Forecasting Hope 8: Revelation's Keys of Death (Pastor Greg Hudson, 10/19/24)

So that's one thing we do. So remember as you get your response card, if you have any questions,

if you have any comments, if you have any prayer requests, please write those on there and we will

look at, we'll draw that out again tomorrow night. And then we have a question from yesterday.

Because last night we talked about the seventh day Sabbath and we saw that it was in Genesis

and throughout Scripture. And the question was given, what about the feast days? Because the

feast days in the Bible are also sometimes called Sabbaths. And we do see stories where Jesus

kept the feast days, like Passover, He also kept the feast of lights, which isn't one of the original

feast days, but is probably what we would modern day would call Hanukkah. But He keeps that in

John. So what is going on with the feast days? Well, let's look at a couple of verses here.

Let's go to Leviticus chapter 23. So Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus chapter 23 is where we see

Leviticus 23 · chapter mention Leviticus 23 · chapter mention

the majority of these feasts mentioned. Leviticus chapter 23. So this is when the children of Israel

Leviticus 23 · chapter mention

are making their way through the wilderness, going from Egypt, making their way to the promised land

and God is giving them instructions in what they are supposed to do. And you can notice Leviticus

23 and verse 3, it says, six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn

rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your

dwellings. So that is talking about that Sabbath that goes back to Genesis chapter 2, that's in

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

Exodus 20, that seventh day Sabbath. Six days you shall work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath.

The rest of this chapter, if your Bible has little subtitles like mine does, the next subtitle says

the Passover and unleavened bread. And verse 4 begins and says, these are the feasts of the Lord,

holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their appointed times. And then it gives the dates for

Passover and unleavened bread and the feast of firstfruits and the feast of weeks, which in the

New Testament became Pentecost, and then the feast of trumpets and the day of atonement and the

feast of tabernacles and so forth. So all of these different feasts are listed there. But before that,

it talks about the seventh day Sabbath. And two or three of these through this chapter are actually

two or three of these feasts are referred to as a Sabbath day because it was a day of

worship, it was a day of rest, it was a day of celebration for those people. Let's keep that in

mind, but let's turn over to Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 45. So Isaiah chapter 45,

Ezekiel 45 · chapter mention Isaiah 45 · chapter mention

so Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and then Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 45. And verse 17,

Ezekiel 45 · chapter mention

Ezekiel 45 and verse 17. It says in Ezekiel 45 verse 17, then it shall be the prince's part to

Ezekiel 45:17

give, and it lists off a bunch of things here, burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings,

and then it talks about the feast, the new moons, the Sabbaths, and at all the appointed seasons of

the house of Israel. So again, it's talking about different feasts, different celebrations,

and it's talking about, as it says in, he shall prepare the sin offering, the grain offering,

the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, and then it says specifically

for the house of Israel, for the house of Israel, it says right there. And let's look at one more

here. Let's look at Colossians in the New Testament, Colossians chapter 2, because sometimes

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

people have a question about this as well with this topic. Colossians chapter 2, Colossians chapter 2,

Colossians 2 · chapter mention Colossians 2 · chapter mention

and verse, we'll start in verse 16 here. Colossians 2 and verse 16. It says,

so let no one judge you in food or in drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbath.

It's those same list of things listed in the same order. And then notice verse 17. It says,

which are a shadow of things to come, a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

And so those feast days, the Passover feast, all of those feasts that we

relisted in Leviticus 23, those are a shadow of things to come. The substance is Jesus. Those

are pointing to Jesus as the Messiah, different segments of his ministry, including his second

coming. The seventh day Sabbath, is that a shadow of something to come? No, we saw last night,

it's a memorial of something that happened. It's a memorial of God as our creator. It's looking back

at what Jesus has done before there was a house of Israel, before there was any type of nationality

or anything. And so those feasts pointed forward, looked forward to Jesus and his ministry.

The seventh day Sabbath looks back to the creative power of God and the creative power of Jesus. So

I hope that answers a little bit. If you have more questions about that, please write that down or

ask me later or any other questions that you might have. And so there's one other thing that

we need to do. Miss Katie asked me to do this because at our last session this morning, I

mentioned how baptism is like marriage and I talked about my marriage and I had a picture,

but our screens weren't working this morning. And so I wasn't able to show the picture. I did show

Miss Katie, but she said, well, you should show it to everybody. So here is a picture from 15 years

ago. Jolie and I, this was at a wedding chapel in Gatlinburg when we got married. And so that was

requested to show tonight since we didn't get to show it this morning. So I'm a little bit thinner,

no hair then, no hair now. So that part didn't change, but that was from then.

