A fire-and-brimstone cleric visiting a country church began his sermon with the stirring reminder, "Everybody in this parish is going to die." He was discomforted to notice a man in the front pew grinning broadly. "Why are you so amused?" he asked. "I'm not in this parish," replied the man. "I'm just visiting my sister for the weekend."

The subject of death, what it means and what may or may not lie beyond, is not a popular subject in our Western society. We may joke about it, but that may well hide our unease. George Bernard Shaw once observed that the statistics about death are very impressive - one out of one dies. We can certainly be optimistic if we wish. The Jewish Chronicle recorded an account of a 103-year-old Jewish woman living in Ramat Gan, Israel. She was looking for a suitable husband for herself, and in her optimism, stated that in the event of her becoming a widow after marriage, she would make no financial demands on her husband's family. However, even her life must come to an end. Charles Kettering said, "I expect to spend the rest of my life in the future, so I want to be reasonably sure what kind of future it's going to be." That makes a lot of sense. So let's begin the journey by exploring some of the reasons why this subject of life after death is important.

I would suggest three main reasons.

The shortness and uncertainty of life

Seventy years or more may seem a very long time from our perspective - that is, until we start approaching the end. However, if it should be true that there is life after death and that the future life has no end, then the span of our present existence is infinitesimal in comparison. The Bible constantly reminds us of the shortness of this life, viewed from God's perspective. It speaks of our life as a shadow that passes (Job 8:9), swifter than a runner (Job 9:25), as grass that withers and a flower that falls (1 Peter 1:24), and as a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes (James 4:14). The Psalmist was wise to pray, "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12).

Seldom a day passes without some reminder that, as someone has put it, "the crib and the coffin are carved from the self-same tree." And none of us knows when the end will come. Longfellow succinctly observed, "The young may die, and the old must." We rightly express sadness or horror when tragedy or evil take innocent lives, particularly in youth, but we easily forget, as C. S. Lewis pointed out, "War does not increase death-death is total in every generation." Even if we are fortunate to make it through the "seven ages of man" - spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills - the end will come soon enough. What then?

Author William Saroyan, who once wrote that "the best part of a man stays for ever", died in May 1981 after a two-year battle with cancer. Only five days before he entered hospital in April, he telephoned the Associated Press to report that cancer had spread to several of his vital organs. He then gave this final statement to be used after his death:

Everybody has got to die, but I have always believed an exception would be made in my case.

Now what? The Bible declares: "It is appointed for [people] to die once, and after that comes judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). If that is true, then it will be very sad if we discover we have left it too late to face up to the issues involved. It is significant that Jesus described as a fool the person who invests all their hopes in this life and does not take into account the fact that at any time they may be called to meet their Creator (Luke 12:20).

Our views on the next life will significantly influence this one.

It has been customary for some who would ridicule the Christian view of heaven to speak of "pie in the sky when you die". However, as theologian Alister McGrath points out in his book on suffering, that taunt evades the question, "Is it true?"

If the Christian hope of heaven is an illusion, based upon lies, then it must be abandoned as misleading and deceitful. But if it is true, it must be embraced and allowed to transfigure our entire understanding of the place of suffering in life.

Not only will it transfigure our understanding of the meaning of suffering, but also our goals, our values, our relationships, our attitude to material possessions, our handling of crises and grief, and our overall enjoyment of this life.

In literature (and television) there is a story which has been told in a number of different ways. It is the story of a man who opens a newspaper and discovers that the date on the newspaper is six months in advance of the time in which he lives. He reads through the paper and discovers stories about events that have not yet taken place. On the financial page he comes across a report of the rise and fall of various stocks and bonds. Instantly he recognises that this knowledge can make him a wealthy man. He is delighted. Turning the page he comes across the obituary column. There he sees his picture and story. Suddenly everything changes. The knowledge of his impending death immediately changes his views about wealth.

In a perceptive article in Christianity Today, "Imagine There's No Heaven", well-known writer Philip Yancey describes what society might look like if it did not believe in any afterlife. With apologies to Samuel Butler, author of Erehwon, he calls this society "Acirema" (America spelt backwards). He suggests the following scenario:

• Youth is valued above all else. Sports are a national obsession. Magazine covers present wrinkle-free faces and gorgeous bodies. Best-selling videos are those that demonstrate exercises which can make you look a decade younger.

• Old age is not valued. It is a distasteful reminder of the end of life. Skin creams, cosmetic surgery and other elaborate means are promoted to mask the effects of ageing. The elderly are confined in their own housing, shut away from the general populace.

