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University SDA Church- East Lansing

The Afterlife

David Shin

The Afterlife- Part 1

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this Sabbath and this opportunity that we have to come apart from the cares of this life to worship you on this beautiful Sabbath.

And Father, as we study this important topic, especially as we approach the final moments of earth's history.

We pray that you would speak to our hearts.

We pray that we would ground our beliefs upon the Word of God and That I would be hidden behind the cross and that Jesus would be uplifted and Christ would be seen.

It was about when I was 10 years of age, 1 of my friends' father was diagnosed with cancer.

It was a little bit after that, about a year later, that he passed away.

And as you could imagine, the family, especially the son, was devastated, as you can imagine, losing his father at such an early age.

A week after the funeral, the family was gathered downstairs eating and they heard upstairs the front door open and close and footsteps go through the foyer.

They were quite alarmed and surprised because they had locked the front door and so they rushed upstairs to see who it was and no 1 was there.

Except in the middle of the floor was his father's shoes.

His shoes were right there in the middle of the floor.

And the question lingers in the minds of numerous individuals that have had similar experiences after the passing of a loved 1, is it possible for a deceased individual to come back and visit their loved 1?

As I've gone door to door, after I graduated from high school and into college, I met countless individuals that claim to be visited by their loved 1, whether it be a grandmother, brother, sister, husband.

They claim that they come back and visit and talk with them many times face to face.

And so we begin today a new two-part series of messages that we've entitled The Afterlife, and we're going to be studying what the Bible says about what happens after we die.

And so I invite you to turn with me in your bulletin or open your bulletin.

If you don't have 1, do raise your hand and we'll see if someone can get 1 for us.

Sophie, could you help us out and get some people that have raised their hand a study guide at this time?

Toghzani, could you slip out and tell Sophie to pass out some study guides for us?

We want to make sure that everyone has a study guide.

I'm going to read the top part of your study guide this morning and this is a brief outline of today's presentation as we study what the Bible says about what happens after we die.

The question of death and what happens when 1 dies are questions that have intrigued mankind since the very dawn of time.

Even today, with significant advances in technology, medicine and science, the question of the mystery of death remains entirely unanswered.

Truth be told, science is ill-equipped to deal adequately with the issue of death.

Death is more than the ceasing of physiological functions and activities.

It has mental, emotional, and certainly spiritual ramifications both for the dying and those who remain.

The Bible, The Holy Scriptures contains the keys that unlock this mystery.

The Bible can provide the kinds of answers that humanity is seeking for concerning the question of death.

The Bible alone can illumine the dark door of death.

And so we want to go in our Bible study this morning by going to the beginning of the Bible asking ourself this fundamental question you can see it there in your study guide what does the Bible teach about the idea of the immortal soul?

You've heard this notion of the immortality of the soul and the first place in the Bible where the word soul is mentioned in is Genesis chapter 2 verse 7.

It says, The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.

Feel free to fill it out as we go through this verse.

It says that man breathed into the nostrils of Adam the breath of life and man became a living soul.

I want to read on in our study guide, in seeking to unlock the mystery of man's spiritual and physical makeup, it will prove exceedingly helpful to note how mankind was first created in Genesis chapter 1 and 2.

According to Genesis chapter 2 verse 7, God formed man of 2 elements, dust and breath, and these 2 elements converged and man became a soul.

Note that the Bible says that he became a soul, not that he was given or had a soul.

This is utterly essential, like a light bulb which needs both the physical housing and the electricity to create light.

Man is a coalescing of the physical body and the breath of God now we understand creation here it is in brief so if we were to summarize Genesis chapter 2 verse 7 this is what the Bible says dust plus the spirit or the breath of God and man became a soul.

So these 2 entities is what makes up a soul.

If you want to see a soul, look at the person next to you.

If you were to look at a car, You don't open up the hood of the car and say, where's the car?

And so here is a misunderstanding that many people have.

