A New Perspective

If you are a follower of this blog, you might know that I died briefly at just before Christmas in 2025. I had a heart attack and during that heart attack I had a cardiac arrest. They were able to shock my heart back into rhythm and that is the only reason I am able to write about it today. If you missed that blog you can read about it here.

I had a death experience that was unique to me. I can tell the story of what I experienced but I have struggled to understand it. The best I could do is say that I entered into God’s peace. I entered a place without pain, sorrow, fear, or anxiety. I was completely at peace in a place of tranquility. Yet, that place was dark, cold, and I was alone. I describe what I felt as a waiting room of sorts between worlds.

One of the things we believe about baptism is that through baptism we die and are buried with Jesus so that we may rise with him in his resurrection to new life.

“Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,” – Romans 6:3-5

This gave me a new perspective during Holy Week this year. If, through our baptisms we are buried with Christ we must spend time with him in the tomb. When Jesus rose victorious on Easter Sunday, he shattered the gates of the underworld that held captive all of the souls who died from the creation of the first man, Adam, until that very day. Jesus proclaimed to those in Sheol the good news and extended to them the offer of eternal life with him in paradise. Those who accepted he led to heaven through the tomb.

That gave me some clarity on what I experienced with my own momentary death. I was in a cold, dark place. There was no visible light and I felt alone. I was in the tomb. I slept the sleep of death while I waited for my judgement. It was not my time and God still had things he wanted me to accomplish. I was returned to this world.

One story that is quite common from those who died and lived to tell about it is the tunnel of light. If we are truly buried with Christ, the light they see may be the exit to the tomb after the stone was rolled away. As it is written, Jesus is the firstborn of the dead so that the primacy may be his in everything. His resurrection opened the tomb to everlasting life. We must pass through the tomb to our particular judgements. From there we will know where we will spend eternity.

Holy Week will have a greater significance in my life from this point forward. Christ died and was buried on Good Friday and placed in the tomb. I know that upon my death my soul will be buried in the tomb with him. I know Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, that he shattered the bars of death, and leads the rejoicing throng into the house of God (Psalm 42:4). I will be among that throng.

Knowing the end how can I fear the journey?