• "Image" is emphasised rather than "substance". Practices that demonstrate achievement in this life are valued over inner qualities such as compassion, self-sacrifice and humility. The disabled and disfigured have a hard time competing.

• Acireman religion focuses exclusively on how one fares in the here and now. Those who still believe in a God look for his approval in terms of good health and prosperity on earth.

• Crime has taken a turn toward the violent and bizarre. Without a vague fear of eternal judgement hanging over them, Aciremans have no deterrents to such behaviour.

• Billions of dollars are spent on life support systems while at the same time abortion is strongly encouraged. This is not as paradoxical as it seems, for Aciremans believe that human life begins at birth and ends at death.

• "Acceptance" rather than fear or anger is viewed as the most mature response to death. Scholars devalue ancient attitudes about dying a "noble" or confrontational death. The ideal death is a peaceful departure during sleep.

• Much effort is put into eliminating the problem of death. Scientists are working on it. Death takes place in sealed-off areas in the presence of trained professionals. Terms such as "passing" and "going on" are substituted for the inelegant word "death". Ceremonies play down its discontinuity from life.

Does that sound familiar?

In contrast to this, those who have found confidence from their relationship with God that they will spend eternity in a love relationship with him, will tend towards the following values:

1. Wealth is seen as an opportunity for service

"Command those who are rich in this present world...to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life" (1 Timothy 6:17-19). The emphasis is on laying up treasure in heaven, not on earth (Matthew 6:19-21).

2. Character is given priority over success and popularity

As Ravi Zacharias puts it in The Shattered Vision, "Death is the one experience when we leave behind everything we have and take with us everything we are." A similar statement was made by the South African cricketer, Jonty Rhodes. He was named Wisden Cricketer of the year in 1999 and was recently appointed patron of the World Cup volunteers programme. They were looking for someone who would be a good role model and Jonty was their unanimous choice. He has committed his life to Christ and has a long-term perspective. In an article in Challenge Weekly, he said:

I realise now that success didn't depend on me scoring a hundred or taking catches or getting run-outs. I want to be the best I can for my God. Whatever you gain, or records you attain, they are going to be left behind. It's what you've got in your heart that's going to be taken with you.

As Jesus underlined in the Sermon on the Mount, those who are truly blessed are those who have manifested a goodness of character, especially those for whom it has brought suffering and ridicule (Matthew 5:2-12). Their goodness will be rewarded (Matthew 25:34-36).

3. Suffering is seen as a means of developing character, strengthening faith and providing opportunities for ministry to others

Consider, for instance, the following passages from the New Testament. "We gladly suffer, because we know that suffering helps us to endure. And endurance builds character, which gives us a hope that will never disappoint us. All of this happens because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with his love" (Romans 5:3-5). "These trials will prove that your faith is worth much more than gold that can be destroyed. They will show that you will be given praise and honour and glory when Jesus Christ returns" (1 Peter 1:7). "The Father is a merciful God, who always gives us comfort. He comforts us when we are in trouble, so that we can share that same comfort with others in trouble" (2 Corinthians 1:3, 4).

Suffering and trials can also be seen as a means of focusing our attention on the things that will last and where true and lasting joys are to be found. Elisabeth Elliot's first husband gave his life attempting to bring the gospel to the Auca Indians in South America, and she has since lost two husbands to cancer. Her books and public ministry have brought encouragement and guidance to many. In Keep a Quiet Heart, she writes:

Heaven is not here, it's There. If we were given all we wanted here, our hearts would settle for this world rather than the next. God is forever luring us up and away from this one, wooing us to Himself and his still invisible Kingdom, where we will certainly find what we so keenly long for.

As someone has said, "Suffering swells our feet so that earth's shoes don't fit."

4. Priority is given to those things that will last

The most important things in this life are those that outlast it. Or as C. S. Lewis put it, "All that is not eternal is eternally out of date." That is why the New Testament puts so much emphasis on love as the greatest of virtues. God's purpose in creation was that we should live in eternal love relationships with him and with others. Paul finishes his great chapter on love (1 Corinthians 13) by speaking of the things that will last beyond this life: "Love never fails...Now we see but a poor reflection; then we shall see face to face...now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love" (vv. 8-13).

In his wonderful little book on this chapter, The Greatest Thing in the World, Henry Drummond says:

I have enjoyed almost every pleasure that he has planned for man; and yet as I look back I see standing out above all the life that has gone, four or five short experiences when the love of God reflected itself in some poor imitation, some small act of love of mine, and these seem to be the very things which alone of all one's life abide. Everything else in all our lives is transitory. Every other good is visionary. But the acts of love which no man knows about, or can ever know about-they never fail.

