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Ten Seconds After You Die · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: On Monday, we looked at how to love a dying
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  Speaker 1: unbeliever well, and today we ask what happens when the
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  Speaker 1: believer dies. We've probably all stood there at a gravesite,
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  Speaker 1: looked down at the pile of dirt or the new grass,
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  Speaker 1: and we wonder is he just sleeping there or is
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  Speaker 1: he somewhere else? Entirely, if you've ever wondered whether believers
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  Speaker 1: simply sleep in the grave until Christ returns, or do
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  Speaker 1: they immediately go to be with Jesus. It's a big question,
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  Speaker 1: and to get the answer we need to reconcile First
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  Speaker 1: Thessalonians four, verses sixteen to seventeen, the rapture text with
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  Speaker 1: Paul's confidence that the soul is immediately at home with
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  Speaker 1: the Lord, as we are about to encounter in our
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  Speaker 1: Bible reading in Second Corinthians chapter five, which is coming
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  Speaker 1: up here, I think late next week. We begin Second
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  Speaker 1: Corinthians a next month. Today on ask Pastor John, ten
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  Speaker 1: seconds after you die? The question is from Jessica, Pastor John.
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  Speaker 1: I've been studying First Thessalonians four, and as I do,
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  Speaker 1: I'm getting more confused about what happens when believers die.
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  Speaker 1: When I read that passage about the dead in Christ
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  Speaker 1: rising first and then meeting the Lord in the air,
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  Speaker 1: it sounds like believers who have already died don't actually
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  Speaker 1: meet Jesus until his second coming, Like maybe their souls
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  Speaker 1: are just sleeping or waiting somewhere until the resurrection happens,
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  Speaker 1: and that's when they first encounter Christ face to face.
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  Speaker 1: But I've always been taught that when a Christian dies,
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  Speaker 1: they go immediately to be with Jesus. So which is it?
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  Speaker 1: Great question? And here's how Pastor John answered this almost
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  Speaker 1: exact question in twenty eighteen.
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  Speaker 2: The reason this is an excellent question is because first
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  Speaker 2: Thessalonians four sixteen and seventeen says that believers who have
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  Speaker 2: died on a raised from the dead, and in that sense,
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  Speaker 2: first meet the Lord at his coming, rather than immediately
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  Speaker 2: meeting him when they die. It sounds like that, but
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure that's not what Paul means there, and I'll
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  Speaker 2: try to show why. I think it's really plain from
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  Speaker 2: two passages of scripture that Paul was certain that when
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  Speaker 2: he and other believers died, they would go immediately to
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  Speaker 2: be with the Lord Jesus and see him in that moment.
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  Speaker 2: And here are those two passages Sewod Corinthians five six
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  Speaker 2: to nine. We are always of good courage. We know
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  Speaker 2: that while we are at home in the body, we
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  Speaker 2: are away from the Lord. We walk by faith, not
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  Speaker 2: by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we
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  Speaker 2: would rather be away from the body and at home
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  Speaker 2: with the Lord. Those are the two alternatives that Paul sees.
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  Speaker 2: I'm either here in my body in one sense, away
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  Speaker 2: from at homeness with the Lord, or I die and
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  Speaker 2: I'm at home with the Lord. Now here's verse nine.
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  Speaker 2: So whether we are at home or away, whether we're
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  Speaker 2: with him or here, we make it our aim to
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  Speaker 2: please him. Now, Paul did not conceive of a time
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  Speaker 2: when the body dies and we are not at home
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  Speaker 2: with the Lord. To die is to lose the body
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  Speaker 2: temporarily and go to be at home with the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: This is not his first choice. I mean, that's one
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  Speaker 2: of the things we might correct at funerals, is not
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  Speaker 2: to give the impression that he disembodied at homeness with
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  Speaker 2: the Lord is the first apostolic choice. His first choice
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  Speaker 2: is oh that the Lord Jesus would come before I
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  Speaker 2: die and overclothe my body with eternal life. But he says,
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  Speaker 2: if we die, it was better. So his third choice
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  Speaker 2: is stay here and work. His second choice is go
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  Speaker 2: to be with Jesus about my body. His first choice is,
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  Speaker 2: come Lord Jesus, and give me a new body, so
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  Speaker 2: that I never have to be bodyless. The other passage
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  Speaker 2: is Philippians one twenty two. If I am to live
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  Speaker 2: in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet
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  Speaker 2: which I shall choose, I cannot tell. I'm hard pressed
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  Speaker 2: between the two. My desire is to depart and be
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  Speaker 2: with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain
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  Speaker 2: in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Now,
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  Speaker 2: those are the two possibilities for Paul, and one of
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  Speaker 2: them was not to die and have the soul lie
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  Speaker 2: in the grave sleeping. That wasn't the choice, die and
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  Speaker 2: have the soul lie in the grave sleeping until the
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  Speaker 2: second coming. No, the two possibilities were go on living
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  Speaker 2: here or go to be with Christ, which is far
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  Speaker 2: far better. So I conclude Paul had no doubts about
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  Speaker 2: being united with Christ with conscious joy by faith in
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  Speaker 2: this life, and it would never be interrupted by death.
