Death: The Real Story

A study guide, from messages at the Evangelical Free Church of Redwood Falls

August 21, 28, Sept 4, 2016

The Word of God is straightforward and consistent about death.

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- Birth and death are reality for all humanity (Ecc 3:1-8; 3:19; Ez 32:17-32; Rom 5:12; 1 Cor 15:22). Birth is good and death is bad (Gen 1:28; Gen 2:17 & 1 Cor 15:54-55). Death is in fact the final enemy of humanity (1 Cor 15:26), because we were not created immortal souls (1 Tim 6:16; 2 Tim 1:10).

- Just as the Old Testament promised (Gen 12:1-3; Job 19:25-27; Ps 16:10-11; Is 25:8 & 53:10-12; Ez 37; Hos 6:1-3), God has come to us in Jesus to free us from both death, and its shadow, the sting that brings death, that is, sin (Matt 1:21; John 1:9-13; 3:1-21; 5:18-24; Rom 5-6; 2 Tim 1:10) The death of Jesus is the death we deserve as sinners, both atoning for and freeing us from slavery to sin and death (Luke 24:44-49; Rom 5-6; 1 Cor 15).

- The resurrected Jesus is life Himself (John 1, 5), our life (Jn 15, 17), and the promise of resurrected life for eternity (Matt 22:28-32; John 11:24-26; Romans 6:5; 1 Cor 15:20; 50-57; Col 1:18; Rev 20), for all who are born anew by taking Jesus at His word.

- The resurrected Jesus has bodily ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven (Jn 20:17, 20, 27; Acts 1:9-11; Heb 1:3; Rev 5:5-7).

- He restores us to humanity, bearing His image in all creation, by the rebirth of His presence in and through us, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, until we die or Jesus comes again. (Jn 1:9-11; Rom 6, 8:11; Col 3:10-11; Titus 3:4-6)

- Those who trust in Him need not fear death, as grievous as it is (Ps 116:15; 2 Sam 3:31-32; 12:16-23; John 11:33 & 35), for it will usher them into His presence, to

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rest until the resurrection (Luke 16:19-31; 23:43; Jn 5:24; 2 Cor 5:8; Phil 1:21-23; 1 Thess 4:17-18; Rev 6:9-11). This initial paradise is not our hope, but a time of waiting, in His presence.

- Jesus will Himself return bodily (Matt 24:30; Luke 17:22-24; 1 Thess 4:13-18; Tit 2:11-13; Rev 5:5-7, 19:11-16) for

o the final judgment of all mankind (Dan 12; Matt 16:27; John 5; Acts 10:34-43, 17:30-31; 2 Cor 5:10; Heb 9:27-28; Rev 20)

o the restoration of heaven and earth forever (Is 66:22-24; Rom 8:21-23; 2 Pet 3:3-13; Rev 21-22)

o the destruction of all evil (1 Cor 15:25-26; 2 Pet 3; Rev 20)

o the final resurrection of all mankind. (Daniel 12; Matt 25:31-46; John 5; 1 Cor 15; Rev 20)

On this day of His return, those who have already died will precede those currently alive in this transforming, or condemning resurrection. (1 Thess 4:13-18)

o When he returns all humanity will be separated by one of 2 resurrections. (Daniel 12; Matt 25:31-46; John 5:18-24; 1 Cor 15; Rev 20) All who have taken God at His Word in Jesus receive the gift of immortality by resurrection in the presence of God in the new heavens and earth…. All who have rejected the grace of God in Jesus will receive the curse of resurrection to eternal death in the lake of fire.

The Bible is straightforward and consistent about all of this. So, why are churched and unchurched people in America equally confused and troubled by death?

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Certainly, death is terrible and painful loss and trauma for us all. Death troubled and grieved both King David and King Jesus. It is an issue that is tangled with evil and suffering in our minds, and to people we have known. The pain and grief of death does overwhelm and confuse us.

But again, given the consistent teaching of the Bible, why would churched people have the following reincarnation poem on their funeral bulletins?

