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“Questions and Answers 129”

Allen Dvorak
03/16/25 - Sun PM

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If you'd like to turn to James the 2nd chapter.

James the 2nd chapter we'll be reading verses 14 through 26.

I'm going to be reading from the New King James. Version.

What does it profit, my brethren?

If someone says he has faith, but does not have works.

Can faith save him?

If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body.

What does it profit?

Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead.

But someone will say, you have faith and I have works.

Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

You believe that there is one God, and you do well.

Even the demons believe and tremble.

But do you want to know, oh foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?

Do you see that faith was working together with his works and by works, faith was made perfect.

And the scripture was fulfilled, which says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

And he was called the friend of God.

You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only.

Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

For as the body without the spirit is dead.

So faith without works is dead also.

I've never been one to chase the eclipse.

But I think some of you actually went to other states in order to See the eclipse in its full time.

The eclipse doesn't last very long.

Uh, sometimes it's just a minute or so, uh, is my understanding.

But can you imagine what would happen?

If an eclipse lasted 3 hours.

And covered the entire land, say all of Huntsville or wherever you happen to live.

3 hours of darkness when the sun is blocked.

That's exactly what happened when Jesus was on the cross.

There was darkness over the land for 3 hours, the gospels tell us.

And we're going to talk about this, that in this evening's question and answer sermon.

If I can get things working here.

I think we may have some technical difficulties.

Here we go.

Our study this evening, as you can see, is a question and answer sermon.

Uh, so occasionally, for those who may be visiting and not familiar with this, occasionally I'll devote one of my sermons to answering questions that are submitted to me either by email or sometimes uh verbally.

The questions that we talk about are not necessarily related to each other.

In fact, the questions tonight are not uh related to one another.

They're on different topics.

And the answers that I give to these questions are my own answers.

They're not intended to represent some congregational creed or even for that matter, uh, perhaps the thinking of the other elders.

They can speak for themselves.

But these are my answers to questions that you pose.

Our questions this evening are twofold, and apparently I've lost my Ability to turn the slides.

The first question has to do with the darkness that was over the land for 3 hours during the time that Jesus was on the cross.

The second question And some of you are saying, why do you even talk about the second question?

You never get to the second question.

I'm gonna do my best this evening to get to that second question.

And the second question is about what happens to people after they die.

And so we'll uh fill in that particular question a little bit more as we get to it, when we get to it.

But here's the first question.

And uh I've just worded it uh because I wasn't given a specific uh question what was the significance of the darkness during the time that Jesus was on the cross?

I think that's a good question.

Why was there darkness on the earth uh on the.

In the land for 3 hours.

Luke says in chapter 73 in his Gospel, it was now about the 6th hour and there was darkness over the whole land until the 9th hour, while the sun's light failed and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

And so, uh, in other Gospels, Matthew's Gospel and Mark's Gospel, the same note is made that there was darkness over the land.

We understand that Jesus was on the cross for 6 hours, according to the gospel accounts, and the darkness prevailed over the whole land for the second half of that time, the 2nd 3 hours uh of that 6-hour period.

Well, what was the nature of this darkness?

There are some who would try to explain it by natural phenomena.

Uh, perhaps an eclipse, that's fairly unlikely because of the time of the year.

It was the time of Passover, the full moon, and the length of the time, as I indicated earlier, you don't see eclips eclipses that last 3 hours, and yet that's the, uh, that's the indication of the gospel accounts, 3 hours.

I even read, I even read one.

Commentator who said it must have been a sandstorm that blew in from the east and clouded the sun, and that was the, the darkness.

Of course, there's no textual indication of anything like that.

And so I'm gonna suggest to you that what we're dealing with in that 3 hours of darkness is a supernatural event of supernatural origin.

And if so, I don't believe it's random.

I believe it has some sort of significance.

But that's really the question, isn't it?

What was the significance of those 303 hours?

The text says that it was over the whole land.

I don't know how you picture that, whether you believe that the entire earth was uh under darkness, but the word land there can mean earth, but I suspect that it's unlikely in this context.

The darkness wouldn't mean much to people who were distant from Palestine.

And so I would suspect that that same word that can mean earth is translated land in other places, and I think that's probably the point here.

Well, what is the significance of these 3 hours?

Some commentators have suggested that darkness is associated with judgment and that that's why there were these 3 hours.