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  Speaker 2: And when he left his body when he was martyred,
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  Speaker 2: he would go to something far better than even the
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  Speaker 2: communion that he enjoyed with Christ. Here, now let's say
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  Speaker 2: a word about first Thessalonians four, and here you got
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  Speaker 2: to put on your thinking, because I'm sorry, the logic
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  Speaker 2: of this text is so important. I think it's clear,
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  Speaker 2: but it's complicated. It goes like this, since we believe
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  Speaker 2: this is first Desalonians four will start at verse fourteen.
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  Speaker 2: Since we believe that Christ died and rose again. Even so,
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  Speaker 2: through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have
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  Speaker 2: fallen asleep. Now that sounds like he means to bring
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  Speaker 2: them with him from heaven, where in fact they are.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, there are souls in heaven. We just argued
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  Speaker 2: for that from two Corinthians five eight and Philippians one,
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  Speaker 2: verse fifteen. For this, we declare to you by the
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  Speaker 2: word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who
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  Speaker 2: are left until the coming of the Lord, will not
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  Speaker 2: precede those who have fallen asleep. Now that too might
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  Speaker 2: sound like we we are already in our souls body
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  Speaker 2: in the grave, souls with Jesus, in the presence of
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  Speaker 2: the Lord. And in that sense those still on earth
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  Speaker 2: have not preceded them into the presence of Christ. But
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  Speaker 2: here's the problem. Now comes the argument. The argument for
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  Speaker 2: why those who are left who are alive will not
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  Speaker 2: precede those who have died goes like this verse sixteen four.
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  Speaker 2: Because we won't precede them, because the Lord himself will
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  Speaker 2: descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the
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  Speaker 2: voice of the archangel and with the sound of the trumpet,
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  Speaker 2: and the dead in Christ will rise first. That's why
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  Speaker 2: we won't precede them they rise, they rise first. Then
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  Speaker 2: we who are alive, who are left will be caught
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  Speaker 2: up together, not a first and second, together with them
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  Speaker 2: in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
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  Speaker 2: And so we will always be with the Lord. So
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  Speaker 2: the argument for why those who are alive at the
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  Speaker 2: Lord's coming will not precede those who have died is
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  Speaker 2: that those who have died will rise first. Then we
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  Speaker 2: will all go together. No ranking. Oh you've got to
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  Speaker 2: go first together to meet the Lord in the air.
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  Speaker 2: No first, no seconds, all together. So here's my conclusion
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  Speaker 2: when I put these three passages together, precede in first.
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  Speaker 2: Thessalonians four fifteen does not refer to the dead preceding
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  Speaker 2: the living into the presence of the Lord in heaven,
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  Speaker 2: which of course they clearly do. Paul's just not talking
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  Speaker 2: about that. Rather, precede refers to preceding with a resurrection
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  Speaker 2: body into the glorious experience of the Second Coming. Let
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  Speaker 2: me say that again, because that's what the argument of
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  Speaker 2: verses sixteen and seventeen demands. That precede means precede. We
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  Speaker 2: won't precede the dead preceed where preceding them with resurrection
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  Speaker 2: bodies into the glorious experience of the Second Coming. In
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  Speaker 2: other words, what Paul is saying in First Thessalonians four
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  Speaker 2: fifteen is the living won't have any advantage over the
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  Speaker 2: dead when it comes to the fullest enjoyment of that day,
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  Speaker 2: that resurrection second Coming day, including bodily sight and enjoyment
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  Speaker 2: and bodily celebration of the Second Coming, because the dead
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  Speaker 2: in Christ shall rise first. In other words, before there
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  Speaker 2: is any glorious gathering to meet the Lord in the air,
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  Speaker 2: the bodies of all believers who have died will be
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  Speaker 2: raised from the dead, reunited with their souls, and then
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  Speaker 2: the entire Christian Church, the living and the resurrected, will
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  Speaker 2: together meet the Lord and welcome him to establish his
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  Speaker 2: rightful Kingdom complicated.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, Paul did not conceive of a time when the
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  Speaker 1: body dies and we are not at home with the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: That's the key point. So here's the timeline. When the
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  Speaker 1: believer dies, the soul goes straight to Jesus. No nap,
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  Speaker 1: no sleep, no waiting around. The resurrection of the body
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  Speaker 1: happens later. But the moment we die in Christ, the
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  Speaker 1: moment we are away from the body, we are at
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  Speaker 1: home with him ten seconds after we die home. What
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  Speaker 1: a precious promise. And if you have not read Pastor
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  Speaker 1: John's twenty twenty three book, Come Lord Jesus, I commend
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  Speaker 1: it to you as we uh wait for his returning,
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  Speaker 1: it's a theme in this this episode. It's the theme
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  Speaker 1: of this twenty twenty three book, Come Lord Jesus, I
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  Speaker 1: commend it to you. And for more on end of
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  Speaker 1: life topics, and there are many of them to think through,
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  Speaker 1: see the aspest John book that final section on suicide, euthanasia,
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  Speaker 1: and the will to live on pages four forty one
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  Speaker 1: to four forty nine. There's a lot that we've covered.
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  Speaker 1: Suffering for joy, suffering for joy, suffering for greater joy,
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  Speaker 1: eternally Pfessor John rejoins us in the studio on Monday
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  Speaker 1: to explain tewod Marithians four seventeen, because when May begins,
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  Speaker 1: we will be reading Second Corinthians together and we get
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  Speaker 1: a primer on the book. Next time, when Pastor John
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  Speaker 1: is in studio with us again, I'll see you on Monday.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.