Cornerstone Questions: Where Do I Go When I Die & Future Resurrections?

Over the past month I have been trying to take some time each week and answer a question that I have received by someone in my church. I have received questions from all over the spectrum and am always excited about answering more. Before I get into this question, here are a list of the questions I have already received:

• Why 66 books of the Bible?
• The Ten Commandments and the Sabbath
• Why is Jesus called 'Everlasting Father?'

Question: If there are specific resurrections, why do people believe they go immediately to heaven? Will God raise them at this time? If there is no time with God then are they already there, or does that make it seem immediate to them since that's their next waking moment? I read about the Last Great Day and specific resurrections, not immediate ascension to heaven. It doesn't make sense that you go there and are joined with God but you're just hanging around waiting for your body to be resurrected by itself. What's the point? When Christ was resurrected, he was resurrected.

This question may be a bit confusing, but let me see if I can get to the root of the issue. I think primarily this person is asking about the intermediate state. What happens to us when we die and our bodies are put into the ground. Does our soul go into some sort of sleep and then awake at the resurrection of our body or do we go to some holding place.

The very short answer is that I believe when a believer dies today they go immediately to be with the Lord. I get this from several passages of Scripture. The Apostle Paul told the church at Philippi that it was his desire to depart and be with Christ.

"For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better." (Philippians 1:21-23)

It was very clear to him that if he were to die, he would be with Christ. I really don't think he needed to clarify that, but he does make it even clearer, I believe, in his words to the church at Corinth.

"So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord." (2 Corinthians 5:6-7)

What Paul is saying is that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The Apostle Paul makes it plain and simple. But not as simple as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. While He was hanging on the cross, one of the thief's next to Him and begs, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus responds to him by saying, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:42-43). We know that Jesus' body was laid in the tomb and we can assume the same thing happened to the thief. Yet, Jesus said, that day they would be with each other in paradise.

I clearly believe that when a person dies, they go immediately to be with the Lord. What I do not believe is that this is the final place we will spend all eternity. That is why I referred to it earlier as the intermediate state. Randy Alcorn, the author of the insightful book, Heaven, wrote a blog post entitled Intermediate (Present) Heaven vs. Eternal Heaven. I would highly recommend it. Here is a taste of what he has to say:

"When a Christian dies, he or she enters into what theologians call the intermediate state, a transitional period between our past lives on Earth and our future resurrection to life on the New Earth. Usually when we refer to 'Heaven' we mean the place that Christians go when they die. When we tell our children 'Grandma's now in Heaven,' we're referring to the intermediate Heaven."

He goes on to say:

"God's children are destined for life as resurrected beings on a resurrected Earth. We must not lose sight of our true destination. If we do, we'll be confused and disoriented in our thinking about where, and in what form, we will spend eternity. Will we live in Heaven forever? The answer to the question depends on what we mean by Heaven. Will we be with the Lord forever? Absolutely. Since Heaven is where God dwells, we'll always be in Heaven. But will we always be with God in exactly the same place that Heaven is now? No. In the intermediate heaven, we'll be in Christ's presence, and we'll be joyful, but we'll be looking forward to our bodily resurrection and permanent relocation to the New Earth."

I have no doubt that when we die we will be in the presence of Christ. What I don't fully grasp is what kind of form we will be in, body or spirit? Since our bodies are buried, will we have some other type of bodily form or just some sort of spirit form (Alcorn argues that we have some sort of bodily form that is at least recognizable to others).

I hope that makes sense. And I hope that somewhat answers the question that was being asked.

Jesus or the Holy Spirit

We often think that having if Jesus were here walking and talking with us that a sanctified life would be much easier. But apparently, that is not the case. Jesus makes a remarkable statement in John 16:7 which has always caused me to stop and think. He says,

"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you."

We know from other Scriptures that Jesus was talking about sending the Holy Spirit as our Comforter. This has always been a mystery to me. How could the invisible Spirit of God impact my life more than the real person of Jesus Christ? Yet, Jesus says that it is to our advantage that He leave and send the Spirit. I am currently reading How The Gospel Brings Us All The Way Home by Derek W. H. Thomas. It is a book on Romans 8 and in a section I read today, he dealt with this thought. Here are his thoughts that helped me to a certain point. 

"The disciples were understandably fearful of losing the Savior's presence and fellowship. The truth was that they would come to know Jesus better after He had disappeared from this world. 

