What Happens When We Die?

[HKHaugan]

At a recent meeting a man questioned what it would be like when we die. There were lots of people who tried to answer but none to his satisfaction. So where do we go and what happens? That is a legitimate question but Jesus does not let it rest there. He counters with a different approach. He wants us to realize the real question is not about where we end up after death or what it’s going to be like when we die. It’s not about a place or a thing or an experience. It’s about a person, that is, who will be there when we die. Listen to what He says, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am (Jn.14:1-3 NLT).” The key here is “You will always be with me where I am.”

Jesus goes to great pains and the final pain of death to center all our attention on Him. He is the key to every next moment, our final moment and where we will be. It is with Him.

What is the theme here? It’s belief in a person; trust in a person and faith in a person. It’s all about the person. It’s all about the person of Jesus. It’s not about where we have been or even where we are or where we are going. It’s all about Him. When the thief on the Cross next to Jesus asks Jesus to take him into His Kingdom Jesus replies, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” The emphasis is not paradise but on the word ‘me.’ The word ‘me’ precedes the word ‘paradise.’ Today you will be with ‘me.’ Jesus is the One who carries us into something we can only experience when He is the center of our consciousness. It is the person of Jesus who promises to make the Kingdom of Heaven a reality.

There is a real revelation here involving man’s lost nature. We are looking for what is in it for us. It is really not about God but about me, who I am, where I am going and how I am going to get there. It seems we want that sense of security in knowing, in controlling, in being assured that everything is going to be all right for me. It is about self-elevation, self-security and self-advancement. This is the nature of sin. This is why Jesus died in our place. He took our sin upon His shoulders. Sin is cataclysmic, catastrophic and in the end catatonic.

Note the sequence of teaching events in John 13 and 14 during the Passover meal after Judas leaves to betray Jesus. Jesus tells the disciples that the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in Him. He is introducing the idea that what is about to happen to Him, His closing act, death on the Cross, will center all thought, concentration and action on Him. They won’t be able to go where He is going. Only He alone can take that final walk. He tells them that after He leaves the most important thing for them to do is to love each other as He has loved them.

The sequence is presented in a series of five disciples who don’t get it and won’t until Pentecost. They represent all of us as exhibitions of sin at work.

First there is Judas who doesn’t get it. He betrays Jesus. He never understood Jesus. As Scripture tells us he was a thief. He seems to have tagged along perhaps thinking the group was an easy mark.

Second, there is Peter who doesn’t get it. Peter asks Jesus where He is going. He tells Peter He won’t be able to follow Him but later he will. At which point Peter presumptuously vows He will die with him but Jesus confronts Peter, “Before the cock crows three times you will disown me.” Later, when Jesus is arrested He rebuffs Peter’s attempt to physically defend Him.

Then Jesus sees that the disciples are clueless. He tells them not to let their hearts be troubled. They are to trust in Him the same way they trust in God. They don’t get the point He is God the Son. He may be the Christ but the idea He is God is out of reach for them even though Peter did blurt out that Jesus was the Christ the Son of the living God. Peter also at another time was asked by Jesus who observed many were leaving Him, “Do you want to leave me too? Peter replied, “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” They really won’t get it until after Pentecost. For even after the Resurrection they went fishing.

Third, Thomas doesn’t get it. When Jesus tells them He is going away to prepare a place for them and they should trust Him until He returns because they know the way. Thomas tells Jesus that they don’t know where He is going or the way there. Jesus replies He is not only the way, He is truth and He is life. If they really knew Him they would know that the Father is His destiny and our destiny and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. He is the only way to the Father. If they really knew Him they would know the Father. In fact they have already known and seen Him in Jesus. This is the same Thomas who refuses to believe in the Resurrection until Jesus appears to Him.

Fourth, Philip doesn’t get it. He says if Jesus would just show them the Father that would be good enough for them. Jesus again replies that after all the time He has spent with them they still don’t realize that when they see Jesus they see the Father. Not only that but they will be able to do the same things that Jesus has done and even greater. Then Jesus extends more to them. He tells them the Father will send the Holy Spirit to be in them then they will realize that He is in the Father and the Father in Him and they together are in them.

Fifth, the other Judas, not Iscariot, doesn’t get it. Judas, again not Iscariot, asks Jesus why He shows Himself to the disciples but not to the world. Jesus wants the world to see what happens when people are filled with the Spirit and through faith, He is seen in them. Jesus challenges their faith. If they really love Him they will obey His teaching.

What they don’t get is the inner experience of Jesus in their minds and hearts. It is the Holy Spirit who will come and remind them of all His teaching. It will take Pentecost and the infilling of the Holy Spirit to make sense out of the life they experienced in Jesus when He was physically with them. All of this is so the world will see Jesus’ presence happen through the disciples by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is Jesus living in the minds, hearts and spirits that will make it all work. That is the way God has planned it.

Of the other disciples ‘the one Jesus loved,’ John, was the only one near the Cross at the crucifixion. He too would have to wait for Pentecost. His Gospel was written after that event.

To sum it up look at it this way, think about the things that you have found wonderful in your life. It took someone to lead you into them. You trusted them and were glad you went. But after you went what you really enjoyed was being able to tell your friend he or she was right and it was the relationship with that person that was ongoing. Because you trusted them with one experience you grew into the relationship because it was the person that made the difference regardless of where you were or what you did after that.

Recently my wife said that a certain art lecturer was really great and I would enjoy the presentation. The thought of hearing an art lecture was not what I would call my greatest desire. But I went and was really overcome by the presentation, which I found absolutely amazing. My wife nudged me and I trusted her to go not realizing what a wonderful time I would have. Trusting one person opens the door to others and to the atmosphere of the overall relational experiences involved.

With Jesus as the ever-present Lord, elder brother and friend the expanse of eternity is opened to a never-ending vista of relational experience. But it’s not about the experience, place or time. It’s about the person, the person of Jesus. Everything follows from and through Him. He said, “When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am (Jn.14:1-3 NLT).”