Hope in the Face of Death
Psalm 116:15 tells us, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. We have had a lot of death in the past year. I remember how nervous I was in assisting with my first few funerals. That has passed. And on Saturday we lay to rest another child of God.
Events of this week triggered a nightmare in which I dreamed the death of one of my children. In the dream I felt a crushing weight of despair that stayed with me the rest of the day. Thinking it through later I concluded that God gave me a glimpse of the grief of those who have no hope in the Lord. For them death is a deathly cold, quiet, dark room filled with crushing despair that overwhelms all other senses or experiences.
This is not the experience for God’s people. With Christ the pain of separation will continue to be real. Grief will be present in crushing waves but mingled with that is the shining sun of God’s glory and the blessed hope of the empty tomb. Death is not the end! The chains of the grave have been broken! Jesus Christ is the victor!
How urgent, then, for us to share with others this hope of resurrection. All people will live on but our experiences beyond the grave will not be the same. The possibilities before us are an eternity spent in the joy of the love and fellowship of God or eternity under his just wrath and judgment. Share with someone today the hope of Christ, the mercy of forgiveness, and the glory of the resurrection.