Bible Reading:
John Chapter 14 verses 15-26

What Is Life Before Death?

There are two kinds of life a person might have. There is physical life that we all have from birth and Spiritual Life, life from God. Spiritual life is a new life that people who are physically alive can find. It is new life to be had as well as physical life. It is life that is needed if a person is to have a place forever living with God in Heaven when their physical life ends.

The Lord Jesus said this life involves knowing God and The Lord Jesus Christ John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

The question then arises, "How can we know God?" The Bible says we can know Him from what He has made. Romans 1: 19-20 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

I know we are told everything evolved from chemicals and energy floating round the universe. This is not what the Bible teaches.

Consider your hand. Hold it out. Wiggle your fingers. Clench your fist. Pick something up. All sorts of processes happened when I said hold out your hand. The sound arrived in your ears and the message arrived in your brain along the nerves. You thought about what I said. A message went down your neck, through your shoulder and down your arm. There are 27 bones in the hand and thirty-five powerful muscles that move the human hand. Fifteen are in the forearm rather than in the hand itself. The message from your brain tells the necessary muscles to move the bones that need to move in order to carry out you brains' command. We don't have to think which muscle we need to order to move - it just does. Our hands are marvellous things. How suitable they are for what we use them for. What if our hands were situated in the middle of our back? We couldn't use them so well - could we? We would not know what we were doing.

Have you ever thought about the human nose? What if it was the other way up - with the nostrils facing upwards? When it rained we'd drown! What if your feet were on the other way round? Did you ever have to stop quickly when you were running? If our feet were the other way round we'd just fall over.

All these things point to careful design. What does a design have to have? A Designer. Things do not happen by chance. You do not get order out of disorder unless someone comes along and sorts things out.

The Designer is God. He designed and made everything from the tiniest organism to the biggest star. God did all that. This is the God we must know if we are to have this new life.

How can anyone get to know this God? Start by looking around at the universe. Some of it is not very pleasant. Pollution and violence, disease and death and suffering and sadness are all around these days. Things seem to get worse by the day.

It was not so in the beginning. The whole universe was perfect. It must have been a wonderful place. Living back at the beginning must have been wonderful before all was spoiled by disobedience to God and the entry of evil into creation.

God made all things and declared that they were good. Good in Gods' sight is absolute perfection. We can see from what God has made that He is very powerful and skilled in all He does. We can see how kind He is in the way He has designed things for our benefit. How would we feel if all the plants and leaves and grass were red? It would produce an instant Migraine - a headache at least. Most of it is green and green is so restful - isn't it? God, in His goodness, designed it that way. We can look around and see the power and kindness of God.

We need to know more than this to know God and to have this new life.
If we were to want to know someone very important we'd probably need to spend some time with them. George Bush lives in the White House in America. If someone wanted to get to know him they'd have to visit and spend some time there. Perhaps follow him around a bit on his travels to get to know him.

The Bible says God is in Heaven. It says He is invisible - no one can see Him. We read in 1 Timothy 1:17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. So how can people get to know God if they cannot visit or see Him. The truth is God has visited people. John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. The Lord Jesus is God and Man. When He came to live in the world He created He showed people what God is really like so they can know God. It has all been recorded in the Bible so people can know God for themselves.

In The Bible we have the way we can really know God.

We can study the history of The Lord Jesus as He has shown what God is like. I already mentioned the verse John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. The Lord Jesus was sent into the world to show people what God is like.

PEOPLE COULD NOT VISIT GOD SO GOD VISITED PEOPLE.

How wonderful! Everyone in the world before and since The Lord Jesus came into the world has offended God and sinned against Him over and over. God is angry with all who sin against Him by disobeying what He says is right yet He still sent The Lord Jesus into the world so that people might know God and have everlasting life from God. God knew that people could not know him because their sin gets in the way. God cannot live with sin.

The Lord Jesus shows us that God Is kind and merciful. All we read about The Lord Jesus shows this. God is powerful. The Lord Jesus showed that even death could not resist His power. He raised people from the dead and later on He Himself rose from the dead. The fact that The Lord Jesus had to suffer on the cross shows God is perfectly just and fair. Sin has to be punished either in the sinner or in someone in the sinners place. God cannot just forget sin it has to be paid for.

We can know God closer even than by knowing all that is written in The Bible. John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. God comes and lives in the heart of His people. Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. God comes to those who believe His word and turn from sinful ways. He enters in to a close relationship with such people. Because The Lord Jesus died Their sins can be forgiven and such people are able to be accepted by God.

This is what being a Christian is about. Not keeping rules and being good so a person can get to heaven. It is about knowing God and having the barrier between you and God, your sin, removed Do you know God? If not then you do not have eternal life. You do not have life before death.