For instance, if you were to look at Exodus chapter 10 and verse 22, you'd be Talking about one of the plagues that was brought against Egypt.

Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt.

Now this is for 3 days, and that obviously is a judgment.

Uh, against Pharaoh and the Egyptians, but also against the gods that these Egyptians worship.

When you move into the prophetic literature in Amos chapter 8 and verse 9, there's language there that associates darkness with judgment.

And on that day declares the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.

I personally believe that's probably apocalyptic language.

not maybe intended to be literal, uh, but I believe that it also makes a connection, however, to darkness with judgment.

And there are other passages that likewise make that connection between darkness and judgment.

Isaiah chapter 5 and verse 30, if you're taking notes, Isaiah 103 verses 10 and 11, and even in Joel 3 verses 14 and 15.

Others, however, would suggest that the significance of the darkness was that God was commenting on what was taking place at Golgotha, that in fact, he was indicating the wickedness that was being perpetrated against his only begotten son who was hanging on the cross during these 3 hours.

In John chapter 3 verses 19 and 20, And this is the judgment.

The light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed.

And so here's another connection that is made with darkness in the scriptures, and that is that darkness.

And wickedness are connected sometimes.

Uh, in Ephesians the 0003th chapter, the apostle Paul likewise makes that connection.

He says beginning in verse 6, let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

He's mentioned some sins previously.

Therefore, do not become partakers with them.

For at one time you were darkness, but now he's writing to Christians, you are light in the Lord.

Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

And so here are a couple of passages that make the connection between wickedness and darkness.

And what some commentators suggest is that those 3 hours of darkness were God's way of saying what's taking place here is absolute wickedness.

A fellow by the name of Douglas Mangum, one of the sources that I consulted, said the eerie darkness in the middle of the day indicates God's displeasure, and he cites Amos 8 verses 9 and 10, the passage that I mentioned earlier about darkness and judgment.

I'm gonna give you a couple of other comments by other commentators, but I want you to understand I'm giving you the viewpoint of some.

I don't necessarily agree with all that they write and I'm gonna point out a couple of things that I think are incorrect.

This is DA Carson's comments and he says, the darkness that came over all the land from noon till 3 p.m.

, that's what the 6th hour and 9th hour referred to was a sign of judgment and or tragedy, he says.

But the most telling background is Amos 8 verses 453 and 10, and to a lesser extent, Exodus 10:21 and 22, we looked at both of those passages.

Both passages portray darkness as a sign of judgment, but Amos mentions noon, the turning of religious feasts into morning and says, I will make that time like mourning for an only son.

He can continues by saying the judgment is therefore a judgment on the land and its people.

So if darkness is connected to judgment, then this is God's way of saying there's going to be judgment for what's taking place here.

And I'll be honest with you, I think you can make a good case for that.

I think when you read some of the things that Jesus said in the Gospels, uh, in the Olivet discourse and other comments about the future of Jerusalem.

Jesus said the people were going to suffer as a result of rejecting their king, rejecting the Messiah.

But he goes on to say, but it is also a judgment on Jesus.

For out of this darkness comes his cry of desolation.

We'll say more about that in just a moment.

The cosmic blackness hints at the deep judgment that was taking place.

And so DA Carson and incidentally the next guy as well, they will say that the darkness represents not just judgment against Israel for rejecting the Messiah, but a judgment against Jesus as he represented us on the cross as he was punished for our sins.

The darkness, it is suggested by some, is God's way or was God's way of indicating that he had, and this is an expression that I've heard many times, perhaps you have as well, of God's turning his back on Jesus.

In fact, one of the things that Jesus says, one of the seven sayings from the cross about the 9th hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli lema abbatini, that is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

That of course is the beginning of a psalm, and so some have suggested that Jesus is indicating here that God had in fact forsaken him.

There are other passages, both in the Old Testament and New Testament that talk about Jesus burying our sins.

In Isaiah 53 and verse 4, the idea of burying our sins is there, verse 11 as well in Isaiah 53.

In 163 Peter 2:24, it is said he bore our sins in his body on the cross.

Hebrews 9:28 uses similar language.

In 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul says that he who knew no sin became sin for us.

And some have taken those passages and they've concluded that what happened was Jesus took our sins on personally, that's the view of some.

He essentially became guilty of our sins and so received punishment for all of the sins of mankind.