5. The eternal security that is found in a relationship with God through Jesus will enable believers to take risks for the kingdom of God

David Neff elaborated on this in an article in Christianity Today:

Precisely because Christian hope is fixed on God's future, believers are freed from the security-loving ties that would bind us to the present order. Like Wilberforce who risked reputation and fortune to fight the slave trade, like Father Damian who gave his life to care for lepers, like Jim Elliot who forfeited his life to bring a violent people the gospel of peace, we are not to be tied to success, security, wealth or power.

Rather, we are to be open to taking risks for God, to being pioneering agents of godly change. Knowing that God has secured our future, we can work for the world's salvation and well-being, relieving suffering, discrimination, ignorance and injustice wherever it is found.

Paul speaks of God as the "God of hope" and says that Christians should "overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13). Commenting on this verse, in his impressive volume God's Empowering Spirit: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul, Gordon Fee says:

Here Paul prays that they may live in the Spirit in such a way that they overflow with the confidence that is theirs as to their certain future. Such 'future-oriented' people live in the present in a way different from the rest-not as "too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good," but as so confident of the future that they can pour themselves into the present with utter abandon, full of joy and peace, because nothing in the present can ultimately overwhelm them. Such people make the Christian faith a truly attractive alternative.

The popular writer A. W. Tozer expressed a similar thought:

When the followers of Jesus Christ lose their interest in heaven they will no longer be happy Christians, and when they are no longer happy Christians they cannot be a powerful force in a sad and sinful world.

6. People are valued because they are created for fellowship with God, are loved by him and have at least the potential for an eternal existence in his kingdom

For these reasons all humans have value regardless of physical or mental capabilities, age or culture. People matter more than things which will pass away. This has relevance to issues such as abortion, euthanasia and justice.

7. Life will have a lot more meaning and purpose

According to one study done by Twenty/Twenty, fifty-one per cent of women aged between twenty and thirty-five feel bored or hopeless when thinking about the future. However, even when earthly things look pretty grim, Christians who know where they are going and are living for eternity know that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. They have something to live for that will last for ever.

8. It will put a totally new perspective on many of the trials and problems we face in life

A. W. Tozer wrote:

The man who comes to a right belief about God is relieved of 10,000 temporal problems, for he sees at once that these have to do with matters which, at the most, cannot concern him for very long.

In their best-selling paperback Nightfighter, Rawnsley and Wright tell the story of Wing Commander Bransome Burbridge, who won two D.S.O.s and two D.F.C.s for his night fighter exploits over Germany during World War II. This is how Burbridge described the experience of his first dogfight:

In our first real scrap our opponent seemed to be outturning me; I turned tighter than ever and banked very steeply-this "toppled" the instruments which would take twenty minutes to reset themselves, so even if he didn't get us first we might spin into the sea...I felt prickly-I was afraid. Then something hit me but I realised it wasn't a bullet. In a split second...I realised two things; both stemmed from the fact that I was a Christian. First, if God had further work for me to do for him after the War I was bound to survive; second, if I did get killed, death would be literally the gateway to heaven and I should see the Lord Jesus Christ, so what did it matter.

He continued reflectively:

I have not been afraid of death since then, but it took a dogfight over Germany to make me see this. When I leave this earth I shall live eternal life in Christ's presence. Whilst I am here I live it 'at a distance'. Through it he has taught me so many lessons, guided me through so many problems, given me so much satisfaction, spoken to me so often, that my belief in the living Christ would never be destroyed. Try telling the pilot at an overseas station that the R.A.F. does not exist - and he'll tell you you are talking through your helmet.

9. Death, though still an enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26), is a defeated foe and can be faced with confidence, even joy

Prominent German theologian, Helmut Thielicke, has observed that the New Testament exhibits near "contempt" for it. Consider the following passages. "Christ our Saviour has defeated death and brought us the good news. It shines like a light and offers life that never ends" (2 Timothy 1:10). The sting of death (fear of judgement) has been removed by the cross. "Sin is what gives death its sting, and the Law is the power behind sin. But thank God for letting our Lord Jesus Christ give us the victory!" (1 Corinthians 15:56, 57). "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil-and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death" (Hebrews 2:14, 15). The New Testament uses different phrases to describe the death of those who belong to Christ. It is to "sleep in Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 4:14), "to depart and to be with Christ" (Philippians 1:23), to put off a suit of clothes in order "to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling" (2 Corinthians 5:1-4), to go home to be with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8) to depart on a journey (2 Timothy 4:6-8), to "rest from...labour" (Revelation 14:13). As the great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon put it:

Death is the loosing of the cable that the bark may freely sail to the fair havens. Death is the fiery chariot in which we ascend to God: it is the voice of the Great King, who comes into his banqueting hall, and says, "Friend, come up higher."

