Closed for Remodeling

Happy Sunday! Today we continue in our study of death and life after death. In the weeks ahead, we'll look at what the Bible says about heaven and hell. Today I want to talk about the death of a Believer.

People ask questions like, when do we get to heaven? Do you remember what Jesus said to the thief on the cross? In Luke 23:43, Jesus told him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise." The thief who repented was in heaven the same day.

Last week we looked at this verse from Philippians 1:23. Paul said about living and dying, he said, "I'm hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better." It is clear that immediately after death comes reward for the believer. I believe that scripture teaches us that for the Christian, our last breath on Earth is our first breath in heaven, like that.

2 Corinthians 5'8 supports this 100%. There we are told that if believer is absent, if a Believer is absent from the body, they are then present with the Lord. I know that there are several books and movies about heaven and people dying and seeing heaven and then coming back, and I want to be careful to make sure that I build my theology on God's word and not on anecdotal stories from this world. So we're going to look at a lot of scripture over the next many weeks.

What about our bodies? What, did they go to heaven or do they? Now, death has two stages. First, there's the separation of the body and the spirit. You've likely gone to a funeral home to see a body; the spirit's not there, just the shell.

When we die, our spirit is in heaven immediately, and visibly our bodies remain behind. The second stage is this: scripture teaches that our bodies will be resurrected at the second coming of Christ. Have you ever seen a storefront covered with brown paper over the windows with a sign that says "Closed for remodeling"? That would be perfect for the tombstone of a Believer: closed for remodeling.

Scriptures clear on this. First Thessalonians 413 to18 is very informative. We're told there, "We do not, I want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died.

"For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangels call, and with the sound of God's trumpet, the Lord will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first," that's their bodies, "and then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will be with the Lord forever. There, therefore, encourage one another with these words."

I've thought about this. If I'm alive at that time when God comes back, I'd love to be at the cemetery to watch this happen. All the graves open up. For the believer, graveyards are temporary.

People then ask, well, what kind of bodies will we get? Philippians 1:21 says, "He'll take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control." Now, I'm not sure what they will be like, but I do know that they will be much better than what we have now.

We learn a little bit more from 1 Corinthians 15:35 to 38: "Someone may ask, how would the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?" Scripture says, "What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn't grow into a plant unless it dies first. And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting. Then God gives the new body that he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed."

Let me skip to verse 42 from 1 Corinthians 15: "It is the same way with the resurrection of the Dead. Our Earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in Brokenness, but they'll be raised in glory. Our bodies are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength.

"Our bodies are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, they are also spiritual bodies."

The older I become, the more I understand the words of 2 Corinthians 51 to4: "For we know that when this Earthly tent we live in is taken down," that is, when we die and leave this Earthly body, "we'll have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies Like New clothing. For we will put on Heavenly Bodies; we will not be Spirits without bodies.

"While we live in these Earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it's not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life."

You, you know, all of these scriptures sound to me like a caterpillar to a butterfly transformation. As a Christian, I have no fear of death. I pray that God's word Comforts and prepares all of us, and you too will have no fear because you're ready.

Pray with me. Father, it is true, the older we get we have sze and groans, and things hurt and ache, and you've got something better. Father, we ask that you would let us all be ready for that new glorified body. Comfort us with your words. Let this get to those that need to hear it. In Jesus name we pray, amen.

God bless. See you next time.