after death -
what then?
by M. R. DeHaan
believe in reincarnation and the transmigration of souls; others teach pantheism, that finally we are all absorbed into one universal personality. Men who cast, reason and logic to the winds indulge in the wishful thinking of final annihilation, but all are merely guesses. We, therefore, turn to the only reliable authority and source of information, the Bible, the Word of God, the Word of Him who created us and who holds our destiny in His hands. We shall see that God clearly reveals what will happen when we die, whether we sleep or are con scious in death, whether and where we shall live again, and what will be the eternal destiny of each one of us. The first question we will answer is the one which Job asked in the early days of man’s history. “ If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14). The question, however, is answered by Job himself, emphatically in the affirmative, in harmony with all the rest of Scrip ture, for he says in chapter 19, and verse 25: “ For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand in the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be con sumed within me” (Job 19:25-27). Job believed in a resurrection and a future life; Abraham believed it, too; Jacob and Joseph believed in a life hereafter. David and Daniel and all the prophets believed it and taught it. David tells us in Psalm 16:9: “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: 21
T h e q u e s t io n o f l if e a f t e r d e a t h has occupied and interested the hearts of men everywhere since sin 5 first brought the penalty of death and an end to man’s I sojourn on the earth. Where do we go from here? What | lies beyond the grave? Shall we live again, and in what | form and condition? What is our condition between death and the resurrection? Does the soul sleep? Will we know each other after death? These and a host of other questions have been asked from the dawn of human history, and are being asked everywhere today. The assumption that this life ends at death is con trary to reason itself and makes life plain mockery. Consequently there is in the heart of man a conscious ness, and conviction, that this life must be continued after death. Apart from the revelation of God’s Word, man can find no satisfactory answer, and so he has invented innumerable answers to the question, “ After death, what then?” The question involves everyone of us; ignoring it will not change the fact of death. “ It is appointed unto men once to die” (Heb. 9:27). This is not only Scripture, but an inescapable fact. In a week from now, many who now read this will be dead; in twenty years an untold number; in fifty years most of you, and in one hundred years, all of you. Face the facts: Man must die, and then what? Men and women who are interested in the future, therefore, will face the facts. The belief in immortality has been universal among all people since time began. The Indian had his happy hunting ground; the Orientals
OCTOBER, 1965
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