Death

I am taking the risk of writing about a very difficult subject.  It is Thursday and it has taken me all week to make myself finish & post this.  I even bargained with God and said if He would show me this particular scripture, then I would know He wanted me to follow through and write about death - He presented it to me this morning in my quiet time.  After my Bible study on Tuesday, I understand now why Satan doesn't want me to talk about this.  Our study unveiled the fact that death is one of Satan's greatest tools.  Even though we have victory over death because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, death still causes the greatest fear, sorrow & discouragement - more so than anything else Satan has to work with.  Death surrounds us - I see it everywhere.  I have cried over the loss of loved ones and have held friends as they have cried. The reality of this life is it isn't forever.  Our pastor always says death is one of the few things you can always count on.  Every time someone is born it is certain that one day they will die (and only God knows that day).  Ecclesiastes 3:2  " A time to be born and a time to die."  We aren't meant to stay on this earth forever. 

My purpose in writing this is to offer God's comfort through His blessed word.  Please stay with me as we dig into the scriptures to uncover some truths to help us all through this difficult step.  Let's go back to the beginning in Genesis when God made man.  Genesis 2:7  "Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and the man became a living person."  God made us from dust.  In Ecclesiastes 12:7 scripture tells us what eventually will happen when man's life is over "the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it."  When we die all that is left here on earth is our bodies - an outer shell void of our spirit which is who we really are.  One commentary defined death as being a separation of the spirit from the body.  So what death represents is our spirit returning to the God who gave it.  The authoritative Word of God promises the believer an immediate reception in glory--"absent from the body present with the Lord."  2 Corinthians 5:8  I know when I have been to a funeral I can verify the spirit isn't with the body.  These bodies we have are only earthly...our spirits are meant to go to Heaven - back to our creator.  We grieve over our loved one's body but their spirit is in Heaven rejoicing.  Martin Luther  said "It would take a foolish soul to desire it's body when it (the soul) is already in Heaven". 

After my father passed away in 2004, one morning during my devotional time I read this scripture.  It spoke to me and reassured me that even though my father's body grew weak and died, his soul was in heaven.  This is what happens when we die our earthly bodies cannot go into heaven.  It will be the same for me one day.  1 Corinthians 15: 36-44  "What you sow does not come to life unless it dies (our earthly bodies have to die to come to new life).  When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.  But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another.  There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.  The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;  it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;  it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body."   1 Corinthians 15:48-50  " Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man. What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever."

One of my dear friends brought to my attention a quote from Steve Jobs - "Even people who wanna go to heaven don't wanna die to get there".  I know death is painful, but I do believe God desires for us to see it as glorious.  We get to become imperishable, we are raised in glory, we are raised in power, we are given a new perfect spiritual body, there are no more tears or pain, and we get to be in Heaven with our Lord.  We might ask the question, "why do we not see death through the eyes of God?".  I wonder if He looks down upon us and wonders why we are so grieved over something meant to be a beautiful homecoming.  I know we grieve the loss of loved ones here on earth and we miss them, but perhaps we can find comfort in knowing this life is only a fraction of eternity - "The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field;  the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more." Psalm 103:15-16

We might not be waiting to die, but Jesus is in Heaven anxiously waiting for you...  John 14:2-3  "My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."  Be certain though that to be present with the Lord in Heaven when you die depends on faith in Christ as your Savior - who died as our substitute on Calvary and rose again. John 14:6  "Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  The reality of death should make us stop and ask whether we can claim God's promises if we were to die.  Right now, if you're not sure where you will spend eternity . . . I invite you to ask (pray) for Jesus Christ to become your Savior from sin and begin trusting Him to be Lord of your life.