After Death

 

 

How does a person feel

After he is dead?

This is a question

That fills me with dread.

 

I still wonder

As a body is interred,

Is he or she still conscious

As some do infer?

 

What is the state

Of the spirit that departs?

Is it around God’s throne

As some think in heart?

 

Their thoughts perish

According to Job

But according to others,

Bedecked in robes.

 

Tell me for certain

Does anyone know?

Can you show me in the Bible

Or is it your say-so?

 

 

If at the point of death

We are still alive,

Why to prolong our life

Is there such a drive?

 

A believer does not die

According to Jesus

It’s only the body that dies

Hence, dust to dust.

 

He that believeth in me

Shall never die!

Such an assurance from Jesus

Cannot be denied.

 

But what meant Jesus

When he said these words?

It could not be the physical

To which he referred.

 

Did he mean at once

Or at some time to come?

Like for example when he returns

To set up his kingdom.

 

 

Some say immediately

But not convincingly so

For at the passing of a friend,

Their sorrow really shows.

 

Crying and wailing

And many days of grief,

If that saint is alive and well

Mourning should cease.

 

Rather it should be

Much rejoicing and praise

Since the body has been interred

But the spirit is raised.

 

The truth be told

The grim reaper has struck

And as some mostly see it,

Another’s out of luck.

 

How I wish I knew

What occurs after death

And what it really means

To lie at rest!

 

 

We say to the decease

May he rest in peace,

Is there another alternative

After this life’s lease?

 

Like a rest otherwise

Different from one of peace

In which turmoil and war

Never will cease?

 

None has ever returned

From the dead, I mean

To give us a detailed description

Of the post-death scene.

 

In all honesty

I really do not know

But I’d like to see it in the Bible

And not one’s say-so.

 

 

Jesus did return

And is alive forever more

And some day in his own time

We will know for sure.

 

Stewart Russell © February 11, 2024

 

The Minute We Die

I have constantly wondered,

“What happens after death?

What happens at that moment

That we go to our final rest?”

 

I have viewed the covering up

Of many a loved one’s grave

And wondered, “Is he with God

Or is he with the Knave?”

 

I have even wondered

“Is she really unaware?

Can’t she feel she’s being covered up?”

As down at her grave I stare.

 

Having grown up in the church

This is what I believed:

The unsaved would go to hell

And the saved in heaven Christ receives.

 

 

I had even heard

How they look down from heaven

And how they communicate

With those whose sins are forgiven.

 

But now I have gotten older

I am not sure what to believe

Concerning the minute we die

And all our senses leave.

 

Some believe in soul sleep

And there is nothing left of us,

There is no consciousness of the soul

And none is yet with Jesus.

 

“The dead know nothing,”

In Ecclesiastes the wise man said,

“The memory of them is forgotten.”

When he was speaking of the dead.

 

 

But Jesus said of those that believe

That they shall never die

Is there a contradiction here?

Is someone telling a lie?

 

Certainly it cannot be Jesus

For Jesus cannot lie

So what does he really mean

When he says that one will not die?

 

I believe he spoke of the spirit

For the body will be interred,

Solomon spoke of what he knew

And I don’t believe he erred.

 

Jesus is wiser than Solomon

In him I place my trust

Though I don’t know all that happens

When the body returns to dust.

 

 

Some had near-death experiences

Some said they even died,

But their stories have not helped me

And maybe they even lied.

 

Some said they’ve been to heaven

Some said they went to hell

But I find it hard to believe them

Though I listen to them quite well.

 

Some said it wasn’t a vision

Or something that they dreamed,

In heaven there was much singing

In hell they were lots of screams.

 

Some tell of an experience

When they died and did come back

And the doctors do testify

That this was an actual fact.

 

I find it more than peculiar

That one can recount his death

But since I do not know for sure

I prefer to let that rest.

 

Throughout the entire Bible

There are 10 risings from the dead,

One of these was Christ’s resurrection

In the Gospels we have read.

 

 

Matthew 27:52-53

 

Many of the saints were raised

At the time of Christ’s resurrection,

They appeared unto many people

In the city of Jerusalem.

 

1 Kings 17:17 -24; 2Kings 4:18-37; 2 Kings 13:201-21

 

Besides these two instances

Eight other cases you will find:

Three are recorded in the book of Kings

And five in New Testament times.

 

Acts 9:36-43; Acts 20:7-12

 

Jesus raised three people

His resurrection would make that four,

And in the Acts of the Apostles

There you will find two more.

 

On these ten I will state my case

They are recorded in God’s Word,

However, I am somewhat skeptical

Of all the others I have heard.

 

None of these have stated

What happened during their death

Not even Jesus Christ

With whom this matter rests.

 

In the Bible there’s a resurrection

For the righteous that is to come,

This will occur at the return

Of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. 

 

 

John 11:26

 

In the meantime it’s quite fuzzy

Concerning the spirit of the dead

But they that believe “shall never die”

For that’s what Jesus said.

 

“Absent from the body

And to be present with the Lord,”

The words of the apostle Paul

As recorded in God’s Word.

 

What these Scriptures fully mean

I cannot tell for sure

And do they apply the minute we die?

I’d like to hear some more.

 

Please enlighten my darkness

But please do not tell me in Greek,

Do not tell me in Hebrew either

It’s in the English language I speak.

 

Stewart Russell © September 2018