INQUIRER: My question is - I just want to know if there really is life after death because in the Bible it is clearly written and stated that after death there is life. And if there is such life after death, why is it that many of our loved ones who have been dead for several years did not even relay to us and even inform us that there really is heaven and hell? That is my question. Thank you.
Bro. Eli F. Soriano (EFS): You know, sister, firstly, there is a difference between the world of the living and the place where the dead are. And that is under God’s command, that is under God’s rule. When we die, our communication is totally put off by God to the dead. In fact, a living person who tries to communicate with a dead is committing a grievous sin against the Lord. In Deuteronomy 18:10-12 -
Sis. Luz Cruz (LC): “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,” “Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.” “For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.”
EFS: Could you read that in Tagalog, Sister Luz?
LC: “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,” “Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.” “For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD:"
EFS: It means, communicating to the dead is prohibited by God. The reason is, God separated the dead from the living. God has an intention. God wants us to obey Him with faith in Him. Not because of your dead relative who came back to you to tell you to believe in God, only then you will believe. It seems that your trust is in your relative, and not in God. We have to trust God. Having faith is believing in something that is not seen. Let us read in the book of Hebrews 11:1-
LC: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
EFS: “…faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” And we have faith in God because we cannot see Him. We cannot hear Him personally speak to us audibly but He has His words written in the Bible - words that are backed up by Science, by History, by Archeology to be true and authentic. These words are proven so many times in the past that pronouncement of the Lord are trustworthy. They are words to be trusted or to be relied upon. Now, if we rely on God or if we have to serve Him because of the insinuation of somebody who died, not all dead are good people. Maybe someone who is dead was misled by satan. So, the dead is not a medium for us to believe in the truth. The dead will wait for the final judgment so that they will be justified. And after the judgment, they are justified, then that is the time that we can believe on them. And that time has not yet arrived. Justification has not yet arrived because there is no such thing yet as judgment. Judgment will come at the last day of human history. So, we cannot rely on the dead. Not all dead will be telling us the truth. There are those people who are lying even at their death. There are those who are determined to lie. So, we do not have to believe on the way the dead will communicate with us, but the way God wants us to do according to His words. And in fact, the dead is separated by God from the living. Why? Let us read in the book of Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, it says -
LC: “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.” “Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.”
EFS: See? That is the pronouncement of the Almighty God. A dead person knows not anything.
LC: “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.” “Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.”
EFS: So, the dead are resting in peace, waiting for the judgment day when God will resurrect the dead. Let us read in the book of Ezekiel 37:4-6, it says –
LC: “Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.” “Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:” “And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.”
EFS: So, the reason why there is a resurrection of the dead, for the dead to face the judgment seat of God. Let us read in the book of Revelations 20:12, it says -
LC: “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”
EFS: See? The dead shall be judged before the judgment throne of God. So, that is the day when they will be having their memory again. But for the meantime, they will be in peace, resting, awaiting for the judgment day. So, the notion that there is life after death is very true. It’s true. Because what is dead will be resurrected. Because something in our being will not die – that is our spirit, our soul, will not die. Only our body will die, but this very body will be resurrected again. So for the body, it is true that there is life after death. Life after death means the body which died will be resurrected again to face the judgment seat of Christ. But before the judgment, all the dead will be stationary. Stationary in the sense that they feel nothing, they know nothing according to Ecclesiastes 9. So, that is the story of life. And I hope that answers the question.