So one other thing that we want to mention, as we shared last night, we talked about

the Seventh-day Sabbath and for some people that was a new thing. That was something you hadn't

learned, you hadn't heard before. And so we want to offer a free book. It's a book by Mark Finley.

He used to be the speaker for a show called It Is Written. And he has written a book about the

Sabbath and it's called When God Said Remember. If you would like to receive this book, then on

your response card, just write on the front or the back, just write free book and we'll see how

many we need to get and we'll make sure that we get that to you because it's a small book.

It's easy to understand. It answers questions that people might have. And it even talks about

the experience of what does it mean to keep the Sabbath? It doesn't matter. How can it impact

my life in a grace-oriented, in a Christ-centered way? So if you would like that book, just write

that on that response card and we'll make sure that we get that for you and have that for you.

So I think that's all of the business that we need to mention. I do want to say one thing because

we put this online and we put it on there, but if anyone is watching online right now and you have

a question or would like a book, let us know. Write that question. Send us that question. Tell

us you want the book and we'll make sure that you can get some of these materials as well.

But with that in mind, let's bow our heads and we'll get started at this time.

Dear God, we thank you so much for a beautiful Sabbath day that we have been able to do.

We thank you that we could come back together again and join and open up your Word and be

reminded of the incredible saving grace that Jesus has for us and the incredible gift of life

and the gift of eternal life. Lord, just open up our hearts and minds to all that you would have

us to learn. In your name we pray. Amen. So just one other thing I thought of. When do we meet next?

Not Thursday. Oh, come on. Oh my goodness. When do we meet next? Let's try that again.

Tomorrow night at seven and then Thursday. So one more of this weekend and then we'll take some days

off. So we meet Sunday night at seven and then Thursday. So tonight's topic is Revelation's

keys of death. I want to introduce you to a gentleman named George Van Tussle. He's an

aerospace mechanic. He's an inventor and he's also a UF-ologist. What? A UF-ologist. He studies

UFOs, unidentified flying objects, and in the 50s he moved out to the desert of California

close to a place called Giant Rock and he would lead people out near this rock and they would

meditate and do different things like that. And in 1953, George Van Tussle claimed that he was

visited by a UFO, by a spacecraft from the planet Venus. He came and woke him up, invited him onto

the spaceship and then while he was on that spaceship verbally and telepathically gave him

instructions to create something called the integraton. The integraton. What in the world

is the integraton? Well he described that this was a scientific and spiritual research that was to

rejuvenate the cells to anti-aging, anti-death. Perhaps even time travel was involved and this

invention was supposedly able to at the minimum extend life and perhaps even

make humans to be able to defy death completely. Unfortunately the integraton was never fully

completed due to the fact that when it was about to open in just a couple short weeks

Mr. Van Tussle died. Prematurely his sudden death led to the end of that experiment, to the end of

that scientific whatever you want to call that. It did not extend his life and the integraton is

still there serving as a tourist attraction there if you want to visit it in California.

Van Tussle like so many people was trying to go on a quest to discover eternal life

and to avoid the clutches of death. But the good news is that as we study the Bible tonight, as we

dig into prophecy and revelation we're going to see that the Bible gives us some clear answers

about death and we're going to go to Revelation chapter 1 because this is a question that people

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

have had throughout the years, throughout the centuries, throughout the millennia. What happens

after life? What is death all about? And many many people throughout the years have tried different

things to overcome that and to try to avoid death. But as they say there's two things that are certain

in life, taxes is one and death is the other. So we're going to go to Revelation 1 and verse 18.

As we dig into this opening chapter again of Revelation, this is the words of Jesus and in

Revelation 1 18 we see that the Bible says, Jesus speaking here says, I am he who lives and was dead

and behold I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and the keys of the

death. Jesus is saying this is not a topic that we have to be afraid of. This is not something

that we need to worry about. God is saying this can be a scary thing but not for us. He says I

lived, I died on the cross, I went to the grave and I overcame that. I resurrected, I came back,

I had victory over death and now I hold the keys of death. And Jesus wants to share that with us.

