by: Peregrino "Jun" Velasco Taccad, Jr.
For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the
flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of
the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.
Talking about death, most of us feel horrified. There is something dreadful in the word
“DEATH”. This is one enigma that no one can explain. Theorists believe that
what really creates terror is more on the uncertainties of what lies afterlife.
What is there on the other side remains
a big question mark. People have the
common belief that souls wander in the other dimension. Dead people who had unfinished business
emerges in ghostly apparition to haunt those whom they wish to get even with or
to those whom they were not able to communicate their last wills to. Many factors formed this kind of mindset. Horror movies, folklores and spirit tales
play big role planting the seed of terror in everyone’s mind.
I browsed briefly through Wikipedia
to check for any enlightenment it can offer on the subject of fear of death. I
got this definition: “Death anxiety is the morbid, abnormal, or
persistent fear of
one's own mortality. It is also referred to as Thanatophobia (fear of death), and is distinguished
from Necrophobia, which is a specific fear of the dead or dying persons and/or things (i.e.
others who are dead or
dying, not one's own death or dying)”
Whenever I talk to wife on the subject
of death, she will immediately burst out, “Fuera
Buyag”. An Ilonggo expression which means, “Far be it that such ominous
thing happens to us now”. And, I am
always reminding her that no one can escape death. In one way or another, earlier or later, a
person will one day turn his face onto it and bid goodbye to this physical world. We should not be afraid of death, especially
if we have already entrusted our lives to God and we are obedient to His Words. We should leave fear of death to those who
are uncertain and do not recognize the authority of the Lord.
Let us take the attitude of Paul about
death in Philippians 1:21-24. He said, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in
the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do
not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which
is better by far.” For Paul, physical death is a chance for him to be united with
Christ. It was a very positive attitude
that shows much confidence and he treated leaving this world as something to
look forward to, never to dread.
We are about to approach the
so-called, “All Soul’s day”. Some are celebrating
the presence of the spiritual elements by the Trick for Treats of Halloween Festival
(a very evil celebration indeed and not meant for us Christians). Roman Catholics commemorate the life of the
saints through celebrating the “All Saints Day”. They pay tribute to the apostles
and disciples who put their lives at stake for sharing the gospel of the Lord
Jesus. And to the Filipinos, we have “Undas”.
It is the day we commemorate our loved ones who are now in the other life. We go to cemetery, clean the graves of our
relatives, offer flowers, light candles, say prayers and stay there until
sundown and enjoy their company for a day even though we do not see them
anymore. Chinese communities have their
own way to observe and acknowledge the presence of wandering souls. They call this, Ghost Month.
As Christians, do we really have to
follow this traditional rite? The Bible,
in fact, is silent about praying for the dead and there is nothing in it that
compels believers to celebrate the day of the spirits. This calls for me to discuss my standpoint on
the issue of DEATH. You will expect here
that my reference will only be the scripture as I do not wish to take somebody’s
view although sometimes it can be helpful.
My discussion here will just be brief since death is a subject matter
that can be discussed in a whole 300 pages book.
DEATH
IS ETERNAL BUT IT HAS BEEN OVERCOME BY JESUS
Each of us is composed of two elements: The Physical
Body and Soul. In the light of our subject at hand, we have
to understand that DEATH is not meant for physical. If my body dies, it is not the end of my
existence. I still have soul, one that
makes my corporeal body feel, perceive, move and think. It is soul that makes me alive. And this soul will get separated from my body
when it finally lays to rest. If we
don’t follow the Lord, our soul will certainly go to the eternal suffering – we
call this hell, the second death. In Luke 16:19-31, it talks about the story of
Lazarus and the Rich Man. The SOUL of
the rich man went directly to hell and suffered in torment for eternity. Soul will never be consumed until eternity,
and the death the Bible is talking about is not the end of the soul. It is the
suffering that the soul will undergo as punishment for not believing and for
disobeying God. Revelations 14:11
described this pretty clear. “And the smoke of
their torment ascends up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day and
night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of
his name.” At such facet of death, we, people, really have
to be alarmed!
And there is the third element called Spirit. Spiritual existence
does not come by default. We were born
in this world without spirit, one that man forfeited because of sin. We were separated from God and we cannot
communicate to Him. It is the spirit
which enables us to communicate to our God and links us to Him. It is the spirit that makes us one with
Him. Spiritual existence is a product of decision
to follow Christ. We obtain spirit if we
acknowledge Jesus’ Lordship and get baptized in His name. This was made clear by Jesus Himself during
Necodemus’ visit in John 3:1-15. Jesus
firmly emphasize that one must be born of water and Spirit in order to get into
His kingdom. Why? Because God is in the very nature, Spirit. “Flesh
gives birth to flesh but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” Spirit is invisible to our physical eyes but
our own spirit feels God’s Spirit and knows He undoubtedly exists around us. Without our spirit, we have no other faculty
to feel His presence; hence our separation from Him, and our soul is bound to
hell through eternity.
Further in John 3:16, Jesus explained that by the death of
the Only God’s Son, we can obtain everlasting life through believing. Thereby, Jesus, through His death and
resurrection, conquered death (the devil is death). It was attested by the writer of Hebrews; Hebrews
2: 14-15, “Since the children
have flesh and blood, he
too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death that is, the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by
their fear of
death.”
