Death & Dying

Article by Dr. Brian Cambpell, From:  "Godly Counsel:  Scriptures to live by"

Copyright 2010, All Rights Reserver

 

“No one has power over the day of his death.”

(Ecclesiastes 8:8)

 

Death : the act of dying; the end of physical life

 

 

For Christians, death is nothing to fear.  Death  is merely the end of our life on earth and the beginning of our life in heaven .  If you have lost a loved one, or if you are facing death yourself, pray that God, in His infinite love and mercy, will forgive your sins and ac­cept you into heaven .  Jesus Himself has gone ahead of you to prepare a place for those who believe in Him and are saved by His sacrifice on the cross.

Synopsis

 

If you are a Christian, you should not fear death.^1,2  The day that you first believed in Jesus Christ is the day that you crossed over from death to life.^3-5

 

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Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord

comes escape from death.

(Psalm 68:20)¹

 

I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem

them from death.  Where, O death, are your plagues? 

Where, O grave, is your destruction?

(Hosea 13:14)²

 

He who has the Son has life; he who does not have

the Son of God does not have life.

(1 John 5:12)³

 

I tell you the truth , whoever hears my word and believes him

who sent me has eternal life  and will not be condemned;

he has crossed over from death to life.

(John 5:26)⁴

 

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

(Philippians 1:21)⁵

 

All human beings have a physical body and a soul (also called “spirit).⁶  The physical body of every human being is going to die at some point in time.^7,8  The days of our physical existence on earth are numbered by God, and we cannot add to them or sub­tract from them.⁹  No one has the power to control the day of his physical death.¹⁰  

 

Death  first entered into the world with the disobedience  of Adam in the Garden of Eden; but just as Adam brought death to the world, Jesus Christ brought life.¹¹ The resurrection of Jesus from the dead, following His crucifixion on the cross, gives hope  for all who believe in Him.¹²  If Jesus Christ had not risen from the dead, then death would be the end of existence for everyone, even for believers.¹³

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Do not be afraid  of those who kill the body

but cannot kill the soul.

(Matthew 10:28)⁶

 

Death  is the destiny of every man;

the living should take this to heart.

(Ecclesiastes 7:2)⁷

 

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity

under heaven : a time to be born and a time to die…

(Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)⁸

 

Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number

of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.

(Job 14:5)⁹

 

No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no

one has power over the day of his death.

(Ecclesiastes 8:8)¹⁰

 

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of

the dead comes also through a man.  For as in Adam

all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

(1 Corinthians 15:21-22)¹¹

 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! 

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into

a living hope  through the resurrection of

Jesus Christ from the dead.

(1 Peter 1:3)¹²

 

Fortunately, Christ has indeed been raised from the dead¹⁴ and those who believe in Him are promised eternal life  in heaven .¹⁵ When we die, our physical body will decay and go back to dust.¹⁶ Our spirit (or soul) will go immediately to heaven .^17-19 For unbelievers , their souls will go immediately to hell , where they will await the final judgment day.²⁰

 

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And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless

and so is your faith …Then those also who have fallen

asleep in Christ are lost.

(1 Corinthians 15:14,18)¹³

 

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the

firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

(1 Corinthians 15:20)¹⁴

 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life .

(John 3:16)¹⁵

 

For dust you are and to dust you will return.

(Genesis 3:19)¹⁶

 

Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands

I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

(Luke 23:46)¹⁷

 

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come

into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you

the truth , today you will be with me in paradise.”

(Luke 23:42-43)¹⁷

 

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain…I am torn

between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ,

which is better by far; but it is more necessary

for you that I remain in the body.

(Philippians 1:21,23-24)¹⁹

 

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent

them to hell , putting them into gloomy dungeons

to be held for judgment…then the Lord knows how

to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the

unrighteous for the day of judg­ment,

while continuing their punishment.

(2 Peter 2:4,9)²⁰

 

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At some future point in time, Jesus will return to this earth (the second coming ) for a final judgment.^21,22 Spirit and flesh will be reunited and we will receive our glorified bodies.²³ These bodies will be different to our earthly bodies, and they will no longer de­cay or die.²⁴  They will resemble the body that Christ received when He was resurrected from the dead, and they will last forever in heaven .²⁵

 

Following the second coming  of Christ, the people who believe in Jesus will live for eternity with Christ, even though they have died in the flesh.  In a very real sense, whoever lives and believes in Christ will never die (that is, will never be “spiritually dead” and lose eternity).²⁶ 

 

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Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face

judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins

of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear

sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

(Hebrews 9:27-28)²¹

 

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,

that each one may receive what is due him for the things

done while in the body, whether good or bad.

(2 Corinthians 5:10)²²

 

But our citizenship is in heaven .  And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that

enables him to bring everything under his control,

will transform our lowly bodies so that they

will be like his glorious body.

(Philippians 3:20-21)²³

 

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead.  The body

that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable…

It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

(1 Corinthians 15:42,44)²⁴

 

And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man,

so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven .

(1 Corinthians 15:49)²⁵

 

I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and

believes in me will never die.

