Faith

If People Die, How Can There Be Eternal Life?

by John Clark 
02/10/16
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Most people believe in some type of afterlife. However, believing in something doesn't make it reality. Can this be said about eternal life? There must be some kind of source above human reasoning backed up by evidence or experience to make it so. 

     People have souls. Genesis 2:7 tells us that after God created the physical body of man that he "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul" (some translations use the word "being"). It is the soul that continues on. Only the physical form of a person is seen in a casket. The Bible makes many references to the soul, one of the most common being Matthew 16:26, "For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" We are commanded in the Bible to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul.  Even Mao Tse-Tung, former Chinese communist leader, stated,"It's not enough to have our peoples' allegiance; we must possess their very souls." The soul is a very real entity of a person's existence. But does the soul continue eternally as a conscious "being?"

     There is a very interesting phrase found in Revelation 1:7 that helps answers this question. In reference to Jesus it says, "Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him..." Think about that. Jesus was pierced with a sword when he was crucified on the cross 2,000 years ago. Yet this prophecy in Revelation says those same people will witness his second coming! In Revelation 11:3-12 an account is given of "two witnesses" who will be on the earth during the Tribulation Period, manifesting the power of God through miracles. In Malachi 4:5, the last book of the Old Testament, a prophecy is given of sending "Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord." Some scholars believe that the other witness will be Moses. This raises the question as to whether two people who lived in the Old Testament era will return to earth in physical form during this time?

     Many personal experiences have surfaced in the last several years in near-death accounts. Although I take issue with some of the details related in these experiences and find them not to be in line with scriptural teaching, one thing that is undeniable is that people have reportedly gone to heaven, and come back to describe it. In other forms people have seen themselves rising out of their bodies in a hospital bed, only to see the doctors  and nurses below them working on their physical bodies. People have been separated from their physical bodies and have seen heaven. The most popular example is the book and movie, "Heaven Is For Real," the story of a young boy who claims he actually saw heaven and Jesus. 

     It is not always heaven that has been seen, however. A successful real estate agent in Southern California was transported to hell and saw demons and the eternal torment of the unsaved. He wrote a book about his experience. Some groups, like the Seventh Day Adventists, do not believe in a literal hell. They teach that people who reject God and the saving grace of his Son, Jesus, are simply annihilated and don't get to enjoy eternity with God. Experiences like the one just mentioned, however, along with many biblical passages, refute that teaching. 

     There is also the issue of soul-sleep, which is rejected by II Corinthians 5:8, where  the Apostle Paul says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. 

     The Bible says that we can know for sure that there is eternal life in fellowship with God. Obviously, it does not mean physical existence as we know it. Physical death is an absolute certainly for each and every individual. Our soul will be reunited with some kind of heavenly "body." 

     Your conscious life will continue to go on, and on, and on... There will be no end. We cannot humanly fathom that. That is a long time to be in the presence of God or to be tormented for refusing to accept him. It has nothing to do with being religious or doing good works. It is a relationship with God through the Holy Spirit living within a life, for those who have made a choice to accept Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior. Blaise Pascal, a seventeenth-century scientist, said, "If eternal damnation is possible, no sacrifice is too great to prevent that possibility from becoming a reality."

     When your soul leaves your body, where will it be?