Looking at death a different way 1a
Looking at death a different way
When I die I will go through the act of dying or what is more commonly known as the termination of life and enter into the state of being dead. I will not know that I am dead though because there is no consciousness in death.
I won’t even know I was dead anytime in the distant future either. By saying I won’t know I’m dead comes from Ecclesiastes 9:5-“For the living know that they shall die but the dead know nothing”. If the bible is to be believed then there is no doubting that what I have said so far is also true. This may be comforting to some but scary to others and even down right spooky. Think about it for a minute. You will know that I have died and am dead but based on the Scripture above, I won’t know anything. To take the Scripture above just one step further a person could say they have no consciousness of death. To explain this better I have had to be put to sleep on two different occasions. I remember what happened before I went to sleep and what happened when I woke up but I have no memory of anything that happened while I was asleep. To me it was just an instant from start to finish. If you have ever been put to sleep can you remember anything that happened during that time? Probably not.
The scriptures don’t say that death is like sleep but that death is sleep. See the examples below.
“And the Lord said unto Moses, behold, you shall sleep with your fathers” (Deut. 31:16)
David said “Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death”. (Psalm 13:3)
When Lazarus was dead (John 11:14) Jesus said: “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep” (John 11:11)
Paul knew that once he died the next waking moment would be in the resurrection with a new body ( 1 Cor. 15:49) and although it would happen in an instant (from this life to the next life without missing a heart beat), he would have to wait until “the last trump” (1 Cor. 15:51). From Paul’s perspective it would only be but a moment in time. I believe it will be that way for me, that one instant I am alive and the next instant I will be alive with Jesus because of the resurrection. I may have been physically dead for centuries but that won’t matter. When I step from one room (physical life) into the next room (life with Christ) I will never know anything else that happened. `When Jesus arose on the third day He had defeated death, not just for him but for everyone that believes in Him. Everyone wants to live as long as possible but when that time is over, don’t despair, Jesus is waiting.