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Do We Take Anything With Us When We Die Podcast
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Today, I want to talk to you about what the Bible says about the question, do we take
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anything with us when we die?
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I think it was Chuck Swindoll who created or popularized the expression, there are no
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U-Haul trailers behind a hearse.
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There's also a common expression that when J.D. Rockefeller died, his lawyer was asked,
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how much did he leave?
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And the lawyer said, all of it.
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Let's look at some biblical passages and see if we can determine what we take with us when
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we die.
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Isaiah 65, 17, and 18 says, For behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth, where
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the former things will not be remembered or come to mind, but be glad and rejoice forever
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in what I create.
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For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing in her people, for gladness.
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In a context which begins with the millennial blessing, God, through Isaiah, extends his
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thoughts to the new heavens and the new earth.
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And this passage, God said, former things will not be remembered or come to mind.
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But the context is the lack of memory, is that of creating a new Jerusalem for rejoicing
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and gladness.
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This does not seem to be the wiping away of all memories, but a new situation so glorious
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that the old painful ones will not come to mind.
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In Daniel 12, 2, and 3, we read, Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake.
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Those who have everlasting life, but others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
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Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of the
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heavens and those who lead the many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.
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Daniel 12 describes the resurrection of the Old Testament saints at the second coming
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of Christ.
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But it also reveals several things we take from this life to the next.
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Everlasting life is clearly different from everlasting contempt.
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There seems to be a difference between this life for those who will shine brightly like
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the brightness of the expanse of heaven and those who lead the many to righteousness.
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In Daniel 12, 3, God told Daniel, But as for you, go your way to the end.
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Then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the
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age.
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Apparently, there's a portion for Daniel awaiting him after this life at the end of
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the age.
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In Matthew 5, 11 and 12, Jesus said, Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute
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you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
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Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great.
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It seems that reward for verbal persecution for the sake of Christ follows us to heaven.
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In Matthew 6, 20, Jesus said, But store up for yourselves treasures on earth where neither
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moth nor rust destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal.
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If we can store up treasures in heaven, it seems like if we don't take them with us,
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we can at least send them on ahead.
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In Matthew 17, 1 through 8, describes the transfiguration of Jesus Christ.
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The event of the mouth transfiguration gave the apostles a glimpse into the kingdom of
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heaven.
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As an apparent fulfillment of Matthew 16, 28, where some would see Jesus in his kingdom,
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Jesus is transfigured.
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The Greek word metamorphosis, we get the word metamorphosis from it.
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So Jesus apparently changed so that his glory was momentarily unveiled.
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But we should notice three things about Moses and Elijah.
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First, they were together in the same place.
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Remember Moses had been dead for 1,500 years and Elijah for 700 years.
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Also notice they were the same people they were when they lived on earth.
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I take it the apostles knew them because they and Jesus greeted one another.
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Moses and Elijah were not in their resurrected bodies since Old Testament saints receive
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their resurrected bodies at the second coming of Christ, according to Daniel 12, 1 to 3.
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They're the same sort of bodies we have or we will have before being resurrected at the
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rapture described in John 14, 6 and 1 Thessalonians 4.
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We can therefore assume we will be identified in heaven as the same people as we were on
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earth.
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Who we are does not change.
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Our DNA makes us all unique people here on earth and that uniqueness seems to follow
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us to heaven.
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Next we have two rich men of Luke 16.
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In this chapter, Jesus tells us about two rich men with some discussion with the Pharisees
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in between.
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The first rich man had an unjust steward who the rich man ultimately praises because the
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steward prepared for his future.
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The point was the importance of preparing for our eternal future.
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We can only conclude that we can make preparations on earth that go with us to heaven.
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The next account Jesus gave in Luke 16 is about a selfish unnamed rich man and a poor
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beggar named Lazarus.
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We're also told the rich man was daily reminded of Lazarus' condition of being hungry and
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covered with sores.
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When both died, we learn this about Lazarus.
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He was carried away by the angels.
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He was no longer suffering.
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He is the same person he was on earth and we know this about the rich man.
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He was the same person he was on earth before his death.
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He was aware of conditions on earth when he left.
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He also had evil brothers.
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His evil deeds, including his neglecting of the needs of Lazarus, followed him into the
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afterlife.
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He asked for mercy but was given none.
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Neither he nor Lazarus were allowed to go back to earth after their death.
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It seems their lives on earth followed them to the next life.
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You might also notice that they were aware of what happened and what was happening when
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they left earth.
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But there's no indication that they knew what was going on back on earth after they
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left.
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In John 5, 24, Jesus said,
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Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my words and believes in him who sent me has
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eternal life, does not come into judgment, but is passed out of death unto life.
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Jesus promised life beyond this life without condemnation, judgment to those who believe
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that his words are those of his heavenly Father.
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In 1 Timothy 4, 8, Paul told Timothy,
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Bodily discipline is only a little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things
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since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
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It seems there's a discipline that profits this life and one that we take with us in
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the life to come.
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In Revelation 6, 9-11, the apostle John wrote this,
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When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the throne of the altar the souls of
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those who had been slain because of the word of God and because of the testimony which
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they had maintained.
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And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, will you
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refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?
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And it was given to each of them a white robe, and they were told that they should rest for
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a while longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be
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killed, even as they had been, would be completed also.
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Whatever observation should we make about these martyred believers?
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John saw the souls of those who had been slain, so they were not ghosts, but people John could
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see as those with human form.
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These martyred saints were aware of what was going on when they left earth because they
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had been recently killed.
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They did not know what continued to go on upon the earth after their death except for
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what God told them.
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They had a body, but not a resurrected body, since they'll be resurrected at the second
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coming according to Revelation 20, verse 4.
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Like the rich man in Luke 16, they asked for God to intervene on earth and were denied.
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But they were also told about God's future intervention.
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The Bible also mentions many crowns, crown of righteousness, crown of life, crown of
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glory.
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These crowns are probably symbolic of heavenly rewards, and nonetheless they represent things
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from this life that we take with us to heaven.
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Jesus said, but I tell you that every careless word that people speak they will give an account
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for in the day of judgment.
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So apparently our words follow us into the afterlife.
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Conclusion.
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The saying is probably not true, whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
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But it's certainly not true, whatever happens on earth stays on earth.
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Of course, we leave behind our bodies with its pains and pleasures, our physical possessions
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and debts, our relationships, beneficial and painful.
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There are many things that happen on earth which we leave behind on earth, but not everything.
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Some things follow us into the afterlife.
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According to the Bible, things that follow us include our salvation, our character, although
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we believers are released from our sin nature, but we're the same people that we are on earth.
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Our memories, although the dead do not know what's happening on earth at the present time,
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they remember what was going on when they died, memories will be overpowered by learning
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new surroundings.
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That does not mean our previous thoughts are wiped away.
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I remember my grandmother saying, if any of my grandchildren are not saved, I'll never
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know it in heaven because it would make me sad.
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I would add, or you'll have a completely different perspective on a completely different reality.
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Going from this earthly physical dimension to a heavenly dimension is a whole new adventure.
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Our involvement in evangelism on earth leads to people who will greet us in the heavenlies.
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Also, what we learn here about truth, the way things actually are, goes with us to heaven.
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Thank you for listening.
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A more complete paper on this subject is available on our website relationalconcepts.org.
