Place: Lurgan Baptist 11:7:2004

Place: Lurgan Baptist 11:7:2004

Reading: Job 14:1-22

“ IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH ?”

Ian Macpherson in his book “ The Burden of theLord,” tells us that if you visit the Egyptian section of the British Museum in London you can see a strange sight. There is a stone coffin there containing the body of an Egyptian who died three thousand years ago. Crudely embalmed but marvellously preserved in the dry sand in which it is interred, the body is still clearly visible after thirty centuries. Buried in a crouching position, resembling a hugh question mark, the body

seems to be asking the centuries old question of Job, “ If a man die, shall he live again ?” This is an old question. Job asked it centuries ago. It is a recurring question. People still ask this question today. It is an awesome question. It is said when Socrates the renowned Greek philosopher drank the poison hemlock and lay down to die, he was asked by his friends, “ Shall we live

again ?” The reply of the dying philosopher was “ I hope so, but no man can know.”

Here in ( 14:14 ) Job asked the same question, “ Shall we live again ?” The answer he gave was much different than the answer Socrates gave. ( 19:25 ) Socrates hoped that he would live again. Job knew that he would live again. Socrates faced death with anxiety. Job faced death with assurance. Socrates was uncertain that he would live again, Job was certain that he would live again. Job is known in the Bible as the Old Testament man of sorrows. In a whirlwind of woe, his health and wealth were blown away. Then in a marathon of misery, the dearest things in all his life were taken from him. His children were killed. His wife taunted him. His friends came and accused him of deep, dark, dreadful sin. It seemed to Job as if God had deserted him also. Now death the King of Terrors is pushing him against the wall. So here is Job and death is staring him in the face. He feels that he is dealing with a terminal illness so he asks the ultimate question that all of us ask.

Will there be life after death ? What happens to us when we die ? “ If a man die shall he live again ?” Now the term that we use to designate the life that we are speaking of this …. is immortality. Immortality simply means that we have an existence which will never be terminated. The Bible pictures both saints and sinners as consciously existing after death in a disembodied state. Its also speaks of a resurrection of the body and a reuniting of body and soul, so that the whole man enters into eternal bliss or blackness, depending on what they have done with the Lord Jesus Christ. My …. as we stand looking into that dark corridor which sooner or

later all must enter we ask with Job, “ If a man die shall he live again ?” “ Is there life after death ?” I want to look at this question this .... in a 3 fold way.

(1) THE UNIVERSAL ANSWER'S

“ If a man die shall he live again ?” What are the answers of society to this question ? Well, a number of answers are given to this question. Let us note them quickly. The first answer says:

(a) “ I SHALL NOT LIVE AGAIN,”

This is the answer of the materialist. His reply is a quick

and short, “ No.” Having carefully weighed the evidence, he has come to the bleak and comfortless conclusion that death ends it all. The materialist claims that the sum total of man is flesh, bone, and blood. Ask the materialist, “ where does man go when he dies ?” and he'll answer, “ nowhere.”. “ Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” The soul is but a function of the brain. Napoleon once said, “ knock me on the head, where then is my soul ?” Bertrand Russell expressed

himself much in the same vein. “ I believe,” he wrote,

“ that when I die, I shall rot, and that nothing of my ego shall survive.” The noted British scientist, Professor Huxley, like many another who became absorbed with material things could see little hope of the future. On his tomb were inscribed the following words:

“ And if there be no meeting past the grave,

If all is darkness, silence yet tis rest

For God still giveth his beloved sleep,

And if an endless sleep he wills so best.”

Darkness, silence, endless sleep, there is not much consolation there except for those who would escape a guilty conscience. “ If a man die, shall he live again ?” Are you among those who say, “ No ?” Do you believe that when you die that’s the end ? That there is no after life ? That there is no hereafter. Some say,

(b) “ I DO NOT WISH TO LIVE AGAIN,”

Those who are bored and bewildered by life as they find it here have no desire for it to go on into the beyond. To this class belonged Lord Byron. In one of his published letters he remarks, “ I see no horror in a dreamless sleep, and I have no conception of any existence which duration would not make tiresome.” Those who adopt this position do not want to live in any after-world, and even seem half-pleased and rather relieved when they persuade themselves that they are destined at last to perish in “ the utter hopelessness of a beast’s grave.” “ If a man die, shall he live again ?” Still others say,

(c) “ I DO NOT KNOW,”

This is the answer of the scientist. Science is

“ organised knowledge,” and knowledge is of “ things seen.” But the Bible says, “ the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” ( 2 Cor 4:18 ) You see the scientist has no scientific way of proving life after death since there is no way to test and experiment. The scientist can deal only with those things he can taste, touch, hear, see, smell, .... the things having to do with the five senses. James Paget says, “ we do not see enough to form a final conclusion from what we see here." “ If a man die, shall he live again ?” “ I do not know.” My …. is that your answer ? Are you confused about this issue ? Do you think that it’s a matter too high for mortal minds ? Then who are others who say,

(d) “ I DO NOT CARE,”

It's hard to understand this attitude. Now there are questions in life the answer to which does not stir us

emotionally. We are quite content to leave the option open. But this is not so, where the problem of immortality is concerned. Surely nothing could touch us more nearly. Of one man it is said that, as death drew near, he declared himself ready, as he put it, “ either for extension or extinction.” Not many at such a moment could be so casual about their fate. Even if people do not crave personal survival for themselves surely they ought to desire it for those they love. The man who does not care whether his dead Mother is only a few bones in a box or a bright spirit clothed with immortality is despicable. “ If a man die, shall he live again ?” Thank God there are those who say,

