LEARNING DAILY

 

John 11:25-26, Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

 

Saturday, we attended the celebration of a friend who had gone to heaven to be with her Savior and Lord. It was good to be with friends to celebrate a life devoted to serving and living the faith she professes. Yesterday, in church, the pastor told us his father had gone to sleep the previously Sunday and woke up in heaven.

 

 I have had my attention drawn back to heaven and to what happens to us when we die. I feel sad for those who believe they die and that’s the end. There is no hope and they live like they want to every day; they will wake up to find there is an eternal life without God and they will understand that hell is a very real place. The same can be said of those who choose to reject Jesus Christ as their Savior.

 

“For the person who believes in Jesus, physical death is not a tragic end. It is instead the gateway to abundant eternal life and fellowship with God” (LSSB). John’s writing tells us that as Believers our life does not end at death but we are resurrected to be eternally with Him. Actually, he is telling us that eternal life does not begin when we die – it begins when each of us asks Jesus Christ to forgive us of our sins and give our life to Him. Eternal life is not some future gift to us.

 

The words of Jesus should encourage each of us. When He said the words, “shall never die”, He meant that resurrected Believers will never cease to exist. In heaven we get new bodies that will be immortal and ones that can never die or deteriorate.  The LSSB is encouraging as it states, “bodies that are perfectly designed by God for the greater life to come hereafter.”

 

I found an article by Ray Stedman where he asked, “How does one die, and yet not die?” What did he mean? He went on to answer that Jesus is the total master of death in all its forms. When He said, “I am the resurrection and the life”, He meant death is no longer death in the presence of Jesus. The Apostle Paul wrote that death has lost its sting because of Jesus; death has lost its terror in the hands of Jesus. Stedman goes on to say Jesus points out that the answer to death is not the resurrection, but Jesus. Jesus is the answer to death! No one can hope to escape death unless He is related to the conqueror of death, Jesus Christ.

 

The question before each person is; do you believe the statement of Jesus above? It is by faith in the promise of Jesus that you and I stand together believing that Jesus defeated death. It is by faith in Him that helps us to overcome our fear of death. I am sure that my friend Evelyn, the pastor’s father and many others we know who have gone before us into heaven would share with us the incomparable riches of being with Jesus in His kingdom for eternity.

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible