Mystery of death solved

“STOP MY FRIEND AS YOU MYSTERY
GO BY, AS YOU ARE NOW OF
SO ONCE WAS I. AS I AM DEATH
NOW YOU SOON WILL BE, SOLVED
SO PREPARE YOURSELF

TO FOLLOW ME.”

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“STOP MY We all share death as a common fate, We cultivate or suppress spiritual
FRIEND AS YOU and we sometimes wonder what lies desSirOesA KanIdT iUnnPately search for a God
GO BY, AS YOU beyond its claim on our present life. to worship and serve. When we do
ARE NOW SO Without will or wisdom of our own, we right, we experience feelings of peace
ONCE WAS I. AS I experience this phenomenon of life in and satisfaction. When we do wrong,
AM NOW YOU a real, material environment, governed weTaHreE sBmEitAteCnHwEitSh the clenched fist of
SOON WILL BE, by the laws of our natural world. We inner guilt. Life, what a mystery!
SO PREPARE are totally subject to the approval or
YOURSELF TO condemnation of something we call But then there is death, a still greater
FOLLOW ME.” conscience. We reason, reflect, mystery,
deduce and aspire as we pry into the We see death all around us. It happens
An engraving on a tomb in Richmond, secrets of the visible horizon of nature. every day. Its prey lies still, cold and
Virginia, reads, “Stop my friend as you go We long to unveil the starry expanse of silent. They tell no story and cannot
by, as you are now so once was I. As I am the heavens above us. answer our dreadful questions about
now you soon will be, so prepare yourself the dark beyond toward which we all
to follow me.” A thinking school boy The physical organism we inhabit is march. But can we know what is our
passing by one day paused to read this capable of sensing pain and pleasure future, if any, once the life we now have
interesting message. After a moment of and can carry out the plans and is ended? Is there any source of
thought, he wrote on the tombstone with a designs of our minds. We form enlightenment that explains what death
crayon, “To follow you I’m not content, emotional relationships and long for is, where it leads, and if there is life
until I know just where you went.”For love and affection. beyond the grave? Indeed, there is!
many people, children and adults alike, The One who created us and gave us
death is an unsolved mystery. What We cultivate or suppress spiritual life has also published the truth about
happens to-a person-when they die? desires and innately search for a God death. In the Bible, we find the answers
Where do they go? Do they really cease to worship and serve. When we do to our most searching questions
to live, or do they simply pass on to right, we experience feelings of peace regarding both the “here” and the
another plane of existence? Such and satisfaction. When we do wrong, “hereafter.”
questions must arise in every heart we are smitten with the clenched fist of
sooner or later. inner guilt.

There are many opinions offered The Bible gives only one answer to Death Likened to Sleep
concerning the state of man in death. this question. To the righteous King ThrSoOugAhKouItTthUePBible, the state of man
Some say when a person dies he goes to Josiah, God said, “You shall be in death is called “sleep.” Troubled with
either heaven or hell, depending on gathered to your grave in peace” (2 his afflictions, Job wished he had died
whether he was good or evil. Others say Kings 22:20, NKJ). The patriarch at his birth. If he had died as an infant,
he is born again into another life as either Jacob, feeling discouraged and ready he TsaHyEs,B“NEoAwC HI wEoSuld have lain still and
a person or an animal. Still others believe to die, said, “I will go down into the been quiet, I would have been asleep;
he simply vanishes away, never to grave” (Genesis 37:35). King David, then I would have been at rest with
experience consciousness again. But expecting death, said, “My life draws
what does the Bible teach, as God’s word near to the grave” (Psalm 88:3, NKJ). kings and counselors of the earth” (Job
to humanity? And of the wicked it is written, “Yet 3:13-14, NKJ). The apostle Paul said
The Grave shall he be brought to the grave, and that King “David after he had served his
The Scriptures set forth the very shall remain in the tomb” (Job 21:32). own generation by the will of God, fell
question of our interest: "Man dies “Let the wicked be ashamed; let them asleep, was buried with his fathers, and
and is laid away; Indeed he breathes be silent in the grave” (Psalm 31:17). saw corruption” (Acts 13:36, NKJ). The
his last, and where is he?" (Job The word of God clearly teaches that apostle Peter said that “David did not
14:10, NKJ). both the righteous and the wicked ascend into the heavens” at his death
dead are in the grave. But what is the (Acts 2:34, NKJ). Concerning Stephen,
condition of man in death? the first Christian martyr, the Bible
records of his death,

