Is There an Afterlife?预览

Pick a person on a busy street and ask them what Christians believe about life after death and you might get some crazy answers. They envision harpists floating on clouds, chubby babies with pigeon wings, and majestic gates guarded by a fisherman with a clipboard. Generally, the idea people have of an afterlife is experiencing a disembodied eternity floating around in the sky making music, while Hitler gets tortured by a pitchfork-wielding goat demon.

The picture of heaven described in the Bible is a lot more earth-like. The hope for a future beyond death in the Bible is resurrection: a physical life on a physical earth. God created a physical world. Sin, suffering and death entered it. But this hasn’t caused God to change his mind about filling a physical world with humans who demonstrate His character: a world full of the knowledge of the glory of God. Sin, suffering and death are a stain on the physical world, but God will cleanse creation, not give up on creation. Our clothes get stained, but we don’t become nudists.

Jesus often talks about the resurrection of the dead that’s to come on the day when God finally removes evil, suffering and death from the world. All the dead will come to life again, some to experience eternal life enjoying the presence of God filling creation; some to face judgment for their rebellion against God that they never repented from.

Those resurrected to life might be said to be ‘in heaven’, but this language has become misleading, as tradition and false assumptions have let us believe that it will never be on earth. Heaven is the place where God’s presence is fully known, which currently isn’t earth because of the presence of evil. However, when evil and suffering are removed, heaven and earth will be joined together, and God will live fully with us.

Those raised to judgment will experience what Christians call ‘hell’. This isn’t Satan’s own kingdom; it’s his punishment. People won’t be given over to sadistic demons; they’ll be given over to the judgment of a just God. What will exactly be experienced in this judgment is mysterious, but the little the Bible does say is that it will be eternal and terrible to experience.

We’ll talk more about heaven tomorrow, and then more about Jesus’ role as Judge. But today, consider God’s commitment to rescuing His creation from evil. You’re one of His creations. In what ways are you struggling with brokenness where you need help? How could Jesus help you with that?