There is a condition that we should seriously observe if we
are living by the spirit. We have to
repent from all sins and obey Jesus.
Like Adam and Eve who were banished from God’s presence after they sinned,
our spirit will likewise get severed from God for rebelling. We are then separated from the grace of God
and ultimately, spiritual death. In the consequence is stated in John 15:6 - If anyone does not remain in Me, he is
like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up,
thrown into the fire, and burned.” For additional reference, you may want to read Hebrew
6:4-8.
If we stop sinning and let the righteousness of God rule
our life, we let the victory of Jesus over death reign in us. By our righteousness, we professed that we
have resurrected with Him in spirit. No
longer can death take a hold on us. Revelations
1:18 = “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and
ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”
Hosea 13:14 = “I will deliver this
people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them
from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is
your destruction?”
Practical: We must
not fear death. Just be confident that
Jesus gained victory over it and we should be resurrected with him in Spirit.
LET
THE DEAD BURY THEIR OWN DEAD. WE MUST
DIE TO OURSELVES, FOLLOW THE LORD AND BE ALIVE
Did you decide to follow Jesus yet
there are things, situations or people preventing you from totally obeying Him?
Maybe it is your workload, your
business, your parents, spouse or your friends that stop you from devoting your
time to God. Is part-time service
acceptable to Him? Let us take Jesus’
requisites from Matthew 8:18-22 = “When
Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of
the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I
will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and
birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Another disciple said
to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury
their own dead.””
Jesus was showing one real face of death when he said, “Let
the DEAD bury their own dead.” He refers to the non-followers as dead. That was actually a meaningful statement from
Him. If someone tells you, you are a
dead man, you will surely take it as an insult. It seems he is telling you that
you are as useless as a stiff cadaver ready to be buried, a good-for-nothing
fellow, unproductive, lazy.
It is never a new subject for us if we hear about people living
a life of no direction. They just live
to exists in this world, no meaningful purpose and spiritual goals. They just simply live, enjoy life without a bit
of care on what is happening around them. They live out their physical existence and
keep themselves away from the knowledge of spiritual things. They do not care about God. If someone approach them to share to them the
gospel, they stubbornly refuse, thinking that it is away from fashion nowadays
to still believe and be consumed by godly matters. God has no place in their busy schedules so
they take Him for granted. They are the
DEADs that Jesus was talking about.
Salvation is not in them. They do
not exist in the spirit. For God, they
are useless ready to be thrown into the fire to burn unless they repent.
To obtain LIFE is to get rid of so many “BUTs”
that hamper us from following the Lord.
We made Him our Lord yet we still want to follow our own wills. We have many excuses making it hard for us to
really achieve the spiritual life we are aiming for. Let us pay attention to Jesus’ reply to His
prospective disciple in Luke 9:61-62 = “Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but
first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and
looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” If we live in Christ, isn’t it that we
should be putting ourselves into death and let Him live within our lives? Living people are those who are focused on
God, continuously fixed on serving and glorifying Him through their obedience
and reverence of Christ. Living people
are dead on themselves but live in Christ.
In John 12: 24, Jesus said, “Very
truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it
remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” We can never prosper in spirit until we learn
how to die to ourselves.
John
3:30 = He must increase and I must
decrease (John the Baptist)
Galatians 2:20 = "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no
longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for
me. (Paul)
Practical: Let us stop living for ourselves; live for
Jesus.
RESURRECTION
IS REAL. IT IS A PROMISE FROM THE LORD.
There are two kinds of Jew leaders during the time of Jesus, the
Sadducees and the Pharisees. The
Sadducees do not believe in resurrection of the dead. As to their standpoint on this issue, it was
not made clear in any part of the Bible.
But for us Christians, we always count on the Words of Jesus which was
written in the following verses:
a) John
14:1-3 Do
not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if
that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also
may be where I am.
b) John
5: 28-29 "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who
are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the
good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a
resurrection of judgment.
c) Matthew 25:31-32 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory,
and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. "All
the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one
another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;
Jesus will never go wrong in His
promises as He is immaculate and faithful.
He is waiting for us to come home and be with Him in eternity. He already prepared a place for us for as
long as we stay faithful. It is not an
ordinary place. It is the most wonderful
place one can ever imagine. It is beyond
description. The writings of John in the
Book of Revelations displayed a sight of what has to come. Revelations 21: 1-7 = Then
I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and
the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer
any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming
down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for
her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s
dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people,
and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear
from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or
pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on
the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this
down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water
without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and
I will be their God and they will be my children.
The promise of God is free of
charge, bought by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. It is just for us to claim it and enjoy. We
are left with nothing to do but just to obey, live a righteous life pleasing to
God and be grateful.
Practical: Trust that God
is faithful to His promise. We will live
forever with Him in glory as His precious CHILDREN.
To conclude this topic, the true meaning
of DEATH is the eternal separation of a man from his Creator in which he is
bound to suffer into the lake of fire forever and ever without perishing. Death is the mark of the devil. He is the lord of death who wants every man
into it. The good news is that, the Lord
Jesus, who is the Lord of life overcame the power of death and had brought
salvation to mankind. In Revelations 1:18 He said, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and
now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” In
Christ, we shall then feel the victory.
Christian life is never smooth and the Lord understands our
struggles. But we should always cheer up
because the Holy Spirit who is working within us is the most powerful force
that will shield us from the principalities of death.
To God be the Glory!
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