He wants to give us the answers to questions that we might have. And so as we look at this tonight,

as we want to consider the end of life, I think an important thing is to first think about the

formation of life, look at the beginning of life. So like we've done so many times, we're going to

go from Revelation and we're going to go all the way back to the beginning, we're going to go

to Genesis. And so we're going to go to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3, we've read this

Genesis 3 · chapter mention Genesis 3 · chapter mention

passage before because we read about a war that started in heaven and it came down to the end of

the earth. I think that was about the second night that we were together and that same story

plays into this aspect. So Genesis chapter 3, we're going to start in verse 1. Genesis chapter 3

Genesis 3 · chapter mention Genesis 3 · chapter mention

and verse 1, it says, Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field, which the

Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree

of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden,

but the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it,

nor shall you touch it, lest you touch it. And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit

of the tree of the garden, but the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has

said, You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you what? Lest you die. And then the serpent

said to the woman, You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes

will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. So we have Adam and Eve here in a

garden. For they were filming God going throw themselves near this tree of knowledge of good

and evil, the one they were supposed to avoid. And there's the serpent there. And who

is the serpent? Satan or the devil. The Bible clearly says that the serpent is the devil. And

as Eve is there, Satan tries to twist things as Satan often does. And he starts off saying,

eat of every tree of the garden? That's not what God said. God didn't say most of

those trees they were able to eat from. How many were they not supposed to eat

from? Only one. And the only thing that made that tree different is that God

said don't eat from it. And so Eve, a mistake, she tries to argue with the

devil. She tries to correct the serpent and she says no we may eat the fruit of

the trees of the garden but the one in the middle of the garden God has said

don't do it or we will die. Now God knew that when humankind chooses to disobey

him that sin separates us from God, separates us from the life-giver and it

sets us upon Satan's ground and it begins the process of death. Now they

didn't die in that very moment in that very instant but that process of death

begun at that time. And so while God says you will die the serpent says the very

first lie that was ever told was a lie about life and death where the serpent

said you will not surely die. And there's a lot of people that don't want to walk

through a cemetery at night because they know those people are dead but they're

not sure if they're they're surely dead or not. And so that's why it's important

to understand this subject because the devil tells a lie about it. You will not

surely die. Instead he says if you eat this fruit you're gonna you're gonna

become like God. You're gonna become more wise. You're going to know good and evil.

In fact the mysteries of the universe will be opened to you. God never intended

for us to know evil. But this lie that Satan tells it precisely mirrors a

spiritualism in the world today. Spiritualism says that when you die well

you're not you're not really dead. You're just in another sphere another world of

existence and that idea of spiritualism goes all the way back here to the Garden

of Eden. And ever since then the devil has been trying to twist the truth that

God has laid down in his word. We know that the wages of sin is is death. But

Satan wants to say oh no you're not gonna surely die. Even something like

that the wages of sin is death. But Jesus says I am the one that has the keys of

death. And so we want to to untwist the devil's lie and we want to see God's

truth. And as we do this tonight we have to start by explaining looking at a

particular term. The term that we need to explain that we need to look at is the

term immortal soul. Anybody ever heard that term before immortal soul? Yes we've

heard of that. People talk about it. But it may surprise us that that term never

ever ever never appears in the Bible. It's never there. There are 1500 1600

times the word soul appears and it is never referred to as an immortal soul. In

fact the only thing that is referred to as immortal in all of God is excuse me

in all of the Bible is God himself. The soul humanity is never referred to as

immortal. But like some of these other things that we've talked about this kind

of crept in through some pagan philosophy during the Middle Ages. Now

you can take out a concordance. You can look it up online. You can look up the

word soul in Scripture and it will never ever be referred to as the immortal soul.

Even though that is a term that we have heard so many times. So what is a soul?

Well let's figure that out. Let's stay here in Genesis but let's go

back to Genesis chapter 2. This story of creation here Genesis chapter 2 and

Genesis 2 · chapter mention Genesis 2 · chapter mention

verse 7 because if we want to understand death we've got to know for sure what

life is the process of life. So we're gonna look at Genesis 2 and verse 7 and

the Bible says the Lord God formed man out of the the dust of the ground and

breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. So we

see that as God is involved in this creative act you can almost picture God

with hands in the dirt, hands in the mud forming, creating Adam with his hands

and then breathing into him the breath of life and it says man became a living

soul. So a soul is not something that God put in to Adam and Eve. It's something

that they are. Man became a living soul. So dust plus breath equals a soul and a

soul is simply a living person, a living being. I don't have a soul. I am a soul.

You don't have a soul. You are a soul and we sometimes use phrases like that if

we see someone you know maybe down on their luck or they're going through

some things in life we might say oh that poor soul. My son is a pilot. He's

working to be a pilot. He's training and pilots and captains of ships they use

the same phrase. They say something like we have 63 souls on board. That's not

that doesn't mean in the back of the plane they have a bunch of you know

Casper the friendly ghosts. It means they've got 63 people, 63 souls on board.

