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Transcript 266A
How Do We Know that Our Soul Lives After Death?
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Hello. I have a question. You know, we talk about eternal life. And I just wondered how we know that our soul does live after we die. I mean, how does God tell us that?
HC: Are you speaking about someone who is saved?
CALLER: No. I mean, how do we know this?
HC: The question is raised: How do we know that our soul lives after death? Well, outside of the Bible we have no real evidence. We know deep in our heart that probably this is so, because God has put the knowledge of eternity, or the sense of eternity, in our very make-up, because we were created in the image and likeness of God.
And this is proven when we look at pagans. The Egyptians, for example, when they died, the Pharaohs would be buried with slaves and with certain utensils, and so on, that were to be used in the after life. The American Indians frequently, when they died, were buried with their bows and arrows, so that they could use them in the Happy Hunting Ground. There is the sense of eternity in the heart of man.
But we can't look at eternity, we can't look at our soul. There's no way we can prove that there is an after life by any physical evidence of any kind. But when we go to the Bible, then we have all kinds of proof that there is an after life.
For example, in John 5:28-29, Jesus said, "The hour cometh when all who are in the tombs will hear My voice and come forth, some to the resurrection of judgment and some to the resurrection of everlasting life." That indicates that there is a resurrection on the Last Day. And either we're going to go to hell at that time, or we will receive our resurrected bodies and live eternally with the Lord in the New Heaven and the New Earth.
Now we read of the believer, and we have some pretty wonderful things to discover in the Bible concerning his destination when he dies. True, his body goes into the grave. But his soul goes to be with Christ.
In Philippians 1, the apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is writing about his impending death. And he said in verse 21, "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. If it is to be life in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose, I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account." So he confidently believes that when he dies, he will go to be with the Lord.
In II Corinthians 5 he goes on to say in verse 6, as God speaks through him, "So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him."
So again, you see, he confidently expects to leave his body at death and go to be with Christ in Heaven. Jesus Himself said of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, "I am not the God of the dead. I am the God of the living." And so they are in Heaven with Him. And that is where we go if we have had our sins covered by the Lord Jesus Christ.
CALLER: Thank you very much.
HC: You're welcome. Good night.