A television news magazine told of a young, adventuresome man, full of life, flown into the desolate north country of Alaska in order that he might find himself among the natural beauty and mysteries there. He prepared for months. He carried sophisticated photographic equipment and more than 1,400 pounds of provisions. He packed boxes of notebooks, in which he intended to record his experiences. Record them he did. His carefully detailed notes describe his sense of wonder at the spectacular beauty of the Far North.
Day after day, he described the excitement of every experience. For months he wrote, until one day the tenor of his writing seems to have changed somehow. The transformation in the tone of his descriptions was not marked at first but it was there nonetheless. As the days passed, his words described his growing, horrifying nightmare that he would probably die in some nameless valley of spectacular beauty near an unmarked lake about 225 miles northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. His final entry, written by the hand of one who is clearly very weak, says, "It is my fault. I should have used more foresight and arranged for my departure." He died alone there!
By way of preparation for his journey to self-discovery, he had carefully laid up everything he imagined necessary for his extended trip but he forgot the most important thing: a plan on how he would leave! A magnificent adventure ended in deep emptiness! With his cameras, he recorded beautiful pictures. The pages of his notebooks provided striking descriptions of the wild northern frontier. All these lay covered in ice beside his emaciated, frozen body when a search team finally found it.
Have you planned your way out? We declare as a basic tenet of our Apostles' Creed, "I believe ... in the life everlasting." But, do we? The surest proof that we do is found not in words alone but in the fact that we have planned our final exit from this life. "I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life," Jesus says.
The Options
Let us consider, first, some proposed answers regarding death and the life hereafter. "If a man dies, shall he live again?" (Job 14:14 NRSV). Just before that, we read, "He breathes his last and where is he?" (Job 14:10 NRSV). Every thinking person born eventually considers these two startling and unavoidable questions from the oldest Bible book.
Ultimately, there are just five possible answers to these questions.
The first answer is no answer; that is, it is silence. Ask the scientist. Many great scientists who spend their lives in pursuit of the answers to many of life's questions readily acknowledge that when it comes to what happens after we die, they have no answer. They have some answers for life but no answers for what happens after death.
Having said this, to be sure, not all science and, therefore, not all scientists are in opposition to the principles of Christian faith. Many of the greatest scientific discoveries that benefit humanity have come through believers. For example, Michael Faraday's invention of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electricity as we know it today. He was a great scientist and a great Christian. As an elder in his church, Michael Faraday took his turn at preaching and organized his daily life around the Bible. While only a few of his sermons remain, they give us some insight into his thinking. From them, we see Michael Faraday as one who found no conflict between his science and his faith in Jesus. When it came to his understanding of what happens at death, Michael Faraday, scientist and Christian, said, "Death is to the Christian everything hoped for contained in the idea of reunion."1 Then he quoted Saint Paul's own testimony to Timothy, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." (See 2 Timothy 1:12 KJV).
Add to Michael Faraday the names of Roger Bacon, Francis Bacon, Gregor Mendel, Rene Descartes, Nicolas Copernicus, Blaise Pascal, Louis Pasteur, George Washington Carver, and a host of other leading scientists from every age whose discoveries have advanced human life for generation after generation. They were, and are, first disciples of Jesus Christ and then scientists.
However, when it comes to things that are beyond proving, the rules of pure science bind science to silence about what happens after death.
The second answer is that there is no answer! This is the response of atheism to the question of what happens after death. A generation ago, American Christians often spoke of Madalyn Murray O'Hair as the quintessential atheist. Many people credited Mrs. O'Hair as the person who led the drive to remove prayer and Bible reading from America's public schools. Reality is, however, that Robert Ingersoll, whose writings first inspired Madalyn O'Hair, was a far greater danger to undermining Christian faith in America. He wrote: "Every cradle asks us whence and every coffin whither." In short, Ingersoll says, atheism has no idea and no answers to the question of what happens when we die.
