Contrary to what false religion teaches (that at death, the soul flies off to a better place), death means the absence of life. Because we understand “the wages of sin is death,” it is a horrible thing.

Yet to a person who is suffering, death brings welcome relief. The Apostle Paul asserted, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, {we have reason to be} most miserable” (1 Corinthians 15:19). But as children of God, we have hope in the resurrection of the dead. Jesus is returning to this earth to resurrect the dead.