To A Life Beyond

The torches burned long into the night in the banquet hall. Their flickering light cast grotesque shadows across the huge table. Most of the seated revelers were slumped in their places, sleeping off the effects of food and grog. There were a few murmuring conversations, occasional outbursts of ribald laughter. Few but the king noticed when a tiny sparrow flew in the open window, pecked a table scrap, circled the hall several times, then winged through another open window into the remaining night. The medieval king rose, and to no one in particular, began to muse, “Our lives are like that lost sparrow. We come from the darkness of who knows where, flit through the lighted banquet hall of life snatching at morsels, then we fly out the window of death to who knows where! Who can tell me more of these things?”

The stupored king’s questioning has occupied inquisitive minds from the beginning of time. Whence have I come? Wither shall I go? Why? William Shakespeare’s Prince Hamlet called death, “The undiscovered country from whose border no traveler ever returns.”

Do you ever wonder about death? What happens after you die? Is there life beyond the grave? What is heaven like?  The big issue is, “How can one find sure answers to such questions?” The best means is for someone to die and return to tell us! And, indeed! Scripture records several incidents of death and resurrection.  Lazarus died and was buried several days. Then Jesus brought him back to life. But Lazarus never talked about his experience (John 11).

The apostle Paul was stoned in the village of Lystra. He was left for dead. But he was revived. Of his death experiences all Paul said was, “I know a man caught up to the third heaven. He saw things no man can utter.” (Acts 14:19, 2 Corinthians 12:2).

Even Jesus died and rose again. And He was with us 40 days before He ascended. Yet He never discussed with His disciples all that lay beyond death’s veil.

Answers to questions about death and the hereafter are frustratingly difficult to find until one comes to the concluding book of the Bible. There in Revelation 7:9-17, John is given a vision of heaven, which he faithfully records. “I looked,” John wrote, “and in heaven, an open door.” Through that door John walked, observing as he progressed. His Book of Revelation is his subsequent attempt to give to the world what he saw. And it is of immense importance in answering our basic questions about death.

Many ask if we will recognize each other in heaven. Some say we are like a drop of water returning to a faceless sea. To die is but to merge into obscurity.

An elderly widow once told me, “I don’t think I could enjoy heaven unless my late husband was there. Will I see him again? Will we know each other?”

In Revelation 7:9, John points out how the host of heaven could be identified by their nationality, tongue, tribe, and race. And this isn’t the only evidence we have. Matthew 17 records Jesus’ transfiguration in which the Lord spoke with two men dead, now in heaven yet clearly recognizable—Moses and Elijah.

John 20 tells of Christ’s resurrection. His voice, his personality, his words, his face, all were recognized by his good friend, Mary Magdalene.

Imagine, stepping through that open door into paradise to be greeted by grandpapa, mother, friends. And who’s that over there? Why it’s the apostle Paul! And isn’t that Mr. George Fridrick Handel? And there’s David, the Sweet Psalmist of Israel! Why heaven’s but one glad reunion of familiar faces and names.

The Reverend Stephen Crotts is pastor of Village Presbyterian Church in Charlotte Court House, VA.