They say our soul is a part of us when the Bible says the soul is the coalescing of these 2 entities.

The dust plus the Spirit of God or the breath of God equals a living soul.

So this is simple 1 plus 1 mathematics as you see there in your study guide.

Now listen carefully death is simply creation in reverse.

So upon death the reverse of this equation happens.

The dust returns to the ground as it was, and the spirit or the breath of God, the creative power of God, returns to God who gave it.

Now the Bible uses the word soul 1600 times and never once does it use the words immortal to describe the soul.

Now when we think of the term immortality, you can see it there in your study guide that the Bible says in 1st Timothy chapter 6 verse 16 that only God is immortal.

Furthermore, in Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 4 it says, Behold all souls are mine as the soul of the Father.

The soul that sinneth, it shall, what does it say?

So the Bible says very clearly that a soul is mortal not Immortal, but the soul that's in it.

That is what the Bible says Let's move on in our study guide very quickly.

We alluded to this earlier and this was our scripture reading actually was out of Ecclesiastes chapter 9 verse 5 but this is from Ecclesiastes 12 verse 7.

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.

Now some people assume that when the term spirit is used, this is talking about our spirit.

On the contrary, when you look at the Hebrew, this is the Hebrew word ruach.

And ruach and spirit are the Hebrew terms that are used or Rua is the Hebrew term that is used it literally means breath you can see another part of scripture Psalms 104 verse 29 it says thou hidest thy face they are troubled thou takest away their what their breath they die and return to dust So you can see that this is creation in reverse.

The breath of God, the spirit of God, the creative power of God is what returns to him at death.

Now quite naturally if you assume that when we die we go to heaven many people assume that the dead know more than we do but the Bible is very clear in Ecclesiastes chapter 9 verse 5 and 6 but the living know that they will die but the dead know many things is that what it says how much did the dead know It says the dead know not anything or the dead know nothing.

Neither have they any more reward for the memory of them is forgotten.

Also their love and their hatred, their envy is now perished.

Neither have they any more portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.

Now we want to base our beliefs upon the Word of God.

We started it with our sermon here this morning, can the dead come back and visit us?

Can the dead visit me after they have passed through the portals of the tomb?

Here's another clear passage, Job chapter 7, verses 8 through 10, you could see it there in your study guide.

The eye of him that has seen me shall see me no more.

Thine eyes are upon me, I am not, as the cloud is consumed and vanished the way, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.

He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more." The Bible is very clear.

It says, look when you die you don't return to your home.

The Afterlife- Part 2

Our Father in heaven, we thank you so much for how you bless this church.

We thank you for the souls and the disciples that have happened organically as a result of individuals that were committed to Christ.

And we pray that you'd bless us as we move forward with the vision of making this church a training center for Christian workers.

As we set up Bible University, we pray that You would help us by Your grace.

Lord, help us to focus on quality rather than quantity.

Help us to work the way that Jesus worked.

And we pray that You'd give us the same dedication, the same spirit that fell upon the apostles would fall upon this church in a powerful way.

Bless us as we open your word for a few moments here, for we ask these things in Jesus' name.

Today we conclude our two-part series entitled The afterlife, and I want to begin by sharing a little bit about my perspective of flying.

For whatever reason, whenever I get on a plane, it becomes a very, how should I say, a spiritual experience in that every time I get on the plane, it is a coming to Jesus moment.

I don't know what it is, but whenever the pilot comes over the airways and says, please fasten your seatbelts, we are going to be facing a little bit of turbulence, that's really code, in my estimation, for it saying, for those of you that have any religious beliefs, now is the time to express them, you know?

And I want to tell you, on particularly transatlantic or trans-Pacific flights, we were flying into Japan, and we hit some turbulence over the ocean and it was really rocky.

And when you look at the stewardess and you see a little bit of stress, That's when you start to get worried.

And what usually happens is a prayer, something like this, Father, forgive me for my many sins.

