1 Corinthians 15v47-56 - How Can I Face Death - Bankston Fork - Apr 22 - AM
How Can I Face Death?
1 Corinthians 15:47-56
The British Museum in London has an exhibit of a human body that has been preserved in a remarkable way. It is not a mummy, but is the body of a man dehydrated by the hot sands of Egypt, which he was buried in. The body is in a crouching position, shaped like a human question mark. It has been asked if this is a parable of death. Death is an enigma though it is common to all. It is as much a part of our natural life as birth is. Whether great or small, high or low, powerful or weak, we all will one day face death.
The Greeks had a lot of debate about death and came up with what they thought was a good answer to explain the mystery of death. They decided that humans are by nature kin to the gods. Therefore, every person has a spark of divinity and is by nature immortal.
They believed something else, a human lives in a body, the body is matter, and all matter is evil; but inside that evil body there was a human soul and spirit that was by nature good. So, the ancient Greeks saw humanity as a soul shut up in the cage of a body. They viewed death as liberation. The Greek view was that when a person died, his soul was released from his body and returned to the deity from which it had come. The soul was then absorbed into that deity, like a drop of water returning to the ocean.
That made sense to the Greeks, but they did not know about the resurrection. They had no belief in a bodily resurrection; that would have been contradictory to their beliefs as they thought that the body was evil. They had no concept of personal survival or personal identity after death.
How about the Hebrews, what did they think about death? Their understanding was quite different from the Greeks. They believed in a place of existence after death called Sheol. The earth was the living place for people and animals, and heaven was the abode of God and the angels. They had no concept of humans going to heaven where God was, but they knew that they didn’t remain on earth, either. So they spoke and wrote of Sheol as the grave or the pit. It was the place of shadowy existence after death, a place where shades lived. There was no personal identity there, only nonpersons.
The psalmist saw Sheol as a contradiction, as the shades could not glorify God. Psalms 6:5 No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave?
The Greeks saw death as an escape for the mortal soul. The Hebrews saw death as a shadowy existence in nothingness. May modern Jews still do not believe in life after death, but still have a concept very similar to Sheol.
What do we find about death in the New Testament, though? Immortality is the gift of God to all that believe. Jesus said that if we believe on him we will have eternal life and it would begin immediately.
The Christian view of death has been transformed. It has been revolutionized by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have an insight and an understanding of death and life after death that is not found in any other group that has ever existed or exists today.
Christians, because of Jesus’ resurrection and postresurrection appearances, are no longer left with blind guesses about life after death. We have been given authentic glimpses of glory. Therefore, we can have certainty of faith about things concerning death.
Death wears two faces. It is like the Roman god Janus, for whom the month of January is named. Janus had two faces facing opposite directions. Death is like that. Death from the human point of view looks like defeat and tragedy. But from God’s point of view it is really victory and triumph.
The apostle John got a very good picture of heaven and used up every word of his vocabulary and every comparison that he could come up with to try to explain what it looked like to the first century churches, and us, that he wrote the book of Revelation to. I am sure that he did his best, but I am also sure that the words he used don’t do it justice. Death wears 2 faces – destruction and, do you remember last week what Paul called his impending death, departure.
It has been said that “death is like blowing out a candle because the morning has come.” I think this quote does a wonderful job of describing to us the realities of death. Death can be terribly tragic, but it is not the worst thing that happens in this world. While the prospect of dying can be very troubling and bleak, we really should not have a fear of it. The resurrection of Jesus Christ means that death has died.
Lift up your hearts. Christ has risen from the dead and every person who places faith and trust in him will rise and be clothed with immortality and live forever in the presence of the Lord.
Let me ask you a very personal question this morning. This may be a question that you will have to examine your life to find the answer to, or you may immediately know the answer. The hope I talked about this morning belongs to every born again believer. If today was the day of your death, do you have the type of faith relationship with Jesus that would mean eternal life?
You can have this hope of glory. If you have never received Christ as your own Lord and Savior, I invite you to turn from sin and self right now and receive him as your personal Lord. If you will do that, God’s Holy Spirit will work a miracle in your life.