Getting older makes me think about death. A lot. So does the story of a rogue virus. So does the data on the vaccines. So does the Taliban taking over Afghanistan. So does the increase of euthanasia, abortion, and wildfires.
No matter what we think of anything going on around us, the
human mortality rate is still at 100%. As God says in his Book, “it is
appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment”.[1]
As I have grown in relationships over the years, one thing I
have learned is that genuine attachment to people never grows old. I understand
that loss of relationships can leave an elderly person so lonely they want to
just be done with life. I understand that so many painful experiences with
rejection can cause someone to lose the will to live. I can even appreciate
that we may deteriorate so much in a physical way that we are unable to maintain
any personal attachment to people at all and so the desire to be alive fades
away.
However, genuine attachments with people never grow old.
There is never a feeling that we’re done enjoying attachments with people and we’re
ready to die. And, in many cases, even when an elderly loved-one can’t hang on
any longer to physical life, those left behind never see it as a good thing
that the attachments are gone.
With death threatening us from every direction, these words
of the Creator stood out to me in wonderful comfort this morning: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see
death.”[2]
This is a scenario where Jesus was talking with people who
thought they believed in him while he knew they did not.[3] Jesus
couldn’t leave them like that because then they would die in their sins while
thinking they were good with God. Jesus had to direct them to the only way they
could truly know that they had eternal life.
What stands out is the promise that people “will never
see death” if they keep Jesus’ word. Keeping Jesus’ word is not switching
from Old Testament Law to New Testament Law. It cannot be performed by outward
behavior alone. Jesus’ word is about loving one another as the Triune God loves
us, so only when the love in the vine flows into and through the love of the
branches is someone truly a disciple of Jesus Christ.[4]
Earlier in his ministry, Jesus introduced this same theme by
saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word
and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment,
but has passed from death to life.”[5]
Hearing
Jesus’ word and believing what the Father says about his Son is what opens the
door to eternal life. As a result of experiencing this kind of faith, we are no
longer under the condemnation of judgment, but have already passed from death
to life. Jesus meant that this is true even for all the millions of believers who
have died while waiting for his return.
Jesus
put this straight into the context of death when a man named Lazarus had passed
away. Jesus told his disciples, “This
illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of
God may be glorified through it.”[6] It is so clear that this does not mean
Lazarus wouldn’t die, but that it would not end in death.
When
Jesus went to the town where Lazarus had died, he told the sisters, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever
believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and
believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”[7] Jesus was telling them that, when someone
believes in him, they will either live even if they die, or live without ever
dying. Both are possible; it simply depends on where anyone fits into the
unfolding events of history.
The
apostle Paul explained this quite clearly when he wrote that, because Jesus died
and rose again,
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.[8]
The
dead in Christ who rise first are those who fit Jesus’ words, “though he die, yet shall he live”. Those who are alive and are “caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air,” are
those who fit Jesus’ words, “everyone
who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
It
all says the same thing. “Truly, truly, I say to you, if
anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”[9] We will
never see death even if we die because our soul/spirit goes to be with Jesus.
We will never see death if we are still alive at the return of Christ because
we are simply taken up along with those who are raised from the dead. Either
way, Jesus gives eternal life to all who believe in him.[10]
In
our day, when it is so evident that, “The
thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” it is absolutely necessary to know the Savior who, “came that they may have life and have it
abundantly.”[11]
The way things are going in the world, it is entirely
possible that the evil things perpetrated by one government after another could
lead to my premature death. In that case, as Paul testified, “For to me to
live is Christ, and to die is gain.”[12]
At the same time, the way things are going in the world, Jesus
could appear at any time. Some of us may be the ones who never see death but
are gathered together with those who are raised from the dead. The key is that, “we will always be with the Lord.” And that is what
really matters.
I started with the dire warning that, “And just as it is
appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment”. However,
what God says next is what gives hope to all who trust in Jesus Christ. God’s
word continues, “so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of
many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are
eagerly waiting for him.”[13]
Jesus will “deal with sin” with all those who have
rejected him. But, for those who have received him, we can wait eagerly for his
return. Either we will die before Jesus comes and immediately go be with him while
waiting for our resurrected bodies, or we will be alive when he returns and go
to be with him without passing through death.
Either way, there is coming a grand event of receiving
glorified bodies in which we will forever be with our Savior in the presence of
his Father and the joy of their Holy Spirit. Trusting in Jesus Christ now is
all it takes to receive this incredible gift of grace forever.
© 2021 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K
1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)
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