Others would suggest that Jesus didn't actually become guilty of sin.

That would be a problem, would it not for him to be a sacrifice for sin?

He would no longer be the unblemished lamb that was required uh for sacrifice or even for that matter.

Peter describes him as in First Peter 1, this unblemished lamb who died for our sins.

But some have said he didn't take on our sins personally, didn't become a sinner or guilty of sin, but he did take on the punishment for our sins.

And so this comment by Bob Utley, I, I disagree with this comment.

I think Utley has a lot of good things to offer in his writings, but I think he's off here.

He says theologically, it was a symbol, the darkness of God's turning away from his son as he bore the sins of the world.

This personal spiritual separation, as well as the burden of all the sins of all mankind was what Jesus feared most.

So Utley would say that Jesus was actually separated from the Father on the cross.

That's why he says what he says in uh quoting from the Psalms, why have you forsaken me?

And so he took on our sins in that sense.

JM Boyce makes these comments.

He says, what happened during those hours of darkness?

We know the answer.

During those hours, the Son of God took the burden of our sins on himself, was punished for them in our place, and experienced such terrible alienation from his father that he cried out at the end of that dark period, Eloi, Eloi lama sabhana, which means My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The darkness veiled the anguish of the Son of God while he was bearing the punishment for our sins, because it was not right for human eyes to look on him in his suffering.

At the same time, the darkness cried out against the blackness of our sin and testified to the tremendous cost to God of our redemption.

So at least a couple of these guys are suggesting that the significance of the darkness was twofold.

It was obviously some sort of judgment, but that judgment extended even to Jesus, who took on the punishment for our sins.

There's a lot of discussion about whether Jesus became a sinner.

And as I said, there are some who would argue that he became guilty of the sins of mankind and was punished for that reason.

Others would say he didn't personally become guilty.

But he bore our sins in the sense that he took the punishment for our sins.

I would remind you that in Ezekiel 18th chapter, God said some things about whether sin can be transferred from one person to another.

In fact, Ezekiel 93 is an rather extensive illustration in which the prophet talks about 3 different generations.

Father, Son, grandson, and the generations are different from one another.

I'm not gonna take the time to read through that whole passage, but here's the upshot of the teaching in that chapter in verse 20 Ezekiel says on behalf of God, the soul who sins shall die.

The son shall not bear the guilt of the Father, nor the Father bear the guilt of the Son.

The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

That's from the New King James version.

And I think their translation of Ezekiel 18:20 is better, much better than the ESV for instance.

So, what is Ezekiel saying?

He's saying that you can't transfer either sin or righteousness from one person to another incidentally, maybe not so incidentally.

We'll talk more about that in the series that I've begun on the doctrine or the systemic theology of Calvinism, because Calvinism teaches that very thing.

It teaches that Adam's sin has been transferred to all of us by physical generation.

The guilt of that sin is attributed to us.

When we're born And so we become guilty of Adam's sin before we've ever done anything.

And they would also argue, they would agree with the idea that the sins of mankind were transferred to Jesus just as Calvinism will also argue in terms of the justification of mankind that the righteousness of Jesus is imputed to individuals as well.

Ezekiel says no.

That's not true.

Righteousness is upon the righteous.

And the sin, the guilt is upon the sinner, not others.

And so I would suggest first of all, that we should discard the idea that Jesus became guilty of our sins.

And I've already mentioned, there are some difficulties with that viewpoint, because Jesus needed to be the perfect sacrifice.

The unblemished lamb, all of those animals in the Old Testament that needed to be unblemished physically speaking, they represented Jesus Christ, they foreshadowed the sacrifice that he would make, and he is no longer unblemished.

If he is accounted guilty of mankind's sins.

I'm gonna say something that may shock you a little bit, but I believe that the question of whether God turned his back on Jesus is essentially a moot question.

And by that, I simply mean, whatever you think about that, I don't think it matters because I don't think that's the point behind the business.

Of Jesus being on the cross.

I don't believe Jesus became a sinner.

And I don't believe that Jesus was punished for our sins.

Someone said, what?

That's why I, why I disagree with these guys because they've concluded that Jesus bore our punishment.

Jesus, the text says in the Gospels, Jesus claimed that he came to give his life a ransom for all men.

He didn't just die to suffer punishment for your sins or my sins, but for all men.

