Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25, 26). “Whoever hears my words and believes in Him who sent me has eternal life. He will not be judged, but has already passed from death to life” (John 5:24). Death holds neither fear nor punishment for the Christian. “Death is destroyed; victory is complete! Where death is your victory? Where death is your power to hurt?… Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Cor. 15:54-57).
A person who has lived and walked with God is not afraid of death. When the time comes for him to die, he will go gladly, as the Apostle Paul puts it, “I want very much to leave this life and to be with Christ, which is a far better thing” (Phil. 1:23).
A Christian longs to see the face of Jesus, who died for him and paid the price for his sins on the cross. The Holy Spirit also reminds him of the words of Jesus, “Do not be worried and upset. Believe in God and believe also in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house.. I will come back and take you to myself, so that you will be where I am” (John 14:1-4). “What no one ever saw or heard, what no one ever thought could happen, is the very thing God prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). There is no language on earth by which one can explain or describe the splendour of the heavenly city prepared for them that walk in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ here on earth.
Instead of the fearful skeleton (death), the angel or messenger of God is seen in this last picture. He is waiting to carry the clean spirit back to God. Soul and spirit are set free from the imprisonment of the mortal body, and ascend through the open gates of heaven to Jesus who loves him and who died for him on the cross, A happy welcome waits for him in the presence of God where he is greeted by his Lord and Master with these words of praise, “Well done, you good and faithful servant!… Come on in and share my happiness!” (Matt. 25:21). Satan has no control over him any more, for “The poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the feast in heaven” (Luke 16:22). “Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Happy are those who from now on die in the service of the Lord!’ ‘Yes indeed!’ answers the Spirit. They will enjoy rest from their hard work, because the results of their service go with them” (Rev. 14:13).
LAST ADMONITION
Dear reader, may God help you to give your heart to Him who loves you, for He is speaking to you now saying, “turn back to Me with all your heart” (Deut. 30:2). Give Jesus your tired, disappointed, aching heart, and He will give you a new heart and a new mind. Do not be deceived by your deceitful heart or follow its desires, for “from a person’s heart, come the evil ideas which lead him to do immoral things…” (Mark 7:21). Leave your sins and hold onto what is right, “for sin pays its wage – death; but God’s free gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).
And you who have given your life to God, “hold firmly to the true words that I taught you, as the example for you to follow, and remain in the faith and love that are ours in union with Christ Jesus” (2Tim. 1:13).For the same reason Paul wrote in2Tim. 1:12, “I know whom I have trusted, and I am sure that He is able to keep safe until that Day what He has entrusted to me”. Build yourself up in your faith in God, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, keep yourself in the love of God, keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus, the way, the truth and the life, our Lord who will soon return to fetch his children – “the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15).
“To Him who is able to keep you from falling, and to bring you faultless and joyful before His glorious presence – to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority, from all ages past, and now, and for ever and ever! Amen” (Jude 24, 25).