In the midst of this pandemic, we are faced with the possibility and reality of death. This is not something new; it is something men and women face every day. But we don’t consider it until death comes knocking close to us — a friend, a relative, a loved one.
We don’t often think about it, because we don’t want to face our own mortality. Yet, the Bible is clear that because of man’s sin, death entered the world. (Genesis 2:17; 3:1-9; 4:1-8). Death is something we all will face!
The Bible is clear that life here on earth is brief. Note:
James 4:13-15 “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”
Job 7:6-7 “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope. Oh, remember that my life is a breath! My eye will never again see good.”
Job 9:25-26 “Now my days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good. They pass by like swift ships, like an eagle swooping on its prey.”
Job 14:1-2 “Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away, he flees like a shadow and does not continue.”
Psalms 23:4 “Yea. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me you rod and staff they comfort me.”
Psalms 39:5 “Indeed, You have made my days as a handbreaths, and my age is as nothing before You.”
Psalms116:15 “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”
Ecclesiastes 12 relates a man’s life from youth till death.
Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
1 Peter 1:24 (quoting Isaiah 40:6-8) “Because All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flowers falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
What do we learn and consider from these passages?
- 1.God seems the bigger picture than we ever will this side of eternity. Hence, we need to trust Him and his promises when we face these troubling times, and the possibility of death. For the Christian, because of our hope, we know this isn’t the end of our story.
- 2.In John 11 Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and talked about Jesus as being “the resurrection and the life.” One day, Jesus will do the same thing.
“If you have lived for Christ, you gain everything when you die. Would you consider it a loss to be taken away from a decaying shack and ushered into a palace? Would you consider it a loss to be stripped of rags and clothed in silk? A Christian doesn’t lose when he dies; he gains everything wonderful. He gains final victory over sin, Satan, doubt and fear. He gains freedom from aches, pains and tears. He gains perfect happiness. Have you a fear of death? Then put it away. Just think of death as a friend who will take you home, where joys are far greater than this world can giver awaiting your coming.”
