Death is a subject most do not want to talk about or be reminded of. Yet, in the U.S.A. two people die every second! Death is a reality as much as birth. It is inevitable for everyone. I’ve often heard there are two things you cannot avoid, death and taxes. Well, this is wrong. You can avoid taxes. If you don’t pay them, you will go to jail, but you still have a choice. With death, there is no choice. You will die unless Jesus comes back first.
I Thessalonians 4:16-17 “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.”
For Christians, death is not a bad thing. It’s the best thing. Commentator E. M. Bounds wrote, “Heaven ought to so fill our hearts and hands, our manner and conversation, our character and our features, that all would see that we are foreigners. Heaven is our native land and home to us, and death to us is not the dying hour, but the birth hour.”
You will never be more alive than when you die. This life is so temporary. As we get older our bodies deteriorate. That is part of the curse of sin. Man, in the beginning, was perfect, but perfection died when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. From that point on nothing would ever be the same. Our bodies would now be susceptible to diseases and frailties. We live in a world where sickness is all around us and we are constantly trying new things to ward off the aging of our bodies.
For Christians, the Bible makes it very clear where we will go when we die. If we have placed our faith in Jesus, we will spend eternity in Heaven.
We will have a new body that does not ever suffer disease or death again.
Revelation 21:4 “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. “
I Corinthians 15:53 “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”
It is a place prepared just for us by Jesus.
John 14:3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
There are no words descriptive enough to reveal the beauty of Heaven. The best we can imagine is not good enough. The most glorious part is that Jesus will be there. I think for the first 1000 years I’ll just sit at His feet. There are so many things I want to know, so many things I don’t understand on this earth, and so many things I know will be clear when I can see him face to face. I can’t wait to be able to thank Him in person.
I have no idea when Jesus is coming back. Only the Father knows. Not even Jesus himself knows when he will return, but one thing is for sure, He is returning!
Mark 13:32 “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.”
The question I pose to you today is, are you ready to stand before God? Have you placed your faith in Him, repented of your sins and are you seeking to live an obedient life? Every breath you breathe without Him is a gamble with your eternal soul. It’s like playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded gun. When the trigger is pulled it will fire and you will step off into eternity either in Heaven or Hell.
As the late Paul Harvey would say, tune in tomorrow for “the rest of the story.”