Does the presence of the Spirit seem a poor substitute for the presence of Jesus in the flesh? Perhaps this thought occurred to the disciples in the upper room. But a moment's reflection dispels any such concern. The Holy Spirit was present at the conception of Jesus (Luke 1:35) and enabled Him to grow in wisdom, strength, and favor with God and with men (Luke 2:40, 52). The Spirit came upon Jesus at His baptism and thereafter acted as principal strategist in Jesus' encounter with the powers of darkness (Luke 3:22; 4:1). By the Holy Spirit Jesus offered His life on the cross as an atonement for sin (Heb. 9:14). And, as Paul reminds us in this passage, by the Spirit Jesus rose from the dead (Rom. 8:11). 

To have the Spirit in our hearts is to have Him who has been intimately involved in every facet of Jesus' work--incarnation, obedience, sacrifice, and resurrection. And the Spirit has been in fellowship with the Son for eternity. The Spirit knows the Father and the Son in comprehensive, exhaustive detail. He searches 'the depths of God' (1 Cor. 2:10). Nothing is hidden from the Spirit. He 'proceeds' from the Father (John 15:26) and is breathed out by the Son (John 20:22). 'By this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us' (1 John 3:24). It is the Spirit who brings us into 'fellowship . . . with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ' (1 John 1:3)" (33-4).

At least for today, it is a good thought on the importance of the Holy Spirit in my life. 

How To Deal With The Tragedy at Chardon High School

Yesterday morning just before 8 A.M., I started to receive text messages and phone calls informing me of the events happening at Chardon High School. In case you have been hiding under a rock the past 24 hours, there has been another school shooting. Just after 7:30 A.M., yesterday morning, one young man opened fire on a handful of students in the cafeteria at Chardon High School, just east of Cleveland. Five students were shot, and as of now, two of the students have died. While my heart has always been disturbed over these sort of tragedies in the past, this one was different. I live in the Chardon area. The high school is seven miles from my house. We have people from our church that attend Chardon. This time it was different. It was close. It was personal. 

My immediate reaction was to find out how our students and their families were doing. They are okay. Maybe I should say they are safe. Not okay, but safe. I am not sure anyone who is at that school is okay. Unless you are here, it is hard to describe the closeness of this community. Everyone knows everyone. And many of them are related to each other. People intentionally move 10 miles east from the eastern suburbs of Cleveland to Chardon to get the feel of the country and a small town. It is only a town of about 5,000 people, but the school feeds in from some of the surrounding areas. The school has around 1,100 kids in the High School. The downtown of Chardon is a quaint little town, with a town square. It's just one of those places that seems like home. 

We often think that tragedy shouldn't strike here. Not places like this. My heart grieved all day as I watched the news and heard interviews about what happened inside of the school. From all accounts the teachers, school district, and local law enforcement handled things as best as they could have been handled.

But now, 24 hours later, the questions still remain: How do we handle it? And should the Christian handle it differently than the Non-Christian? Does the gospel change the way we look at things like this? I would say it should. It should give us perspective. As difficult as this might be, we should force ourselves to think of this from the perspective of eternity.

As I just said, at first glance, it seems like this sort of thing should never happen in Chardon. It's an all-American small town. But as a friend of mine said yesterday, where there are people, there will be tragedy. That is because people are sinful. I was angry yesterday, but not necessarily at the young man who opened fire. I was angry at sin. And that anger turned into hope. I cannot wait till sin is finally eradicated. I can't wait until the final redemption of our lives where there no longer will be the presence of sin. But until that time (either when I die or Jesus returns), there will be tragedy. I just don't think answering people with "It will all be okay" is a good answer. It will all be okay when Jesus finally eradicates the presence of sin, but until that day it will not be okay. Sin still remains and people still do stupid things. Sinful things. Tragic things.

That might seem gloomy, so let me give some positive perspective. As I am dealing with this, I have to remember that none of this took God by surprise. He is not in heaven saying, "I can't believe this happened." It is in situations like this that having a high view of a sovereign God keeps me from going insane. God is in complete control. If you don't think that is true, think for a moment of the alternative. Which brings more comfort, God is in control or all things happen randomly for no reason. 

