In the second Book of Esdras we read that the prophet Ezra asks an angel of God the following question:
Sir, may I ask you, please, to explain to me what happens when we die, when we must give back our soul? Will we be kept at rest until the time when you begin to make your new creation, or will our torment begin immediately? (2 Esdras 7:75)
The angel’s reply reveals important truths about what a soul faces after death. Here is the angel’s reply:
To answer your question about death: When God Most High has pronounced the final decree that a person shall die, the soul leaves the body to return to the One who gave it. Immediately it praises the glory of God Most High.
Let me explain first about people who had no use for the ways of God Most High and hated those who worshipped Him. There is no place where their souls can go for rest; they must wander about forever in torment, grief, and sorrow. Their torment will progress in seven stages.
First, they ignore the Law of God Most High.
Second, they can no longer make a sincere repentance and obtain life.
Third, they see the reward stored up for those who put their faith in the covenants of God Most High.
Fourth, they think about the torment that has been stored up for them in the last days.
Fifth, they see angels guarding the homes of other souls in complete silence.
Sixth, they recognize that they must soon be tormented.
Seventh, and worst of all, when they see the glory of God Most High, they are sick with remorse and shame. They cringe in fear, because while they were living they sinned against Him. And now they are about to come before Him to be judged on the last day.
Now let me explain about those who followed the ways of God Most High and what will happen when the time comes for them to leave their mortal bodies. While they lived on earth, through constant difficulty and danger, they served God Most High and carefully kept the Law given by the Lawgiver. This is what they will receive: they will rejoice when they see the great glory of God. He will receive them, and they will enter their rest in seven stages of joy.
The first joy is to have struggled hard and won the victory over the evil impulse which was formed in them, but which did not succeed in leading them from life into death.
The second is to see the endless wandering of the souls of the wicked and the punishment that is waiting for them.
The third is to know what a good report their Maker has given about them, that during their lifetime they kept the Law that was entrusted to them.
The fourth is to appreciate the rest that they are to enjoy in the place where they have been brought together, guarded by angels, in complete silence, and with the glory that is waiting for them at the last day.
The fifth is to rejoice that they have now escaped the corrupt world and will receive the future life as their possession. They can see both the narrow, troubled world from which they have been freed and the spacious world they will receive and enjoy for ever.
The sixth is to be shown how their faces will shine like the sun and how they are to be like the light of the stars that never die.
The seventh joy, and best of all, is when they rush to meet God face to face, with perfect trust and happiness, without any fear or shame. They served Him during their lifetime and now they will receive from Him their reward in glory. (2 Esdras 7:78-98)
Brothers and sisters, do you want to rush to meet God face to face with perfect trust and happiness or do you want to wander about forever in torment, grief, and sorrow?
Choose carefully this day and know that you have been warned!
Amen.
Related Posts: Journey Beyond Death, Spiritual Reality, Prayer of Repentance