September 27
Isaiah 49-50
Psalm 107:1-9
Proverbs 23:26-28
I Thessalonians 4
The Dead in Christ
“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.” I Thessalonians 4:13-14 NIV
Covid, cancer and death are all around us. It seems that every few days I find out about someone else who has been diagnosed with cancer or who is hospitalized with Covid. Disease and viruses do not discriminate. They strike men and women, black and white, the elderly and the young, Christians and nonChristians, rich and poor. None of us are immune. Unless Jesus comes back first, every one of us will have to face death. In the last year, I can’t even count the number of funerals that I have either been to or been unable to attend due to Covid restrictions. Most of those funerals were for people that I believe were Christians. Some of them, however, were for people who I know did not believe in Jesus or who did not live lives that would suggest that they did. A funeral for a believer is very different than one for a nonbeliever. While there is grieving, sadness and crying at both, there is just a different atmosphere. When someone who loves Jesus dies, we grieve for ourselves. We miss them and we grieve our loss. We grieve going on with our lives knowing that they are gone, but we do not grieve for them. We have an assurance that they are in a better place. When they take their last breath here, they are ushered into Heaven where they are greeted by their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. They get to see Him face to face and experience the reality of the hope of our salvation. If they have experienced a period of illness, we know that they have been freed from their suffering and are no longer experiencing pain, disability, and weakness. This gives us comfort and hope in the midst of our grief. And we know that, while we may be apart for a while, we will see them again when we make it to Heaven.
There is no such hope at the funeral of someone who does not have a relationship with Jesus. We grieve for them because we know that they are not in Heaven. There is a very real place called Hell that is the eternal resting place of all those who do not accept Jesus as their Savior. It is a place of torment, pain, and horror. Satan would like for us to believe that it is not a real place and that ultimately everyone either goes to Heaven or just dies and ceases to exist. The Bible is very clear that is not the case. Hell is described as “eternal fire,” “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” “a pit of darkness,” “Lake of Fire,” “fire and brimstone,” “unquenchable fire,” and “tormented day and night forever and ever.” The sobering reality of Hell should make us passionate about sharing the hope we have in Jesus with everyone we know.
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