So dust plus breath as we see here in Genesis 2 7 equals a soul equals a

person. The soul is not something separate from the body. The soul is who

we are. Like I said the soul that word is used 1600 times in the Bible and never

once is it something that's inside. It's simply referring to individuals. Let's

let's look at some. Don't worry we're not gonna look at 1600 but let's let's look

at two here. Let's go to Genesis chapter 46. Genesis chapter 46 and verse 27 and

Genesis 46 · chapter mention Genesis 46 · chapter mention

in the King James Version it says and the sons of Joseph so this is talking

about Joseph he had been sold as a slave into Egypt and God blessed him and he

rose to a position of power. The sons of Joseph which were born him in Egypt were

two souls and all the souls of the house of Jacob which came into Egypt were

three score and ten or sixty and ten seventy people. So there were two souls

that Joseph's wife gave birth to. Is that two little ghosts? Two little spooks? No

it's two people. Two people is what that's referring to. She gave birth to

two little baby boys. Let's go to the New Testament. Let's go to Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 2. This is the story of one of those feast days that became the day

Acts 2 · chapter mention

of Pentecost as Peter and the other disciples were empowered by the Holy

Spirit and they were were preaching in the power of God and notice what

happened at the end of their sermon. Acts 2 and verse 41 it says the Bible says

then those who gladly received his word were baptized and that day about 3,000

souls were added to them. What an incredible day of the gospel that was

as Peter finished that sermon the people said what must we do? Repent and be

baptized and 3,000 people, 3,000 souls gave their hearts to Jesus and were

baptized that day. Not Casper but 3,000 people because a soul is a person and

that's why in Ezekiel 18 verse 20 it says the

Ezekiel 18:20

soul who sins shall die. So a soul is able to die because you and I are a soul.

We don't have a soul. We are a soul and the wages of sin is death so the soul

who sins will die. That's just what the Bible teaches. So we have to ask

ourselves the question what happens when someone dies? Is there something

that goes back? Is there something that returns? Well let's ask the

wisest man who ever lived. Who is that in the Bible? Solomon.

Let's go to the book of Ecclesiastes. So you've got Psalms, Proverbs,

and Ecclesiastes. We haven't been there yet in our series. So Psalms, Proverbs,

and then Ecclesiastes written by Solomon who was given great wisdom by God and

we're going to go to Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Ecclesiastes chapter 12 the

Ecclesiastes 12 · chapter mention Ecclesiastes 12 · chapter mention

last chapter of the book and we're going to look at verse 7. This is one of the

the wisdom books. It's got many different sayings and different tidbits of wisdom

and in Ecclesiastes 12 7 the Bible says then the dust will return to the earth

as it was and the spirit will return to God who gave it. Okay so this is what

happens when somebody dies. The dust returns to the earth just like God

created humanity from the dirt, from the mud, from the dust and it says the

spirit will return to God who gave it and some would say oh there it is

there's that immortal it's not a soul but the spirit but let's hold

on here for just a second let's determine what this spirit is. Let's let

the Bible interpret it for us because the body makes sense you know there's a

the old children saying ashes to ashes and dust to dust and so when someone

dies we know they return to dust that that comes from the Bible here the body

returns to the elements but then what about this spirit? It says the spirit

returns to God. What did what happened in Genesis 2 7? God formed the man from the

dust of the ground and then what did he do? He breathed into him the breath of

life. Now the Hebrew word for spirit is a word ruach and that word really means

breath. You can you don't have to take my word for it. Let's look at a verse here

let's look at Job chapter 27. Job chapter 27 and verse 3. Job chapter 27

Job 27 · chapter mention Job 27 · chapter mention Job 27 · chapter mention

and verse 3 we see these two words are interchangeable here. It says all the

while my my breath is in me and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils. Now is

that the Holy Spirit hanging out in our nose? No no that's not what it's talking

about. The Holy Spirit has has better places to be than than in our nose but

it's that that same phrase that breath and the Spirit of God that spark of

life that God breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living

soul. This sounds a little bit strange but it makes sense when you think about

it because when someone dies they stop breathing and that breath that spark of

life goes back to God and so just a few verses of Scripture can kind of make

that clear as we put these things together. So what happens to someone what

happens to someone after they die? Is there life beyond the grave? Is there any

consciousness? What's going on here? Let's stay in Ecclesiastes but let's go to

Ecclesiastes chapter 9. Ecclesiastes chapter 9 because we'll see what Solomon

Ecclesiastes 9 · chapter mention Ecclesiastes 9 · chapter mention

says about this. Ecclesiastes chapter 9 we're gonna look at verse 5 starting

Ecclesiastes 9 · chapter mention

Ecclesiastes 9 and verse 5. The Bible says for the living know that they will

die but the dead know nothing and they have no more reward for the memory of

them is forgotten also their love their hatred their envy have now perished

nevermore will they have a share in anything under the Sun. Then it goes on

in verse 10 and it says whatever your hand finds to do do it with all your

might for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where

you are going. So let's kind of let's kind of summarize and look at what we

saw. The living know they will die but the dead know nothing. The dead know nothing