Poured out his blood for the remission of sins is what he says in Matthew chapter 26 and verse 28.

I think that's the sense in which Jesus bore our sins.

Not that he took the punishment for our sins.

But that he provided for us what we could not provide for ourselves.

That was a sacrifice that was adequate for the forgiveness of sins.

You and I couldn't even offer our own lives for our forgiveness.

Because we're already staying with sin when we violate God's law.

And so as we're seeking forgiveness for those sins, we can't offer what God requires for the forgiveness of sins.

Hebrews 9:22 is one of the most important verses, I think in the New Testament.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins, no forgiveness of sins.

What you and I needed was a sin sacrifice.

We couldn't provide it for ourselves.

But God allowed Jesus to provide that sacrifice for us.

I want you to think about something.

What is the punishment for sins?

Someone says, well, physical death.

No. No, you're not going to die because of your sins.

You're gonna die because of the curse that was placed on mankind because of Adam's sin.

But you don't die physically.

That's not the punishment for sin.

I've often wondered about that comment that Jesus bore our punishment because he died on the cross, and yet death, physical death is not the punishment for our sins.

It's not the penalty for sins.

Separation from God, that is a consequence of sin, is it not?

Your sins have separated you from your God, Isaiah would say in the Old Testament.

And we know that the concept of being dead in sin is throughout the New Testament in Paul's writings.

Dead meaning separated from God.

But that's not the ultimate punishment for sins.

I want you to look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 53.

2 Thessalonians chapter 1, we're gonna read just a couple of verses here.

We're going to begin In verse 6, Paul is writing to encourage the Thessalonian Christians, and he says, uh, we'll start in verse 230.

This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering.

Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us.

When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, inflaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will suffer the punishment.

Here it comes.

They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might.

When somebody sins and they remain in those sins, they are separated from God.

But that same person can obey the gospel, be forgiven of his or her sins by the blood of Jesus Christ, and go back into fellowship with God.

And Jesus said, that person doesn't have to die spiritually again.

You can remain in fellowship with God spiritually alive for the rest of your life.

That's not the punishment for sin being separated from God in this life.

That's a consequence of sin here in the temporal sense, but the punishment for sin is eternal separation from God.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus did not experience that.

You can argue whether you think Jesus was separated from his father.

And I'm going to tell you I think that's a moot question.

Because even if he was temporarily separated from his father, that's not the punishment for your sin or my sin.

The punishment for our sins, should we still be guilty of sin when the Lord comes, is eternal separation from God.

And Jesus did not experience that.

Hebrews says he's seated even now at the right hand of the majesty on high.

So what happened at the cross?

Listen carefully.

Jesus did not take our punishment.

He offered the solution to your sin.

And that solution involved dying, shedding his blood so that you could be forgiven.

And if you're forgiven, You're not going to be punished.

God's not gonna punish people who are forgiven.

He's gonna punish the unforgiven.

And so what Jesus did was not take on punishment, because neither physical death or temporary separation.

Or even physical suffering is the penalty for sin.

But the punishment for sin is eternal separation.

Jesus didn't suffer that.

He didn't take on that.

He bore our sins in the sense that he provided the solution for our sins, a solution that you and I couldn't provide for ourselves.

Because we couldn't die for our own sins even.

We are already blemished.

By those sins.

I think that's the sense in which Jesus bore our sins.

He provided the sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins.

That we could not provide.

So let me give you my answer here.

And that is, I'm inclined to believe that the darkness was supernatural, we pretty much assume that and constituted God's commentary on the witness, wickedness being done to his only begotten Son.

I think God looked down.

On that cross.

And to make his statement about how tragic, how terrible that act was that was being done to his son.

I think that's the reason for the 210 hours of darkness.

Well, if you have further questions about that, uh, you have two options.

You can come and talk to me or you can submit another question that we'll talk about it some other time.

But uh as I said I would, I want to go to the second question.

Here's the question.

The quotation marks mean that this is exactly what I received, although there was some other commentary, and I'll share that with you in just a moment.

But here's the question.

If you die for a short time and then are revived by doctors, is it possible to see God during that time?

Someone says, well, who cares?

Well, a lot of people are interested in what's going to happen to us after we die.

And so, uh, the questioner added a little bit more, said, I bring this question up because I've seen some Instagram posts where people are certain that they saw Jesus after dying for a short amount of time and then were revived by doctors.

