DEAD OR ALIVE

Ladies and Gentlemen, here are thirteen reasons why we know that the Christian dead is alive.  Number one is the stoning of Stephen. “And Stephen full of the Holy Spirit looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.”  He said, “I see the heaven opened and Jesus standing on the right hand of God and they stopped their ears and rushed upon him with one accord and cast him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.” And they stoned Stephen calling on the name of the Lord and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He then prayed, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge,” and when he had said this he fell asleep.  Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.

            Stephen knew that he would die, but he did not commend his body to the Lord.  It was his spirit he commended.  Evidently when a person dies the spirit does not go into the coffin.  For the Christian his spirit goes to be with the Lord.  Stephen was still alive after his body died and he is still alive today.  The Christian dead is alive.

            Number two is the thief on the cross.  The thief said, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.”  Jesus said to him, “Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” The body of Jesus was buried that same day in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, but the thief was not buried with him.  The spirit of the thief was with the spirit of Jesus that Jesus had commended to the Father and they were both together in a place called Paradise.  The thief was still alive after his body died.  In passing I might note that you who are now listening to this broadcast are too intelligent to think that you can be saved the same way the thief was saved.  You are smart enough to know that the thief died before the Church began on the Day of Pentecost and the command had not yet been given to, “Repent and  be baptized in the name of jesus Christ for the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  The reason so many cannot see this obvious truth is because they have been Calvinized instead of baptized.

            Number three is the story Jesus told of the rich man and Lazarus.  He told of a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen faring sumptuously every day, and a certain beggar named Lazarus who was full of sores desiring to be fed the crumbs from the rich man’s table.  The Lord referred to them both as a certain rich man and a certain beggar.  He had two particular men in mind.  The beggar died and the angels carried him away into Abraham’s bosom.  The rich man died and was  buried.  In this story that the Lord Himself told, both men survived the grave.  The beggar was seen in a place called Abraham’s bosom.  The rich man saw Lazarus afar off in Abraham’s bosom and asked for one drop of water.  Not even one drop was available.  His body was in the grave, but he could still speak, feel, hear, thirst, and see.  The beggar was comforted.  Both men were conscious after death.

            When you think of the rich man, it is evident that not everybody goes to heaven when they die.  Sometimes a person who is not a Christian suffers from some painful disease.  When he dies it’s said by his family that he is better off now.  This story teaches us differently.  It would be better to live a thousand years on this planet with a broken back and have to eat soup out of a pop bottle with a fork than to die and go out into eternity and live under the conditions of this rich man.  The most sobering thought you can have is to remember that a hundred years from now you are going to be just as much alive as you are at this moment.  You will not be in your body but you will still be you and like the rich man in this story you will have all your facilities.

            The experience of the beggar has found its way into our hymnology.  “O precious cross, O glorious crown, O resurrection day; ye angels from the stars come down and bear my soul away.” You will definitely survive life in the body.  All the dead both Christian and otherwise are still alive beyond the grave.

            Number four is in  regards to what Paul said concerning life in the body and out of the body.  In Second Corinthians the Apostle Paul said we are of good courage and know that while we are at home in th body we are absent from the Lord.  For we walk by faith and not by sight.”  While the Christian believes in Jesus, we actually have never seen Him.  We have never actually seen a picture of Him.  What we see in pictures is no more than the artist’s conception of Him and if they are as far off in their idea of Him as they are in some of His doctrines, the picture of the artist may be completely out of kilter.  But by faith we realize that He did live on this planet, that He died for our sins, arose from the dead and ascended to heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father.  But then Paul continues and says again, but we are of good courage and know that to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord.

            If you wanted to say when a Christian dies he will be with the Lord, what words would you use to make it any more plain than Paul states it here.  The teaching of the word of God is the fact that the Christian at death is ushered into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Christian is not dead at death, he is alive!

