WHEN A MAN DIES

Job asked a second question too. Man dies and wastes away, he breathes his last, and where is he? Job 14:10 Where is man when he dies? Jesus indicates this very clearly in the story he told about Lazarus and the rich man. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, "Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire. But Abraham replied, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us." He answered, "Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment." Abraham replied, "They have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them." "No, father Abraham", he said, "but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent." He said to him, "If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." Luke 16:22-31 Yes, the Bible clearly tells us: The righteous have hope in death, but the wicked shall be turned into hell, alongwith all the nations that forget God. Prov.14:32 Ps.9:17 Job vividly describes hell as a place of darkness. ... a land of gloom and deep shadow, the land of deepest night, of deep shadow and disorder, when even the light is like darkness. Job 10:21-22 Stephen Board's testimony also confirms this. I felt the presence of some sort of power, but I didn't see it. Next, I was drawn into total darkness. Then I stopped. It felt like a big hollow room. It seemed to be a very large space, and totally dark. I could see nothing, but felt the presence of this power. Jesus sometimes referred to hell as "the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth". I was going through this long tunnel and I was wondering why my feet weren't touching the sides. I seemed to be floating and going very fast. It seemed to be underground. It may have been a cave; but the awfullest, eery sounds were going on. There was an odour of decay like a cancer patient would have. I didn't want to go, but I had to. Outside was darkness, but I could hear people moaning all around me. I could feel things moving about my feet. As we moved on through this tunnel or cave, things were getting worse. I remember I was crying. Kenneth Hagin, whose testimony you heard at the very beginning of the message, describes the outer darkness in the following way: I would that I had words to describe that place. People go through this life so self-complacent, and as though they will not have to face hell, but God's word and my own personal experiences tell me differently. I know what it is to be unconscious, and it is black when you are unconscious, but I want to tell you that there is no blackness like the Outer Darkness. However, the Bible tells us: If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me", even the night shall be light around me. The darkness can hide nothing from you. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. God will bring every deed into judgement, including every hidden thing, whether it be good or evil. Ps.139:11-12 Luke 8:17 Eccl.12:14 Are you prepared to stand before God on that day of judgement? Or do you make light of this fact? The prophet Amos warns us: Prepare to meet your God! Prepare to meet your God! Amos 4:12 Listen to what the Apostle John has to say about that coming day of judgement. And I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was also opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hell gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then Death and Hell were thrown into the Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire. Rev.20:12-15 This lake of fire is no myth. It is what the Word of God says it is - a lake burning with fire and brimstone. Jesus referred to it as "the everlasting fire" and as "the fire that shall never be quenched, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched" - a place of torment day and night for ever and ever! It was this lake that Thomas Welch saw with his own eyes when he died. At the time, he was working as an engineer's helper for Bridal Veil Lumber Company thirty miles east of Portland, Oregan, in USA. Then the fatal accident occurred. All I could remember is falling over the edge of the trestle. The locomotive engineer watched me go all the way down into the water. The next thing I knew, I was standing near a shoreline of a great ocean of fire. It happened to be what the Bible says it is in Revelation 21:8 - "the lake which burns with fire and brimstone". This is the most awesome sight one could ever see this side of the final judgement. I remember more clearly than any other thing that has ever happened to me in my lifetime every detail of every moment, what I saw and what happened during that hour I was gone from this world. I was standing some distance from this burning, turbulent, rolling mass of blue fire. As far as my eyes could see it was just the same. A lake of fire and brimstone. There was nobody in it. I was not in it. I saw other people whom I had known that had died when I was thirteen. We recognised each other, even though we did not speak. They too were looking and seemed to be perplexed and in deep thought, as though they could not believe what they saw. Their expressions were those of bewilderment and confusion. The scene was so awesome that words simply fail. There is no way to describe it except to say we were eye-witnesses now to the final judgement. There is no way to escape, no way out. You don't even try to look for one. This is the prison out of which no-one can escape except by divine intervention. I said to myself in an audible voice, "If I had known about this, I would have done anything that was required of me to escape coming to a place like this. But I had not known. It's easy to talk about and describe something you have seen. I know there is a lake of fire because I have seen it. I know Jesus Christ is alive in eternity. I have seen Him. This is the prison out of which no-one can escape... except by divine intervention. Except by divine intervention. Yes, this is the hope that the righteous has when he dies. As the psalmist says: God will deliver my soul from the grip of hell; He will surely take me to himself!" Psalm 49:15 The Apostle Paul triumphantly proclaims: Where, o hell, is your victory? Where, o death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor.15:55-57 The Old Testament prophets also rejoiced in this same hope. The prophet Isaiah records: He, the Lord, will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces. Isaiah 25:8 And the prophet Hosea: I, the Lord, will ransome them from the grip of hell. I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be your plagues. O hell, I will be your destruction. Hosea 13:14 And this same hope can be your hope too. Jesus has broken the power of death and taken away its sting. The sting of death is sin. Jesus came, the Bible tells us, to take away our sin and to destroy the works of the devil. He appeared that he might do away with sin by giving himself as a sacrifice. We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has laid all our iniquities upon him, Jesus. Isaiah 53:6 He that had no sin was made sin for our sakes, that in Him we might be the righteousness of God. 2 Cor. 5:21 The Apostle John instructs us: If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8-9 It is your sin which God wants to forgive and wash away. It is your sin which Jesus took upon himself when he died. Listen to what the prophet Isaiah says: He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. For the sake of our peace, the punishment was laid on him. Isaiah 53:5 It is also your sin which has separated you from God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. Your sin will find you out and, if you let it, your sin will drag you down into the torment of hell and of the lake of fire for eternity. Sin is not a light matter, and there is no way in which you or anyone else can save you from it. Your religion and good works won't be able to help you. Only the blood of Jesus is able to wash away sin. As Thomas Welch said, standing before the lake of fire: This is the prison out of which no-one can escape... except by divine intervention. As God declared through the prophet Jeremiah: Look, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death. Jer.21:8 The wages of sin are death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. Rom.6:23 We each have to choose. Do we want death or life? Do we want sin or Jesus? Jesus said: "He who is not with me, is against me." The choice is straight. There is no third alternative path. That's why the Apostle John warns us: He who has the Son has life: he who does not have the Son does not have life. 1 John 5:12 God's desire is not that you should be destroyed and cast into hell. He wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17 Only when your sins have been forgiven, and you have been cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, will death lose its fearful sting for you. Only then as you turn from being a servant of sin to being a servant of righteousness, will you be able to rejoice with anticipation in the face of death. For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. But if continuing to live in the body will mean fruitful labour for me, then I don't know what I shall choose. I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is better by far, but for your sakes it is more necessary that I stay in the body. Phil.1:22.24 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Ps.116:15 Jesus said to the repentant thief on the cross, just before he died: Truly I say to you, this day you shall be with me in paradise. Luke 23:43

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