Do not stand at my grave and weep;I am not there. I do not sleep.I am a thousand winds that blow.I am the diamond glints on snow.I am the sunlight on ripened grain.I am the gentle autumn rain.…

Do not stand at my grave and cry;I am not there. I do not die.

(Often attributed to Mary Elizabeth Frye: 1904-2004; quoted from “Surprised by Hope,” by N.T. Wright, Harper One, 2008. P 11.)

- How about the church play I attended several years ago where when people died they all awoke to Jesus and the devil? Jesus took all the good ones to heaven, and Satan threw all the bad ones in hell. I was so angry and sad! Just in case you aren’t sure… this is not at all what the Bible warns and promises us… so why would it be the basis of a large denomination’s outreach strategy?

- How often are we expected to nod to the common assumptions that…

o whenever anyone dies, they have gone to a better place

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o “they are not really dead if we remember them in our hearts.” Really, they are not really dead!?

Maybe, some of us church going people have simply not seriously considered what the Bible says. Maybe some of us have had too little experience with death to pay attention. For some, how do we open ourselves up to belief in a blessed heaven or resurrection, when one of our loved ones, who has died, has rejected a savior? The sense of betrayal almost rules out such a hope.

Some of us have way too much exposure and experience with death. Perhaps you have been in war, or faced the death of a child, or faced death early on as a child… Dr. Friese was telling me this week that this kind of trauma as a child can literally change the way our brains function… Friends, our over-exposer to death can affect us like over-exposed film and leave us either clinging to

- any happy thought- or numb to all hopeful possibilities.

Even though you’d like to believe in the Bible, have you been cornered into one of these two directions by loss and death? Do you cope by affirming and clinging to any happy thought people have in the face of death… or are you numb to such fantastic possibilities as heaven, in this world of chance, biology, and cause and effect?

There is a song, that portrays these two perspectives many of us have taken refuge in, in the face of death, sung in the musical “Finding Neverland.” I don’t share it with you because it is true, but because it is beautifully and painfully ‘true to these 2 experiences’ in the face of death.

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The musical follows the story of J.M. Barrie, the author of the children’s classic “Peter Pan.” In this Broadway rendition, we find that Barrie is struggling with his marriage and career when he meets the beautiful widow Sylvia, and her four sons, Jack, George, Michael and… Peter. This grieving family provides the spark that Barrie needs to imagine and produce the “Peter Pan” story. In the duet that follows (“When Your Feet Don’t Touch the Ground,” words and music by Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy), Peter is stuck in the grief of the reality of his father’s death, and Barrie is inviting him to embrace ‘make believe’ as the power that can free him.

Barrie: When did life become so complicated?Years of too much thought and time I wasted,And in each line upon my face,Is proof I fought and lived another day.

When did life become this place of madness?Drifting on an empty sea of waves and sadness?I make believe I'm in control,And dream it wasn't all my fault.

When your feet don't touch the ground,When your voice won't make a sound.Here, it's safe, in this place,Up off the clouds.When your feet don't touch the earth,You can't feel the fates that hurtAnd you're free, there's no needTo come down.

Peter: Everyday just feels a little longerWhy am I the only one not getting stronger?Running around pretending life's a play,It doesn't make the darkness go away.

I may be young but I can still rememberFeeling full of joy, crying tears of laughter

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Now all my tears are all cried out,Make-believe, but count me out.

'Cause my feet are on the ground,And the inner voice I foundTells the truth, "There's no use,If your head's in the clouds"With my feet on solid earth,I can face the fates that hurt,And in time, I'll be fine,I'll come 'round.

Barrie: I was once like you.Life was a maze.I couldn't find my way out.But what I say is true,You will be amazed,Make-believe and you will find out that it's true.

Barrie and Peter sing simultaneously their choruses…When your feet don't touch the ground…'Cause my feet are on the ground…

As Francis Schaeffer would say, this song rings beautifully true, not because it is true, but because it accurately captures our despair, and the 2 choices that seem to be our only choices in the face of despair and death: ‘make believe’… or hopeless realism. In preparation for taking hold of what the Bible realistically promises and warns us about death, will we confess and turn away from these 2 cul-de-sacs that our culture has chosen for us?

