LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Is Death the End of Everything?
Judging by the way many people live, it seems that death is the end of everything. They make treasures on earth, amass riches, seek pleasure, live according to the Latin principle of "carpe diem" (seize the day).
There are others who know that death is not the end, but live as if it were. They put off seeking God, waiting for a better time in the future, perhaps when they are old, and the pleasures of life no longer attract them. It seems as if they have life bought and can dispose of it at will. However, many of them die sooner than they thought.
What does the Bible say about this? Scripture opens some windows into the afterlife. It tells the story of a rich man whose estate had produced much. He became so rich that his barns became small. Then he said: "I will build them larger, and there will I lay up all my fruits and my goods; and I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; rejoice, eat, drink, be merry". But God said to him: "Thou fool, this night they come to ask thy soul; and what thou hast provided, whose shall it be?" (Luke 12:13-21).
Elsewhere there is the story of the rich man and Lazarus, a beggar who lay at Lazarus' door, begging for alms. Both die, and their souls do not disappear or sleep, but go to very definite places. Lazarus goes to "Abraham's bosom", while the rich man goes to a place of torment. There each has a very different fate (Luke 16:19-31). The story of both does not end in the grave.
Elsewhere an episode is recorded in which some Sadducees ask the Lord Jesus about the resurrection of the dead. They do not believe in such a thing, but the Lord shows them that there is such a thing. Of those who are resurrected the Lord says: "They can no longer die, for they are equal to the angels", and then adds: "For God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all live" (Luke 20:27-38). Resurrection is beyond death.
Death is not the end of everything. The Bible says, moreover, that "it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27). In Revelation the judgment is shown before the great white throne, "before which the earth and the heaven fled away". John says: "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened ... and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works" (Rev. 20:11-12). The judgment of men also comes after death.
So death is not the end; on the contrary, it can be just the beginning of real and great problems for those who are unbelievers. However, today the invitation to receive eternal life, which is freely received by believing in Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:23), is still valid. If someone is lost, it will not be because of his great sins, but because of his unbelief in the gospel of God.