“Near Death” Experiences
“Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24).
Recently, the following inquiry was received:
I have a friend who is interested in studying the Bible, but who had a particularly vivid near death experience when he was in an auto accident at age 16. As he tells it, he went to heaven, spoke to Jesus face-to-face and was given the opportunity to return.
First of all, this is his own personal experience. No other human being was present and therefore cannot comment on what did or did not occur. Was it a drug-induced experience (which can be very real), was it a hallucination, or did it actually happen? Even when people awake from a dream, as they relate what occurred, they comment, “It was so real.” Others have visions (whether from medicine or lack of it) that are so real they actually believe that someone is trying to kill them, or seduce them, or steal their money. No one can convince them that what they “saw” was their imagination—not even when it contradicts the facts. Little is to be gained by arguing against the “experience.”
But if the Bible is the Word of God (and it is, with more than sufficient evidence), then we ought to take a look at what it teaches on this subject. The Word teaches that “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). This is the normal order of things, but a few exceptions have occurred in the course of the history of the world.
First, two men have not died as everyone else does. “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24). In another instance. Elisha was talking with Elijah then “suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). If such a thing took place at any other time, it was not recorded in the Scriptures. Only Enoch and Elijah did not face death as the remainder of us do. The only other exception will befall those who are alive and remain when the Lord returns (1 Thess. 4:13-17).
Elijah and the Widow’s Son
The next category of people that the Bible mentions are those who had “death” experiences. Jesus brought many back to life, but both Elijah and Elisha did the same thing in the Old Testament. In the midst of a famine Elijah came to a widow and her son in Zarephath. She was about to prepare her last food for herself and her son, after which they would probably die of starvation. Elijah told her (correctly) that if she fed him first, the bin of flour would not be used up, nor would her jar of oil run dry until God sent rain on the earth again (1 Kings 17:8-16). At a later time, however, her son became suddenly ill; the sickness became so severe that he died. When she told Elijah, he carried the son to the upper room where he lodged, and placed him on his own bed. He cried out to God and stretched himself out on the child three times, praying for “the child’s soul” to “come back to him” (vv. 17-21).
God answered Elijah’s prayer; we read that “the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived” (v. 22). The first important fact to notice here is that this description coincides perfectly with what James would later say about death in the New Testament: “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26). The soul and the spirit are often used interchangeably in contrast to the physical body (cf. Gen. 35:18).
God is the only One Who can define death, and He consistently demonstrates that it is the soul or spirit leaving the body. Life returns if the soul returns to the body. Without Divine commentary, human beings have no way of knowing whether someone is just unconscious or actually dead. Many have been thought to be dead for hours but were not.
The second thing about the revival of the widow’s son is that we have no idea what happened to him while his soul was gone. Elijah brought him back, presented him to his mother, and said, “See, your son lives!” (1 Kings 17:23). She then said to Elijah, “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth” (v. 24). This was the end of the story. Neither Elijah nor his mother said, “What was it like when you were dead?” Nor is it recorded that the son was dying to talk about his experience. But notice that the result of his return from the dead was that the woman was convinced that Elijah was a true prophet and that he spoke the truth.
Elisha and the Shunammite Woman
A woman from Shunem befriended Elisha and prevailed upon her husband to build a room for the prophet where he could reside during his travels (2 Kings 4:8-11). Wanting to do something nice for her in return, he told her she would have a son, which was hard for her to believe since her husband was old, but it happened just as the prophet foretold (vv. 12-17). One day, the child’s head began to ache, and he died shortly thereafter (vv. 18-20). She departed quickly to find Elisha and brought him back (vv. 21-31). Elisha found the lad lying on his bed, and the text says that he was dead (v. 32). Elisha prayed and stretched himself out on the child, and his flesh became warm. After a few minutes, he did so again; this time the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. The mother was profoundly grateful. She fell at Elisha’s feet, picked up her son, and went out (vv. 33-37). As in the instance with Elijah, not one word was spoken of where the child had been or what he had seen and heard.
