The Great Unmentionable

  

1 Corinthians 15:26 “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.”

It was American Founding Father - Ben Franklin that coined the phrase “In this world nothing can be said to be certain but death and taxes.” And it is said that discussion on these two subjects will kill a conversation quicker than anything. It is the great unmentionable. I read that the subject of "death" is something that causes the human mind to recoil because of it’s finality. We sense and experience this physical life and have a natural fear of the unknown of the “afterlife”. This body has life and breath, and then it doesn’t. We’re gone, but where do we go? People seem to spend their whole life in one effort after another trying to avoid the thought of their own mortality. But, God has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end - Ecclesiastes 3:11. Death is not the end.

Revelation 20:13-14 “The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”

Almighty God designed this His created Cosmos (heaven and earth) void of death, but death entered creation through sin. James 1:14-15 “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” Suppose that you were to die today and stand before Creator Father God and He were to say to you: “Why should I let you into My heaven? What would you say? We’re born, we live and die (the first death), then are judged by God for our sins and sent to eternal damnation (the second death), if nothing changed our direction from hell to heaven. Death is our enemy, therefore we need a Savior.

Hosea 13:14 “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction!”

Praise be to the Lord, He has conquered death. Christ has conquered the grave. Revelation 1:18 “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” The gospel message is that we are in this sinful flesh, but God, by His love, mercy and grace, sent Jesus to substitute and take our place in paying the price of sin by His atoning death for those who believe. In Christ alone, we find and have Salvation.  “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” - 1 John 5:12-13. Jesus is the Savior of the world.

2 Timothy 1:9-10 “Share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

Ultimately, the disciple of Christ and Child of God need not have the same fear of death that the unbeliever has because the Christian’s eternal home is heaven. This sure faith produces the “eternal perspective” that death is just a gateway from sanctification (our walk with the Lord in this life) to glorification (forever in the heaven with Lord God). Jesus conquered the grave, so have a new hope in the face of death. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” - Hebrews 11:1.

Revelation 21:3-4 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

In Christ, Brian