For the Christian, it is the putting away of the feeble lamp, because the dawn has come.

Christians have a great advantage when facing death, through their relationship with Jesus, the one who himself has made that journey and understands it fully. Philip Yancey, in his wonderful book The Jesus I Never Knew, tells of a doctor who said to him, "When my patients pray, they are talking to someone who has actually died-something that's not true of any other adviser, counsellor, or death expert."

We will explore these themes more later. For someone with this perspective, even the suffering caused by terminal illness can be transformed. Wendy Bray is the author of In the Palm of God's- Hand-her prayer diaries following the first year of her life with cancer-for which she recently won the biography category of the Christian Book Awards 2002. In an article in Decision magazine, she says:

The Christian life is more about the next life than this. Death has lost its sting. Shouldn't that influence life? Heaven is real. Jesus spoke about it often. We rarely hear a sermon on hell, but equally rarely hear a sermon on heaven. We have for the most part lost our eternal perspective. What kind of family doesn't talk about and long for-home.

And as Helmut Thielicke points out, there is a significant difference between regarding death as a leaving of this earthly existence, and regarding it as going to where we ultimately belong:

When I say "I have to depart," then the values and the things of my life - my house, my garden, my stamp collection, my vocation - are the standard by which I measure the departure. But when I can say, "I am going home," then there is a point in my life where even the greatest things become an insubstantial shadow and I see only the shore of the home where I am awaited.

Some people believe in heaven. Others look forward to it!

Taking our stand in eternity gives us leverage to use in this life. We should live, as Martin Luther King put it, "with one foot in the air"! Where those of us who claim to be Christian do not appear to be living by these values, part of the reason must surely be because we do not have a clear enough vision of eternal realities. We are living too much as citizens of earth rather than the citizens of heaven that we are (Philippians 3:20,21). Well-known theologian James Packer complains that we have lost the Puritans' great sense that we should "regard readiness to die as the first step in learning to live." It is not that we are too heavenly minded, but not heavenly minded enough. If we are to make a real difference in this world then we must "set [our] hearts on things above" (Colossians 3:1-4). Of course, this doesn't mean that we spend all our time thinking about heaven. Ron Hay, in an article in Latimer magazine, makes a pertinent point:

It seems to me that we are called not so much to be heavenly-minded as to be heavenly-hearted. The athlete has his heart (his desire) fixed on a gold medal, but he doesn't spend all day dreaming about the medal. His mind is on training schedules, times, diet, in short on how to get the medal. So we must have our heart set on heaven and our minds set on working out our salvation and service in this world.

C. S. Lewis pointed out that, if you study history, you will find that those who have made the greatest difference in this life are those who have thought most highly of the next. Some things are even worth dying for. And, as Professor Oliver O'Donovan observed in one of his books:

"No good can be worth dying for unless there is a heavenly good that is worth living for."

Whatever we believe about death and what lies beyond, it will vitally affect the meaning we give to this life and how we choose to live it. The widely respected United Nations General Secretary, Dag Hammarskold, was thinking Christianly when he wrote that any philosophy which cannot make sense of death cannot make sense of life either, and no one's living will be right until the truths about death are anchored in his or her heart.

The possibility of missing out on all the good God has planned for us.

A third reason why our beliefs about the future life are so important is because of the possibility that all everything Jesus taught about judgement beyond death may be true. As I shall explore later, the New Testament is very explicit and consistent in its teaching that not everyone is going to make it into God's future. It is also very explicit about what we must do to be assured of a place in it. Whatever we believe about the future of those who do miss out, it would be a tragic mistake to delay our search for the truth until death has crept up on us, either in old age or sooner.

Billy Graham was once speaking to University of California students at a Campus Crusade evangelistic convention. The radicals in the audience interrupted parts of his message with boos and catcalls, but they quieted down when he spoke of their unresolved problems-death and eternity. He told about a college student who was fatally injured in a car accident. Her last words to her mother were these:

"Mother, you taught me everything I needed to know to get by in college. You taught me how to light my cigarette, how to hold my cocktail glass, and how to have intercourse safely. But Mother, you never taught me how to die. You better teach me quickly, Mother, because I'm dying."

If God longs for us to be reconciled to him as much as the New Testament says he does, he will not deny us if we are genuinely sincere in our search. "You will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deuteronomy 4:29).