About death and hope!
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Funeral services or Memorial services are not something that we seek to or delight in attending. Why? Because the mix emotions that they awake in us: on one side, the sorrow of losing someone we love; on the other side, the joy of celebrating his life.
But we also do not like them because they confront us with the reality of death; with the reality that one day we will be the departed or the celebrated one.
Death is a topic of which most people are ignorant about. Ignorance breeds a lot of wrong ideas about any topic, and the topic of death is not exception. Even believers were ignorant when Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica and told them:
Read
What is death?
What is death?
In the Bible, we find two terms that refer to death: “tánatos” and “necrosis”. Necrosis is used to refer to the death of the body or parts of it. But “tánatos” is a more inclusive term. It includes body and soul.
Death (tánatos) is the separation of body and soul!
According to Greek thought, “death is the liberation of the soul imprisoned in the body”.
Wrong ideas about death.
Wrong ideas about death.
Most people think that death is the end of existence. If we were just matter, they would be right. But man is more than a body, man has a a spiritual component, the soul which is eternal.
If death were the end of existence, what is the purpose of doing good in this life? If everything ends at that moment, we would not have to face a judgment. But the Bible clearly states,
And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
Heb 9:27
Judgment for who? For a dead body? No! For the soul!
Another wrong idea is that there is only one death, the physical one.
But Jesus spoke about the death of the soul. He said to His disciples,
“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
mat 10 28
There is a second death! That’s when someone is thrown into hell, as this verse mentions it.
Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
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Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
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Because Paul used a methaphore in these verses, some think that death is like sleeping. If that were the case, you die every night!
Sleeping is resting! If death were sleeping, then no one would be afraid of it.
If death were sleeping, no one would suffer the punishment they deserve for their evil deeds. But the same Paul reminded the Thessalonians, that Jesus will be revealed from heaven...
dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
2 thes 1:8-9
Once someone who has not accepted, received, believed in Christ as Savior and Lord, there’s no more hope; there are no second chances after death:
When a wicked man dies, his expectation will perish, And the hope of strong men perishes.
But there is hope for believers...
Hope for believers.
Hope for believers.
There is no hope for unbelievers when they face death, but believers should not grieve as unbelievers for believers have hope to see their beloved that died in Christ.
Hope because death has been defeated.
Hope because death has been defeated.
The resurrection of Christ is what give us hope! He defeated death. With His resurrection “death was swallowed up in victory”. Jesus destroyed the power of death. He defeated Satan in his own ring!
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Cor 15:56-57
Hope of resurrection.
Hope of resurrection.
The Lord himself will come, descending from Heaven, to raise those who died as believers. The trumpet of God will sound, calling His own to present themselves before the Lord, “and the dead in Christ will rise first.”
And hope of rapture for those that are alive when Jesus comes.
That’s the comfort we can give one another.