The first time I ever heard of near death experiences was when I checked out a book from my elementary school library back in the early 1980s. I was fascinated with what sounds like proof of life after death. While some people have admitted they made their near death stories up, the stories of others seem to be irrefutable. They saw and heard things in the emergency room or operating room that occurred after they had already been pronounced dead.
Actually, the term "near death" is a misnomer, since most of those who have experienced this phenomena were clinically dead. They had no pulse, no heartbeat, no breath, and no brain activity. It would be more accurate to call these phenomena "after death" experiences. Today the Apostle Paul is going to relate his own account of such an experience. He will say he isn't certain whether he was actually dead or still clinging to life when he saw his vision of heaven. He wasn't in a modern emergency room or operating room when it happened, so there was no one with the medical expertise and equipment to ascertain his lack of brain activity, but I think the evidence points to the conclusion that he actually was dead.
You will recall from yesterday's study that Paul was talking about the things he had suffered for the sake of the gospel. He was contrasting himself with the false apostles who were trying to lead the believers astray. The false apostles may have endured some forms of persecution and hardship simply because they claimed to be Christians, but it's likely they shied away from suffering whenever possible. Their hearts weren't true to the Lord or to the people they were pretending to serve. So Paul picks up where he left off yesterday---boasting about troubles and trials and weaknesses---which will lead him on into the subject of his near death experience and his vision of heaven.
"If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying." (2 Corinthians 11:30-31) Many of us learned the song "Jesus Loves Me" in our childhood Sunday School days, and a line in that song goes perfectly with what Paul is saying here: "I am weak but He is strong." Paul tells us, "I will brag about the things my powerful Lord did for me when I was too weak to help myself. He has brought me through every peril I've ever faced. It wasn't human strength that saved my life a number of times; it was the Lord's strength."
Now the apostle makes reference to one of several conspiracies that the Lord saved him from, "In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands." (2 Corinthians 11:32-33) We find this account in Acts 9:23-25. The Lord often just speaks the word that miraculously works our problems out for us; at other times He uses believers as His hands and feet to help us out of our dire circumstances. Paul's friends in the faith operated according to the Lord's will by helping him to escape the city.
Since Paul is boasting of his weaknesses, he is about to relate a happening that occurred when he was at his very weakest. What is weaker than a dead body? Most scholars believe that Paul had his near death experience when he was pelted with stones, dragged outside of the city gates of Lystra, and left for dead. (Acts 14:19-20) Was he actually clinically dead? I tend to think so, but all Luke says is that the disciples gathered around him and then he got up and went straight back into the city. Stoning was a familiar practice to people of Paul's day, and I believe his enemies thought he was dead because he really was dead. They had experience in these matters. They knew a dead person when they saw one. I believe while the disciples were gathered around him they were calling out to the Lord to revive him. Luke doesn't say they performed CPR or mouth to mouth resuscitation. They didn't know about such things in those days. They only thing they knew was that their Lord was able to revive Paul, and I think that's where their hope was.
"I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know---God knows. And I know that this man---whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows---was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell." (2 Corinthians 12:1-4) Paul speaks in the third person here, but I know of no reputable scholar who doubts that Paul is speaking about himself. This tale occurs right in the middle of a passage where he is relating the hardships and suffering he has undergone for the sake of the gospel, plus immediately after telling this story he will say that because of the indescribable glory he was allowed to witness during his vision he was given a thorn in the flesh so he would not become conceited. There is no legitimate reason for doubting whether Paul is talking about himself.
I don't know whether the stories about near death experiences were true in the book I read way back in elementary school. I think at least some of those people were sincere in believing they had died and had gotten a glimpse of heaven. But there is one story we know we can trust, and that is the story of the Apostle Paul, so we are going to pick back up here tomorrow and take a more in-depth look at his experience and at the unnamed thorn in the flesh he was given so he would not be lifted up in pride. Paul already believed in life after death before he had his vision of heaven; his experience just confirmed what he already knew. I think what he saw was so glorious that for the rest of his life he longed to go on and be with the Lord, not just because he loved the Lord, but because he knew heaven is so much better than this world. This is why he later said, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far." (Philippians 1:21-23)
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