All of us face the reality of life on earth coming to its end. Do you ever wonder about what comes after that? I know there are some that have had near death or temporary death experiences and have described an experience of being outside of their body, yet still conscious of things happening. They come back and share their brief experience. But what of those who have died and don’t come back? What is their experience and how is it that we can know with any certainty about what that experience will be for us when we die?
If you believe the Bible to be God’s Word and the truth for all time, there is much that it has to say about life on earth and life after our time on earth is done. Even the familiar passage of John 3:16 says, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” From this verse we see how great God’s love is for everyone and the result of his love is eternal life in contrast to “perishing.” But the qualifier is “everyone who believes”.
God never forces himself on anyone, but he offers a gift for people to receive his grace and his salvation. The only reason that we would perish is that we don’t receive the gift that God offers and so we pay the consequences of our own wrongdoing. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Through our faith in God’s grace, we receive the promise of eternal life and that brings much peace about what happens after life on earth is done. James 4:14 says, “How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” We don’t have a certainty about how many days we have here on earth. Even if we live to be a hundred, it will still be like a vapor compared to eternity.
There is much to be discovered about eternal life. The Bible refers to a few things, but there are also things that cannot be described in human terms (see 2 Corinthians 12:4). But the biggest change we will experience personally is the change of our bodies. The bodies that we have now are called “corrupted” and are decaying daily (that’s why we die). But the Bible says that we will be raised up incorruptible. (See 1 Corinthians 15, 2 Corinthians 5). The Bible also says that we don’t fully know what we will be like, but we will be like Jesus who has already raised from the dead. 1 John 3:2 “Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.”
If you do not yet have this confidence and certainty about your future, please follow the Biblical instructions of Romans 10:9-10 to have the confidence of your own salvation and the promise of eternal life. Romans 10:9–10 “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”
