Death

Death was on my mind today. In the last few days at least 4 people I know of, both young and old, exchanged time for eternity. But the reality is that there were many more people that I didn’t know, who died too. According to the world birth and death rates, nearly 2 people die each second, 105 people die each minute, 6,316 die each hour, and 151,600 people die each day. Now I’m not posting statistics to trivialize death in anyway, but rather to point us to the sobering reality of it. Death is real, and unless Jesus returns in our lifetime we will all experience it for ourselves one day.

Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 7:2 It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.

And as I thought about death, and the sadness and pain, and tears and grief that go along with it, God reminded me of the words of the first question and answer in our Heidelberg Catechism.

Lords Day 1 

Question 1: What is thy only comfort in life and death?

Answer: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, with His precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto Him.

Where did that first sentence come from? I wondered, and quickly found the answer in the Bible verses underneath.

Romans 4:7-8

For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

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.

Did you know that none of us can add a single moment to our lives?

In Job 4:5 it says: Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;

As a child of God we need not fear death. Instead we can say with David:

But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God.

My times are in thy hand: Psalm 31:14-15a

Jesus Himself comforts all who believe in Him and follow Him with these words:

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.

In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 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. John 14:1-3

And further in Revelations, John tells us more about this beautiful place:

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

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. Revelations 21:1-4

And although we may feel sorrow and pain over the loss of a loved one, if they sleep in Jesus, we will be reunited once again.

1 Thes 4:13-18

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.

Jesus is the resurrection and the life and he or she that believeth in Him though he is dead, yet shall he live. 

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: John 11:25

Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Thes 4:18