Life Beyond Life
Readings 1 Corinthians 15 and Revelation 21
We begin with a basic theological and Biblical excursion that takes us right back to the very first book in the Bible:
Read the whole of Genesis chapter 1.
What is the key to understanding a major theme in Genesis 1? – God delights in His creation of a beautiful universe [however long that took, and however He chose to bring it to completion]. At the very end, after the creation of human beings, God stands back, like an artist looking at his finished masterpiece, and declares that it is “very good!”
Everything he created was “good” until His centerpiece [something that reflected His own image] was added to His creation. Then He declared that his project was “very good.”
But then it was all ruined! Sin came into His masterpiece and permeated every part of what He had created. Try and imagine a great work of art by one of the great artists – go online and find one – then imagine what that masterpiece would be like if the central image that is fundamental to it is smudged – the whole painting would be ruined!
Sin does not just ruin us, because we in turn ruin the rest of the good that God has created. When Christ came into the world, He came to save more than just individual people – it was a cosmic event. He came to save us and His creation – to restore and put right everything.
[Revelation 21]
Here is the picture given to us in Revelation. Once every human being He allowed for in His plan of creation has come into the world, He will bring everything to an end.
[1 Corinthians 15]
In the death of the body, Christ preserves and restores and renovates the spirit. The death of our bodies are permitted because Christ has a greater plan. It works something like this:
Each human spirit [of those who have believed in Jesus] undergoes transformation and renewal after the death of the body.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism perfectly captures the essence of the work of God in the life of the believer beyond the death of the body:
Q. 37. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
A. The spirits of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness [a], and do immediately pass into glory [b]; and their bodies, being still united to Christ [c], do rest in their graves until the resurrection [d].
[a]. Heb. 12:23
[b]. Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 5:6, 8; Phil. 1:23
[c]. 1 Thess. 4:14
[d]. Dan. 12:2; John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15
Irreversible perfection is conveyed upon the human spirit - and gone forever is the ability to sin! Our spirit will be clothed in the perfection of Christ.
We will be prepared for a perfect body [see 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 for the description of the perfect body] – glorious, spiritual, immortal and powerful; everything complete in the essence of Christ, and clothed in eternal life.
At the Resurrection of the body and the union of that body with the spirit, we will become “living souls” fit for a new earth and a new universe. This crowning glory – the Body of Christ – is introduced to the new universe and the new earth in which only perfection exists - and thus the masterpiece is restored!
What will this new creation be like?
- There will be the absence of death and its accompanying sorrow.
- Pain will be absent – both physical and psychological.
- There will be no division between people and no-one will rule except God Himself.
- It will be a place of wholeness, completeness and peace forever.
- War and conflict will be absent.
- People will grow and develop together with no need of competition.
- Money will not exist and neither will poverty or division or nationalism or religion.
- There will be cohesion, education and a lot of fun. Grace will govern everything and there will be growing and complete satisfaction in all we do.
- There will be work, but not as we know it.
- Discovery will probably be a constant in our lives and time will be unimportant – we will have all the time we need to explore and grow and understand all things.
- There will be no children and families as we know and understand it here in this life, because we will be part of one great family.
What of our relationships here on earth? They will cease in death – husbands and wives, parents and children – these relationships will not exist – they will though be better – as indeed will every relationship.
What of memory? The past? I suppose it is a little like our experience of the womb. What do we remember of our life in the womb – that life where we were responsive to our mothers and even influences out-with that secure environment? Consciously we remember very little, though we are influenced by our time there. In a similar way, the following will be the case:
- All pain and sorrow will be gone. We will have all consciousness of the pain done to us and by us removed.
- God will do something in us and to us that will be so fundamental that our past will consciously be wiped clean.
- Every stain that malformed us, personally and spiritually, will be cleansed forever.
YET
Jesus in his glorified and renewed body will have the evidence of the cross on his body – a perpetual reminder of the grace of God. This is a great mystery.
BUT
We know this for certain. There is nothing to fear in the death of our body. Jesus has ordained that day and time for us to keep that appointment with Him. He will be there – there to keep us safe and take us home. There to make us complete. There to oversee the end of the world as we know it and create everything anew. There to introduce His crowning glory – His Body - to the new universe and new earth forever.