and then it says their memory is gone because of their unconsciousness that

they don't have any memories anymore and we have to pause here for just a second

because sometimes when people read this the memory of them is forgotten people

will say well wait a second I'm not gonna forget my mother that passed away

I'm not gonna forget my grandmother but that's not what it's talking about of

course we are going to remember those people that we love those people that we

care about it's saying that those who have passed away their memory their

consciousness is is going to be peacefully sleeping in the grave they're

no longer involved in the affairs of the world as as we see here so there our

memory of them is not gone but their thoughts their memories are no longer

because it says the living know that they will die but the dead know nothing

and that's why it goes on and says their love their hatred their envy have

perished we have precious people with us and we're going to continue to remember

them and sometimes maybe you've been to a funeral as a pastor I've done numerous

funerals over the years and the hardest ones are the ones where family members

have have something that they haven't straightened out they have hard feelings

about that person that passed away and they never said I love you they never

said I'm sorry they never they withheld forgiveness or whatever it was and now

it seems so silly that they didn't communicate that they avoided each other

and now death has come and it's erased any possibility so I would just

encourage you say you're sorry forgive someone make that call to that person

that you haven't talked to in a while just be the bigger person because

there's gonna come a time when you're not gonna be able to do that anymore so

don't let death make that decision for you go ahead and say I love you give

them a hug before it's too late life is too precious for us to be harboring ill

feelings toward each other what does it say in verse 10 whatever your hand finds

to do do it with all your might don't let little things offend you or get in

the way make things right before death comes and puts a stop to even that

capability of doing that because the truth is we don't know when our time

will come we look forward to Jesus coming again very soon but we don't know

what's gonna happen between between now and then so whatever your hand finds to

do do it with all your might take your life seriously take your your spiritual

life seriously take your walk with Jesus seriously whatever your hand finds to do

do it with all your might there's a benefit to knowing the Jesus of the

Bible because Jesus says I've got the keys I've got the keys of life I've got

keys of death I've got victory over the grave so what does that mean for us well

God gives us Jesus gives us a demonstration of what that victory over

the grave looks like let's turn to John the gospel of John chapter 11 John

John 11 · chapter mention John 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11 you know Jesus as he ministered on this earth he had a lot of

people that were but listen to him but then there was a whole lot of people

that were out to get him and they wanted to do everything they could to

entrap him to trick him and there was at least one place that Jesus could go to

kind of escape from the the crowd escape from those who were after him and that

was the home of three siblings two sisters and a brother Mary Martha and

their brother Lazarus and the Bible says that in Bethany sometimes Jesus would be

there with that family but something happened one day and Lazarus the brother

became very sick he became ill now Jesus was in another part of the the country at

