Near Death Experiences****
First, man is a two-fold being. On the one hand he is mortal and made of flesh (Hebrews 12:9) received from fathers (and mothers). On the other hand, he is spiritual (James 2:26) which renders the body dead once the spirit has departed the body.
More is said about the spiritual part of mankind as Job asked, "If a man die, shall he live again?" (Job 14:14 cf. verse 10). Paul prayed that God would preserve the spirit, soul and body in a blameless manner awaiting the coming of Jesus Christ (I Thess. 5:23). Daniel noted, "I was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body.."(Dan. 7:15) and Zechariah credits God with 'forming the spirit of man within him' (Zech. 12:1). God is Spirit (John 4:24) and we are made in the 'offspring of God' (Acts 17:29), therefore we are spiritual beings as well as physical beings.
The inward man is to be guided by the Lord's word for sure (2 Corinthians 4:16). There is an accountability with God as we read in chapter 5 verse 10 and we will 'all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ'.
Where does this spirit go at death? James 2:26 states, 'the body without the spirit is dead'. When Rachel died 'her soul was departing' (Gen. 35:18). Abraham 'gave up the ghost' (Gen. 25:8)and Jesus said upon the cross, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"(Luke 23:46). The human body is a tabernacle, a temporary dwelling place, in which the inner person lives. Elijah prayed to God for the 'child's soul come into him again..." (I Kings 17:21,22). So, where does the spirit go upon departing?
Jesus taught the spirit survives the death of the body (Matthew 10:28) and told the believing thief, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). They were both going to exist after death. There is a place of paradise.
God is the God of the living Abraham, Isaac and Jacob even though they were dead at the time well over a thousand years (Matthew 22:29-32). In Luke 16:19-31) Jesus observed that Abraham was on one side of a great gulf. He was in a place of bliss and Lazarus was with him. On the other hand, the other side of the great gulf had a certain rich man who there 'in torments' and misery.
Paul wrote about a conscious existence in an out of the body experience when caught up into the third heaven, into Paradise (2 Corinthians 12:2-4). The souls of early martyrs are described as living and conscious while awaiting the day of judgment (Revelation 6:9-11). There is a place of residence after death and before the judgment day, it seems. Wicked angels are said to be held in chains of darkness in tartarus (hell) awaiting the judgment.
By comparing what Jesus said to the thief "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43) and what Peter said about Jesus not being left in Hades (Hell), we come to believe there are two compartments of the Hadean world: paradise and tartarus: Temporary holding places of joy and sorrow separated by a great gulf until the final judgement day.
Heaven is ahead for the people of Paradise and Gehenna (Hell) is ahead for the people of Tartarus. Jesus did not say, the rich man lifted up his eyes in gehenna but rather in hades, translated hell. The rich man's body went into a tomb, while his spirit went into torments.
Perhaps a better understanding of the spirit nature of the afterlife would have been if not all the words--sheol, hades, paradise, tartarus and gehenna had been translated by one word, Hell. the word, gehenna, is always applied to the eternal, final doom of the lost (Matthew 5:22,29,30; Matt. 10:28; 18:9; 23:15,33; Mark 9:43,45,47; Luke 12:5; James 3:6). This place should be avoided by all of us. We avoid this place be following Jesus's words (John 12:48).
Some believe that since the days of Jesus, we, upon death, go to be with the Lord and to 'die is gain' (Phillippians 1:21-24). We are directly in the presence of the Lord and in Heaven. They note, "we go to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:3-5). Further, 'to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord'. Those who 'die in the Lord are blessed' (Revelation 14:13). If we 'walk through the valley of the shadow of death, he is with us' (Psalms 23:4). And, death has no sting or fear for the faithful servant of God (I Cor. 15:55,57). The expression, "Prepare to meet God" is meaningless, unless we meet him upon death.
Note that a detailed arrangment is not listed in the verses of the previous paragraph. The facts are stated but not detail given. All of these things could well take place even after a temporary holding place of joy and bliss, paradise, or torments and misery, tartarus.
Knowing that as David said, "there is one step between me and death" (1 Samuel 20:3), is not the more important question: Will I be on the Lord's side as I live my life on this earth and thus leave into his hands the details of either going to paradise and bliss and eventually Heaven--or directly go to Heaven? I want His will to be done. I'm grateful to leave the details to Him.
Please check out the biblical verses and studies on other pages of this website which go into the examples of biblical people who obeyed the Lord and lived in hope while they lived upon this earth of someday being with God in a place of 'peace and rest'.