The third answer is that death is the end of all things living! This is the view of philosophical materialism. Where are the dead? Philosophical materialism concludes they are nowhere. Their time has ended and they are gone for good. Materialism is the very antithesis of faith, even more so than atheism, because it says that if something cannot be seen or measured, it does not exist. The clarion call of materialism is, "The one who dies with the most toys wins." The problem with that way of looking at life, which has captured the hearts of many people in our generation, is that it does not define its understanding of "winning." If death is the end of existence, and the one who dies with the most toys wins, then what kind of "winning" is that? The philosophical materialism view of death is summed up in the sentence, "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Good-bye!" "Winning," it seems, leaves all its possessions behind and is therefore no different from losing. How can winning and death be mentioned in the same sentence? Yet, there are many people, including some in the church, who live their lives by this measure of success. Long ago, the apostle Paul spoke to those who are committed to this way of life when he wrote, "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men" (1 Corinthians 15:19).
There is a fourth belief system. It is reincarnation. The belief of ancient Hinduism has found new ground among many spiritually floundering people in our generation. This, too, stands on a premise that runs counter to everything the Bible and our Christian faith stand for. It promotes the notion of self-salvation. Reincarnation says that people who die are rewarded, or punished, by coming back to live a better, or worse, life on Earth according to what they did in their former life or lives. It teaches that people get a second chance at life. God's word says, "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).
The Optimum
The final and best answer to what happens after death comes from eternity's Lord, Jesus Christ, of whom the scriptures teach, "If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord" (Romans 14:8). This one who "set eternity in [our] hearts" (Ecclesiastes 3:11), and who conquered death by his resurrection after the cross declares with certainty, "He who believes in me has eternal life."
When he makes this declaration, we are forced to conclude that Jesus is either a liar, or a lunatic, or the Lord of life and death. I believe it is that he is Lord and that his promise here fulfills the heartfelt desire that every human being nourishes. Has ever parent, child, or lover stood by a grave, and wondered, "Shall we see each other again?"
God sets that question in our hearts as a means by which we might be drawn to seek his Son. The "God-shaped vacuum," which Blaise Pascal spoke of existing at the center of every person ever born, yearns for fulfillment in each of us and is in itself sufficient proof of our eternal nature. We are made for life with God forever. Just before he himself died on the cross for us, Jesus made another promise that is just as powerful as the one in today's scripture reading: "I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:3 NRSV).
Invitation
Look around you! We live in a dying world. Dead trees, dead vegetation, and dead animals are everywhere! I doubt that any of us have ever seen a blank obituary column in any local newspaper. This planet's old countries invite the world to visit their archeological digs and examine the evidence, generation after generation, age upon age, layer upon layer, of societies that used to be but are no more. They warn us of the likelihood that one day our society also shall pass away. Despite that, there are still many people like that young man who overlooked planning his exit from the Far North country.
Only Jesus provides hope against the reality of death. He alone satisfies the heart's true yearning for all of us who have stood by a loved one's graveside, having loved and lost for a while. Everlasting life is too real, too essential, not to be true!
One heartbeat from where we sit now is a life to come. We can cross over the divide that we call death without a moment's notice. That is why it is necessary and urgent that you give your life to Christ. The next logical question is "If there is an eternity, how shall we prepare for it?" Jesus tells a gripping story of one who said, "I will build greater [barns] ... I will say ... ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease' ... But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you' " (Luke 12:18-21 cf).
He was a nice fellow, perhaps. We read no hint of any immorality about him. He certainly provided for his family's long-term well-being. He was not a crook or surely Jesus would have told us. The man was likely generous in his own way. Obviously, this world, especially its materialists, would count him a success. Business looked good. He was planning an expansion program. Yet, at the one vital eternal thing, he failed. He did not make adequate plans for eternity! He forgot he had a soul that needed to be saved! For that, he is famous as the only man Jesus Christ ever called, "Fool!"
Are you a fool? Or, have you planned your way out? Whatever else you do this day, dear friend, please plan your way out! Listen to me now, even if you have never listened to me before: You will die, for the Bible says, "It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear [your] sins!" (Hebrews 9:27-28 cf). Where will you spend eternity?
The only reasonable option and the only one that provides hope is found with Jesus, who says, "I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life." Amen.
1. Geoffrey Cantor, Michael Faraday: Sandemanian and Scientist (London: MacMillan, 1991). This is a good source on Michael Faraday and his faith.