that point in another part of the territory and so Mary and Martha sent

word to Jesus if Jesus can heal the sick if he can cleanse the leper if he can

make the lame to walk again then surely he will come and heal his friend our

brother Lazarus and so they sent word to Jesus please come Lazarus is sick and

what happened next astounded the disciples because Jesus got that

message and then he he waited he didn't go he waited about two days and we'll

pick up the story in John 11 and verse 11 John chapter 11 and verse 11 notice

John 11 · chapter mention

what the Bible says in John 11 and verse 11 that these things he said and after

that he said to them our friend Lazarus sleeps but I go that I may wake him up

so he tells the disciples Lazarus is what he's sleeping and the disciples

think right that's that's great his disciples said Lord if he sleeps he'll

get well when you or I are sick it's really nice to take a long nap and to

get some some extra sleep if he sleeps he's gonna get well but notice what it

says next however Jesus spoke of his death but they

thought he was speaking about taking a rest and sleep and then Jesus said to

them plainly verse 14 Lazarus is dead what word did Jesus use to describe

this death he said that Lazarus was asleep and over and over in Scripture

about 50 different times five zero fifty different times the Bible refers to

death using that phrase that idea of sleep he was sleeping in the grave and

then now two days later Jesus goes to Bethany and by the time he got there

Lazarus had died and when Lazarus excuse me when Jesus went to the tomb the

family was there that the friends were there the mourners were there and Jesus

his heart touched Jesus's heart was broken and it's there we find the

shortest verse in the Bible maybe you've memorized this verse for some time when

a you know at some contest will recite a memory verse and you knew the shortest

verse in the Bible John 11 35 where it says Jesus wept it's the shortest verse

in the Bible but one of the most profound because it shows that the

Jesus's heart was touched as Mary and Martha and the other people that were

there as their hearts were broken by the death of their brother by the death of

their friend Jesus is a sympathizing Savior and Jesus weeps along with them

he saw the pain that they were going through and it broke his heart and he

cried with them now Jesus knew in just a few moments little spoiler alert that

Jesus is going to raise Lazarus from the dead he knew that was about to happen

and yet he still wept because he saw the emotion and the people around him you

think Jesus still weeps when he sees challenging things in our world when he

sees hearts that are broken when he sees individuals that are crying because of a

sad horrific thing that happened in their life but Jesus here decided to

give them a picture of what it means for him to hold the keys of death he prays

to to his father and we'll pick up the story in verse 43 John 11 and verse 43

we see what happens here now when he had said these things he cried with a loud

voice Lazarus come forth and he who had died came out bound hand and foot with

grave clothes and his face wrapped with a cloth and then it goes on and says

Jesus said to them loose him and let him go

Jesus called out Lazarus come forth do you think there was a shock in the crowd

what's he what's he talking about he's been dead four days he stinks it said

earlier and there was probably a little bit of a pause there because Lazarus is

still in the grave clothes it would take him a little while to to sit up to

jump out to shuffle out it would take a few minutes and the people are like what

is going on and then they could see him and Jesus said loose him and let him go

take those grave clothes off of him as this miracle took place as Jesus the one

with the keys of death speaks life into one who had been dead for multiple days

and we can imagine an alternative ending if the Bible taught something else

imagine they unwrap Lazarus his eyes are getting adjusted to the light and he's

like where am I what happened and his sisters maybe Martha's like Lazarus you

died you were dead for four days and and Jesus brought you back to life and with

a with a look of anger on his face Lazarus could have said this is the

fictional story Jesus why did you do that I was on the streets of gold I was

singing in the heavenly choir why would you bring me back to this sinful world

to this place of pain to this place of decay of all these different things but

that's not what happened because Lazarus was sleeping Lazarus was resting in the

grave and and the Bible says that we'll get our reward at the second coming if

we if we went to heaven as soon as we die why does the Bible talk about a

resurrection why does it talk about something else why would Jesus pull

Lazarus from the glories of paradise and bring him back that would be that would

be almost a dirty trick you could say but Lazarus is sleeping and that's why he

had no story to tell and if you think about it sleep is a beautiful way to

think about it because if you've had a long day or a long week and you lay your

head down at night and you sleep how many hours six hours eight hours ten

hours anybody get ten hours of sleep I hope that you do but but you those hours

of sleep pass and the next thing you know the the alarms going off are the

dogs jumping on you because it's time to take them out whatever it is and and you

you wake up and you're like whoa is it is it time to get up already and seven

hours have passed and you don't even realize it because you've been asleep

you've been sleeping and that time passes by unnoticed and the Bible says

that's what death is like the next thing that someone sees is is the face of

Jesus and when someone is resting in the grave then sin can't hurt them anymore

then a heartache can't hurt them anymore whether they've been in the grave for

three years or three thousand years they won't know the difference the next thing

they know is they see the face of Jesus Christ they see the the one who has the

keys of death the one who is waking them from the grave and sometimes people say

well pastor I don't I don't like that because you know I have loved ones who

have passed away and I like to picture them in heaven this takes my my joy away

but if we think about it how much joy would there be for my mom if she was in

heaven and looking down and seeing mistakes that are made seeing people

turning away from God seeing relationships broken seeing hearts

broken over different things seeing grandchildren or children or a relative

strain from the Lord seeing a nephew die at a young age when his mom is still

weeping that's not that doesn't bring joy as you see heartache as you see all

these different things but when someone is resting in the grave then they're

resting in God's protection and the heartaches of this world and the sins

of the world doesn't impact them anymore doesn't mess with them anymore and we

get to all experience the glories of the second coming together well let's look

at a verse we've looked at this before but let's go to 1st Thessalonians chapter

4 there's 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 is an incredible promise about a day that I

think is coming very soon 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 16 it's

the Bible says for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with

the voice of the Archangel with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ

will rise first the dead in Christ will rise first but then notice what happens

then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up what's that next word

