BEYOND YOUR SUNSET

 

After the usual hymns, the pastor slowly walked over to the pulpit. Before he gave his sermon he briefly introduced a guest minister who was in the service that evening. In the introduction, the pastor told the congregation that the guest minister was one of his dearest childhood friends and that he wanted him to greet the church and share whatever he felt would be appropriate for the service.

 With that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak. "A father, his son and a friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific coast when a fast-approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to the shore." He began, “The waves were so high, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright and the three were swept into the ocean as the boat capsized.

Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life: to which boy would he throw the other end of the life line? He only had seconds to make the decision. The father knew that his son was a Christian and he also knew that his son's friend was not. The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of waves.

As the father yelled out, "I love you, son!" he threw out the lifeline to his son's friend. By the time the father had pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beneath the raging swells into the black of night. His body was never recovered”. By this time, two teenagers were sitting up straight in the pew, anxiously waiting for the next words to come out of the old minister's mouth.

"The father," he continued, "knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus and he could not bear the thought of his son's friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus. Therefore, he sacrificed his son to save the son's friend."How great is the love of God that he sacrificed his only son that we could be saved. I urge you to accept his offer to rescue you and take a hold of the life line he is throwing out to you in this service." With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room.

The pastor again walked slowly to the pulpit and delivered a brief sermon with an invitation at the end. However, no one responded to the appeal. Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man's side. "That was a nice story," politely stated one of them, "but I don't think it was very realistic for a father to give up his only son's life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian."

"Well, you've got a point there," the old man replied glancing down at his worn Bible. A big smile broadened his narrow face. He once again looked up at the teenagers and said, "It sure isn't very realistic, is it? But standing here today to tell you that story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up his son for me. You see, I was that father and your pastor was my son's friend."

Two Bible verses must have gone through the fathers mind at that critical- decision -making moment. The first is John 11:25-26, Jesus said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me will live even if he dies”. The second is Revelation 20:15 “if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire”. By letting his son die in order to save the friend, he ensured both boys would be reunited in heaven.

Of all the fears that plague the heart of man, none is greater than the fear of death. We are afraid to die and yet compared to eternity, life is very brief, no matter how long we live on earth. The Bible likens it to a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes (James 4:14), a  breath, a fleeting shadow (Psa. 144:4). Moses said, “You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning-though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered "( Psalm 90:5-6).

Lazarus was sick and his sisters sent word to Jesus saying, "Lord, the one you love is sick" (John 11:3).  Jesus stayed where He was for another two days. Then he told his disciples "Let's go to Judea again. Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm going to go wake him up." "Lord, sleep is good for sick people. If he's sleeping, let's let him sleep” they replied. Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep.

Why would Jesus say sleep when He really meant death?  This is a common occurrence in the Scriptures. In Luke 8, when a girl had died, Jesus said, "Stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep" (Luke 8:52).  Paul preached that David fell asleep and was laid among his father’s (Acts 13:36). When the Jews were stoning Stephen, he cried out "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" And having said this, he fell asleep (Acts 7:59-60). 

Stephen saw Jesus waiting to receive him. He did not cry out “Lord I am finished!” Instead he said “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Lazarus was dead from the human and the clinical viewpoint.  But he was sleep from the Bible viewpoint because it was only a temporary repose for the body. When we go to sleep at night, we rise up again in the morning. The Bible refers to believers who have died as being asleep because they will rise up one day. 

Jesus said to Martha, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha replied, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” Jesus said that he is the resurrection and the life. To have Jesus is to have resurrection and life within you. Jesus challenged Martha to believe that.

Jesus simply called Lazarus out of the tomb and Lazarus came out. Jesus had said on a previous occasion that a time would come when all who were in their graves would hear his voice (John 5:28). This occasion was a single demonstration of that authority. Jesus spoke to a dead body as if Lazarus were alive because He gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did (Rom. 4:17).

We typically think of people being raised from the dead as a New Testament deal but it’s not so. Elijah and Elisha prayed for dead boys and they came back to life (1Kgs. 17:20-23, 2Kgs. 4:32-35).  1n 2Kings 13 we read that when a dead body fell on the bones of Elijah, he came to life! Job said “I know that my Redeemer lives and that as the last he will stand upon the earth.  An in my flesh I will see” (Job 19:25-27).  Daniel wrote “Many of those who sleep in the dusty ground will awake some to everlasting life and others to shame and everlasting abhorrence. (Dan. 12:2-3).

In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 Paul tells the Thessalonians not to grieve about the Christians who die like people who have no hope.  Paul does not want their grief to be that dead-end grief that comes to people who have parted forever. You never say goodbye to a believer for the last time. There will always be another meeting.  Those who die in Christ remain in Christ forever and will be raised in Christ.  For them death is only a good night; they will meet again when they wake up, in the resurrection morning.

What happens to someone after death is a mystery that no scientist can explain.  But, the Bible has explained what lies beyond death. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul tells us that Christians have nothing to fear, that no matter how, when or where they die, and no matter what may be their physical condition at the moment of death, they have a promise from God. In 2 Corinthians 5: 1 Paul tells us “that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven”.

Tents are flimsy, easily torn and temporary. When the mission is accomplished, they are uprooted and taken away. Our earthly bodies are like tents; they house us as long as we live on earth. Sooner or later they wear out, they sag, they wrinkle, the heart slows down, the eyes grow dim, the teeth fall out and the back is stooped. Eventually they stop working altogether (Ecc.12:3-7). Even if we don’t die of diseases or accidents, we shall eventually die of age. After death our earthly body will decay and return to dust (Ecc. 12:7).  But one day we shall resurrect in new bodies, glorious (Phil.3:21), incorruptible and immortal (1Cor. 15:53-54). 

Apostle John describes what will happen after resurrection.  He saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it. The sea and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them. John saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire, this is the second death (Rev. 20:11-15).

It is wistful anticipation that the unbelievers who have died will be reunited with their loved ones.  Unbelievers will be raised only to be thrown into the lake of fire which is the second death. Once they die they will never live again, their death is permanent. In the funerals of unbelievers there is a terrifying hopelessness and a terrible sense of finality.  However, for the believers death will not have the last word. Jesus promised to raise his followers from the dead. Those who die in him will only sleep for a while. They will wake up in the resurrection morning, never to die again; death is not the end of their story.