Well, I want to suggest to you some relevant passages here.

One of them was read by Ralph in the scripture reading.

I, I know that that reading begins in verse 2000 that that Ralph read and it's talking about faith and works, but there's a comparison made at the very end of that uh pericopy between the relationship between faith and works and the body and the spirit.

Faith without works is dead, being alone, James says, even as the body without the spirit is dead.

He's really talking about faith and works, but he's given us some information about death.

Death, physical death is the separation of body and spirit.

Spiritual death is the separation of man from God.

Death is a separation.

That's why eternal death or the second death is eternal separation from God.

And Paul describes that as destruction, and you can well imagine why.

So, I think James 245:216 helps us out by giving us some information about what death is.

And then there's a story in Luke the 29th chapter in verse 63, uh, is the, is the point that I want to make.

There's a girl there who has died.

And Jesus has been summoned.

He comes and he raises her from the dead, but I want you to notice the language of verse 26, and her spirit returned and she got up at once.

Jesus told the mourners that were there, uh, she's just sleeping and they laughed him, they laughed at him, they mocked him.

Well, they knew she was dead.

And from what's said in verse 216, I'm convinced she was dead.

Her spirit had already departed and James says, when the body and the spirit are separated, you're talking death.

But when Jesus raised her, what happened?

Well, her spirit came back, returned to the body, uh, that it had originally occupied, and he directed that something should be given her to eat.

There's a passage in Ecclesiastes 22.

In this passage, there is a description of some of the effects of aging.

And the passage, that section ends by saying, and the dust of our, our body, dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Once again, when the body and the spirit is separated, now you're talking about death.

And frankly, to answer this question, it's important for us to define what it means to be dead.

And so I'd like to do that.

Um, I'm gonna use, uh, a, a number of illustrations to talk to you about why that's important.

How many of you have heard the expression saved by the bell?

Yeah. There's some dispute about where that phrase came from, its origin.

Some have suggested that it's actually, you know, came from boxing that I suppose that's possible.

I always thought it meant we were saved by the bell at the end of a school period when somebody asked you a question you couldn't answer and the bell rang, you were saved by the bell.

Some of you have even felt that way and some of the Bible classes that I've asked.

When I asked the question and nobody's answering, the bell goes off, I guess we're all free then, right?

But that expression probably came from a different source.

Back in the 18, excuse me, 1800s and 19th century, bells were sometimes placed on graves as a safety precaution so that if unintentionally, someone was buried alive and they revived while in the coffin.

They could ring that bell and there would be a cemetery night watchman who if he heard a bell ringing he knew somebody was in trouble that meant that somebody had been buried alive and it was time to dig furiously to get that person out.

They would tie string, a string or strings to the hands of the dead, the dead person with the idea that if that person wasn't actually dead, Then that person could summon help by ringing the bell that was on top of the grave.

That may seem like a lot of effort, if, if you're, you're convinced that somebody's dead.

The problem was that death in centuries past was determined when no pulse was discernible or it appeared that a person was no longer breathing.

But unfortunately, there are some physical conditions and there are nurses in the audience here who know a lot more about that than I do.

Hopefully, I'll get all this right.

But there are certain physical conditions where you might not be able to get a pulse, or you may not be able to discern the breathing.

It's so shallow.

So the question becomes, when does death occur?

Is it when the heart stops?

Well, maybe not.

You, you probably maybe even known people whose heart stopped and then somebody jumped them with those uh electric paddles and started their heart going again.

Were they dead during the time that their heart had stopped?

Not by legal definitions, no medical definitions.

What about when brain activity ends?

Well, we may be getting closer to it.

I'm gonna share with you some definitions.

The first one is from Cornell University.

The official definition of death, according to the UDDA.

Uniform determination of death act.

I love that.

I the quote irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions or irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem.

I'm not sure if I accept that definition because I've known some people whose brains I thought were probably not working.

But they were still alive.

They were moving and breathing, etc.

I just.

Now, the next definition I give you only because of its source.

Teach mesurgery.com.

I saw, I saw that source and I had to use this quote, OK?

I mean, you got to trust a website that will teach you surgery online.

Here's their definition, criteria for declaring death.