together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall

always be with the Lord what an incredible promise we get to be caught

up together so that we can always be with the Lord and that's an incredible

picture of that wake-up call that that wake-up trumpet that God is going to to

pour out upon all who have passed away all who have died in him in fact 1st

Corinthians 15 it says that the mortal will put on immortality at that

resurrection at that last trumpet so you can almost picture that day the clouds

the glory the trumpet the voice of the Archangel the the graves bursting open

and think of reunions that will take place mothers brought to their their

children who passed away too soon spouses being reunited siblings being

reunited parents and grandparents grandchildren brothers and sisters

together making their journey to the kingdom of heaven why Jesus is their

Savior why because Jesus has the the victory over the grave Jesus has the

keys of death what an incredible day that will be but we've got to talk about

a couple other things here as incredible as that day is because sometimes people

ask questions well what about you know I see a I read a book or I see a show

about some sort of near-death experience or or someone who talks to somebody

different things like that one thing we need to keep in mind is that when a body

is going through some sort of serious trauma perhaps with with medication or

is near death the mind can can do lots of different things I mean it can do

that on a normal night how many of us have had a dream of something and we

wake up the next day and we're like whoa that that monster was chasing after me

and it was just a dream and that's just a normal day the mind can do the same

thing when the body is hovering between life and death and then some would say

well why why does this even matter well it's important because Jesus said that

he has the keys of life the keys of death and we recognize that Jesus is

all we need for salvation we're saved by grace we're not saved by works but every

teaching every doctrine of the Bible is something that if we misunderstand it

then we can misunderstand the character of God and so a particular doctrine may

not save me but it can help me to stay on the right path with God and so

sometimes in our society today we may see you know on television or on the

internet or a phone number to call where you can talk to a medium or a psychic or

someone who says oh I can communicate with someone on the other side I can

talk to someone who has who has passed away and the occult or the supernatural

have become a billion dollar business in the world so what do we make of that

can someone claim to talk to someone who is dead and yet the Bible says the dead

know nothing well let's look at a verse let's go to Isaiah chapter 47 Isaiah

Isaiah 47 · chapter mention Isaiah 47 · chapter mention

chapter 47 so Isaiah and then Jeremiah so kind of the middle of the Old

Testament we're gonna go to Isaiah chapter 47 and God gives some very strong

Isaiah 47 · chapter mention

language about how to to deal how to think about people who are speaking to

the dead or claiming to speak to the dead and he's actually uttering a rebuke

here against Babylon and spiritualism goes all the way back to that kingdom of

Babylon and even before as we saw it in in the Garden of Eden so let's read

Isaiah 47 and we're gonna start in verse 12 Isaiah 47 and verse 12 notice what

the Bible says stand now with your enchantments and the multitude of your

sorceries in which you have labored from your youth perhaps you will be able to

profit perhaps he will prevail you are wearied in the multitude of your

councils let now the astrologers the stargazers and the monthly

prognostic haters stand up and save you from what shall come upon you so they've

been talking to these different groups and God says good luck let them let them

help you and then it says behold they shall be as stubble and the fire shall

burn them so they're trying to get help from these other people and God uses

some pretty some pretty blatant language there he says see if they profit you see

what kind of advice they give you and in verse 14 he's basically saying get away

from them because theirs is a road that leads straight to the fires of

destruction to the fires of hell that's how serious God is he's saying have

nothing to do with this get away get as far away as possible because we've seen

that the Bible says the living know they shall die but the dead know nothing so

if people are communicating with someone on the on the other side someone who has

died who are they really communicating with it's not my grandma it's not my

mother because they're sleeping in the grave it's something else let's look at

second Thessalonians second Thessalonians chapter 2 second

2 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention 2 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention

Thessalonians chapter 2 notice what it says here in second Thessalonians chapter

2 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention

2 it says the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan

with all notice these words powers signs and lying wonders the devil can can do

wonders the devil can do signs can do miracles how did the devil appear in the

Garden of Eden he was a snake he was a talking snake he was a serpent so it

appears that the devil can impersonate even a dead loved one because he knows

how deceptive that would be if someone were to come and say you know what all

that stuff in the Bible that's not really true that's not accurate don't

follow any of that anymore I should know I've died I've gone to

heaven let me tell you what what it's really all about that would be very

deceptive if we saw someone who we cared about who we loved telling us to do away

with what God teaches us so we need to make sure that we're we're trusting in

what the Bible says because we see that the devil wants to deceive us for every

truth that God has the devil has a counterfeit the devil has a deception I

want to look at one more verse here because this is one that sometimes

people have a question about we can see all these verses but but there may be a

one that sometimes people wonder about and what about the question is what

about the thief on the cross when Jesus died on the cross there were two thieves

with him what did he say to that guy let's look in Luke chapter 23

Luke 23 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 23 Luke chapter 23 this is Jesus on the cross it's told in all of

