LIFE AFTER DEATH: One of the most asked question is “what happens to man/woman after biological death?” This question by God’s grace I wish to attend to with my belittled understanding of God’s revelation to man as it is expressed in the sacred scriptures, history and the few years I have existed on this planet earth as a human beking. The death of any man/woman is defined under two categories from my perspective and conviction as a Christian; either a man dies in a consistent, radical, honest and devout relationship with God through Jesus Christ his son who is the reflection and exact imprint of God the father under the influence of the Holy Spirit via Grace, faith and works or in opposition to the indwelling of God’s righteousness in him/her. A person in the former category is said to have died in Christ Jesus not by men’s judgment or reasoning but by God alone who testifies to those who are special in his presence thus “then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks were split” {Mtt.27:50-51} which instigates in the thoughts of those living the conviction to affirm you were a true devotee thus ‘…truly this man was God’s son’ (Mtt.27:54) For this person or persons the Holy Bible refers to them as believers and with regards to the ultimate decision of the only Supreme judge {‘…and to the righteous made perfect’ Heb.12:23, James 4:12} they will either lay in the grave waiting for the last trumpet [“for the Lord himself with a cry of command with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet will descend from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are left will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air and so we will be with the Lord forever” 1 Thess.4:16-17] or they will join heavenly fellowship immediately they close their eyelids in biological death (‘Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me even though they die will live and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Jn.11:25-26) The people in this category who will be alive until the sound of the last trumpet will join their colleagues who died before that time and were resting in the grave with a heavenly body {‘listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die but we will all be changed, in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed’ 1 Cor.15:51-52}, the verse 52 of this passage explains why the holy roman catholic church defines someone a saint after many years of his/her death with some part of his/her body not decayed or the incorruptible whose whole body do not decay at all with the phrase “the dead will be raised imperishable” i.e their dead body will not decay or perish till the last trumpet sounds. This imperishability of their body was also well defined by Jesus Christ thus ‘those who believe in me though they die will live’ [Jn.11:25]. This also affirms the company of the saints among the living and there intercessory role for us before the lamb of God in whom they believed in, lived and died for [‘and all the angels stood around the throne the elders and the four living creatures and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God singing Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen Then one of the elders addressed me, saying who are these robed in white and where have they come from? I said to him, sir you are the one that knows. Then he said to me, these are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb’ Rev.7:11-14 / “thanks be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has enabled us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light” Col.1:12] This episode of John’s gospel also explains the fact that there are those who gain direct entrance into heaven immediately they die and there are those whose consistency in authentic, radical and unwavering faith in Jesus Christ manifested in adoration and worship to Jesus Christ; the lamb of God and a life of mortification and atonement for individual sin and sins of the whole world will never die until the last trumpet and they will gain direct access into heaven while others are assembling for judgment before the supreme judge. Those who live in honest, sincere, radical, consistent faith in Christ Jesus as well as those who die in this state will not be judged again on the last day for they have received their own judgment on earth and have completed their own atonement for it here on earth as well {‘but if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world’ 1Cor.11:31-32} Those who have been judged on earth are those who accept the sin-ability dwelling within a man (‘if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us’ 1 Jn.1:8) no matter the level of spirituality attained [“so if you think you are standing watch out that you do not fall” 1 Cor.10:12] just like Jesus Christ who was God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped rather he emptied himself and took the form of a servant (Phil.2:6-11) and He who had no sin was convicted for sin by his father and He accepted it so that we might become the righteousness of God {‘for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God’ 2 Cor.5:21} therefore the death of these set of people is a pleasant sacrifice in the sight of God (‘but the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God and no torment will ever touch them…having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good because God tested them and found them worthy of himself; like gold in the furnace he tried them and like a sacrificial burnt-offering he accepted them…’ Wisdom 3:1-9), {‘…and the day of death is better than the day of birth’ Eccl.7:1}, [“but the righteous live forever and their reward is with the Lord; the Most High takes care of them. Therefore they will receive a glorious crown and a beautiful diadem from the hand of the Lord because with his right hand he will cover them and with his arm he will shield them” Wisdom 5:15-16] The righteous are not condemned or judged again because Jesus Christ has paid the price for their condemnation [‘surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole and by his bruises we are healed. All we are like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all’ Isaiah 53:4-6] by receiving judgment for sin through the blood he shed on the cross of Calvary (“you know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without defect or blemish” 1Pet.1:18-19, Col.1:19-20) though he did not commit any sin therefore making his believers the righteousness of God {2 Cor.5:21}. This fact St. Paul clearly stated in his letter to the Romans thus “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death” (Rom.8:1-2) but there is punishment for the righteous who go ahead insulting the spirit of grace given to them, treating with disdain the blood by which they were ransomed and trampling on the son of God [Heb.10:26-31] since he has given us all that we need for true devotion to him in His Son yet we go ahead to commit sin (‘His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Thus he has given us through these things his precious and very great promises so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust and may become participants in the divine nature…’ 2 Pet.1:3ff) ‘…and be sure your sin will find you out’ {Numb.32:23} “Be assured, the wicked will not go unpunished but those who are righteous will escape” [Prov.11:21] ‘Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven but whoever denies me before others I also will deny before my Father in heaven’ (Mtt.10:32-33) ‘But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed [Rom.2:5] “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked for you reap whatever you sow” {Gal.6:7} ‘See I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work’ (Rev.22:12). For this reason we are admonished not to permit any bit of unrighteousness even though we have been saved by grace, mercy and love {“and do not make room for the devil” Eph.4:27} Those who died refusing correction as well as rejecting judgment in the flesh will join their choice place after biological death thus; Those who were not baptized with water and spirit before their biological death, the inconsistent with Righteousness, those who neglect their supposed responsibilities with regards to their vocation and those who give excuse that certain things are little hence can be overlooked will face the cleansing fire of hades (“in hades where he was being tormented he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side” Lk.16:23), {‘then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord and satan standing at his right hand to accuse him and the Lord said to satan, the Lord rebuke you, o satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this man a brand plucked from the fire’ Zech.3:1-2} Those who worship wealth, religion, fashion, women, men, wine, power, celebrate nudity/nakedness will join their source under the sea (‘for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’ Mtt.6:21) Those who live in mediocrity and are intimidated into untimely death by the demons of darkness, marine-powers, occult powers, impoverishment e.t.c will be trapped by death {“my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge…” Hosea 4:6} All the souls operating at this realm within any of the above mentioned category whether dead or alive until the second coming of Jesus Christ in glory with the heavenly outcry will be vomited from these hidden states/condition and stand before the supreme judge for the last judgment according to the content of their life history, their obedience to the contents of the sacred scripture culminating in those who were able to enlist their names in the Lamb’s book of life thus “then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence and no place was found for them and I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life and the dead were judged according to their works as recorded in the books and the sea gave up the dead that were in it, death and hades gave up the dead that were in them and all were judged according to what they had done. Then death and hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire” {Rev.20:11-15} Which group will join if death comes knocking now?
Posted on: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 04:25:19 +0000
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