            Number five tells us something of how blessed we are as Christian at the point of death.  In Philippians it is Paul again that tells us, “ I am in a strait betwixt the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ; for it is very far better; yet to abide in the flesh is more needful for your sake.”

            Paul did not say that it is merely better to depart and be with Christ.  He said it is very far better.  He speaks of death as a departure.  When we depart we usually think that we are going some place else.  Paul says death is a departure.  At death you are going some place else.  We already knew that the some place else is to be with the Lord. If at death the spirit goes into the grave with the body, then what list of things can you come up with that makes it very far better.  How is it very far better if for the last two thousand years Paul has been in the grave?  Whatever your situation in life, it is very far better for the Christian to depart and be with Christ.

            This makes us feel like the kids in school.  The teaches said how many of you want to go to heaven, raise your hand.  All hands were raised except one boy.  The teacher said, “Don’t you want to go to heaven when you die?” The kid said, “Oh yes, I want to go to heave when I die, but I thought you were getting up a load to go right now.” When Paul tells us to depart and be with Christ is very far better it makes us have a yearning to get up a load and go right now.  The Christian dead is alive.

            Number six, Paul tells us in Second Corinthians: “I know a man fourteen years ago whether in the body I know not whether out of the body I know not such a one caught up into the third heaven.” Then he repeats it.  “I know such a man whether in the body, or apart from the body I know not, God knoweth, how that he was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”

            The scripture speak of three heavens.  The first heaven is where the birds fly, the atmosphere all around us.  The Bible speaks of the birds of the heaven.  Certainly there will be no pigeons in heaven to foul up the golden side walks of Glory.  The second heaven is the heaven where the planets and stars are located.  The Bible speaks many times of the stars of the heavens.  The third heaven is the heaven where Jesus ascended and sat down at the right hand of God the Father.  The first Russian cosmonaut came back to earth and said that he had been to heaven and did not find any God up there.  His problem was he only went up into the second heaven.  He could not get to the third heaven because people with that mindset will not be allowed to get in any way.

            Now Paul says this man probably himself, was caught up into the third heaven, and then he repeated it and called it Paradise.  Paradise is the place Jesus spoke of when He told the thief he would be with Him in Paradise.  He said he heard unspeakable words, not lawful for a man to utter.  We have no way of knowing what Paul heard on this heavenly visit that could not be described to mortal man, but we can be sure that the Christian who departs this life is listening to sounds of this moment whether  music or speaking that would make heaven worthwhile even if we did not do anything, but sit there and listen.  The sounds are so wonderful that no matter what work the Chrstian is doing in heaven he is always walking around with earphones listening to the music.  The Christian dead is alive.

            The seventh one regards the souls under the altar as mentioned by the Apostle John in the book of Revelation. “I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that had been slain for the word of God and the testimony which they held: and they cried with a great voice,” saying, “How long O Master most holy and true, dost thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” And there was given unto each one of them, a white robe and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little time, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren who should be killed even as they wre should have fulfilled their course.

            John said he saw their souls.  Did you ever see a soul?  We see others in their bodies, but we never see them as souls.  John did not see their bodies.  Their bodies were in the grave.  He saw their souls.  This is another addition to what we already knew.  The real person survives the body.  In this case it was the Christian souls that John saw and he saw the in a place of rest awaiting the resurrection.  What we think of as he Christian dead are actually very much alive.

            The eighth one is in the conversation of Martha and the Lord in the gospel according to John.  Martha told the Lord just before the resurrection of her brother Lazarus, “Lord, if thou has been there our brother would not have died.”  Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in Me, though he be dead ye shall he live. Whosoever liveth and believeth on Me shall never die. Believeth thou this?”  “Yea Lord, I have believed that thou are the Christ even He who cometh into the world.”

            Now the Lord said that a person who believes in Him would never die. That seems a little strange when we know of many people who have died.  But Jesus said the believer would not die.  I believe Jesus.  It is the body that dies, but the real person survives the death of the body.  The Christian dead now is just as much alive as he was while in the body.  Perhaps even more alive when you consider that he is not encumbered with the drowsiness of the flesh and all of its weaknesses.  On the other side of our faculties; all five senses will be enhanced.  Another indication that the Christian dead are really alive.

