In his series about Heaven, Pastor Daniel Brown asks, in the world to come, will we be who we were?

There are two kinds of death—spiritual and natural. Death is not a state of oblivion or non-existence; it is, rather, a separation from the life that was meant to be. Spiritual death cuts people off from relationship with God in the spirit realm, and our physical death will cut us off from relationship with the people we love here on earth. Death is the state we are in after we have been cut off from the life we would have had, and from the people who love us.

Physical objects can exist in different states on earth. Most of us learned years ago in Science class that physical matter can exist in three states—solid, liquid and gas—without altering its fundamental organic composition. H₂O is a good example. It can be steam, water, or ice. Water freezes to become ice; it boils to become steam. Steam will not quench thirst, water will not reduce swelling and ice cannot help remove wallpaper. Each physical state has its own qualities, but each of them is H₂O. When we die physically, we merely change states. Our metamorphosis takes us from one form to another, from one dimension to another. Though we change states, we remain essentially who we are.

Our reborn spirit already exists in us in the same manner that it will exist after our bodies die. Even now our spirit inhabits the dimension to which we will be fully translated upon death. Though we are not that cognizant of our spirit in the present earthly life, and though our spirit will have a new body in Heaven, it is fundamentally as it will be after death. We will simply be more conscious of it in Heaven. As we learned earlier, our soul is comprised of our thoughts, emotions, will-power and consciousness. Our awareness of the world around us, as well as of our inner selves, comes from our soul. The good news is that our personalities will be “refined” like gold from base ore, but who we are before we die is who we will be after we die. So, our souls/spirits remain intact and essentially the same.

This is why birth is such an excellent analogy for death. As surely as a newborn baby dies from the womb-world into this world, so will our passing from life on earth be a rebirth into another. Jesus said, “You must be born again.” (John 3:3) Babies do not cease to exist when they pass down the birth canal, but they no longer live in the womb. Until we grasp this basic truth—that death is changed existence—we will stumble over what the Bible tells us about life after death. Our conscious existence will be extended, not exterminated. Our state will be transformed, and we will shift dimensions, but we will not lose our identity:

Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.1 Corinthians 15:51-53

In our life after death, we will not become new (different) people. We will be ourselves, with the same fundamental qualities of personhood that we have now—minus any wrongs, distortions, wounding or bondage. God calls Himself “I AM” (Exodus 3:14) If this quality of being and remaining the same is so central to God’s identity, then it makes sense that His children, made in His image, will also always be who they are. When the offspring of “I AM THAT I AM” transition from the earthly plane to the heavenly dimension, their identities are not going to be “I AM DIFFERENT THAN I WAS.”

Image: Tom Barrett

We are like expensive antique bureaus finely detailed and handcrafted by a famous wood worker many years ago. Since our creation, though, we have been gouged by many things; we have been spilled upon, burnt by hot wax, water-stained and repainted in garish colors. Our hinges are loose, the drawers do not slide like they used to, and one of our edges has been stripped of its molding. When such antique pieces get restored and refinished, they are not fundamentally altered; rather, they are renewed to what they have always been despite the wear and tear.

The human soul/spirit is not immortal in the sense that it is not subject to death. Neither does the human soul/spirit exist as an eternal entity on its own. Only God, who has neither beginning nor end, is truly immortal and eternal. (1 Timothy 6:15-16) He is never subject to death, change or dependence on anything outside of Himself. The human soul/spirit does not have an eternal nature of its own. He grants us eternal life, but we always depend on Him for our life in eternity, which is why Paul exclaims:

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 1 Timothy 1:17

We will retain our original God-given personality and character when we rise from the dead. Everyone will live after death—either experiencing eternal death (separation from God and His life) in Hell, or eternal life in Heaven. We will all rise again, and though different eternities await us depending on how we respond to Jesus Christ, we will exist forever—either with God or without Him.

PR

Originally from www.coastlands.org. Used with permission of the author.

Further Reading:

Daniel Brown, “Will I Have A Body In Heaven?”