"He fell asleep” (Acts 7:60). When Also, their love, their hatred, and
Lazarus, one of the followers of Christ, their envy have now perished;
was dead and sealed in his tomb, Jesus nevermore will they have a share in
stated to his disciples, “Our friend Lazarus anything done under the sun.
sleeps.” “Lazarus is dead” (John 11:11, Whatever your hand finds to do, do
14, NKJ). According to the Bible, when a it with your might; for there is no
man dies he falls into a condition like that work or device or knowledge or
of sleep. We all know what sleep is like. It wisdom in the grave where you are
is an unconscious state. going” (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, 10,
NKJ). “His breath goeth forth, he
The Bible speaks of the state of man in returneth to his earth; in chat very
death in just this way: “For the living know day his thoughts perish” (Psalm
that they will die; but the dead know 146:4). These verses of Scripture
nothing, and they have no more reward, plainly describe man’s condition in
for the memory of chem is forgotten. death as unconsciousness-a silent,
thoughtless sleep.
But is that his utter end? No,
indeed!

The Resurrection

The Bible presents this question as
well, and gives the only true answer:
“If a man die, shall he live again? All
the days of my appointed time will I
wait, till my change come. Thou
shalt call, and I will answer Thee:
Thou wilt have a desire to the work
of Thine hands”

(Job 14:14-15). If a man dies, he will live again. . What a wonderful and blessed day that will will hear His voice and come forth—those
But there is a waiting period. He waits be! The prophet Isaiah looked forward to this who have done good, to the resurrection of
unconscious in the grave till his “change” day when he exclaimed, “Thy dead men shall life, and those who have done evil, to the
comes when the voice of God “calls” him forth live, and together with my dead body shall resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:28-
to life again. The apostle Paul spoke of this they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in 29, NKJ).
“change” as occurring at the coming of Christ: the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs,
“Behold; I shew you a mystery: We shall not all and the earth shall cast out the dead” Isaiah What could possibly be more important than
sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a 26:19). to settle the question of your eternal destiny?
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last You will live a short life of about 70 to 80
trump. For the trumpet shall sound, and the According to the Bible, there is life after death. years if tragedy doesn't strike sooner.
dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall That life does not begin at the moment of Compared to the amazing possibility of
be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). “For our death, however, as many have been taught to eternal life, your years upon this earth will
citizenship is in heaven, from which we also believe, but rather at the resurrection when seem to be only a few moments of time.
eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Jesus returns. “For as in Adam all die, even There are two paths extended before you.
Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it so in Christ all shall be made alive. But every One leads to life, the other to destruction.
may be conformed to His glorious body, man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, Jesus stands eager to receive all who will
afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming” come to Him. Don’t put off that decision
according to the working by which He is able (1 Corinthians 15:22-23). “For the Lord, another day. Everything else is insignificant
even to subdue all things to Himself” Himself shall descend from heaven with a in comparison. Choose now to accept Jesus
(Philippians 3:20-21, NKJ). shout, with the voice of the archangel, and Christ as your Savior and Lord. And then
At the second coming of Jesus, all who have with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ rest in the assurance of eternal life.
believed in Him will be raised from death to be shall rise first. Then we which are alive and
“changed” from “mortality” to “immortality.” At remain shall be caught up together with them
this time our vile bodies will be fashioned like in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and
unto His glorious body so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1
Thessalonians 4:16-17).

The Bible clearly teaches that the only hope of
life beyond the grave is the resurrection. But
not all will be raised to everlasting life. Jesus
distinguished between two very different
resurrections, leading to two very different
destinies: “Do not marvel at this; for the hour
is coming in which all who are in the graves

acFcoarditnhg etorthienwohrkeingavbyewnhi,chthHeaisnakble
You for the clear lighteven to subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians

3:20-21, NKJ).

that Scripture sheds
upon the mystery of
death I can see now that

death is just an
unconscious intermission
until the second coming

of Jesus at which time
Your people will be

raised to eternal life. I
want to be a partaker of

the life you have
promised to all who
receive Your Son. I am
determined to live my life
worthy of your amazing
love. In Jesus’ name.

Amen.