No audible breath or heart sounds for greater than one minute, no palpable purp pulse, and you can't feel it for greater than one minute, no palpable cardiac pacemaker pupils are fixed, dilated, and unreactive to light.

I've actually preached some sermons where people were in that condition by the end.

Even with modern medical technology, it is sometimes difficult to determine if someone's dead.

And the reason I bring all this up is the question assumes that somebody has died for a short time and then they've come back to life, which I would define as a resurrection.

But bear with me.

Let me give you two illustrations.

Um, in India back in 2024, November of 2024.

There was a young man who was 25 years old, and they had pronounced him dead.

He, he was both deaf and mute.

He was staying in a home for the mentally impaired, and he started having epileptic seizures.

He was rushed to the hospital and they concluded at some point that he was dead.

163 doctors declared him dead.

Of course, they didn't do a proper postmortem examination.

So, They take his body and they put his body on top of a funeral pyre.

Do you know what that is?

It's a heap of wood where you're gonna burn a body.

You're going to incinerate this body, this dead body.

Only when he got up on the pyre, he became alive because he was never dead.

There were problems uh with those doctors, they were all suspended because they had failed to confirm that this guy was actually dead.

So I guess you would say he wasn't dead dead, right?

Well, here's another uh example of this.

This actually happened uh in Iowa, in the United States, that other one was in India.

This is a woman.

Who was under hospice care.

She was a resident at the Glen Oaks Alzheimer's Special Care Center in Urbandale, Iowa, and her health had been declining.

She was beginning to show some of the signs that death was close.

You nurses know that there are signs where people can say, OK, it's not long.

These, these are some of the signs that somebody's going to pass.

So, she enters this hospice care on December 28th, and on January 3rd in the morning, They believed that she passed away, uh, a staff worker uh was unable to feel her pulse and called a nurse and the nurse likewise, could not find any pulse.

She was, her eyes were open and fixed and unresponsive.

Her mouth was open but no detection of any breathing.

And so they declared her dead.

She had had some minor seizures prior to this, and so she had some of the signs.

So they, they took the body of this woman to the funeral home, and the funeral home director uh gets to the hospice care at about 7:30 and he takes the woman back to the funeral home about an hour later after he gets her there, he unzips the body bag and finds out that she is gasping to breathe.

She's still alive.

And so she was then transported to a nearby hospital emergency room.

They found that her breathing was shallow.

She passed away two days later.

I guess she died again.

No, she wasn't dead the first time.

Somebody had been careless about that and that long-term care facility was fined a total of about $10,000.

I would have fined them a lot more than that, but that's just my personal.

So the question I wanna ask, and the reason I bring this up is when you say when somebody dies for a short time, how do you know that they're dead?

Are they really dead, dead, dead?

Or are they just in a situation where it's difficult to determine that there's any signs of life?

Does that make sense?

And I offer these two illustrations to suggest that that's possible, that sometimes people just don't show signs of life, but they are in fact still alive.

I want to share with you another quotation.

While the exact nature of what happens in the seven minutes after death is still a subject of scientific inquiry, some studies suggest that the brain may remain active and coordinated, potentially replaying memories even after the hearts.

Stops with some people experiencing near death experiences.

So you look at these definitions and those are the things people are looking for to determine if somebody has actually died and one of them is when the heart stops, but apparently sometimes the brain keeps going.

Now, if this question is asking about people whose hearts have stopped, but then they are revived and the assumption is that they died and now they're back alive again, I think that's an assumption that we don't need to make.

I read some really interesting things about near-death experiences.

I'm not gonna share all that.

It's not maybe real germane to uh our, our study this evening, our question.

But the study of near-death experiences has only been going on for about the last 45 years or so, and it's really interesting uh information you may want to look into that.

But some people who've had near-death experiences, in other words, if there was something that stopped, it got started again, it wasn't irreversible.

They report being aware of what's happening around them even after their breathing and heartbeat stops, suggesting this potential for continued consciousness.

Well, I want to share with you some additional.

Um, scriptures that I think are relevant.

One of them is the story, the account in Luke 16 of Lazarus and the rich man.

You perhaps remember that story where Jesus talks about a poor beggar named Lazarus and a rich man who failed to help this beggar who was placed outside the gate of his, uh, his home.

And the text says they both died.

The rich man died and was buried, and the angels carried Lazarus to Abraham's bosom, and the, the bulk of the story has to do with these two men who are in apparently the Hadaean world.

