12/28/2019
We are justified, and made righteous through Jesus Christ. He told us to pick up our cross and follow Him, so in this way we are crucified with Him, and in this way we also live anew in Him by His resurrection. Where He goes we, as believers, go also. Are we ready to make the journey? Do we believe Him when He says He will come for us? If we believe, then death holds no victory, and no sting.
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
John 14:3 ESV
I have spoken many times about a near death experience I encountered in a lake in Virginia. I was taught much in those moments of drowning, but I want to talk again today about the fear I felt in leaving my loved ones behind. I was worried and anxious regarding what would come of them but I was told not to fear. I was made to understand in a few words that God would lead them to himself just as He had led me. His words were “They are not yours, but mine.” In that instant I realized that God’s hand had been on me always, and that just as it was on me, it is also on those I was worrying over. The fear left me!
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20 ESV
I also came to understand that those who leave this place, as I was in the throes of doing, go at once into the presence of Christ, and experience indescribable joy, peace, and the love of God unbound. His word is true, and our mourning should be tempered by our faith in Him.
“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”
Revelation 1:17-18 ESV
Jesus lived, and died, that we should be freed from sin, and He arose to give us eternal life through our belief in Him. His resurrection sealed victory over death. So if death has been conquered then why do we mourn? I answer that in this way...
When I was a boy we moved for a second time to Germany. Before the family could make the trip my father went first and found a place for us to live, and prepared that place for our arrival. He was gone for six months before we boarded a ship in New York and set sail to be with him. When he left us I cried and held onto his leg. I knew I would see him again in a few months, but I cried because I would miss him. We do much the same when we mourn the death of our loved ones... we cry even though we know we will be rejoined with them. We mourn because we will miss them until that time comes. Listen to what is written of this...
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ESV
This scripture tells us that we will be caught up with them, and be with them again in the Lord’s presence. In this way we are much like I was when I missed my father who preceded our family to Germany. We cry because we will miss them, but we believe, and have faith that we will see them again.
So when those we know and love go before us, and cross through death into eternity, and we are left here to live on, we cling to our faith, living in our belief in Jesus Christ, and knowing that death is but a short passage to life eternal.
“.....And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Son Jesus Christ who defeated sin, and conquered death. Thank you Holy Father for preparing a way for us to join you in eternity through our faith in Jesus. Thank you Merciful God for removing the sting from death, and allowing us to join you in heaven. Your grace flows over us, your forgiveness makes us pure, and your hand dries our tears. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you who brings life to those who have died, and eternity to us whose days are now numbered. Praised be your name Lord for your goodness and mercy. We worship you now with those we love, just as we will worship you again with all who have gone before us to dine at your table. All glory is yours Father through your love and grace which flows through Jesus. Hallowed be your name now, and forevermore my God, and my Great King!
“"O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1 Corinthians 15:55-57 ESV
Rich Forbes