Unlike his predecessor, Elijah, Elisha did not ascend to heaven; he died and was buried in a tomb (2 Kings 13:20). In the spring of the following year Moab came up to do battle against Israel. In connection with that battle a strange event occurred.
So it was, as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a band of raiders; and they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet (2 Kings 13:21).
The story ends there. No account is given of, “You will never believe what I saw!” The Scriptures never seem to focus on the things that are apparently the most important and exciting to men.
New Testament Examples
In Luke 7:11, as Jesus neared the city gate of Nain, “a dead man” was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow” (v. 12). Jesus told her not to weep, touched the open coffin, and said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” He sat up and began to speak. Jesus brought the son to his mother (vv. 13-15). What was the upshot?
Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen up among us”; and “God has visited His people.” And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region (Luke 7:16-17).
As with the case of Elijah, people were impressed by what they had seen, but nowhere is it recorded that any of those present asked, “What was it like to be dead? Were you in heaven or hell? Tell us all about it.”
A little later, Luke records the story of Jairus, who wanted Jesus to come heal his daughter. While there was a delay, however, the girl died. Nevertheless, Jesus made His way to the house of this ruler of the synagogue. People were weeping and mourning. Knowing what He was about to do, Jesus said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.” They laughed at Jesus, but He went inside, took her by the hand, and commanded, “Little girl, arise.” The very next verse says: “Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately.” (Luke 8:49-55). It would have been interesting to see the faces of those who mocked Jesus when they saw the girl alive again. However, nothing is said about where she was or what she experienced while her spirit was absent from her body.
Lazarus gained considerable attention because he had been dead for four days when Jesus went to his tomb and, after having the stone removed, called, “Lazarus, come forth!” (John 11:43). No one interviewed him about where his spirit had been during this interval, but as a result of this miracle, “many of the Jews…believed in” Jesus (v. 45). Of course, the leaders of the Jews “plotted to put Him to death” (v. 53). They also desired to put Lazarus to death—not because he was telling about the four days—but because he was alive again and a constant reminder of the power of Jesus (John 12:9-11).
Peter brought Dorcas back to life, and the result was the same—“many believed on the Lord” (Acts 9:36-42). Most people have heard about Eutychus, who dozed off during Paul’s sermon, fell out of a third-story window, and was taken up dead. What a thing to be famous for! However, Paul, who appears not at all to be displeased about the man having fallen asleep during his preaching, restored his life to him (Acts 20:9-10). Eutychus did not divulge what happened to him while he was dead.
“Near Death”
All of these instances were not technically “near death” experiences—since they were clearly deceased and brought back to life. Isaac comes to mind as near death. His life never left him, but he was so near death that Abraham had the knife in his hand and was ready to sacrifice him, as per the Lord’s command. Had the Angel of the Lord not intervened, he would have died within seconds. In fact, the writer of Hebrews says that “in a figurative sense” Abraham did receive Isaac back from the dead (Heb. 11:19).
But what of the actual ones we hear about today? 2014 saw the release of Heaven is For Real, which is about a four year old boy, Colton Burpo, who had emergency surgery, which was successful, but also allegedly got him into heaven for a while. According to Wikipedia,
he personally met Jesus riding a rainbow-colored horse and sat in Jesus' lap while angels sang songs to him. He also says he saw Mary kneeling before the throne of God and at other times standing beside Jesus.
Was this experience genuine? What about the others who have reported similar situations and accounts? Many describe these lovely phenomena when they underwent life-threatening surgery—except for Bill Wiese. He was sent to observe hell and has written at least two books concerning the awfulness that awaits there. God knows what really happened in all these cases, but our main concern is, “What does the Bible say?”
The Rich Man and Lazarus
What happens after death? While we have thousands of uninspired accounts, the Bible provides only one genuine description of what occurs after death. When the ailing and hungry Lazarus died, he “was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom” (Luke 16:22). Lazarus is said to be comforted in his new location.
