Eternity
Have you ever thought seriously about where you might be, five minutes after your last breath? I’ve often asked people, who had a major health scare, a similar question: If you hadn’t survived that operation, where would you be now? Some folk quickly change the subject. To consider where they might be, five minutes after their last breath, is too confronting. They take the ostrich approach. They bury their head in the sand! What I find sadder is the typical response, “Don’t start on that John, there’s absolutely nothing after death!”
I’m presently reading a book about “The Final State” and a chapter that deals with the immortality of the soul. The author presents several arguments that support the idea of life going on beyond death.
For starters he points out that it’s the assumption of just about every religion in the world that death is not the end. Why is that? Is that just wishful thinking? Or perhaps it’s our human way of coming to terms with that last enemy. However, isn’t it much more likely – as Solomon said – that God has put eternity into our hearts? He surely made us, not just for a temporal span of life, only to then annihilate us after our last breath. If God made us in his image and likeness then it makes sense to see human existence extending beyond the grave.
The author of this book also looked for evidence of our soul’s immortality in Spiritism. He examined what happens when mediums and necromancers put the living in contact with the dead. He acknowledges that here we may be dealing with the work of fallen angels – demons – who are more than happy to lead people astray and let them think that they really were in contact with the dead. But there is the case of the witch of Endor who put Israel’s King Saul in contact with Samuel.
In recent times we also have increasing evidence from those who report on ‘near death experiences’. The increase in such reports has gone hand in hand with progress in medical science making it possible to resuscitate those who have been clinically dead. Admittedly there are fake stories that have sensationalised such events and produced a barrage of ‘heavenly tourism’ clips on YouTube. But many are genuine. I had an older parishioner who fell into a canal and drowned as a youngster. They dragged him out, resuscitated him and watched him get groggily to his feet only to jump back into the canal. They pulled him out a second time and asked why he had done such a dumb thing. He told them that he wanted to go back to the wonderful world of flowers and gardens at the bottom of the canal. He told me that since that experience he had never been afraid of dying.
The reasons why Arthur Stace wrote ‘Eternity’ all over Sydney was because this Aussie soldier had become a Christian. He knew that the immortality of the soul was only one part of the story when it came to our final state. There is also the fact that if life goes on beyond the grave then in a moral universe there must also be a Judgment Day. And that’s the real crunch point when it comes to that question: where will you be five minutes after your last breath. We’ll be waiting for Jesus to come and judge the living and dead.
Arthur Stace’s motivation was that through people’s reflection on ‘Eternity’ they might come to know Jesus. And that’s the answer isn’t it? Jesus is the best evidence for life beyond the grave because He arose from the dead. He is also the answer to our fears about Judgment Day because the one who will Judge us is also the one who gave His life so that we might live – eternally!
John Westendorp
2MaxFM November 24th 2024
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