Near Death Experience

SCRIPTURE: Luke 8:55 Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat.

OBSERVATION: This is one of those 'near death experiences' that we are actually told about in the Bible. We don't have to wonder, "Well, was she really dead or not... can someone really come back from the dead... is her testimony of what she experienced really valid?" We know, on biblical account that she was, in fact, dead. Not just 'mostly dead.' How great it would've been to put together a symposium with Jairus' daughter, Lazarus, the widow of Nain's son, Dorcus and Eutychus to hear first hand of their experiences of being dead and then coming back to life. That would be one conference I would love to attend.

Death has a great fascination to us for many obvious reasons. First, because we know that we will all face it. No one is exempt or immune. No one will escape physical death. Next, because no one really knows what lays beyond the veil of death. It's not like going to New Jersey, where you can talk to many people who have been there, and maybe even see some pictures. (In other ways, however, it is just like going to New Jersey...)

So, there is a lot more that could be said about death -- but the thing I want to focus on is: "Then her spirit returned and she arose." Death became life when her spirit returned. The presence of absence of the spirit is the difference between life and death. The fact that it returned means that it didn't cease to exist in death but was relocated somehow. It returned means that it had gone away and was able, with Jesus' words, to come back.

APPLICATION: Without a spirit a body is inanimate and will quickly begin to decompose. A spirit give animation, life and growth to our physical bodies. Life or death are spiritual issues more than they are physical issues. death is a relocation of the spirit ("To be absent in body is to be present with the Lord"). We are not body with a spirit, but spirits with a body.

I really wish Luke would have added some testimony from this young girl. I guess we will all find out for ourselves someday.

PRAYER: Jesus, in speaking to Your opponents about the resurrection from the dead, You said that God reveals Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You said that He is not the God of the dead but of the living. Those men are dead by our standards but alive by Yours. Thank You for the certainty of eternal life. Amen.