On the other hand, the rich man, when he died was in torments in Hades (v. 23). We know that the rich man was tormented in the flame. He asked if Lazarus could dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue with it, but the request was denied. The rich man made one more petition; he begged that Lazarus might be allowed to go to his father’s house and testify to his brothers so that they would not go to the place of torment (vv. 24-28). Abraham told the rich man that they had Moses and the prophets and that they should listen to them. The rich man seemed to think it would be much more meaningful if someone were to rise from the dead and speak to them, but Abraham refuted that notion: “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead” (vv. 29-31).
That was the end of the discussion. Suppose Lazarus had gone to his brothers and said, “Look at me. I am the beggar who once sought food at your deceased brother’s house. He is being tormented in flames at this very moment and wants me to warn you not to share in that awful punishment.”
How would the brothers react? “Well, you resemble the beggar, but do you mean to tell us that our late and lamented brother is lost—that he is in torment? Come, now, how gullible do you think we are? He was a child of Abraham, a faithful Jew all of his life. You cannot seriously think we would take your word on this, do you?” Most likely, protests that he has come from Paradise to speak to them would be drowned out.
Post resurrection appearances only occurred one time—and that was with Jesus. But even He did not spend His time talking about what happened in Paradise. The fact that he had been raised from the dead spoke volumes. What He was doing and who He saw during that time was not the important message. His life had been restored, thus giving assurance to all that death is not the end for us. Incidentally, the rulers of the Jewish people still did not believe.
Paul
Paul did not necessarily have a “near death” experience—more like an out of body one. In fact, he did not know if he was literally in heaven or was only experiencing a vision. His experience must have been exquisite: he said that he heard “inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2 Cor. 12:4). As human beings, we want to respond by saying, “Why can’t you speak those things to us Paul? What did you hear?” He already said he could not say anything about it.
Why the Difference?
What are we to make of the numerous accounts of uninspired encounters in heaven with Jesus, Mary, one of the apostles, or some of the patriarchs from long ago? Since we were not present for these interviews, we have no way to deal with these subjective experiences, but we can look at the Scriptures and what they say and do not say about these matters.
Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross was a pioneer in this field. In 1969, she published her landmark work, On Death and Dying, in which, among other things, she introduced the five stages of grief. The writer of this article heard her speak in the Pittsburgh area in the early 70s. She told the audience that those who had had near-death experiences were never afraid of death after that.
But why? All of the accounts are of wondrous beauty and peace, and often one is reunited with loved ones. Only Bill Wiese, apparently, was sent where the rich man is. Why are so many saved and so few lost when Jesus says the opposite is true (Matt. 7:13-14)?
Most of all, however, why does no one return, saying, “I now know the truth”? We should be hearing people say, “It was quite a revelation to experience what I did. I now know that people are believing lies about salvation. You cannot be saved by simply saying, ‘I believe’ when Jesus called attention to the necessity of repentance. And there’s no such thing as ‘once saved, always saved.’ People need to quit taking the word of so-called ‘religious leaders’ and start reading the Bible. Jesus wants me first of all to talk to all my family members, and then as many others as I can.”
No, the message seems to be that death brings one into a state of serenity—no matter who they are. One wonders if Muslims speak to Muhammad and he assures them they should blow themselves up and get their 70 virgins. Has anyone studied this culture?
Why doesn’t Jesus tell any who is in heaven speaking with Him that denominationalism is sinful and that He only established one church (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 1:22-23)? Why don’t people return from the dead with an evangelistic fervor and an emphasis upon truth? Why is there no passion to spread the Gospel when Jesus taught the urgency of such before He ascended into Heaven (Matt. 28:18-20)? These are things worthy of thinking about when evaluating what sincere people are telling us. When studying with someone who has had such an experience, these are appropriate things to have them contemplate.