And Lord, if there's anything in my life that I need to confess, please, I leave them over to you.

And that's what happens and I believe that for me in my spiritual experience it's probably good to at least fly once a year because this is a prayer that regularly happens.

I want to tell you that many times it's hyper-accelerated, I guess that's the word, by my imagination in that sometimes I'm in that moment, I imagine us plummeting into the ocean and crashing.

And I think sometimes, what would it be like if I died on this plane?

And I imagine that as we plummet, we crash and it's like, ah, Ah, what's going to be the next reality for me?

And did you know that the Bible actually tells us it's really 1 of 2 options.

Let's say I'm in this plane, transatlantic flight, and you know, planes have been just disappearing nowadays, haven't you noticed?

And suddenly that plane just plummets into the ocean and smash, ah, all right, that's my last moment, my last breath, and I don't know what happens.

And then the next moment is really going to be, according to the Bible, 1 of 2 realities.

There's only 2 options that we have, and I want you to invite you, I want to invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 5, our scripture reading, verse 28 and 29, you're only going to wake up in 1 of these 2 realities.

John 5, verse 28 and 29, 12, 26 in the Bible that has been provided for you there in the pew.

Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which, how many?

In which all who are in the graves will hear his voice.

Meaning the words of Jesus, the words of God, come forth.

Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those that have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.

The Bible tells us that all of us in this room will arise to 1 of 2 resurrections.

Either the resurrection of what the Bible calls life, or the resurrection of condemnation.

You're going to wake up either at 1 or the other.

So, the Bible tells us, and this is our study here today, that these 2 resurrections are separated by a period of 1, 000 years, except you won't know it's 1, 000 years, because as we said 2 weeks ago, when we die and pass out of the time-space continuum, you have no consciousness of time.

The plane plummets into the Atlantic Ocean.

And either Pastor David Shin wakes up here, or I wake up 1, 000 years later and I wake up here.

According to our consciousness, we have no consciousness of time, which means that if I wake up here, I'm not going to be like, oh, what's taking the Lord so long?

Believe it or not, there are thousands of people, I don't know how many people die every day but there's a lot, that are dying and waking up in 1 reality or the other.

This is happening according to their consciousness.

The Bible tells us that this period of time called the millennium separates these 2 resurrections.

And when Jesus died on the cross, he assured the reality of a universal resurrection.

Universal resurrection for those that are saved and those that are lost.

And I want to invite you to turn or open your study guide and we're going to go through this very quickly.

This is a brief outline of today's presentation.

If you don't have a study guide, raise your hand.

We have our individuals in the back that will give you a study guide.

Take this home because I'm going to go through this very quickly.

Look up these texts because this is arguably 1 of the most important concepts for us to understand because it has to do with our personal salvation.

Keep your hand raised, coming around here.

Alright, so I'm going to start up in the beginning of our study guide and read the introduction.

The clear teaching of Scripture is that there are 2 resurrections.

Jesus Himself affirmed and taught this in John chapter 5 verse 28 and 29.

These 2 resurrections are separated by a period of 1, 000 years.

The 1, 000 years of Revelation chapter 20 is often called the millennium.

The word millennium is simply a Latin composite of 2 words, mille meaning 1, 000 and anium meaning years.

The second coming of Jesus and the resurrection of the righteous mark the beginning of the 1, 000 years.

The saints of all ages described as blessed and holy, in verse 6, will be raised in the first resurrection.

Friends, this is the resurrection that you want to wake up in.

Now, the question is, what is going to happen in that resurrection?

And if you look in your study guide, here are events at the second coming of Jesus.

Sophie, we have some more people up here if you could pass them out to these individuals up front.

Alright, so here is the first event at the resurrection or at the first resurrection at the beginning of the millennium.

These are events at the beginning of the millennium, at the beginning of the thousand years, at the first resurrection.

1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16, 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Series

The Afterlife

The Afterlife- Part 1

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

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