Is There Life after Death?

IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH?

I) Some people deny it

II) Jesus describes it

III) Scripture teaches it

 

Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question.  “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother.   Now there were seven brothers.  The first one married a woman and died childless.  The second and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died too.  Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”  Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels.  They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.  But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord, ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’  He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”  (39-40:  Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!”  And no one dared to ask him any more questions.)

 

Maybe you’ve heard the story about the veteran pastor who greeted his brand new associate with this invitation: “Now that there are two of us in this congregation, let’s divide the responsibilities this way: you take all the weddings, and I’ll take all the funerals.”  Does that sound strange?  Maybe you will want to ask your pastor if he concurs.

 

What’s the point of the story?  Is it that the old veteran was tired of working with nervous brides and stressed out mothers and mothers-in-law, or exasperated by wedding parties that were too interested in the party and not in the solemnity of worship?  Is it that he preferred a more captive audience that gazes over the casket toward the altar of the living God?

 

Most pastors will tell you that they enjoy proclaiming the gospel for both events.  But there is something special and comforting about a funeral sermon.  It’s because, in a very special moment and very special way, you can share the culminating hope and victory of the Christian faith.  You share the message of Easter Sunday.  You share Jesus’ promise: Because I live, you also will live.

 

It makes another story about a pastor who journeyed from liberal theology to Biblical theology so haunting.  There was a time, he said, that the most difficult sermon for him to write during the year was his Easter sermon.  Its preparation required extra hours and extra blood, sweat and tears.  Why?  Because he did not believe in the physical resurrection of the body.  He says in his book that he had to craft his words in such a way that those members who believed in the resurrection would hear that message, but those who did not - including him - wouldn’t be forced to believe it.  Thank the Holy Spirit for eventually leading him to the Truth!

 

What would it be like to belong to a church that didn’t proclaim the hope of the resurrection?  What would it be like to attend the funerals of fellow members and never hear a single word about Easter?  Maybe you have been to funerals where that has happened, and you have walked away empty and hopeless. 

 

IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH?  That’s probably the second most important question we can ever ask, right after “What must I do to be saved?”  On a Sunday given the title Saints Triumphant, the answer to our question should be dreadfully obvious.  But it’s an answer we can never hear enough.  That’s why Jesus addresses it for us just four days before he himself faced his own death.  Three realities are ours to the question, IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH? today: I) Some people deny it, II) Jesus describes it and III) the Scriptures teach it.

 

I

The Sadducees denied the possibility of the resurrection and the existence of angels.  These powerful people in Jewish society claimed that the books of Moses were the only books that came from God, and they claimed that Moses said nothing about the resurrection in these books.  They were much too concerned with the political climate - the Jewish state - to be thinking about life after death.

 

“Besides,” they thought, “Moses’ laws of marriage (called the Levirate law) would nullify life after death.”  So they tried to trap Jesus with a quotation from Deuteronomy 25.  The LORD God commanded that, if a man died childless, it was the responsibility of his brother to marry his widow and give her a child.  In so doing, they were acting in faith that God would keep his promise of a Messiah.  So a woman gets married seven times (one less that Elizabeth Taylor) and then dies childless.  “How are you going to answer this one, Jesus?  What’s her status in your so-called ‘resurrection’?”

 

There are those who still deny the resurrection on the Last Day.  Some think that death is the end of existence.  Some religions, such as Hinduism, believe that the soul is reincarnated; i.e., it returns in the body of another person or animate object.  Others believe that the souls of their ancestors stay on earth and offer them assistance in this life.  The Jehovah’s Witness who frequented my doorstep wanted me to believe that the afterlife for most will be an eternal existence on a new earth. 

 

The Bible says, man is destined to die once, and after that to face the judgment (Heb. 9 24).  All people are born with a knowledge that there is a God.  Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes that God has placed eternity into the heart of man.  All people know that they are accountable to God, and that they will have to face him some day.  IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH?  Some people deny it.  They close their ears to their conscience which shouts, “You have to face that God someday!”

 

All people have a natural fear of that judgment - that includes you and me - because the record of sin points to the fact that God should deal with us on the basis of our sin.  That’s why they try to deny life after death.  But deny all you want, THERE IS LIFE AFTER DEATH.  And II) Jesus describes it.

