GodSprings - March 30, 2016

Will I Be in Heaven?

If someone dies, will they live again? John 14:14 (NIV)

During an impassioned sermon on death and facing judgment, the visiting evangelist said forcefully, "every member of this church is going to die and face judgment." Early on in the sermon he noticed a gentleman smiling on the front row.

The minister kept pushing his theme, "Every member of this church is going to die." The guy smiled even more while everyone else in the congregation had a very somber look. In an effort to get through to the guy, the preacher repeated it several more times forcefully, "EACH MEMBER OF THIS CHURCH IS GOING TO DIE."

Each time the phrase was repeated, the man smiled more. This really got the preacher wound up and he preached even harder. The man still smiled. The preacher finally walked down off the platform to stand just in front of the smiling man and shouted, "I SAID EACH MEMBER OF THIS CHURCH IS GOING TO DIE."

At the end of the service the man was smiling from ear to ear. While everyone else was looking pretty grim from the prospect of entering eternity, the man seemed quite happy. After the service the preacher jumped down off the platform and worked through the crowd to find the man. Pulling him aside, the preacher said, "I don't get it. Every time I said, 'Every member of this church is going to die,' you were laughing. I want to know why you did that?"

The man looked the preacher square in the eye and said confidently, "Because, I'm not a member of this church."

One of the Bible's greatest forms of communication is by means of questions. One of the greatest questions is asked in Job 14: 14, "If someone dies, will they live again?" That is a great question because it is a question everyone must answer. Everyone faces the question, and everyone must find an answer to the question, "If a man dies shall he live again?"

Most people do not like to think of their mortality, and they will often go to great lengths to avoid talking about the subject with others. But in two instances the reality of our mortality rises to the surface and forces us to face the dreaded subject: when we attend the funerals of loved ones and when we are personally suffering from a severe sickness. In these times, people who previously avoided pondering the subject are often left to wonder, what will happen to me when I die?

Job was experiencing both of the above conditions in his life. First, Job had to bury his ten children while still grieving their sudden and unexpected deaths. Second, Job had his own illness to deal with, as his physical suffering brought him near the brink of death. Out of his pain and agony, Job cried out to God, asking if life existed after death. We must remember that Job did not have the same revelation we have today. Although he was a man of faith, he did not have all the answers. Although Job would later display a strong faith in the living God and demonstrate a confidence that he would one day see God face-to-face (Job 19:25–26), at this moment, Job was wrestling with the subject of life after death.

During times of grief and pain, hopelessness can cloud your vision and cause you to think that God has forgotten you. Whatever uncertainties Job may have wrestled with regarding life after death, no one needs to wrestle with that kind of uncertainty ever again because Jesus answered the question once and for all by declaring, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25). These words are not dead, spoken by a dead God. God is not dead. Jesus rose from the dead and conquered the grave, bringing hope and everlasting life to all who believe in Him.

Life is short, and how much we run, walk, bike, swim, or work out does not matter. We can diet, eat right, or give up fatty foods. These are all good habits for living a healthy life. But in the end, no one can cheat death. No one knows the day or the hour of his or her own death, but one thing we can know for certain. All who have faith in Jesus Christ, all who can say, as Job said, “I know that my Redeemer lives” (Job 19:25), can know that when they die, they will be with God in heaven. Will I Be?