The stories of natural evolution, and the invincible human spirit in this godless world, have been the mother’s milk we were raised on, our factual reality story in education and public policy, for decades now. We have been told there is

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no hope, no truth, no savior, only biology and chance and survival of the fittest, and the pursuit of the things that make me happy. We are taught that the religious perspective is fine if it helps people cope, but only in private, not in education, public discussion, politics, law, courts, etc.…

Consequently, ideas such as heaven and hell have become embarrassing ‘make believe’ to many of us… resurrections must be metaphors, and religious stories can be meaningful and beautiful, but not true. In the end, death is still a frightening specter under the bed that we hope to jump over when the time comes.

If you and I are to really lay hold of the reality of the Gospel for death, first, we must let go of the 2 cul-de-sac option of our modern world, either sterile and meaningless life and death, or make believe.

Second, we must get a hold of the story that makes realistic sense of our lives and our deaths. The Gospel invites us to find that heaven and hell and resurrection are not just random religious thoughts meant to comfort people who use their imagination to escape reality. They are part of the realism of how and why this world came to be what it is… and how and why we are here… When we know the whole story, we can lay a hold of and make sense of death in the world we actually live in day to day, instead of resigning ourselves to ‘make believe’ or life and death without meaning.

Today, I tell you the broad story that makes sense of life and death. Then in the following 2 weeks, we will restore our hope in the details and doctrine of God’s justice in death and in resurrection, by the Gospel.

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Our Gospel Story

God…the Father, Son, and the Spirit…

…created this planet, in seven days… He spoke, and according to His heart and mind and designs, all things came into being, seen and unseen, in the heavens and the earth. God gave life to mankind, breathing that life into his frame. People, male and female, husband and wife in family, were the very center of this creation. As God’s spitting image, man and woman together pro-created life and were God’s stewards of all life on earth, guarding and cultivating God’s good life for us all.

…but there was one thing, out of all the things in the garden of this world that was off limits to the man and woman… the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In other words, the place where a person chooses right and wrong for themselves, instead of letting God make that decision. Adam and Eve chose to be wise in and of themselves… to disregard God’s perfect and loving instructions… to disregard their special role…to give regard to the advice of a snake in the garden… to take the thing that they desired… the very choice that God warned them would be their death… the very thing that the snake mocked and refuted, “you will not die!” And so Satan urged Eve to go ahead and eat… to choose for herself and disregard God.

On the other side of their choice, Adam and Eve began to experience the shadow and spread of death that God warned them of. In grace and truth, God moved them out of reach of the tree of life, and covered their newly discovered sense of naked shame in the mercy of animal skins. Adam and Eve found their marriage dying in a competitive rivalry, rather than a complimentary companionship, and it became harder

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and harder to accomplish the work that would provide for their family… which came apart at the seams when this death spread and Cain slit his brother’s throat. Yes, it was plain now that death could be seen in the shadow it cast before itself in human sin, and in nature’s corruption, even before it struck its final blow to Abel, and to all who would die in this world.

By the sixth chapter of the Bible, it is plain that this is not just Adam and Eve’s problem, but the problem of each and every man and woman and child, created to live as the spitting image of God in this world, with a life of meaning and purpose for God’s glory and this creation’s good… who become terminally corrupt by their desire to choose right and wrong for themselves, instead. And so, the shadow of death spread in so many, many ways through the sin of those who were meant to live and bring the light of God’s life, wherever they went. All of this culminates in Genesis 11, in the international attempt to usurp God in the tower of Babel.

But God… being rich in mercy…because of His great love with which he loved us… had a plan and spoke His promise to restore all things from death to life. In Genesis 11 & 12 God puts his plan into motion, calling Abram out of Ur, and promising Abram and Sarai, his barren wife, the impossible restoration of life as a family, and God’s family blessing in all of creation. There would be a ‘seed’ and child, who would put the mess of this shadow of death by sin in this world, aright, blessing all who would return to taking God at His Word, and furthering the curse among all who reject Him. Galatians teaches us in simple language that that ‘seed,’ that child would be the long awaited Messiah, Jesus. The hope of this anointed Son of God coming to right all wrongs, and bring life to a landscape of death would be a chorus sung over and over by God’s people and prophets

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throughout the Old Testament, as they waited for the One who would condemn all evil and deliver God’s people.