Luke 23 · chapter mention Luke 23 · chapter mention

the Gospels but in Luke it tells the story of this conversation with this

criminal on the cross notice what Jesus says in Luke 23 and verse 43 the Bible

says and Jesus said assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise

okay well okay look that's he says today you're gonna be in paradise is that what

it says that's what it looks like it says but let's consider something there's

a problem here Jesus is not saying that okay today on on Good Friday when I die

on the cross you're gonna be with me in paradise because if that's what he says

then that contradicts what we just read about the living though they shall die

and the dead no nothing we've seen that it talks about a sleep until a

resurrection in the scripture the punctuation was not there initially in

the Greek and the punctuation makes a huge difference let's look at an example

here now this next slide I'm gonna put up this is for exhibits only this is not

something that I believe I just want to I just want to be clear about that so

this phrase says a woman without her man is nothing this is just for example's

purpose I just want to make that clear it says a woman without her man is

nothing but if we were to add a little punctuation notice what it says a woman

without her man is nothing this is probably much more accurate here but

just a couple points of punctuation change the entire meaning but let's look

at one more here this next one you know a young child is hungry and they say

let's eat grandma if you were to take out some punctuation there it changes

the meaning totally let's eat grandma that meal suddenly is no longer grandma's

you know famous mashed potatoes but it's something totally different the

punctuation makes a big difference so what does that mean for this story that

we're looking at in Luke chapter 23 as I said the the punctuation was not there

Luke 23 · chapter mention

initially so as they were in the medieval churches they were putting this

in that prevailing idea is that when you die you go somewhere but let's just

change that punctuation just a little bit and now it says and Jesus said to him

assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise and so Jesus in this

time of turmoil as his life is draining from his body his life blood is draining

from his body this criminal is about to die as well as he's also on a cross

Jesus says to him I say to you today when it when all hope seems to be gone

when when all hope seems to be lost I'm telling you today that you will be with

me in paradise and that is in perfect harmony with the rest of the verses of

the Bible in fact it could not be the other way because it wouldn't go with

the story with the happenings of Jesus himself if you look over at John chapter

John 20 · chapter mention

20 John chapter 20 as as Mary comes to the tomb on that Sunday morning of the

John 20 · chapter mention

resurrection she sees someone she doesn't recognize who it is at first and

then Jesus calls her name and she falls down and grabs hold of his feet and

Jesus says to her do not cling to me for I have not yet ascended to my Father so

he couldn't tell that criminal you're gonna be with me today in paradise

because Jesus didn't even go to paradise Jesus slept in the grave Jesus slept in

that tomb Jesus was not lying to Mary Jesus was not lying to the thief he said

on this darkest day I'm gonna give you hope and I'm gonna tell you that you

will be with me in paradise when I come in my kingdom when that trumpet blows

you will be with me in paradise and now we can see that with the comma in the

right place these verses all make sense and God knew that we could put these

verses in scripture together and that we can trust in what God says and I want to

leave with with this verse here in John 11 verse 25 as Jesus is there with Mary

John 11:25

and Martha as he's brought about to bring Lazarus back Jesus says I am the

resurrection and the life he who believes in me though he may die yet he

shall live death is not something that we have to be afraid of because in this

world we recognize that unless Jesus comes first death is coming but we see

that Jesus paid the death penalty for us that Jesus laid down his life on the

cross so that we can have his righteous life Jesus took my sins so that I can

have his perfect life Jesus holds the keys of death and when we have Jesus

then death is not anything to fear it's only a sleep it's only a sleep for a

short time until Jesus comes again and if I want to have victory over the grave

the way that I can do that is to have Jesus as my Savior and so as we've

mentioned night by night it's up to you it's up to me to make sure am I

accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior am I willing to trust my life with him

because he holds the key of death Jesus says I am the resurrection and the life

let's bow our heads for prayer dear God a difficult subject we don't like to to

think about death or talk about death and yet we can see that there's good news

because we recognize that Jesus is the giver of life that Jesus is the Savior

that Jesus holds the keys of death and we cannot wait for that trumpet to sound

for that cloud to burst forth so that we can be caught up together to meet the

Lord in the air and we can always be together with our loved ones together

with our family together with all who have given their heart to you and Lord

be with each one of us and may we just see your grace and see your power in our

life in your name we pray amen