What Happens After Death

What happens after death? Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus on The Chosen, shared a video concerning a vision he had about what happens after death. Death is not the end.

According to Jonathan’s vision, the spirits of the deceased immediately encounter Jesus within a few seconds of their passing. Jesus asks everyone the same four-word question: “Do you know me?”

Some of them had been active in their churches and confidently believed they were saved by grace through faith in Him. Some were leaders in their churches, but Jesus insisted that they didn’t really know Him.

Make no mistake, there is a clear biblical connection between eternal life and knowing Jesus.  “And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth” (John 17:3 NLT).

That knowing is mutual. He also knows us. ^“On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws” (Matthew 7:22-23 NLT).

Jonathan’s vision disturbed me. It revealed the possibility of experiencing assurance of salvation without knowing its author or really possessing it. What is the difference between a “Christianity” built only on facts about Jesus and one that truly demonstrates knowing Him?   

How can I know that I know Jesus? How can you know that you do? Here is a key question: How has Jesus influenced your life? The closer we are relationally to someone, the more they influence us. We carry some of their “scent” with us. Do others know you spent time with Jesus because of His lingering fragrance?

I once attended a men’s breakfast. When I returned home, my daughter complained that she smelled onions. I ate nothing containing onions at breakfast, but their odor permeated my clothes and the entire room where they were cooked, and the breakfast was held.

If we know Jesus, His aroma permeates our lives. “Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2:15 NLT).

My father, aunt, and wife have left their scent on me more than any other humans. My mother influenced me less than my father because she died when I was seven. My never-married aunt stepped in to help raise my brothers and me when she was 64.

For more than twenty years, she demonstrated self-sacrificial service to our family. She put our needs ahead of hers. That was obvious even to me, a selfish child, teenager, and young adult.

By words and actions, my father taught me about life. I wouldn’t be the same person at all if I had a different father figure. A huge amount of it was unconscious, the fruit of imitating him.

Fifty years of marriage to my wife has shaped me into a different person than I was when we were first married. The guy who thought doing dishes was for women regularly does them!

The list of modifications to the original husband is long. I know what pleases and irritates her, and she knows the same about me. We try to maximize the pleasing and minimize the irritating. Is that how you relate to Jesus? How has imitating Him changed you?

Here is another key question: How is life different because of your relationship with Jesus than it was before you received Him as your Savior and Lord? How are you more like Him now because of His influence? Specifically, how has He changed your priorities, values, habits, relationships, and purpose? Are you living for Him who died and was raised for you (2 Corinthians 5:15)? Are you turning your brag sheet into a testimony? That is the evidence that you know Him.

So, are you ready for what happens after death? Do you know Him? See additional free spiritual growth resources for Christians.  #freediscipleshipresources #freeevangelismresources #freechristianleadershipresources 

God has empowered me to write His Power for Your Weakness—260 Steps Toward Spiritual Strength. It’s a free, evangelistic, devotional, and discipleship e-book. Pastors have used it in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia to lead 7,010 people to Christ and teach the basics of Christianity to 17,361 people. I invite you to explore and use it in your setting.

Photo: Image Creator (microsoft.com)