WHAT ABOUT DEATH?

Many people are concerned about the prospect of their death. How many of us have mourned the deaths of loved ones throughout the years? Wouldn't it be nice to see what the Bible has to say concerning death?

"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints." (Psa. 116:15) As a believer who does the will of the Father, when we die, the Father considers it an expense of sorts to Him. Why? Because as His children, we are doing His will up to that point! We are witnessing, praying, giving thanksgiving, serving others (and in effect, serving Him!), and being His tool in leading people to the Lord, if He is willing to use us! If someone has been doing some things for you, and they die, you lose their services, and their company, don't you?  You are no longer of service to Him on earth when you die!

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." (Psa. 23:4) When we pass from this life to the next, and we go through that "valley of death", like David, we can have faith that He is on the other side of this plane of existence, waiting to guide us to our mansion, just as He has our other family members who died with faith in Christ Jesus to save them from their sins.

We know from scripture that whether a person believes in God or not, they will be judged by Him. Woe to those who have lived a life unbelieving to the death, and salvation to those who have believed on Him to eternal life! None of us are free, we are all owned by God, and we will be forced to give account, like it or not! "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, 'As I live', saith the Lord, 'every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.' So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God." (Rom. 14:7 - 12) While we are not to judge one another over debateable areas of scripture, we can differ in good conscience. After all, did not Paul reason with many from the scriptures? "And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures," (Acts 17:2) And here is not the only place that says our Lord will judge us, believer and not..."And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:" (Heb. 9:27) Whether to hell or heaven, after death is the judgment. No return, no place in between. We have our lifespan, and then is the judgment where God determines we will go. For us who will go with belief in Jesus, let us look forward to going! Heaven is not a bad place, so we're told, and the Bible has no lie in it!

Now I know a lot of people who have asked me questions about the body. One asked me about cremation, and is the Bible against it. I gave her the following: "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences." (2 Cor. 5:1 - 11) Okay, that was a lot of meat, but basically, we are reminded about being judged again in this passage, but also we are given a chunk of information about what you might call a body swap! We are going to get rid of this corrupting body, with all its aches and pains and sags and bags and glasses and hearing aids and prostheses and surgeries, and we will get a glorious body from God, one that is incorruptible! Understand here too that Paul is saying we should look forward to being present with the Lord, because as soon as this body loses our spirit, our spirit will be present with the Lord, and the final disposition of our human body that we lived in will be a mute point. You can feed mine to the fishes if you want to, my soul will be in the presence of the Holy One, and He will give me a body that will not break down again!

Paul wrote to the Philippians about being perplexed between being dead and being alive. His life found all its meaning in Christ; he woke up every morning with what to do to further the cause of Jesus, and each going to sleep was an end to his day, having done for Christ whatever opportunity was given him. The choice of his perplexion was this: whether to continue living bringing people to Christ and serving the Lord, or to die and be in His presence, which is understandably far better than earthly life! "According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:" (Phil. 1:20 - 23)

"For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." (2 Tim. 4:6 - 8) This is the last letter Paul wrote, and as is evident in the first verse I have put here, he is ready for his execution. But he is not unhappy, as other men would be, but rather he is looking forward to receiving his crown of righteousness, and he says not only is he to receive this crown, but also those of us anxiously anticipating, even loving the second coming of Christ!

Remember I gave a number of times here that everyone will be judged by God, Jesus Christ, did I not? Well, there's a final disposition for both the saved and unsaved after the judgment process, and the Bible clearly lays it out in this selection: "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." (Rev. 20:11 - 15) Now all those who were not born again, who did not accept Christ as their Savior, these experienced the second death. Our Creator had a specific formula for humanity regarding life and death. Born twice = one death; born once = two deaths. So we know the lot for the unsaved, and the saved have their lot also in this book of Revelation: "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.'" (Rev. 21:3 - 4) Absolute absence of negative stimulus in our environment; total joy in the presence of our everlasting God! How awesome!

Now when you know someone who needs consolation because a loved one passed away, I have one more piece of scripture to share with you, that you might share with them in their hour of grieving; "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words...For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him." (1 Thess. 4:13 - 18, 5:9 - 10)