(e) “ I AM CERTAIN THROUGH CHRIST,”

I am certain that through Christ I now have eternal life, a life of infinite qualitative depth and endless duration. Do

you recall what Paul says concerning the Lord Jesus,

“ Christ hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,” ( 2 Tim 1:10) Gods people have the life here and will have the immortality hereafter. “ If a man die, shall he live again ?” My …. what’s your answer to this question ? Are you saying, “ I shall not live again,” “ I do not wish to live again,” “ I do not know if I shall live,” “ I do not really care,” or can you say that “ I am certain through Christ that I shall live again." Now these are The Universal Answers. (1)

(2) THE TRADITIONAL ARGUMENTS

You see there are four classic arguments for true immortality, for life after death. The first is:

(a) THE UNIVERSAL ARGUMENT:

My …. there is a Universal instinct that believes in life after death. Solomon tells us that “ that God hath set the world or eternity in their heart.” ( Eccl 3:11 ) Throughout the human race no belief is so universally held as this. Everywhere men believe that death is not the end. The Egyptians believed in life after death. The great pyramids testify to the idea of immortality. Here nations buried their Kings and Pharaohs, and placed in the tombs the furniture and other personal items of the deceased. Why ? Because it was believed that the dead would live again and therefore would need these things in the after life. In India, in ancient Greece, in Rome, in China, and Japan belief in life after death was

prominent. The American Indians placed within the grave of the departed one his bow and arrows, and sometimes his pony that he might have these when he reached the happy hunting ground. In Greenland the

deceased Eskimo child was provided with a dog to act as its guide. My .... the Universal Argument proves that there is life after death. Indeed someone has said, “ the intuition of immortality is written in the heart of man by a hand that writes no falsehoods.” (a)

(b) THE PERSONAL ARGUMENT:

An old Scots preacher said once, “ the world cannot satisfy the soul, because the soul is bigger than the world.” Animals are perfectly at home in their natural habitat. Earth gratifies their every craving and satisfies their every need. But man was made for more than the earth can offer. He has immortal longing's in him. Never does he become completely naturalised as an earth dweller. In the moving words of the poet he cries,

" In this house with starry dome,

Floored with gemlike plains and seas,

Shall I never feel at home,

Never wholly at my ease ?

Never. For man needs more than seventy years to develop his potential. I heard about the prisoner under sentence of death who is reported to have complained to his warder about the kind of literature given to him to read .... “ all continued stories and I am to be hanged next Tuesday.” In saying these things of course we are thinking of those who are saved. For those of you here who die unsaved, immortality will mean eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire. What a solemn thought it is, that everyone in this service is a spiritual being who will go on living forever either in heaven or in hell. So there is (a) (b) and there is:

(c) THE NATURAL ARGUMENT:

This runs like this, “ nothing in the universe is ever

utterly destroyed.” In the Autumn nature seems to die. The flowers fade. The leaves fall from the trees. The grass withers. Most of the bird and insect life disappears and soon the earth is covered with a cold blanket of snow and ice. Life seems to be over. Death seems to be the master. But in due time the Spring comes and with it warm air and new life. The barren trees put forth their buds and leaves. The buried seeds send up new plants and fragrant flowers. The birds return and are heard on every hand. Is this not what Job is saying in ( 14:7 ? ) He says “ For there is hope of a tree if it be cut down that it will sprout again and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.” In the Winter time there is a dead, dormant stump there. Then the fresh whiff of water in the springtime and the plant comes back and the tree comes back to life. Job says, “ That’s the way it is with me. I am going to die, but I am going to live again.” My …. Does God not speak to us through nature ? Does God not tell us of a more enduring life after death ? Does Paul not tell us, “ that the invisible things of God since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made.” ( Rom 1:20

Ps 19:1-2) Listen, surely God in his wisdom would not preserve the lower elements of His creation and permit the higher to perish. There is another argument for life after death its,

(d) THE MORAL ARGUMENT:

Surely to every thinking person it must be obvious that we require another world to redress the moral imbalance of this one. In this life so much good goes un-rewarded, and so much evil goes unpunished. Often we see truth dragged in the dust and wrong seated on the throne. We see a Nero in the palace and a Paul in the prison. But there is an unalterable law that says, “ whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.” ( Gal 6:7 ) And if he does not reap it in this life he will do so in the life to come. My .... if Hitler can kill 6 million Jews, flaying some of them alive and using their skins in lampshades or reducing their fat to soap, and if he then can put the barrel of a pistol in his mouth, pull the trigger and with a minimum of pain pass into nothingness. If both they and he are blotted out of existence altogether where is there any justice in the universe ? My …. I tell you that

human sin makes immortality a moral necessity. If there is a just God there must be a future life. ( Gen 18:25 )

“ If a man die, shall he live again ?” (1) (2) But notice:

(3) THE BIBLICAL ASSURANCES

For that which the philosophers cannot fathom, nor the

scientists explain God has revealed in His Word. Job asked the question, “ If a man die shall he live again ?” Well, listen to Jobs Testimony, “ for I know that my Redeemer liveth …. and in my flesh I shall see God.”

( Job 19:25-27 ) Listen to David’s Testimony, “ in thy presence is fullness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” ( Ps 16:11 ) “ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” ( Ps 23:6 ) Job believed in immortality, David believed in immortality. Listen to Paul’s Testimony, “ we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” ( 2 Cor 5:1 ) “ if a man die shall he live again ?”