The brevity of life is not the most serious consequence of death.

More sobering still is what the Bible warns what will follow.

“After this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27) for us as Christians, death has lost its sting because of Christ’s death and resurrection on our behalf. Yet who can say that he or she has always lived in a way that would give one confidence to face the judgment seat of Christ without any regrets or shame and only with joy? I am sure there will be tears of deep sorrow and remorse on that day.

He is my creator to whom I must give an account of what I have done with the brief life he has committed to my use. We are assured that God “shall wipe away all tears” from our eyes (Revelation 7:17, 21:4) and every true believer “shall- have praise of God” (1st Corinthians 4:5).

Tears shall give way to the eternal joy of sins forgiven through Christ’s full payment of sin’s penalty.

Atheists try to convince themselves and others that “When you die that’s all there is to it.”

Yet when you consider the universal and overpowering conviction that has persisted in every culture since the dawn of time that death does not end human existence. The fact that man is a spiritual being who survives the death of the body in which he temporarily lives on earth is a basic human instinct that can be denied only with great effort. Moreover apart from Scripture, the scientific validity of this universal belief is easily proven.

It is undeniable that our minds can hold intangible ideas such as truth or justice or grace.

Mankind understands and applies hundreds of similar nonphysical concepts daily. There common concepts defy physical description, and also physical properties, do not occupy space, and are clearly not part of the scientifically observable universe of time and since.

Obviously, nothing physical could originate and hold such thoughts—a fact that eliminates the brain as the source of any thinking at all. We do not wait for the brain to tell us what it wants us to do, we—the persons of soul and spirit living within each body—initiate our thoughts.

Though death separates man from the house he has inhabited on this earth, the spirit and soul, which are his real self, do not and cannot cease to exist. The fact that our thoughts do not originate with the brain, can be proven in many other ways.

In as much as the real person inside depends upon the body for no more than temporary housing and the means of functioning in this physical universe, there is no reason to believe that death ends a person’s conscious existence. We are driven rather to conclude that death releases the soul and spirit from its bodily confinement to experience another, even more, real dimension of being.

No matter how long it lasts, this life is very short at best.

James said, “It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:14).

When we live life from this eternal perspective, we clearly see the folly of trading a few short years of pleasure, popularity and power for eternal torment in the lake of fire.

Look at the Apostle Paul and his background, his education, love for God but was going in the wrong direction until Jesus stopped him on the road to Damascus and told him what he must do to be saved (Acts 9:1-6).

The same story for Cornelius the centurion of the Italian band, a devout man he prayed to God faithfully. In a vision the Lord told him to call for Peter and he would tell him what he must do to be saved (Acts 10:1-6).

The Bible King James version is the only true map and instructions on how we can go to that place Jesus has prepared for them that love him (1st Corinthians 2:9-10).

Jesus gave Peter the keys to the Kingdom of God (St. Mathew 16:19).

It took Peter to tell Cornelius what to do. On the day of Pentecost after the 120, which included the Mother of Jesus, Peter stood up and told everyone what they must do to be saved (Acts 2:38-40, Acts 4:12, Acts 19:1-8).

Do read, eternity is a long time. The lake of fire will be hot (Revelation 21:7-8).

Victory over the grave is obeying (Acts 2:38).