            The ninth one is in the encounter of Jesus with the Sadducees in the gospel story in Matthew.  The Sadducees did not believe in life after death and they presented a problem to the Lord.  They said that Moses said, “If a man marries and dies having no children, the brother should marry his wife and raise up seed unto his brother.” They told of seven brothers the first married and died and having no seed left this wife unto his brother, the second also and the third unto the seventh.  And after them all, the woman died. Their question was, “Whose wife shall she be in the resurrection?”

            First Jesus told them that in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are as the angels.  Then secondly He told them they were in error about life beyond the grave.  He referred to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  God is the God of the living not the dead.  He is not the God of somebody who used to be, but of those that still are.  This trio had been dead for over a thousand years and yet the Lord regarded them as living persons.  Think of it again.  You will be somewhere a thousand years from now.  Not dead, but alive.

            The tenth one is the Transfiguration in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  Jesus was transfigured on the mountaintop in the presence of Peter, James, and John.  His face did shine as the sun, the fashion of His countenance was altered, His garment became dazzling, glistening, white as the light.  Then Moses and Elijah appeared unto Him in glory and spake with Him regarding His decease that He would accomplish at Jerusalem.  We need to note that Moses was not raised from the dead for this occasion.  His body was still in an unknown grave.  It was not his body that appeared.  Jesus is the one who is the first born from the dead not Moses.  Moses was there with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration while his body was still in the grave.  No wonder the conversation with the Lord was regarding the decease that He would accomplish at Jerusalem.  Moses and Elijah are still alive and well. 

            The eleventh one is the statement of Paul this time another reference in Philippians.  For me to live is Christ but to die is gain  The Christian will gain something at death.  If when the Christian dies his body and soul are both in the grave and have been there for hundreds of years, it is difficult to understand why Paul would say it is gain to die.  We need to remind you gain that there is nothing for the person who is not a Christian to gain at death. Only one life twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last. The Christian dead is alive.

The twelfth one is from the pen of the Apostle Peter in his second epistle.  He writes to remind us to be faithful and states it this way.  “As long as I am in this tabernacle it is right for me to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle cometh swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me.”  Peter refers to his body as a tabernacle, a house and he says the time is coming fast when he shall put the tabernacle off.  He reminds us of the promise of the Lord before He ascended back to heaven.  He told Peter, “When thou was young thou girdest thyself and walkest wheresoever thou wouldest, but when thou shalt be old another shall gird thee and carry thee whether thou wouldst not.”  This He spake signifying by what manner of death he should glorify God.  It appears that Peter would die a martyr’s death and he knew he had reached the point in life when it was time to go.  The tradition was that he was crucified and at his own request crucified upside down.  He did not feel worthy to die in the same position the Lord died.

            As far as Peter was concerned to die was like taking off the body as you would lay aside a coat.  He did not say that his body would lay aside his spirit. He said the thing that would be laid off would be his body and or tabernacle. Paul referred to the body the same way when he said, “We know if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved we have a building from God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.”  Death then for the Christian is like stepping from one room and going into another.  The Christian dead is alive.

            The thirteenth and last regards the wholesale resurrection of bodies at the crucifixion of Jesus.  At the moment Jesus died several things took place.  The veil of the temple was rent in twain, rocks were rent and the bodies of many of the saints were raised up and entered into the Holy City after the resurrection and appeared unto many.  In this mysterious event one thing is certain to us.  Matthew is careful to say that it was the bodies that were raised up.  Their spirits were not in the graves.  Only their bodies had to be raised up as in the case of Lazarus and the others who had a temporary resurrection.  In this case while many dead bodies were raised, their spirits all the while had been some place else.  Ladies and Gentlemen, the Christian dead is alive.