I take great comfort through the book of Job where nothing happened to him that did not pass through the approval of God. We want to search for the answers to the question of why these kids? Why our town? And those answers we will probably never know. Searching for the why answers will always leave us searching. But having our hearts moved toward more trust in a God that is in complete control, that leaves us with hope.

It is hope because the Scriptures say He will not give us more than we can handle. It is hope because we know that He is always working to redeem these tragedies for the glory of His name. I can only suppose that will happen as we trust deeper and stronger than we did before this event. And as we spread the name of Jesus through this event.

You see, one of the main emotions that will come out from this is fear. Fear that it could happen again. It could. Fear that my life could come to an end. It will. Fear of what happens when I die. Now we've arrived to a real issue. The fear of death is real. And this is how the Christian and non-Christian should look through different glasses. The Christian should realize that death equals a better life with Christ (Phil. 1:21-26). The Christian should realize that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6-8). The Christian should think differently about life and death because they have been forgiven by a holy God through the death of His righteous Son.

My heart still breaks. Please continue to pray. Pray that the name of Christ might be able to go forth in this community. Pray that God might use this tragedy to give people perspective of life and death. And pray that we ask the right questions and search for the right answers.

The Morning After: The Battle For The Throne

King David was a great ruler. He was a great warrior that lived to protect the name of the Lord. It was to David that God promised one of his sons would sit on the throne for all eternity (2 Sam. 7). But as the book of First Kings opens, David is old, advanced in age, and cold on his deathbed. It is vivid picture that it doesn't matter who you are, death plays no favorites. It gets the rich and the poor. It will come after the famous and the nobodies. It will get me and you. Yet there is even a greater picture that can be seen here. In contrast to the frailty of King David is another King who is one of David's sons . . . Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul says that He is the King of the ages, and that he is immortal (1 Tim. 1:17). What relief that should bring to the heart of the Christian. The One who is on the throne that we worship is not going to grow old, advanced in age, or cold on his deathbed.

As the rule of King David seems to be coming to an end, there is a power move that is made by one of David's sons, Adonijah. He makes a move to the throne. First Kings 1 tells the story of how he exalted himself and created an entourage for his own glory. After all, he was good looking and next in line for the kingship. The spirit of Adonijah is seen so prevalent in our culture. People try to exalt themselves in front of other people. No, let's make it personal. We do it. We want people to be impressed with us. That is why we talk about who we know, what we have accomplished, wear certain styles of clothes and so on. 

The plot to take the throne was halted by the actions of the prophet Nathan and the wife of David, Bathsheba. They appealed to the royal duty of David to do what God had promised, make Solomon king. They cared so much for the promises of God that they had to act. And through their actions and David's decisions, Solomon is made king that day. 

The chapter starts with Adonijah exalting himself and it ends with him bowing and paying homage to the newly anointed King Solomon. Pride does that to us. When we exalt ourself, the timer is started. It will run out eventually. If not in this life, certainly in the life to come. While this is a really interesting story about the battle for the throne in Jerusalem that took place around 960 B.C., it should remind us that there is a daily battle going on for the throne in our own life. And there are only two options. Either you can be on the throne or Jesus can be your King.

Philippians 2:9-10 says that everyone will eventually bow their knee to Jesus. It will happen. "Long Live King Jesus" will be the anthem that will exist for all eternity. It is the anthem that each of us will bow to someday. Either now resulting in salvation or in eternity resulting in condemnation. I pray it is today!

If you are interested in reading my notes from this sermon, you can find them HERE. If you would like to listen to the message, you can find it HERE (usually posted by Tuesday afternoon).

Ray Comfort Takes On Dr. Carole Lieberman

I would be willing to guess that when Ray Comfort received an invitation to come on Dr. Carole's Couch, a radio program with Dr. Carole Lieberman, he knew it would be very interesting. And it is. The first 15 minutes or so make for some good radio. Ray Comfort is asked to talk about Adolf Hitler and his new book, Hitler, God, and the Bible. But for some reason, Dr. Carole thinks this book is only about Hitler's life. And so when Comfort brings up God and the Bible, she takes offense. Check it out.

Cornerstone Questions: Why Is Jesus Called Everlasting Father

As I have stated a few times on this blog, I have received many questions over the past several months. I have been very slow at attempting to answer them, but today I wanted to answer one more.

Question: Why does it say Jesus' name will be 'Everlasting Father?' It makes sense that he is the father or creator of all things, but it just seems like the only time he is referred to by that title. All other times we have a distinction between him and 'the Father.'

