You May Not Die Again

Hebrews 9:27 It is appointed for men to die once.

When Hebrews talks about death here in chapter nine, it focuses on Jesus’ death and sacrifice and how believers can escape death through Him.

Jesus says that when we believe in Him, we have eternal life (John 3:36). When a Christian dies, then, he keeps right on living–actually more than ever.

As far as our bodies which do the dying are concerned, they begin dying from day one. What we call life is in reality a continuous death: old cells are constantly being replaced by new ones. The bodies we have at age sixteen are quite different from the ones with which we were born; by age sixty our bodies have changed and replaced themselves a great many times. What we call death is simply the complete exchange of our perishable bodies for new, eternal ones.

No wonder Paul becomes excited about this and says that it is better to depart and be with the Lord (Philippians 1:23). He writes: “We know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house [not a tent] not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1).

Jesus offers the best comfort when He says, “Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:26). Christians will live forever because the living Christ lives within them.

Prayer Lord Jesus, May we represent you wherever we go. Use our faith to take our fear away so that we can be free to glorify you each day. Amen.

Puzzled Thessalonians

For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly…                   1 Thessalonians 5:2, 3

There is a town in Greece today by the name of Salonica, the same one to which Paul wrote the letter to Thessalonika.  The Christians who were converted under Paul in that town never dreamed that the world would last for another two thousand years.  They thought that Jesus was going to come back while they were still upon earth.  So when their loved ones continued to die, one by one, they naturally got to wondering what the future had in store for those dear people and for themselves.

It is to answer that question that Paul writes them this little letter, and assures them that when Jesus comes back to earth He will bring our loved ones with Him.  The bodies of those who have “fallen asleep” (as Paul refers to believers who have died), will be raised from the dead when Jesus returns, and then we will all together meet the Lord in the air.

Everybody believes that sooner or later we shall die.  Many people, especially in these days of nuclear explosions, believe that the world will come to an end some day.  But the difference between Christians and non-Christians lies in how they think of that certainty, and what they do about it.  One of the reason whether is so much intoxication these days is that people do not want to face such sober thoughts as death and disaster.  They drink in order to escape reality, to make their minds fuzzy, and to give a pink glow to the world.  But we “are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness …They that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that are drunken are drunken in the night.  But let us, since we are of the day, be sober.”  Then, whether Jesus comes during the day or at night, we shall not be caught napping.

Heaven: Its “Junior” Citizens

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”  Matthew 19:13 (RSV)

It is a fact that more human beings die before growing up than there are those who become adults.  (In some parts of the world, even today, fifty per cent of all infants do not even reach their second birthday.)

This puts a whole new light on Jesus’ familiar and favorite statement about children.  “Of such is the kingdom of heaven.”  Putting it simply, it is very probable that there will be more people in glory who never became men and women than those who did grow up on earth.

In other words, we adults must not think condescendingly that there will be numerous children who get to heaven by way of exception, but rather, those of us who became adults on earth will be in the minority hereafter.

Another thing: no matter how few or how many former children there will be in heaven, we certainly must not think of them as remaining mere children in glory, attractive though that thought may be to our earthly minds.  Heaven will not contain any spiritual or physical embryos, but all the children of God will be full-grown in the “stature of the fulness of Christ.”

These thoughts should drastically change our whole attitude towards minors, whether we are their parents or not.  Not only did Jesus say that adults must think of themselves as children, but that children should be treated in terms of what they are going to be, that is, brothers and sisters in Christ, rather than mere sons and daughters.