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WHO SURVIVED HEAVEN'S GATE? #6
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, LAZARUS?"
I'd like to indulge in a bit of "what-iffing"
with you on this Monday as we begin a second week still in our series,
WHO SURVIVED HEAVEN'S GATE? And of course it's tragically true that all
39 people in that mansion at Rancho Santa Fe did not survive. The poison
in the applesauce and the vodka chasers and the plastic bags over the
heads did their deadly work, and it was quite an overload for the morgue
there in that San Diego suburb.
But what if, by some medical miracle, let's say a week later, one of the
members of that cult had been suddenly raised back to life? Or let's say
even two or three hours later, maybe some medical team might have been
able to restart the heart of Applewhite or one of the others and bring
them back to the land of the living?
Well, it certainly would have made headlines. Every talk show in America,
every reporter on the planet, would have pressed for an interview. And
do you know what the biggest question probably would have been?
Simply this: What happened while you were dead? What kind of journey did
you actually take? You see, the 39 members of this Heaven's Gate cult
had stated categorically that once they had "(quote) shed their vehicles,"
they were going to be carried to a UFO. They were going to go on an intergalactic
journey as part of their ascent to the "Evolutionary Level Above
Human."
And if someone in that cult — and we have to assume it would be a most
unwilling return — had been pulled back down into this land of living,
breathing, clamoring NBC reporters, we'd have expected and demanded an
answer to that question. And not just the Heaven's Gaters, the New Agers,
the reincarnationists among us. No, I imagine just about everyone would
want to know: where did you go during that one-week trip? What details
can you share from the other side of the curtain? Did you really take
a ride on that Hale-Bopp Comet? For once in human history, we'd have in
our midst a person in the perfect position to answer once and for all
the question we're studying for two whole weeks here: what happens when
we die?
I guess some Christians get frustrated that there weren't some pushy,
aggressive, in-your-face TV reporters in Bible times to ask such questions.
But stop and think with me about the fact that in the pages of the 66
books of God's Word, there are really quite a number of times where men
and women found themselves in precisely that position.
Let's begin in the Old Testament, in the book of Second Kings chapter
four. A young boy out in the field with the reapers has a kind of heat
stroke and dies. However, the prophet Elisha, who often stays with this
boy's parents, is summoned, and makes the trip clear from Mount Carmel
to the village of Shunem. And you can read in verses 34 and 35 how Elisha
prays and the boy is raised back to life.
In the New Testament, of course, these stories come thick and fast. Jesus
raises up the daughter of Jairus from death; He resurrects the son of
a widow living in Nain — actually pulls Him right off the funeral bed
during the mournful procession going to the cemetery. The Apostle Paul
raises up a kid named Eutychus, who falls from a second story window and
is killed. Peter is empowered by heaven to raise up from death a godly
Christian woman named Dorcas; that's in Acts chapter nine.
But let's go back to Jesus, because if we're really looking for a report
from "(quote) the other side," we'll have our best opportunity
right here. Christ's own friend, Lazarus, as we read, got sick and died.
"He's sleeping," Jesus said calmly to His disciples, showing
no great hurry or urgency to get to Bethany. This is in John chapter 11.
And we all know how the Savior raised up His good friend after a full
four days in the tomb. "Lazarus, come forth!" He cried out,
and here he came right out of that tomb. Talk about "dead man walking"!
And now let's hit the STOP button, because we have right here the perfect
opportunity to have a human being end all debate about the other side
of death. Lazarus was dead; he'd been dead for four full days, 96 hours.
The decomposing process had already begun, in fact. So this wasn't just
a near-death experience, an NDE, or a skating close to the edge of the
pond. Lazarus was dead, completely dead. He'd been in the morgue and in
the tomb and had the stone rolled up to cover up the grave and everything.
And now as the news reporters gather close to hear his first-hand account
about UFOs or about a trip to heaven or about being reincarnated into
some other life form or about SOMETHING . . . do you know what? Incredibly,
this man Lazarus, this traveler to the Twilight Zone, has absolutely nothing
to share. In the entire book of John, with a whole crowd of people around,
after four days of death, Lazarus can't report that he's been anywhere
at all. Nowhere! And Jesus says very simply, "Take off the grave
clothes and let him go." End of story.
