What Happens After Death Part 1

Dr Victor Pearce

'Arise, shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See darkness is on the land and deep darkness on the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.' We live in days when this scripture is beginning to be fulfilled. But the time of darkness and light together, will bring about a greater time of 'spiritual warfare' and will necessitate a deeper call to prayer. To help us get a sense of the power of prayer and the revealing of God during warfare we need look no further than WWI and WWII. These were extraordinary days in our nation to live through. Dr Victor Pearce (now 94) lived in both wars and chronicled the amazing stories of the revealing of the power of prayer and the intervention of the Lord during warfare. This is the fifth in a series of articles revealing these stories. I think you will be moved and inspired, and I pray the Spirit of God will speak into your spirit through what you read - Jonathan Bellamy, Cross Rhythms CEO.

Winning Back The Ashes

A lady in her letter asked about the ashes, referring to cremation, 'How can God raise from the dead the bodies burnt to ashes? I suppose I should find an answer in that the martyrs were burnt to ashes at the stake.'

She has hit on the right clue. Ashes cannot rob God of his saints -believers I mean. If so, thousands who have been burnt for their testimony would have perished. God will win back the ashes, so to speak! But if the body has dissolved and disappeared, how will God raise their bodies from the grave?

That is exactly the question Paul answers in 1 Corinthians 15:35 onwards. He replies that when a person is buried, you are not putting into the grave or burning into ashes the material of the body which God will give it in the resurrection. You only sow the character of the body. It is like sowing the seed, the seed of wheat or some other grain. Now a seed does not contain the substance of the future wheat with its stalk, leaves and head. It only contains the genetic fingerprint! It is the same with a human being. God has your genetic fingerprint. You know what science says about that, don't you; it says that you are unique. There is no one else like you. Jesus puts it in a more homely way. 'He calls his sheep by name', or again, 'Every hair of your head is numbered'.

He also says, 'He who believes on me will never perish but I will raise him up at the last day.'

That is the real you that he will raise up. Look at it another way. Did you know that even while you are alive, the substance of your body had changed by the time seven years has passed? Your muscles and organs have been replaced by new proteins and amino acids all the time but they make up the same shape and tissues as dictated by your genetic fingerprint - or the seed.

So Paul is quite scientific when he explains that at death you only sow the seed. As God has the record of the characteristics, he will supply substance to it at the resurrection. Of course, with the Lord Jesus, his body was only in the tomb three days, so the substance had not disappeared. As the Old Testament prophesied, 'Thou will not allow your Holy One to see corruption.'

Nevertheless, God changed that same body into a resurrection body. It still showed the scars of his suffering for you but it was no longer limited by material limitations. Neither will you, if you believe. You will be 'changed in a moment and the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet'.

The Bema Court

I wonder if you've ever had to go to court. Depending on the legal problem you might go to the criminal court, the civil court or the crown court.

I know little of these definitions as you may detect and not much about our legal system; but I do know about the Bible law system.

Did you know that there are different courts of justice for different categories of people? The Bible tells me I shall come to the Bema of Christ, and I hope you will too. I will not appear before the great white throne of justice, and I hope you won't either.

Where do we read of the Bema? The word is in the original Greek. It's usually translated as the judgement... of Christ. Only those who belong to Christ will appear before it.