Thoughts in Worship
Message Magazine's Online Devotional for Wednesday, November 2, 2016
“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:” (Genesis 3:4).
Death is one of the most difficult realities to cope with. Almost from the beginning of time, human beings have been stalked by the certainty of death. We have known that it was just a matter of time before we or someone we love would no longer be around. There is an obsession with death on television and on video games. So many movies are centered on guns and violence. Many video games desensitize our youth to the morbidity of malicious violence by engaging them to participate. Soon their reality and the fiction of the games become one. Unfortunately, it is no longer a big deal to hear of someone being massacred, because we are so inundated with death.
Many are distressed because they are uncertain where they or their loved ones will go after death. Will they go to heaven or hell? Will they be held in limbo or purgatory awaiting sufficient payment, prayers, or vicarious baptisms in order to be allowed into heaven? Will they become guardian angels? There are so many questions.
When Satan accosted Eve at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he obscured the truth concerning the vital questions about death. He implied that she would not surely die if she disobeyed God. He promised that she would be just like God, through disobedience. Today, the devil still tries to calm our fears about death by leading people to believe that their loved ones are in heaven. He tries to intensify the hopelessness of others by suggesting that they go straight to hell or are held in limbo. He still teaches people that the dead are not really dead. He tries to teach us that we are immortal just like God, however, the Bible teaches that, if we are found faithful, we receive immortality at the second coming of Christ; no sooner (1 Corinthians 15:51-58).
The Lord has given us truth that provides real comfort and peace to the faithful. “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6). This reality is a blessing because we no longer need to be uncertain. Imagine if your deceased loved one had to watch from heaven as you struggle through life? Would heaven be a pleasant place to be? How about hell? Could God send people directly to hell, not having been judged? Would that be fair?
Find peace in the fact that, as Jesus rested in the tomb, not having ascended to the Father, we too will rest in the grave if death should occur. (John 20:17). We do not need to be uncertain concerning death. We need only to be faithful, and one day we will see Jesus coming with clouds to take His people home (Revelation 2:10).—L. David Harris (www.DavidWritesaLot.com)