For the Christian in faith, there is no fear of death as to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). In this age of COVID and the continued decline of people’s lifestyles and health, fear is rampant in our society today. Spiritual people are not fearful of death.
I don’t fear death. I fear pain and suffering more, but I trust in God’s grace to endure until that day of total peace and freedom that is promised to the Christian.
Our great hope is in the power of His resurrection. Acts 1:10-11 tells us, “And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
1 Thessalonians 1:13-18 proclaims more detail about our blessed hope:
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
Many believers today deny the truth and power of Christ’s resurrection and literal return to the earth. Without that truth, their faith is in vain and all hope is gone. The whole purpose of faith is for us to live victoriously and courageously based on this hope. Without it, you might as well eat, drink, and be merry today as death means the end for you. Yet for those who believe the scriptures, we know that this short life is only the beginning of a blessed eternal life when Jesus establishes his kingdom here on earth and restores law and order as He ordained it from the beginning.
Without getting caught up in the details of when and how God will do this, we should simply operate our lives each day based on the great hope of that day or night when we will see Him as He truly is. “Every eye will behold him” and every knee shall bow in Heaven and Earth and declare Him Lord of Lords (Romans 14:11).
Whether we have died and are returning with Christ, or whether we are still alive on earth, the second coming of Christ will be the greatest event of all eternity…and there have been some pretty great events since The Creation.
So take hope today…whether you are suffering from current afflictions and suffering or the loss of loved ones closest to you. Jesus is on His way to set everything straight in this world and throughout the whole universe. Because of His blood sacrifice for our sins, we stand righteous and guiltless before Him until the day of His return.
Rejoice and again I say, rejoice!