Is there life before death?

May 12, 2006

By Randy Mantik

What happens after death? Many have written books on the topic. Various groups and people have spent much time, money and talent probing the mystery of what is beyond the grave. I have nothing more to add except to say we know where our destination lies if we have committed our lives to Christ. The apostle Paul says, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8, KJV).

I was with some friends recently who could confidently say their dear one who had just died was now present with the Lord. What a pleasure to rejoice in that. We do not “grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13, NIV).

We have a stabilizing hope in “the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were” (Romans 4:17). God has resolved all the questions about what is beyond the grave and has offered us eternal life. Hallelujah!

There is a different life-and-death cycle the committed believer encounters every day: We need to die to ourselves so we might live for Christ. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10, NIV). The process of putting to death our old ways may seem like drudgery. The enemy of our souls constantly tries to destroy that process. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” Jesus said (John 10:10).

Satan wants us to avoid the very means by which Christ injects new life and energy into us. He would have us think spiritual disciplines are too hard, wholehearted worship too emotionally draining, and dedicated study of the life-giving Word an exercise in tedium.

As I come more completely into the Christ-life, I discover what I previously thought was an obligation is really a privilege. I no longer see prayer as an effort; it is a life breath. I used to see my insecurities as places of despair. Now I see them as reminders I have died and my life is now hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).

My security is in the One who cannot fail. When something doesn’t make any sense in my life, I know I really don’t need all the answers now because “when Christ, who is [my] life, appears, then [I] also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). It will all make sense then, even if it never does now.

You may think that your life is like the corner of a dark stable and God is not answering your prayers. But God has placed a great feast of himself, through His Son, before us. He is giving us the rich water of His Holy Spirit to quench our deepest thirst. He has prepared holy food for us through His Word.

And yet, we can remain in darkness and misery if we have not yet died that we might live. The richness of the full life Jesus promises is all ours. We must learn to do what Paul said: “I die every day — I mean that, brothers — just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:31).

“I have been crucified with Christ,” Paul wrote to the Galatian believers, “and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 NIV).

Life begins when we die. Life starts when we realize we don’t need to know the answers but just know Him who is the Answer. Jesus is God’s final Answer to all our questions. Die in Him and let your life begin.

Randy Mantik is senior pastor of Beecher Assembly of God in Pembine, Wis.