Yet the Old Testament was a time of waiting for this hope, this life. God’s grace to His people in waiting was the Covenant and the Law to lead them to know and walk in life with God. While Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy could not take away death and give life, they perfectly provided a map of the tangled landscape of life and death, good and evil, blessing and curse, for God’s people to trust and allow God to navigate them in His way, choosing life, instead of death.

ESV Deuteronomy 30:11-20 "For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. 15 "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore

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choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

This Torah and Covenant would be the gracious ‘tutor’ of God to lead God’s people through this world’s mottled landscape of life and death… if…. they would trust Him and follow. Over and over the people of God chose the idols and lies popular in their time, always eating at the tree by choosing for themselves, always dying the slow death of suppressing the truth of God.

Kings would come and go. Some would lead them toward the very life giving paths of Torah and walking with God each day. King David would be a glimpse of the promised life in God’s Kingdom. Other kings would lead the people back into the blind darkness of the shadows of death, in a variety of fashionable and popular sins.

God faithfully spoke light and life through His prophets, like Isaiah.

Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. 3 'Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?' Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist.

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Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?

6 "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.' If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. 11 And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. 58:1-12 (ESV)

But, as Jesus tells us in John 3, the people preferred darkness to light, because their deeds were evil.

Finally, the ‘seed,’ the child, life Himself, stepped off the pages of the book and out of the hidden glory of heaven, to be born in the dirt of a cattle trough, just as He promised. God the Father came to us in God the Son, conceived in the virgin’s womb by God the Spirit. He would grow up and

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every word and action and miracle would be the life and light of God Himself. Then, He would go to the cross, to death, in the place of all sinful and dying humanity. But death could not hold Him. On the third day, the Messiah King Jesus rose as the victor over death and sin and the devil. He is the firstborn from the dead, so that, all who trust in Him may be certain they will share in His resurrection, come the final Day.

Yes, in light of this reality, we see the need and the sanity of how God has dealt with life and death, by coming to us, in Jesus.

- Jesus came to free us from both death, and its shadow, the sting that brings death, our sin. He has atoned for and freed us from slavery to sin and death by His cross.

- The resurrected Jesus is life Himself, o and the promise of resurrected life for

eternity, for all who are born anew by taking Jesus at His word.

- The resurrected Jesus has bodily ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven.

- He restores us to humanity, bearing His image in all creation, by the rebirth of His presence in and through us, by the life of the Holy Spirit, until we die or Jesus comes again.

- Those who trust in Him need not fear death, as dreadful as it is, for it will usher them into His presence, to rest until the resurrection. This initial

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paradise is not our hope, but a time of waiting, in His presence.

- Jesus will Himself return bodily for the final judgment of all mankind, the restoration of heaven and earth forever, the destruction of all evil, and the final resurrection of all mankind. On this day of His return, those who have already died will precede those currently alive in this transforming, or condemning resurrection.

- When he returns all humanity will be separated by one of 2 resurrections. All who have taken God at His Word in Jesus receive the gift of immortality by resurrection in the presence of God in the new heavens and earth…. All who have rejected the grace of God in Jesus will receive the curse of resurrection to eternal death in the lake of fire.

Will you trust His story, confessing and leaving behind the 2 cul-de-sacs our culture has cornered us in, humanistic ‘make believe,’ or rationalistic hopelessness?

You have the basics before you. Re-read the story, and begin to study through the basic promises and warnings (pages 2-3 of this study) about death that God has freely given us.

God will not only change our dying, but the way we live, by His grace in Jesus.

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The Evangelical Free Church of Redwood Falls seeks to be restored, and lovingly help others be restored,

from the brokenness of sin in our lives, to the life God has for us, trusting the Gospel of Jesus.

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