It's the same with the little girl Jesus raised up. Certainly she must
have had some enthralling tale to share about her mansion in heaven and
about playing with the angels and swimming in the River of Life. But no
— not a word. No report whatsoever from the Other Side.
And do you know something else? We have even a more clear testimony than
these about a person's destiny after the grave. Because even Christ Himself
spent three days in the tomb on that terrible, wonderful Calvary weekend.
Our Savior died on a Friday afternoon and rested in that borrowed grave
through the long, agony-filled Sabbath hours. It wasn't until Sunday morning
that He came forth in victory, having burst the bonds of the tomb.
Had Jesus been up in heaven during those 36 or so hours? The moment He
cried out, "It is finished!" and died, did His soul go up to
heaven and then come back down Sunday morning to reunite with His resurrected
body?
Many Christians believe that He did, and it's an understandable conclusion
as we study the timeline in the book of Luke. Here's why. In chapter 23,
as Jesus is nearing death on that cross, He does indeed say to the repentant
thief next to Him:
"I tell you the truth, today you will be
with Me in Paradise."
That sounds too clear-cut to be misunderstood, despite
the silence of Lazarus and the others. Christ seems to be saying here
that when He dies and when the thief dies, they'll both be instantly in
heaven.
But you know, we've been saying here all along that Bible students need
to carefully read all of the verses on a given topic, especially this
one. Because as we read on, and this is over in John instead of Luke,
there's that beautiful garden scene where Jesus meets up with Mary Magdalene.
"Who are you looking for?" He asks.
And she thinks He's the gardener. "If you've carried Him away,"
she sobs, "tell me where, and I'll get Him."
And Jesus says very simply just that one word: "Mary." And she
recognizes her precious Savior. "Master!" she cries out. Or
"Rabbi!"
And now notice that Jesus, graciously but firmly, tells her something
very important. "Don't touch Me," He warns. Or "Do not
hold on to Me." Why? "Because," He says, "I have NOT
YET returned to the Father." Here it's already Sunday morning, following
nearly two full days of certifiable death, and Jesus has not been to heaven;
He has not yet been to the Father's throne. In fact, He goes on and tells
her in verse 17:
"Go instead to My brothers and tell them,
‘I am returning [now] to My Father and your Father, to my God and your
God."
Keep in mind as well that criminals very often did
not die in just one day during crucifixion, especially when they're pulled
down off a cross because of the approach of the Sabbath. That's why the
soldiers broke the legs of those two thieves, both to hasten their death
and to render them immobile when they were taken down off the cross.
Still, how do we interpret Christ's earlier statement: "Today you'll
be with Me in paradise?" May I suggest, and this is very humbly put
forward simply as a proposal, that we might read Christ's statement this
way:
"I tell you the truth today, (comma), You
will be with Me in paradise."
Punctuation like commas, as you might know, were not
included in Bible writings, but were added later as seemed appropriate
by the translators. But as we put these apparently conflicting two statements
by our Lord together and seek for the consistency that the Bible invariable
achieves in the final analysis, I know of many Christians who feel that
this is the clearest way to understand this scriptural truth.
And you see, that squares fully with the earlier testimony — or lack of
same — from people like Lazarus. This man could have easily, with one
press conference, resolved the issue of life after death and UFOs and
soul flights and all the rest. He could have dictated a diary of his four-day
trip to the stars. Come to think of it, he probably would have complained
to Christ: "I was in heaven! I had a beautiful mansion and delicious
fruit and angels attending to my every need. Why'd You bring me back down
here to this dusty village on planet earth?"
But no. From the Old Testament, from the New, from Peter's and Paul's
rescued victims who came out of the shadows of death, and even from Jesus
Himself, we find no such New Age story. Apparently when Christ told us
death was a sleep, He really did mean it.
Sometimes at a press conference, silence is really the most eloquent testimony
of all.
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