Is Death Real?
Mustard Seed Chronicles: Story Time with LU Grandma
This may sound like a ridiculous question for a believer, but come with me and ask yourself: Is death real?
I ask this question because my family and I have just experienced the home-going of our son, from this earthly life to the eternal presence of Jesus Christ. In this season, the Lord has showed me something so very profound that I want to share it with all of you.
Our son’s body was very frail from the time he was in the womb. He had many medical problems, but those medical problems did not determine who he was. His soul determined who he was and who he currently now is. He was a lover of people, a lover of animals, and his greatest love was his love for the Lord Jesus Christ. When his soul left his body, what remained was just a shell.
We know the Bible verse John 3:16 “For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever should believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Do we realize that we are all eternal beings now, from the moment we take our first breath? Hear the truth of it. Whether humans “live” eternally or “die” eternally is dependent on Christ.
- Psalm 139:16b says, “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before there was one of them.”
- When Jesus was on the cross, Matthew 27:50 says, “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He gave up His Spirit” (emphasis is mine).
- Luke 23:46 similarly accounts “Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit’ (emphasis is mine). When he had said this, he breathed his last.”
These texts do not say that Jesus ceased existing. Christ’s spirit was released from his earthly body.
God is revealing to me that we use the words “death” and “dying” in our culture as something very different than what we should. This is likely to be a ploy of Satan to get us away from the truth – to cause us inward pain and suffering – as we believe his lie that we are all that we are ever going to be, right now, at this moment, so grab up all the happiness and life-meaning we can while we are on earth.
In part, because of this lie, we have failed to realize that the body is separate from the soul. Our soul is who we are: our emotions, our will, our thinking, our personalities, and our love. Our body is simply the home that our soul is placed in temporarily. When someone passes from this life to the next, the body alone dies. The person inside of the body does not! Satan’s lie distracts us to look at the body as the source of everything. Our society has followed the lie. It says, “You are what you look like!” Whether it be your race, your color, your heritage, or your gender. This is straight from the father of lies (as described in John 8:44)!
My family and I have gone to many “viewings” of dead bodies before funerals of loved ones. In the past, I have looked at those people as being dead… when in reality, just the body was dead! The true person was no longer inside of the body! When my twin sister’s and son’s bodies died, I saw their bodies in the hospital rooms. It was plain to see that neither of them were inside of the bodies.
We all are living for an eternity now! Who we truly are will never die. After our body stops functioning, we will be living in either a place of eternal “life” or eternal “death.” This is what the Bible calls “heaven” and “hell.” If you were living in a shoddy building and were given the opportunity to move to either a palace or inside a fiery furnace which would you choose?
We spend a lot of time and money on earth moving from place to place, state to state, and country to country. We are usually hoping for an upgrade in the building. One of my sons was in the Navy and had to move to Hawaii from Virginia. They had movers move their belongings, but not the buildings they were living in. Our bodies and souls are like this!
I am not a highly trained theologian, but I have been walking with the Holy Spirit for over 40 years since I trusted Christ’s finished work for me on the cross. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future” (John 16:13, NLT). This verse testifies to who I am in Christ, and in Who I believe.
Please think about the truths in these scriptures and determine for yourselves where you want to spend the rest of your eternal existence. Based on God’s word, you have two choices: a perfect, sinless heaven with Jesus and the Father where there is no more sickness, death, sorrow, or tears. Or hell with Satan and his angels, where there will be separation from God in utter darkness and eternal fire with weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. I pray with all that is in me that you would choose the first.
To enter into heaven, no righteous deed or merit will be sufficient (based on Matthew 19:16). Rather, “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith; and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV).
Prayer:
Dear Father, I pray for everyone who will read this, that you would speak your truth into their lives, and that we would all be together in heaven with you forever! I pray that our grief would not primarily be for the loss of life, but rather for the temporary separation we feel now as we are still here in these bodies and they are not. They are more alive than ever because of what Jesus did for us. I pray this in His name! Amen.
Meet the Author
Timi Plyter
“LU Grandma”
Lead Parent Advocate