Daniel Brown, “How Old Will I Be In Heaven?”

Daniel Brown, “Heaven: Will I Recognize My Loved Ones?“

Despite the fact that we, as mere fading mortals, go out of our way to not think about death, great works of art and literature tend to inexplicably draw us into the obscure world of mortality. The End of the Christian Life is one of the latest books to wrestle with this topic—a topic that is increasingly inconsistent with mainstream cultural mores. J. Todd Billings provides a freshness and unobscured clarity to a difficult conversation that can be attributed both to his erudite scholarship and present experience with terminal cancer. Billings increases the veracity of his book by engaging with numerous authoritative voices—from early Church Fathers to contemporary scholars. Based strictly on the title, this book concerns a critical phase in the life of a Christian, but believers and non-believers alike, who want to know how to “truly live,” will benefit greatly from the gems found at the surface and buried beneath.

Following the informative introduction, chapter one presents the reader to the pit of Sheol where those who are imprisoned within it feel abandoned, helpless, and cut off from God. Contrary to the belief of some, “no mortal lives for long without visiting Sheol for a time,” Billings muses (p. 30). Often Sheol is experienced in the death of someone close to us, frustrating our attempt for complete control over life. Our consistent denial of the recurring experience of Sheol engenders a false sense of control. Maybe we should stop fighting, “open our eyes and breathe deeply in the Pit itself,” Billings suggests (p. 45).

Billings ponders the views of his friend Walter and that of Irenaeus, a second-century bishop, both of whom approached death as part of a divine pedagogy, in the second chapter, “Two Views of Mortality.” Contrasting views, as seen through the theology of St. Augustine and the author’s experience of the memorial service for his friend Melissa, are then presented as a counterbalance. Although death may testify to God’s love for us, it is both irrational and a consequence of sin (p. 66). The reality of these opposing views is that both death and dying are, simultaneously, gifts of the “arc of human life,” and “an enigma and a wound” that point us to the redemptive death of Christ (pp. 57, 68).

Chapter five addresses two extant views of flourishing—the so-called prosperity gospel, and God’s counterview. With cancer patients as his focus, Billings talks about the religious hope that keeps them enheartened and living. He finds that deeply religious patients choose extreme measures of treatment, their risky choices revealing their view of flourishing. How Christians are formed theologically leads to important questions such as, where does our hope lie, how does God act in this world, and does God want us to prosper? Billings looks at the theology of healing as espoused by Joseph Prince and then turns to the teachings of St. Paul to examine the difference between how humans and God define prosperity. He completes this chapter by redirecting the discussion towards the Pauline emphasis of a life hidden with Christ.

Timing is everything, so it goes without saying that this book could not have been released at a better time. The global COVID-19 pandemic and its hourly coverage by an impassioned media has served to remind us of our frailty by resurrecting a once-dormant fear of mortality. Dying and death is the obvious theme of the book, but this is ameliorated by many other themes such as the human desire for control over death, and the idolatrous trust in modern medicine. I was encouraged by how the author treats these universal human perceptions with informed grace. All Christians and non-Christians will recognize themselves—their thoughts and attitudes—within the pages of this book and not feel condemned. Also, I found the discussion questions placed at the end of each chapter helpful for assimilating what was read. My only frustration was found in a minor misstep that fails to include Christians from outside of the Reformed faith tradition. Some readers may be uncomfortable with Billings’ implicit theology of God’s sovereignty, water baptism, and irresistible grace; however, any noticeable doctrinal differences do not detract from the book’s overall message. Altogether, J. Todd Billings offers to his audience a gripping message of resurrection hope in Christ, thereby lifting everyone with faith in God, up and out of the deep, dark, and ensnaring pit of Sheol.

Reviewed by Joseph R. Fiorentino

This book review previously appeared in Didaskalia: The Journal of Providence Theological Seminary, Volume 30 2021-2022, CS ISSN #0847-1266. Used with permission.

Publisher’s page: http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/the-end-of-the-christian-life/392000