They are not in heaven.

Because Lazarus is with Abraham, he's not with God.

Jesus is not there.

He's with righteous Abraham, while the rich man is in torment, he's already suffering, but he's not in hell yet.

He's in the Hadaean world, the world of the unseen.

And of course, there's dialogue and Abraham makes the observation that nobody from the suffering side can come to the good side, nobody can go from the side where Abraham and Lazarus are over to the suffering side.

There's a great chasm between those two sides.

My point though, is that when those people get there, there's no leaving there.

The rich man would like Lazarus to go back and warn his brothers.

Nope, they have the law, Abraham says.

That passage, if you believe that that same arrangement still exists today and not everybody does, if you believe that that same arrangement exists today, then even the spirits of those who have died, they don't go to see God, they go to the Hadaean world.

Now I'm gonna put a caveat here.

I think you can make a fair argument that that situation has changed because of the death of Christ.

But regardless, um, that story would suggest that you don't see God even when you are in fact dead.

Ecclesiastes chapter 9 verses 5 and 6 says, for the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward for the memory of them is forgotten.

I believe what the writer is saying is that the dead don't know anything about what's going on here.

They know nothing.

Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished and forever.

They have no more share in all that is done under the sun that they've left this world.

That's their spirit is gone and so they don't participate in any of the things here.

So let me tell you what my answer is, and I'm gonna say right away, I think there are some details that we may not be able to answer that the, the, the scriptures just do not give us.

But here's my answer.

The question speaks of dying for a short time.

I'm not sure that that's possible and the term clinical death seems to be used to distinguish between people who meet some standard for death and those who are actually dead.

Oh, his heart stopped, he was clinically dead. Really?

Did his spirit leave his body?

That's how the Bible describes death.

And we have medical standards to try to determine when somebody's body has ceased to function anymore.

In truth, the Bible doesn't reveal many details about what happens immediately after actual death.

The spirit of man goes to Hades, according to Luke 16 Acts 2, talks about Jesus going to the Hadean world.

Although I cannot explain some NDEs, and I would gladly hear from the rest of you if you can.

I believe that they are the experiences of people who were not actually, and I'm using a technical term now, dead, dead.

I mean really dead.

Dead as in the spirit has left the body, dead like Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, dead like Jairus's daughter, whose spirit returned to her body.

Because Jesus called it back.

So that's, that's my answer to that question.

I really appreciated uh the songs that uh Ian had selected for this evening.

I didn't talk to him about a theme, but there was an obvious theme in his songs and it had to do with Judgment Day.

There's a great day coming.

There's a sad day coming.

There's a day coming when we're going to have to stand before God.

And I will say this.

Once my spirit leaves my body, there is nothing more I can do.

To prepare myself for that day.

And the song we sang is, Are you ready?

Are you ready for that day?

Because all the preparations that can be made must be made here in this world, in this life.

Because once we pass from this life, once our spirits leave our bodies.

There's no changing.

Our lives God will judge us on the record that we have presented up to that point.

Are you ready?

That's a sobering question.

I don't know exactly what's going to happen to people or how, what their circumstances are in the Bible, I'm not sure gives us all those details.

But I will tell you this.

Whether or not you're ready is the most important question you will ever ask.

Nothing else even comes close.

Because the punishment.

For not being ready.

His eternal death, eternal separation from God.

We can't even fathom that.

It's hard to imagine what it would mean to be separated from the God who made us.

The God who showed his love by sending His Son to die on a cross at the hands of wicked men.

And that God saying depart from me.

Consigning us to blackness.

Consigning us to judgment, to punishment.

Forever And ever And ever There's no end.

You and I have a hard time wrapping our minds around that because we live in a finite world.

Everything seems to have a beginning and an end.

That punishment will never end.

But likewise, the reward in heaven for those who are ready, who have availed themselves of the solution for sin, forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ.

That reward will also go on.

And all And all Are you ready?

If we can assist you this evening in obeying the gospel, becoming ready if you're not a Christian, baptizing you into Christ, that's what the scriptures say you need to do in order to get ready.

If you're a Christian and you haven't been living so that you are ready, you need to think about the consequence of meeting your maker in that condition.

It doesn't even bear thinking about.

It's just horrifying.

If we can assist you in getting ready, then we want to invite you and we do so as we stand and sing.