Perhaps you’re tempted to skip this article, it sounds a bit heavy (the death bit, not the tank engine part!) yet it is vitally important. As a child I used to love watching Thomas the Tank Engine but those stories, as nostalgic as they might be, don’t actually prepare anyone for getting on the right train.  Previously we considered how many of cultural notions about heaven and hell don’t come from the Bible at all.  Are we living with a Thomas the Tank Engine approach to life after death?        

A couple of months ago we did a bit of myth busting on the topic of hell.  Whilst that removed some of the false stereotypes, we finished on a note of ‘healthy’ discomfort. If hell is about God’s good justice against evil, then why does Jesus warn against it?  Because despite what we may think, the world is not ready for the day of God’s justice because we’ve all participated in the rebellion against the Author of all life and goodness.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we’re not the people we want to be, let alone the people God created us to be.  We all mess up, we fall short (which is what the word sin means), yet we often assume that we can make up for the bad with the good – to balance the scales so to speak, yet we know from experience that doesn’t actually work.

Jimmy Saville was a horrific sexual predator and abuser, he was also an exceptional fundraiser, raising over £40 million for charity.  But no-one would dare suggest that his acts of charity outweighed his evil actions, or even tipped the scales slightly.  Quite the opposite, the good that was done is tarnished and polluted by the bad.  The Bible teaches the same reality, even our good deeds are like filthy rags (Isa 64:6).  Doing good is good, but it won’t make us ready for the day of God’s justice.  How then can we be ready?

Jesus said:

‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of heaven unless they are born again.’

(John 3:3)

Jesus taught that our predicament is so serious that we don’t need a few tweaks here and there, we need a completely new life.  Whilst we might seek to reinvent ourselves, we can’t create life in ourselves.  Jesus goes on to teach that just as we received life from our parents, so we also need to receive new life from God.  This is what Jesus came to offer us, new life, enduring life.  By His death on the cross Jesus brings an end to the polluted, corrupted life so that we might receive new life.  Through Jesus there is full forgiveness and fullness of life.  This is God’s gift, not because of anything we have done, but because of His great love.  A gift we receive by believing, turning to rather than away from, Jesus.  

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  (John 3:16)         

Let me encourage you to not adopt a Thomas the Tank Engine approach to questions of life after death.  If you would like to explore this topic more or would be interested in a free short course, contact pauld@therfieldchapel.org 01763 287220