Is there Hope after Death?
I attended a funeral of a friend and mentor today. Wally had been my mentor when I entered the ministry and he was my pastor. Then he came down with brain cancer. He had a brain operation where they were able to remove most but not all the tumor. The doctors gave him five months to live. It seemed like there was no hope. That was five years ago.
Healing when there seems to be no hope
We were a praying church and I had succeeded Wally as the pastor. We prayed and prayed but he just got worse and worse and the five months was looming. It seemed the doctors were right but then one Sunday, a visiting missionary and I prayed for Wally. The next week it was like he was a new man. The tumor started to shrink and he was able to come off all medication. He was even able to back to Brazil where he had been a missionary, for a visit.
Relaspe
Wally came back and and then around a year ago was told the tumor had come back. He slowly regressed and last Tuesday he died. Today, I attended his funeral.
Hope in the midst of sorrow!
At the gravesite, there were two funerals going on. Wally’s and the other of a Muslim person. Both families are grieving and will grieve the loss of their loved one. Yet only one family has true hope. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 says, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.“
But why would the rest of mankind have no hope? Or more to the point, why would a Christian have hope? I can assure you that those at the gravesite and those at the church service did mourn the loss of Wally BUT there was also an excitement. We all believe the next verse of 1 Thessalonians 4 which states, “For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.”
The Blessed assurance that give true hope to the believer
The believer in Jesus Christ not only believes that He is God’s Son but that He was crucified, rose again and is coming back again. One of the purposes of His returning is to collect all those who actually believe on Him. Most of the world does not believe this. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 1:22-23, “… Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles …”
Jesus told Martha, the sister of Lazarus who was dead and lying in the grave, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11: 25-26)
Immediately into the presence of the Lord!
The Christian belief is that even though the body dies, we do not. Rather, upon death of the body, our spirit immediately enters into the presence of Jesus Christ! When Paul was facing death he stated when talking about dying or living, “I am torn between the two: I desire to depart to be with Christ, which is better by far; …” (Philippians 1:23) He knew that upon his death he would be with the Lord.
No other religion can say this. They may say that there are many roads to heaven but this is contrary to the Bible. Jesus declares in John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Peter declares the same truth in Acts 4:12 when talking about Jesus he states, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Hope in the midst of death
So there were two funerals today. One where true hope was present and one where a false hope was present. Unless a person declares with their mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believes in their heart that God raise Jesus from the dead, they will not be saved.(Romans 10:9)
Those at the gravesite and those at the church today celebrated the life of service that Wally had toward his Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, and the fact that he was already in the presence of Jesus. Yes there was sadness but also joy and the sure hope that he has stepped into glory and that we who also believe will also step into the presence of our Lord when we die.
If you die today do you know this hope
The greatest question of all time was asked to Peter by Jesus. It is found in Matthew 16:15 and it is a question that all of have to answer. The wrong answer will mean that you will have either no hope or a false hope when death comes knocking on your door. The question is still valid today … it is “But what about you? he (Jesus) asked. “Who do you say that I am?”