The question stems from that very familiar passage in Isaiah 9:6 which is in reference to the coming Messiah, which we know to refer to Jesus. Isaiah writes, 

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

It's a good question. How is it that the Son of God is referred to as Everlasting Father? The first thing that should be fully understood is that Isaiah is not confusing Jesus, the second member of the Trinity, with THE FATHER, the first member of the Trinity (I use first and second by way of classification, not by way of showing superiority or importance). The Son of God is NOT the Father and the Father is NOT the Son. While they are uniquely the same in their substance, they are separate and distinct Persons. We would do well to avoid the heresy of Modalism that says there is just one God who has manifested Himself in different ways throughout history. When Jesus came to this earth, the Father was distinct from Him and fully in heaven (whatever that fully means).

So, as the question states, Jesus is separate from the Father, but He is still referred to here as Everlasting Father. Then, what does that mean? How is He Father? I will turn the conversation over to my dear friend, Charles Spurgeon, at this point to help with this answer.

"First, He is federally a Father representing those who are in him, as the head of a tribe represents his descendants . . . Adam is the father of all living; he federally stood for us in the garden, and federally fell and ruined us all. He was the representative man by whose disobedience we should have been blessed, through whose disobedience we have been made sinners. The curse of the fall comes upon us because Adam stood in a relation towards us in which none of us stand towards our fellows. He was the representative head for us; and what a fall was there when he fell! for every one of us in his loins fell in him . . . The only other man who is a representative man before God is the second Adam, the man Christ Jesus, the Lord from heaven."

He goes on to say,

"In our first birth we come under the fatherhood of the fallen one; in our second birth we enter into the fatherhood of the innocent and perfect One. In our first fatherhood we wear the image of the earthly; in the second we receive the image of the heavenly. Through our relation to Adam we become corrupt and weak, and the body is put into the grave in dishonor, in corruption, in weakness, in shame; but when we come under the dominion of the second Adam we receive strength, and quickening, and inward spiritual life, and therefore our body rises again like seed sown with rises to a glorious harvest in the image of the heavenly, with honor, and power, and happiness, and eternal life."

And so, mainly, when Jesus is referred to as the Everlasting Father, it is a reference to the fact that He will be the Second Adam, in whom we find our hope. Spurgeon goes on in an article entitled His Name--The Everlasting Father to make the argument that there is another way in which Jesus is considered Father. He says that Jesus Christ is a Father in the sense of a Founder. He says,

"Our Lord Jesus Christ, who brought life and immortality to light, and introduced a new phase of worship to this world is, in that respect, a Father; he is the Father of all Christians, the Father of Christianity, the Father of the entire system under which grace reigns through righteousness. Jesus is the Father of a great doctrinal system. All the great truths, which we are in the habit of delivering in your hearing as the precious truths of God sent down from heaven, fell first, clearly and powerfully, from the lips of Jesus."

Those are just two of the five ways that Spurgeon argues that Jesus is the Everlasting Father. Read the article for the other reasons. The question remains. Is He your Father federally. Are you 'In Christ' in the sense that you are now under the new Adam? Is He your Father in the sense that you believe the gospel He gave? If not, I would strongly encourage you to read the gospel accounts to investigate His claims and actions.

The Glory of Real Books

This morning I was surfing around and read a blog post by Kevin DeYoung called "Why I Hope Real Books Never Die (And They Won't)." It so resonated with my heart that I had to share part of it and thought I wanted you to encourage all to read it. I especially appreciated this thought:

Old books are like old friends. They love to be revisited. They stick around to give advice. They remind you of days gone by. Books, like friends, hang around. And they prefer not to be invisible. I can't tell you how often I sit at my desk, push back my seat, and allow my eyes to drift around the room full of bookshelves. I'm not procrastinating, not exactly. I'm scanning the room to see my friends. Their covers job my memories. They remind me of what I learned once. More than that, they remind me of my life-where I was when I first read Lloyd-Jones on the couch, how I knelt by the bed with tears when I read Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, how my life was so different 15 years ago when I read my dad's copy of the Institutes as a college student. If all my books disappeared on to a microchip I might have less to lug around and I might be able to search my notes more easily, but I'd lost memory; I'd lose history; I'd lose a little bit of myself.

I can so relate! You might like to check out the entire article by clicking on the link above.