoken to some of them personally over the years. It’s fascinating at how similar the stories
are. A nurse, Diane Corcoran, describes
the accounts of hundreds of people she has worked with. In one instance a man said: He felt himself “going to another place.”
With tears rolling down his cheeks, he described this place as “beautiful” and
“wonderful.” But, he was told, he would
have to go back, at which point he woke up in his body.
She said people describe
themselves as hovering and seeing their bodies below, traveling through a
tunnel toward light, and meeting deceased loved ones. Some people describe having a “life review”
or seeing their life, from an outside perspective. Many of those who have near-death
experiences say they were surrounded by an embracing and powerful light unlike
anything on earth.
What is heaven going to be like
according to Scripture? Clearly, we are
speaking about a mystery, but we do catch glimpses from scripture. I believe you can summarize it in three ideas. You’re going to be rewarded for your
faithfulness and obedience to God. You
will be with Christ forever. You will
recognize loved ones and enjoy eternity with them. Believing that Christ is Lord over life and
death, trusting in the promise of Jesus about our future, gives us hope, strength
to carry on, and comfort amidst the trials, losses, and tragedies in life.
I close with the words of Rev. Rick
Warren in his book, The Purpose Driven Life. “This life is not all there is. Life on earth is just the dress rehearsal
before the real production. You will
spend far more time on the other side of death in eternity than you will here. Earth is the staging area, the preschool, the
tryout for your life in eternity. It is
the practice workout before the actual game; the warm-up lap before the race
begins. It is the preparation for the
main event where you’re going to spend all of eternity. At most you will live a hundred years here
on earth, but you will spend forever in eternity. You were made to last forever.
The question is where will we spend eternity?
God offers us not just an opportunity of a lifetime; but an opportunity
beyond our lifetime. God’s plans for our
lives endure forever.” Amen!
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