(John 11: 25-26)²⁶

 

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No one knows the hour or the day that Christ will return to this world, only God the Father.²⁷  Therefore, it is critically important that we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and repent  of our sins.²⁸  For if Jesus returns to this world while we are still alive, we will be judged and we will either spend eternity in heaven  or eternity in hell  (separated from God).²⁹

 

If you are a believer in Christ, death should not be fearful; only our physical body dies, not our spirit (or soul).³⁰  Jesus Christ has defeated death.^31-34  Jesus Himself has gone ahead of us to prepare a place for us in heaven .³⁵  Physical death will not sepa­rate us from th

e

 

No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels

in heaven , nor the Son, but only the Father.

(Matthew 24:36)²⁷

 

The kingdom of God is near.  Repent and believe the good news !

(Mark 1:15)²⁸

 

This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven …

He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord.

(2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)²⁹

 

Do not be afraid  of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

(Matthew 10:28)³⁰

 

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under

his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

(1 Corinthians 15:25-26)³¹

 

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.

(1 Thessalonians 4:14)³²

 

For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

(Romans 14:9)³³

 

Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord

comes escape from death.

(Psalm 68:20)³⁴

 

Do not let your hearts be troubled…In my Father’s house are

many rooms…I am going there to prepare a place for you.

(John 14:1-2)³⁵

 

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the love of God.³⁶ The apostle Paul went so far as to say that he would prefer to be “absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”³⁷

 

If you are having trouble coping with death, try focusing your thoughts firmly on heaven .  In heaven , we will be with Jesus,^38,39 and see Him face to face.^40,41 He wants us to live there forever with Him and experience His glory.⁴² 

 

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For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, neither angels

nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any

powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else

in all creation, will be able to separate us from the

love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Romans 8:38-39)³⁶

 

We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away

from the body and at home with the Lord.

(2 Corinthians 5:8)³⁷

 

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and

take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

(John 14:3)³⁸

 

But God will redeem my life from the grave;

he will surely take me to himself.

(Psalm 49:15)³⁹

 

I see heaven  open and the Son of Man

standing at the right hand of God.

(Acts 7:56)⁴⁰

 

And I—in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake,

I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

(Psalm 17:15)⁴¹

 

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me

where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have

given me because you loved me before the

 creation of the world.

(John 17:24)⁴²

 

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If you have a loved one who has died who is an infant, rest as­sured that he or she will be in heaven .^43,44

 

If your loved one is a believer who dies, take comfort that he or she is now with our Lord and Savior in heaven .^45,46

 

God’s Guidance

 

It is difficult to imagine how beautiful and wonderful heaven  will be.  It will not be like anything we have ever seen, or heard, or conceived of, here on earth.⁴⁷ The apostle John describes heaven  as being a city made of pure gold, as pure as glass, with founda­tions of the city walls decorated with every kind of precious stone.^48,49

 

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See that you do not look down on one of these little ones.

For I tell you that their angels in heaven  always

see the face of my Father in heaven .

(Matthew 18:10)⁴³

 

In the same way your Father in heaven  is not willing that

any of these little ones should be lost.

(Matthew 18:14)⁴⁴

 

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain…I desire to

depart and be with Christ, which is better by far…

(Philippians 1:21,23)⁴⁵

 

Those who walk uprightly enter into peace;

they find rest as they lie in death.

(Isaiah 57:2)⁴⁶

 

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived

what God has prepared for those who love him.

(1 Corinthians 2:9)⁴⁷

 

The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold,

as pure as glass.  The foundations of the city walls

were decorated with every kind of precious stone.

(Revelation 21:18-19)⁴⁸

 

The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of

a single pearl.  The great street of the city was of

pure gold, like transparent glass.

(Revelation 21:21)⁴⁹

 

Although unimaginable, heaven  will be familiar to us in many ways.  For example, we know that we will have bodies in heaven  (our “glorified” bodies) and that we will eat and drink, just as we did here on earth.⁵⁰  We will have eyes and ears and be able to see and hear.^51,52  Un­like our life on earth, there will be no more death or mourning, or crying or pain .⁵²  There will be no sin in heaven  and nothing there will be impure.⁵³

 

There will be no darkness or night in heaven , and no sun or moon.^54,55 The glory of God will give heaven  its light.⁵⁴

 

Finally, as we face death, one of the most comforting Scriptures  in the entire Bible can be found in Psalm 23:

 

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil , for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”  (Psalm 23:4-6)

 

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And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one

on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my king-

dom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

(Luke 22:29-30)⁵⁰

 

The sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.

(Isaiah 65:19)⁵¹

 

He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will

be no more death or mourning or crying or pain ,

for the old order of things has passed away.

(Revelation 21:4)⁵²

 

Nothing impure will ever enter it.

(Revelation 21:27)⁵³

 

There will be no more night.  They will not need the light of

a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give

them light.  And they will reign for ever and ever.

(Revelation 22:5)⁵⁴

 

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

(Revelation 21:23)⁵⁵