First lets find out what the bible says of mans present condition. Do we really know what constitutes death and life in Adam vs. death and life in Christ?
Let's check Eph. 2: 1-5
Eph. 2: 1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
Apart from God, all men are dead. So the present condition of man in Adam is death, but via the resurrection of Christ, the Gospel, the cornerstone of the faith quickens us. Through our shared death with Christ we are made alive, not a near death...a real death, just like Lazarus. My first question for Lazarus at his return dinner would have been, "Hey, bro, where were you for four days and what was it like?", but Lazarus never spoke of it. Strange, Lazarus had a real-death experience, yet was silent on the matter.
Eph. 2: 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
Eph. 2: 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
Eph. 2: 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
Eph. 2: 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), {AMEN}
2 Corinthians 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
While we were once a "night of the living dead", we now are a "dying living". Our outward man (body) is decaying. But our inward man is renewed by the Spirit. That is, we now put off the deeds of the flesh and live in Christ according to the Spirit.
Our God is a God of the second, third, and many more chances.
2 Peter 3: 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
“The Rich Man and Lazarus” Luke 16:27-31 27 “’Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”
Father Abraham explains to the rich man that he and his brothers had many chances to respond to the testimony of Moses, the prophets, and the entire scriptures; the revealed Word of God while they lived, yet they did not repent. So hard do men become, that even the resurrection will not move them to repentance.
God, through Moses gave Pharaoh many chances also, but instead he hardened his heart.
Heb. 2: 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
The question I ponder is why does God give me any chances. I surely don’t deserve any. Which makes the Cross, and the grace and mercy poured out for me there all the more amazing.
Is there such a thing as a "near death" experience?
Let’s consider two examples of possible near death experiences mentioned in the bible.
Jonah went overboard for three days…something’s fishy:
Jon. 2: 1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish's belly.
Jon 2: 2 And he said: "I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, and He answered me.”Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, [And] You heard my voice.
Jon 2: 3 For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me.
Jon 2: 4 Then I said, 'I have been cast out of Your sight; yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.'
Jon 2: 5 The waters surrounded me, [even] to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head.
Jon 2: 6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains; the earth with its bars [closed] behind me forever; yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD, my God.
Jon 2: 7 "When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD; and my prayer went [up] to You, Into Your holy temple.
Jon 2: 8 "Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own Mercy.
Jon 2: 9 But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation [is] of the LORD."
Jon 2: 10 So the LORD spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry [land].
Some suggest Jonah died and was resurrected, since Jonah cried "out of the belly of Sheol". Yet the bible says he was praying which is hard to do while dead. He may have been resurrected, the bible is not clear, the main point of the analogy is the prefiguring of Christ's three days in the grave experience that was to come. Like Jonah, Christ would be three days in the grave and conquer death.
Paul was "rocked to sleep":
2 Cor. 11: 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;
2 Cor. 12: 3 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago--whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows--such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows--
2 Cor. 12: 4 how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
These may be the only instances of what might be a called a "near-death" experience in the bible, but as Paul says, God knows. Paul's experience however is in stark contrast to modern near-death experiences where the person describes mystical lights, tunnels, and out of body floating sensations. Most of these instances seem more tied to the occult and new age. Among those who have these experiences, rarely do they speak of a renewed faith in Christ or a desire to spread the gospel. They more likely relate a “brotherhood of man, fatherhood of god” universalism or a new age mother earth/gia message. Less well publicized are the dark tunnels and glimpses of hell some people experience.
Heb. 9:27. "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment"
In this world, men die once. In the next they can die a second time, the second death, (or eternal separation from God…hell.)
In this present day of medical advances, it is often said that we have brought someone back from death, either through defibrillation, medicines, etc. I always correct people and say. “It just wasn’t their time”, or “we just helped correct a problem.” They may meet the definition of clinical death: No respirations, and no pulse. Or they may be biologically dead: no brainwave activity. But either way, if they were resuscitated, they weren’t dead.
Remember the wisdom of Miracle Max, the wizard in The Princess Bride: “He’s not dead-dead, he’s just mostly dead”.
There were also two who had no-death experiences: Enoch and Elijah.
One was walking with God one day and they both walked all the way home.
The other was taken up in a flaming chariot.
1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
Personally, I look forward to that Blessed Hope, the Glorious Appearing.
Submitted by: Steve Pulley
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