It seems to me the older I’m getting the more people I know who are passing away. No matter how old one gets, even if they’re already in their 90’s, there’s no such thing as death being a wonderful thing. No matter how old a person is you’d still want them around, even if all they do is sit there and do nothing. You still want them around, especially if they’ve been a loved one or a friend in times past.
Yet death must come. Young, old, in between, it doesn’t matter. Good or bad, quick or painfully long, death is going to come to every one of us. But the beautiful thing is, death is only awful if you don’t have Jesus. When you don’t have the Lord, all of a sudden death is final, permanent. Whereas if you are talking to the Lord everyday and every moment and you see Him, then you know death is not the end. You have this assurance that your loved one is in His care, and if He wants, you can even feel a glimpse of them. They are alive to you, they are not dead, they are living. As Christ lives so are those that belong to Him. Jesus stated it so beautifully in John 11:25:
I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
Remember the Sadducees in Jesus’ time, questioning Him regarding the resurrection of the dead? He told them that all live unto Him, that He is not a God of the dead but of the living. Our spirit lives on. Our body might die, but to God what really matters is our spirit, our soul, who we are inside, and we live forever. The body is only a house we live in while we’re on this temporary world called the earth, but our spirit is eternal, it never dies.
“But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto Him.” {Luke 20:35-38}
When God talked to Moses through the burning bush God told him that He was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. How can that be when they’re already gone and passed away? And yet, in God’s eyes they continue to live. He referred to Himself as their God, alive and real, and that’s exactly what Jesus told the Sadducees: that God is not a God of the dead but of the living.
I remember few years ago when I was at my aunt’s burial with all my family and relatives around me, and the Rabbi began to talk to us about God and about life and death. He then started to read his prayers out loud from a book, and as he prayed I began to grieve and talk to the Lord in my heart. The Lord responded quickly to me in my heart and said to me, “Rejoice! This is a time for rejoicing, a time for celebration. She is with me and no longer a part of a fallen and demonic world where the souls are getting tried and are in danger of being lost everyday. She made it here! She’s here! It’s time for rejoicing!”
The Lord doesn’t see death as we see it. He sees those who die in Him as someone escaping this sorrowful and fallen world, where devils live and are wreaking havoc on people’s lives everyday. When a saint of God dies, He is entering the most wonderful place in the universe with God that we call heaven. He is no longer a part of the everyday struggle to be holy and spotless before God. He no longer will suffer sorrow and heartaches, tribulations or persecutions. He is in the best place he can ever be, heaven, in the presence of God. Then why do we grieve? Why are we so sad when we know all this? Is it because we don’t believe it? Or is it because we miss them and feel we will never see them again?
Apostle Paul comforts us with this assurance in his epistle. He calls those that are dead, asleep. He doesn’t see them as dead but sleeping. To the Lord where they are right now, they live and are rejoicing in His presence, waiting for us to join them. To us they are gone, but only temporarily. We will surely see them again.
“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.” {1 Thessalonians 4:13-18}
God sees death differently than we do. To the Lord it is a time for celebration, a time for rejoicing. It reminds me so much of what the scripture in Psalm states,
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” {Psalm 116:15}
If we believe in Christ and are always talking to Him everyday and every moment, then we have the full assurance that in His time we will see all those we love again. Heaven is where Christ lives. So if He is in you, then heaven is where you are. You can make it as near to you as you want it to be. They might be with Him, but He is with us, so heaven can never be far away. We are all one and together with Christ. We are never far away from each other when we truly love the Lord.
“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.” {Romans 14:8}
“And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” {Revelation 14:13}
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. {Philippians 1:21}
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I thank You Father that You will never ever leave me nor forsake me. You are always there, faithful in Your love for me. Thank You Father for Your grace and compassion and mercy upon my life. I praise You.
Lord Jesus, I pray for more faith in Your great love for me, that where You are I will be also. I pray Father that You will please keep me until the end. Please continue to give me faith in my heart to believe that I will see my loved ones too who have gone on to be with you. Let me not sorrow too long Lord Jesus. Please give me strength in my heart to see another day. Help me to see everyday to be nearer to seeing You and seeing them again. I look forward to seeing You Lord Jesus and all those I love that are with You. You will not ever leave me nor forsake me. I love You, Lord Jesus. You will be there to comfort me until the end. I thank You Lord Jesus. I pray these things Father, in Your most wonderful and lovely name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
Rp7/2017
