Near Death Experiences Of Heaven

In March, 2013, I submitted a post about near-death experiences. That was not the first time I wrote about this phenomenon. There remains much interest in this subject. After all, we all must die and most of us are interested in what happens after death. As we continue to hear the book of Revelation speak about heaven we naturally wonder if that is an adequate picture of what happens after death. Does the Revelation agree with the experience of those who died and returned from death?

Here are some of the stories these NDE (near-death experience) folks relate, taken from a 2015 book I've been reading (Imagine Heaven by John Burke). Burke, a convinced Christian, writes about many who have had NDE's. Typical is the first, Dr. George Ritchie, a psychiatrist:

George Ritche did claim to see much, much more, which we will explore in the following pages: Beauty surpassing earth's favorite vacation destinations, people alive and active in a world not unlike ours, yet so infused with such exhilarating love, purpose, and belonging that it made earth seem merely a shadow of the real Life to come. As the loving Being of Light sent him back after his tour of another dimension, George said, "From that loneliest moment of my existence I had leaped into the most perfect belonging I had ever known. The Light of Jesus had entered my life and filled it completely, and the idea of being separated from Him was more than I could bear." 

Burke goes on to quote from Dr. Raymond Moody's 2001 book: Life after Life:The Investigation of a Phenomenon—Survival of Bodily Death. Moody describes the commonly reported, overlapping elements of near-death stories. 

A man is dying and, as he reaches the point of greatest physical distress, he hears himself pronounced dead by his doctor. . . He suddenly finds himself outside of his own physical body, but still in the immediate physical environment, and he sees his own body from a distance, as though he is a spectator. He watches the resuscitation attempt from his unusual vantage point and is in a state of an emotional upheaval. After a while, he collects himself and becomes more accustomed to his odd condition. He notices that he still has a "body," but one of a very different nature and with very different powers from the physical body he has left behind. Others come to meet and to help him. He glimpses the spirits of relatives and friends who have already died, and a loving, warm spirit of a kind he has never encountered before—a being of light—appears before him. This being asks him a question, non-verbally, to make him evaluate his life and helps him along by showing him a panoramic, instantaneous playback of the major events of his life. At some point he finds himself approaching some sort of barrier or border, apparently representing the limit between earthly life and the next life. Yet, he finds that he must go back to the earth, that the time for his death has not yet come. At this point he resists . . . and does not want to return. He's overwhelmed by intense feelings of joy, love, and peace. Despite his attitude, though, he somehow reunites with his physical body and lives.

How do these stories compare to what we've been reading in The Revelation? Here are some quotes about the saints in heaven in the first eleven chapters. Notice how Jesus, the elders and the great multitude are described, how they are clothed:  

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. - Rev 1:12-18 ESV

The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. - Rev 3:5 ESV 

At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the

Heaven by Christian Graphic Design

throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. - Rev 4:2-3 ESV 

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." - Rev 7:9-12 ESV

Dr. J. Steve Miller (Near-Death Experiences As Evidence For The Existence of God) in 2012 wrote about various aspects of the afterlife:

1. Death isn't the end of life
2. Time is different
3. We will have spiritual bodies, different from and superior to our physical bodies
4. The mind can exist apart from the body
5. We know and understand things much more clearly on the other side
6. There are intermediaries between God and people
7. The other side isn't rosy for everyone
8. Heaven is a place you want to go

His conclusion: 

Unless further research overturns the results of the present research, we have strong evidence to support both life after death and the existence of a personal God. . . But there's more evidence for the supernatural beyond near-death experiences. 

144,000 Will Be Saved

In the historic liturgy, the Divine Service, the gathered congregation enters the presence of God by remembering the cleansing power of Holy Baptism. The worshippers make upon themselves the sign of the cross (†), remembering that this sign was made upon their heads and hearts during their baptism to mark them as those redeemed by Christ's death and washed clean in His blood.

Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin 

And be washed in the blood of the Lamb;

There’s a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,

Oh, be washed in the blood of the Lamb!

The Lamb pauses before opening the seventh seal of the scroll to unleash the terrifying judgments of God upon mankind. He pauses in order to comfort and strengthen the saints and to assure them that He will not forget them during the forthcoming terrors and tribulation. They will be rescued to stand before the throne of God to serve Him and He will shelter them with his presence forever.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." - Rev 7:16-17 ESV

Ghent Altarpiece - Adoration of the Lamb of God

Who are these sealed servants and how many are they? They are . . .

. . .  a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" - Rev 7:9-10 ESV

God's mercy reaches out to a great multitude that no one could number! Cleansed of their sins and wearing the white robes of Christ's righteousness (Rev. 6:11), they wave their palm branches as did those who welcomed Jesus on the first Palm Sunday (John 12:12-13). He has heard their Hosanna pleas for salvation and rescue and answered them.  In joyful response they lift up their voices to cry, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!"

In turn they are joined by the angels, elders and the four living creatures to worship God, saying,

"Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." - Rev 7:12 ESV

 These are those sealed by the seal of the living God. The reference to a seal was well known to the Apostles and early Christians. Just as the Children of Israel received the sign or seal of circumcision to mark them as God's children (Rom 4:11), so God's New Testament children are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit as the guarantee that they will inherit the resurrection from the dead and life eternal with their heavenly Father (Eph 1:13-14; 2 Cor 1:22). They are the true Israel of God (Rom 9:6-16; Gal 6:15-16), saved from the foundation of the earth (1 Pet 1:17-21).

To emphasize and confirm God's eternal plan the Revelation uses the great symbol of the 144,000. This number symbolizes the totality of all believers in both the Old and New Testament times, all those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb

Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood - Rev 1:5 ESV  

And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, - Rev 5:9 ESV  

I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. - Rev 7:14 ESV

It would be a great mistake to literalize this number, contrary to the way numbers are used throughout the Revelation. The number 12 is used to name the 12 tribes of Israel. In turn Jesus chose 12 Apostles (Luke 6:12-16) to lead the new Israel. However note that in naming the 12 tribes of Israel here there are several peculiarities.

1. Judah is listed first rather than Reuben, the eldest of Jacob's sons. This is because the Messiah, the Christ, came from the tribe of Judah as foretold (Gen. 49:10; Heb 7:14). The Christ is the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev 5:5), the King of all kings and the Ruler of His people.  
2. The tribe of Dan is absent. This tribe turned to idolatry (Judges 17:1-18:31) and was eliminated. 
3. In order to complete the symbolical number 12, Manasseh, Joseph's firstborn (Gen. 41:50-51) is substituted.
4. Then, rather than Ephraim, Joseph's second son, the tribe of Joseph is listed (Rev 7:8).

Then the tribes multiply to become 144,000. That number stands for the perfect and complete number of God's people, the square of 12 (both OT and NT believers) multiplied by the cube of 10 (12 x 12 x 10 x 10 x 10). 

Thus believers in the Lamb throughout the 1,000 years of the Lamb's reign are comforted. More on that later (Rev. 20:2-7).