II

Matthew’s account of this incident says that Jesus rebuked the Sadducees sharply:  You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God (22:29).  Their vision was so poor they could not look beyond this world.  But Jesus is true God.  He knows what heaven looks like because he came from there to live with us.  He knows what the resurrection will be like: At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.  In one little sentence, he slam dunks both of the Sadducee’s errors. 

 

There are angels in heaven.  They are God’s ministering spirits who surround us and guard and protect us.  What a comfort it is to pray Luther’s morning and evening prayers: Let your holy angel be with me, that the wicked foe may have no power over me.

 

One day I will be able to see the angels.  John tells us in his Revelation that we human beings and God’s angels will all be gathered around the throne of heaven, singing the praises of our Rock and Fortress. 

 

Jesus describes it - this life after death.  He doesn’t say we will be angels.  Angels are spirits.  We human beings are flesh and bones.  In heaven we Triumphant Saints will have perfect, glorified bodies, just like the body Jesus had after his resurrection.  St. Paul says that Jesus will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body (Phil. 3:21).  Our bodies will be free of sin and all the horrible consequences of sin.  How comforting are those words you so often hear at funerals from the Revelation of St. John: He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (21:4)

 

He also says that there will be no marriage in heaven.  Diane, by bride of 31 years, and with whom God has given us wonderful children, will not be my wife in heaven.  When God has gathered up the last of his elect - his saints on earth - the end comes.  There will be no need for baby saints to be born in heaven.  Diane will be my sister in Christ, just as your spouse will be a fellow triumphant saint.  We will, as Jesus describes life after death in other parts of Scripture, enjoy the heavenly banquet of the blest.  We will enjoy the place he is preparing for us at this very moment.  We will see him face to face.  And as the hymn writer says, “And, oh, eternity’s too short to utter all Thy praise.”

 

IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH?  Jesus describes it as One who knows it first hand.  So that we can grow in our confidence of this truth, he made sure that III) the Scriptures teach it.

 

III

It’s funny how people who do not believe that the Bible is the voice of God speaking to mankind still try to quote the Bible to prove their point.  The Sadducees claimed that Moses never spoke of the resurrection.  Many people today make the claim that the teaching of the resurrection was one that evolved over time.  Jesus, who could have quoted Job (I know that my Redeemer lives...and after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God [19:25ff]) or Isaiah or Daniel to prove his point, wanted his opponents to see that they did not know the Scriptures.  So he quoted Moses.  But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’  He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.

 

From Moses to Revelation, the Bible assures us that there is indeed life after death.  For some it will be an eternity of experiencing the wrath of God.  Eternal death is really being alive forever to suffer.  For others life after death will be an eternal existence of experiencing the love and peace of God.  We will all face life after death.  We will all stand before the God who created us to honor, love and serve him perfectly all the time with all our heart and soul and strength and mind.  We will all have to give an account for our lives, the Bible says.  That’s when our sins come into clear focus.

 

So the Scripture takes us to a cross, where we see our Substitute lived the perfect kind of life that he demanded from our human race.  We hear him screaming in agony for the pain that our sins caused him.  We hear his horror as he faced the hell that is being shut off from the love of God.  What we deserved he endured.  What should have been our punishment became his. 

 

Scripture teaches us about life after death as it takes us to the empty tomb of Jesus.  Look inside and see you sins buried there.  Look inside, and see that you were buried with Christ by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, you too may live a new life.  Look inside.  The tomb is empty.  Jesus lives.  And no sweeter words can ever be uttered.  Because he lives, we - forgiven and restored and at one with God - will live, too. 

 

We are triumphant saints today, not just someday in the future.  That, as Jesus says, is the power of God working in us at this very moment.  It is the power to put away our sin, the power to set our hearts on things above, not on earthly things.  It is the power to love one another, and to be a servant to all.  It is the power to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.  It is the power to quench our fear of death when the devil assails us by turning to the unbreakable promises of Jesus that he will not allow anything in all creation to separate us from his love.  It is the power to share with others the hope that we have. 

 

IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH?  The answer affects everything we believe and do.  It convinces us that ours is not a life with a hopeless end, but a life with endless hope.  And someday, with all the saints triumphant, our hope will become reality.  Amen.

 

Rev. Thomas Bauer

Shoreland Lutheran High School

Somers, WI

 

The video of Sunday's Saints Triumphant sermon by guest preacher, Pastor Tom Bauer: Is There Life after Death?